Membership Spotlight – March 2026

I am a part of two wonderful, groundbreaking TYA companies: Spellbound Theatre and The New Victory Theater. I’ve worked with Spellbound for 6 years and The New Victory for 4 years this month. Working with both companies simultaneously has been an extremely rewarding experience. Currently, I’ve been more focused on the arts management/ advocacy side of things. With Spellbound, we are in the process of revamping one of our original pop-up shows, “Under the Tree,” of which I was a part of the casting and the dramaturgy team. This beautiful piece of puppetry and whimsy, which explores the landscape of NYC, should reflect the diversity of this magical city in all its iterations. With that thinking in mind, we created a multilingual show that can phase easily between multiple cultures and languages. As for my work at the New Victory, we are currently working on ways to continue making our arts resources more readily accessible to educators nationally and internationally, as well as researching how to expand our reach and provide theater attendance to disenfranchised communities throughout the New York City area.

I’m intrigued by “Huddle” by Chris Lee. It was a piece of work done at Carnegie Hall this year by the Carnegie Hall Education Division. I love art that ventures out of the norms of typical “children’s theater”. Huddle mixes opera, light, and movement to explore whimsy for toddlers. I’m also intrigued by the 1619 project, which was recently workshopped by Marjuan Canady of the Canady Foundation of the Arts, exploring the story of the first batch of enslaved Africans brought to Virginia at the start of the transatlantic slave trade.

So hard to narrow down.  I have a couple of dream projects, one I would love to be apart of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and bring a project there. I would also like to collaborate with artists like Karl Williams and Marjuan Canady again and develop and perform stories based on Caribbean folklore and history.  In addition I would love to work with the Jim Henson team and tour with them.

Society oftentimes underestimates the cognitive abilities and intelligence progression of young children, despite children being quite perceptive of the world around them. We who work in TYA/TVY understand this and pay homage to it in our work. We respect children in their current developmental stage and work to provide myriad opportunities for joy, discovery, play, and access for all.

My favorite collaborators are some of the cast from the Verbatim Performance Lab (Ryan Howland, Ashley Thaxton Stevenson, Lauren Gorelov, Avril Carr, Keith Huff), as well as a few young black writers telling compelling stories of youth, family, legacy, and healing like Camille Thomas and Andrea Ambam. A couple of years ago, Camille wrote a piece examining intercultural relationships, family legacy, and the plight of missing black girls that I performed in. Andrea and I performed together on a doctoral project for Dr. Quenna Barrett.

One of my mentors is Joe Salvatore, Clinical Professor and Director of the Educational Theater Graduate Program at New York University. Joe introduced me to the world of Verbatim Theater and how perception changes when you change the demographic of the performer telling someone else’s story. Joe has continuously poured into me as an artist, a friend, a director, and an educator. He has challenged me and spoken life into me, as well as continuously trusted me with his work. He’s helped me foster a community and a family with other creatives and has broadened the scope of my work and my craft.

I can be reached via email at a.john108@gmail.com. You can also follow me @leidy_a108 across platforms. I would love for people to also follow @spellboundtheatre and @newvictorytheater.

I am currently working on my Master Production in lieu of a thesis, titled “The Stories We Carry.” This project was inspired by my two-year community engagement initiative with a Newcomers school, where I worked with students to scaffold effective devising techniques while learning from their diverse experiences and perspectives. Through this collaboration, we explored storytelling methods that eventually led to the development of “The Suitcase Stories,” derived from the work of Glynis Clacherty. I brought this experience into the facilitation of my current project. “The Stories We Carry” is a devised theatre piece that explores themes of identity, courage, belonging, and community through the power of storytelling.

A piece of art that is inspiring me right now is “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. The story is deeply motivating because it encourages readers to follow their dreams and trust their hearts. One quote from the book that especially resonates with me is, “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.” During this season of my life, that message feels incredibly meaningful. It reminds me to trust the path I am on and to pursue the things that truly inspire and fulfill me.

Another piece of art that is inspiring me right now is Alex and Olmsted’s “MAROONED! A Space Comedy.” I saw it at the TYA/USA Conference in May 2025, and I have been thinking about it ever since. Their use of puppetry and physicality has fueled my curiosities in those forms of storytelling.

A dream project of mine would be to develop a TYA piece in Greece. I am inspired by new works, and I would love to travel to Greece. To do both at the same time would be a dream come true!

My love for Theatre for Young Audiences started long before I knew it had a name. For as long as I can remember, I have loved theatre. I was introduced to this passion at a young age, and years later, that passion is here. I feel compelled to work in TYA for that reason; It has ALWAYS inspired me. Not only has theatre inspired me, but it has also made me who I am.

Above all things, I have a dedication to serving the youth. Working with young people throughout my life has provided me with the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences. Young people are inspiring creatives. Young people are joyous and kind. Young people deserve to be in spaces where they are celebrated and embraced. My TYA work revolves around crafting artistic communities that are new, compelling, accessible, and inclusive.

My fellow cohort member, Lizzy Brannan! Over the past two years, I have worked alongside and learned from Lizzy. A project that we collaborated on was a devised sensory-friendly theatrical experience with a community of I/DD (Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled) adults. Throughout that experience, we learned an enormous amount about sensory-friendly theater, community engagement, and devised work. I am always happy to work alongside and learn from Lizzy.

My fellow artist, Cat Jambe! I am grateful to have worked with Cat Jambe for the past few years on various projects. She is currently serving as Assistant Facilitator/Ensemble for my Master Production in lieu of Thesis. Cat is an incredible collaborator and artist. I am continuously inspired by her creativity, adaptability, talent, and professionalism.

I am extremely honored to have one of the most amazing mentors in the world, Rachel Briley. Rachel has been a monumental mentor and person overall in my life. She has taught me many things, especially in Theater for Young Audiences. Probably the most admirable thing about Rachel, though, is her heart. She is one of the most kind, loving, and supportive human beings I have ever met!

I look forward to connecting! 🙂 Email: brooklynn703@gmail.com.

​​Our inaugural production, All Smiles (originally developed by the Alliance Theatre) opened March 13 in partnership with Metro Nashville Parks, Autism TN, TN Disability Pathfinder, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s TRIAD, and the Tennessee Arts Commission. It’s a sensory-friendly, interactive performance for children ages 0–6.

I was diagnosed autistic as an adult. Looking back, so much made sense – my misunderstandings, my career, the way I’ve always been drawn to the kids other people called a challenge. I don’t see challenge first. I see communication. All behavior is communication. And we have spent so long telling young people that what they feel is too much, too loud, too inconvenient. Calm down. Don’t cry. You’re fine.

They’re not fine. They’re feeling something real. And they deserve something that helps them explore those feelings, accept them, cope. That’s what we’re doing with All Smiles.

We sold out performances and received a Nashville Scene Critics’ Pick in our very first run. It’s the first thing we’ve ever put on a stage, and it’s wicked cool that folks (kids and adults) are resonating with it.

Fat Ham at Nashville REP. I left that room different than I walked in.

It’s a little bit of a cheat… but I rarely follow ‘the rules’.  Honestly? It’s this new company that I’ve gone all in on, Little Blue Theatre Company is both the upcoming project and the dream. And I’m so thankful to my family for believing in me and the work (because it has not been easy going from a two-salaried family to just one). With that gift of time though, I can really build this progressive theatre company in real time. As the only person on staff, any given day I’m the artistic director, the accountant, the grant writer, the stage manager, and the street team putting up flyers around town. We incorporated in August 2025, received our non-profit status the same month, publicly launched in January 2026, and put up our first run in March. We’ve got a full season planned for next year and we have already cemented partnerships with Metro Nashville Public Schools for 2026 Summer Camps. To quote one of my favorite books, “I’ve got big plans, big plans, I say!”

With all of that though, it truly is about supporting the community. And I think the thing I’m more proud of is adopting bylaws that codify our values rather than just assert them. I always talk about walking the walk, and this company truly does that, it is literally written into our foundation.  Diversity, Equity, Access, Inclusion… It’s all there. It has to be.

A lot of folks who know me from fifteen years at Nashville Children’s Theatre may not know I’ve since founded Little Blue, and the reason I did is the same reason I stayed in TYA for fifteen years. It’s the one artistic space where I can bring my full self – my imagination, my determination, my ethics and values, and my neurodivergence. All of this without having to shrink any part of who I am. And I wanted to truly bring that ethos to the young people of Middle Tennessee – and stand up for it, advocate, shout about it.

More than anything, TYA is where community gets built with intentionality.  I truly feel that theatre should not be seen as a form of competition, but as a means for community-building, empathy, and connection. From my experiences, TYA is really the only place where that idea thrives.

My favorite collaborator is Alicia Fuss, Nashville Director, MTSU Theatre Education Professor, and also… my wife.  For 20 years we have been coworkers, boss and employee in both directions, parents, partners, and friends. I’ve come to find out that it is something genuinely rare and we are super lucky to find someone that you trust completely in the creative process. We have never once had to wonder if the other person cares about the work. It’s always just figuring out the parenting logistics of who is hanging with the kids and when. Or, if this time we actually need a babysitter… and man prices have gone up.

Scot Copeland, former Artistic Director at Nashville Children’s Theatre. Scot had a gift for seeing past the green ‘amateur’ and toward the potential artistic professional. He trusted me with work before I trusted myself with it. The greatest thing he ever gave me wasn’t even advice (although, if anyone knew him, he loved to give that too). It was a theatre, full of artists, watching digital ocean waves lap up on a stage, and him raising his coffee cup in the dark. I wasn’t done making art with him. I don’t think I ever will be.

Find us at littlebluetheatre.org, follow along on Instagram at @littlebluetheatreco, or reach out directly at colin@littlebluetheatre.org. I absolutely love connecting with folks doing this work and would love to collaborate.