Playback Theater is an original form of improvisational theater in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot.
Used in a variety of settings, Playback Theater provides highly enjoyable theater and promotes dialogue between different voices as audience members have the opportunity to speak and see their stories embodied on the stage.
We discover who we are by telling our stories and, as others bear witness and tell their own stories in response, a deep and empathy-building conversation is created through the collective stories brought to the stage.
Contact us for more info, to join an open rehearsal, or to discuss how we could bring a playback workshop or performance to your school or event.
Logo Design by Hanna Gundrum, @littlehouseink
NYC Queer Playback Ensemble
NOHA ARAFA, Esq., RYT-500 (they/them, she/her) is a Human Rights attorney, trauma-informed Yoga instructor, activist and story-teller. They have studied Jazz vocals & music theory with Barry Harris, Matilda Heywood and Joy Brown, and Nada Yoga, the Yoga of sound, with Sheela Bringi and Brent Kuecker of Sacred Sound Lab. They believe in the healing power of the law, Yoga and story-telling, which all provide space for people to be seen and heard. They have sang Jazz across NYC and LA, and are ecstatic to be performing with Playback Theater.
Noha Arafa
Dawei Chen (he/him) is a first-generation queer immigrant from Taiwan. He holds an MA degree in Drama Therapy from NYU and works in various clinical settings. He has been practicing playback theatre for about 6 years and is a proud member of 3 and 4 participatory theatre (三語事劇場), where he was introduced to playback. Dawei believes in the power of theatre as a social intervention to promote community building and celebration of difference. He has performed at bars, museums, and local community centers, and is excited to continue meeting new people through pamphlets of stories.
Dawei Chen
ARLEN KERNDT (he/him) is a professional commercial and motion picture editor who was introduced to playback in January of 2019. After three months of lovely in person playback experiences, the form was forced to go digital, and while nothing can replace the beauty and connectivity of live playback, Queer Playback Theater adjusted the experience swimmingly, and Arlen has continued to enjoy the form since! While he never formally studied theater, Arlen has always found his way in and out of various performing opportunities, be it the second grade production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or performing an Inside Out parody as a University Orientation Leader; so while Arlen and the stage have never been formally introduced to one another, when they meet they smile and have a dandy old time.
Arlen Kerndt
JAMIE ROACH (he/him) loves to create theater and film-based projects that explore human connectivity and social phenomena. Select acting credits include After (The Public Theater, UTR), Nervous/System (BAM, Next Wave Festival), Beneath the Gavel (Feinstein’s/54 Below) and as a clown and acrobat in Pagliacci (Metropolitan Opera). As a playwright, Jamie has had four plays produced in NYC, including The Secret to a Healthy Relationship featured in Play/Date, heralded by the NYTimes as “thoughtful drama,” and at Barrington Stage Company’s 10x10 Festival. Also, The Morality of Broccoli produced at NY Fringe, and The City, produced by Alive Worldwide, an organization Jamie co-created to promote human connectivity through creativity. www.aliveworldwide.org Jamie is a Teaching Artist with New Victory Theater, Roundabout, Disney, Lincoln Center, and NYTW, and designs and facilitates wellness workshops in business settings. Jamie is co-founder of Queer Playback Theatre. www.jamieroach.com
Jamie Roach
DEBRA WALSH (she/her) is honored to be working with Queer Playback Theater. She is a working actress with credits in New York: Bated Breath Theater and Elwood Players, Connecticut, where she is an ensemble member with Hartbeat Ensemble, The Other Voice, Capital Classics, Faultline Ensemble and Hartford Stage. I am so grateful for this debut and to reunite with my beloved pal, Jamie Roach.
Debra Walsh
COURTNEY J. BODDIE (she/her), Ghost of Christmas Present, A Christmas Carol (Alight Theater Guild); Sheila/Paperboy, The Shadow (The Gotham Radio Players); Ensemble, The Red Dress (Artistic Director and Founding Member: a space between); Snug/Moth, A Midsummer’s Night Dream (PLG Arts); Fairy Godmother, Cinderella (Youth on Target); Sporknotes: Book Club Improv; Actor #1, Developing the Professional Identity of the Teaching Artist (Teaching Artist Group); Ensemble, Brecht/Beckett (NYU). She has also acted in productions for Rising Sun Performance Company and East River Theater Company. Ms. Boddie is Vice President, Education & School Engagement, New Victory Theater powered by the New 42, Creator/Host of Teaching Artistry podcast, and received an MA in Educational Theatre from New York University.
Courtney J. Boddie
SHAN Y. CHUANG (she/her) was born and raised in Taiwan and has been dancing and performing since the age of 5. Shan was trained in classical ballet, traditional Chinese dance and various Musical Theatre genres such as tap, jazz and hip hop. She is a proud graduate of Circle in the Square’s Musical Theater program and is currently a member of Katharine Pettit Creative and LINKED Dance Theatre. As a dancer, Shan is a principal resident dancer at Katharine Pettit Creative with which she has performed the dance piece, OutCry, in many dance festivals in NYC and also performed the 40 minutes dance musical I Could Never Love Anyone... at the Educational Alliance Center for Recovery & Wellness. She is also a collaborator with LINKED Dance Theater and has been in three immersive productions, Soul of the Sea, Unseen, and Freaks Don’t Cry, performing throughout NYC. Her theater credits include Once Upon A Mattress (Gallery Players), Caligula (New Ohio Theater), Revolt In Asturias, Comfort Women:A New Musical, Behind the Mask, Gen 根 , The City (Alive Worldwide), Anything Goes, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Bat Boy, The Lesson. Shan is thrilled to perform with Queer Playback Theater.
Shan Y. Chuang
SHLOMIT OREN (she/her), is a multi-generational Person-Centered Expressive Arts facilitator and healer, owner of Gleeful Wellness LLC, educator and a multi-faceted performing artist, physical actress, belly dancer and clown. After serving mandatorily in the Israeli Air Force as a sergeant, Shlomit moved to NYC to study theater. In 2012 Shlomit acquired a BA in theater from the Circle in the Square Theater School. After touring the US with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey as a clown & hula hooper, and performing for hospitalized and disabled children, she felt a strong call to facilitate healing work to individuals through the arts. In 2018 Shlomit co-founded her company Gleeful Wellness LLC. A company that specializes in uplifting services for seniors, adults and children through wellness, art and entertainment. contact@gleefulwellness.com
Shlomit Oren
DAVID BRANDON ROSS (he/him) MUSIC DIRECTOR holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music Boston, MA as well as a degree in mechanical design from SUNY Corning, NY. He studied theater with Charles Combs at Berklee and also trained at Dell'arte school of physical theater in Blue Lake California. Dave has been composing, performing and recording in the NYC avant garde music scene since 2002 releasing numerous albums as a leader and side man. He is the recipient of a Boston Music award and has played at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center for the arts in Washington, DC and Vision Festival, NYC with artist Henry Grimes, William Hooker, JD Parran, Jason Hwang and many others. Dave is the author of a US patent and has designed and built many unique instruments including the patent pending Outar. He is a passionate music tinkerer. He instantly fell in love with the ability to combine sociological change with improvisational theater, acting and music through the live foley and on the spot scoring that is required in Playback theater. Dave is also owner and CEO of Gleefulwellness LLC which brings uplifting services to the community through art and wellness. Dave is honored to be a proud member of Big Apple Playback Theatre since 2019. You can find him on Spotify and @ Gleefulwellness.com
David Brandon Ross
FRANCIS WEI (he/they) is a psychologist in training whose clinical and research interests focus on the mental health of LGBTQ individuals, especially bisexual+ folks. He performed in Beijing Rongyan playback theater for 3 years before he left China to live in France and Thailand. As a queer nomad who craves connections and belonging, he is thrilled to find NYC queer PB theater and hopes to create meaningful changes through storytelling and deep listening.
Francis Wei
MARC BRUDZINSKI (he/him) is a human-centered designer living in Queens. He enjoys how playback theater helps him understand other people’s stories more deeply.
Marc Brudzinski
MOUNTAINE JONAS (mostly he), CONDUCTOR & MENTOR, was a founding member of Asheville Playback Theatre in 1995. He has remained active in playback since then, and has led dozens of playback workshops for queer people around the USA and internationally. He served on the Board of the International Playback Theatre Network as Treasurer for 8 years. He's thrilled that a seed he planted in a workshop almost 5 years ago is growing so strong in NYCQPT. Mountaine lives in queer community in Tennessee, and loves self-compassion, empathy, intentional dance, ceremony, and opera!
Mountaine Jonas
CHRIS PANZICA (he/him) is a New York City-based psychotherapist. He has enjoyed delving into playback theater since he first learned about it in 2017. He is proud to be a member of this group, which provides a space for queer people to tell their stories, to play, and to perform.
Chris Panzica
RICK SANFORD (he/they) is a co-founder of NYC Queer Playback Theatre. Rick has received instruction and mentoring from Mountaine Jonas, Randy Mulder, and trainings held by the New York School of Playback Theatre and Village Playback Theatre. Rick has an MS in Organizational Change, works for education organizations in operations and marketing, and currently lives in Rhode Island (formerly of NYC).
Rick Sanford
MICHAEL ZAIONTZ (he/him) is an actor, writer, singer, currently living in San Antonio Texas. He discovered the magic of Playback Theatre while living in NYC, after having no clue this form of theater existed while he was getting his BA in Acting at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi! Improv trained at the Magnet Theater in NYC! Favorite past musical performances include Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Hairspray, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Peter Pan. #blacklivesmatter #translivesmatter
Michael Zaiontz
Founded in 2016, NYC Queer Playback Theater fosters connection within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond, welcoming both community members and allies. Through the art of Playback Theater, we create a safe and diverse space for personal growth, self-expression, and collective storytelling. We invite anyone interested to drop in for an open rehearsal, where we’ve witnessed firsthand how Playback strengthens and empowers a braver, more connected community.
The LGBTQIA+ community is beautifully diverse, and Playback Theater provides a unique space to bridge differences in sexual identity, gender identity and expression, race, age, country of origin, and language. By engaging with one another’s stories in an atmosphere of trust and vulnerability, participants gain deeper insight into the lived experiences of this dynamic community. As we listen, reflect, and perform, we cultivate understanding, resilience, and a stronger, more unified Queer community.
Our Playback Ensemble originally formed virtually during the pandemic, rehearsing and performing over Zoom. As conditions allowed, we transitioned to in-person performances, including appearances at Brooklyn Pride, the White Plains Serious Fun Festival, and private conferences. Additionally, we produced two virtual performances that were translated in real-time for a Mandarin-speaking audience in China.
Performance artwork by Marc Brudzinski and Allison Yang
