Leadership

Caitlin Hart / Founder & Artistic Director

Caitlin Hart (she/her) Caitlin Hart is a theatre director and intimacy professional in theatre and film. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and completed the Atlantic Theatre company’s two-year Professional Acting Conservatory in NYC. Some favorite directing credits include Indecent by Paula Vogel (Michigan Premiere), Romeo and Juliet (Broadway World 2018 Best Play Nominee), Macbeth (Broadway World 2017 Best Play Nominee) and The Revolutionists (Grand Rapids Civic Theatre). She is the Resident Director of ‘Capitol Comedy’ and helms their new touring production yearly. She has produced and directed many new plays, new play development workshops, staged readings, and instructed professional acting and intimacy choreography workshops. She is a proud associate member of SDC. You can see her resume and learn more about her theatre work at caitlinhartdirector.com.

Dean Grosbard/Associate Artistic Director

Dean Grosbard (he/him) is a director, performer, and writer. His directing projects include The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window by Lorraine Hansberry, The Zero Hour by Madeleine George, Son of a Man and Black When I was a Boy by Cooper Bates, assistant directing Run by Roxie Perkins, and an on-going relationship with Cercle Hermaphroditos by Shualee Cook. His solo show Big Tits 69 was presented at Son of Semele’s Solo Creation Fest and the Asheville Fringe Festival. Dean’s goal as an artist is to uplift voices and bodies that theater often excludes. His experiences with disability and gender inform that practice.

Kari Lee Cartwright / BLOSSOMING Moderator

Kari Lee Cartwright is a Korean American Actor, Writer and Director. She most recently directed and wrote the microseries LIFEBITES, remotely during quarantine. Each episode is under :60 and follows a BIPOC millennial woman as she questions “Is this how you self-care?”, “Is this how you feminism?”, “Is this how you Friday?” Her directorial debut, the cardboard miniature music vid, “Southern Winds,” played in-flight on the back of Virgin America headrests for BoingBoingTV, won Dublin Web Fest, and was featured in MAKE: and UPPERCASE Magazines. Her dramedy short, “Alice,” screened at Cinequest and HollyShorts, and soon after, her pre-MeToo short “Was it Rape Then?” landed on the front page of the Arts & Culture section of The Huffington Post. Marrying the best parts of her classical dance training, her first career in musical theater, a sketch comedy/improv background, and years of commercial acting, Mx. Cartwright enjoys a collaborative, playful style when she directs. She is a big fan of emotionally intuitive storytelling, respect for process, teamwork, and great timing! Other than that, she super enjoys procrasti-baking pies and staring into her fish tank for the meaning of everything.

Jessie Lee Mills /Directors' Group Moderator

Jessie Lee Mills is an Assistant Professor of theatre at Pomona College and a professional director. She directs, adapts, and devises theater, opera, musicals, films, and new works in venues throughout the United States and abroad, including with the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC; The Lincoln Center & The Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York; The Goodman Theatre & The Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago; and The Sala Beckett Institute in Barcelona, Spain. She received her MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University and is a John Wells Fellow. Her scholarship and publications center on ensemble-theatre and comedy-as-community. She has created and initiated a number of grants, community centers, and programs, all of which promote bridging the divide between the academy and its surrounding community.

Katherine Vondy / Writers' Group Moderator

Katherine Vondy is a Los Angeles-based writer and director whose credits span theater, film, and literature. Kat is the recipient of the Davey Foundation Theatre Grant for her play The Fermi Paradox, and her award-winning short film The Broken Heart of Gnocchi Bolognese has screened at festivals worldwide. Her plays have been developed with The Vagrancy, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Paper Wing Theatre Company, and recent theater directing credits include The Complete Human Experience (Lost Moon Radio), Friends in Transient Places (Fresh Produce'd LA), and Suddenly Split and Swiping Over (All Terrain Theater). Kat has received dramatic writing residencies from the HBMG Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Starry Night, and Wildacres. She earned a BA from Amherst College and an MFA in Film and Television Production from the University of Southern California. More information about all her creative work is available at katherinevondy.com.

Charlotte Gulezian/Associate Artistic Director

Charlotte Gulezian (she/her) is a theatre creator dedicated to empowering herself and the people around her. Since the time she was a young kid she was generating art, building businesses and ...well, throwing parties that gave all the people she admired opportunities to expand on their unique gifts, often when no one else did. Leading and trusting your gut is pivotal in her beliefs and actions. Charlotte graduated with a BA in Film and Theatre for Social Change (a Major she created) from San Francisco State University, where she also spent one year traveling and studying in India on another self-made study abroad experience where she worked with Master Kathakali Acting coaches and earned over 500 hours in Yoga teacher training. She received her MFA in Acting from USC and another MS in Human Canine Life Sciences from Bergin University. She has been directing since high school, professionally some of her favorites have been working on the plays of Sam Shepard, David Auburn and Sarah Ruhl as well as devising work. Charlotte produced the LA LGBT Hollywood Fringe venue, curating the line-up and all logistics from 2016-2019 (their first three years in the festival) and helped to lead the company to multiple Fringe awards each year . As an actor, Charlotte has been celebrated in Los Angeles as well as San Francisco and Austin TX, working with companies (to name a few) such as The LA LGBT Center, Boston Court, Circle X, The Vagrancy, A Noise Within, Piano Fight (SF) and ZACH theatre (Austin). She has been recognized with awards and nominations from the Ovations, Drama Critics, Stage Raw, Broadway World, SF Weekly, B. Iden Payne and more. This is Charlotte's first year serving as Co-Associate Director for the Vagrancy and she is ready to play.

Brittany S. Wheeler / BLOSSOMING Moderator

Brittney S. Wheeler is an Ovation Award winner and two-time nominee, born and bred in LA. A classically trained singer, seasoned actor and budding director, Brittney has been fortunate enough to perform in the Orange, Ventura and LA Counties. Co-Associate Artistic Director of Celebration Theatre. Proud member of AEA. BA in Theatre Arts from Concordia University, Irvine and will be finishing her MA in Theatre Arts at CSUN in 2021. Endless amounts of love, appreciation and thanks to her parents.