bio

Arthur Makaryan is the Artistic Director of Arte Makar Productions, a member of SDC, and a signatory of SAG AFTRA. A stage director, producer and educator, Arthur received Juilliard’s Opera Directing Fellowship in 2017-18 and holds master’s degrees in directing from Columbia University (MFA) and Sorbonne (MA). 

His recent credits include “PA!” which premiered in Rio de Janiero and toured in São Paulo with an upcoming tour in Armenia, Turkey, France and Portugal; “Hamlet Machine,” which toured in Armenia, Lithuania, Russia, Moldova, Egypt, France and the US (off-Broadway); and “Black Garden,” in Paris and NYC.

Trained at the Grotowski Institute in Poland, Suzuki Company in Japan, Stella Polaris in Norway and Theatre of the Oppressed in France, Arthur brings a versatile approach to his artistic practice and teaching which bridges tradition with innovation. He has assisted luminaries such as Ivo van Hove at Toneelgroep, Stephen Wadsworth at The Met, Darren Katz on Broadway. He was also recently invited to speak at the 28th International Symposium on Electronic Arts in Paris and at the TransCultural Exchange International Conference in Cambridge, MA.

Nora Sørena Casey
Nora Sørena Casey’s plays include SORRY/NOT SORRY (Ars Nova ANT Fest, Bushwick Starr Reading Series), Take the Car (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Brooklyn College, Shanghai Theatre Academy), The Nature Room (Columbia New Plays Festival) and Resistance Training (Women-In-Theatre Festival). Her play False Stars premiered at the Corkscrew Festival in a “fast-paced, heartfelt and precise” (Stagebuddy) production that was “packed with young talent” (New York Times). Her New York debut, Not Afraid, was praised for its “sharp and often overlapping dialog that caroms between ironic humor and bleakness” (Talkin Broadway) and unique protagonist, called “the kind of weirdo we want to root for” by The New York Times.

Previous projects in dramaturgy include workshops of an untitled play by Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury (Lark Studio Retreat, Bushwick Starr Reading Series); the development of The Universe is a Small Hat by Cesar Alvarez (Joe’s Pub, Prelude 2013, Babycastles); and assisting David Henry Hwang on the Broadway revival M. Butterfly.