Caitlin Hart / Founder & Artistic Director

Picture
Caitlin Hart (she/her) holds a B.A in Theatre Arts from Aquinas College and completed the Atlantic Theater Company’s Professional Acting Conservatory in NYC. She worked on the casting team for Showtime, cast and directed award-winning live Emmy Campaigns for Hulu’s THE HANDMAID'S TALE and Amazon Prime’s THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL. She wrote, cast and directed the industry, immersive, premiere event for Julia Roberts and Amazon Prime’s HOMECOMING. Favorite directing credits include: Romeo and Juliet (Broadway World 2018 Best Play Nominee), Macbeth (Broadway World 2017 Best Play Nominee), Maria Irene Fornes’ What of the Night? (West Coast Premiere; Best Acting Ensemble Ovation Nominee), Tommy Smith’s White Hot (LA Premiere; Hollywood Fringe Best in Ensemble Theatre Winner). Additionally, she has produced and directed many professional productions, new play development workshops, staged readings, short plays, etc. She is also an Intimacy Choreographer and Casting Director. More information about her work is available at caitlinhartdirector.com​

Dean Grosbard/Associate Artistic Director

Picture
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

Picture
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.

Katherine Vondy / Writers' Group Moderator

Picture
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.

Brittany S. Wheeler / BLOSSOMING Moderator

Picture
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.

Jessie Lee Mills /Directors' Group Moderator

Picture
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.  ​