TANYA BIRL-TORRES, (DIRECTOR)

TANYA (she/her) believes in telling stories that move us towards curiosity and connection. She has a passion and a vision to use her artistry to reach a diverse crowd and blur the lines between performer and audience, recognizing that we are all creative by nature of being born. Over the last five years, Tanya has shifted from her career as a sought after Broadway performer, and transitioned  to Movement Direction, Choreography, and Embodied Systems Facilitator. She has served as Movement Director and Choreographer for many prestigious institutions including The Public Theater (Mobile Unit: Twelfth Night), The Guthrie Theater (As You Like It), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Peter and the Starcatcher, How I Learned What I Learned) and The Signature Theater (The Red Letter Plays).

Tanya is a trained 500 hr RYT Yoga Teacher with Illumina Yoga and has studied at The Presencing Institute at MIT.. She is also certified in Trauma-Informed Yoga and leads workshops and retreats on Embodying Change and Reclaiming the Rights of the Body. She is focused on taking powerful ideas and visions and grounding them in the body. 

Tanya is a 2023/24 Map Fund Grantee and NoMAA micro-grant recipient for her development of A Play in 3 Movements. She is the  Artistic Director of the Washington Heights Womanist Arts Festival which is being featured in CitizensNYC’s NY4NY campaign being named a woman breaking glass ceilings and exercising their voice in NYC and beyond.

Tanya works at the intersection of the arts, justice, and systemic change teaching practitioners how to hold difficult conversations coming up in our homes and work and sharing how we enter into them while staying present and in the body. She believes that in itself is an act of justice. Using movement, yoga, creative/spiritual connection, and curiosity as a means to ground, source, and embody the truth of who we are.

KENI B FINE, (WRITER & CREATOR)

s an American playwright, lyricist, and producer best known for writing and co-creating the Off-Broadway eco-musical Endangered! The Musical.

DESIRÉE ROOTS (SOJOURNER & PRODUCER)

DESIRÉE is a celebrated musical and theatre icon in Central Virginia and beyond. With over 35 years of experience, she has showcased her triple-threat talent in the Gospel, Jazz, and Theatre scenes both regionally and internationally. Born and raised in Richmond, VA, Desirée began singing in church at the age of four and launched her professional theatrical career at 13, following the path of her musically inclined family.

Throughout the East Coast, Desirée has performed with orchestras, jazz ensembles, and her own groups. As a Grammy-nominated recording artist, she has also produced shows like "Ella at 100," celebrating Ella Fitzgerald's centenary. In 2014, she received the Theresa Pollak Award for Vocal Excellence. Desirée currently serves as Program Director for ATLAS Partnership and on the Board of Directors for the Richmond Jazz Society, however her MOST favorite role is that of mom and wife!