DALAI LAMA CREATIVE TEAM BIOS
DIRECTOR: Maren Maclean Mascarelli
PSM/ASST. DIRECTOR: Alejandra Luna
VIDEOGRAPHER/EDITOR: Aleks Hollis
CAST: Maria Amorocho, Sergio Mauritz Ang,
Kent Burnham, Brenda Jean Foley,
Mary Grace Lim, Wai Yim
Elaine Romero (She/Her) an award-winning U.S. playwright, Elaine Romero’s plays have been presented across the U.S. and abroad; she is widely published and anthologized. Revolutions/Revoluciones, Wetback, Like Heaven, and Bloody River were all produced last season. Revolutions/Revoluciones was produced in Spanish translation at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, under the direction of famed Mexican director, Bruno Bichir, with a cast from Mexico. It’s the final play in Romero pentalogy, including Graveyard of Empires (16th St. Theatre), A Work of Art (Goodman Theatre/Chicago Dramatists), and her play-in-progress, When Reason Sleeps (Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist-in-Residence), Martínez in Taos (Arizona Theatre Company). Modern Slave, commissioned by Ford’s Theatre, was presented at the 2017 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. It was developed at A Contemporary Theatre (Seattle), Victory Gardens Theatre (Chicago), and The Road Theatre (LA). From her Arizona/Mexico border trilogy (Mother of Exiles, Wetback), her Arizona Theatre Company commission, Title IX, was included in the 2017 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. At Erik Ehn’s Silent Playwrights’ Retreat at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, she wrote Halsted.
Romero has been the fortunate recipient of the TCG/Pew National Theatre Artist-in-Residence grant, the NEA/TCG Playwright-in-Residence Program, the Blue Ink Playwrights Award, the Sprenger-Lang New History Foundation Award, the Chicano/Latino Literary Award, and many others.
Romero’s work has been published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts, Simon and Schuster, among others. She wrote the short film, A Sentiment, about the 19th Amendment (U.S. Women’s Right to Vote) on commission for Burning Coal Theatre/The Justice Theatre Project. Chatham Life and Style named the piece in the top five of the 19th Amendment Project, which featured some of the U.S.’s top women playwrights. She had two Viral Monologues produced this summer, Oyster (24-Hour Plays/Arizona Theatre Company: Arizona Edition) and Shackle (24-Hour Plays/New Sanctuary Coalition). Romero is a Steering Committee Member with the Latinx Theatre Commons. She, also, serves as the Southwest Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild of America. She has had the good fortune of being a member of NBC’s Writer’s on the Verge, the CBS Writers’ Diversity Program, and the NHMC’s Latino Writers’ Program. She previously taught film and television writing at Northwestern University.
Romero is an Associate Professor in the School of Theatre, Film, and Television at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, and the Playwright-in-Residence at Arizona Theatre Company. RomeroFest features her work at theatres nationally and internationally.
Maren Maclean Mascarelli (She/Hers) – DIRECTOR – is so honored to be working with the force who is Elaine Romero, The Bridge Initiative, and Arizona Theatre Company on RomeroFest. Maren has acted, taught, danced, directed, designed and dramaturged all over. Favorite roles: Belinda in “Noises Off” at Phoenix Theatre, Kate in “Shrew” at Southwest Shakespeare Company, Pamela in “Fox on the Fairway” at Actor’s Theatre, Cassandra in “Troilus and Cressida” at Utah Shakespearean Festival and Hilda in “Venus Observed” at Verse Theatre Manhattan. She‘s a member of Actors’ Equity Association. From New York, she’s made Phoenix home with her equally dramatic husband and daughters. AOE. www.marenmaclean.net
Alejandra Luna (She/ Hers) – ASSISTANT DIRECTOR / STAGE MANAGER – is a Mexican-born actor and director. She holds a BFA in Acting from Western Michigan University. Alejandra has had the rare opportunity to expand her directing skills during the Pandemic by being involved in multiple virtual readings and performances with Teatro Bravo, Borderlands Theater, Signifying Nothing, and Virtual Theater of Arizona. Along side working with this amazing team and bring honor to Elaine Romero’s wonderful work, Alejandra is currently working on directing a new work called Three’s a Party by Justin Santory co-produced by Teatro Bravo and Mesa Community College. She is passionate about increasing opportunities on and off stage for BIPOC Artists and hopes to continue to work to increase those numbers in her community.
Aleks Hollis (They/Them) – VIDEOGRAPHER / EDITOR – is a performer, foley artist, writer, photographer. They were recently the video editor for United Colours of AZ Theatre’s production of NOW and assistant video editor for The Bridge Initiative’s Quaran-Teams. They have performed in Space 55’s Radio Free Europa and with Wedding Party at Free Fringe and VS: Improv Cagematch. They’ve been a foley artist for Torch Improvised Radio Show, Az Actors Academy’s The Maltese Falcon and Space 55’s Night of the Chicken, for which they won ariZoni awards for Artistic Specialization and Sound Design. They currently co-host a podcast, Bish, Don’t, with local improv icon, Jen Giralo. They’re looking forward to standing in the middle of Phoenix Art Museum’s Yayoi Kusama installation “You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies” again.
Maria Amorocho (She/Her)’s – URSULA – passion is new play development. Phoenix Theatre Company’s new works festivals : Americano! (and 2020 premiere), Lunch at Audrey’s, The Relief Society, Community, Jennifer’s Birth, The Up Side of Down. New Carpa Theater: Voices of Valor; My Beloved World; director, Miranda’s Curse. Other credits: Billy Elliot, Our Town, NINE, Picnic (Phoenix Theatre Company); BAUER (BLK BOX PHX); The Glass Menagerie (Guest Artist, GCC); Good People, Body Awareness, Sight Unseen (Actors Theatre of Phoenix); BIG: The Musical (Theater Works). Film: Scare Me Vol.1, My Sekret War, A Life Connected, Jolene. Maria is represented by The Leighton Agency and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association.
Sergio Mauritz Ang (He/Him) – ENSEMBLE ACTOR is a NYC-bred Queer Creative originally from Manila Philippines. New York: Colman Domingo’s The Brother[s] (Out of the Box Theatrics), Joker (National Queer Theater), Anna in the Tropics (The Gallery Players),Summertime (Between Two Boroughs) Regional: Julius Caesar, I am not Batman, Ragtime (PlayMakers Rep), Tomorrow will be Sunday (Chautauqua Theatre Company), Bruise & Thorn (PlayPenn), Peter and the Starcatcher (Kitchen Theatre Company), Mañanas de Abril y Mayo (Connecticut Free Shakespeare). Many Thanks to The Bridge Initiative, Arizona Theatre Company and the whole Romerofest artistic team. MFA Candidate: UNC Chapel Hill/PlayMakers Rep. BFA Acting: Brooklyn College. Insta: yoizsergyo. www.sergiomauritzang.com
Kent D. Burnham (He/ Him) – PETER MILLER – is a director, actor, educator, theatre-maker, and activist. From 2015-2017 he was the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education for Southwest Shakespeare Company. Southwest Shakespeare directing credits include “Wittenberg,” “The Merchant of Venice” (Best Director of a Production), “Pride@Prejudice,” and the touring productions of “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Midwinter Night’s Dream,” and “Twelfth Night.” Other Phoenix directing credits include “Doubt” (Best Play Nomination) and “Arsenic and Old Lace.” He directed “Twelfth Night,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” “The Tempest,” “Tribes,” and the Kennedy Center’s regional selection “Circle Mirror Transformation” at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. He has directed, acted, and taught at various regional theatres and colleges throughout the country, and has appeared on TV and in film. He holds a BA in Theatre from Hofstra University, and an MFA in Classical Acting from George Washington University/The Shakespeare Theatre in DC. Currently, he is the Director of Theatre Arts and Chair of the Arts at the Trinity-Pawling School in New York, and Co-Producing Artistic Director of the Pawling Theatre Exchange (PTE). He is married to the fiercely talented theatre change-maker, Tracy Liz Miller.
Brenda Jean Foley (She/Her) – KATE MILLER – most recently appeared onstage in “The Music Man” and “The Diary of Anne Frank” with Arizona Theatre Company, and was scheduled for “Orange Flower Water” at Tempe Center for the Arts in March 2020 when COVID struck. Other Arizona stage roles include “Now.Here.This” (A/C TC) “Carousel,” “The Full Monty,” “August: Osage County” (MET), “The Sound of Music” (DBFRT), “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, “Love Disorder” (iTheatre). NYC/regional credits: “Almost, Maine” (Access Theatre), “Emma” (NYMF), “The Secret Garden” (Fulton), “As Thousands Cheer” (New Harmony) and more. Various film and commercial credits including “Tombstone: Rashomon” (dir. Alex Cox) and “Monsoon” (with Eve Plumb). She works as a teaching artist with Marin Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare for Social Justice program bringing theatre to the incarcerated. She also works as a grant writer with Advance Gender Equity in the Arts (AGE) (ageinthearts.org). She co-founded and serves as producing artistic director for The Bridge Initiative: Women+ in Theatre. Proud member Actors’ Equity Association.
Mary Grace Lim (She/Her) – PING-PING HSU – is a Filipino-American actor who graduated from Scottsdale Community College in May 2015 as a Vocal and Performance Major. She started her training in mid 2017 in a conservatory level actor training at Arizona Actors Academy (AZAA). First appearance on screen in 2019 of supporting role in short film Truth Is, written and directed by Vikram Aulakh, who had graciously won best short film in a film festival in India. By 2020, Mary Grace Lim signed and is currently with Dani’s Agency. Meanwhile continuously participating in intensive workshops, where risk taking demanded the artist to rise to the challenge, instructed by Honor Guest/Mentor, Gabe Fazio, also known as guest artist from, A Star Is Born and worked alongside Best Actor in a miniseries, Mark Ruffalo for I Know This Much Is True. Pre-pandemic January 2020, Mary Grace was able to get her hands on a challenging opportunity to train with AZ Renegade Stunt Crew, led by Richard O. Ryan, founder and Fight Master, alongside Jonathan Gabriel; actor, production designer and stunt master. By January 2021, she had completed her first year certified as an Unarmed Combat for Film as well as Movie Combat Technician. In the new light of 2021, new wheels are turning for Mary Grace Lim and is currently undergoing projects of various theatrical platforms for film, including but not limited to Zoom Collaboration Productions. She is not only hungry to dive into the work, putting these specific skills at work that continues to challenge the artist within, but is also extremely excited to put her creative mind and energy in collaboration with other dedicated artists. By the thoughtful words of Mentor, Brandy Hotchner whose wise words rung her deepest truth as the artist, which is to “Never stop seeking”.
Wai Yim (He/ Him) – MR. HSU – is an Actor, Director, Choreographer, a proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA. Originally from Hong Kong, he immigrated to Omaha, NE and started his acting career there. He now resides in Chicago and splits his time between both cities. He’s the Artistic Director of aetherplough, a performance art company in Omaha. He is also the Managing Director for Token Theatre in Chicago. He toured nationally with The White Snake directed by Mary Zimmerman. In Chicago, he has worked with: The Goodman Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, and Silk Road Rising. TV credits: Chicago PD (NBC), neXt (Fox), Patriot (Amazon) and The Chi (Showtime). Social Media: @whyyim Wai also has a YouTube channel: On The Cusp Tarot.
We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers’ Unions:
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION
AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS
AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS
SAG-AFTRA
through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.