ENGLISH

Aryana Asefirad

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. REGIONAL THEATRE: Gloucester Stage Company and LES Shakespeare Co. FILM/TELEVISION (upcoming): The Savant and Bad at Love. EDUCATION: University of California, Irvine and Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. WEBSITE: aryanaasefirad.com. INSTAGRAM: @aryana.asefirad.

Fady Demian

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. NEW YORK: Observant (Chain Theatre) and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (Gene Frankel Theatre). REGIONAL THEATRE: The Band’s Vis- it and Prayer for the French Republic (The Huntington Theatre); Wild Goose Dreams (SpeakEasy Stage); Emma and As You Like It (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Lorena: A Tabloid Epic and Incels and Other Myths (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Romeo and Juliet: What’s in a Name (American Shakespeare Center and Prague Shake- speare Company); and Hamlet (Oxford Shakespeare Company). FILM/TELEVISION: The Terminal List: Dark Wolf (Amazon Prime, directed by Fred Toye); The New Tenant (directed by Youssef Hesham); Roses and Red Noses (directed by Zac Vujnov); and Shadow of the Sun (directed by Emilio Guido). EDUCATION: BFA in Acting with a Musical Theatre Concentration from Boston University and Certificate of Classical Acting from London Academy of Musical and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). AFFILIATIONS/AWARDS: AEA and SAG-AFTRA member; recipient of the 2024 SpeakEasy Stage’s Thomas Derrah Emerging Artist Award. WEBSITE: www.fadydemian.com. INSTAGRAM: @fadyd5.

Sanam Laila Hashemi

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. REGIONAL THEATRE: The Who & The What (TheaterWorks Hartford), Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (Mosaic Theater Company), Tiny Beautiful Things (Theatre SilCo), Dance Nation (TheatreLAB), The Christians (Virginia Repertory Theatre and Cadence Theatre Company), and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Virginia Repertory Theatre). FILM/TELEVISION: Succession (HBO), Dear Edward (AppleTV+), and Full Circle (HBO). EDUCATION: BA from Virginia Tech. AFFILIATIONS/AWARDS: Inaugural Pipeline New Works Fellowship playwright and Producer at Working Theater. WEBSITE: sanamlailahashemi.com. INSTAGRAM: @sanam_laila_hashemi.

Neagheen Homaifar

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. REGIONAL THEATRE: Selling Kabul (Signature Theatre) and Scorched (ExPats Theatre). FILM/TELEVISION: Me (AppleTV+), Killing It (Peacock), The Resident (FOX), Before Dawn, Kabul Time (Hillman Grad). EDUCATION: Harvard University. WEBSITE: www.neagheen.com. INSTAGRAM: @neagheen.

Leyla Modirzadeh

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. OFF-BROADWAY: Gordafarid and The Palace at 4AM (New York Theatre Workshop) and Secret Histories (Clarke Theatre and Lincoln Center). OFF-OFF BROADWAY: La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Dixon Place and HERE Arts Center. REGIONAL THEATRE: The Kennedy Center, Wisdom Bridge Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, A Contemporary Theatre, Group Theatre, Bridge Street Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, Laughing Horse and Shakespeare Performing Arts Regional Company. EDUCATION: MFA in Acting from University of Washington and an MFA in Visual Arts from Pratt Institute. WEBSITE: www.leylamodirzadeh.com.

Sanaz Toossi

Sanaz is an Iranian-American playwright from Orange County, California. Her plays include the critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning English (co-production, Atlantic Theater Company/Roundabout Theatre Company) and Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons; Williamstown/Audible, released 2020). She is currently under commission at Atlantic Theater Company (Launch commission; Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation grant), Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (American Revolutions Cycle). In television, Sanaz recently staffed on Invitation to a Bonfire (AMC), A League of Their Own (Amazon), and Five Women (Marielle Heller/Big Beach), and sold an original idea, The Persians, to FX with Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields attached as Executive Producers. Sanaz is a member of Youngblood and the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at the Lark, and an alum of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group. She was the 2019 P73 Playwriting Fellow, a recipient of the 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award, the 2022 recipient of The Horton Foote Award and, most recently, the 2023 recipient of the Best New American Play Obie Award. MFA: NYU Tisch.

Kimberly Senior

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. BROADWAY: Disgraced. OFF-BROADWAY: Bella Bella and The Niceties (Manhattan Theatre Club); Sakina’s Restaurant (Audible Theater) and Engagements (Second Stage Theater). REGIONAL THEATRE: Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Writers Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and many more. FILM/TELEVISION: Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (HBO). BOOK: What Would a Person Do? Thoughts on Directing and Living. TEACHING: Brooklyn College, Brown University, Yale University, New York University, University of Rhode Island, DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago, University of Chicago and many more. WEBSITE: kimberlysenior.net.

Afsaneh Aayani

Shahrzad Mazaheri

REGIONAL THEATRE: English (a co-production with Goodman Theatre and Guthrie Theatre); Someone Will Remember Us, POTUS, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson: Apt. 2B, Becky Nurse of Salem, The Good John Proctor, Sweeney Todd and Sueño (Trinity Repertory Company); Wish You Were Here (South Coast Repertory); La Gringa (American Stage Theatre); and English (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). EDUCATION: MFA in Stage Design from Southern Methodist University. AFFILIATIONS: teaching professor based in Washington, D.C.; USA 829; Design Action. WEBSITE: www.shahrzadmazaheri.com. INSTAGRAM: @scheherezade.mzr.

Anshuman Bhatia

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. OFF-BROADWAY: HERE Arts Center, Keen Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Primary Stages, Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Soho Rep, Atlantic Theater Company, The Public Theater, The McKittrick Hotel, WP Theater and Park Avenue Armory. REGIONAL THEATRE: Chautauqua Theater Company, Classic Stage Company, Dublin’s Civic Theatre, Hartford Stage, Repertory Theater of St. Louis and Writers Theatre. OPERA: Austin Opera, Bard Music Festival, Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Kentucky Opera, LoftOpera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Madison Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Omaha, Opera San Jose, Pacific Symphony, Palm Beach Opera, Santa Fe Opera, The Juilliard School, Virginia Arts Festival. EDUCATION: MFA NYU. AFFILIATIONS: USA829. WEBSITE: www.bhatiadesign.com.

Christopher Darbassie

OFF-BROADWAY: The Counter (Roundabout Theatre); Table 17 (MCC Theater); Six Characters (Lincoln Center Theater); Grangeville, A Bright New Boise and A Case for the Existence of God (Signature Theatre, NYC); The Apiary, Camp Siegfried and Patience (Second Stage Theater); The Antiquities and Amusements (Playwrights Horizons); I’m Almost There (Audible at Minetta Lane Theatre and Francesca Moody Productions at Edinburgh Festival Fringe); This Beautiful Future (Cherry Lane Theatre); Uncle Vanya (in a Loft); P.S. (Ars Nova); Preparedness, Black Exhibition and Demons (The Bushwick Starr); Packages O’ the Things We Deliver (National Black Theatre); and work at Weston Theater, Alliance Theatre, PlayMakers Repertory Company and more.

Sade Namei

Sade is an actor, dialect coach, consultant, translator, and writer. CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Debut. OFF-BROADWAY: Emotional Creature (Signature Theatre), United Front (The Flea Theater) and In the Line (A.R.T./New York Theatres). REGIONAL THEATRE: Alliance Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Eugene O’Neill Theatre. FILM/TELEVISION: The Night Agent (season two) and New Amsterdam. TRANSLATION AND DIALECT COACHING: The Night Agent (season two), The Penguin, Complete Unknown, The Blacklist, Madam Secretary, Limitless, Mr. Robot, Homeland, Yale Repertory Theater, Trinity Repertory Theater and City Theatre Company. SOCIAL MEDIA: @sadenamei.

Sharifa Yazmeen

REGIONAL THEATRE: Disgraced (American Stage); Babel (Contemporary American Theatre Festival); The War Boys (Hangar Theatre); and 3:59 AM (Actors Theatre of Louisville). EDUCATIONAL THEATRE: Beirut, One Flea Spare and Alabaster (Brown/Trinity Rep); Noon Panir in the Dark (Dartmouth College); Witch (Wittenberg University); and Twelfth Night (SUNY Brockport). FELLOWSHIPS: Hangar Fellowship (The Drama League); Directing Apprentice (Actors Theatre of Louisville); National Directing Fellow (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center); and Directing Fellow (Manhattan Theatre Club). EDUCATION: MFA from Brown/Trinity Rep. AWARDS: Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s Barbara Whitman Award and Abe Burrows Award. WEBSITE: sharifayazmeen.com. INSTAGRAM: @sharifa_yaz.

Stephanie Klapper, CSA

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK (13 seasons): Shows include Vietgone, Stew, Clyde’s and Shane. BROADWAY: A Christmas Story, The Musical and Dividing the Estate. OFF-BROADWAY (recent): Distant Thunder (Amas Musical Theatre); Sump’n Like Wings and Partnership (Mint Theater); Dig (Primary Stages); The Night of the Iguana (off-Broadway); and Henry IV (New York Classical Theatre). REGIONAL THEATRE: Ahrens and Flaherty’s Knoxville (Clarence Brown Theatre); The Cape Playhouse season; Beautiful (Capital Repertory Theatre); and Shane (world premiere co-production with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Guthrie Theater). AUDIO FILM: Elf Quest. FILM: The Nature of the Crime; Ranked, the musical and HBO documentary; and many more. AFFILIATIONS/AWARDS: Casting Society Cares member; Casting Society member; four-time recipient of the Artios Awards for Excellence in Casting; New York University Tisch School of the Arts Women’s Mentorship; Adjunct professor at NYU New Studio on Broadway; teacher and guest lecturer at numerous colleges and universities. WEBSITE: www.klappercasting.com.

Brooke Redler

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Mr. Parent, The Chosen, A Christmas Carol, Frida. . . A Self Portrait, Destiny of Desire, 2 Pianos 4 Hands, Once on This Island, In The Heights, Million Dollar Quartet and Native Gardens. CINCINNATI: Cincinnati Opera. OFF-BROADWAY: Breathing Time, The Faire and From White Plains (Fault Line Theatre). REGIONAL THEATRE: Hair: Retrospection, Stillwater, The Whipping Man, August: Osage County, Cabaret and five seasons of A Christmas Carol (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Vanya, Sonya, Masha & Spike (Center Stage Baltimore); The Drowsy Chaperone and Is He Dead? (Creede Repertory Theatre); Hairspray and The Sound Of Music (Starlight Theatre); Stages St. Louis and Heart Of America Shakespeare Festival. OTHER OPERA: Opera Long Beach and Santa Fe Opera. AFFILIATIONS: Lead Producer of The Over The Rhine International Film Festival.

Shelby Scaffidi

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK: Rooted, Origin Story, A Christmas Carol, Vietgone and Dial M for Murder. CINCINNATI: Cincinnati Ballet and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. REGIONAL THEATRE: Goodman Theatre and Clinton Area Showboat Theater. Education: BA in Theatre and Sustainability from Miami University.