Sponsored by:
Created by Carlos Angel Barajas, MaYaa Boateng, Liv Dunbar, Dalissa Duran, Melissa Friedman, Margaret Ivey, Anthony Vaughn Merchant, Xavier Pacheco, Elena Reyes, Ron Russell, and James Wallert
From an original translation and adaptation of Sophocles’ text by Zak Berkman and Ron Russell
Directed by Ron Russell
Cast:
Creon: Carlos Angel-Barajas
Haemon: Xavier Pacheco
Antigone: MaYaa Boateng
Ismene: Liv Dunbar
Chorus: Margaret Ivey
Guard: James Wallert
Tiresias: Melissa Friedman
Production Stage Manager: Molly Minor Eustis
Lights by Cat Tate Starmer
Costumes by Khaliek Bethune
Projections by Cinthia Chen
Sound by Ron Russell
Assistant Director: Dalissa Duran
Master Electrician: Dylan Marshall
Projections Assistant: Michi Zaya
Wardrobe: Fernanda De Santiago
Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).
Special Thanks: Mainlight, HERE Arts Center, and Caitlyn Annelise Dominguez
BIOS
Carlos Angel-Barajas (he/they – Creon) is an actor, writer, and activist. He was born in Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in San Diego, California. He received his MFA in acting from The Old Globe and USD Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Some of Carlos’ favorite roles include; Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet (Old Globe), Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing directed by Kathleen Marshall (Old Globe), and Leontes in The Old Globe’s touring production of The Winter’s Tale.
MaYaa Boateng (Antigone) starred in and originated her role in the Pulitzer Prize winning production, Fairview, by Jackie Sibblies Drury (SoHo Rep, Theatre for a New Audience); As well as her multiple characters in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives adapted by Jocelyn Bioh (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public). Other NYC theatre credits include Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation, Or the Reeducation of Undine (Signature Theatre); The Miser (Moliere in the Park); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public); Exception to the Rule (Roundabout). MaYaa’s film and TV credits include Orange is the New Black (Netflix); City on a Hill (Showtime); High Maintenance (HBO); Chicago PD (NBC); The Blacklist (NBC); FBI (CBS); Reunion (Short, 2023 Best Actress Award winner, Bronzelens Film Festival, Academy Awards Qualifying Film 2025). MaYaa is a company member and mentor at The Actors Center. She received her MFA from NYU Graduate Acting.
Liv Dunbar (Ismene) is an Epic alum, teaching artist and board member, who’s been working with Epic Theatre Ensemble since 2015. She graduated from Smith College in 2023 with a bachelors in theatre and archaeology. She’s been involved in multiple Smith productions, such as Stoop Pigeons, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, and Poof!. After her ungrad career, she returned to Epic, where she’s helped craft shows like FixED and now Enemies as a writer and actor. Liv plans on furthering her craft in playwriting and directing and hopes to create a show surrounding ancestral veneration and Caribbean history.
Melissa Friedman (Tiresias) is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Epic Theatre Ensemble. She is an actor, director, producer, teaching artist, and mentor with Epic. Epic acting credits include: The World Premieres of The Winning Side and A More Perfect Union, the NY Premieres of Hannah and Martin, Einstein’s Gift, Habitat and A Hard Heart, as well as Macbeth, Born with Teeth, Measure for Measure, Othello, Time and the Conways, Little Eyolf, Pillars of Society (in Norway), and Mend by Dominique Morisseau. Film/Tv credits include “Santa Smokes”, “All The Atheists Say Amen” & “American Novel”. Directing credits include over 20 Shakespeare Remix Productions. On behalf of Epic, Melissa received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award for the Remix program from First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. She co- wrote Epic’s Citizen Artist Curriculum Guide and has taught arts integration residencies in ELA, History and Science classrooms at Epic’s partner Public High Schools. Melissa is a mentor with the Arthur Miller Foundation and a city-wide Professional Development facilitator with the NYC Department of Education’s Theatre Program. Melissa received her BA from Oberlin College and is an improviser trained with the Upright Citizens Brigade and a classically trained actor with an MFA from the Old Globe /University of San Diego.
Margaret Ivey (French Chorus) is delighted to be working with Epic, where she is a teaching artist and was last seen in Enemies. Her Off-Broadway credits include The Misanthrope (Molière in the Park), Season 10 of The Fire This Time Festival, and workshops with Roundabout, MTC, and Ensemble Studio Theater. Favorite regional roles include Perdita in The Winter’s Tale (Alley Theatre), Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre (Cincinnati Playhouse and Milwaukee Rep), Zoe in The Niceties (Contemporary American Theatre Festival), Anabella/Pamela/Margaret in The 39 Steps (Merrimack Repertory Theatre) and Agnès in The House That Will Not Stand (Horizon Theater). TV/Film credits include “The Blacklist,” “Madam Secretary,” and “Prodigal Son.” She trained at the University of Southern California, the British American Drama Academy, and the American Theatre Wing’s SpringboardNYC Program. Margaret is also a teaching artist with Theatre For A New Audience. www.margaretivey.com .
Xavier Pacheco (Haemon) Xavier has been an actor his entire life. He went to a performing arts high school where he graduated as Valedictorian of his class. In 2013, he won the English-Speaking-Union National Shakespeare Competition. That summer he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and played a lead role in a Public Works’ production of Shakespeare in the Park, at only 16 years old. Xavier went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre at Muhlenberg College. In 2022, he received his Master of Fine Arts from NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program, where he was also the youngest in his class. Credits include: MCC: Bees & Honey. The Public Theater: Richard III. Public Works: The Tempest. NYU Graduate Acting: Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, Romeo & Juliet. Epic Theatre Ensemble: Hamlet & Ophelia, Much Ado About Nothing. New York Classical Theatre: The Winter’s Tale.
James Wallert (Guard) is a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Epic Theatre Ensemble. James is an actor, writer, director, producer, and educator. As an actor with Epic, James has appeared Off-Broadway in Richard III, Measure for Measure, Othello, Dispatches from (A)mended America, Macbeth, Mahida’s Extra Key to Heaven, A Hard Heart, Widowers’ Houses, Einstein’s Gift, Hannah and Martin, Little Eyolf, Habitat, and Time and the Conways. TV and Film credits include The Snakes (HBO), Time of Your Life (FOX), Future States (ITV), Romeo & Juliet, The Traumatist, and Ambition’s Debt. In 2015, James received a Smithsonian Fellowship at the National Air and Space Museum to research his play The Winning Side. He has directed touring productions of Laundry City, Building Blocks, Default, Nothing About Us, Between the Lines, FixED or You Do Not Exist, and Why Teach for Epic’s youth Ensemble as well as Macbeth, Henry VI, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry IV, and Romeo and Juliet for Shakespeare Remix program (winner of the 2009 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award). MFA- Acting, Old Globe/University of San Diego; BA- Theatre, University of Kansas. He is the author of Citizen Artists: a Guide to Helping Young People Make Plays that Change the World (Routledge Press).
Ron Russell (Director/Sound) is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Epic Theatre Ensemble. MFA-Directing, LSU; BA-Neuroscience, Oberlin College. Ron has directed extensively in NYC including 19 Off-Broadway productions (11 for Epic), and countless stagings of student work through Epic’s REMIX program; highlights include directing award-winning productions of J.B. Priestley’s Time and the Conways and Kate Fodor’s Hannah and Martin, Shaw’s Widower’s Houses in a new adaptation he co-wrote with Godfrey Simmons, Jr., an Epic NEXT touring show called OVERDRIVE, our recent Enemies at AFH, and James Wallert’s The Winning Side Off-Broadway. Ron is also extremely proud of he and Epic’s collaboration with solo creator Nilaja Sun, whose No Child… and Pike St. have toured the world, with Ron doing sound design for both as well as directing Pike St. As an educator and arts education administrator, Ron has served over 50,000 NYC public school students at over 80 schools. Epic’s work with these youth has been recognized by the White House, the National Endowment for the Arts, an OBIE Award, the International Ibsen Award, the Municipal Arts Society, and several New York City mayors.
Khaliek Bethune (Costume Designer) is a New York City-based fashion stylist
and alum of the Fashion Institute of Technology. As a stylist, Khaliek hopes to utilize the power of wardrobe as a creative outlet to showcase self-expression, social activism, and inclusivity in the entertainment industry.
Cinthia Chen (Projections) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn and Taiwan. She has created and developed original work through Theater Mitu, Mabou Mines, Fault Line Theater, Target Margin Theater, Corkscrew Theater Festival, and Asian American Arts Alliance. She is Theater Mitu company member and co-facilitates their Hybrid Arts Lab fellowship. Cinthia also works as a video and projections designer and was recognized at La MaMa’s Design Fest 2020 and USITT Prague Quadrennial 2023. Recent projects include: Salesman之死 (Connelly Theater), My Man Kono (A.R.T/New York), The Healing Shipment (La Mama), Where Are You? (Mabou Mines), Matilda the Musical (Buskirk-Chumley Theater), and american (tele)visions (NYTW, asst. designer). www.cinthiachen.com
Dalíssa Duran (Assistant Director/Assistant Stage Manager) is a full time employee for Epic Theatre Ensemble, as an Alumni Producing Manager, teaching artist, and mentor. They were a part of the eight Epic Alums that wrote Enemies, and are now the assistant director. They also AD in productions such as Antigone, and 21 Chump Street in undergrad. Directed See Me and Novaturient plays written by Epic high-schoolers for the I am Epic Playwriting festival. Currently Dalíssa is leading multiple in school residences and an afterschool Remix in a middle school! They are first-generation, and tries to lead their life and teachings through social justice and art.
Molly Minor Eustis (Production Stage Manager). This is Molly’s 9th show with Epic Theatre Ensemble, including: The Winning Side, Nilaja Sun’s Pike St., Measure For Measure, and last year’s Enemies. She has worked on over 20 productions with Epic’s Shakespeare Remix after-school program. Molly also currently also covers the deck track at The Play That Goes Wrong (New World Stages), and works as a freelance event stage manager. College of Charleston and Columbia grad; New Orleans native.
Cat Tate Starmer (Lighting Design) Designs with Epic Theatre Ensemble include The Winning Side, Born with Teeth, Dispatches from (A)mended America, Hold These Truths, and Macbeth. Other recent designs: Dirty Laundry (WP Theatre, off-Broadway); Once, the Musical (Kansas City Rep); Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium, A Christmas Carol, Servant of Two Masters (Alley Theatre); A Thousand Maids, Living and Breathing (Two River Theatre), Georgia Mertching is Dead (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Cat has been a guest designer at Princeton, Juilliard, Yale, Brown, and Barnard College, an adjunct professor at Fordham University, and is currently a lecturer at Rutgers University. MFA: David Geffen School of Drama.
Bill Martin (Producer) co-produces and underwrites plays and movies, winning Best Feature Film in the American Black Film Festival in 2017 with Devin Haqq’s Ambition’s Debt. Jocelyn Ajami’s Queen of the Gypsies won Best Dance in Film at New York’s Lincoln Center Festival. Mustafa Kaymak’s Green won in the category of Best Short Film at the 2019 Sundance Festival. Oliver McGoldrick’s Three Keeners was presented at the Venice Italy film Festival and won first prize as a short film in the Istanbul Film Festival. Bill also produced White 9, with Nilou Safinya and Heather Raffo, a film on the origins of the Independent Living movement, first presented in August, 2024 at the 50th anniversary of Stavros ILC. He is currently co-producing Mary Mazzio’s documentary on the 1995 all women’s America’s Cup sailing team.
Representative plays Bill has supported in development, and/or produced include: Nilaja Sun’s 2007 Obie-Award-winning No Child… and Sarah Ruhl’s 2010 award winning Passion Play (both Epic Theatre Ensemble, NYC); Mona Mansour’s Vagrant Trilogy (MOSAIC Theatre, Washington, DC, 2017); in co-production with the Smithsonian Institute, James Wallert’s 2018 The Winning Side (Epic); DRUID Theatre’s Richard III (Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, 2019); Einat Weizman and Dareen Tatour’s I, Dareen, T (USA Premiere, 2022); and the 2023 film version of Heather Raffo’s play, 9 Parts of
Desire (National Public Television).
Plays Bill has written and had staged include: The Alchemist of Jerusalem Mosaic Theatre Company at the Washington, DC Kennedy Center’s 2018 Page to Stage Festival; Jimmy Crow Plays Golf One Day – New York’s LARK Theatre, 2018; The Investor – produced on Zoom during the first Covid 19 epidemic by the Epic Theatre Ensemble, March, 2021; El Jefe, featured at the Colorado New Play Festival, June, 2022, and Martin X, performed in New York’s Signature Theatre: (CNP Festival) March, 2023. In December of 2023, along with the actor Jessica Hecht, Bill was honored with the En Garde Arts Change Agent Award. A dramatic reading of scenes from Bill’s novel, What Bears Dream was featured at the award ceremony.
Bill develops renewable energy electric power projects, and has served on a number of boards. Bill and his wife Kumi live in Boston, Massachusetts.
Thanks to our INSTITUTIONAL FUNDERS:
Arthur Miller Foundation
Axe-Houghton Foundation
Bloomberg LLC
Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation
Ichigo Foundation
Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation (in memoriam, Donna Hardiman)
JM Kaplan Fund
Leon Lowenstein Foundation
Meringoff Family Foundation
Michael Tuch Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
New York Foundation on the Arts
New York Life/Aim High
New York State Council on the Arts
NYC City Council
NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
Pinkerton Foundation
The Heckscher Foundation for Children
Venturous Theatre Fund
Wayfarer Foundation
West Harlem Development Corporation
William T. Grant Foundation
And our OVATION SOCIETY, including our BOARD OF DIRECTORS (B):
Adrienne and Reed Auerbach
AJ and Jane Schwartz
Andrea Bonime-Blanc (B)
Carole and Richard Friedman
Dan Arnall (B)
David Miner
David Smith (B)
David Strathairn
Elena Reyes (B)
Emily Lansbury (Donna Hardiman Scholarship)
Ina and Larry Gurman
Janel Callon
Jeanne Sakata
Jennifer Strauss
Jordin Ruderman and Kevin Shand
Joyce and Len Berkman
Julie Rose and Alan Kanders
Kate Fodor
Katherine Bradford
Kathleen Chalfant
Katie Gerdes
Keith Josef Adkins
Liv Dunbar (B)
Margaret Holman (B)
Mark Kollar (B)
Michael Thomas (B)
P. Seth Bauer and Elysa Marden
Pablo Velez (B)
Paula Sauder
Peggy and Tom Russell
Rob Mitchell and Jose de la Cuesta
Sam Waterston
Sarah Winkler and Simon Leopold
Sophia McGee (B)
Stephanie Braxton
Sue Lehmann
SuEllen Woelk
Susan Kelechi Watson
Suzanne Schaaf (Donna Hardiman Scholarship)
William Martin
Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).
An Actor’s Equity/Theatre for Young Audiences Production