Adam Qutaishat (Any/All) is an Arab-American performer, musician, and storyteller based in Chicago. Adam has performed around the world as an actor with recent highlights including The Lord of the Rings with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Auckland Live, Wife of a Salesman and God of Carnage with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Band's Visit with Writers Theatre and TheatreSquared, and Steady She Goes with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Adam also produces and stars in the audio fiction podcast Vigil on the Fable & Folly Network. You can learn more about them at adamqutaishat.com. Adam is thrilled that this reading is giving voice not only to Arab-Americans, but to those struggling to find their sense of identity in a world of ever-shifting labels for multi-cultural people.

Aden Haq is new to Chicago and is starting out his acting career. Primarily a film actor who has had supporting roles on short films, he is now branching out into theater. Born and raised in Pakistan, he has lived in the United States for the last 10 years ; his passion lies in his affinity for stories rooted in diversity and personal struggles.

An avid swing dancer, filmmaker and photographer; outside of acting, Aden also spends his time reading, cooking and picking up new hobbies.

Alexander Attea is the Artistic Director of Avalanche Theatre and the Creative Director of the Fine Arts Building & Studebaker Theater. He is also a playwright, actor, musician, and artist. More at www.alexanderattea.com. <3

Austin Rambo is a heightened Physical Theater Actor. His Chicago debut back in 2020 was the Jeff Award winning "All Quiet on the Western Front," with Red Tape Theater. All Quiet received Best Play, New Work, Best Ensemble, and more. Austin is a graduate of The Actor's Gymnasium "2-Year Professional Circus Training Program," where he now teaches. He started his physical theater training in Moscow, Russia through a training program at the Moscow Art Theater. Other select credits include understudy for Circus Quixote at Lookingglass Theater Company, Socks and Co. reading with EFCT, and was featured on AMC's "You are Here." Feel free to check out more at his website: www.Austin-Rambo.com

Christina Casano (she/her) is a theatre artist based in Chicago. Her training includes a BA in Theatre from Miami University, Victory Gardens Theater’s Director’s Inclusion Initiative, and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's Summer Professional Training Program. Selected directing credits: Dear Elizabeth (Remy Bumppo), I Build Giants and Poison (The Plagiarists), Henry IV Pt. 1 (Starling Shakespeare Co), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stone Soup Shakespeare), Plaid As Hell (Babes With Blades), Socks & Co. (workshop, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre), Work in Progress (workshop, The Plagiarists) How To Murder… (workshop, Bramble Theatre), Blood of My Mother’s (workshop, Wayward Sisters), Deep Shadows (audio drama, EFCT), Fame Heaux (staged reading, Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival). Other favorite projects: Short Shakes! Romeo & Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Some Like It Red and The Epic of Gilgamesh, etc. (The Plagiarists), How To Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens), Bury Me (Dandelion Theatre), The Light Fantastic (Jackalope Theatre). She is the Creative Producer for Remy Bumppo. www.cmrcasano.com

Jordan is absolutely ecstatic to be a part of this workshop process! They had the pleasure of appearing as Marcus in Bramble Theatre's Festival of Unfinished Works last summer, so having the chance to revisit the role is a dream. Chicago credits include: Eurydice (Snails on a Bike), The Band's Visit (Writers Theatre), and Mesmerized! (Chicago Children's Theater). Catch them in Jackalope's production of Neighborhood Watch this summer! Many thanks to Alexander, Christina, and Suzi for inviting them into a process that hits so close to home<3
Follow Jo along @jordan.tannous :D

Marielle Issa is a Chicago-based actor. Chicago credits: THE BAND’s VISIT (Writers Theatre), THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA (Marriott Theatre), HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF (Victory Gardens Theater). Other regional: THE BAND’S VISIT (TheatreSquared), LITTLE WOMEN (Quintessence Theatre), THE TEMPEST (Quintessence Theatre)

Mary Kate Young has been involved in the theatre community for years and is a proud member of the Avalanche Theatre ensemble. She has been working with this group of innovative artists since the 24 Hour Play Festival in 2023. She participated in the Next Draft Series production of Time is Color and the Color is Blue and directed a piece for the 24 Hour Play Festival in 2024. She writes poetry and is a video creator. She is currently in graduate school at UIC for Social Work. She has loved working with Avalanche Theatre and am grateful for the artistic home she has found.
IG: mkyoung8 (Link to video content in bio - Check out The Glass)

Owen Hickle-Edwards is a proud company member and Literary Manger at Avalanche Theatre. He has been creating work across various mediums in Chicago since 2014, including most recently performing in Eclectic Full Contact's workshop of Socks & Co., and cinematography for the feature length film The Lifeguards. Previous Next Draft work includes Time is a Color and the Color is Blue, Homunculus, and Infinity Burns. Other Chicago Credits: Outlaws with Avalanche Theatre, Neighborhood 3 with Bower Theatre, and Blue/Orange, After the Dance, A Number, and Scenes From an Execution, all with Runcible Theatre. He is from High Point, North Carolina.

Paula Sjogerman has been a theater artist for many, many years, as an actor, director,
clown, teacher, and acting coach. Her work has been seen with The Conspirators, Corn
Productions, Raven Theater, CityLit, Cream City Semi-Circus and various independent
projects. She was the Executive Director of Gaia Theater, a founding director of Thin Ice
Theater Ensemble, and co-founded Vaudeville Chicago, where she currently serves as
board president. She’s thrilled to be a part of another Avalanche project!

Suzi Elnaggar is an Egyptian-American performance scholar, freelance dramaturg, and theatre maker. She was a 2021 Kennedy Center Dramaturgy Intensive Fellow and works as both a developmental and production dramaturg. Her work has been published in Asian Theatre Journal, Arab Stages, and Theatre Times. Her interests include recontextualizing Greek tragedy, myths, and folklore, postcolonial theatre contexts, decoloniality in performance, theatre of social change, the intersection of trauma and performance, transnational and migrant stories, and work that centers around SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) experiences. Suzi’s scholarship and practice center community, collaboration, and context.

As a dramaturg, she is experienced in both production and developmental work. She is the artistic director of Backstitch Story Project, and the founder and creative director of the Digital Development Project. She has read scripts for PlayPenn, Playwright’s Center, Rattlestick’s Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, SHE-LA, and Sparkfest, among many others. Selected dramaturgy credits (Production & Developmental Workshops): Silk Road’s Shahadat; Backstitch Story Arts Off-White: The Arab House Party Play; Clamour Theatre’s Lived Experience; TACTICS Ottawa’s ANANSI V. GOD(S); Jubilee Theatre Waco’s Fairview (Texas Premiere); Wild Imaginings’ Jesus and Valium (World Premiere), The Way He Looks at You, Cardboard Castles Hung on Walls (World Premiere); Northwestern University Theatre’s The Great Sea Serpent (Workshop Premiere).