Rehana Lew Mirza (she/her) is a playwright, writer and creator. Her plays include: Hatefuck (WP/Colt Coeur); A People’s Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now (Primary Stages Toulmin commission); Soldier X (Ma‐Yi); Tomorrow, Inshallah (Living Room Theater; Storyworks/HuffPost commission); Neighborhood Watch (NNPN/InterAct commission) and Barriers (Desipina, Asian American Theater Company.) With her husband Mike Lew, she shared a Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma‐Yi Theater, where they co‐wrote The Colonialism Project (La Jolla Playhouse commission) and the musical Bhangin’ It, with composer/lyricist Sam Willmott (La Jolla Playhouse 2022; Richard Rodgers Award; Rhinebeck Writers Retreat; Project Springboard.) Additional honors include: 2021 Cape Cod Theatre Project Artist‐in‐Residence, 2020 Kleban Award, 2019 NYFA Fellow, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), and a TCG/New Georges Fellowship. MFA: Columbia University; BFA: NYU Tisch.

www.rehanamirza.com

Arti Ishak (they/them) is an actor, director, and community organizer, recently named a 3Arts Make A Wave Artist. Directing credits include short films Shukran Bas (Means of Productions), Sun On Ice (Jackalope), BaLa (HF Productions). Catch their upcoming directing work on stage with SAME SECTS! by Paul Michael Thomson produced as part of Haven Chicago’s Directors Haven. Recent acting credits include The Best Decision You Ever Made (The Second City), KISS (Haven), Venus in Fur (Circle), Witch (Writers), Buried Child (Writers), Men on Boats (American Theater Company), Fantastic Super Great Nation Numero Uno (The Second City). TV: Southside (HBO), Dark Matter (NBC), Chicago Med (NBC). Arti is staff with The Chicago Inclusion Project, an instructor at Black Box Acting, and an organizer with SWANASA Central. They are represented by Paonessa Talent Agency.

www.artiishak.com

Vianey Salazar (she/her) is excited to make her debut with First Floor Theater. Past lighting design credits include Nervous Breakdown in G Minor, Director's Haven 6 (Haven Theatre); Sans Merci (Not Your Average Ingenue Company); and Sing Me a Story (Portland Stage Theater for Kids). Assistant lighting design credits include House of Joy (St. Louis Rep); Fires in the Mirror (Baltimore Center Stage & Long Wharf Theatre); and The Half-Light (Portland Stage Company). She has also worked with American Players Theatre (Lighting Supervisor) and Peninsula Players Theatre (Master Electrician). She has a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Nik Hunder (He/Him) is a freelance theatre technician based in Chicago, IL. He recently graduated from The Theatre School, where he was the Technical Director for Meeting Points and Three Antarctica. Nik enjoys spending his free time organizing with Chicago! Bike Grid Now and the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP).

Isaac Pineda (He/Him) is a costume designer/stitcher hailing from Southern California and a Columbia college alumni. Some favorite credits include; Among The Dead (Jackalope Theatre), Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes (The Story Theatre), The Secretaries (First Floor Theatre), Hamlet (Invictus Theatre), The Things I could never tell Steven (PrideArts), Waiting for Godot (Victory Gardens). Check out his work at www.isaacjaypineda.com

Troy Cruz (he/him) is an audio engineer based in Chicago, working in various fields such as sound design, recording, mixing, sound art, live sound, and teaching. He has experience working at Experimental Sound Studio as a recording engineer, The Museum of Contemporary Art as a freelance live sound engineer, Northwestern University as an adjunct professor and Teaching Assistant, and freelance film sound design and mixing. He is recognized for his ability to capture the unique essence of each project and bring it to life through his multidisciplinary experience.

Samantha Kaufman (She/Her) is an intimacy director, fight director, actor, and teaching artist. She is based in the Midwest and works internationally. Samantha is a certified intimacy director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. A certified teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. A Jeff award-nominated fight choreographer. An award-winning actor. Regionally, Samantha has worked with theatres such as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Prague Shakespeare Company (Czech Republic), Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cleveland Play House, among others. SamanthaJKaufman.com.

Devonte E. Washington (he/him) is excited to join First Floor Theater for this production. He has worked with theaters such as Dandelion Theatre ,MPAACT, Teatro Vista, Congo Square,Shattered Globe and Court Theatre. He is also an Ensemble member with Shattered Globe Theater company. He was born an raised in Chicago he is excited to be part of this production.

Shelbi Weaver (She/Her) is an actor, stage manager, and occasional comedian based in Chicago. Originally from Mississippi, she attended the University of Northern Colorado, where she received a B.F.A. in Acting. Post-Grad, she moved out to the city and has been an involved member of the artistic community ever since. She worked most recently as a production assistant with Night Out in the Parks, where she collaborated with local theaters, musicians, and artists to bring hundreds of free shows to our city’s parks. She’s had the pleasure of working for FFT before as a Stage Manager for their Blueprint Commission series. Her recent film credits include McKenzie McCoyand D*cks. She currently works as an in-house stage manager at iO Improvisational Theatre.

Aila Ayilam Peck (she/her) is so grateful and honored to be working with First Floor Theatre and all the incredible artists that have come together to bring Hatefuck to a Chicago stage! Chicago credits include: Shakuntala (Goodman Future Labs), This Wide Night, Five Mile Lake (Shattered Globe), Birdland (Steep), The Royal Society of Antarctica (The Gift), Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Northlight), 1984 (Steppenwolf for Young Adults). Regional credits include: House of Joy (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Brahman/i: a One Hijra Stand Up Show, Proof (Kitchen Theatre), The Who and the What (Huntington Theatre), A Doll’s House, Twelfth Night, Macbeth (American Player’s Theatre). She is a proud graduate of School at Steppenwolf and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is represented by Gray Talent Group. See her next in Kareem Fahmy’s A Distinct Society coming to Writer’s Theatre this summer!

Faiz Siddique (he/him) is an actor based in Chicago. This is his first production with First Floor Theater, and he couldn’t be more grateful and excited to collaborate with such a fantastic group of artists on his dream play. After spending the summer completing BADA’s Midsummer in Oxford program, Faiz followed up with some recent theatre credits including but not limited to: understudying for Andy Warhol in Iran (Northlight Theatre); Mosque4Mosque (About Face Theatre); In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play (Studio Theatre); @iamfaizsiddique.

Ben Mathew (He/Him) is excited to be making his debut at First Floor as the understudy for Imran! He last performed at Writers Theatre as Andrej and the Bank Manager. Prior to Writers, he performed at TimeLine Theatre as the understudy for Upton Sinclair in the world debut of Campaigns, Inc. Ben graduated with a BFA in acting from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (go Illini!). At Illinois Theatre, he appeared in Titus Andronicus (Lucius), Eurydice (The Nasty Interesting Man / Hades), and Origin Story (Dex) at the University of Illinois, as well as various roles in Winter’s Tale in Bloomington, IL at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. He could not be more excited to continue his post-graduate, professional career with First Floor!

Donya Rahimi (She/Her/Hers) is jazzed to be a part of her first production at First Floor Theater! She recently graduated from Wright State University with a B.F.A. in Acting (Class of ’22). Donya has appeared as Ophelia & The Gravedigger in an outdoor production of Hamlet, and Maria in Lend Me a Tenor (Wright State University). She also recently dipped her toe into commercial work with Precision 1 Contact lenses. She looks forward to teaching at The American School in Switzerland- England this summer. She wants to thank her reps at Big Mouth Talent for their support!