Featured
Emily Lyon (she/her), Artistic Director
Emily Lyon (she/her), Artistic Director

Hedgepig: Expand the Canon (curator & dramaturg 2020-2024), A Bold Stroke for a Husband (director, ISF co-production, 2020 & 2023 readings), Mary Stuart (director), All’s Well That Ends Well (director), Secret in the Wings (director), Taste of Shakespeare (director, adaptor), The Women of Williams County (director), Interior: Panic (director)

Emily is passionate about Hedgepig’s mission because everyone should see their full humanity represented on stage –  because that shared, understood humanity builds a more empathetic and connected community.

Emily is a director, dramaturg, and writer working at the intersection of storytelling and social change. She curates Expand the Canon, leads Future Facing Films, works on the Hollywood Climate Summit, and created an environmental justice card game with The Civilians R&D Group. Over her 9 years with Hedgepig, Emily co-created the Expand the Canon project, and directed 8 shows, including All’s Well That Ends Well, Mary Stuart, A Taste of Shakespeare, and Secret in the Wings. As a freelance director, Lyon has directed 8 world premiere plays, and worked with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre, The Old Globe, LaMaMa, Yale Rep, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Folger, and others. As a freelance dramaturg, she’s worked with writers on shaping 25+ new plays, as well as editing classical texts, including The Tempest for Shakespeare in the Park. Upcoming: Bold Stroke for a Husband at Island Shakespeare Festival. EmilyALyon.com

Triza Cox (she/her), Director of Outreach & Engagement
Triza Cox (she/her), Director of Outreach & Engagement

Hedgepig: Expand the Canon (curator 2024), The Stone Host reading 2023 (director)

If art is about truth and beauty, then the art & artists highlighted, platformed, and resourced must reflect the wholeness of humanity – Hedgepig’s work contributes to making that reality.

Triza Cox is a theatre artist who has served as the Artistic Director of The Drama Lady Theatre Group and has been the Associate Artistic Director for Theatre for Change with Imagination Stage. She is also South Carolina Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild. Recent awards include the FY22 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship for screenwriting. Her research and creative work center on playmaking using Jungian archetypes, motifs, and symbols of the collective unconscious. Triza holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Louisville and has trained with Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and as a Theatre of the Oppressed Facilitator with the Mandala Center for Change. She has directed Macbeth and Julius Caesar for educational tours to Title I schools in the rural South as well as other classical and contemporary productions.

Michele Danna (she/her), Managing Director
Michele Danna (she/her), Managing Director

As a fierce advocate for amplifying the shared female experience, I’m passionate about Hedgepig’s mission of providing a platform for women’s stories and voices, which have a long, powerful, and universal history.

As an actor, a director, and a professor, Michele is consistently working to elevate the lush and colorful landscape of women’s stories. While artfully balancing a meticulous sense of organization with a wild imagination, she is thrilled to be joining the leadership team at Hedgepig as Managing Director to help support the mission of amplifying gender equality through the classics. A proud AEA member, Michele has performed roles such as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Off-Broadway), Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Juliet in Romeo & Juliet. She was also a high school English & Theater Teacher, Director, and head of the Theater Department at Randolph High School and West Windsor-Plainsboro HSN. After a brief stint in Corporate Finance & HR Sales, Michele is currently a Professor of Acting and a Director at CCM in Morris County, NJ where she most recently directed Twelfth Night.

Desirée Baxter (she/her)
Desirée Baxter (she/her)

Hedgepig: The Stone Host reading 2023, Las Pascualas video scene 2022, Little Women (Marmee) and The Gift of Giving: A Little Women Holiday Experience, All’s Well That Ends Well (Countess),

Desiree advocates for Hedgepig's mission because she thrives in a collective where all voices – past and present - are sought out and amplified.

Desiree is on the reading committee for Hedgepig's “Expand the Canon” and engages in social justice work with the Riverside Church. Other roles include: Parent/Lear in Lear with Shakespeare Forum, Gertrude in Hamlet, Ranevskya in The Cherry Orchard, Hope in Be a Good Little Widow and Dauber inThe Cradle Will Rock. A classically trained mezzo-soprano, she has performed in operas, oratorios and concerts in the U.S. and Europe, and premiered works by several North American composers. AEA, SAG-AFTRA, AGMA. www.DesireeBaxter.com

Terra Chaney (she/her/hers)
Terra Chaney (she/her/hers)

Hedgepig: The Stone Host reading 2023, The Stone Host monologue video 2022, Ladies of Castile Workshop

Terra is thrilled to be joining an ensemble that challenges the current theater landscape with provoking work from diverse voices.

Terra Chaney is an actor based in New York City. She graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Her credits include Comedy of Errors (Luciana), Othello (Montano), and Women on Fire (Rachel).

Gagarin (they/them)
Gagarin (they/them)

Hedgepig: Curator 2023, The Stone Host reading 2023, The Lucky Chance video scene 2022, War & Mercy reading (2021, 2022), Ladies of Castile devising workshop

Gagarin is psyched about Hedgepig because they are a community that is truly doing the work to create a better world of classical theatre for everyone!

Gagarin is a Brooklyn-based, Jersey-raised Queer artist; driven by an overactive imagination and an insatiable hunger for telling the stories that make us laugh, cry, and wonder. With a craft rooted in Suzuki Viewpoints, and devising collectively with other artists they believe that theatre is one of the best tools for speaking to the emotional core of a community and affecting radical social change. The classics, in their opinion, are the perfect vehicle to do that once you're willing to get in there and mess them up a bit. You can follow Gagarin's shenanigans on their instagram @gagagagagiggs. Previous work includes: Voyeur (Bated Breath Theatre Co), Derr Ring Gott Farblonjet, Three Sisters (SITI Company).

Dorothea Gloria (she/her)
Dorothea Gloria (she/her)

Hedgepig: Bold Stroke for a Husband reading 2023, And the Soul Shall Dance video scene 2022, Wanru in Forging the Truth reading 2021, Mitsuko in Restless Night in Late Spring reading 2020

Dorothea believes in Hedgepig’s mission because everyone has a voice and a story that needs to be shared and known.

Dorothea is from Manila, Philippines. She is a founder of TeamTheatre LLC. She is currently an assistant acting teacher for the Stella Adler Studio and a Special Events Team Manager for the NY KidsClub. She has performed for The Flea Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights, Lucille Lortel Theater, etc. She has performed professionally in various theater companies back home as well such as Repertory Philippines, PETA (Philippine Educational Theater Association), and CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) to name a few. In 2014, she earned BroadwayWorld’s Best Featured Actress for Repertory Philippines. She is often seen in Bryant Park where she practices her juggling and flow arts. www.dorotheagloria.com Ig: @dorotheagloria @babay.len

Skye Pagon (she/her)
Skye Pagon (she/her)

Hedgepig: Expand the Canon Curator 2020-2023, Olivia in Bold Stroke for a Husband (2020 & 2023 readings), The Stone Host reading 2023, Laodamia video monologue 2022

Skye cares about Hedgepig's mission because she believes deeply in community based advocacy, and in expanding and challenging the parameters of classical theatre.

Skye is a Brooklyn-based, Philly-bred, actor, writer, and theatre maker. She received her start in acting at eleven years old when she accidentally auditioned for a school production of The Sneetches, and from there it was an easy leap from Dr. Seuss to Shakespeare. She received her BFA from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied the Meisner Technique, Commedia dell'arte, and Classical acting. Onstage, she has appeared in various classical and educational initiatives, including at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Stages on the Sound, and Shakespeare in Santa Fe. You can find her writing in various corners of the internet and on her Instagram, or scrawled on half crumpled napkins in her coat pockets. She believes deeply in theatre as a tool for education, advocacy, and community building, and is committed to making it as accessible and equitable as possible. It was these interests that led her to Hedgepig in the fall of 2019, and she couldn't be happier to be here.

Gregory Jon Phelps (he/him)
Gregory Jon Phelps (he/him)

Hedgepig: Don Juan in The Stone Host reading 2023, The Uncle video scene 2022, Parolles in All's Well that Ends Well, Man 3 in Secret in the Wings, Reggie/Burrows in An Evening with Noel Coward: Weatherwise/Family Album, Don Carlos in Bold Stroke for a Husband (2020 reading), Musician/Vocalist in the Hedgepig Cabaret: Never Doubt I Love.

Greg champions Hedgepig's mission because in order to imbue the world with more empathy, everyone's story must be heard.

Other credits include Mousetrap (Giles), Woody Guthrie's American Song (Woody), and over 80 productions with American Shakespeare Center.

B.A. University of Vermont www.gregoryjonphelps.com

Royston Scott (he/him)
Royston Scott (he/him)

Hedgepig: War & Mercy readings (2021 & 2022), “The Drag” podcast episode

Royston champions Hedgepig's mission because women’s voices and minority voices in the theatre need to be heard and I have a big mouth.

Actor, writer, and filmmaker Royston Scott is a graduate of NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing, where he trained with Anne Bogart and Mary Overlie. He has acted in the visionary director Reza Abdoh’s “Tight, Right, White” in NYC, and toured with the show in France and Belgium. He has performed at venues such as the Public Theatre, Symphony Space, Irvington N.Y. Town Hall, P.S. 122, La Mama, the Gene Frankel Theater, the Pyramid Club, the Strawberry One Act Festival, Chashama, En Garde Arts, the Guggenheim Museum, and in the immersive show “The Alita Experience-Passport to Iron City.” His great aunt, the African- American cosmetics mogul and subject of his award -winning documentary “The Sara Spencer Washington Story” (www.sswmovie.com) will be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame on October 16th. His films have screened in Paris, Berlin, San Francisco, and Thailand, as well as in MOMA in New York.

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