Who We Are

Who we are

We are a growing network of theatre artists from hybrid cultural and national backgrounds. We are recent Americans, first and second generation Americans, and foreign nationals. Although we come from different cultures, and countries we are united by a desire to pursue art that breaks cultural and artistic boundaries.

Core Team:

JJ El-Far

J.J. El-Far

Executive Director

JJ El-Far is an Arab-American producer and interdisciplinary artist based in Harlem. She was named one of Theatre Communications Group’s Young Leaders of Color. She currently holds the position of Arts Intern at the British Council in the British Consulate General. She is the Founding Executive Director of Otto Award nominated Hybrid Theatre Works, a network of theater artists engaging in cultural diplomacy through international exchange and innovative theatrical events. She is the Founding Executive Director of the multi-disciplinary Harlem Arts Festival. JJ is a Core Team member of Theatre Without Borders with whom she helped produce the “Acting Together on the World Stage” conferences at Brandeis University and La Mama. She is the contributing theater critic for Uptown Flavor. JJ has worked with The Castillo Theatre, Ted X Harlem, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, the NY Arab American Comedy Fest, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the Jerash Festival of Arts and Culture (Amman, Jordan). She has presented at the ReOrient Festival and Forum at Golden Thread Productions, Arts in the One World at Brown University; and attended the 2010 La Mama International Symposium for Directors in Umbria, Italy. She holds a B.A. from Brandeis University in Theater Arts and International Global Studies.

Tracy Francis

Tracy Francis

Artistic Director

Tracy Cameron Francis is an Arab-American theatre director with a background in international relations. Francis has directed and developed work with New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, LaMama Umbria (Italy), NY Arab American Comedy Festival, Red Bull Theatre, Monarch Theatre Co., NY Int. Fringe Festival, Noor Middle East Play Festival, EBE Ensemble, Manhattan Shakespeare Project, Terra Nova Collective, International Wow, Queens Arts Council, among others. Select credits include: “Eating Skeletons” (Finalist for American Avante Garde Fest), “The Maids” (Curious Frog Theatre, Backstage Critics pick), “Psalms of a Questionable Nature” (NY Fringe), “A Marriage Proposal” ( Falaki Theatre, Cairo, Egypt), “TAB” (Manhattan Rep.) She has assisted directors Sam Gold, Gia Forakis, and Josh Fox. Additionally she has created six original performance pieces for Hybrid Theatre Works. Francis has presented at the Arts in One World Conference (Brown U.) and the Theatre In Conflict Zones Conference (which she also helped to produce). In addition she has worked as a teaching artist for recent immigrants at the International Center in NY, and worked as a guest director for students at The Strasberg Institute. She has a strong background in devised, site-specific and movement based theatre, as well as new play development. She holds a B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and Theatre Arts from Fordham University.

www.tracyfrancis.com

Adam Boncz

Adam Boncz

Associated Artist

Adam Boncz was born and raised in Hungary. At the age of seventeen, he started working as an actor at the Szeged National Theater in Hungary. After playing several supporting roles in productions such as Richard III and Ferenc Molnar’s The Glass Slipper, he became a member of the company and had the opportunity to play numerous wonderful roles for almost six years. After studying in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he was accepted to the world renowned Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Insititute in New York, where he had the privilege to work with Paul Calderon, Gia Forakis, Tea Alagic, Lear DeBessonet or Naum Panovski, to mention a few. After graduating from the Strasberg Institute in 2009, Adam appeared in Michael Weller’s Moonchildren at the West End Theater and Soldier Boys at Theater for the New City. He was also featured in the Off-Broadway play Neither Heaven nor Earth produced by Poliglot Theater. Currently Adam is working with Oscar-nominee Josh Fox and the International WOW Company (Auto Da fe, Reconstruction). Adam is also working with Hybrid Theater Works, G.R.O.U.P NYC, and Gia Forakis & Company. Adam is always interested in international collaboration on stage and finding the common language through theater.

Alex Muniz 3

Alex Celeste Muniz

Associated Artist

Alex is an actress and writer from the Bronx, NY. She trained in the Fordham College at Lincoln Center Theater Program and has her B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in Performance. She began her work with Hybrid Theatre Works in 2010 performing an original piece in the first Artist Response Forum: Artists Respond to the Oil Spill. She has also created original work and performed in the following Artist Response Forums: Love in the time of Green Cards, The Revolution Will Be Live Streamed and Borderline Bushwick. Other Hybrid performances include Bacchanal, Iraq Pakistan Exchange 2011, and Shinsai Theaters for Japan: Brooklyn. She became an Artistic Associate with Hybrid in 2011. Alex has also worked with various theatre companies in NYC such as Women’s Project, EBE Ensemble, Terra Incognita Theater and many others. She has also performed in short films and independent films. Alex is interested in uniting people from all walks of life through artistic expression. alexcelestemuniz.com

Heather Lanza

Heather Lanza

Associated Artist

Heather is an NYC-based director and arts activist who graduated from the Fordham University Directing Program. NYC directing credits include Cinderella by Brenda Bell (The Players Theatre), Adapting by Sinead Daly (Bleecker Street Theatre), Where Were We? by Richard Greenberg (TCG Shinsai: Brooklyn), 8 Minute Madness Festival (The Shell Theatre), Brooklyn Bets Alexi by Elizabeth Irwin (Hudson Guild Theatre), Blue Sky Somewhere by Michael Hilton (Manhattan Repertory Theatre), What Mommy Told Me by Paula Kaplan (Manhattan Theatre Source), Closer by Patrick Marber (FUTC), and All Our Quiet Places by Mike Hilton (FUTC). Most favorite assistant positions include Idiot Savantwritten and directed by Richard Foreman (The Public), The Last Goodbye adapted and directed by Mike Kimmel (Joe’s Pub), No One’s Finer Than Frank Shiner directed by Danielle Koutesis (Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, NYFringe ’10), and Man-Made written and directed by Susan Mosakowski (Ohio Theatre). Heather has worked for companies such as ArtsConnection, Spark Productions, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Public Theatre, and TheatreworksUSA. Heather is currently pursuing an M.A. in Applied Theatre at CUNY/Creative Arts Team.

Laura Riveros - Headshot (Low Res.)

Laura Riveros

Associated Artist

Laura is a Colombian actress and performance artist based in NYC. Select Colombian credits: Gaitán; El Hombre A Quien Amé, Seis Personajes En Busca De Un Autor, Jesucristo Superestrella, Grease, Annie, Fuego, Son Las 12; Es Navidad, and more. In New York, she has worked with companies and artists such as The Artist Ulysses Castellanos, MultiStages, Ming Wong, Matt Reeck, Women of Color Productions, IATI Theatre, ESPA Primary Stages, Ingenue Theatre, Grupo Transito, Castillo Theatre, GJ Dowding and AliveWire Theatrics, among others. Upcoming: Where There Was Fire with Tabula RaSa Theatre Company. Associated Artist with Hybrid Theatre Works, Performance Art Curator with Fluid New Media Lab. http://www.laurariveros.com

Ines Garcia

Associated Artist

Irina Gachechiladze (Georgia)

Associated Artist

Sara Oliva

Associated Artist

Courtney Bergtold

Courtney Bergtold

Director of Development

Courtney Bergtold (Development Director) has had a passion for theatre ever since childhood. She currently hold a Masters in Arts Management from Montclair State University where she specialized in Theatre Management. She completed her undergraduate education at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She has had the pleasure of interning at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Maximum Entertainment Productions, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Vineyard Theatre. She hopes to one day be a director of individual giving abroad.

David Kanter