Meet The Team
Artistic Director
MELODY BROOKS was an actor for more than 35 years, and has been producing and directing in New York City since 1983. In 1991, Brooks formed the New Perspectives Theatre Company and serves as the company's Artistic Director and CEO. Its mission and goals are a result of her long experience working in the Off- and Off-Off Broadway arenas and various educational institutions.
Brooks and NPTC were honored in 2018 with a "Trailblazing Women and Arts Institutions" award by RhythmColor Associates. In 2015 she received the "Spirit of Hope" Award from Speranza Theatre Company for her career-long track record of supporting women theatre artists, and was named a "Person of the Year" in 2009 by NYTheatre.com as a co-founder of 50/50 in 2020, a grassroots initiative focused on wage and production parity for women theatre artists and reclaiming the 1,000 year heritage of women in theatre. Most recently, Brooks was honored with the "Lee Reynolds Award" given to a theatre woman "active in any aspect of theatre whose work for, in, about, or through the medium of theatre has helped to illuminate the possibilities for social, cultural, or political change." She joins a list of notable women who have received the award, including Kia Corthron, Ruby Dee, Lynn Nottage, Estelle Parsons and Joanne Woodward.
For NPTC, Brooks oversees the artistic output of the company, and creates and directs new projects that address its mission. She created and oversees the Women’s Work LAB, responsible for the development of short and full-length plays by 12 -15 members per year; she is also executive producer of and a regular director/dramaturg for ON HER SHOULDERS, which presents female playwrights from the past in staged readings with scholarly playbills.
As part of these programs she has developed and directed a number of original scripts notably MOTHER OF GOD! by Michele Miller; Exhibit #9 by Tracey Scott Wilson, (co-directed with Celia Braxton); Jihad, The Play by Ann Chamberlin, and Anatomy of a Love Affair by Deirdre Hollman
Brooks has also directed many of NPTC's innovative classic productions, including a multi-media HAMLET based on research proposing that the script parallels the Book of Revelation, a “Murder, Inc.” inspired JULIUS CAESAR, a minimally edited “two hour’s traffic” ROMEO & JULIET, and multiple productions of MACBETH, some of which included an authentic medieval banquet.
She served as dramaturg and co-director for NPTC's OOBR award-winning production of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, and dramaturg for She Calls Me Firefly by Teresa Lotz, co-produced with Parity Productions and winner of OUTSTANDING SHORT PLAY in 2018 from the NY Innovative Theatre Awards. Brooks is Dramaturg for How to Melt ICE by Women's Work Lab member Amalia Oliva Rojas, which received a prestigious grant from the NYC Women's Fund and was co-produced in February 2023 with Boundless Theatre Company.
Brooks is a member of the Board of Directors of the League of Professional Theatre Women, and has been a producer of their triennial Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award since 2014. She works periodically as a non-profit management consultant and teaches/coaches upon request.
Catharine Guiher, General Manager
CATHARINE GUIHER is currently a member of the Timeless Torches, the senior dance team performing at New York Liberty games at the Barclays Center. She most recently worked as the Associate General Manager at Aruba Productions and Company Manager for the Broadway production of TORCH SONG, after spending 12 years at Second Stage Theater and 17 years at Roundabout Theatre Company working in various capacities. Guiher previously worked for four years at RKO Pictures and RKO Videogroup, primarily in Business Affairs and did two years of summer stock with The Dorset Theatre Festival. She spent a year sailing around the world in 2005-2006, and has played competitive volleyball for over 50 years. She is a graduate of the Nightingale-Bamford School and Vassar College and has served on the boards of Confluence Theatre Company and the Gallery Players. Guiher has been the General Manager of NPTC since 2007 and also serves on its Board. She has been a member of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM) since 2000.
Uzunma Udeh, program manager— Women’s work, full-length lab
UZUNMA UDEH is a writer/actor/former D1 athlete/almost pageant girl based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been presented at Riant Theatre, Manhattan Repertory Theater, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, and the Corkscrew Festival. More recently, she co-wrote the short film Valid Glitter, which recently debuted at the Greenpoint Film Festival, and was shown at Tallgrass Film Festival and Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. Her latest short film Me, Myself, vs. I will debut as part of the 2023 NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival lineup. Her voice has been described as “strong” and “unique”, and she considers that the highest compliment.
jesica garrou, program manager — on her shoulders
Jesica is thrilled to be taking on her next role with New Perspectives where passions in theatre, political progression, history, and women's equality all come together under the umbrella program On Her Shoulders. Jesica is thrilled to bring these stories to the light with the staged readings and within reach of academia with the database.
When not working with New Perspectives, Jesica directs and produces in both New York and her home state of Maine. Her next project is directing Oud Player On the Tell on January 25th as part of JCAL's Meet the Playwright Series.
Jesica is an active member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, serves on her local school board and advises the Southern Maine Community College New Media program.
Lynn marie macy, Associate producer, on her shoulders
LYNN MARIE MACY is the Associate Producer and a resident director for the ON HER SHOULDERS Program. Recent directing projects for OHS include Count Partinuples by ana Caro, Gabriel by George Sand (also script translation/adaptation) and The Necessity of Divorce by Olympe de Gouges; a staged reading of her new script Doubt & Deliberation at Theatre For The New City and Zoom readings of Shaw’s Overruled for Theater 2020 in NYC; and Uncle John and The Men's Room by Maxine Kern for Cosmic Orchid. She also directed her own script: Northanger Abbey, A Romantic Gothic Comedy for Theater 2020. Ms. Macy previously directed staged readings of Sappho by Estelle Anna Lewis, Dulcitus by Hrosvita and Ordo Virtutum by Hildegard von Bingen for On Her Shoulders. Other directing credits include Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends All for Theater Ten Ten, As You Like It for Minnesota Shakespeare Company, and her own scripts The Thrice Three Muses and Innocent Diversions, A Christmas Entertainment with Jane Austen & Friends for Distilled Spirits Theatre and Theater Ten Ten. She is a member of NPTC's Women's Work LAB.
Arminda thomas, resident dramaturg, on her shoulders
ARMINDA THOMAS has been a Resident Dramaturg for ON HER SHOULDERS since 2016, specializing in researching and selecting African American female playwrights from the past. She has previously served as director for OHS' Peculiar Sam by Pauline Hopkins, dramaturg for A Harlem Triptych: The Plays of Eulalie Spence, Director and Dramaturg for Wine In the Wilderness by Alice Childress and dramaturg for Soul Struggle: The Works of Georgia Douglass Johnson. Other Production Dramaturg credits include The Black History Museum at HERE, Baton (Premiere Stage); Jazz (Baltimore Center Stage); Zora Neale Hurston (New Federal Theatre); and The First Noel (Classical Theatre of Harlem). She has served as associate artistic director and resident dramaturg for the Going to the River Festival and Writer’s Unit and as archivist and literary manager for Dee-Davis Enterprises, where she was an executive producer for the Grammy-awarded audiobook, “With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together,” and consultant for the film "Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee". Writing/adaptation credits include Shakespeare’s Women (Hattiloo Theatre, Memphis). She holds an MFA in dramaturgy and script development from Columbia University. Thomas managed the Ozzie Davis/Ruby Dee archives from 1997 to 2018, when it was moved to the NYPL's Schomburg Center.
Penny deen, associate program manager
PENELOPE DEEN is a recent graduate of Hunter College with a Women & Gender Studies/Theatre Double Major and a Dance Minor. A dual citizen of Canada and the U.S., she is beautifully mixed-race and proudly queer. She made her Off-Broadway debut in 2019 as the lead in the internet-famous feminist musical Ocean Born and most recently made her international stage debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Torch Ensemble. She has also been seen on the Off-Off Broadway Scene in multiple New Perspectives’ Women’s Work Playwriting Lab, where she also works as a Program Assistant and Project Coordinator for NPTC's Theatre From the Streets project since its inception. During the week works as a Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Teacher and is an Instagram famous, published model. Penny is known for her activism, mostly in regards to Sexual Assault with her “Save Title IX” and produced The League Of Professional Theatre Women’s Women Stage The World March this last June.
Ashley Hajimirsadeghi, associate program manager
ASHLEY HAJIMIRSADEGHI is an Iranian-American writer and artist. She is the author of the chapbooks cartography of trauma (dancing girl press) and cinephile (Ghost City Press). She is an MA Candidate in Global Humanities at Towson University, and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a BS in International Trade & Marketing, an AAS in Fashion Business Management, and minors in Film and Media, English, Asian Studies, and American Studies. She is the co-Editor-in-Chief at Mud Season Review, co-Editor-in-Chief at Juven Press, and a poetry reader at EX/POST Magazine. A four-time Best of the Net and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Ashley has received scholarships, awards, and fellowships from Brooklyn Poets, the US State Department, the State University of New York (SUNY), COUNTERCLOCK, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona, among others. She has been a associate program manager with NPTC since the fall of 2020, responsible for social media and the website, as well managing as the creation and launch of 1,000 Years of Women Writing Plays: the ON HER SHOULDERS database.
Image Credit: André Chung
Kate Devaney, Program Assistant
Kate has a BA in Journalism and an MA in Writing for Stage and Screen. She has worked with several theatre companies and institutions across Ireland and is very excited to learn more about the New York Theatre scene. She was published in the Ogham Stone Literary Journal in 2023 and her script 'Puppet Love" was selected as a semi-finalist for the Waterford International Film Fest 2022. Her play "The Pretty Pill' will debut at the Scene and Heard Festival in Dublin in February 2024. Her background is mainly in marketing and the digital media sector, and she looks forward to applying these skills and further advancing at New Perspectives Theatre.
Niranjani Reddi, Program assistant
Niranjani Reddi is a junior pursuing her BFA in Dramatic Arts at The New School, with a concentration in playwriting and acting. She is extremely passionate about creating theatre that showcases people and identities that have historically been pushed to the side. She works hard to center Indian and Indian American stories in her own art - stories from an incredibly rich and underrepresented culture in the United States. Niranjani is very excited to work at New Perspectives, as she feels that her passions deeply align with what NPTC strives to do, and she’s looking forward to learning a lot through her work this Spring!
C. Amanda Maud, Artistic AssociatE
C. AMANDA MAUD (Artistic Associate) has more than 40 years’ experience performing, teaching and developing workshops for all ages in both the U.S.and the U.K., dividing her time between New York City and England. She has been a core NPTC Company member and teaching artist since 1995 and has served as associate artistic director from 2002 to 2020. For NPTC, Ms. Maud has assistant-directed a number of Shakespeare productions (Othello, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet), and was a regular performer in NPTC’s Shakespeare Made Simple and World Voices programs. Her professional performing credits with NPTC are numerous, including appearances as The Woman (Jihad: The Play), Gertrude (Hamlet), Friar Laurence (Romeo & Juliet), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Emilia (Othello) and various roles in On Her Shoulders readings, most recently the virtual productions of Gabriel by George Sand, Slaves in Algiers by Susannah Rowson, and The Necessity of Divorce by Olympe de Gouges. . Roles in England include Shih Yang, a 19th century female Chinese pirate in Asian Pirate Musical which was part of the Vaults festival. She has also done considerable work with New Earth Theatre (Formerly Yellow Earth Theatre) in projects such as Tamburlaine and creating the central role of Eileen Cunningham in The Last Days of Limehouse, a site-specific piece exploring the history of London’s first Chinatown. She has worked throughout England in professional productions and arts-in education pieces with companies that include New Perspectives Theatre Company/UK; Forest Forge, The Contact Theatre in Manchester, the Chester Gateway, Shakespeare’s Globe Education Centre, The Natural Theatre Company at the Millenium Dome, the Soho Theatre Studio, the Albany Theatre, the Apothecary Theatre Company, Mu-Lan Arts, and Theatre Adad. Maud recently caused an international sensation when her role in Zach Snyder's Justice League was restored and comments on the scene went viral.
Jenny Greeman, artistic associate
JENNY GREEMAN is an artist and educator currently a Resident Director with the Women’s Work LAB. She joined NPTC in January 2007 after participating in the company's Shakespeare Bootcamp for Directors and Educators, and was formerly the Administrator of Youth & Community Development at NPTC. In Summer 2010 Jenny helmed the World Premiere production of Screenplay by Scott Brooks, which was awarded “Outstanding Production of a Play” at the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival and subsequently moved to an Off-Broadway run at 59E59. For the 2008 MITF, Ms. Greeman and her writing partner, Elliot Lanes, were awarded “Best Staged Reading” for their original children’s musical, The Raggedy Ann and Andy Musical. Jenny is the Resident Director for Dark Lady Players, where her credits include Shakespeare’s Three Marys, Hamlet’s Apocalypse, and Shakespeare’s Gospel Parodies: A Medieval Mystery Tour. Ms. Greeman is the Director of Programming at P2 L: Pathways to Leadership. She holds a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, in Urban Studies from Connecticut College and was a Fellow at Barnard College’s Institute for Urban Education. She is currently earning a Masters of Public Administration at Baruch/CUNY.
Ray A. Rodriguez, Artistic Associate
RAY A. RODRIGUEZ has been a core Companie Member and Artistic Associate with NPTC since 1999. He is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors currently on the faculty at Adelphi University teaching staged combat and movement. He has also taught at Harlem School of the Arts, NYU and Muhlenberg College, and conducted guest workshops throughout the Tri-State Area. He is the resident fight director for NPTC and formerly for the Inwood Shakespeare Festival, performing in and choreographing numerous productions of Shakespeare and other classics. Some acting credits for NPTC include: Petrucchio in NPTC's OOBR-winning Taming of the Shrew; Rodrigo (Othello), Banquo (Macbeth), Mercutio (R&J) and several short plays and readings in the Women's Work Project. Ray also has performed extensively with NPTC's World Voices and Shakespeare Made Simple programs for schools, supported many arts in education residencies, and most recently directed productions of the World Voices shows Steal Away: The Living History of Harriet Tubman and The Bad Birthday: A Mexican Folktale.
spring 2024 interns
Caroline Burke
Caroline (she/hers) is an actor, writer, director, and filmmaker. She is in her junior year at The New School working towards a double major in Screen Studies and Theater, and a minor in Dramatic Arts. She has performed in numerous independent films and play festivals in New York, and has been an extra in Netflix and Paramount films. She is a passionate playwright, and has multiple films in pre/post production. Her passions include directing, dramaturgy, casting, and supporting genuine and inclusive art.
Jiayu Lyu
Jiayi Lyu (she/her) is a high school junior in The Masters School. She originates from China and has been involved with theatre for more than six years. At Masters, she takes playwriting and advanced acting courses. Outside of school, she organizes a series of playwrighting workshops for people who are interested in storytelling. She loves reading, listening to music, and acting. She is thrilled to work as an intern at New Perspectives Theatre Company and hopes to grow as a more mature theatre artist.
Chantell moore
Chantell Moore (she/her), a New York City native, is currently a graduate student at The New School studying Media Studies. She received her BA in Theater at Lehman College. Chantell has developed a love for theatre over the years after studying it in college and attending Broadway and Off-Broadway plays and musicals. After graduating, she wanted to find a career path that would let her use her degree. It led her to look for behind-the-scenes positions in the performing arts industry, especially learning about the lack of representation off-stage. With her interests in acting and screenwriting, Chantell wants to support companies like New Perspectives Theatre Company that raise voices for underrepresented groups and work to make a more inclusive environment. She is excited to intern with them this spring.
In Memorium
Meganne George, Resident Production Designer
(March 18, 1967 – July 30, 2019)
MEGANNE GEORGE’s credits include Broadway: A Wonderful Life (Actors Fund). Kennedy Center: mabou mines' Dollhouse. Off-Broadway: The Brightness of Heaven, Cherry Lane, dir. L Villar-Hauser. For mabou mines: Medea, Glass Guignol, Finn (NYSCA grant), Dollhouse (Elliot Norton Award Design nom), Red Beads; Cara Lucia (ATW Hewes nom. Best Design First Irish Festival), Children of Ararat, Two Little Indians, Superpowers, Orpheus and Eurydice; Hurray for Iceboy, John Goldfarb Please Come Home (FringeNY Best Costume Design). Regional/Intn'l: For Heaven's Sake (Buffalo dir L. Villar-Hauser); Grey Gardens, The Graduate, As Bees in Honey Drown, No Way to Treat a Lady, UnNecessary Farce, Radio Gals, Jihad, Melody Brooks; dir. Women Onstage for Peace Fest- Bogotá), Choreophorae (European Capital of Culture Fest), Kilkenney Arts Festival: Lucia's Chapter's, A Prelude to a Death in Venice. 13 seasons w/ Bronx Opera; 18 w/NPTC. Film/TV/Themed Entertainment: mabou mines' Dollhouse (producer, Arte, France); Don't Nobody Love the Game (PBS); Sesame Street 10th Anniversary Celebration Parade, Beaches Resorts (Jamaica, Turks & Caicos. megannegeorge.com