Water Spirits
Playwright
Alicia Kester
Alicia Kester (she/her) is a Black, mixed-race playwright, poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. She draws on both her Yoruba and Louisiana Creole heritages, as well as her queer, disabled, and first-generation identities to address themes of migration, familial constructs, tribalism, environmentalism, the physical and/or racialized body, and current events. She often explores speculative genres, infusing magical realism, absurdism, or futurism within her writing. In 2021 she completed a residency with the CPH Queer Theatre Festival, where she wrote two short plays that were produced in Denmark. She has also completed residency programs with 3Girls Theatre and Monson Arts and has an upcoming residency with The Hambidge Center. She was a semifinalist for the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival and the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference. She is a former VONA scholar and a recipient of grant funding from the Center for Cultural Innovation, among others.
In loving memory
July 23, 1978–December 25, 2023
Meet the Creative Team
Director
ELIZABETH CARTER
**Elizabeth Carter (she/her) is a longtime SF Bay Area theatremaker. Most recently she directed Wolf Play for Shotgun Players. Her recent regional directing credits include Confederates (St. Louis Rep), Steel Magnolias (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), and past productions Every 28 Hours Plays and A Place To Belong (A.C.T Conservatory), Stoop Stories (Aurora Theatre Co.) and associate director on the ripple the wave that carried me home (Berkeley Rep/Goodman Theatre) and assistant director How I Learned What I Learned (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). She directed the ground breaking 2020 virtual King Lear, (SF Shakespeare Festival), Feel the Spirit (Shotgun Players/Colt Couer NYC). Her directorial film debut Bottled Spirits will be seen this fall at the London Pan African Film Festival. She is a recipient of the Bridging the Gap Grant and is a 2019 alum of Director’s Lab West. Elizabeth was the inaugural SDCF Lloyd Richards New Futures Resident Director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a current 2023 Lucas Arts Fellow.
Dramaturg
CAT BROOKS
Cat Brooks (she/her) has been moving across stages and screens for 30 years. She’s the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project whose mission is to eradicate police terror in communities of color. APTP is a pioneer in developing alternative response models to community crises and runs Mental Health First – Oakland/Sacramento’s only abolitionist non 9-1-1 response to community crisis. Cat trained at the Royal National Theater Studio in London. Notable roles include Lady Macbeth at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Ruth in Raisin in the Sun and starring in her one-woman show ‘Tasha, about the in-custody murder of Natasha McKenna. Brooks has been nominated Best Featured Actress by the Bay Area Theater Circle Critics and ‘Tasha won Best of The SF Fringe in 2017. Brooks hosts Law & Disorder on KPFA and is a resident playwright and actress with The Lower Bottom Playaz in Oakland and 3Girls Theatre in San Francisco.
Production Assistant
ASHLEY (A.M.) SMILEY
Smiley (she/her) is a native AfroFranciscan currently obtaining her PhD from the Graduate Theological Union and in love with supporting new plays and new writers. Her most recent theatre experience was the world premiere of her full-length original play, Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad at the Magic Theatre.
Meet the Cast
*MARGO HAL
L (she/her, MRS. EVIE GUIDRY, MADAM TINIBU) is an award-winning actor, director, playwright, educator, and the Artistic Director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre., and a founding member of Campo Santo. She has graced Bay Area stages for over 35 years. She was last seen in Josephine’s Feast by Star Finch for Campo Santo and Magic Theatre. Other acting highlights include Black Odyssey, Skeleton Crew, Gem of the Ocean, Marcus or the Secret of Sweet, Trouble in Mind, Barbecue (also directed), and A Winter’s Tale. Film credits include Bottled Spirits, All Day and a Night, Blindspotting, and the voice of Melba in Pixar’s SOUL. TV credits include Blindspotting, Chances, and Nash Bridges. Directing highlights include How I Learned What I Learned, Nollywood Dreams, Barbecue, Red Velvet, and Ragtime. She recently co-created and directed the world premiere production of In The Evening by The Moonlight, a play by Traci Tolmaire about Lorraine Hansberry with Nina Simone and James Baldwin for Lorraine Hansberry Theatre.
*Halili Knox (she/her, YEMOJA, FATHER JOSEPH) is a versatile performing artist who was most recently part of the cast of FLEX at Lincoln Center Theater (Lortel Award nomination, Outstanding Ensemble). She was also a member of the acting company for the 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville (FLEX). Halili is a Board member and Associate Artist at Oakland Theater Project where she last appeared in The Crucible, Dance of the Holy Ghosts, and The Gospel of Loving Kindness (Theatre Bay Area Award nomination, Outstanding Female Actor). She has also appeared in Detroit ’67 at Aurora Theatre Company (Bay Area Critics Circle Award nomination, Principal Actress in a Play) and Barbecue at SF Playhouse (Bay Area Critics Circle Award, Best Ensemble). Halili is an Emmy nominated television host who made her national debut on HGTV. In addition to stage and screen, she has performed internationally as a jazz vocalist.
*Alicia M. P. Nelson (she/her, FLORESTINE PERRAULT COLLINS) is an award-winning actor, clown, and arts educator. Alicia received a BFA in Acting from Boston University, and also trained in both classical theatre and Commedia dell’Arte in Greece and Italy, respectively. She has worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, WAM Theatre, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, TheatreWorksSV, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and many more. Alicia is an avid believer in playing pretend, diving in head-first, and the power of the arts to build compassionate individuals. Much love to SCB and Hamlet. ampnelson.com
Kenny Scott (he/him, MARK MILLER, PAW PAW, WALE, BABALOWA, TECHNICIAN) is an actor based in Oakland CA. Recent credits also include productions with TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley (A Distinct Society), Aurora Theatre Company (Paradise Blue), Cal Shakes (Lear), Marin Theatre Company (Two Trains Running),Crowded Fire (Inked Baby, SUBVERiTas), ZSpace (The Institute for Counterfeit Memory), The New Conservatory Theatre Center (Mystery of Love and Sex), The Forum (Sarafael), Idiot String (Port Stories) ], and Quantum Dragon Theatre (Ageless). A company member with the Oakland Theatre Project (Hamlet, Mother Courage) as well as Shotgun Players (The Claim, The Light). He attended Morgan State University, and was a member of the Laney College Fusion Theatre Project (Más, The Late Wedding, and In The Wound).
*Anna Marie Sharpe (she/her, DENISE BROUSSARD) is a Black and Filipino actor, writer, and teaching artist in the Bay Area. She is very excited to make her return to the Bay Area Playwrights Festival in Water Spirits. Her recent credits include Nollywood Dreams (San Francisco Playhouse), Paradise Blue (Aurora Theatre Company), A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theatre), and Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad (Magic Theatre). Sharpe made her film debut in the award winning short film, “The Best Time.” She received her B.A. from UC Berkeley where she double majored in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. She is grateful for Quinn, Lucian, and Mia for their love and support. IG: @_amarie3
*Jeunée Simon (she/her, ERICA GUIDRY) is bicoastal actor, director, and consent educator. Recent acting credits include: The Ripple, The Wave That Carried Me Home u/s (World Premiere, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Intimate Apparel (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre), La Ronde (Cutting Ball Theater), Men On Boats u/s, performed* (American Conservatory Theater)—as well as the one person shows: Tasha (3Girls Theatre) and Stoop Stories (Aurora Theatre Company). She can be seen onstage next at Magic Theatre in “Garuda’s Wing” (June 5-23) and “Richard II” (Aug. 22-Sept. 8). Simon is a proud recipient of the 2017 RHE Artistic Fellowship and was a 2019 Directing Apprentice with PlayGround. www.jeuneesimon.com
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association
**Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society