About the Company

Aporia Theater is a dynamic new company devoted to cultivating a rising generation of theater artists through the development and production of compelling original work.
 

Sarah Wansley (Artistic Director) is a NY based director and producer. Directing credits with Aporia include Bare Naked Drama, The Disappearance of Jonah, Moonlight, The Real Inspector Hound, No Exit and The Real Thing. As a Directing and Producing Assistant at the McCarter Theatre, Sarah had the opportunity to assist such inspiring directors as Tina Landau, Emily Mann and Roger Rees. Other directing credits include The Suitcase at the Looking Glass Theatre’s Writer/Director Forum and What the Future Awaits at McCarter’s Youth Ink Festival. Sarah graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University and currently works as the Assistant to the Producing Director at The Flea Theater. 

Lydia Brunner (Director of New Play Development) writes, performs and produces plays in the New York area. She recently started Aporia’s playwriting group. Acting credits include Titus Andronicus (The Brick), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Looking Glass), Happy Hour (45th St Theater), Macbeth (Chashama), Pound (Miller Theater), Rainbow Monologues, Agamemnon, The Thing About Robocop, Listen to Me. Her film credits include Insomnia, a SAG short film. She has worked as an assistant on Othello at the Juilliard School, as well as Twelfth Night at Barnard College. Lydia spent a summer at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and graduated cum laude from Columbia last May. She currently works at New Dramatists as a Literary Associate.

Elizabeth Grefrath (President of the Board of Trustees, Artistic Affiliate) is an oral historian and founding Executive Director of Aporia Repertory Theater. Producing credits with Aporia include The Disappearance of Jonah, Moonlight, The Real Inspector Hound, No Exit and The Real Thing. Elizabeth currently directs projects on the history of the death penalty and post-9/11 civil and human rights abuses at the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University, and has worked in development at The Public Theater in New York City. Elizabeth graduated with degrees in History and English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

Nikki Rothenberg (Resident Director) Nikki currently works in the TV, Film and Theater dept. at Don Buchwald and Associates. Some of her NY directing credits include Why Can't I? (New York Theater Barn), Grimm Late Night (NY Artists Unlimited Bad Musicals Festival), and Anna's Perfect Party (Looking Glass Theater). She has also worked with the NY International Fringe Festival on Muffin Man as a creative consultrant and is an Artistic Associate at the Looking Glass Theater. Nikki has a BA in theater studies from Emerson College.

Sarah Hartmann (Resident Director) Recently completed a summer working with the Chautauqua Theater Company. Past work includes directing Sorry, Wrong Number (Barnard College); assistant directing: Arms and the Man (Juilliard School), What of the Night (Barnard College); acting: The Golden Cockerel (Casa Italiana), yellow electras (Ontological/hysteric theatre), title roles in Mariana Pineda (BADA), and Elektra (BADA), productions at the Player's Theater and the Historic Atlas Theatre and others. Internships with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and PrimaryStages. Year-long study at British American Drama Academy, BA in theatre from Barnard College.

Allison Smith (Casting Director) Recently completed a year working as a Casting Assistant at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. At McCarter, Allison assisted casting on Talley’s Folly, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Twelfth Night, The Brother/Sister Plays, Eclipsed, and McCarter’s annual production of A Christmas Carol, while serving as Casting Director for all non-equity mainstage and educational casting. She has had internships with Jim Carnahan Casting and Second Stage Theatre. Allison graduated with degrees in Business and Theatre from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and spent a semester abroad studying theatre at Goldsmiths College in London. She currently works at South Orange Performing Arts Center as a Marketing Associate.

Patrick McKelvey (Resident Dramaturg) recently moved to New York following a year as Literary Assistant at McCarter Theatre, in Princeton, NJ. While at McCarter, he dramaturged the YouthInk! Festival of Ten-Minute Plays, and assistant dramaturged Danai Gurira's Eclipsed (dir. Liesl Tommy), Tarell Alvin McCraney's The Brother/Sister Plays (dir. Tina Landau and Robert O'Hara), and Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession (dir. Emily Mann). Other favorite dramaturgy credits include Assassins Slaughter City and The Summer People at UT-Austin, and The Realm (winner of the Bonderman Prize) and God of the Gaps at the Mark Cohen New Works Festival. Patrick graduated summa cum laude from The University of Texas at Austin with dual degrees in English and Theatre (Performance as Public Practice).

Patrick Barrett (Founding Member) is a New York based actor and writer. Previous work with Aporia includes the roles of Henry in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, Jonah in The Disappearance of Jonah, Garcin in No Exit, Ralph in Moonlight. Other credits include Sgt. dePreez in Athol Fugard's Statements and Hal in Proof, both presented at Barnard Stages. Patrick is a graduate of Columbia University.

Maura McNamara (Founding Member) is a theater and film actor originally from Portland, Oregon. In New York, she recently appeared as Debbie in Stoppard's The Real Thing at the T. Schreiber Studio, a performance for which she received a 2009 NYIT Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role. Other favorite New York productions include Amy in The Disappearance of Jonah in the 2008 Capital Fringe Festival and Bel in Pinter's Moonlight, both with Aporia Theater Company, as well as numerous performances at Columbia University. She has studied under Peter Jensen at the T. Schreiber Studio, as well as with Carol Reynold for movement, and is thrilled to be a current member of Aporia.

Alec Turnbull (Producer-at-Large, Webmaster) has worked as producer and managing director of Aporia.