Our People
Lipica Shah and Kareem Badr in Gabriel Jason Dean’s HEARTLAND, directed by Ari Laura Kreith. PHOTO: Jody Christopherson
Meet the Luna Stage Team
Ari Laura Kreith
Artistic Director
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ari.laura.kreith@lunastage.org
Ari Laura Kreith is the Artistic Director of Luna Stage, where her directing credits include MRS. STERN WANDERS THE PRUSSIAN STATE LIBRARY (World Premiere), HEARTLAND (NJ Star Ledger Top 10 Productions of 2019), PIRIRA, and the pandemic play-via-text-message #RIFT. She conceived and is currently developing the site-specific GROUND ON WHICH WE STAND, centering the first home owned by a formerly enslaved person in Montclair; conceived and co-created the interdisciplinary VOTING WRITES PROJECT; and launched SECRET CITIES, commissioning history-based, community-inspired plays. Under her leadership, Luna launched a Teen Conservatory, received two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and was twice voted Favorite Small Theatre in New Jersey. Ari is also the founder of Theatre 167, where she conceived and directed THE JACKSON HEIGHTS TRILOGY— three full-length plays collaboratively written by 18 playwrights featuring 37 actors in 93 roles in 14 languages, inspired by the world's most diverse neighborhood. Other directing highlights: MOURNING SUN (Theatre 167/ Uganda); Tina Howe's SINGING BEACH (World Premiere); and commissions for Queens Museum and NY Transit Museum. A recipient of the League of Professional Theatre Women Lucille Lortel Visionary Award, Ari received her BA from Yale and her MFA from UC Davis. She grew up in 27 countries.
Lucas Pinner
Production Manager
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lucas.pinner@lunastage.org
Lucas Pinner is an actor, fight choreographer and teaching artist who graduated from Kean University with a BFA in Theatre Performance. For the last decade, Lucas has worked as a teaching artist with many theatres and schools in New Jersey, teaching a variety of classes and workshops including acting techniques, improvisation, stage combat, devised theatre, and production. He has taught in-school theatre arts-integrations residencies, summer theatre intensives, after school programs, and Professional Development workshops for teachers. He has also recently joined the team at Luna Stage as the Production and Facilities Manager. www.lucaspinner.com
Natasha Gallop Teaching Artist
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Natasha Gallop is a Newark, NJ native who is thrilled to be back home after a long stint in Washington DC and Atlanta, Georgia. Her resume includes a wide range of experience covering everything from theatre, television, and commercials to radio ads as well. She has worked with companies like Only Make Believe DC and Kaiser Permanente to provide interactive art experiences for children within care facilities and the public school system of Baltimore respectively. She has also worked to develop the interpersonal communication skills of our future doctors and lawyers at George Washington University, Howard University and American University, Washington College of Law to name a few. She received her Mass Communications degree from Paine College in Augusta GA, and then her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. She can also currently be found as the face to Baltimore’s road safety campaign Look Alive. It brings Natasha nothing but joy to be able to finally give her gifts back to the place that nurtured her from the start.
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
Literary Manager
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Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin is a writer, producer, and marketing specialist. Kaela’s a founding member of Undiscovered Countries, a Brooklyn-based incubator of new and developing interdisciplinary art. Kaela is a 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist, a 2021 Alliance Theater/Kendeda Playwriting Award finalist, and the recipient of six Kennedy Center playwriting awards, including the Mark Twain Comic Playwriting Award and two Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Awards. Kaela’s plays have been developed with Montana Repertory Theater and Indiana University. They've been produced in New York at venues like Dixon Place, the New Ohio, and Ars Nova. Marketing includes work with Performance Space New York (previously PS122), Undiscovered Countries, and China's largest travel company, Ctrip. MFA, Indiana University; BFA, NYU
Turron Kofi Alleyne
Teaching Artist
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Award-Nominated Actor, Turron Kofi Alleyne, has worked with some of Hollywood’s most esteemed A-List directors, producers, and actors such as: Spike Lee, Jonathan Nolan, Mark Wahlberg, Zoe Saldana, Michael B. Jordan, Lawrence Fishburne, and others. One of his most notable roles is his recurring guest star portrayal of Calvin Newcombe in the ABC series FOR LIFE. He’s been featured in Independent Films that have premiered at various prestigious Film Festivals which include Sundance, ABFF, LA Film Festival, Vails Film Festival and more.
Turron also enjoys teaching acting where his students learn the difference between “performing” and “living truthfully” by guiding his students away from performing habits, into more organic real-life responses that spur and change from moment to moment. He accomplishes this through improvisational games, methods and techniques rooted in the Sanford Meisner Technique.
Dawn Pasquin
Finance Associate
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Dawn Pasquin joined Luna Stage in 2019. Having recently received her MFA in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College, Dawn is combining her extensive previous business experience with her interest in arts education to work toward making theatre more accessible to new and diverse audiences
Emeriti
Jane Mandel
Founding Artistic Director
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Jane Mandel (Founder & Artistic Director Emeritus) is the Founding Artistic Director and served as AD for over twenty years. With her guidance, Luna Stage earned a reputation for producing excellent, intelligent, and provocative theatre, where scores of new and classic plays are brought to audiences through readings and full productions. One of her passions is for creating devised theatre. She developed and directed IN THE NAME
OF THE WOMAN, an original exploration beginning with the ancient time of the Goddess; “we don’t have enough sugar for the public,” an exploration of racism; and THE AMERICAN PROJECT an exploration of what it means to be an American. She also co-created and directed MI CASA TU CASA a bilingual Latino-based play with music.
Julia Murphy Education Coordinator/ Office Manager
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julia.murphy@lunastage.org
Julia Murphy holds a BFA in Music Theatre from the University at Buffalo. She is an actress, dancer, and singer with a strong passion for teaching the arts. She has worked with several theatre companies in Buffalo including Musicalfare Theatre and O’Connell and Company Theatre, where she worked as a performer and choreographer. As Education Coordinator at Second Generation Theatre in Buffalo, she worked with several schools to increase access to the arts in underserved communities. She has also worked as a choreographer and dance soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. With experience as both a middle school and high school teacher, she is committed to the supportive and enriching development of young artists. She specializes in teaching dance and theatre, and she is currently on teaching faculty at Backstage Performing Arts Center and Starr Dance Company. She is very grateful to be a part of the Luna Stage team!
Kevis Hillocks in J. Stephen Brantley’s PIRIRA, directed by Ari Laura Kreith (October 2019). PHOTO: Jody Christopherson
Board of Directors
Danah Alexander
Laura Amin
Faith Baum
Debra Caplan
Taylor Margis-Noguera
Raj Amin, Special Advisor to the Board
Advisory Board
Ruthi Byrne
Rose Cali
R. Jonathan Cobb
reg e gaines
Cady Huffman
Rosemary Iversen
Palisa Kelley
Joe Morton
Cal Trevenen
Gila Zalon
Jules Zalon
Kim Zimmer