Mydera Taliah is an award-winning poet, author, visual artist, curator, and Education Director at Theatre Horizon in Norristown, PA. Throughout her career, Mydera Taliah has become a major presence in the regional arts community. Holding several impactful educational, board, and consultant positions, Mydera Taliah has become a recognized leader in her field. She has held teaching positions in Creative Writing programs with Villanova University and The University of Pennsylvania. Mydera Taliah is a strong advocate for her community. Believing that we can and will “grow well together,” -- Mydera Taliah has made it her mission to help others find their path through the freedom of creative expression.

Roger Ideishi (he/him) is the Director of Occupational Therapy and Professor of Health, Human Function and Rehabilitation Services at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Ideishi has worked over three decades developing and researching community-based programs for people with disabilities. He is a recognized advisor and educator on community engagement and inclusion having partnered with Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Horticultural Society, and Theatre Horizon in the Greater Philadelphia region; Smithsonian Institution, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh PA; Pushkin State Museum in Moscow Russia; Supereroi Printre Noi in Bucharest, Romania, and Arts & Disability Ireland, Dublin Ireland. He is a Visiting Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University every year for the past 5 years. He has been a visiting lecturer at Nanjing University in China, Far East University near Seoul, Karolinska Institut in Stockholm, and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He is the recipient of the 2017 Art-Reach Cultural Access Award and the 2019 Kennedy Center Achievement of Leadership in Accessibility Award.

Spicer W. Carr (He/Him) is a Philadelphia based Composer-Lyricist, specializing in Opera, Musical Theater, and Theatre for Young Audiences. As a queer, autistic writer, Spicer seeks out similarly underrepresented voices, and uses his unique perspective to help explore their stories. Current projects include The Rocking Boy, a semi-autobiographical children’s musical about growing up with autism and the meaning of friendship; Chance the Snapper, a coming of age musical based on the events surrounding the infamous 2019 Humboldt Park Lagoon gator; and Bloom, an environmental children’s opera about pollution and the Florida algae blooms. Spicer’s vocal catalogue includes song cycles (Dreams, Dead or Alive), musicals (Downpour), and operettas (Jack and the Beanstalk). His Instrumental work includes pieces for piano (Of no Concern), big band (Lunch Rush), and a violin concerto (Daydreams). Spicer’s work has been developed and performed by The TYE Center, Utah Valley University Chamber Symphony, Utah Valley University Jazz Orchestra, Secondary Players, MusiCoLab, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Temple University Theater, and The Purple Crayon Players. Spicer is an MFA Candidate in the inaugural cohort for Musical Theatre Collaboration at Temple University, where he is also the recipient of the George and Joy Abbott Scholarship.

Orion Couling is the award-winning founder and Artistic Director of EDGE of Orion, an Illinois NFP. He is a specialist in project-based learning and carries 20 years of adventure-based teaching experience. He created the Constellation Project, a program that celebrates inclusion and neuro-diverse participation. With over 100 directing credits in professional and youth theatre to his name, he remains one of the foremost experts in dynamic educational theatre. His “edu-tainment” style is known to bring levity and inspiration to classrooms and audiences. He has given lectures at Universities, High Schools, and community theatre programs. Orion is also a stage combat instructor, stunt coordinator, and a licensed Maritime Captain. Orion proudly serves as a board member for History Alive. When not leading the “inclusion revolution,” you’ll find him playing with his Irish Folk-rock band “Finger on the Trigger,” leading ghost tours, or by the water.

Marrok Zenon Sedgwick (he/him) is a disabled, transgender activist, artist, and educator. Sedgwick's award-winning short documentary films have screened internationally. His most recent film, People Like Me, will screen at the Society for Visual Anthropology's Film Festival this December, where it has won the award for Best Short Film. As an educator, Sedgwick has worked in public school classrooms with Deaf and disabled youth, a drama program for youth with disabilities, and with other artists who want to weave accessibility into the aesthetic worlds of theater and film. He carries a Disability Justice Movement lens into all of his work as artist and educator, with the intent of pushing the world to see disabled people (especially youth with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities) as intellectuals ready to transform their communities. He holds the MFA in Social Documentation from University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently pursuing the PhD in Learning Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Special Gifts Theatre (SGT) is an educational and therapeutic theatre program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. During the session, there will be a panel of SGT staff and actors/actresses discussing the multi-disciplinary collaboration of therapists, educators, and theatre professionals that makes our programs and musical theatre performances successful. There will be discussion around the adaptations for virtual programming due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Actors and actresses with disabilities will share their firsthand experiences and perform excerpts from performances in a showcase.

Ava Rigelhaupt (she/her/hers), just graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, (Bronxville, NY), class of 2020. Ava has been an advocate for disability and autism representation in theatre and entertainment since 2017, when she became a founding member of Spectrum Theatre Ensemble, a new neurodiverse theatre company in Rhode Island. During that time she was an ASD intern with Trinity Repertory Company to create their sensory friendly season, and was invited to the Theatre Communication Group’s National conference to speak about being a neurodiverse actor. She has continued to speak on diversity and disability panels. This past year, Ava was a Ruderman Family Foundation Inclusion Ambassador for her college and worked with the theatre program to produce the school’s first sensory friendly performance, along with moderating a panel of industry professionals to discuss accessibility in the arts. She has published multiple articles discussing topics such as autism, accessibility, being a Chinese adoptee, and studying abroad in Italy as an autistic college student.

An up and comer in the field, Scott S. Turner currently serves as the Access and Inclusion Coordinator of Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland. He holds a bachelor's degree in Theatrical Performance from Frostburg State University. A teaching artist of over 10 years, he focuses on inclusive theatre and fusing his performing background in movement theatre to empower the voices of students with disabilities. He has taught with organizations including The Dance Place, Washington Performing Arts, and The Kennedy Center. He recently served as an editor in accessibility for the Maryland State Arts Council working to improve access to events and grants for patrons and artists with disabilities in the state of Maryland.

Eli Blodgett (he/they) is a senior at Syracuse University, pursuing his BFA in stage management and theatrical direction; He is also the co-founder and current president of Students United for Body Acceptance, the first student student organization in the country devoted entirely to body liberation and eating disorder awareness. Eli continues to serve as a theatre educator and director for children's theatre, as well as advocating for disability representation and accommodation in the theatre industry.

Molly Mattaini is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies with a Specialization in Theatre for Youth and a doctoral minor in Special Education. She studies Ability-Inclusive Sensory Theatre, a genre within Theatre for Young Audiences which creates theatrical experiences for neurodiverse young people, particularly young people on the autism spectrum. Molly is also a working teaching artist and is dedicated to creating ability-inclusive drama education spaces along with inclusive performance spaces.

TERESA THUMAN (she/her) is a Seattle based director and the founder of Sound Theatre Company, an award-winning theatre company centering social justice, inclusion and multicultural representation. Up and down the west coast, Teresa has directed musicals, operas, new works, classical and contemporary plays for regional theatres, colleges and new-work festivals. Sound Theatre credits include ASL Midsummer Nights Dream, Goblin Market, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth, The Illusion, The Foreigner, Pygmalion, Troilus and Cressida, Top Girls, The Last Five Years, You Can’t Take It With You, The Belle of Amherst and the inaugural 2006 site-specific production of The Tempest presented in the water and on the shore of a local lake. Teresa has taught at UW School of Drama PATP, UNC Chapel Hill, Shoreline Community College, Cornish College, George Fox University, Allan Hancock College, Freehold ETI and served eight years as an Artist-in-Residence at PCPA Theatrefest. She holds an MFA in Directing from University of Portland and a BFA in Acting from Webster University Conservatory of Theatre Arts.

ANDREA KOVICH (she/ her) is a Seattle-based freelance dramaturg and writer. She self-identifies as a disabled artist and is passionate about collaborating with traditionally marginalized voices to promote diversity and inclusion. Past projects include production dramaturgy for Book-It Repertory Theatre, Taproot Theatre Company, and Sound Theatre Company. Other projects include dramaturgy for a virtual play festival, curating a staged reading series focused on Deaf and Disabled playwrights, script reading for several new play festivals, and new play development for Umbrella Project and The Scratch. Andrea has written two HowlRound articles on disability in theatre and is a member of LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas).

Annie Jankovic is a disabled theatre artist; actor, director, writer, and advocate. Annie graduated from Central Washington University with her Bachelor’s in Theatre Performance in March 2019. She has been working with Sound Theatre as their Accessibility Coordinator and House Manager since 2019. She is also a chapter lead of the Washington State T1International chapter - a nonprofit diabetic advocacy organization working to lower the cost of insulin and to improve the quality of life of diabetics around the country and the world.

Michael-Ellen (Mikey) Walden is a theatre and gender studies student at Northwestern University and the Artistic Director of Seesaw Theatre. They are an actor, writer, and musician creating work about aliens, the Earth, and expansive imaginations. In addition to Seesaw, they are on the writing board and dramaturg of the 90th Annual Waa-Mu show and a new plant parent.

Susie McCollum is a senior Theatre and International Studies double major at Northwestern University. She is the current Executive Director of Seesaw Theatre and has been involved with Seesaw for the past two and a half years. Susie is an actor, writer, and director on campus and is specifically passionate about new work, writing music, accessible theatre, and Lucky Charms breakfast cereal. Susie is also a proud member of Vertigo Productions (Co-Chair/Treasurer) and Purple Haze A Cappella.

Faith Douglas (they/them) is a neurodiverse actor, writer, activist, and current Northwestern Theatre student. They serve as the Research Chair for Seesaw Theatre and look forward to continuing to work in advancing neurodiverse and inclusive theatre on the Northwestern Campus and in the greater theatrical community.

Hope Valls is a third-year student at Northwestern University studying Theatre and Economics from Atlanta, GA. Hope has been on the Seesaw Theatre Executive board for two years now, first as the Business Manager for the 2019-2020 season, and now the Sensory-Friendly Coordinator for the 2020-2021 season. Hope is also on the executive board of Purple Crayon Players, Northwestern's theatre group focused on creating Theatre for Young Audiences.

Sami DeVries is a sophomore at Northwestern University studying Theatre and Political Science with a certificate in Music Theatre. On Seesaw, she is the Education Director, which involves working with any Northwestern student interested in our work to bring workshops and new experiences to the Evanston public schools, thus broadening the scope and accessibility of Seesaw. She has been a member of Seesaw shows in the past, which is where she found her calling bringing accessible theatre and multi-sensory experiences to all children.