Staff
Cristina Alicea (She/Her)
Producing Artistic Director [email protected] Cristina has been the Producing Artistic Director of Vermont Stage since 2011. Under her leadership, the company has produced over a decade of bold, thought-provoking theatre, launched statewide education programs, and established a new home at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center. Cristina is passionate about creating theatre that connects with community and champions new voices. Her directing work at Vermont Stage includes many productions over the years with a few favorites: The Pitmen Painters, Venus In Fur, Dancing Lessons, Doublewide, Tick, Tick Boom, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and The Clean House. |
Shoshannah Boray (She/Her)
Education Coordinator [email protected] Shoshannah’s been writing, making theatre and leading workshops since she convinced her professors to let her turn her research into plays instead of term papers. She’s passionate about supporting creative expression and nurturing a deep interest in society and the world we create everyday. Her plays-- about love, courage and embracing complexity-- have been staged nationwide. Most recently, Shoshannah’s four play series A Sibling Quartet was presented at Spotlight Theatre, VT (2022) featuring “The First Sister Trip” (BAPF Semi-Finalist, B Street Theatre Festival Finalist) and The Most Important Thing in the World (Sullivan Drama Workshop, NY; published by YouthPLAYS.) Other productions and honors include “Me Talking 2 Me” (Theatre Odyssey One-Act Festival); “Strawberry Moon” (2018 VT State Winner, Clauder Competition); “Escaping Warsaw” (Sage Productions, NYC; Sefira Jewish Theatre (staged reading), Los Angeles; Pittsburgh New Voices, and UVM’s Royal Tyler Theatre and the Center for Holocaust Studies); “Water People” (Best Original Script, Maryland One-Act Festival); “Mensch” (JET Festival of New Plays): “Cassandra Syndrome” (BHTG Competition for Youth Theatre 2nd Prize; VAC Development Grant); “Step-Sisters” (NETC Aurand Harris Award Honorable Mention ); “Coyote Dreams” (2004 VT State Winner, Clauder Competition; Orange Theatre Collective); “Witches’ Brew” (135 Pearl/Shoestring Productions, VT); “Momo No Kawa” (for K-5, published by YouthPLAYS). Shoshannah is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild, MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University, and a BA in Social History from Brown University. She’s excited to continue her work with Vermont Stage (VYP Teaching Artist since 2017) as Education Coordinator. In her spare time you can find her baking rugelach with her daughters while listening to the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack. |
Gail P Deuso (She/Her)
Administrative Coordinator [email protected] Gail discovered theater in 1981 when a friend asked if she would be on stage crew for a production of The Music Man with Lamoille County Players at the Opera House in Hyde Park. Since then Gail has been involved backstage/off stage with at least half a dozen Vermont theater troupes including Stowe Theatre Guild and Woodchuck Theatre Company. |
Jamien L Forrest (She/Her)
General Manager [email protected] Jamien is a theater administrator and lighting designer based in Vermont for the past 14 years. She has been working for Vermont Stage since 2010. Before moving back to Burlington, Jamien lived in New York City where she spent several years working at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center Education as Technical Supervisor and Rental coordinator for the Clark Studio Theater and Samuel’s Teaching Studio. She also worked Off-Broadway at New World Stages as stage manager and licensed laser operator for The Gazillion Bubble Show. Prior to that, she was technical director and Youth Theater Director at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH, and spent two seasons on tour with American Theater Arts for Youth. She also spent four amazing summers at Camp Kiniya in Colchester as their Drama director. |
Dayton J Shafer (He/Him)
Marketing and Engagement Coordinator [email protected] Dayton J Shafer’s pieces have been featured in fringe festivals, barns, abandoned factories, converted laundromats, black boxes, street sides, and with Vermont Public Radio, The Susan Calza Gallery, PoemCity, and Split Lip Magazine. He’s a former Writing Fellow at Vermont Studio Center, grant recipient from the Montpelier Public Arts Commission, author of Homeslice (Alternating Current Press. 2023), and his proposal for a letterpress publishing house, Bookplate Bindery, was a finalist for the 2023 Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant. |