Producing Artistic Leaders Julia Cho, Stefanie Lau, Marie-Reine Velez
Founders Julia Cho, Peter J. Kuo, Stefanie Lau, Marie-Reine Velez
Leadership
Julia Cho
Producing Artistic Leader
Julia Cho, born and raised in Los Angeles, is an actor and proud member of Artists at Play. Upon graduating from UC Berkeley, Julia made her professional acting debut in the Bay Area premiere of An Alphabet, presented by the John Cage Trust Fund. She then starred in the Word for Word production of Amy Tan’s Immortal Heart at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. After an extended award-winning run, the show toured domestically and in France. Since then, Julia has performed/toured shows with East West Players, Will & Company, Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, hereandnow, as well as readings for The Blank Theatre, Playwrights’ Arena, Pasadena Playhouse, and Center Theatre Group.
In the summer of 2009, Julia embarked on her first producing venture, leading an ensemble cast– calling themselves Actors at Play– to create and perform an original Valentine’s Day show. Beware of Cupid had a successful run in February 2010 and was featured on angryasianman.com as well as the Hyphen blog.
Julia is probably best known for playing “Charlotte Lu” in the Emmy Award-winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Other credits include films like Larry Crowne (starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts), the web series Jeff and Ravi Fail History which screened at SXSW, and recurring roles on TV shows such as Scandal, Goliath, and This Is Us. Check out IMDb for a full list of credits, and look for @thatjuliacho online.
Stefanie Lau
Producing Artistic Leader
Stefanie Lau is a producer and arts administrator whose work over the last 25 years brings equity, diversity and inclusion to Los Angeles theatre. As a co-Founder and co-Producing Artistic Leader of Artists at Play, Stefanie produces mainstage shows, new play development programs, Theatre for Young Audience performances, fundraisers, and other special events. She is a Development Associate at the Latino Theater Company, managing individual giving and donor events. Stefanie previously worked at Center Theatre Group, East West Players, Ford Amphitheater and Cold Tofu Improv. A graduate of UCLA, Stefanie sits on the national board of the Consortium of Asian American Theatres and Artists, steering committee of the new Theatre Commons Los Angeles service organization, and is a member of the Artistic Directors of Color Alliance – Greater Los Angeles and Theatre Producers of Southern California.
Marie-Reine Velez
Producing Artistic Leader
Marie-Reine Velez is an arts leader working toward community care and intergenerational healing through creative strategy, active listening, and resource sharing. She is the assistant director at Visions and Voices, the arts and humanities initiative at the University of Southern California, a campus-wide program that provides free interdisciplinary arts and humanities experiences that connect communities, expand perspectives, and create a more just future. Marie-Reine has been a performing arts producer since 2005, and loves supporting new play development and premieres. At TeAda Productions, she produced TEADAWORKS performances and labs, along with work by D’Lo, Leilani Chan, Ova Saopeng, Robert Karimi, and Kristina Wong. She co-founded the Eagle Rock Indie Rock Bowling Night at All Star Lanes, providing community and production support for local bands. In 2011, she served on the host committee for the National Asian American Theatre Conference and Festival in Los Angeles.
Producing Members
Nicholas Pilapil
Nicholas Pilapil is a Filipino American playwright and has been an Artists at Play member since 2013.
His plays include God Will Do The Rest (world premiere with Artists at Play & Latino Theater Company), The Bottoming Process (world premiere with IAMA Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Ignition Festival of New Plays), and if all that You take from this is courage, then I’ve no regrets (winner of the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival). His work has also been developed with Geffen Playhouse, Playwrights Foundation, Boston Court Pasadena, Abingdon Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, Playwrights’ Arena, and The Workshop Theater, among others. Nicholas is an alum of The Writers’ Room at the Geffen Playhouse, IAMA Theatre Company’s Emerging Playwrights Lab, and artEquity.
Katherine Chou
Katherine Chou is a Taiwanese American writer, director, producer, and sometimes actor. She first began making theatre and film in Southern California, before traveling the world for new perspectives as a storyteller. Over the years, she’s backpacked solo across Europe and Asia, learned to play sanshin at the foot of Shuri Castle, and punched a deer in self-defense. Along the way, she’s come to tell strange, surreal stories rooted in themes of identity and personhood.
A graduate of L’Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris, she is an alumna of the Armed With a Camera Fellowship, the BIFAN Fantastic Film School in South Korea, and Imago Theatre’s Artista Program in Montreal. Her work in theatre has extended to assistant directing, dramaturgy, and stage management on productions including The Chinese Lady at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, as well as Artists at Play’s 2019 co-production with Greenway Arts Alliance; In Search of Mrs. Pirandello and The Tashme Project in Montreal; and Artists at Play’s 2021 reading of Non So Più Cosa Son. She played Daughter in Artists at Play’s 2018 presentation of Three Women of Swatow.
As a filmmaker, she has worked with directors including Christopher Nolan, George Tillman Jr., and Denise Di Novi on films like Dunkirk and The Hate U Give. Her short film, A Cure for All Things, has screened at festivals around the world and was named a finalist in the Telling Our Stories Contest presented by STARZ, The Wrap, and Women in Film. @kacawcaw
Board of Directors
Alejandra Cisneros
Alejandra Cisneros is a first-generation, proud daughter of Salvadoran immigrants. Her vision lives at the intersection of community building and art-making, creating work that is value-driven. Her favorite collaboration is the superhero staged series El Verde!; which has toured venues throughout Southern California. Additional collaborators include The Public Theater (Mobile Unit – National Tour + Corrections Program), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (La Comedia of Errors Tour + OSF School Visit Program), Center Theatre Group (Chisme y Queso + Annazul + Sueños Frosted Flakes), Grand Park Downtown LA (New Year’s Eve LA Celebration + Fourth of July Block Party), Artists at Play, the Robey Theatre Company, and Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre. She is an alumnus of UC Irvine, Director’s Lab West, and the NALAC Leadership Institute, and served as a FAIR Fellow at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a Nathan Cummings Young Leaders of Color recipient. Alejandra was awarded a Leadership U: One-on-One grant, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group. She was named one of American Theatre Magazine’s “6 Theatre Workers You Should Know”. alecisneros.com
Teresa Huang
Teresa Huang is the proud daughter of Taiwanese immigrants who fell in love with the American theater and brought her to over 50 plays and musicals before she graduated from high school. Little did they know this would inspire her to become an actor after completing a chemistry degree at MIT. (Thanks Ma and Ba!) Teresa’s acting career took her from regional stage roles in A Chorus Line, A Piece of My Heart, and more to portraying doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals in over 50 episodes of television, including recurring roles on Criminal Minds and Grey’s Anatomy. She is now a television writer/producer with credits including MacGuyver (CBS), Seal Team (CBS), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series for Netflix. Teresa is a board member for Theatre Espresso, an educational theater company based in Massachusetts that creates interactive, historical dramas for young audiences. She is proud to serve on Artist at Play’s inaugural board and looks forward to supporting their consistently groundbreaking and thoughtful artistic work.
Jer Adrianne Lelliott
Jer Adrianne Lelliott is a Senior Youth and Health Educator for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where she runs student wellbeing centers that provide sexual and mental health and substance abuse prevention services on campus. Ms. Lelliott is currently researching perinatal care for Trans, gender expansive, and nonbinary patients from Communities of Color at USC Rossier. She proudly serves as co-chair of fundraising at LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ candidates at every level of office. Jer Adrianne is the founder of Coeurage Ensemble, an audiobook narrator, and a “casual employee” of the New York Times.
Communications Assistant Sandy Nguyễn
Literary Assistant Asher Hammer
Artists at Play — A Los Angeles-Based Theatre Collective 