Andréa Morales (she/her/ella), is an actor, director, educator, and theatremaker who enjoys working across the U.S. Recent regional acting credits include Gloria- A Life (Human Race Theatre Company), Native Gardens (Southern Rep Theatre), Always, Patsy Cline (Swine Palace Theatre) and It’s a Wonderful Life-The Radio Play (American Theatre Company). Other regional theatre credits include Local Theatre, Richmond Shakespeare Festival, Sedona Shakespeare, Mixed Blood Theatre, Teatro Luna, and Adventure Stage Chicago. She had the privilege of touring Tomás and the Library Lady nationally, performing at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and the Sin Fronteras Festival in Austin. Recent directing credits include Selena Maria Sings, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, and New Kid. She has worked as a member of the Ensemble at Childsplay Theatre Company in Arizona for two decades, where she continues her passion of creating theatre for everyone. As part of her graduate work in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, she created the Today’s TYA workshop, which brought together 7-8 grade students in the community and LSU students to create and perform TYA shows. Andréa enjoys teaching at Wittenberg University, Earlham College, and Northern Arizona University, where she also works as a vocal and dialect coach, movement and fight director, cultural consultant, and intimacy director. She is an Artistic Associate of Magnolia Theatre Company. She is passionate about new play development, and has worked with In Other People’s Shoes, Local Lab, and Halcyon Theatre as a dramaturg. Her recent voice work includes Cincinnati Bell, GE, and Uber. Andréa is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild. İMi familia es mi vida!
Aleks Hollis (he/they) is a performer, live foley artist, and video editor. They were recently the live video game designer for Space55’s The Hidden Sea. They have worked as the video editor for The Bridge Initiative’s RomeroFest production of The Dalai Lama is Not Welcome Here, UCAT’s production of The Last Five Years/ Los Últimos Cinco Años, and as a live foley artist for Space55’s Night of the Chicken. They have won 3 ariZoni awards: 2 for Artistic Specialization and 1 for Sound Design.
Eleanor Gil-Kashiwabara (she/her/hers) is a licensed psychologist and an actor. As a bilingual, Latina psychologist of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, Dr. Gil-Kashiwabara has a passion for providing culturally-responsive mental health care. Much of her work has addressed service inequities and culturally-specific service provision in Latinx and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. She is Past-President of the Oregon Psychological Association (OPA) and currently serves as the Oregon delegate on the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives. She is the first Latina to serve as president of OPA and founded the OPA Diversity Committee. She was awarded the 2019 American Psychological Association Presidential Citation. Her private practice is focused on consultation, training and supervision related to culturally-responsive care and organizational consultation related to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Eleanor is the mother to two inspiring daughters who are both actors. It is her hope that they, along with so many other artists of marginalized genders, will benefit from the amazing work being done by AGE. Eleanor is thrilled to serve on the AGE Board, merging her skills and passions at the intersection of art and psychology.
Serena Zilliacus (she/her/hers) is writing a novel. She also works with Homeopaths Without Borders, Holland and has travelled to Boukombé, Bénin, West Africa, to teach local people how to prescribe remedies for diarrhea, 3rd degree burns, and childbirth, from 2004-2016. She holds a BA in Stage Management from the Royal Academy of Art, London, working in theatre and television in London, Sydney, and Paris, as an actress, stage manager, producer, and director. When her daughter was born in Amsterdam in ’98, Serena changed careers and became a Homeopath. She has served as Board Member and Chair of the Board for Portland-based, Northwest Dance Project. Serena was an enthusiastic supporter or AGE from its inception and was honored to be asked to join AGE. Serena is proud of AGE’s overriding strength – its team and board working in tandem, plus the fact that AGE can turn on a dime to refocus its activities within the arts world, wherever and whenever they are most needed.
Whitney Mam (she/her/hers) is a founding AGE Board member. She is a management consultant at Accenture, focused on enterprise software implementation projects. Whitney has more than 15 years of progressive business experience and has led transformational programs and business process improvement initiatives in a variety of industries including technology, retail, and home services. She has an MBA from the University of Chicago with a concentration in Finance, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management and a master of science in Applied Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Portland State University. Whitney is passionate about projects that build a more inclusive and equitable world for her daughter’s generation.
Dr. Leroy E. Bynum Jr (he/him/his) is the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Portland State University. He began his position at PSU in Fall 2017. Dr. Bynum is a performing artist, appearing in operatic roles, as featured soloist, and in solo recitals throughout the United States, Europe and South America. He has maintained a vibrant voice studio which launched students into successful careers as performers and pedagogues. Dr. Bynum was recently honored by the University of Georgia as one of its Graduate Alumni of Distinction. This award recognized graduate alumni who excelled in their respective fields.
Mildred Lewis is a playwright, screenwriter and director. Her creative journey began with music. She studied cello at the Harlem School of the Arts, then Oberlin College. Music continues to play a key role in her scripts. After graduation, she joined the Actors Studio’s Playwrights and Directors Unit and Circle Repertory LAB as a director. She served as a U.S. representative to the International Theater Festival. While she worked consistently, she wasn’t able to make a living and pivoted to film school. Mildred earned an MFA in film/television and MA in African Area studies from UCLA, winning a Samuel Goldwyn Creative Writing award. Family responsibilities dictated a focus on teaching and digital projects. Mildred began writing plays in 2014. She has had only one full production, but several staged readings and publications. An Associate Artist with Rogue Artists Ensemble, she writes with PlayGround-LA, Towne Street Theatre and The Road Theatre’s Under Construction project. She holds a micro-commission from the Lucille Lortel. In 2021, the Harlem9, Lucille Lortel and National Black Theatre commissioned GHOSTS OF BLACKNESS. LOUISIANA SHOAL, a Best of PlayGround pick, is in the 2023 Fade to Black Festival. Mildred is also in this year’s Orchard Project’s podcast lab. Honors include the 2022 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway festival, 2021 L.B. Williams Award (New Circle Theatre) and Humanitas’ PLAY LA (2018). Her script for $10 AND A TAMBOURINE earned a 2021 Ambie nomination as part of the Zip Code series. Mildred is a 2023 AGE Legacy Playwright Grant Recipient.
Hope Villanueva is a current resident of the Washington, DC area where she is an AEA Stage Manager by day and playwright by night. She has been recognized two different years by the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference (2021 Finalist and 2023 Semi-Finalist) and her work has been developed by Kennedy Center Page to Stage, Next Act! New Play Summit, NextStop Theatre, Ally Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights’ Conference, Discovery New Play Festival, Kitchen Dog New Play Festival, and The Women’s Voices Theatre Festival. The Veils was produced by Ally Theatre Company as part of the DC Women’s Voices Festival in 2018, Brackish was produced at Wayward Artist in Los Angeles (2022) and Her Across the River was produced at Rapid Lemon in Baltimore (2022). The Head That Wears the Crown was a “Play That’s Filling Me Up” on The Subtext podcast, hosted by Brian James Polack. Brackish was produced to packed houses in Southern California by Wayward Artists in the summer of 2022. Most recently, BUZZ, a play about women scientists hunting murder hornets has been selected for The 2023 Valdez Theatre Conference in Alaska and was a finalist at Gulfshore Playhouse’s New Works Festival. Several of her short plays are published by YouthPlays. Ms. Villanueva is the literary manager for Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY and is pursuing her second master’s degree in Lesley University’s Writing for Screen and Stage program. She is working on her first TVpilot and is represented by IPEX Artists’ Agency. Hope is a 2023 AGE Legacy Playwright Grant Recipient.
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