Currently Announced
Rio Reveals Artists
Come Back for Updates as Our Team Grows!
Mikhael Tara Garver
Creator &
Experiential Director
Founder of 13Exp
Mikhael is the Founder and Head of Experiential Entertainment for 13Exp. Garver has been a pioneer in original experiential and immersive entertainment.
She was one of the first to receive immersive commissions by national arts organizations like the American Repertory Theater, The Goodman Theatre, The United Nations, The Kennedy Center, The New York Public Library, and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. She has built award-winning experiences for AMC Television, The National Park Service, Bloomberg, & Smirnoff. She has spoken and taught on Arts and Democracy at North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale, Columbia University, Harvard, as well as other universities. She founded and led a program for “Making, Directing, and Leadership” at Tisch School of the Arts.
Garver was the Head of Experiential Entertainment for Category41; a director on A.R.T. & Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More; and is the founder of 13Exp an experiential studio creating meaningful and original entertainment that makes memories.
She has consulted with Meow Wolf, The Immersive Design Summit, and is a thought-leader in the future vision for experiential.
She is a current grantee of Pop Culture Collaborative’s Becoming America Fund and an International Sacatar Fellow.
Daniel Penilla
Producer
Daniel is an actor, director, experiential producer, facilitator, an enthusiast of community collaborations and a lover of stories. As an actor, he was most recently a lead in La Serenata, a short film by Ernesto Martinez produced by AdeRisa Productions, currently streaming on HBO. As former Associate Artistic Director at Cornerstone Theater Company, Daniel led projects that were part of the Creative Seeds programming: events that bring together artists, activists, thought leaders and community members. He trained at Circle In The Square Theatre School in NYC and was a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company’s first Intensive Ensemble. He is a member of the Latinx Theatre Commons Steering Committee and a member of the artEquity 2016 cohort. His work is fueled by the current state of our everyday and he believes that our basic needs are not being met if we are not able to share our stories. Daniel is driven by the connection and disconnection that the artistic process brings and is grateful to create - and collaborate on - work that allows for discussion and moments that create possibilities.
Ana María Alvarez
Choreographer
Ana María, a 2020 Doris Duke Artist in the dance category, is a prolific choreographer, skilled dancer, masterful teaching artist and movement activist who has achieved multiple accolades for her dynamic works. Her thesis work at UCLA, exploring the abstraction of Latin dance, specifically Salsa, as a way to express social resistance as related to the U.S. immigration battle, became the impetus for founding CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater in 2005. Her most recent work with the company, “joyUS justUS” (2018), is a radical celebration of humanity and the feminine and centers on the power of joy to fight for a more loving and just world. Her work has been presented in theaters across the country and the world, including in Germany, Bulgaria, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. She was selected as the 2018 BiNational Artist in Residence, connecting communities in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix (U.S.), Douglas (U.S.), Tucson (U.S.) and Agua Prieta (M.X.), through leading artistic workshops, collaborative performances and public talks, and concluding with a performance at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Jannet Galdamez
Choreographer
Jannet Galdamez is a dance artist born, raised, and based in Los Angeles, CA. Her love for dance and music began at a very young age through social, street, family settings. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and minor in Education from the University of California Irvine June of 2012 training intensively in jazz, improvisation, modern and ballet. Jannet has been studying salsa for the last 17 years, Afro-Cuban dance, music, and culture for the last 10 years and she continues to dive deep in her studies of various dance forms inside the Latin and African Diaspora. Jannet has danced with Paula Abdul, Spanish Rock Band Mana, Prince Royce, Ozomatli, La Sonora Santanera from Mexico City, Los Angeles based Cuban Roots Band Changui Majadero, Chicano Band Las Cafeteras, the 2017 ON YOUR FEET Broadway Musical Promo Cast, and she has volunteered and worked closely as a teaching artist and behind the scenes with The Floor Improv Night and The Open Floor Society, a 501 (c) non profit organization connecting the youth with a community of professional artists, engaging in multi-cultural dance and music, using improvisation to build confidence and self empowerment. Jannet is currently rehearsal director, teaching and dance artist with CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater, and simultaneously tours with Spanish Guitarist, Roni Benise’s Emmy Award Winning World Music and Dance Spectacular. In these times Jannet continues to blossom in her versatility as a dance artist... always grounded with the beat of a drum. She is passionate about her journey - a journey guided by love, balance, connection and rooted in celebrating and uplifting cultural and ancestral roots, community-building, self-discovery and self-empowerment through dance.
CONTRA-TIEMPO
Dancers
CONTRA-TIEMPO is a Los Angeles-based Activist Dance Theater company founded and directed by Ana María Alvarez. For over 15 years, the company has been dedicated to transforming the world through dance.Through their unique and dynamic urban Latin dance theater work both on and off stage, CONTRA-TIEMPO builds community, facilitates dialogue and moves us to imagine what is possible in the world.
CONTRA-TIEMPO's work exists in the in between and boldly embodies a complex palate including Salsa, Afro-Cuban, improvisation, contemporary and abstract dance theater, to create an invigorating blend of physically intense and politically astute performance work. While their performances are consistently electrifying, what sets the company apart most is its unique relationship to its own community. CONTRA-TIEMPO is, much like the community it reaches, a tapestry. CONTRA-TIEMPO takes an active and uncompromisingly radical approach to the waysartists function within society. Its company members are professional dancers, artists, immigrants, teachers, activists, organizers and movers of all types living and working in Los Angeles. Each company member lives, expresses, and struggles within the varied and infinitely complex political and personal landscapes that Alvarez seeks to address in her work.
Mary Angélica Molina
Script Consultant
Mary is a writer and director who creates dark, funny, queer stories about seemingly unimportant Latinxs in extraordinary circumstances. She is a staff writer on On Becoming A God In Central Florida for Showtime and the Party of Five reboot at Disney’s Freeform. She was recently selected as an AFI Directing Workshop for Women fellow with her half-hour comedy Fernanda. Another half-hour comedy titled Papi participated in the 2019 Sundance Reading Series and was selected for the 2018 Sundance Episodic Lab. Molina is also a 2017 Sundance New Voices Lab Fellow and a 2013 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive Fellow. Valentina (2018), a short film about a woman with a talking vagina, was licensed by HBO and aired globally. She also wrote, produced and directed Dichos (2020), a comedy web-series featuring an impressive selection of female-identified Latinx talents. Molina was born in the Colombian tropics and grew up in Queens, NY.
Jonathan Sanford
Composer
Jonathan is a Baltimore-born, Los Angeles-based composer, music producer, and saxophonist, scoring music for films, television, and stage. He is the composer of the Netflix series Teenage Bounty Hunters and USA’s Dare Me. He recently completed the score for the upcoming Netflix anthology Social Distance and Universal Pictures’ feature Good On Paper, starring Iliza Schlesinger, directed by Kimmy Gatewood.
Amanda Yamate
Associate Composer
Amanda is a composer and producer who was born and raised in Los Angeles and has been writing music for film and television for eight years. They studied Music Composition for Media at Cal State Northridge and you can hear their music in commercials for companies such as Facebook, HBO, Netflix, and Pac Sun. This past year the song “Finale” that Amanda wrote and produced with artist Davia Spain was recently shown virtually paired with Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity oom streamed by The Broad Museum. Amanda’s ultimate vision is to push the boundaries of what is possible in “film music” in terms of genre and as a vehicle for storytelling.
Geoffrey Jackson Scott
Head of Involvement
Geoffrey is the Head of Involvement for 13Exp and is a Brooklyn-based cultural organizer, creative producer, and engagement strategist with over a decade of experience in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in arts and culture.
Shannon Scrofano
Production Designer
Shannon is a Los Angeles-based designer whose work includes interdisciplinary performance, public space, exhibition, curation and conversation projects internationally and throughout the US. She teaches design at CalArts.
Will Pickens
Production Designer
Will is a designer who primarily works on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Regional Theater. He has been lucky enough to work with amazing designers and collaborators over the last twenty years. He also has been able to work with influential immersive creators.
Some of that work included Fornicated From the Beatles that was made with Mikhael Tara Garver. FFtB was an immersive concert where the audience and the super fans of that band were connected by texting and social media even before they all came to the concert.
Will is a member of the Woodshed Collective which has produced such shows as Empire Travel Agency and Kpop. These free shows allow the audience to take a look into a world that has been hidden from them even if it had always been in their backyards.
Anna Lamadrid
Associate Director
Anna studied with acclaimed Meisner teacher, Maggie Flanigan in NYC. She received her MFA from the University of Washington where she TA'd for undergrad acting students and discovered her love of coaching. In LA, she has worked with Boston Court, IAMA, Antaeus and Echo Theatre. She is currently the Literary Manager for IAMA Theatre Company. TV credits include: Vida (Starz), Bless This Mess (ABC), Love, Victor (Hulu) and Grey's Anatomy (ABC). She was selected to participate in the 2019 ABC Discovers Showcase. She booked her first lead in an indie feature from a self-tape and believes strongly in the power of putting your best take forward. She founded Put Me On Self-Tape in 2016 and coaches working actors on their self-tape and in-person auditions - including Bridget Regan (Jane The Virgin), Travis Van Winkle (The Last Ship), Raul Castillo (ATypical), Meagan Good (Prodigal Son), Dina Shihabi (Altered Carbon) and more.
Her main goal is to empower actors to take control of their storytelling and re-discover the joy that comes from owning your work.
Jason Gray Platt
Production Writer
Jason’s work has been produced and developed around the country by Actors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Center Theatre Company, Round House Theater, The Playwrights Realm, Prelude NYC, Page 73, and Red Bull Theater, and through residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo. He received the 2019 James Stevenson Award from Playing on Air. Originally from Arizona, Jason now lives in Los Angeles. BA: Vassar; MFA: Columbia.
David Israel Reynoso
Object Designer
David is the founder of OPTIKA MODERNA and the creator of Portaleza (2020), Las Quinceañeras (2019) and Waking La Llorona (2017), which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse's WOW Festival. He is an internationally renowned, scenic, costume, and exhibit designer, as well as the Obie Award–winning costume designer of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More (Boston, New York and Shanghai). His celebrated theatrical designs have been featured at The Finnish National Ballet, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, American Conservatory Theater, Portland Center Stage, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theater, among many others. Reynoso's scope of work extends beyond theater/film to include designs for globally recognized theme parks, Meow Wolf, and The San Diego Museum of Us (Living with Animals, Frank Warren's PostSecret exhibit). In addition to being La Jolla Playhouse's 2020-2021 Artist in Residence, Reynoso is the recipient of the Creative Catalyst Grant of The San Diego Foundation, an Elliot Norton Award, and multiple Craig Noel, IRNE and BroadwayWorld award nominations. More at www.davidreynoso.com.
Jake Murphy
Writers Assistant
Jake is a NorCal native with tree pollen allergies. In addition to this project, he has been a writers assistant for Fernanda (A.F.I.), Rosario (Tribeca Film Festival), and Papi (Sundance). Special thanks to Mary Angélica Molina.
Joseph Jin
Associate Production Designer
Joseph is a multidisciplinary artist, scenic designer and concept artist for theater, film, immersive environment and themed entertainment. He studied as a designer and art director at California Institute of the Arts and China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Joseph diversified his study in writing, scenography and directing, and is now based in Los Angeles.
Byron Arreola
Associate Producer - Firefly Nights
Byron is an L.A. based producer and creative. Born and raised in East Compton, California, his relationship with the LA River runs deep and well beyond his earliest memories. He is thrilled to be part of the Rio Reveals team to celebrate the river and create an experience that marries the power of nature, art and community. As a performing artist, Byron has appeared in a number of commercials, films and TV shows. As a production professional he has worked extensively in TV, film and special events throughout the music, fine art and fashion industries. Production credits include Conan on TBS, RAW Natural Born Artists, Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscars Night, Film Independent Spirit Awards, San Diego Comicon, Beautycon, Electric Daisy Carnival and more.
Michael Garcia
Production Associate
Michael is an administrator, director and stage manager that works across the intersection of community- and civic-engaged arts. He’s currently supporting theater artists Mark-n-Sparks with their project examining unaffordable housing and the housing crisis, an experiment applying the tools of artmaking and creativity to influence policy. In the past he’s worked with Cornerstone Theater Company as the associate director of a collaboration with Marine veterans, and for a production at ASU, the culmination of a 2-year engagement process with native folks in the Phoenix metropolitan area. In his work he’s traveled nationally and internationally, visiting elementary schools in El Salvador as the tour manager for the dance company CONTRA-TIEMPO; as a stage manager for an ice opera festival at The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman; and New York, DC and others working with artists like Marc Bamuthi Joseph. He has a BA from the University of California, Irvine.
Carl Faber
Production Designer
Carl is a Los Angeles-born, Portland-based Artist and (typically Lighting) Designer for theater, music, dance, opera, and immersive experiences, focusing primarily on the intersection of technology and creativity in the arts. His work has been presented at Portland Center Stage, American Dance Festival, Oklahoma Contemporary, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Theatre Freiburg, Eaux Claires Festival, and numerous others in the US and abroad. He’s toured extensively with Bruce Springsteen, Bon Iver, & The National, and the breadth of his professional experience has ranged from creating a 53-room site-responsive environment, to programming moving lights for cruise ships, to touring accounting and logistical analysis, to IT network and database management. He’s a Founding Member of Brooklyn-based Woodshed Collective, holds a BA from Vassar College, and teaches Theatrical Design at Portland State University.
Niki Morrissette
Lyricist & Artist
Niki is a New York City-based actress and singer-songwriter. Her latest musical project, VeNika, is a soulful exploration of heartbreak, authenticity, and resilience. Expect VeNika's first EP in 2020. As a member of the Brooklyn band, Great Caesar, Niki has toured the country sharing the stage with diverse acts from Indigo Girls to Allen Stone. Niki is excited to be a part of Rio Reveals as her first project in Los Angeles; how poetic:)
Alék Gabríela Lopéz
Artist
Alék is a non-binary, LGBTQ+,Latinx, first generation immigrate from Tijuana, Mexico. Graduate from California Institute of the Arts class of 2016 receiving a BFA in Dance currently living in Los Angeles, California pursuing dance-choreography.
Pérez is currently working with CONTRA-TIEMPO. Pérez has collaborated with companies such as B.Dunn Movement, Carlon Production, Kybele Dance Theatre, IronStoneDance, Pasadena Dance Theatre, and FLOCK, a company based in New Orleans.
Pérez has presented choreographic dance works for Blaktinx Dance Festival(Los Angeles & Arizona), Blaktinx Alum Dance Festival, BlakTinx Online Dance Festival ’Dancing on the Edge’, Pasadena City College, Cal State LA, Los Angeles Dance Festival, Orange County Dance Festival, Club Jéte, Highways Performance Space, LooseCannons and in charity events such as Dance/Back directed by Brockus Dance Studio and Artist En Accíon for the Kids in the Borders directed by Amber Alonso and Rosa Navarrete.
Diana Toledo
Artist
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Brazilian-American Dance Activist Diana Toledo (known as Toledo), began her journey with dance informally. Learning hip hop on the streets of Compton, where her family owned a few small businesses, she eventually joined a youth hip hop company named eFunk where she danced and performed for two years. In high school, Toledo discovered the world of salsa and fell in love with various forms of Latin dance. In college, Toledo was pursuing a degree in Forensic Psychology, when an elective modern dance class made her realize that dance was her true passion. Toledo auditioned for CONTRA-TIEMPO in 2010 and became an apprentice for the company for the next 18 months, training rigorously in all dance forms and participating in CONTRA-TIEMPO’s Summer Dance Intensive for two consecutive years. In 2012, she was invited to join the professional company. Through her journey with CONTRA-TIEMPO, Toledo has toured nationally and internationally with the works Full.Still.Hungry., I Dream America, Against the Times, Agua Furiosa and was a part of the creation and performing of Joy US Just Us. Through her love and appreciation of the social justice element of the work, Toledo worked her way into becoming the Community Engagement Specialist for the company for 5 years and helped facilitate workshops and community events to continue to spread the message of love and healing through dance. Although maintaining a full schedule of independent gigs throughout Los Angeles, CONTRA-TIEMPO continues to be a huge part of her dance life and journey. Toledo is now studying as a Dance Major at the University of California Los Angeles in order to continue her career as a Dance Activist and Teaching Artist.
Kahlil Cummings
Artist
A native of Los Angeles, Kahlil Cummings is an acclaimed drummer, performer, composer, and educator. Kahlil was recognized as a child prodigy very early on and since childhood he has played with numerous reputable groups including Ballet Folclórico Do Brasil, Sona Sané, Abalayé, Mila Samba School, Inu Olorun, Debbie Allen Dance Company, Les Amazones, and Viver Brasil. Kahlil honed his musical talents with noted teachers including Mestre Amen Santo, Jose Ricardo Sousa, Kobla Ladzekpo, Esteban “Cha Cha” Bacallao, and Sandy Perez. His studies in Guinea, Brazil and Cuba have helped to widely broaden his knowledge and musical strength. However, he is most profoundly influenced by West African master drummer Mamady Keita, with whom he has studied since the age of 13. Kahlil helped start the group Balandugu Kan, which was sanctioned by Keita as representing “the voice of Balandugu”--- the village where Keita was born. His compositions can be heard on his debut album Iniké Baba, recorded live in Guinea, West Africa.
Kahlil was the musical director for opening numbers for both the NAACP Image Awards and the Choreographers Awards in 2004. Since then, he has performed with several renowned artists such as Janelle Monae (American Idol), Shakira (music video “Waka Waka), and Gwen Stefani. He recently recorded percussion for Aloe Blacc’s song titled “Let the Games Begin,” which was featured in the movie “Race.” In addition, Kahlil performed with Pharrell Williams and Kendrick Lamar in the 2015 and 2016 Grammy Awards, respectively. His prolific abilities have even taken him as far as Japan, where he produced and recorded music for Takarazuka, an elite Japanese theater ensemble, and for Pomba, a well-known fitness company.
Kahlil founded Extra Ancestral in 2017 as an ensemble aiming to educate audiences through fusions of hypnotic Afrobeat, Reggae, Jazz, Afro-Latin, and traditional rhythms of the African Diaspora, narrated by powerful ancestral dancing. Kahlil also plays and tours with international recording artist Rocky Dawuni, and can be heard on the albums “Branches of the Same Tree,” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album of the Year in 2016 and Beats of Zion 2019. Kahlil also performs and recorded on the latest album of Jazz icon Kamasi Washintom “Heaven and Earth” 2018. Kahlil is an endorsed artist of Latin Percussion (LP) and Istanbul Cymbals.
LaQuannia Lewis
Artist
I grew up playing sports, loving math and listening to all types of music. It is evident in my dancing and choreography. Although everyone in my family sings and dances, I didn’t start training “technically” or taking any dance classes until college. I discovered so much truth in the fact that I AM A MOVER and I loved it!!! Movement is my happy place and I wondered how I existed before without all of these news ways of moving … all these new ways of experimenting with every line and curve in my body… all these news ways of saying so much without using words. I got a dance minor at Lander University, a B. S. in Dance Education from Columbia College, and a M. Ed in Divergent Learning. I taught dance in the public school system because I wanted students that couldn’t afford studio classes to get amazing dance training at an age earlier than I had. I was also teaching math. While teaching in Columbia, South Carolina, I traveled and danced with Lyben Christian Dance Theatre. Next, I traveled and performed with Oraki Latin Dance Company. I later began teaching acting, modeling and choreographing shows with DeAbreu Modeling and Talent Agency. Upon realizing that I couldn’t keep telling my students that they could do anything they wanted, without living it myself, I moved to Los Angeles, CA to pursue dance and acting. Currently signed with Genesis Artists Agency, I have booked photoshoots, commercials, music videos, and tv and film roles in my 4 years here. I was set to begin a paid apprenticeship, dancing with Contra-Tiempo in June, but COVID appeared. It is my latest journey to be continued. Dance styles I am trained in include: jazz, ballet, W. African, modern/contemporary, salsa, samba, bachata, cha-cha-cha, tap, and hip hop with a bit of breaking.
Robert Najarian
Artist
Robert is an actor, fight choreographer, instructor, and author. His performance and choreographic work have been seen in theater, film, opera, and dance for productions across the United States including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC and Boston. His is an internationally recognized fight choreographer and teacher having worked and taught in the US, the UK, Taiwan, Canada, and Turkey. He has been a member of the theater faculty at Boston University, Emerson College, Harvard University, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is a member of Actors' Equity Association, The Screen Actors' Guild, and the Society of Directors and Choreographers, and the Vice-President of the Society of American Fight Directors.. His book The Art of Unarmed Stage Combat is available through Routledge.
Tania Verafield
Artist
Tania is an actress, activist & adventurer. Regional theatre: World Premiere of Twenty50 (DCPA). Partial Los Angeles theatre credits: Frankenstein, Othello, A Picture of Dorian Gray, A Flea In Her Ear (A Noise Within); For The Love Of (Or The Roller Derby Play) (Kirk Douglas Theatre/Theatre of NOTE); In The Valley Of The Shadow, Still Life, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Treefall (Rogue Machine Theatre). Partial NY theatre credits: The Little Dog Laughed (Gallery Players); Beneath the Veil (Lincoln Center, also Kennedy Center & Geffen Playhouse). TV/Film: Sundance Film Festival: Ms. Purple, I Am Not a Hipster, Short Term 12 (Grand Jury Prize); Love at First Hiccup, Julia, Harsh Times, Namaste Bitches, 24, among others. Education: UC Berkeley. IN SOLIDARITY.
Jonny Williams
Artist
Jonny is actor and writer hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is an alumnus of UW-Madison’s First Wave Hip-Hop Theatre program and a recent graduate from University of Florida’s MFA in Acting program. When not screaming at the TV of his favorite sports team, he enjoys supporting local activist groups and exploring new hobbies.
Rutherford Henry Allison III
Cellist
Bio to come…
Cricket S. Myers
Sound Associate
On Broadway, Cricket earned a Tony Nomination and a Drama Desk Award for her design of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Regional designs include La Jolla Playhouse, The Ahmanson, The Mark Taper Forum, Kansas City Rep, South Coast Rep, Shakespeare Theater Company in DC, The Kirk Douglas Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Wallis Annenberg, and the Geffen Theater. She has earned 23 Ovation Nominations, as well as winning The LPTW Ruth Morley Award and The Kinetic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design. www.cricketsmyers.com
Johanna Thelin
Production Coordinator
Bio to come…