Christine Toy Johnson, who serves as the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Dramatists Guild of America, leads a panel discussion to explore ways to expand our circles of familiarity in order to build diverse and inclusive programming, creative teams, and casting. It's known that searching the same pools will lead you to the same personnel. Making the room reflect the world you want to see may not be so simple–requiring deliberate and intentional inclusionary practices–but it can be done.
Actor/producer/activist
Pun Bandhu is an award-winning actor who has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in film and television. He was seen on Broadway in WIT starring Cynthia Nixon and has worked Off-Broadway with Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Public Theater, and Playwrights Horizons. Pun is the recipient of the Colorado Theatre Guild’s Henry Award for Best Supporting Actor and New Dramatists’ Bowden Award for his distinguished collaboration on new works. As an advocate, Pun started the AA Filmlab’s Asian American 72 Hour Film Shoot Out, a shorts competition to encourage Asian American stories which has since been sponsored by companies such as MTV on a national level. He also co-founded the
Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), an advocacy group for Asian artists that publishes the only publicly available statistics on ethnic representation on stage. Pun also produces theatre and film through his company ZenDog Productions. He lives in NYC and just got a golden retriever puppy, Bodhi (which means “understanding the true nature of things” in Sanskrit). In his spare time, he volunteers at organizations like the 52nd St Project and serves on the advisory board of the Yale School of Drama.
Lighting designer/activist
Porsche McGovern's selected designs include
A Single Shard at People's Light & Theatre Company, We Are Proud to Present... at Playmakers Repertory Company,
The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
Falsettos at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (Outstanding Lighting Design Award),
i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it (Spookfish Theatre),
Twelfth Night on a Brooklyn rooftop, and
Orpheus Descending in a Greenwich Village church. Honors include Oregon Shakespeare Festival Richard L. Hay Fellowship in Lighting Design, an ETC-LDI Sponsorship, and participating in the USITT Young Designers’ Forum, Clambake, and the Prague Quadrennial American Student Exhibition. BA, St. Lawrence University. MFA, California Institute of the Arts.
Director/writer/educator/activist
Pirronne Yousefzadeh was recently appointed Associate Artistic Director and Director of Engagement at the Geva Theatre Center. Pirronne is a founding member of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Her recent projects include the world premiere of
Kid Prince & Pablo by Brian Quijada (The Kennedy Center),
A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath (Actors Theatre of Louisville),
Once (Pioneer Theatre Company, the world premiere of
Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean (Geva Theatre Center),
Utopia Minnesota by Meg Miroshnik (2016 Sagal Fellowship, Williamstown Theatre Festival),
That High Lonesome Sound (Actors Theatre of Louisville; 2015 Humana Festival) and
We Are Proud To Present A Presentation... by Jackie Sibblies Drury (InterAct Theatre Company). She has served on the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, Rutgers University, and Bard High School Early College, and as a guest director at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, Fordham University, among others. Pirronne received her M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University, where she was a Shubert Presidential Fellow and Matthews Fellowship recipient. She studied with Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, and Brian Kulick, and directed
Big Love by Charles L. Mee,
Fool for Love by Sam Shepard, and several devised pieces
. She was also among five directors chosen to take part in a course in collaboration at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
NOTE: This is a ticketed event. Please visit
our Eventbrite to purchase a ticket.
This session will take place from 3:00 - 4:00 pm ET on Monday, July 20th, 2020.
Its link to join will only be visible to those registered and signed in to their Sched account.
