The Andy’s Team

ARTISTIC STAFF

  • Co-Artistic Director

    Jess is a queer folk artist, playwright and educator who creates both performance and tangible art — often at the same time! She specializes in storymaking, playwriting, early childhood education, and working with loose parts. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton, NH, alongside her brilliant friend SMJ. As a playwright, Jess is a LABA Artist Fellow Alum, a Jeffrey Melnick New Playwright Award Nominee, an O’Neill Finalist + Semi-Finalist (x?), a recipient of the Mary Marlin Fisher Award for Excellence in Playwriting, a BAPF Semi-Finalist, a Premiere Stages Semi-Finalist, a Heideman Award finalist, a 24 Plays: Nationals alum, and a Theater Masters alum. Her plays have been performed and produced at various universities, the New York Transit Museum, Actors Theater of Louisville and the Pittsburgh Opera, among others. As a visual artist, Jess has been proud to showcase her work with Brooklyn's Arts Gowanus, San Francisco City Hall, and briefly in collaboration with her 3K students at the MoMA! She earned her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and her BS in Educational Theatre from NYU. She is a full time tenured teacher in the NYC DOE, and she lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two cats, Buckett and Tubbs.

  • Co-Artistic Director

    SMJ (they/them) is a mixed-Latiné, non-binary, and NYC-based playwright, theatermaker, and educator originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They are proud to be a Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse. They were a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Their work has been seen in various forms with Ars Nova, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Orchard Project, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, and Manhattanville University. SMJ has been a finalist for the 2024-25 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting at New Dramatists, 2024-25 Ars Nova Vision Residency, 2024 June Bingham New Playwright Commission, 2024 Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative at Illinois State University, and 2023 Parity Development Award. They were a Top 30 semifinalist for the 2024 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Currently,  SMJ is in consideration for the following: 2025 National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (semifinalist), 47th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (semifinalist), 2025 Pegasus PlayLab at UCF (finalist), 2025 Distillery New Works Festival at the Seattle Public Theater (Short List), and 2025/26 Residency at the cell theatre (semifinalist). They are a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com

  • Executive Producer

    Jared Mezzocchi is a two-time Obie Award-winning theater artist, working as a director, multimedia designer, playwright, and actor. Based out of New York, Mezzocchi’s work has appeared at notable theaters nationwide, including Geffen Playhouse, Vineyard Theater, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, TheatreWorks Hartford, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth (company member), and many more. In 2016, he received the Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award for his work in Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2020, the New York Times spotlighted his multimedia innovations alongside the pandemic work of four other theater artists, including Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paula Vogel. His work on Sarah Gancher’s digital production of Russian Troll Farm was also celebrated as a New York Times Critic Pick and praised for being one of the first digitally native successes for virtual theater. In 2023, this digital production of Russian Troll Farm won Mezzocchi his second Obie. Most recently, Mezzocchi directed The Wind and The Rain: a Story about Sunny’s Bar at En Garde Arts and Vineyard Theater which was performed on a barge in NYC and called “Highbrow Brilliant” by New York Magazine. In Spring 2024, Mezzocchi directed Sandra at TheaterWorks Hartford. As a playwright/performer, he was recently accepted into the 2024 Colorado New Play Festival for his work 73 Seconds directed by Aya Ogawa and commissioned by En Garde Arts. 

     

    Mezzocchi is a two-time MacDowell Artist Fellow, a 2012 Princess Grace Award winner, and recently celebrated his retirement at The University of Maryland, where he taught in the MFA Design program for the projection and multimedia track, a curriculum he created in 2012 that graduated 17 MFA students in Multimedia Design. 

     

    Over the pandemic, Mezzocchi founded Virtual Design Collective (VIDCO), which has aided in the development of over 50 new digital works over the 18 months of quarantine. This year, he is finishing his book, A Multimedia Designer’s Method to Theatrical Storytelling, which will be published through Routledge. Mezzocchi has a BA in theater and film from Fairfield University, and an MFA in performance and interactive media arts from Brooklyn College.

THE 2025 ARTISTS

  • Director & Choreographer, Three Sisters of Fate

    Mackenna Goodrich (she/they) loves Big Girl Explosion Fests and plays of and about the body. Selected directing credits: Gross! by Emma Schillage (Ten Toes), The Station by Maggie Cregan (SheNYC), small town icons by SMJ (The Frontera Series/The Tank), Cockroaches by Emma Schillage (The Cell), Straight Icons by SMJ and Anne-Marie Pietersma (Ars Nova/Second City NYC), American Girl Doll Horror Play by Jasmine Sharma (The Brick), An Axemas Story (The Players Theatre/54 Below), WO[MAN] by Alyssa Haddad-Chin (The Brick), Radio Man by Sarah Groustra (SheNYC), Bogeyman by Allison Merkel (The Road Theatre Company). Mackenna is also an associate producer for SciShow, teaches dances at Mark Morris Dance Group, and runs The Road Theatre Company's Under Construction playwriting group. BA: Kenyon College // mackennagoodrich.com

  • Book, Lyrics, & Music, Three Sisters of Fate

    Natalie Myrick is a musical theatre artist and writer who is especially passionate about new and original works. In addition to performing regionally and off-off-Broadway, she has studied musical improv, toured internationally, composed music for Broadway stars, and played in a classic rock cover band on a cruise ship. Together with SMJ, they have written music and lyrics for At The Barre and i’m fine though. Natalie is also currently developing a satirical musical about reality television, entitled Island Dating Show.

  • Director, Battle of the Books

    emily/BUBECK (she/her/hers) (theatre | FIBER | performance)

    is a Queer, Catholic, Appalachian theatre practitioner who facilitates the development of new works by traditionally underrepresented artists. She is drawn to projects that allow us to expand our ideas on how we tell stories and who those stories serve. emily is a co-founder and co-artistic director of BREAKING & ENTERING THEATRE COLLECTIVE, where she has produced 5 seasons of the site specific ROOFTOP READING series, 3 festivals of new work at the Chain Theatre and an entire year of online programming. Her early days in New York were spent interning at various downtown staples like soho rep., En Garde Arts, and Cherry Lane Theater. She is currently the Development Associate at New Dramatists, where she is proud to fundraise for the prolific organization and provide space for the future of American storytelling.

    As a director Bubeck thrives in long form developmental settings, working dramaturgically with playwrights to understand why they need to tell this story. Bubeck has a distinct passion for telling working class stories and engaging with masculinity through the narratives of women and other oppressed genders. BUBECK’s work has been described as D.I.Y., women-centric, layered, authentic and engaging. In her spare time BUBECK is wont to section hike the Appalachian trail and experiment with crochet.

  • Playwright, The Long Horizon

  • Director, The Long Horizon

    Ashley Renee Thaxton-Stevenson (she/her) is a theatre maker and educator whose work is shaped by a love of storytelling, her multiracial identity, and a desire to make theatre that is intergenerational, accessible, and joyful. Some exciting projects in 2025 include Assistant Directing Merry Wives of Windsor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Directing A Demon Inside, by Nina Ki, as part of Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Future Classics Series, and Co-Directing YouthWorks, a free festival of artistic creation for artists aged 8-18, at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. 

    Recent directing credits include: Off-Broadway: Fiasco Theater/Classic Stage Company (Associate Director, Pericles). Workshops/Readings: Fiasco Theater (Associate Director, The Verge; Associate Director, Pericles), Erie Benedictines (Director, Where Hope Is), Parsnip Ship (Director, Sea Longing by Nina Ki), Center at West Park (Director, Tokophobia by Jenn Bokoch) University Guest Artist: NYU (Director, Everything You Wanted by Jess Honovich) 


    As an actor, Ashley is an Ensemble Member of the Verbatim Performance Lab and Spellbound Theatre. A graduate of NYU Gallatin and Brooklyn College’s MFA Acting program, Ashley teaches with Fiasco Theater, NYU’s Program in Educational Theatre, and Adelphi University. She is parent to a preschooler, an avid reader, a pie baker, and is lucky to call both Brooklyn, NY and Altadena, CA home. www.art-s.co @art.directs @art-s.bsky.social

  • Choreographer, Cosmic Tails

    Haleyann Hart (she/her) is elated to be working with Andy's Summer Playhouse! A multifaceted performer, choreographer, educator, and advocate, she is committed to crafting accessible and inclusive theatre and dance experiences for all ages. Haleyann's choreography credits include Bloom with Fuse Theatre, Tale of Two Cities and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with Village Light Opera Group, She Loves Me at Stevens Institute, Stuck at the Chain (recipient of the Audience Choice Award), and Little Shop of Horrors with Color Box. Most recently, she was the assistant choreographer of her first Off-Broadway show, Skyscraper, choreographed and directed by Avital Asuleen with Combustion Collective. She taught ballet for two years at the Tutu School in Brooklyn and has always loved working with young artists. In 2020, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Theater from UCLA. Haleyann extends heartfelt gratitude to the Andy's team! haleyannhart.com

  • Director, The Andy’s Improv Troupe

    Aaron F. Brateman is a graduate of NYU Tisch, where he earned a BFA in Acting, as well as NYU Steinhardt, where he earned an MA in Educational Theater. Over the last decade he has directed more than 75 productions with students of all ages, many of them at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts. Mr. Brateman has also taught at various programs throughout New York including the Atlantic Acting School, Random Farms Kids Theater, and New York City Center. He is the co-founder of Playgrounded, NYC’s only improv program exclusively for kids and teens. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity, and as an actor has been seen Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company, Under-Broadway at 54 Below, away from Broadway in the National Tour of Charlotte’s Web with Theatreworks USA, and on Broadway as a pedestrian. Mr. Brateman has a great love of improv and has studied at UCB, The Magnet, and the PIT, where he was also a House Team player with The Rockefellers.

  • Director, Repurposed: Songs of Stage & Screen

    Praised by the New York Times as “luminous”, Meredith Lustig has enjoyed a diverse career in opera, musical theater, and television. She has headlined with symphonies across the United States, Canada, and Asia, and has collaborated with many esteemed conductors including Marin Alsop, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, George Manahan, and Ann Manson. She is a proud Juilliard aluma and chair of the voice department at Circle In The Square Theatre School. Visit meredithlustig.com to learn more about her career (and favorite baked goods) or follow her adventures on Instagram @meredithlustig. Thank you for supporting the arts!

  • Director, Repurposed: Songs of Stage & Screen

    Michael David Axtell is a multi-faceted performing artist. An award winning narrator, he has recorded over 200 audiobooks and podcasts and is also a regular contributor to Apple News+ Audio. Michael is a former member of the Grammy award winning ensemble, Chanticleer. He performed as a solo recitalist and collaborative pianist at Caramoor and served as music director for the New Voices production of Salute by Alex Kveton in NYC. Favorite stage roles include Simon Stimson in Our Town (Baltimore Center Stage), Fredrick Graham in Kiss Me, Kate (MacHaydn Theatre), Captain Von Trapp in Sound of Music (Lancaster Opera), Henry VI in Henry VI Part 3 (the [re]group), and Brutus in Julius Caesar (New School). Michael holds an MFA in Acting from the New School for Drama in NYC. For more, check out michaeldavidaxtell.com

  • Director, The School for Youth Mime Theater

    Tasha Milkman is an actor, theater-maker, and educator based in New York. She has studied classical performance in London at LAMDA and Shakespeare's Globe, and completed her MFA in acting at Rutgers University. Tasha is a proud founding member of Broken Box Mime Theater, a collaborative company based in NYC. Performance credits include Shakespeare’s Globe, 59E59, The Flea, Ars Nova, La Mama, Wild Project, Adelaide Fringe, The Annenberg Center, and Philadelphia Shakespeare.

  • Facilitator, John C. Russell Playwriting Festival & Lab

    Anya Richkind explores the forces that make her feel lonely, which she suspects make you feel lonely too. Luckily, Andy's makes her feel not lonely. Every Friday, she has an existential crisis which she dissects in her newsletter, Questions I Have. Playwriting honors include winning Brooklyn College's 2020-2021 Creative Writing Award and Brooklyn College's Himan Brown Award for Creative Writing, and being a finalist in the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference (a couple times!), the Bushwick Starr Reading Series, the Leah Ryan's Fund for Emerging Women Writers, and the Cutting Ball Theater's Variety Pack Series. Anya's work has been produced by Cutting Ball Theater, Andy's Summer Playhouse, the Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival, Brooklyn College, Guild Hall, Corkscrew Theater Festival, The Barrow Group Theatre, Yale College, The New School for Drama, The Tank, and The American Conservatory Theater's Young Conservatory. Anya graduated with a BA from Yale University and an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College. anyarichkind.substack.com / www.anyarichkind.com 

More artists to be announced soon…

The Andy’s Board of Directors

Andy’s has an active and vibrant Board of Directors that facilitate the strategic planning for the Playhouse, define and maintain our mission, advise our staff, fundraise, and perform many other essential functions.

Beth Dunham, President
Alison Barney, Vice President
Mozammel “Muzi” Husainy, Treasurer
Crista Burrell, Secretary

Amanda Dumont, Susan Holmes Glazier, Leah Huntington, Rob Keller, Bob McCarthy, Sarah McLellan, & Alicia Mercier, Board Members