Spring Season 2022

at The Mark O’Donnell Theater

March 24 7pm
March 25 7pm
March 26 3pm & 7pm
March 27 3pm

The Mark O’Donnell Theater at The Actors Fund Arts Center
160 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Land Acknowledgement

Today, we are performing on land originally inhabited by an Indigenous tribe called the Lenapes or “Lenapehoking” — a vast community of Indigenous people who lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. As we celebrate the unprecedented diversity and representation of Brooklyn Ballet, we ask that you join us in honoring the Lenape community, their elders both past and present, and to join us in supporting future generations of Native American dancers and dancemakers in the years to come.

Missing

CHOREOGRAPHY Jeremy McQueen, in collaboration with the performing artists

MUSIC Jonathan Bailey Holland, Monochrome (2013)

POEM  A Woman Speaks by Audre Lorde

COSTUME DESIGN Lauren Starobin

LIGHTING DESIGN Saúl Ulerio

SOUND DESIGN Mauricio Escamilla

DANCERS
Audrey Borst
Courtney Cochran
Aoi Ohno

UNDERSTUDIES Miku Kawamura, Christine Sawyer, Janée Murray-Wegman

Monochrome was commissioned by the New Gallery Concert Series. Performers: Jessi Rosinski, Flute; Jesse Irons, Violin; Raphael Popper-Keiser, Cello; Jennifer Elowski-Fox, Piano

Pointe shoes and leotards for Missing have been generously donated by BLOCH®

Special thanks to Danelle Morgan and Francina Haun.

“In loving honor of the countless women of color who are trying to find their way back home.” —Jeremy McQueen

M.O.B. (Premiere)

MUSIC Childish Gambino, This is America (Pastel Remix); Onra, Hold Tight; Bush Babees, Remember We (Salaam Remix)

LIGHTING DESIGN Saúl Ulerio

CHOREOGRAPHED AND PERFORMED BY
Michael “Big Mike” Fields
Bobby “Anime” Major
Ladell “Mr. Ocean” Thomas

Close To You (2011)

CHOREOGRAPHY Michael “Big Mike” Fields and Lynn Parkerson

MUSIC Iain Ballamy (Original Bachrach/David), (They Long to Be) Close to You; Bjork, Immature

LIGHTING DESIGN Saúl Ulerio

DANCERS
Michael “Big Mike” Fields
Courtney Cochran (3/25)
Miku Kawamura (3/24, 3/27)
Christine Sawyer (3/26)

Unnatural Surrounding (Premiere)

CHOREOGRAPHY Lynn Parkerson in collaboration with the artists

ORIGINAL POETRY Jasmine Mans, Greenwood, Birmingham, The Light

ORIGINAL MUSIC Malcolm Parson, Sonic Relief

COSTUME DESIGN Hilla Shapira

ROBE FOR JASMINE MANS Marco Hall

LIGHTING DESIGN Saúl Ulerio

PERFORMED BY
Jasmine Mans, spoken word
Malcolm Parson, electronics, piano (3/24, 3/25, 3/26)

DANCERS
Audrey Borst
Miku Kawamura
Bobby “Anime” Major
Sira Melikian
Aoi Ohno
Christine Sawyer
Ladell “Mr. Ocean” Thomas
Akiko Tokuoka

FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER

Lynn Parkerson began ballet studies as a child with Barbara Bounds in Chapel Hill, NC. She later danced with the Boston and Chicago Ballets, performing many Nutcrackers and Balanchine ballets. In New York City, she was a trainee at the Harkness House for Ballet Arts and on scholarship at the Merce Cunningham School, where she studied technique and learned repertory. Ms. Parkerson began to choreograph while living in Munich, Germany, Her work has been presented at many prominent international events and venues, including the Munich Theater Festival, Frankfurt’s Theatre am Turm, the Florence International Festival of Dance, Moers New Jazz Festival, Jazz Festival Baden-Baden and An Appalachian Summer Arts Festival in Boone, NC, among others. In New York City, she presented annual dance programs — notably the popular ballet series To the Pointe — as Director of Dance at Holy Trinity from 1991–2001. She was on the faculty at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center from 1989–1996 and then served as its Assistant Director from 1996–1999.

This November, she was honored to be invited to present her latest work “Unnatural Surrounding” at the Brooklyn Academy of music (BAM). The piece, performed live with poet Jasmine Mans, celebrated the 1619 Project Book Launch of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. In 2018 she was invited by the City of Munich for a 12-week artist residency at the Villa Waldberta including a culminating performance at the Schamrock Women’s Poetry Festival, White Box Munich. Creative contributions to Brooklyn Ballet’s repertory include full-length programs, “Revisionist History,” “Roots and New Ground,” “Vectors, Marys, and Snow,” “In 4D,” “Romantics and Revolutionaries,” “From Baroque to Hip Hop” and “Mystery Sonatas.” Her work has been supported by grants from the Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Con Edison among others.

In recognition of her exceptional leadership contributions to Brooklyn’s cultural community, Ms. Parkerson received the Betty Smith Arts Award as part of the Women’s “Herstory” Induction Ceremony in 2007 and in 2006 she received the Paul Robeson Award for Artistic Excellence and Community Service. 

COLLABORATORS

A native of Flint, MI, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland (b. 1974) has been commissioned and performed nationally and internationally by the orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minnesota, National, Philadelphia, San Antonio, St. Louis, and South Bend, and more; as well as Auros Group for New Music; Da Capo Chamber Players; Left Coast Chamber Ensemble; Hotel Elefant; Intersection; Juventus; Network for New Music; NuDeco Ensemble; Phoenix Ensemble; Roomful of Teeth; Transient Canvas; Boston Opera Collaborative; Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra; Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies; Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra; Orchestra 2001, and many others.  His work has been featured at the Tribeca New Music Festival; Bang on a Can Marathons; Bowdoin Music Festival; Kingston Chamber Music Festival; Lake George Music Festival; Whitesnake Productions; and others; and he has recently been featured on NPR’s Performance Today, and Rob McClure’s podcast Lexical Tones.He served as Composer-In-Residence with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra—the first composer to serve that role with the orchestra. Recent highlights include a commission by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, inspired by John Singer Sargent’s painting, “El Jaleo”, and the premiere of his orchestration of songs by Charles Ives with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and the American Composers Orchestra.  Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera have commissioned him to write “The Bridge”, an opera based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. A winner of a Live Arts Boston grant and a Brother Thomas Fellowship from The Boston Foundation, he has received a Civitella Ranieri Music Fellowship, a Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship, and a Fromm Foundation Commission from Harvard University, as well as honors from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and more. He has also served as Composer-in-Residence for the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota (currently Vocal Essence); Ritz Chamber Players; Detroit and South Bend Symphony Orchestras; and Boston’s Radius Ensemble. His music has been recorded by Cincinnati Symphony; the University of Texas Trombone Choir; trumpeter Jack Sutte; flutist Christopher Chaffee; pianist Sarah Bob; and more. His work Rebounds is be featured on Transient Canvas’s latest release “Right now, in a second”. Holland earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and a B.M. from Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Ned Rorem. He is Chair of Composition, Contemporary Music, and Core Studies at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and a Founding Faculty of the Music Composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Jasmine Mans is a Black American poet and artist from Newark, New Jersey. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison, with a B.A. in African American Studies. Her debut collection of poetry, Chalk Outlines of Snow Angels, was published in 2012. Mans is the resident poet at the Newark Public Library. She was a member of The Strivers Row Collective. jasminemans.com

Jeremy McQueen, Choreographer, is an award-winning and unapologetically Black choreographer, dedicated to story-telling rooted in experience and social engagement. His work aims to create spaces of comfort, solace, and connection through reflection—a sharing of observations of what is going on around him. Born and raised in San Diego, California, McQueen is a graduate of The Ailey School/ Fordham University, B.F.A. in dance program and has also trained in the schools of American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. A performer turned choreographer, McQueen made his professional debut at the age of 15 performing in regional theater productions in his hometown, and later went on to perform in the Broadway national tours of Wicked and The Color Purple, in addition to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and numerous Metropolitan Opera productions. As a decorated choreographer on the rise, McQueen is a three-time Emmy® Award-nominated choreographer, 2020 Soros Justice Fellow (Open Society Foundations), 2019 recipient of Bronx Council on the Arts’ BRIO (Bronx Recognizes It’s Own) Award for Excellence in Choreography, 2013 recipient of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago’s Choreographers of Color Award [Winning Works], and a two-time finalist of the Capezio Award for Choreographic Excellence. In 2016 McQueen founded The Black Iris Project, a ballet collaborative and education vehicle which creates new, relevant classical & contemporary ballet works that celebrate diversity and Black history. Based in New York City, the project hosts a team of predominantly Black artists delivering cross-discipline and wholly original works. The BIP has served as a catalyst to new ideas on diversifying the dialogue within classical ballet. McQueen’s choreographic works have appeared at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, SummerStage, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dancers Responding to AIDS’ Fire Island Dance Festival, amongst others. blackirisproject.org

Malcolm Parson, Composer & Cellist, is best known for his work as a member of both Turtle Island Quartet and Carolina Chocolate Drops. As a composer, he had his first break in 2019 by collaborating with Brian McOmber on the soundtrack to Little Woods (dir. Nia Dacosta). Since then, his film work has continued with projects such as Good Ol Girl, Ballet After Dark, LA28, Laying Flowers.:.Setting Fires, The World’s Greatest Storyteller, The Sentence of Michael Thompson and currently If I Go Will They Miss Me. As a cellist, he has performed on several featured films including Palmer, A Man Named Scott, Kingdom of Silence, Mudbound, and Blow The Man Down. In concert, he has performed with Somi, Kelsey Lue, The Eagles, Dianna Agron, Terence Blanchard, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Yebba, PJ Morton, BJ The Chicago Kid, Victory Boyd, Paquito D’Rivera, and Cyrus Chestnut to name a few. He has appeared on The David Letterman Show with Rhiannon Giddens, 2018 MTV VMA’s with Shawn Mendes, and The Jimmy Fallon Show with Niall Horan, The Roots, and Salaam Remi. Born in New Orleans, he moved to Atlanta at the age of 11 and began studying cello privately through Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s “Talent Development Program. He later earned his B.M in Contemporary Writing and Production from Berklee College of Music. 

Hilla Shapira, Costume Designer, is a multidisciplinary artist from Tel Aviv, Israel and currently based in Brooklyn. She received her BFA in Fashion and Jewelry from Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem (2014) and her MFA in Fiber at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI (2020). Her work deals with the relationships between common design and body regimen. By making wearable objects or representations of them she questions design norms and the political aspects of everyday garments. Her work is multidisciplinary and includes critical research, clothing construction, performance, video, sound, and installation. She designed costumes for different performances and festivals in Israel, Europe and the USA, including Brooklyn Ballet, Yasmeen Godder Company (Tel Aviv), Inbal Theater (Tel Aviv), Hazira Festival (Jerusalem), Mekudeshet Festival (Jerusalem), and Israel Festival (Jerusalem). She has presented artistic projects in Israel, Europe, and the USA including: Art Basel (Miami), NY Textile Month (NYC), Jerusalem Design Week (Jerusalem), NY Jewelry Week (NYC), Little Berlin Gallery (Philadelphia), Depo2015 (Pilsen, Czech Republic), Emma Creative Center (Pforzheim, Germany), The International Biennial of Textile Art (Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine), Neve Schechter Gallery (Tel Aviv), Hansen House (Jerusalem), Textile Arts Center (Brooklyn), and Wasserman Projects, Detroit, MI.

Lauren Starobin, Costume Designer, is a designer living and working in New York City. She holds a BFA in Fashion Design from FIT and was the 2021 recipient of the FIT Critics’ Award for Intimate apparel as well as the  winner of the 2021 Underfashion Club Design Competition. She has extensive schooling in art and design, including a year at RISD and one spent in Paris at Studio Bercot under the directorship of Marie Rucki. As a high school student Lauren attended Cooper Union’s fine arts outreach program on full scholarship. She has designed costumes for American Ballet Theater’s Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky and Emmy Award winning choreographer Al Blackstone. She has worked in costume construction and was on the production teams for Hamilton, Lion King, Hades Town and others. Lauren has experience in both fashion design and costume design and feels equally comfortable in both worlds. Lauren is a trained dancer and has worked within the dance world in NYC for nearly a decade.

Saúl Ulerio, Lighting Designer, is a Dominican-American dance, music and light artist. Ulerio has been seen in the works of Heather Kravas, RoseAnne Spradlin, Daria Fain, Rebecca Lazier, Kota Yamazaki amongst other, and currently performs in the works of Antonio Ramos, Daria Faïn, Ivy Baldwin. Ulerio was a 2011–2012 New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Artist and a 2012–2014 Movement Research Artist in Residence.

Dustin Z. West is a New York-based producer and freelance stage manager of opera, theatre, and dance and is currently the Production Stage Manager for The Glimmerglass Festival. Broadway: Clyde’s simulcast (Assemblestream / Second Stage). Off- Broadway: Camp Morning Wood, What We’re Up Against, Delirium’s Daughters. NYC: Fidelio (Heartbeat Opera), Portrait and a Dream (Contemporaneous), REV. 23 (Prototype Festival), JoAnne Akalaitis’ Bad News (NYU Skirball), Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Baryshnikov Arts Center), Mark Felt Superstar!, How to Be An American (York Theatre Company), Jules Verne: From Earth to the Moon (BAM), Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Le nozze di Figaro, Iphigenie en Aulide, Beyond the Machine, L’Orfeo, (The Juilliard School), Eugene Onegin, The Rake’s Progress, The Fall of the House of Usher, Cosi fan tutte (Mannes Opera / The New School). Regional: The Santa Fe Opera, The Dallas Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Atlanta Ballet, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Martha Graham Dance Company, OPERA San Antonio, Skylight Music Theatre, Opera Memphis, Toledo Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, American Theater Company, Knoxville Opera, P.S. 21, Theater Wit, EGADS! Theatre Company, and The Living Room. International: The Ghosts of Versailles (Opéra Royal de Versailles, France), ONCE Nighttime Lagoon Spectacular (Vinpearl Resort, Vietnam). TV/Film/Streaming: Drunk History (Comedy Central), The #giveback Concert (Broadway Unlocked). Various readings / workshops. B.A., William Woods University. Professional Stage Management Program, The Juilliard School. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and AGMA.

DANCERS

Audrey Borst was born in Berkeley, California and has been dancing since the age of three. She trained at the San Francisco Ballet for 10 years where she performed the lead role of “Clara” in the Nutcracker. Audrey immersed herself in the dance community, serving as a company member in Sarah Bush Dance Project, and Peninsula Ballet while also performing as a guest artist with Oakland Ballet School. It was at Alonzo King LINES Ballet that she began to explore multiple modern disciplines including Gaga, Horton, and contemporary ballet. She gained fluency in these styles, training at summer sessions around the country including Ballet San Jose, San Francisco City Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem. After transplanting to New York City, Audrey began her studies as a scholarship student at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2016. She lives in Brooklyn where she is a teaching artist and freelance dancer. Audrey is a part of Brooklyn Ballet and Jamal Jackson Dance Company. 

Courtney Renee Cochran is a freelance dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Born in Sacramento, CA, she received her training from Sacramento Ballet, Lines Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Ballet X, and Dance Theatre of Harlem; and in 2008 was selected as an emerging choreographer for Regional Dance America. In 2019 Courtney was nominated for Dance Lab New York’s collaboration with The Joyce Theatre where her work was featured at Works & Process at the Guggenheim. She most recently created a piece for Works & Process Artists Virtual Commission Series entitled From cage of teeth and jaw which won “best Solo Performance” in the 2021 Dance is Activism Film Festival. Courtney has spent five seasons with Brooklyn Ballet and has been a guest artist with The Black Iris Project, Collage Dance Collective, Columbia City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, as well as many others. She has taught for Harlem School of the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and is currently on faculty at Brooklyn Ballet, The Billie Holiday Theatre, and after completing her ABT NTC certification, joined the JKO School in the fall of 2021. 

Michael “Big Mike” Fields is a performing artist born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Specializing in hitting, animation, waving and isolations, he combines storytelling and comedic elements in his work. At 6’2” and 250 pounds, his movement can be raw and explosive and yet subtle. The New York Times says his work in the Brooklyn Nutcracker [makes] “musical sense of all the physical isolations of hip-hop.” Crowned as “New York’s best-kept secret”, he has done work with Hip-Hop Connections, a group that brings educational performances to schools around the tri-state area, and with artists such as Chaka Khan and Busta Rhymes. In 2015, he was invited by the Singapore Tourism Board as part of the Singapore Invites initiative for a short video. He is active in the New York dance scene, holding his own practice at Brooklyn Ballet, and often subs classes at Broadway Dance Center and Peridance.

Miku Kawamura began dancing ballet at the age of six in Japan. Her early training included the Sapporo City Ballet and many prestigious summer programs on full scholarship including Pacific Northwest Ballet and The Royal Ballet School. She was a semi-finalist at the renowned Prix de Lausanne (2004), Best of 12 at the Youth America Grand Prix NY final (2002), and has received awards at the NBA All Japan Competition (second prize) and the Japan Grand Prix (second prize). She received a full scholarship to the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, and since graduating Ms. Kawamura has performed many classical and contemporary roles with K‑Ballet Company under director Tetsuya Kumakawa in Tokyo. Since she arrived in NYC, she has danced principal roles with Albano Ballet, Brooklyn Ballet, Ballet, and Neville Dance Theater. Miku has danced with Brooklyn Ballet for 10 seasons, in both classical, neo-classical, modern and mixed movement repertory. She danced the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Brooklyn Nutcracker at Kings Theater in 2018 and 2019.

Bobby “Anime” Major is a dancer from the Bedford-Stuyvesant / Bushwick section of Brooklyn who uses a mixture of popping and flexing to create a style that reflects various moods of the human condition. His first teacher, Vibez, taught him how to Bone Break. He was then inspired to learn popping from Mike “Big Mike” Fields. Under Mike’s tutelage he learned many fundamental aspects of popping which includes hitting, robotic dime-stopping, joint isolations, strobing, ticking, and stop motion/animation. He’s excited to join the cast  of The Brooklyn Nutcracker for another year! 

Sira Melikian is a NYC born and raised Middle Eastern Belly Dance performer and choreographer. In addition to regular event performances, she loves taking the art of belly dance to the theater stage. She has worked with Brooklyn Ballet since 2015 performing “Danse Arabe” for the Brooklyn Nutcracker, the Metropolitan Opera, as well as several Off Broadway productions. Film/TV experience includes Sex and the City 2, the Dr Oz show, The Colbert Report, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and MTV. The New York Times said her work is “not an imitation piece of eastern culture..but a real example of belly dancing”. As the dance genre continues to evolve over time, Sira relishes every opportunity to continue elevating the art of Raqs Sharqi Belly Dance. She is honored to work with Brooklyn Ballet’s 2022 Spring Program, Sonic Relief, exploring dance with powerful spoken word by Jasmine Mans.

Aoi Ohno started dancing when she was 3 years old in Kanazawa, Japan. She graduated from Tokyo Visual Arts Vocational School, after which she joined the dance company RAKUDO. Upon moving to New York City, Aoi began training exclusively at the The Ailey school, working with many renowned teachers and choreographers including Ray Mercer and Darrel Moultrie. Since graduating from the Ailey School, Aoi has worked with Nai-Ni Chen Dance company, Arch Ballet, Ballet Nepantla, Jon Lehrer Dance Company and Brooklyn Ballet.

Christine Emi Sawyer, a New Jersey native, received the majority of her training in NYC at the prestigious School of American Ballet and at the School at Steps, under Leslie Browne, Ethan Brown, and David Howard on full scholarship and also trained in various forms such as Contemporary, Jazz, Horton, Tap, and Hip-Hop. Christine has been dancing professionally since she was in high school and throughout the years, she has performed with various ballet companies, entertainment companies, and at theme parks and has toured all over the US as well as overseas. Notably, she was a performer in shows, parades, and attractions at Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. She danced for ballet companies such as State Street Ballet, Pasadena Dance Theatre, and Anaheim Ballet and as a freelance artist performing principal roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen in the Nutcracker. Christine is currently a company member with Brooklyn Ballet and dances with several entertainment and theatrical companies in the NYC area. She is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, certified in Fassia Flossing by The Floss, teaches a wide range of group fitness classes, and leads meditation sessions.

Ladell “Mr. Ocean” Thomas is a dancer specializing in Popping and waving. He’s learned other dance styles such as dancehall and hip hop. Some of his mentors include Big Mike, Future Ninja and Chris “Shaik” Mathis. Ladell has danced with Iluminate from “America’s Got Talent” and “It’s Showtime NYC.” He has also had the pleasure of performing for Bill T. Jones’ Deep Blue Ocean, PBS’ Barefeet with Mikaela Mallozzi, NY Philharmonics Bandwagon, Lincoln Centers Restart Stages, Lincoln Centers Centrifugal Force with Buddha Stretch, It’s Time For Hip Hop in NYC Concerts.

Akiko Tokuoka (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and actress originally from Kyoto, Japan; but whose heart and soul resides in NYC. With over 15 years’ experience as a performing artist in various styles including: modern, ballet, contemporary, kabuki, baton twirling, vogue and freestyle dance. She has worked for New Era and Nike commercials, performed for Ciara- “Level Up” at MNF Genesis Halftime Show, and also choreographed for Lovari’s music video, “Paparazzi,” which was featured on MTV Akiko enjoys performing her art in a way that feels beautiful and powerful, and integrating her culture into a new style through her body and face to express her connection with the audience, so that they can create the performance together. This is her first Spring Season with Brooklyn Ballet and she is really excited about her journey with other talented performers and audience!

Janée Murray-Wegman (she/her/hers) is a sophomore at Adelphi University and is from Brooklyn, New York. Janée has been dancing since the age of 14 and had the privilege of studying under Brooklyn Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, EMERGE125, and Mark Morris Dance Group on full scholarship. In the past she has studied works by Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Mark Morris, Winston Dynamite Brown, Takehiro Ueyama, and more. Despite having a late start, she has had the privilege of performing in renowned places such as The Kings Theater, La MaMa Theater, and Lincoln Center. Janée has previously worked with Brown Girls Do Ballet to promote diversity in dance. She hopes to continue to share her passion by becoming a professional dancer and by giving back to programs in underrepresented communities that expose children to the art form.

The Mark O’Donnell Theater at The Actors Fund Arts Center

The Mark O’Donnell Theater at The Actors Fund Arts Center serves as a resource for Brooklyn-based artists and arts groups to aid in the development and sharing of their work, as well as a venue for integrating the residents of The Schermerhorn with the surrounding community through the arts. The venue is operated by The Actors Fund in collaboration with Breaking Ground.

Founded in 1882, The Actors Fund is a national human services organization here to meet the needs of our entertainment community with a unique understanding of the challenges involved in a life in the arts. Services include emergency financial assistance, affordable housing, health care and insurance counseling, senior care, secondary career development and more.

Chad Lindsey, Manager, Arts Center & Resident Programs
Ashley Theagene, Theater Operations Coordinator
Broderick Ballantyne, Resident Theater Technician