People

Sarah Wansley (Artistic Director) is a New York-based director and producer. Directing credits with Aporia include Follow Me Down, Passion in the Park, Bare Naked Drama, The Disappearance of Jonah, Moonlight, The Real Inspector Hound, No Exit, and The Real Thing. As a Directing and Producing Assistant at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ, Sarah had the opportunity to assist such inspiring directors as Tina Landau, Emily Mann, and Roger Rees. Other directing credits include Here Comes Tomorrow (Youngblood / EST), #serials@theflea (The Flea Theater), The Suitcase (Looking Glass Theatre Writer/Director Forum) and What the Future Awaits (McCarter Theatre Center Youth Ink Festival). Sarah graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University and currently works as the Company Manager at The Flea Theater. Sarah is a member of the 2011 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab.

Lydia Brunner (Director of New Play Development) writes, performs and produces plays in the New York area. She recently started Aporia’s playwriting group. Acting credits include Titus Andronicus (The Brick), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Looking Glass Theatre), Happy Hour (45th Street Theater), Macbeth (Chashama), Pound (Miller Theater), Rainbow Monologues, Agamemnon, The Thing About Robocop, and Listen to Me. Her film credits include Insomnia, a SAG short film. She has worked as an assistant on Othello (The Juilliard School), and Twelfth Night (Barnard College). Lydia spent a summer at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and graduated cum laude from Columbia last May. She currently works at New Dramatists as a Literary Associate.

Elizabeth C. Grefrath (President of the Board of Trustees, Artistic Affiliate) is an oral historian and founding Executive Director of Aporia Repertory Theater. Producing credits with Aporia include The Disappearance of Jonah, Moonlight, The Real Inspector Hound, No Exit, and The Real Thing. She currently directs the Guantanamo Bay Oral History Project at the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University. Elizabeth graduated with degrees in History and English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University and has worked with The Public Theater, the Alliance for the Arts, the International Rescue Committee, and the Network for Peace through Dialogue.

Nikki Rothenberg (Resident Director) currently works in the Television, Film, and Theater dept. at Don Buchwald and Associates. Some of her NY directing credits include Why Can’t I? (New York Theater Barn), Grimm Late Night (NY Artists Unlimited Bad Musicals Festival), and Anna’s Perfect Party (Looking Glass Theater). She has also worked with the New York International Fringe Festival on Muffin Man as a creative consultrant and is an Artistic Associate at the Looking Glass Theater. Nikki has a B.A. in theater studies from Emerson College.

Sarah Hartmann (Resident Director) recently completed a summer working with the Chautauqua Theater Company. Her past work includes directing Sorry, Wrong Number (Barnard College); assistant directing Arms and the Man (The Juilliard School) and What of the Night (Barnard College); acting in The Golden Cockerel (Casa Italiana), yellow electras (Ontological-Hysteric Theatre); title roles in Mariana Pineda (British American Drama Academy), and Elektra (British American Drama Academy);productions at the Player’s Theater and the Historic Atlas Theatre and others. Sarah has held internships with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Primary  Stages. Sarah graduated with a B.A. in theatre from Barnard College and spent a year studying at the British American Drama Academy.

Allison Smith (Casting Director) Casting credits with Aporia include Bare Naked Drama, Follow Me Down, and Passion in the Park. Allison spent a year working as a Casting Assistant at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ. At McCarter, Allison served as Casting Director for all non-equity mainstage and educational casting and assisted with casting Talley’s Folly, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Twelfth Night, The Brother/Sister Plays, Eclipsed, and the annual production of A Christmas Carol. She has held internships with Jim Carnahan Casting and Second Stage Theatre. Allison graduated with degrees in Business and Theatre from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and spent a semester abroad studying theatre at Goldsmiths College in London.

Patrick McKelvey (Resident Dramaturg) recently moved to New York following a year as Literary Assistant at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ. While at McCarter, he dramaturged the YouthInk! Festival of Ten-Minute Plays, and assistant dramaturged Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed (directed by Liesl Tommy), Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays (directed by Tina Landau and Robert O’Hara), and George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession (directed by Emily Mann). Other favorite dramaturgy credits include Assassins, Slaughter City, and The Summer People at the University of Texas at Austin, and The Realm and God of the Gaps at the Mark Cohen New Works Festival. Patrick graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with dual degrees in English and Theatre (Performance as Public Practice).

Patrick Barrett (Founding Member) is a New York-based actor and playwright. In 2010, the world premiere of his full length play Follow Me Down was produced by Aporia at The Flea Theater. Previous acting work with the company includes the roles of Henry in The Real Thing, Jonah in The Disappearance of Jonah (D. C. Fringe), Garcin in No Exit (Cherry Lane), and Ralph in Moonlight. Other credits include Kaz in the world premiere of Art of Attack (NY Fringe), Sgt. duPreez in Athol Fugard’s Statements and Hal in Proof. Patrick is a graduate of Columbia University.

Maura McNamara (Founding Member) is a theater and film actor in New York. Recent credits include Debbie in The Real Thing (Terry Schreiber, T. Schreiber Studio), a performance for which she received a 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, as well as Isabella in Measure for Measure (King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe), Amy in The Disappearance of Jonah (Capital Fringe Festival), and Bel in Moonlight (Aporia) and numerous productions at Columbia University. She has studied under Peter Jensen at the T. Schreiber Studio and is a graduate of Columbia University.

Alec Turnbull (Producer-at-Large, Web Designer) has worked as producer and managing director of Aporia.

Eric Tam (Special Advisor and Co-Producer) is an attorney who has had the fortune to cross paths with far more creative and energetic people than he ever expected. Eric contributed to the production of Aporia’s Bare Naked Drama. He practices in New York and holds an undergraduate degree in Arts and Science and Philosophy from McMaster University, a graduate degree in political theory from Yale University, and a law degree from Yale Law School.

Laura Cole (Development Manager) has been involved with Aporia in a variety of capacities since its inception and now manages all fundraising campaigns and events. She is currently working as a nonprofit development and communications consultant with Sanky Communications. Additionally, she currently works as a House Manager at the Cherry Lane Theatre and has previously worked as the Marketing Assistant for Wicked and as a Venue Director for the NY International Fringe Festival. Laura is a graduate of Columbia University.

Graham Halstead (Company Member) is an actor based in New York City. Recent work includes the New York and World Premiere of Follow Me Down (The Flea Theater), the New York and World Premiere of West Lethargy (59E59 Theater, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009, NY Int’l Fringe Festival 2010), the New York Premiere of Pussy (Cherry Lane’s Cherry Pit Theater), Marisol (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Our Town with James Whitmore (Peterborough Players), Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard and National On-Camera spots for ESPN/Cisco and the US Army. Training: NYU, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Sam Reisman (Company Member) is a New York-based writer, director, and stage manager. For Aporia, Sam has done video design for The Disappearance of Jonah (Capital Fringe Festival), stage managed The Disappearance of Jonah (FringeNYC), and assistant directed Follow Me Down (The Flea). Other credits include: directing Next Door (Manhattan Repertory Theatre), assistant directing The Threepenny Opera (Princeton Opera Festival) and The Boychick Affair (Comix Comedy Club), stage managing Art of Attack (FringeNYC) and We the Corporate Personhood (Henry Kraine Theatre), and assistant stage managing Friends With A Benefit (Town Hall). He was a literary intern for Jean Doumanian Productions and is currently a stage management intern at New Dramatists. Sam graduated cum laude from Columbia University where he was president of Latenite Theatre, directed Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral and Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From for CU Players, and co-wrote and co-directed The 115th Varsity Show. Sam is a member of the improv comedy team Dog Court, which has performed at the Magnet, P.I.T. and UCB Theatre.