creative team
(playwright / performer) is an award-winning writer and performer. He’s performed regionally and in New York at The Signature Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Provincetown Theater, Shakespeare & Company, The 24 Hour Plays, and the Tennessee Williams Festival. His solo show, A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings, has been performed Off-Off-Broadway at the Chain Theatre and Emerging Artists Theatre, and at Red Room in Provincetown.
TV credits include FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), The Gilded Age (HBO), Fleishman Is in Trouble (FX), and Hunters (Amazon). His debut screenplay, Why Storms Are Named After People, was recognized at the Austin Film Festival, NYISA, and the Big Apple Film Festival. He is also the writer of Wooly Bully, starring Kathryn Grody, which is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit.
austin jennings boykin
(producer) is an actor and theater producer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds a BFA in acting from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts and has trained at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Sophia has produced over twenty off (and off-off) broadway plays in New York City including the cult hits INVASIVE SPECIES and ZOOMERS. She can be seen in the short films Transactions, HAGS, and Thumper (coming spring 2026.) She hosts ‘Flight Club’ a developmental reading series for new screenplays.
SOPHIA ENGLESBERG
(producer / dramaturg) is A New York City based writer, comedian, and producer, she earned her MFA in fiction writing from NYU, where she also taught creative writing. She is currently working on her debut novel and is repped by Sarah Passick at Park Fine and Brower.
She met Austin at an open mic in 2023 and has since collaborated with him as a dramaturg and producer. Her stand-up show, Pucker, has been featured in the New York Comedy Festival.
At 22, she was expelled from clown school. Other than that, she has been a perfect student.
ANNA KOPPELMAN
JOE DESTEFANO
(director) is a multidisciplinary artist. Directing credits include his original play Cookie Ireland Has a Giraffe (NYFringe) and Elemeno Pea (Mastodon). He recently served as associate producer on the short film The Knock Shadow. Joe trained under the late William Esper at the William Esper Studio and has studied puppetry with John Tartaglia. He is deeply grateful to Austin for this opportunity, and to Monica and his family for their unwavering support.
IG: @joe.r.destefano
maz sailer
(lighting designer / technical director) is a lighting designer and artist based in NJ/NYC. They are a graduate of Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in lighting design. Some recent design credits include: 3 Hams at Brooklyn Art Haus; Trich at Luna Stage; Mom and Dad are My Friends at The Tank; Cassandra at Teatro Latea. Maz recently worked as the Assistant Lighting Designer on Call Me Izzy at Studio 54, marking their Broadway debut. Maz is also the technical director/lighting designer for a Rocky Horror Picture Show shadowcast in NJ named “The Cosmic Light Cabaret”. When they aren’t making theater they can always be found with a knitting project or sketchbook in hand.