MEET THE TEAM

The inaugural Coconut Grove Theatre Festival is by South Florida, for South Florida. Learn more about the local producers, playwrights, directors, and stage managers bringing this festival to life.

PRODUCERS

Festival Director

William Hector

William Hector is a Miami-born playwright, novelist and Grove lifer. Graduating from the University of Miami in 2015 with dual degrees in Playwriting and Politics, Philosophy & Economics, William was one of four playwrights chosen to participate in Miami Dade County's 2015-17 Playwright Development Program. In January of 2019, the Camino Real Playhouse in San Juan Capistrano selected his play Unbound for performance in their ShowOff! International Playwrighting Festival. He has collaborated with partners including The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, Meetinghouse Miami, The Kampong National Tropical Botanical Garden, The Deering Estate, WLRN and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs on productions of some his plays including Sheol, Draco, The Monster with 21 Faces, and The Kipling Backpack Thief. His most recent production was G7: 2070, a Knight Foundation New Work Miami winning project, wherein audience members were invited to become delegates and join the dignitaries of the seven most powerful nations of the future in a sold-out immersive theatrical summit. Mr. Hector is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild.

Managing Director

Ariel Cipolla

Ariel Cipolla is a Mexican-Argentine theatre artist dedicated to increasing theatre accessibility for audiences often excluded by cost or lack of representation. His work celebrates Latino voices and invites complex conversations. His play No Puedo, I’m Sorry was an O’Neill NPC semifinalist, and So You Think You Can Stay? was a Dramaworks Perlberg Festival finalist. Ariel is also a City Theatre Miami Homegrown Playwright and University of Illinois Daniel J. Sullivan Playwright-in-Residence. Beyond playwriting, Ariel is a community collaborator dedicated to uplifting South Florida artists. He holds degrees in Broadcast Media and Creative Writing from Florida International University.

Communications Director

Melanie Rodríguez

Melanie Rodríguez is a Miami-born Cuban-American writer, singer-songwriter, producer, and arts administrator dedicated to using storytelling for social change and increasing access to the arts for everyone. Her work focuses on the intersections of arts, health, and democracy within Latino and immigrant communities. Melanie is a former participant in The Peace Studio's Artist as Catalyst program and Silver Knight nominee in Music and Dance. Her writing has been featured in O, Miami's audio anthologies and Make Muse magazine.

PLAYWRIGHTS

Playwright, The Feral Spinster Society

Andie Arthur

Andie Arthur (she/her) is a playwright and dramaturg, the co-founding Artistic Director of Lost Girls Theatre, the executive director of the South Florida Theatre League, and adjunct faculty at New World School of the Arts. She is a graduate of the BFA Playwriting Program at DePaul University and a former fellow of the Kennedy Center’s Summer Playwriting Intensive and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ Playwright Development Program. She has been commissioned twice by Theatre Lab as a part of their Fair Play Initiative, which focuses on LGBTQ stories.

Arthur’s plays include In Common Hours (finalist for the 2005 David Mark Cohen Award), Dueling Edwards (finalist for City Theatre’s 2012 National Short Play Contest), La Paloma, The Feral Spinster Society, Dinner at the End of the World, Juliet Among the Changelings, Rev. Nathaniel’s Daughter, She Flies with Her Own Wings, Abacus Jones: Boy Detective, Choose Your Own Adventure: The Lost Chapter, The Secret of the Biological Clock, and Outcasts of Eden. Her work has been seen at Theatre Lab, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Lost Girls Theatre, New Theatre, The Alliance Theatre Lab, The Naked Stage, The Theatre School at DePaul University, Marquette University, GableStage, and Chicago Dramatists.

Playwright, The Queer Séance at #3 Sutton Place

Hannah Benitez

Hannah Benitez is a screenwriter, playwright and fiction writer, who got her start as an actor/musician in over 20 AEA productions, including the original casts of Here There Are Bluberries by Moisés Kaufman/Tectonic Theater Project and White Fang by Jethro Compton. Her produced plays include: GringoLandia (Zoetic Stage), Adaptive Radiation (Denizen Theatre, American Academy for the Dramatic Arts and Clarence Brown Theatre), Ashe In Johannesburg (Burning Coal Theatre), Dike (New York Theater Workshop 29-hours reading, Urbanite Theatre and Hofstra University), For Closure! (freeFall Theater, [upcoming]). Dike, the prelude play to Saint Brigid, was originally developed for The New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellow Tatiana Pandiani culminating project. Benitez made the Kilroy’s List with her bilingual play, GringoLandia. She is a finalist for American Shakespeare Center’s Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries Prize with her comedic adaptation of Henry 6 titled, The 6th, Or, The Patriots. She's had workshops and readings with The Playwrights’ Center, Artists’ Repertory Theater, The Maltz Jupiter Theater and others. She was most recently in the writers’ room for the new limited series, La Joconde, directed by Jodie Foster, which you’ll see streaming soon! She’s written for Universal Television and for NBC. She was featured in American Theatre Magazine 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know. Represented by WME (Bash Naran) for film/tv and managed by Michael Claassen (Writ Large).

Playwright, The Death of Kings: An Encyclopedia

Vanessa Garcia

Vanessa Garcia is a Cuban-American multidisciplinary writer -- screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and journalist/essayist – she’s been nominated for an Emmy and won two Telly Awards for her work on Sesame Street. Her novel, White Light, won an International Latino Book Award and was one of NPRs best books of 2015. Theatrically, she’s the author of The Amparo Experience, an immersive hit that People en Español called “Miami’s Hottest Ticket.” Other plays include: Sweet Goats & Blueberry Señoritas, which she co-wrote with Obama’s Inaugural poet, Richard Blanco. Her writing has appeared in The LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Review, ESPN, The Hill, and numerous other publications.

Playwright, Turbo Hybrid

William Hector

Playwright, When the Sea Wall Cracks

Alejandro Rodríguez

Alejandro Rodriguez is a Cuban-American theater artist from the planet of Miami. His first evening-length work, Sorry, enjoyed two sold-out runs at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in New York. His next show, In My Body, a collaboration with the Canadian street dance company, Bboyizm, is currently on tour across North and South America and was the recipient of four Dora Awards in 2022. His most recent play, Alba, was a 2024 Finalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference and is set to be produced by Teatro Chelsea in Fall 2024.

Alejandro has been the recipient of multiple residencies through Mesa Refuge, Miami Light Project, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Makehouse and the Center for Innovation in the Arts at Juilliard. In 2023, he was Artist in Residence for the Florida Everglades National Park, and in 2024 he was named a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center. He’s lectured at multiple colleges and has carried an adjunct professorship in the CUNY school system. Directing credits include Letters from Cuba and Anna in the Tropics for The Acting Company, Wilder & Wilder for PlayMakers Repertory Company, and the Broadway-bound A Wonderful World (Associate), among others. He began his career as an actor and performed in theaters across the US such as the Kennedy Center, the Guthrie, Denver Center and the Humana Festival, as well as on television. Formerly, he served as the Associate Artistic Director for PlayMakers Repertory, and as Deputy Executive Director for Arts Ignite (formerly ASTEP.) A graduate of Juilliard.

Playwright, Liberty City Vignettes

Lolita Stewart-White

Poet, playwright, filmmaker, and educator, Lolita Stewart-White lives in Miami. She was a member of the inaugural cohort of City Theatre’s Homegrown Program, a playwright development program supporting local BIPOC voices. Her play 7 premiered in Summer Shorts at the Adrienne Arsht Center. Stewart-White was awarded a Cave Canem Faculty & Fellow Fund Project grant to develop her play-in-verse, Liberty City Vignettes. The Miami Light Project supported Liberty City Vignettes by providing creative space for its development. Stewart-White is the author of black frag/ments, winner of Hub City Press’s inaugural BIPOC Poetry Series. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Callaloo, and Prairie Schooner.

Playwright, A Shiva for Joseph: Day Two

Brandon Urrutia

Brandon Urrutia (they/them/él) is from South Florida (born and raised). Their work is influenced by their relation to the Hispanic community and their desire to feel closer to it. Urrutia is the recipient of the ENGAGE@GableStage grant and was awarded "As Miamense as Possible" by the Antiheroes Project for his Solo Performance "Lo Siento mi Espanol es Tremendo Mal". They are also Co-Founder and Artistic Director of LakehouseRanchDotPNG. They graduated from Florida International University with a BFA in Theatre in 2020.

Playwright, Humanization

Michael Yawney

Michael Yawney is a Miami-based director/playwright. His play Humanization was developed and given public readings by The Playwrights Center and Miami-Dade’s Playwright Development Program. Recently, he directed a double bill of Brecht/Weill’s Lindberg’s Flight and Blitzstein’s Airborne Symphony for Orchestra Miami as well as Macbeth and Hamlet for Gablestage’s Shakespeare-in-the-Schools. He directed Rudi Goblen’s FITO for the Live Arts Bard Biennial and PET at Miami Light Project, YoungArts, and #305ONEFEST. Yawney’s production of Heather Woodbury’s 12-hour stand-up novel As the Globe Warms was seen at Austin’s Vortex Rep and L.A.’s Redcat. With Brandon Urutia, he co-created the streaming production Intimite/Internet for GableStage. Yawney wrote and directed Exile Jesus Starbucks for Miami Light Project’s Here & Now. He also adapted and directed the Bulgarian play, The Spider for Alternative Theater Festival. His play 1,000 Homosexuals premiered at the Arsht Center. His gloss on Kid Ends Play will appeared in the most recent issue of Imagined Theatre. Yawney is the founding Artistic Director of Florida International University’s play development program The Greenhouse. He has a BFA from the Experimental Theater Wing of New York University and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University. He is a faculty member of Florida International University.

DIRECTORS

Director, The Feral Spinster Society

Melissa Almaguer

Melissa Almaguer is a Miami based actress, director, and teacher. She holds a BFA in performance from FIU. She has collaborated with various theatre companies in Miami, such as: City Theater, Miami New Drama, Abre Camino, Zoetic Stage, Broadway Factor, Main Street Players and more. Recent acting credits include G7:2070 by William Hector at the Kampong Gardens; #Graced, a world premiere by Vanessa Garcia at Zoetic Stage, and What the Constitution Means to me by Heidi Schreck at City Theatre’s special presentation at Key Biscayne. Melissa has also directed for local theatre companies including City Theatre Summer Shorts:Homegrown Edition, Broadway Factors world premiere of Borrowed by Jim Kierstead, which was adapted into a feature film of the same name (Broadway United, El Central Productions) where Melissa served as line producer. She is so grateful for the support of her family, friends, collaborators and students.

Director, When the Sea Wall Cracks

Karina Batchelor-Gómez

Karina Batchelor-Gómez (she/they/ella) is a Latiné director, dramaturg, and educator committed to storytelling as a catalyst for societal change. They have directed new works with City Theatre’s Homegrown, SolFest at Pregones/PRTT, LakehouseRanchDotPNG, and PDP. As dramaturg for Pioneer Winter Collective, Karina is collaborating on Apollo, an interdisciplinary work premiering in 2025. They were the inaugural dramaturg at GableStage, providing insight on productions such as El Huracán and The Thanksgiving Play. A Silver Palm Award recipient, Karina is dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices and crafting theatrical narratives that challenge, inspire, and reflect diverse experiences.

Director, The Queer Séance at #3 Sutton Place

Amy Coker

Amy Coker is an actor, director, and literature teacher in South Florida. She has worked with William Hector in varying capacities, most recently as the Associate Director for the inaugural production of G7. As a regional director, Amy has worked with Miami New Drama, Mad Cat Theatre Company, Miami’s Playwright Development Project, the One-Minute Play Festival, various staged readings with the South Florida Theatre League, the Ft. Lauderdale Fringe Festival, and MicroTheater Miami. Notable acting roles include Tar Beach at Theatre Lab, Miami Motel Stories with Juggerknot Theatre Company, and Measure for Measure with the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival. For 3 years, she served as the Literary and Programs Manager at City Theatre. She is a graduate of the University of Florida, where she studied Shakespeare, Modern Drama, and British Literature.

Director, The Death of Kings: An Encyclopedia

Victoria Collado

Victoria Collado is a Cuban-American director creating adventurous storytelling experiences on-stage and on-screen and is a co-founder of Abre Camino Collective. Named Best Director of 2020 by Miami New Times, her work includes The Amparo Experience and John Leguizamo's Latin History For Morons on Broadway. Her production of Native Gardens at GableStage swept the Carbonell awards in 2023, garnering her the award for Outstanding Direction. She has been Van Lier Directing Fellow at Repertorio Español, part of the Directing Corps in the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a WP Theatre Lab fellow.

Director, A Shiva for Joseph: Day Two

Charisma Jolly

Charisma Jolly has received a BFA in performance and BA in psychology from FIU. She has worked both in the stage and off with lighting, assistant stage managing, writing, and directing Her credits include Green Bird, Everybody, Necessary Targets, Macbeth, Gay Cowboys, Enter Grapefruit, rabbit, Four Coloring, and 1000 Miles. She has worked with established companies such as New City Players and up and coming companies such as lakehouseranchdotpng and 11th Hour Productions. She now teaches theatre at her alma mater and instills the love of theatre into her students.

Director, Humanization

Maha McCain

Maha McCain is an Assistant Professor and Director with the University of Miami’s Department of Theatre Arts. Professional acting and directing credits include Off Broadway, Universal Television, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Arca Images (with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz), City Theatre Miami, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Redhouse Arts Center, New City Players, Adrienne Arsht Center’s Theatre Up Close, FAU’s Theatre Lab, Mad Cat Theatre Company, Just the Funny Improv, and more. She was the Artistic Director for UM’s Summer Theatre Academy for over a decade, worked as a Communications Expert within UM’s School of Law, and often teaches improvisation with NDavid William’s Music Theatre Summer Intensive in Italy. McCain has served as an executive member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Acting Focus Group and regularly presents research at their national conference. She also works as part of Digital Theatre+’s Higher Education Advisory Board, where she writes and curates content for their study units. A Carbonell nominated actor, McCain is a member of AEA and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Director, Turbo Hybrid

Gladys Ramírez

Gladys Ramírez is a performer, director, and producer specializing in site-specific and immersive theater, full-venue experiential events, pop-up shows, and full-length plays that engage and reflect the South Florida community. She currently directs Royal Railway, an immersive dining theater experience for Royal Caribbean, and has served as Executive Director of Miami’s City Theatre since 2022. Previously, she produced Art After Dark and managed virtual programming as Director of Audience Engagement at the Norton Museum of Art and developed community partnerships at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. As Artistic Director of The Project Theatre, she produced original, immersive, and site-specific productions. Gladys holds a B.F.A. in Theater from Miami’s New World School of the Arts.

Director, Liberty City Vignettes

Hattie Mae Williams

Hattie Mae Williams was born and raised in Miami Dade and had the pleasure of escaping the Miami swamp for 15 years to New York City where she received her BFA from The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater/Fordham University, her Masters from Goddard University in Interdisciplinary Arts, and created a site specific focused dance company The Tattooed Ballerinas 2003-2014. She has worked in many professional atmospheres along her career such as Movement Director for full length films in L.A and theater productions in Kentucky, London, Washington D.C and NYC. Hattie has also taught in various Universities such as Alvin Ailey, Nova, Barry University, and Miami Dade Kendall Campus. Her work has traveled nationally and internationally to Holland, Italy, London, Los Angeles, New York, Kentucky and Miami. Williams is full of gratitude to have danced professionally with The Kevin Wynn Collection, The Francesca Harper Project, Joanna Mendel Shaw 'Equus dancing with horses project.’ Edisa Weeks, and Nickelodeon.

STAGE MANAGERS

Stage Manager

Amanda Hernandez

Amanda Hernandez (she/her) is a South Florida based Stage Manager. Her credits include Shakespeare in the Schools: Hamlet (2025) & Macbeth (2024) with GableStage Theatre Company (PSM), Gay Cowboys with 11th Hour Productions at the Orlando Fringe Festival (PSM), and Enter, Grapefruit with LakehouseRanchDotPng (PSM & Co-Production Designer). She is an FIU Theatre Alum with a B.A. in Theatre Studies and a focus in Stage Management.

Stage Manager

Alize Medina

Alize Medina (she /her) is a South Florida based creative. She is an FIU Theatre Alum with a B.A in Theatre with a focus in Stage Management. Her professional credits include Clyde's, Cabaret, and The Pillowman (Zoetic Stage), and Gay Cowboys at the Orlando Fringe Festival (11th Hour Productions). Favorite academic credits include The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time and Green Bird.