The Directors of 2021
What is a production without a director? OC-Centric also brings forth the talent of both new and veteran directors to give their vision of the original plays. Here is our roster of talented directors for the 2021 OC-Centric New Play Festival.
Kelly McMahon
Director of Kate
Kelly is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society. Her work has been called inventive and imaginative, reflecting a willingness to take risks that result in powerful and engaging evenings of theatre. Favorite productions include her adaptation, Hamlet & Ophelia, nominated for Best Production and awarded Best Director at the Project ’06 Arts Festival in Galway, Ireland; The Elephant Man at Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum; and The Faithfull, her original play featuring the music of Pearl Jam. Most recently, she and frequent collaborator, Stacy D. Flood, workshopped their piece, The Optimist, inspired by the lyrics of Jimi Hendrix at ACT Theatre in Seattle, and her original chamber musical - CASSANDRA - premiered at the Hollywood Fringe.
Angela Cruz Martinez
Director of The House of The Flightless Birds
Angela is excited to be back working with the amazing OC-Centric as a director. She is currently in the MFA Directing Program at UCI. She is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, with a B.A. in Theater Directing. Some directing credits include: Doubt (UCI 2022), Julie after Strindberg (UCI 2022), In the Heights (Cypress College 2020), Denna and Paul (Curtis Theatre 2019), Celtic Knot (OC-Centric 2017), Adan and Eva y La Orta, (Teatro de las Americas), Love Lost Words (OC-Centric), Ni Una Mas by Angela & Company (UCSB/Hanger Theatre NY); Food for the Dead (CASA 0101), Somebody’s Children and 9ine Digits Away From My Dream (Breath Of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble), Soldado Razo (FC Directors Fest, Winner Best of Fest 2004). She was also the Assistant Director for the production of Alma at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Angela would like to thank her love, familia, friends for their ever-loving support, Tamiko and Eric for always giving her a chance to grow in her craft and mentor Juliette for continuing to guide her on the directing journey. Si Se Puede!
Reed Flores
Director of Marcello & Musetta Break up For Good
Reed Flores (he/him) is so excited to return to OC-Centric! A Chamoru director and wanna-be playwright, Reed last directed A Girl Smiles in the Arctic for OC-Centric, and this year, he directs Gillian Gonzales' Marcello and Musetta Break Up for Good. Most recently, he was the Directing Apprentice at Actors Theater of Louisville, and he has worked along the west coast with Seattle Rep, Long Beach Playhouse, New Conservatory Theater Center, Bindlestiff-SF, and Playground-SF. Reed is also the Director of Programming of Wayward Voices, and a resident artist of The Wayward Artist. And another one: Reed just recently became a new member of Breaking Wave Theater Company based In Guam. And if you read all that, Reed owes you a drink and a high-five.
Ruth Burgess
Director of LOL
Ruth Burgess (she/her) is ecstatic to be directing Craig Holland's LOL in OC-Centric’s 2021 New Play Festival. Graduating with a Theatre Performance degree from Chapman University at the start of the pandemic, her official embarkment into the professional world took quite a whammy. Yet it was a much needed whammy—one that splattered her into writing, producing, and directing her own virtual one-act Lumina, threw her into truly owning her theatrical tools as a teaching artist, and even sparked a new passion for the psychology of theatre and drama therapy. Where God will take her in the future, she has no idea—but she’s damn happy to be here with OC-Centric, and wishes that everyone enjoys the play festival! @ruth.e.burgess
Shinshin Yuder Tsai
Director of Kvetcher In The Wry
Shinshin Yuder Tsai was born in Wisconsin and raised in Chicago. He learned kindness and comedy from an early age through the special medium of Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey movies. Since then he found that Theatre made him come alive in a way that nothing else could. The rest is still being written but to date, he's had the honor of directing such works as The Pillowman, Almost, Maine, Love/SICK, Cowboy vs. Samurai, and She Kills Monsters. He's not sure what the world has in store for him or Theatre as a whole after the pandemic but he's eager to dive into the work. He'd like to thank all who have guided and supported him.