TOURING TROUPE
SUMMER DAWN REYES
Founder and Director
IFC Seasons: 15, 17
Summer is the founder and director of In Full Color and its educational outreach offshoot
Thinking In Full Color. Learn more about her on our staff page.
Summer performs "The Exception," "The Spill" and "Bye Bye Bi," all written by herself, and "Walls" by
Alina Hortillosa.
ALICIA RIVAS
IFC Seasons: 16, 18
Alicia has a Bachelor’s in Theatre from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She originated the role of Sara in “Henry’s Law: A Play About Bullying.” She’s also performed at Luna Stage as Mercy in “Mercy and the Firefly” and as the female narrator in “Mi Casa Tu Casa” at Dreamcatchers Repertory Theatre.
You may also know her as musical artist Ali de León.
Alicia performs "Latinoamericana" by herself (IFC16) & "Hardcore. Latina. Punk. Birth. Fragments." by
Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta (IFC15)
AMEL KHALIL
IFC Season: 17
Amel is an Palestinian American Actress. Her most recent and notable theatrical work include playing the lead role of “Nardeen” in There is a Field directed by Noelle Ghoussaini and “Amal” in a staged reading of Abrahams Daughters. Other recent credits include the 2016 Vagina Monologues.
Film/TV credits include the webseries Triangle, lead roles in shorts, El Mundo Mas Alla, and Shift as well as contributions to Michael Pinckney’s TV pilot series The Trade and Investigation Discovery’s Dark Places. Amel is also a trained Mixed Martial Artist for stage combat and stunt fighting.
Amel performs "My Brother at the Canadian Border" by Sholeh Wolpe (IFC17) & "MY ISLAM" by
Dena Igusti (IFC17)
NANCY MENDEZ-BOOTH
IFC Seasons: 16, 17
Nancy is a fiction writer and teaches writing and Latina/o literature and culture at colleges and universities in New York and New Jersey. Nancy’s work has appeared in print and online, including Latina, Poets & Writers, Salon, The Jet Fuel Review, KGB Bar Literary Magazine, Philadelphia Stories, and Wordrunner eBooks.
Nancy has read and performed at various Northeast venues including Cornelia Street Cafe, The Moth, and The Midtown International Theatre Festival. She posts regularly on her blog. Nancy currently seeks representation for and publication of her fiction manuscripts.
Nancy performs "Lucky," "How to Catch the 7:40 a.m. Q60 Bus," and "Brown Privilege," all written by herself.
VENIDA RODMAN JENKINS
IFC Seasons: 17
Venida Rodman Jenkins was overjoyed to return to the stage after a long hiatus for IFC17. She is a member of the Thinking in Full Color board. For more information, see our staff page.
Venida performs "The Touch" by herself (IFC17) & "Play Dead" by Clinnesha D. Sibley (IFC16)
OUR WRITERS
Courtney Wheeler
He Didn’t Want Me
Courtney tries not to take writing too seriously, instead discussing race, body image and feminism through humor. She saves her “serious” energy for her future coffee table book on Kanye West and her marriage proposal to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Sholeh Wolpe
My Brother at the Canadian Border
Sholeh is an Iranian-born poet. She is the recipient of the 2014 PEN/Heim, 2013 Midwest Book Award and 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize. Wolpé’s nine books include four collections of poems, three books of translations and two anthologies.
Her play, SHAME, a 2016 finalist for both Ashland New Plays Festival, and a semifinalist for Eugene O’Niell National Playwrights Conference in Connecticut, opened the Centenary Stage Women Playwrights festival in New Jersey.
Clinnesha D. Sibley
Play Dead
Clinnesha strives to advance social consciousness through her writing, teaching and arts endeavoring. She received the Holland New Voices Award for her play “Tell Martha Not to Moan.” Her anthology, “King Me: Three Plays Inspired by the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” was published
in 2013.
Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta
Hardcore Latina Punk Birth Fragments
A Chicago transplant, Grisel is currently an assistant professor at Bronx Community College—CUNY. She’s published widely, but recent works are in Love You Madly: Poetry About Jazz, the forthcoming Basta!: 100 Latinas Write on Violence Against Women and at the Reproductive Freedom Festival Monologue Series in NYC.
Dena Igusti
MY ISLAM and
How to Leave a Man and Country
Dena is an Indonesian-American poet from Queens, NY. She is a writer for the website Muslim Girl, and her work has been featured in Quail Bell Magazine and Teen Vogue. She is also the co-founder of ReLITerate Word, a non-profit literary magazine that uses its proceeds to donate to a different cause every month. She often uses her poetry to write about the intersections of her identity as a Muslim Asian American.
Alina Hortillosa
Walls
Alina is a teen poet and writer from Minneapolis. She loves the smell of strawberry and mint, swimming in the rain and when the sky is white after it snows. She is following in the footsteps of her father, a published chess author, and her sister, the founder of TIFC; both are extremely proud of her and love her very much. Her biggest fan, however, may be her loyal, adorable, giant German shepherd, Thunder.
Tuere T. S. Ganges
Black. Belly. Box.
Tuere, a South Jersey native, writes in Baltimore, Maryland. Her fiction has won prizes at the Philadelphia Writers Conference; and has appeared in the Wigleaf, Fiction Circus and Referential Magazine. Wilted and Other Stories, her collection of short fiction, is available on Amazon.com.
Alicia Wright
My Curly Hair
Alicia is a founding member of Art House Productions’ Board of Trustees and first got involved acting in both “The Heist Project” and “Camino Real.” In
San Diego, Alicia worked with the Faultline Players, Starlight Musical Theater and Malashock Dance. Alicia has a BS in English, Writing Emphasis, from Cal State University at Northridge.
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