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 Maren Ward, Creative Director and Actor Maren Ward directed and helped create the original zAmya theater production and is excited for this remount. Maren is a founding member of Bedlam Theatre with whom she has worked as a performer, director and administrator since 1996. She is currently working with the company on developing an original musical about the West Bank neighborhood. Since 1998 she has been a “facilitator of collaboration” for the Barebones Productions Halloween Show, a spectacular nighttime pageant of puppetry, live music, and pyrotechnics. She has also performed with Bright Eye Productions, Frank Theater, and 10,000 Things. Maren is a recipient of a 2005 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant to create a performance with her frequent collaborator Sarah Garner. |
 Josef Evans,Playwright Josef Evans is a playwright and national director of Theater Corps, a nonprofit program dedicated to social and environmental change through the arts. His work has been produced nationally by a number of companies, including the St. Louis Black Repertory Theater, Playwright’s Theater of New Jersey, Illusion Theater, and the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (Seattle). He is an associate artist of Bedlam Theatre and in June 2000 was named a finalist for a Master Artist fellowship at Harvard University’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. In addition to a B.A. in Theater from the University of Notre Dame, Josef has studied extensively in community-based art making, including a residency with the Los Angeles Poverty Department, a company comprised primarily of homeless artists. |
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 Lecia M. Grossman, Founder and ActorLecia grew up in rural Minnesota and came to the “big city” to study Psychology at St. Thomas University. She is now a Personal Coach and runs her own company, LiveDeep Coaching and Consulting. Before becoming a life coach and presenter, Lecia worked 13 years in the financial services industry as a trainer, consultant, marketing analyst and manager. Lecia has many artistic hobbies and has always had a secret desire to be on stage. |
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 Ashley Hanson Ashley is a senior at the University of Minnesota and part of an individualized program combining Theater, Literature, and Art, with a minor in Communication Studies, focusing on Performance and Social Change. She works for the Center for Early Education and Development and co-produces and directs a children’s show choir company out of Carver County. Her volunteer experience spans work with the Arizona Bridge Project, Chicas in the Mix, The Children’s Theater, Weisman Art Museum, In the Heart of the Beast and Washburn High School. “I got involved with the zAmya project because of my passion for communal awareness in order to bring about social change. This project has opened my eyes to many misconceptions and introduced me to some of the most compassionate, amazing people I have ever met -- and I am forever grateful.” |
 Ellen Overaa I am a housed person reflecting on what it would be like to be homeless. I have never been an actor, nor been involved in theater in any way. My career background has been in the computer field until recently. This has been an awesome experience, expanding my horizons, and helping me be aware of the homeless community in a way I never have been before! |
 Anthony Slaughter Anthony received his education at Wilberforce University in Ohio and was part of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. He has worked as a mental health advocate and case manager in past years. Anthony has been homeless on and off for three to four years and is currently a participant in the Salvation Army BOLT program. He is proud to have currently completed his soldiership classes and is now a Soldier with the Salvation Army. |
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 Jack Matheson Jack Matheson grew up in the Minneapolis area and is a proud member of the first graduating class of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program. Having made his Fringe Festival debut In Dash Production’s Midnight Train To Georgia in 2001, Jack is pumped to return with so compelling and vital a piece of theater. He wishes to thank zAmya for making it happen, you for supporting the Minnesota Fringe, and his parents for letting him live with them. |
 Katie Willer Despite a crippling case of introversion, Katie graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in Theater Arts in 2003. Since then, she has stayed active in the theater community all but from her current work area in the aforementioned school. It was through the U that she got involved with zAmya, and she thanks her lucky stars daily for that, because without it, she’d be short a bunch of wonderful people in her life. |
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Clifton Williams
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