The front porch arts collective Leadership team
Dawn Meredith Simmons
Artistic Director Dawn Meredith Simmons is a director, a playwright and an arts administrator. She has worked with: Actors’ Shakespeare Project, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, Bad Habit Productions, Anthem Theatre, Boston Public Works, Lyric Stage Company, New Exhibition Room, Suffolk University, Fresh Ink Theatre, Dorchester Fringe Festival, GAN-e-meed Theatre Project, The Theatre Offensive, Our Place Theatre Project, Mill 6, Actors Refuge Repertory Theatre, Fort Point Theatre Channel, Boston Theatre Works, and As Yet To Be Theatre. Ms. Simmons is Co-Artistic Director of New Exhibition Room and a founding member of the Small Theatre Alliance Boston, and Executive Director of StageSource.
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Maurice Emmanuel Parent
Executive Director Maurice Emmanuel Parent is a Resident Acting Company member of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project and briefly served as Co-Acting Artistic Director. He’s performed with Underground Railway Theater, SpeakEasy Stage, New Repertory Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Wheelock Family Theatre, Lyric Stage, Huntington Theatre, Off the Grid Theatre, Boston Theatre Works, Barrington Stage, and Cape Playhouse, earning two Elliot Norton Awards, three Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards and an Arts Impulse Award. Maurice is a Lecturer at Boston University’s School of Theatre, a Visiting Artist at the Tufts University Department of Theatre, Dance, Performance Studies and the 2018-2019 Boston College Monan Professor of Theatre Arts.
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Victoria A. George
Executive Producer |
Victoria A. George is an actor, writer, and arts administrator with a special interest in addressing racial equity in the arts. She is founder of The Network for Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC Boston), a program of ArtsBoston, committed to enhancing the visibility of and widening the leadership pipeline for professionals of color in greater Boston's arts scene. Victoria studied theater at Wellesley College first as an apprentice and then as a company member of the Wellesley Repertory Theatre (WRT), the professional resident theater of the college. Victoria has also worked with the Zeitgeist Stage Company and the Greater Boston Theater Company.
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Audrey Seraphin
Community Engagement Audrey Seraphin is an artist and arts administrator who is honored to work in the Boston community as an actor, director, stage manager, and community organizer. She is the Membership & Capacity Building Manager at ArtsBoston, and was previously the Community & Inclusion Advocate at Central Square Theater. Audrey is a proud member of the Network of Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC) Boston, and serves on their Steering Committee. Recent collaborators include Heart & Dagger Productions, Take Your Pick Productions, and Fresh Ink Theatre. She is a graduate of Emerson College's Theatre Studies program.
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Gregory Bloomfield
Finance Gregory Bloomfield began his career as an auditor for Ernst & Young. Since then, he has close to 20 years of experience of bookkeeping, accounting, auditing, taxation and finance across many industries such as real estate, investments and not for profit organizations. Gregory passed the Massachusetts CPA exam in 2006. Gregory currently is the Head of Finance & Administration for the Boston Impact Initiative and was the former Director of Finance for Actors’ Shakespeare Project. Gregory is an avid jazz fan and has played the saxophone since he was in junior high school. He still plays at his church and at various gigs when he can. He also is a youth mentor, motivational speaker and a chaplain.
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Phyllis Y. Smith
Production Phyllis Y. Smith is excited work with Front Porch Arts Collective. In her over 18 years of working in theatre, film, and events, she has worked on a variety of projects, as a Production Stage Manager, Production Manager, Technical Director, Electrician, Carpenter, Event Coordinator, and everything in between. In addition to working in events and productions, Phyllis is also currently the Director of Venue Operations at the Boston Center for the Arts.
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Pascale Florestal
Education Pascale Florestal is a Director, Educator and Administrator in Boston. She has taught with The Huntington Theatre Company, Company One, Boch Center for Performing Arts and The Eugene O'Neill Center. She has Assistant Directed Bevin O’Gara, Paul Daigneault, Billy Porter and Liesl Tommy. Her directing credits include: Kentucky by Leah Nanako Winkler, Ole White Sugah Daddy by Obehi Janice, An Education in Prudence by Stefan Lanfer, DIASPORA! by Phaedra Michelle Scott and Shrek the Musical at Greater Boston Stage Company. Pascale is also a venue associate at the Boston Center for the Arts and the Boston Project Coordinator with SpeakEasy Stage Company.
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Jonah Toussaint
Artistic Associate Jonah Toussaint is an actor musician poet artist director playwright from Cambridge, MA. He co-wrote and co-directed Book of Shadows at the Community Art Center in June of 2018, where he also worked as the lower school theater teacher. Other credits include Brother’s Size (Ogun) as part of Eat at The Table Theater Company at the Imperial Loft Theater in Manhattan (2017). Jonah is the current Marketing and Inclusion Specialist at Central Square Theater, where he also works front of house and box office. He graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in Theater and Psychology. Jonah enjoys biking, doodling, freestyling, and lemonade
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