THE NEGROES HAVE RISEN
Playwright
Maxine Dillon
Maxine Dillon (she/her) is a playwright and stage manager who is doing her part to Keep Austin Weird. Her plays include THE NEGROES HAVE RISEN (O’Neill NPC Finalist, BAPF Finalist), unbury your gays, and Strange Flesh. Her work has been developed by Broad Theatre, Ground Floor Theatre, and The Road Theatre. She is a proud alumna of GFT Writes and 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. Maxine graduated with a B.A. in English from Yale University, and she is a first year M.F.A candidate in Playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin.
Meet the Creative Team
Director
LEIGH RONDON-DAVIS
Leigh Rondon-Davis (they/them) is a performer, dramaturg, director, and producer. They are a Resident Artist with Crowded Fire Theater and an Artistic Company Member at Shotgun Players and Oakland Theatre Project, as well as Producing Director with The Forum Collective. Leigh has collaborated with numerous Bay Area companies, including A.C.T., Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Curran, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Magic Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Playwrights Foundation, TheatreFIRST, Three Girls Theatre Company, and West Edge Opera. While Leigh wears many hats as a theater-maker, much of their work and personal passion has been to shift the industry and its culture to be more equitable, inclusive, accessible, and sustainable as an anti-racist educator and facilitator. Leigh’s practice draws inspiration from liberation and abolition movements, transformative justice, adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy, trauma-informed care, and their experience as a sexual health educator and rape crisis counselor to create safe and supportive creative spaces.
Dramaturg
TIERRA ALLEN
Tierra Allen (she/they) is an award-winning multi-hyphenate theater maker whose work has braided performance, activism, healing, and critical consciousness-raising at theaters, community-based organizations, schools, and parks, behind prison walls and in the streets. Recent dramaturgy work includes …and cotton by Maria Jensen (3Girls Theater) & othello.exe by Julius Rea (Marin Shakespeare Company’s Seeds of Time Festival). She’s directed for 3Girls Theater, PlayGround, & Playwrights Foundation; choreographed for the National Queer Arts Festival, Spectrum Queer Media, & TheatreFIRST; and performed in Shipping & Handling (Crowded Fire Theater), House/Full of Blackwomxn: This Too Shall Pass (Deep Waters Dance Theater), Josephine’s Feast (Campo Santo/Magic Theater), Babes in Ho-Lland (Shotgun Players), & Sign My Name to Freedom (SFBATCO). Their speculative abolitionist short film THE REMEMBERING TIME screened at the 18th International Queer Women of Color Film Festival. Listen to her podcast THE REAL WORK: A PODCAST ABOUT THEATER CULTURE AND TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE, co-produced with We Rise Production, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Stage Manager
PAIGE WEISSENBURGER
Paige Weissenburger (they/them) is honored to be joining the 47th year of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival! Their most recent credits include Twelfth Night (A.C.T.), The Fre (Oakland Theater Project), How Shakespeare Saved My Life (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and The Camp (University of San Francisco). Before moving to the Bay Area, they completed a Stage Management Internship at Pacific Conservatory Theater (PCPA) in 2022–2023 and graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Theater Arts in 2022.
Meet the Cast
Jonathan Bangs* (he/him, JON TERRY) holds a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts and is approaching a decade of professional practice in theater and performance. His work has been seen in productions across the country, including at the Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, the Kennedy Center, Alliance Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Boston Court, Boise Contemporary Theater, A.C.T., Renaissance Theaterworks, and Carmel Outdoor Forest Theater. Most recently, he performed Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” with the Monterey Symphony and is currently starring in a national commercial for Meyenberg Goat Milk. This is his first time working with the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and he is eternally grateful.
Bria Cooper (she/her, IMANI) is an actress who recently graduated with her B.A. in Performing Arts and Social Justice (Theater Concentration), with a minor in African American Studies at the University of San Francisco. Previous credits include Macbeth (Duncan/Caithness), The Turnaway Play (Serena), and My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre (Track 2). Born and raised in Fresno, California, her passion for theater was initially nurtured by teachers who saw her desire to dream big, play, and perform. She enjoys working on projects that center human experiences, and that ask questions of herself and the audience that are typically left unsaid. She enjoys live music, traveling, and curling up with a good book and warm cup of tea. She would like to thank her family and friends for their immense support in the journey of pursuing her dreams. Follow her journey on Instagram: @bria.cooper
Emma Gardner (she/her, SEM) is a Bay-Area based artist and is so excited to bring this new work to life. Her recent credits include Flex (San Francisco Playhouse), Jagged Little Pill (CenterRep), Cinderella (African-American Shakespeare Company), The Hello Girls (Ross Valley Players), and staged readings for Word for Word: Off the Page and Grabmeier and Jost. She earned a BA from UC Berkeley in Molecular & Cell Biology and Psychology while also being involved in the Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) department. She would like to thank her amazing friends for supporting her through thick and thin and her incredible family for always being her number one fans! IG: @emmagardner3
Emmanuel C. Nwandu (he/him, SMITH) is a San Francisco-based actor, licensed architect, and multidisciplinary artist who explores the intersection of spatial design and compelling storytelling across a variety of mediums. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, he earned his Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in Drama, a combination that sparked his fascination with the intersection of built environments and human narratives, allowing him to bring a deeply analytical and physical approach to character work. Recent Bay Area stage credits include collaborative staged readings of Out There at Z Space and Duck Gulps in Silence at the Brava Theater. Beyond the stage and his design work, Emmanuel is continuously honing his craft through various scene study classes and workshops at institutions like A.C.T. He is thrilled to be collaborating with the Bay Area Playwrights Festival to bring vital new narratives to the stage.
Kenny Scott (he/him, STAGE DIRECTIONS) Recent credits include productions with TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley (Primary Trust, King James, A Distinct Society), Crowded Fire Theater (Limp Wrist, Inked Baby, SUBVERiTas), Aurora Theatre Company (Paradise Blue), Cal Shakes (Lear), Marin Theatre Company (Two Trains Running). A company member with Shotgun Players (The Claim, The Light), as well as the Oakland Theatre Project (Hamlet, Mother Courage), Kenny is an SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award winner for both principal performer in a Comedy and featured performance in a Drama. He attended Morgan State University, and was a member of the Laney College Fusion Theatre Project.
Chanel Tilghman* (she/they, LULA) A Bay Area original, Chanel graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in Communication and minors in Theatre and Music Industry. Regional: The Wizard of Oz (American Conservatory Theatre), Jagged Little Pill (Center REPertory Theatre), Paul Gordon’s Pride and Prejudice (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley). Local: Peter Pan (Panto at the Presidio), Dada Teen Musical: The Play (Central Works), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (San Francisco Shakespeare), Passing Strange (Shotgun Players), Kinky Boots (Ray of Light Productions), and Matilda (Berkeley Playhouse). She thanks her mom, her biggest fan, for her constant support, and her cat-daughter, Harley, for her constant cuddles.