THE GORN GALAXY

Deborah Brevoort (Playwright) is the award-winning author of plays, musicals, and operas librettos. She’s best known for The Women of Lockerbie, which is produced internationally. Her plays, produced at theatres across the US, include: Blue Moon Over Memphis, a Noh Drama about Elvis, The Poetry of Pizza, The Blue-Sky Boys, The Comfort Team, The Velvet Weapon, Into the Fire, and Signs of Life. Her latest,  My Lord, What Night, will open at Ford’s Theatre in 2021. A two-time winner of the Frederick Loewe Award in musical theatre for Coyote Goes Salmon Fishing, with Scott Richards, and King Island Christmas with David Friedman, her latest is Crossing Over an Amish Hip Hop musical with Stephanie Salzman. She has written the librettos for seven operas, which have been produced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Colorado, and others. Her plays are published by Applause Books, Samuel French, DPS, and No Passport Press. Deborah is a cofounder of Theatre Without Borders, dedicated to international theatre exchange. She serves as a mentor to the NBO Musical Theatre Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya, and teaches at Columbia University and NYU. She is writing a new comedy titled The Drolls for Florida Studio Theatre.

Megan Sandberg-Zakian (Director) is a theater director with a passion for the development of diverse new American plays & playwrights, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Her audio-play collaboration with writer Madhuri Shekar, Evil Eye, was the winner of the 2020 Audie Award for Original Work and the 2020 Gracie Award for Audio Drama. Recent projects include the world premieres of Madhuri Shekar’s House of Joy at California Shakespeare Theatre, Nathan Alan Davis’ Nat Turner in Jerusalem at New York Theatre Workshop, and Eleanor Burgess’ Chill at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Megan is a graduate of Brown University, holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College, and is a proud member of the national union for stage directors and choreographers, SDC. Her first book, There Must Be Happy Endings: On a Theatre of Optimism and Honesty is available from The 3rd Thing Press. Megan lives in Jamaica Plain, MA, with her wife Candice. megansz.com

Anne Scurria (Mother) has been a resident company member of Trinity Rep in Providence R.I. for 40 years and over 100 plays. She has appeared Off-Broadway and at regional theatres all over the country. Anne teaches acting at the Brown/Trinity MFA program.

Nehassaiu deGannes (Daughter) Based in Brooklyn, Nehassaiu deGannes has appeared in a range of classical and contemporary roles in New York, regionally, and internationally, including Stratford Festival of Canada, Shakespeare & Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Studio Theatre DC, Soho Rep, LaMaMa, Barrington Stage, Cleveland Play House, and in the film Equal Standard (Durban Int'l Film Festival 2020.) Recipient of a Wall Street Journal "Best of" Citation and Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, Nehassaiu has been featured performer for The UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Tupelo Press will publish her book of poems, Music for Exile, in 2021.

Will Hammond (Hacker) is a self-proclaimed performance artist studying Regional & Comparative Studies in the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Born and raised in the Los Angeles Area, Will has been a lover of performance ever since he can remember. Throughout the years, he has experimented with and actively participated in everything from spoken word to stand-up comedy, most recently acting in two plays with Georgetown's Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society and Black Theatre Ensemble. Currently, Will is still an active member of both of these groups and is also a Tenor in the Georgetown Chamber Singers.

Arshan Gailus (Sound Design) Arshan Gailus' music and soundscapes have been heard at ArtsEmerson, The Huntington Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, The Guthrie, Capital Repertory Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, A.R.T Institute, The Lyric Stage, New Repertory Theater, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Harvard College, Brandeis University, The Nora Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage, Gloucester Stage, and Company One. 2016 IRNE Award Best Sound Design (Small Theater) appropriate (SpeakEasy Stage Company). Elliot Norton Award Outstanding Design (Small Theater) The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (2012, Company One) and Twelfth Night (2011, Actors’ Shakespeare Project). BS in Music from MIT. Member of USA Local 829. www.arshangailus.com