TESS HOWSAM
Artistic Director/Founder
She/Her
Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, Tess Howsam curates and directs ekphrastic shows that blend theater, installation art, and performance. Howsam seeks to subvert theatrical expectations while building cross-disciplinary collaborations that offer visibility to marginalized artists and address issues of gender. Her installation work is rooted in story and collaboration, viewing art as a dialogue to address contemporary sociological, political, and environmental issues.
Her installation Corseted Community is a part of an international exhibit Puentes - No Muros/ Bridges - Not Walls, (El Centro de las Artes de Querétaro (CEART) Querétaro, Mexico, March 2018/ Casa de Europa Mexico, San Miguel, Mexico, October 2018).
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She has worked as performer/director in a variety of New York venues including Arts@Renaissance, The Barrow Group Theater, Brooklyn Lyceum, Bushwick Starr, Dixon Place, Galapagos Art Space, Governors Island, HERE Art Space, Jimmy's no.43, Signature Theatre, Soho Playhouse, and The Living Theater.​
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MFA-Interdisciplinary Arts: Goddard College, Washington, BA: Bard College, New York.
Phillip Christian Smith
Co-Literary Director
He/Him
Phillip Christian Smith is a 2020-2021 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, Lambda Literary Fellow, Winter Playwrights Retreat, Blue Ink Playwriting Award Semi-Finalist, Finalist for The Dramatists Guild Fellowship and New Dramatists, Finalist and Semi-finalist PlayPenn, Two time Semi-finalist for The O’Neill (NPC), and runner- up in The Theatre of Risk Modern Tragedy writing competition for his play The Chechens, which also won Theatre Conspiracy’s playwriting award, and will be produced in a future season. He has been a semi-finalist for Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries (ASC), finalist for Trustus, Playwright in Residence Exquisite Corpse and founding member of The Playwriting Collective. 2021 Playwright in Residence: Quicksilver Theatre’s Playwrights of Color Summit. 2021 Sewanee Scholar. His work has been supported by Primary Stages (Cherry Lane) ESPA, Fresh Ground Pepper, the 53rd Street New York Public Library, and Forge. He writes about black people, gay people, black gay people, and the issues which persistently follow them. MFA Yale School of Drama, BFA University of New Mexico.
BLAKE BISHTON
Co-Literary Director
He/They
Blake is a Brooklyn-based playwright, founding member, and Literary Director of Exquisite Corpse Company. His plays have been performed in upstate New York, as well as at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and in NYC. His most recent short play, NoBaby, was performed at New York Theatre Workshop’s 4th Street Theater. His latest long play, Unequilibrium was performed at HERE Arts Center. He is currently serving as the co-producer and leader of the ECC Writers’ Lab. He has also worked as an assistant producer for 13P and PreludeNYC, been a substitute teacher of creative writing at Rutgers University, and was assistant to the Literary Associate at NYTW. He is a graduate of Bard College, the British American Drama Academy, an NYTW Usual Suspect, and is currently pursing his MFA at The New School for Drama.
Danny Wilfred
Co-Casting Director
He/They
Danny Wilfred is thrilled to be working with ECC again, this time as co-casting director. Previous collaborations with ECC include Untitled #3 (Lyle Ashton Harris), The Enchanted Realm of Renee Magritte (Choreographer/Fantomas/Paul), The ECC Writer’s Lab, and Drunk 24 Hour Play Festivals. Danny is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Musical Theatre and will be pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Counseling at Northwestern University, January 2021. Years of professional theatre work including national and international tours, regional productions, workshops, cabarets, and concerts have given Danny a wide spectrum of knowledge of the arts and a keen eye for casting. He is proud to share his diverse perspective with the Exquisite Corpse Company family and looks forward to the stories we’ll get to share with you all. Follow Danny Wilfred on Instagram: @wannydilfred (personal feed) @wannymoonart (for multimedia/digital conscious collage art commissions).
BLAIRE O'LEARY
Co-Casting Director
She/Her
Blaire received a B.F.A. in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College, and continued studying as an Apprentice at The Barrow Group. She has worked off-stage at The Ohio Theater's Ice Factory Festival, The Soho Playhouse, and with Subjective Theatre Company.
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Performance credits with ECC include Secession 2015(Governors Island), Below (NY International Fringe Festival & Encore Series), Night, Still (HERE Arts Center), WareArt: SubTerra (Galapagos Arts Space), Below (NY Fringe),Odd.A.See (Arts@Renaissance), and Jung Girls(Developmental Reading), The Forgotten World of Egon Schiele (UnFair Festival). Other performance credits include: Katie & Frank (The Barrow Group), Broken City(PopUP Theatrics), Titus Andronicus, The Cherry Orchard(Shapiro Stage), Hedda Gabbler (< 3 Theatre Company), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentleman of Verona(Shrunken Shakespeare Co), Auto Da Fe (International Wow Company), Sometimes It Feels Like That (Going To Tahiti Productions), The Importance of Being Earnest (The Tank).www.blaireoleary.com.
Andrea Lopez
Resident Filmmaker
She/Her
Andrea Lopez is a Puerto Rican actress and filmmaker who has appeared on stages in New York City, London, and Puerto Rico, playing a wide assortment of roles from classical to surrealist and all the fun things in between. Favorite credits include A Ribbon About a Bomb (Exquisite Corpse Company), Initiative (Playwright's Realm), and Echo (Arctic Group).
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As a filmmaker, she was lucky enough to film Exquisite Corpse Company's production of Ribbon About a Bomb, an endeavor for which she won a New York City Artist Corp Grant. She has also conceived and directed a variety of short films that have been screened at festivals all around the world. alopez.me
LIZ FROST
Producer
She/Her
Liz Frost is theater producer based in New York City. A proud graduate from University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, she graduated with high honors with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts and a minor in Mathematics. Liz is originally from Irvine, California where her love for the arts was nurtured and supported by her two loving parents. Liz is inspired by passionate and hard working people. Currently she is working with Tess Howsam and the amazing Exquisite Corpse Company. She can also be found working at The Barrow Group. www.elizabethfrost.com