José Cruz González (he/him) - José is a playwright whose work includes The Extraordinary Ms. ZLuna Captures the World, If by Chance, The Throwaways, Under a Baseball Sky, American Mariachi, The Wondrous Adventures of Pia Sandía, and Forever Poppy. He has written for PAZ, the Emmy Award-nominated television series produced by Discovery Kids for The Learning Channel. He was selected as one of the inaugural 2022 Kennedy Center’s Next 50, a new initiative celebrating cultural leadership with 50 trailblazing leaders and organizations. He is a Professor Emeritus at California State University at Los Angeles, a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, TYA/USA, and the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Tlaloc Rivas
Tlaloc Rivas (he/him) - Tlaloc is a writer, director, dramaturg, and producer based in Connecticut (ancestral lands of the Mohegan, Nipmuc, and Pequot people) and has worked extensively as a stage director, teaching artist, and facilitator all over the country. He recently joined the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Connecticut as Associate Professor in Residence. Before UConn, he held a residency with Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama as the inaugural Presidential Postdoctoral Presidential Fellow. Tlaloc has more than 25 years of working professionally at various organizations, schools, and institutions. He has extensively trained in the performing arts, EDI, and Antiracist practices with a passion for inclusion, justice, and the arts.
Eric Kilbride
Eric Kilbride (he/him) - Eric has been working with non-profit leaders, youth workers, young people, and their communities across the US and around the world to improve the opportunities and support young people and their families need to thrive for more than 20 years. He developed Community Youth Mapping as an international community and youth engagement strategy to collect, analyze and disseminate information in a myriad of subject areas. He also established Youth MakerSpaces as co-design, collaboration spaces within communities, and provided training and technical assistance in Youth Employment and Livelihood, Social Justice, Workforce Development, STEM, Leadership and Civil Society.
Lily Houghton
Lily Houghton (she/her) - Lily is a playwright born and raised in New York City. Her plays have been produced/developed at theaters such as MCC Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, The Flea Theater, EST/Youngblood, NYU, Seattle Repertory Theater, Normal Ave, Contemporary American Theater Festival/Shepherd
University, The 52nd Street Project and the Jermyn Street Theatre in London. She is currently developing a pilot with Amazon Studios.
Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Donnetta Lavinia Grays (she/her) - Donnetta is a Brooklyn-based playwright-actor from Columbia, SC. Her plays include Where We Stand, Last Night and the Night Before, Laid to Rest, and The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition. She’s received The Whiting Award for Drama, The Helen Merrill Playwright Award, NTC’s Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Lilly Award, Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She is also a Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and AUDELCO Award Nominee. Commissions: Steppenwolf, Denver Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, WP Theater, and True Love Productions.
Natalie Beane
Natalie Beane (she/her), Board Secretary/Treasurer – Natalie serves as Vice President Senior Business Development Officer SBA, First Internet Bank. She brings more than 16 years of experience and expertise in finance and strategic planning to The New Harmony Project Board of Trustees.
Ron Gifford
Ron Gifford (he/him), Immediate Past Board Co-Chair - Ron is Managing Principal of RDG Strategies LLC. He brings to The New Harmony Project Board a wealth of experience in governance, strategic planning, and legal affairs.
Alex Gale
Alex Gale (he/him) - Alex is Co-Owner/President/Roaster and Coffee Educator at Black Lodge Coffee Roasters in New Harmony, IN. Named one of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs in the State of Indiana, he discovered a deep passion for coffee and the industry by understanding how it shapes people's lives in the most joyful way. Black Lodge Coffee, housed in an unforgettable cooperage building constructed in 1825, has played a vital role in his life, including the site of his wedding, and it continues to grow a special eco-system of humanity in New Harmony and beyond.
Daria Miyeko Marinelli
Daria Miyeko Marinelli (they/she), Vice Chair - Daria is a Japanese-Italian playwright/screenwriter who delights in using the heist genre, wildness, and bifurcating narrative structures to challenge current and construct new cultural mythologies. Mx. Marinelli has developed work with Cirque du Soleil, Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwright’s Realm, Fault Line Theatre, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and The Kennedy Center and is currently developing a TV series with Hill District Media.
Loui Lord Nelson, Ph.D.
Loui Lord Nelson, Ph.D. (she/her), Board Co-Chair – Loui is an internationally recognized leader in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) implementation. UDL is a framework used by anyone who delivers instruction and wants to design accessible, equitable, and inclusive learning environments that guide learners to know themselves as learners. Loui was a special education teacher and later became the UDL Coordinator for a school district for four years. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at CAST (the creators of UDL).
She has worked with educators across the U.S., Africa, Australia, Asia, Canada, and Europe and with USAID, the U.S. government-based aid organization, and implementing partners to define their application of UDL across low- and middle-income settings. Some of her publications include: the best seller Design and Deliver: Planning and Teaching Using Universal Design for Learning (2nd Ed.), two additional books, a card game called Go Fishing with UDL, and she hosts the popular podcast, UDL in 15 Minutes, listened to by individuals in over 135 countries. theUDLapproach.com
Blair Russell
Blair Russell (he/him), Board Co-Chair - Blair is a producer, developer, supporter, and lover of theater. His favorite projects include Slave Play (a record-breaking 12 Tony nominations), Lizard Boy (3 Drama Desk nominations), STILL (Off-Broadway starring Jayne Atkinson and Tim Daly), and DIVA: Live From Hell (King's Head Theatre, London).
He is currently developing the new musicals For Tonight, Salem, Pop Off, Michelangelo!, and The Circus in Winter. Other projects as co-producer / investor include The Wiz (National Tour/Broadway), Sweeney Todd (Immersive Off-Broadway , Gyspy with Imelda Staunton (West End), An Officer and A Gentleman (UK National Tour), and Show Boat (West End). Blair is a member of the Board of Goodspeed Musicals and SPACE on Ryder Farm. He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Technical Theatre/Stage Management.
Vichet Chum
Vichet Chum (he/him) – Vichet is a New York based writer from Dallas, Texas. His plays have been workshopped/produced at Steppenwolf Theatre, the Alley Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Ars Nova, Page 73 Productions, Cleveland Play House, the Magic Theater, the UCROSS Foundation, Fault Line Theatre, Crowded Outlet, Second Generation Productions, Weston Playhouse, Cleveland Public Theatre, All For One Theater, Amios, Florida State University, South Carolina New Play Festival and The New Harmony Project.
He received the 2018 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting with New Dramatists, the 2021 Laurents/Hatcher Award and a 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for the world premiere of his play Bald Sisters which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre in 2022 and a special state citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives for his play KNYUM at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in 2018. He is currently a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, a Sun Valley Writers’ Conference Fellow, a curator for Space on Ryder Farm, a board member for the New Harmony Project, and a steering committee member for the Obie Award and Tony Award-winning organization, AAPAC (The Asian American Performers Action Coalition). Past notable writers' groups include: the Resident Working Farm Group at Space on Ryder Farm, the Interstate 73 Writer's Group at Page 73 and the Ars Nova Play Group. He is currently working on commissions for Audible, Steppenwolf Theatre, People’s Light, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre. He is a proud graduate of the University of Evansville (BFA) and Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company (MFA). Vichet's debut YA novel Kween was released in the fall of 2023 with Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. vichetchum.com