CREATIVE TEAM

Olga Sanchez began her professional acting career at the Vineyard Playhouse performing in Cabaret, The Three Sisters, and with the Afterwords sketch comedy ensemble. She currently serves as the Director of New Work for Chautauqua Theatre Company; Assistant Professor of Theatre at Middlebury College, and Artistic Director Emerita of Milagro Theatre (following her service as Artistic Director there from 2003-2015). She is an actor, director, devisor, and arts activist, whose work has been seen throughout the US and in Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, and Cuba. Her ¡O ROMEO! received a Portland Drama Critics’ DRAMMY award for Outstanding Achievement in Devised Work, and her Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) was nominated for several BroadwayWorld awards, including Best Direction. Olga also served as co-artistic director of the People’s Playhouse in New York City, artistic director of Seattle Teatro Latino, and co-founder of La Casa de Artes, a Seattle-based non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the beauty of Latino arts and cultural heritage. She is a founding member of the Portland-based Latinx writers’ group Los Porteños, and editor for the book, Teatro de los Muertos, a collection of photographs by Russell J. Young. Olga served on the Executive Committee and the Diversity Task Force for TCG’s Board of Directors, and currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Latinx Theatre Commons, a collaborative initiative with HowlRound Theatre Commons. Among her commitments to the LTC, she served as co-champion of El Fuego, the initiative to seed the American theatre field with new works by Latinx playwrights. She is a contributing scholar to the Encuentro anthology of Latinx plays (2019) and Shakespeare and Latinidad (2021). Current projects include Tricks to Inherit, her translation/adaptation of Astucias por Heredar un Sobrino a un Tío by Fermín de Reygadas (1789), and The Widow, a translation of La Viuda by María Irene Fornés (1961). She is co-editor of the Routledge Companion of Latinx Theatre and Performance (2023). In spring 2023 she will direct Somewhere, the ecodrama by Marisela Treviño Orta.

Bella is thrilled to be performing here in the beautiful island of Martha's Vineyard. She is an upcoming senior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Musical Theatre. She is a proud Mexicana and is thrilled to be telling latin stories on stage. Hope you enjoy!

Claudia Quesada is a Chicago/Miami based actor and is thrilled to make her MVP debut. Some of her credits include the World Premier of Teatro Vista’s Somewhere Over the Border at Windy City Playhouse, A Xmas Cuento Remix (16th Street Theater), Return to Sender (Nashville Children’s Theatre), the workshop production of Back in the Day (Urban Theater Company), Teatro Vista’s La Havana Madrid (Goodman Theatre), among others. She has worked with Water People Theatre, LTC Carnaval of New Latinx Work, Piven Theatre and in Miami with Teatro Prometeo, Teatro Avante & Margi Happenings. She is also a professional stilt walker and a Spanish Translator. Claudia graduated from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Teatro Prometeo, the Music Program at Miami Dade College, and from The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is a proud member of AEA and is represented by Shirley Hamilton, Inc.

Lawrence Redmond (Pablo Neruda) is honored to make his debut at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse among this sterling company of artists. A born and bred Washingtonian, he has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association for 34 years. He is a multiple nominee and a two-time recipient of the Helen Hayes Award, and a 2022 Artist Fellowship Awardee from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Redmond is grateful for the support of the many audiences, donors, and friends of theatres around this country who have kept filling audiences during these challenging times.

Erik is a proud Afro-Latino artist making his debut here at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse! Regional: Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vic in Ironbound, A Lie Agreed Upon, An Octoroon with Gamm Theatre. Good with Burbage Theatre. Film: For the Record, After the Happiness. Awards: The Gamm Theatre Fellowship Recipient, David Edmonds Award for Outstanding Artistic and Creative Expression – University of Rhode Island, Freeform Network Nationwide Talent Search Top 20 Finalist. Instagram @Evenbetterstill

Sean studied painting at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. He is also an actor, performing in theater and on television as the host and co-producer of two TV shows called The Sunny Side Up Show and Noodle and Doodle which have aired on Sprout, NBC and networks all over the world. Sean is also a member of Comedy Sportz Philadelphia, an award-winning improvisational comedy troupe. He has been a year-round resident of Martha’s Vineyard since August of 2017, moving here with his wife and two children. Recently, as a sculptor, he created a nine-foot-tall sculpture of a Boston terrier for the Boston Calling Music Festival. His latest focus has been on creating socially and politically engaged art. www.SeanRoachArts.com

Ernie has designed lights and sets for numerous productions at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse since 1993. Ernie has a Master of Fine Arts Degree from New York University in Lighting Design and a BA in Music Education from New Jersey City University. He plays bassoon, performs comedy improv and is a Project Manager in the System Sales Department for High Output/Boston.

Chrysal is a clothing designer/costume maker based on the Vineyard. She originally came here in 1993 to drive tour buses. She fell in love with the Island, and came back summer after summer, and moved here in 1999. Chrysal has been designing and making her own clothes for almost 40 years and professionally for 35.

Jo has lived on the island for 35 years, and has seen nearly every Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse production. A chef of 45 years and former co-owner of Chesca’s in Edgartown with her husband David, Jo works as the properties manager for the Playhouse, and joins our special events team.

Tim is pleased to return to Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse and being a part of bringing live theatre back to the Vineyard and Playhouse audiences. He has stage managed over two dozen Playhouse productions since 2003 in addition to stage managing at numerous regional theatres including Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY; Kansas City Rep; San Jose Rep and fifteen years at Arizona Theatre Company. A member of AEA since 1974, he has been a summer Island resident since 1992 and an annual Vineyard visitor for 15 years prior to that.

Skarmeta is one of the most widely read Chilean authors in the world. He studied Philosophy and Literature in his country and in New York, and taught literature at the University of Chile until 1973. After several years in Germany he returned to Chile in 1990 and joined the Goethe Institute in Santiago. His novels and his stories have been translated into more than twenty languages and have won a number of awards, such as the Altazor, the Boccaccio and the Planeta. In addition, Antonio Skármeta has been distinguished with the title of Knight of Arts and Letters, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture, as well as with the Guggenheim scholarship and the Berlin Arts Program scholarship. Several of his works have been adapted to the cinema, in Oscar-nominated films such as Neruda's Postman and No, as well as his novels The Victory Dance or A Movie Father. In 2017 he entered the Chilean Academy of Language to occupy seat 20.