Meet our 2023 Access Advisory Board

Connect with our Access Advisory Board this week at Office Hours!

Wednesday, May 31st 7-10pm at Saint Felix Hollywood.

 

What is the Hollywood Fringe Access Advisory Board? (Formerly known as the Access Committee)

The Hollywood Fringe Festival Access Advisory Board is comprised of experienced fringe producers, community members, and access focused professionals in the theatre industry. They meet on a regular basis to assess our organizational practices and processes, document successful approaches to equity, and identify areas of inequity that need to be addressed. 

 

CURRENT MEMBERS

Dan Lovato, AKA Pastiche Queen (They/Them) is a non-binary latindigenous, interdisciplinary performance artist from Denver, CO currently based in Hollywood, CA. Their work as an actor and slam poet has been featured on AppleTV’s “Dear: Viola Davis”, Facebook’s “Queer Community Leaders of Color Initiative”, and The REDCAT Theater Artist-In-Residency Program. Pastiche’s most recent one-person show at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, “Level One Gygax”, won The 2022 Theatricum Botanicum Wordsmith Award for advancing the artform of storytelling as well as being an Access Scholarship recipient. You can see them most Tuesday’s at Da Poetry Lounge.

 

Diana Elizabeth Jordan is an Award-Winning Actor, Solo Artist, Theater & Filmmaker, Disability & IDEA Influencer and founder & Chief Creative Artivist Of The Rainbow Butterfly Café.  She has been cast in over 60 theater productions, film and television including CBS’s S.W.A.T. She was one of 20 actors selected from over 7,000 applicants for the inaugural Warner Media Discovery Access Talent Showcase. She performed her solo show Happily Ever After (One Woman’s Journey To Find A True Love) at the 2021 Hollywood Fringe where she received a diversity scholarship, Pick of The Fringe and an Encore Producers Award honors. She is an award nominated director, a producer, the founder of two production companies Dreaming Big On A Swing Entertainment and The Rainbow Butterfly Café. Diana is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association and one of the disabled advocates for Women of Color Unite and serves on The Hollywood Fringe Diversity Committee. Whether portraying a character, sharing a personal story, directing, or producing a project, Diana is committed to celebrating the power of resiliency and disability intersectionality through the transformative power of storytelling. www.dianaelizabethjordan.com @fromtheheartdej on twitter, tiktok and instagram

 

Matthew S. Robinson* is a playwright and director who has made several Fringe shows including “Olivia Wilde Does Not Survive The Apocalypse”, “BlackBalled” and “Mary’s Medicine.” A member of the Fringe Access Committee and Scholarship Panel, he is committed to fostering more inclusion and access to the performing arts throughout the Los Angeles area. www.matthewsrobinson.com

 

Michelle Roshanzamir* is the Executive Director of Donna Sternberg & Dancers and Founder/Consultant at MVR Creative.  Receiving her BFA from CalArts, and MBA (and minor in Theatre/Arts Management) from CSULB.  The work she does centers around helping creators, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders bridge the gap between the vision of what they want to do with the business side to actually make it happen.  She helps leaders develop the business strategy; develop and run programs and events; develop systems and operations; and create a plan of action so you can remove the stress, increase revenue, and bring your vision to life.

 

Natasha Lewin* is a HFF Mentor, part of the ACCESS Advisory Board, as well as the Diversity Scholarship Board. Her 2017 HFF Diversity Scholarship-winning play was adapted into an Oscar-qualifying short film as well as a YA graphic novel memoir.  She can’t wait to see your show! 

 

Peerada Meemalayath* is a first generation Asian American and as an actor, activist, and overall artist, she one day strives to open up her own theater company that focuses on pressing societal issues. Recently, she graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Theater B.F.A. degree. Though she is mostly trained in the Stanislavski method and Contemporary works, she has also studied classical work such as Shakespeare and Chekhov. She has also studied other performative skills like dance, mask work, movement, voice, stage combat, accents, musical theater, clowning, commedia dell’arte and film acting. These various tools ultimately allow Peerada to create her own work on what she is most passionate about. Peerada strongly believes in adopting theater as a catalyst for social change. Whether she devises new work individually or by collaborating with other artists on narratives that focus on a voice for the voiceless, she ultimately gives back to the world with her art. Overall, as a human being and as an artist, Peerada wants to leave the world knowing that she left a positive impact. She wishes to affect people and to share ideas of equality and love with others. 

 

Royce Shockley* is an award-winning producer, writer and comedian originally from the great state of New Jersey. He’s a founding team member of Pack Sketch Night, and has produced shows such as Black Magic Live!, The Color Collective, The Night Cap with Stacy Rumaker and more! In addition, he’s helped others win awards by consulting or mentoring on their projects for live theater and comedy performances for festivals around the country. Believing that diversity, inclusion, and equality should be the backbone of any organization; he also is a board member for The Ledge Theater, on the Scholarship and ACCESS Committees for the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and is a co-founder of the Blacktoberfest international beer festival. He has a background in political campaigns and working for “The Man” in corporate America, but now is content teaching kids when he’s not on the never ending search for the best burger in LA and being the Managing Director for The Pack Theater. You can follow him on IG @royceshockley.

 

Ruby Marez is not just a triple threat, but a quintuple threat as a comedian, drag performer, actor, writer, and first-generation Latina! Her solo show “The Ramón Show: Spiritual Cheerleading 101” featuring her drag king Ramón has garnered critical acclaim and won multiple awards at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2022, including “Best Immersive and Games Show,” “Pick of The Fringe,” and a “Producers Encore Award.” Ruby currently tours this award-winning show to colleges, theaters, and various venues across the United States. And when she’s not entertaining audiences with her solo show, she’s bringing her drag king Ramón, to festivals, comedy shows, and immersive, interactive events. Ruby is also a multi-talented writer, co-writing the original comedic pilot “Year Zero,” which was an I.F.P. finalist, (now known as The Gotham Awards) and went into development in 2018. Ruby’s acting skills have not gone unnoticed either, winning Best Actress for the short film “Corações em Fogo” at the Culture and Diversity Film Festival in 2019. Her sketch comedy duo, Arroz Con Pho, has performed at Second City L.A., in the Los Angeles Diversity in Comedy Fest, and most recently to a sold-out house at S.F.’s Sketchfest in 2023! 

 

Ruby’s creative endeavors span beyond the entertainment industry. She’s also a published writer, with her essay on growing up as both Puerto Rican and Jewish in the Midwest featured in the book “What We Brought Back: Jewish Life After Birthright-Reflections by Alumni of Taglit-Birthright Israel Trips.” Check out Ruby’s and Ramón’s upcoming shows and videos on their websites: www.theramonshow.com, www.rubymarez.com And Follow Ruby and Ramón on IG: @ramonlovesyou & @queenrubes

 

Spencer Frankeberger* is an award-winning producer, director, and actor and a graduate of iO West, Second City Hollywood, and ComedySportz LA. He has an MFA in Film Production from Florida State University and is a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC). He is also a tour guide on the World-Famous Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood and hosts his own theme park podcast @theoreticalthrills.  www.spencerfrankeberger.com IG/TikTok: @spencer101f  

 

TL Forsberg is a critically acclaimed award-winning solo artist (“The Book That Won’t Close”); International touring artist in the Deaf Culture; Speaker on Diversity & Inclusion; American Ambassador for Disability, and an EIPA Certified Interpreter in ASL.

Her life story is featured in the award-winning documentary, “See What I’m Saying:The Deaf Entertainers Documentary,” she plays Olivia on ABC’s “Switched at Birth,” and the Band’s Sytlist in VH1’s reality TV Series ‘SuperGroup.”

As a Diversity Advocate, TL is passionate about accessibility and works as an ASL Theatrical Interpreter. Some credits include: NBC’s “ The Voice,” ABC’s “American Idol,” Theatre West, CSUF Theatre Program, USC Drama Dept, Agape International Spiritual Center and The Hollywood Fringe.

 

Terrell M. Green (MSDMM) is an artist, advocate, and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Terrell has attended: University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism (M.S. in Digital Media Management); Marymount Manhattan College in NYC (B.A in Theatre Performance); The British American Drama Academy at Oxford University’s Magdalen Campus in Oxfordshire, England (Professional Certificate in Shakespeare Performance); and marionette puppetry training in Cork and Dublin, Ireland. For the past 10+ years, Terrell has created arts-integrated youth programming in literacy enrichment, social and emotional learning, sexual and reproductive health, and conflict resolution. Terrell believes that art access is a tool to combat public health issues and uses media and storytelling as data collection metrics. Terrell’s work and advocacy have been featured in American Theatre Magazine, Philly Mag, Philly Gay News, Shoutout LA, Voyage LA, LA Sentinel, Annenberg Media, The Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY, and Philly’s KYW news radio.

 

*Founding members of our Access Committee: Ella Turenne, Matthew Robinson, Michelle Roshanzamir, Natasha Lewin, Peerada Meemalayath, Royce Shockley, Rufino Romero, Spencer Frankeberger 

 

To apply for the Access Advisory Board, fill out this application: https://forms.gle/7ezHj1ctUgBZVJMA6