Laura Alcalá Baker (she/her) is a Chicago-based director and new play developer. She served as the Casting Director/Artistic Programs Manager at Victory Gardens Theater from 2016-2019 leading programs such as The Access Project and Directors’ Inclusion Initiative. Laura has developed and directed multiple new works including Isaac Gomez’s The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre), The Way She Spoke: A Docu-mythologia (DCASE, Greenhouse Theater Center), Omer Abbas Salem’s The Secretaries (First Floor Theater) and Nancy García Loza’s upcoming Bull, a love story (Paramount Theatre). She also directed the audio drama BRAVA by Nancy García Loza (Make Believe Association) which is available on all podcast platforms. Other select works include The Pillowman (The Gift Theatre), There is No Message in the Message, Shamed (The Gift Theatre’s TEN), Project Potential (Broken Nose Theatre’s Bechdel Fest), and Jets, Sharks, and Beckys (Collaboraction’s Peacebook Festival). Laura is a Steep Theatre Ensemble Member, a 2021 3Arts Make a Wave Recipient, and a proud member of the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists.

Marti Lyons most recently directed Sense and Sensibility adapted by Jessica Swale at American Players Theatre and the world-premiere of John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower at Studio Theatre in D.C. Next, Marti will direct the co-world premiere of Wife of a Salesman by Eleanor Burgess at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon at Northlight Theatre, and the world premiere of Galileo’s Daughter by Jessica Dickey at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Marti is the Artistic Director of Remy Bumppo Theatre in Chicago, an ensemble member at The Gift Theatre, and a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. martilyons.com

Christina Casano (she/her) is a theatre director based in Chicago. Her training includes a BA in Theatre from Miami University, Victory Gardens Theater’s Director’s Inclusion Initiative, and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Summer Professional Training Program. Selected directing credits: I Build Giants and Poison (The Plagiarists), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stone Soup Shakespeare), Blood of My Mother’s (workshop reading, Wayward Sisters), Deep Shadows (audio drama, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre), Anne Frank, Sleepy Hollow (GreatWorks), Fame Heaux (staged reading, Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival), Festival of Unfinished Works (Bramble Theatre), The Living Newspaper Festival (Jackalope Theatre), Fighting Words Festival (Babes With Blades). Other favorite projects: Some Like It Red and The Epic of Gilgamesh, etc. (The Plagiarists), How To Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens), Bury Me (Dandelion Theatre), The Light Fantastic (Jackalope Theatre). Upcoming: How To Murder… (workshop, Bramble Theatre, Oct. 2022) and Plaid As Hell (Babes With Blades, Nov. 2022). She is the Artistic Director of The Plagiarists and the Creative Producer at Remy Bumppo. www.cmrcasano.com