Our People

Meet Our Board

  • Board President

    Cynara Charles-Pierre is senior vice president for Culture and Communications at The New York Times. She’s the first person to serve in the role and leads a team that partners with leaders across the company to create and nurture an environment where employees feel valued and excited by the Times’ mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world. Her remit includes executive communications, employee engagement and storytelling, and internal communications supporting newsroom and business operations, total rewards, and diversity, equity and inclusion. A change champion with the eye of a designer, Cynara is known for her warm, empathetic and collaborative style, built on a foundation of trust and proven expertise.

    Before The Times, Cynara led employee communication programs at TD Bank, JetBlue Airways, HBO, News Corporation and has focused on the employee experience at other content-driven and mission-centric organizations. Her accomplishments include bringing new levels of excellence and inclusivity to The Times’ internal communications, transforming the JetBlue intranet to revolutionize employee communications there, and building tight and talented teams who consistently deliver strategic, innovative and high-impact outcomes.

    A theater geek at heart, Cynara is board president for Strike Anywhere, a nonprofit interdisciplinary performance ensemble in New York City. She’s a native of Atlanta, graduate of LaGrange College, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

  • Board Vice President/Secretary

    Sonnet Takahisa is an independent consultant in museums, community-based arts and education organizations and schools, focusing on public engagement, community building, and educational reform. She has held leadership roles at numerous museums, including the Boston Children’s Museum, Seattle Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the National September 11 Memorial Museum, the Newark Museum, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. From 1993–2003 she was the founding co-director of the NYC Museum School, a groundbreaking public school that engages secondary school students by providing direct access to the resources of cultural institutions.

    She consults with arts, education, and philanthropic organizations, focusing on strategic and institutional planning, teaching and learning strategies, and program development and evaluations. Through public and academic presentations, articles, and online interviews, she continues to support innovative leadership, creative partnerships, and approaches that emphasize the importance of arts and cultural institutions remaining relevant and inspiring to their communities. She is a board member of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, as well as Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble.

  • Board Treasurer

    Jonathan Poplack has been the Board Treasurer since 2008. During his first career, Jonathan was employed by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and then by the Bank of Mitsubishi - Tokyo. At both institutions, Jonathan's area of expertise was in the area of Commodities, trading Natural Gas and marketing Derivatives across the sector. After working in banking for more than 15 years, he was ready for a change. Now, Jonathan helps his wife Heather Thomson run her Veterinary Practice in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City.

    As Practice Manager, Jonathan oversees all of the non-medical workings of the hospital including finance, purchasing, inventory, IT and HR. He has helped the business grow to a thriving three doctor practice. Brooklyn Heights Veterinary Hospital has become a pillar of the community with so many pets being a part of the neighborhood. Working with Strike Anywhere has provided the opportunity to gain and give exposure to a unique multidisciplinary artform. Helping to bring these artistic skills to students at many levels has been a special experience. Seeing students successfully integrate these learnings into their lives, and witnessing the joy that art can bring has been transformative.

  • Founder and Board Member

    Leese Walker is an interdisciplinary performance artist, director, producer and teaching-artist. Leese is the founder and Artistic Director of NYC’s Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble. The company is comprised of world-class improvising musicians, contemporary dancers, designers and actors. She established the company in 1997 to create politically charged, original works and innovative education programs. Her work is guided by the words of Bertolt Brecht, "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." Strike Anywhere is the preeminent theatre company in the United States practicing Soundpainting, a universal sign-language developed by composer Walter Thompson for live composition with improvisers.

    Leese figures strongly in the history of Soundpainting. She was the first actress to be soundpainted and was instrumental in helping inventor Walter Thompson to adapt the Soundpainting language for theater. The language has since evolved to include all performance disciplines and is now practiced in 33 countries worldwide. Leese has been a core member of the Walter Thompson Orchestra since 1997 and is one of six certified multidisciplinary soundpainters in the United States. Leese has performed and taught in over 200 venues in 16 states and 8 countries including venues such as: Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Irondale Center, PS 122, HERE Arts, the Long Center (TX), Theater Chicago and internationally in Paris, the Hague, London, Milan, Marseille, Tours, Bordeaux and in Indonesia. As a director, her work has been featured on Radio France, NPR, German Public Radio, French and U.S. television.

    Leese is the recipient of the BAX Arts Educator Award, the Arts Presenters Emerging Leaders Scholarship, and the APPEX Fellowship – a six-week artist residency in Ubud, Bali. Leese serves as a master teaching-artist with Strike Anywhere and Roundabout Theatre and she has trained educators and teaching-artists at many of NYC’s leading arts institutions including BAM, Lincoln Center, Circle in the Square and Roundabout Theatre. She served on the board of directors for the Network of Ensemble Theatres from 2003-2008.

Meet Our Ensemble

  • Actor / Teaching Artist

    Anel Carmonais a multidisciplinary Theatre Artist from Guadalajara, Mexico, based in New York City. She has participated in dozens of plays across North America. Her favorite acting credits include THE ROOM of Falsehood (CAGE Theatre Company), Tales of the White Diamond Mountain(RSPC), Catch Me in America (Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble), and Ti Jean and his Brothers (MA's Playhouse) among others. Anel is also the author of plays such as Adios Fjord (Off-Broadway, Theater at Gibney), Ice Cream Fro-Yo (Hudson Guild Theater), The Church of the Winter (Gene Frankel Theatre), and Chocolate en la Estación (Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet). In 2020 her COVID-19-themed play A Seis Pies de Distancia had video productions in Tabasco, Mexico, and Alberta, Canada. It was also featured in the published anthology De Pandemia a Pandemonium on the Mexican Platform "Dramaturgia Mexicana."

    She has also had the pleasure of directing the plays Playing Possum, and The Questioning, both produced by Rising Sun Performance Company.

    ​As a teaching artist, Anel has had the honor to work with Classic Stage Company, Emit Theatre, Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, and Broadway Bound Kids among others. 

    Anel holds an MFA in Playwriting from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University and is an active member of the Playwrights and Directors Workshop at the Actors Studio, and The Dramatists Guild of America.

  • Dancer / Actor (xe/xem/zyr/xemself)

    Bryce Payne has spent the majority of EC3 adult life performing/ making performance art in New York City. Xyr work has been formed by a lifetime of observations and connections made on stages, sidewalks, dance floors, web applications, and subway cars. Xe hopes to maintain xyr humanity in a web of structures designed to corrupt or distort xem; xe hopes to encourage your efforts to do the same.

  • Actor / Teaching Artist (she/her)

    Crystal-Marie Alberson is a theatre artist based in Brooklyn, NY, working primarily in ensemble theatre to bring new and unknown works to life. A creator with many titles—improviser, devisor, director, teacher, human—she draws on her first-generation farm upbringing in Tennessee and her BA in Theatre from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She continues to train and perform with the Brooklyn-based ensemble Letter of Marque Theater Co. and works as a teaching artist throughout New York City with Irondale Ensemble Project, Strike Anywhere and Brooklyn Arts Exchange, fostering creativity, ensemble practice, and improvisation in students and collaborators alike.


  • Artistic Director / Soundpainter

    Leese Walker is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of NYC’s Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble. The company is comprised of jazz musicians, dancers and actors. She established the company in 1997 to create provocative performances and innovative education programs that promote empathy, creativity and civic engagement. The company has been working at the crossroads of activism, arts and social justice for 25 years. The company works deeply with communities employing collective creation processes that are egalitarian and inclusive. Strike Anywhere is the preeminent theatre company in the United States practicing Soundpainting, a universal sign-language developed by composer Walter Thompson for live composition with improvisers.

    Leese was instrumental in helping Thompson adapt the sign language for theater. Soundpainting has evolved to include all performance disciplines and is practiced in 33 countries. Leese is one of five certified multidisciplinary Soundpainters in the United States. Leese has performed and/or taught at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, American Airlines Theater, the Irondale Center, and internationally in Paris, London, Milan, the Hague, Tours, Bordeaux, Valencia and in Indonesia. Her street theater and creative placemaking work has been featured on news networks globally including: ABC News, CBS, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Telemundo, NPR, Radio France, and CNN Chile.

    Leese is a recipient of the BAX Arts Educator Award, the Arts Presenters Emerging Leaders Scholarship, and the APPEX Fellowship in Ubud, Bali. Leese is a master teaching-artist with Roundabout Theatre. She served on the Board of Directors for the Network of Ensemble Theatres from 2003-2008.

  • Flute

    With “his full-toned flute leading the way,” flutist and composer Michel Gentile “is amongst the best flutists” of the New York jazz scene. He received his Master of Music degree with distinction from the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Holland, Geri Allen, Mick Goodrick, and George Garzone. Michel has appeared on record with Ray Charles, Anthony Braxton, Bobby Previte, Jane Ira Bloom, Michael Formanek, and Adam Rudolph. He has performed with Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Fred Hersch, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Joseph Jarman, Yusef Lateef, and many others. Michel has been a longtime member of WORKS, Go Organic Orchestra, Gentile-Romano, Wildebeest Wind Quintet. He also leads FLOW, Michel Gentile Quartet and Michel Gentile Trio.  His release with the collaborative ensemble WORKS was named one of the “best albums of 2013” by Downbeat. Downbeat also named him in the “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” category.

  • Dancer / Actor

    Vimal is a multi-hyphenate: actor, dancer, improviser, public speaker, teacher, immigrant, and queer artist. His journey into the arts began with competitive Latin Caribbean dance, earning international titles over a decade. Trained in various dance forms, his movement blends Western, Latin, folkloric, and Indian styles. Vimal studied Meisner technique at the William Esper Studio (NYC) and continues to perform on stage and screen. He is also trained in comedic improv and has performed with Letter of Marque Theater Company.

    A certified Soundpainter, he’s been with Strike Anywhere since 2021, appearing in Soundpainting Brigade, POP UP: An Artistic Adventure, Tune on a Distant Hill (Chandler, Vermont), Tell Me Something, and more. Vimal directs Pride Salsa, a queer-focused salsa ensemble. Vimal is also a two-time Semifinalist at the Toastmasters World championship of public speaking. Traveling is his biggest passion, having been to over 40 countries. Formerly a software engineering manager in biotech, Vimal now works in the arts full-time.

  • Costume Designer / Performer

    Laurie Churba is a multi-hyphenate theater artist whose work spans costume design, devised theater, and Soundpainting. She is an Associate Professor of Costume Design and Devised Theater at Dartmouth College. With over thirty years of professional experience, her costume designs have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and across the country. From 1997 to 2008, she was on the costume design team for Saturday Night Live. Regional credits include Huntington Stage Company, Arena Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Pittsburg Public Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Berkshire Theater Festival, and Northern Stage.

  • Actor / Teaching Artist

    Nolan Kennedy is an actor, writer, musician, improviser, and playwright. He is a co-founder of Letter of Marque Theater Co., an ensemble member of Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, a player in the Walter Thompson Orchestra, a freelance lighting designer, and a teaching artist.

    Hailing from Chicago, IL, Nolan received his B.F.A. in Acting from Illinois Wesleyan University. He is also half of two bands: Whiskey First and Salon Man

  • Music Director / Guitar

    Rolf Sturm has been a full time NYC guitarist since 1984. He appears on over fifty CDs including recordings that feature David Johansen (NY Dolls/ Buster Poindexter), Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), Ike Willis (Frank Zappa), Roswell Rudd and members of the Grateful Dead. He has toured the United States, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Canada, and the UK, performing at dozens of jazz, jam band/rock, folk, and blues festivals (including the World Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany).

    He has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. and on soundtracks for both film and television. His music has been featured on National Public Radio's "All Songs Considered" and his last solo guitar recording, "Balance", was awarded 4 stars by DownBeat magazine. 

  • Scenic Designer / Teaching Artist

    Jen Varbalow is a freelance Set Designer based in NYC and a proud member of the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble. She has collaborated with the company on multiple pieces including Pop Up Bethlehem and Pliable Futures.

    Her past credits include designs for Theatre for the New City, Stella Adler, MultiStages, Strike Anywhere, Bryant Park, Drilling Company/Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, JACK, NYMF, Theatre Askew, Broadway Bound Festival, New York Deaf Theatre, Resonance Ensemble, The Artful Conspirators, The Workshop Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre Garden, City Lights Youth Theater, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, DR2 Theatre, and Queens Theatre in the Park.

    Varbalow is a Master Teaching Artist with the Roundabout Theatre Company and Strike Anywhere, and an Adjunct Professor at CUNY–City Tech. She holds an MFA from Brandeis University and a BFA from Rutgers University, and is a proud member of USA Local 829.

  • Dancer / Actor

    Kyle is a dynamic Actor, Singer, Dancer, Clothing Stylist, and content creator with a BFA in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College. Their journey with Strike Anywhere began as a high school student in New Jersey, where they first connected with the ensemble before interning, assisting with events, and performing in the company’s Windows and Mirrors programming. Kyle has also supported community projects including Fort Greene Prep Academy’s Block Party, POP UP Brooklyn (2018), and Dancing for Democracy.

    Kyle also discovered their calling as Vanity LaVain, a drag sensation known for bold artistry and magnetic stage presence. As Vanity, they host Strike Anywhere’s bi-monthly Tell Me Something series at The RAT NYC in DUMBO. Kyle is also a member of the Letter of Marque Theater Company, where they perform and create social media content that amplifies the company’s vision.


Meet Our Staff

  • Director of Education and Partnerships / Teaching Artist

    Amanda Hinkle-Wallace has served as Director of Education and Partnerships since 2018. Prior to that, since 2009, Amanda has served as a board member, education coordinator, teaching-artist, grant writer, scenic designer and stage manager at Strike Anywhere. Previously, she managed school partnerships for Roundabout Theatre Company, served as Assistant Director of Education at George Street Playhouse in NJ, and was the Director of Education at Irondale Ensemble Project in Brooklyn. In these various programs, she established technical theatre training, STEM to STEAM programs, new play development series, and issue-oriented programming, along with youth ensembles and multi-institutional partnerships.

  • General Manager and Marketing Strategist (she/her/hers)

    November Christine is proud to  be Strike Anywhere’s General Manager and Marketing Strategist. She holds a degree in Cellular Biology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Maryland, as well as a BM in Musical Theatre from the East Carolina University School of Music.

    An award-winning playwright and composer, November is a BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop Lyricist and NYCLU Artist Ambassador Cochair.

  • Grant Writer

    Anna Brady Marcus, an arts management professional with nearly 25 years of experience, has been involved in various roles at Pentacle and other performing arts non-profits. She has served as a fiscal manager, booking representative, program director, and curator and producer of dance films.

    Currently, she works as a freelance grant writer, helping performing arts clients secure substantial funding from private and government institutions. In addition to her arts management work, Anna is a fiction writer, dance teacher, and performer in the Hudson Valley. She holds a B.F.A. in dance from CalArts and a graduate certificate in media management from the New School.

  • Web Master

    James Congdon is a Principal at TouchSites, specializing in business development and interactive technology. They lead client consultations and business development initiatives, applying innovative strategies for website design that balance business, creative, and technical needs. Prior to TouchSites, James was a Project Manager at Jack Morton Worldwide, coordinating project execution within a global brand experience agency, and at Keane India Ltd, contributing to application services and infrastructure solutions. Their work leverages technology to enhance communication, education, transactions, and collaboration. James holds a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College.

  • Bookkeeper

    Dutch Girl Bookkeeping was founded in 2008 when its founder Sara Cox began providing bookkeeping services for a local church. As demand grew, the business expanded to include a variety of clients, from nonprofits to small businesses. By 2018, the client list had grown to 20, and in 2021, the founder transitioned to running the business full time.

    Today, Dutch Girl Bookkeeping serves over 60 clients across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and California. Clients include nonprofits, retail stores, restaurants, construction companies, AIRBNB hosts, a newspaper, homeowner associations, and more.

    The company’s mission is to relieve clients of the stress of financial management so they can focus on growing their work and serving their communities. Dutch Girl Bookkeeping is committed to maintaining the highest standards of data security, backed by a dedicated server system and full insurance coverage, including Data Breach, Error & Omissions, and Liability policies.

  • Accountant

    Mary G Sormeley CPA is a firm that provides tax accounting to nonprofit clients. They primarily provide their services regionally, with most clients in New York (although they are present in other states as well). Mary G Sormeley CPA clients are primarily theater companies and dinner theaters, promoters of performing arts, sports, and dance companies.

Meet Our Teaching Artists

  • Teaching Artist (she/her)

    Ashley St. Juliette is a Brooklyn-based actress, singer, and educator committed to fostering inclusivity and diversity in the arts. She has performed in regional and touring productions, playing Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act at La Comedia Dinner Theatre and Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray at the Rose Theater NY. She also appears in two films currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Her commercial work includes national campaigns for Disney, Booking.com, and HP to name a few.

    Ashley holds a degree from the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts and has trained in both the Meisner Technique at the John DeSotelle Studio and the Adler Method at Stella Adler Studio of Acting. As a teaching artist, she draws deeply from her own experience as a product of NYC-based outreach programs like SAI, SPW (now RYE), and Stella Adler’s outreach initiative— provided her with a professional structure and a teaching style that treated students as colleagues. This empowered her to step into her greater potential, and she now aims to offer that same level of trust and collaborative space to her students—spaces where they can express themselves freely and grow into their fullest potential.

    With her background as a professionally trained stage and screen actor, her lesson plans reflect the discipline and artistry needed to take center stage. Ashley listens for her students’ unique voices and builds from there. She uses the work not just to develop actors, but to support students as people—centering social and emotional learning along the way. Through scene study and character work, students build confidence, deepen self-awareness, and strengthen personal development in ways that stay with them long after class ends.

  • Teaching Artist

    Elizabeth Dunn-Ruiz holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The New School, an M.S. in Urban and Multicultural Education from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, and a B.A. in English Literature from Hunter College. Elizabeth also completed two years of studio training in the Experimental Theatre Wing of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

    Elizabeth taught at South Bronx High School and co-founded Bronx Theatre High School. She taught in the English department at Bronx Community College and worked as a Master Teaching Artist for Roundabout Theatre, enjoying six seasons as the Playwright Mentor for their Youth Ensemble.

    Elizabeth is currently a full-time lecturer at The City College of New York in the Graduate Program in Educational Theatre. She is also a board member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, a mentor with the Arthur Miller Foundation, and a freelance curriculum writer, consultant, teaching artist, and dramaturg. 

  • Teaching Artist

    Amy E. Witting is an Actor, Writer, and Educator living in Tudor City, New York. She received her bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College & MFA from Hunter College. Her plays have been developed at Atlantic Theater, Lark Play Development Center, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Pipeline PlayLAB, Tofte Lake Center, Roundabout Theatre, National New Play Network, Abingdon Theatre, NewYorkRep, and The Kennedy Center. She won the inaugural Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries prize for her play Anne Page Hates Fun which premiered at the ASC in 2019. Other plays include Make All Girls In Charge (New York Rep Commission), Archipelago (PlayPenn, Haas Fellowship), and The Midnight Ride of Sean & Lucy (Roundabout Underground, Semi-finalist O’Neil Playwrights Conference).

    She currently has multiple TV/Film projects on the horizon as well as a poetry book. When she is not writing, she is busy learning from her many students, curating original student work, and drinking many cups of tea.

  • Teaching Artist (she/her)

    Carrie Ellman-Larsen is a NYC based theatre maker, actor, teaching artist and applied theatre practitioner. Carrie has been working in the arts education sector for close to twenty years for some of the city’s top theatre and arts education organizations such as The Roundabout Theatre Company, The Theater Development Fund, Arts Connection, Strike Anywhere and countless others. She is also the Education Director at Keen Company, an Off-Broadway theatre company for the Keen Teens program. Carrie is the creator of two community-based documentary theatre pieces, The Staten Island Dialogue Project and Buried Stories: Stories Buried in the Fresh Kills Landfill (Jolie Tong co-creator). Favorite roles include Jessie in Sweat, Sister James in Doubt, Lysistrata in LysistrataS, Eurycleia in The Penelopiad. Carrie is a four time recipient of the DCLA Premier Art Grant and has been awarded the Howard Gillman PARC Grant. carrieellmanlarsen.com siburiedstories.com

  • Teaching Artist

    Vickie Tanner received a BFA in Theatre from CSU, Long Beach and studied Meisner with Maggie Flanigan in NYC. Among her theatre credits are STOMP (Orpheum Theatre, National and European Tours); TANTALUS, Denver Center Theatre and British tour the RSC, written by John Barton, directors: Ed Hall and Sir Peter Hall, TWO DAYS, Long Wharf Theatre, by Donald Margulies, director: Lisa Peterson, and THAT DAMN DYKSTRA at Access Theatre director: Margarett Dykstra.

    She has written and performed her solo play, RUNNING INTO ME , in New York at 59E59 Street Theaters, La Mama, Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, Nuyorican Poet s Cafe, Queens Theatre in the Park, Dixon Place Theatre, the United Solo Festival 2011 & 2012 and NuBox Theatre, in Los Angeles at Whitefire Theatre and at Edinburg Fringe Festival, Underbelly, Cowgate. Directors: Padraic Lillis and Bruce McCarty.

    Her film credits include Home (a Netflix short), Acts of Worship, Drop Back Ten, No Way Out and The Apology. Television: NYPD Blue, STOMP Out Loud, Wonderland (recurring - dir. Peter Berg), Law and Order SVU, One Life to Live and Mercy. Vickie is currently writing and producing a new web series, One Cuckoo, which has been screened in Lift-Off New York and Harlem Film Festivals.

    She works as a master teaching artist with Park Avenue Armory, Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Class Company and Strike Anywhere and is married with 2 cats: Monstress Cinnamon and Trouble, King of MacDonough. 

  • Teaching Artist

    LaTonya Borsay is a theater arts educator with over 20 years of experience, specializing in curriculum design that centers participant engagement and meaningful learning outcomes. She is a master teaching artist with Strike Anywhere, Lincoln Center Education, Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and the Apollo Theater. LaTonya has extensive experience working with multilingual learners and students with learning differences and regularly leads professional development for educators and teaching artists. In higher education, she has taught at The New School, City College, Columbia University Teacher’s College, Cooper Union, and Fordham University, bringing her practical and creative expertise into the classroom.

    Ms. Borsay’s television and film credits include American Sports Story, The Heart, Eric, Gilded Aged, The Knick, Show Me A Hero. Off-Broadway /regional theater credits include Escaped Alone at Yale Repertory, The West End at Cincinnati Playhouse, Civil Sex, Macbeth, and Woyzeck at the Public Theater.

    LaTonya Borsay has an MFA from NYU, Certificate of Completion from the Moscow Art Theatre School; BFA from UNT; She’s a proud member of Actors Center.

  • LEAH REDDY (she/her) Leah Reddy is a director, dramaturg, and multimedia storyteller with roots on the westside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Favorite directing credits include Maria Irene Fornes’s What of the Night and many conservatory showcases. An Accredited Financial Counselor, her research focuses on how drama-based pedagogies can make financial literacy more engaging to students, particularly future artists.  As a teaching artist, her work is focused on community building through the creative process. A recipient of the 2023 SU-CASA grant from LMCC, she was the artist-in-residence at the Gaylord White Older Adult Center. She is a mentor with the Arthur Miller Foundation. 

In Memoriam

  • Bob Bowen was originally from Dayton Ohio. He performed professionally with many noted performers including Clark Terry, Lee Konitz, James Moody, Mark Murphy, Art Lande, Vassar Clemens, Roseanna Vitro, Mike Clark, Joe Deninzon's Stratospheerious and the Tony Trischka band. Bob co-led the MOB Trio with noted drummer Matt Wilson and tenorman Ohad Talmor. His collaborative group Slog, featuring Khabu Doug Young, Brian Drye, and Greg Joseph, released its first CD, Drew Field 45, of original music on the NCM East label in 2005. Bob was very active in jazz and music education. Since 2000, he was the bass instructor and director of the Combo Workshop at Hofstra University on Long Island, NY. After leading and developing the jazz prep program at the Center for Preparatory Studies in Music Queens College (CPSM) from 1998 to 2005, Bob joined with several former members of his CPSM team to start the Manhattan-based Creative Music Workshop.

    Bob worked as the bassist for the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble from 2008-2010. He made an indelible impact on the ensemble shaping it in ways that continue to this day. He is dearly missed.

  • Rob Henke, trumpet player and composer, graduated from William Paterson College in 1988. He performed and recorded worldwide with many groups and musicians, including The Spirit of Life Ensemble (he served as musical director), The Walter Thompson Orchestra, Doctor Nerve, Tricycle, The Rob Henke/ Rolf Sturm Duo, Mina Agossi, Gary Lucas, Phillip Johnston, and The Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble (since 2001).

    Mr. Henke worked as actor and co- director with Good Clean Fun (1990-2005), an educational theater company. He taught brass and music at the Montclair Kimberly Academy (since 2006) and the Montclair Music Studio (since 2001).

    Rob was a brilliant improviser, gifted musician and a cherished Strike Anywhere member who performed in almost every Strike Anywhere show between 2001-2025. His friends gathered in NJ in August to share stories about his life. Strike Anywhere will host a Memorial Concert, Monday Oct 27, 2025. See events for details.

Artistic Collaborators

  • Strike Anywhere has collaborated extensively with Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre across productions, festivals, and guest artist projects. Their most notable partnership, The Bowie Project, was a soundpainted mash-up of David Bowie’s music, interview material, and original choreography, featuring Ariel’s choreography alongside Strike Anywhere and the tribute band The Super Creeps. Earlier works such as Same River, SPIN, and Pocket Full of Change built the foundation for this creative relationship. Andrea also joined Strike Anywhere in PopUP Dartmouth and has served as a guest artist for multiple projects and festivals, underscoring a shared commitment to interdisciplinary, collaborative performance.

  • The Farm Arts Collective has been a key partner in Strike Anywhere’s socially engaged performance work. During Delivering Democracy in Pennsylvania (2020), the two groups joined forces with LM Bogad to stage playful street theater, using theater, music and dance to encourage voter participation and counter disinformation. Rooted in shared values of community, sustainability, and civic dialogue, the partnership exemplifies Strike Anywhere’s mission to bring ensemble performance into civic life. By collaborating with Farm Arts Collective, Strike Anywhere amplifies the role of theatre as both an artistic and democratic practice.

  • Strike Anywhere and Letter of Marque Theater Company (LOM) share deep ensemble ties and a passion for experimentation. Our artists have trained, taught, and performed together, co-producing the Live Composition Festival and co-leading Soundpainting workshops. LOM members also joined us for Pliable Futures, a roving performance in Fort Greene Park confronting the global plastic crisis, where performers dragged a massive net of single-use plastic collected over six weeks of rehearsal. The collaboration embodied our shared commitment to ensemble-driven creation, improvisation, and socially engaged performance. Both companies are also members of the Network of Ensemble Theatres (NET).

  • Michel Risse is a French composer, percussionist, and sound artist, and the co-founder and Artistic Director of Compagnie Décor Sonore. Since 1986, he has pioneered site-specific works that transform cities and landscapes into living instruments, creating large-scale “sound decors” across Europe and internationally. His practice explores urban environments, found objects, and spatial acoustics, dissolving boundaries between concert, installation, and public art. In May 2022, with support from the French Embassy, he was paired with Strike Anywhere in New York for a three-week residency. This collaboration merged Soundpainting with spatial sound to create immersive, improvisation-driven environments under the banner of Décor Sonore.

  • For over two decades, the North American Cultural Laboratory in Highland Lake, NY, has been a creative home for Strike Anywhere. From 2002–2011, we returned almost every summer for NACL’s Catskill Festival of New Theater, premiering works like SPIN and 10 Brecht Poems and collaborating on American Value. In 2013, we joined NACL’s The Weather Project as guest artists, contributing to a community-driven exploration of climate change. Over the past 14 years, NACL residencies have nurtured new work—including Same River and Festus—offering ensemble retreats, workshops, and public sharings that let audiences experience our improvisation- and Soundpainting-based process in this inspiring rural setting.

  • Strike Anywhere’s roots are closely tied to the Walter Thompson Orchestra (WTO), led by Walter Thompson, the creator of Soundpainting. Ensemble members have performed with WTO since the late 1980s, and Strike Anywhere’s Artistic Director Leese Walker was the first actor to be soundpainted by Thompson, and helped to adapt the language for use in theatre. This long-standing partnership forged the foundation for Strike Anywhere’s unique synthesis of improvisation, music, and theatre. Their collaborations with WTO demonstrate the ensemble’s deep lineage in Soundpainting and its role in expanding the language into new artistic domains.

  • From 2003 to 2014, Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble maintained a deep, continuous relationship with the Brecht Forum, a progressive social-justice cultural center in NYC. During that period, SA produced numerous performances and outreach programs, including its monthly improvised performance series !!FreEpLaY!! The Forum served as both a creative home and a meeting space for public engagement, experimentation, and ensemble work. This residency and partnership helped establish SA’s presence in New York, sharpen its improvisational voice with local and political resonance, and connect it with audiences committed to social justice and politically-engaged art.

  • Strike Anywhere’s relationship with the Irondale Ensemble Project runs deep. Our Founding Artistic Director began her career there as an intern, shaping her vision of applied theater, improvisation, and ensemble practice. Our Director of Education also served as Irondale’s Director of Education, and several of our actors were longtime Irondale ensemble members before joining SA. We’ve co-produced shows and education programs with Irondale and have been presented at the Irondale Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn many times since its founding in 2008. This shared lineage underscores SA’s commitment to ensemble theater, progressive aesthetics, and performance rooted in community.

  • L. M. Bogad is a performance artist, author, and Professor of Political Performance at UC Davis. A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, he creates “tactical performances” that fuse art and activism, from street theatre to site-specific interventions. He is the author of Tactical Performance, Electoral Guerrilla Theatre, and Performing Truth, and his work has been staged in over a dozen countries. Bogad collaborated with Strike Anywhere on Delivering Democracy, a 2020 and 2024 nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign in Pennsylvania, using dancing mailboxes and ballot boxes to engage voters with humor, music, and spectacle while circulating accurate voting information in a swing state.

  • Strike Anywhere’s connection to Roundabout Theatre Company’s Education Department is long-standing. Since the late 1990s, Artistic Director Leese Walker has served as a master teaching artist and for the past 15 years, she has designed and co-facilitated Theatrical Teaching Institute (TTI), training educators in arts-integration practices. From 2007–09, while on staff at Roundabout, Strike Anywhere’s current Director of Education, Amanda Hinkle-Wallace coordinated residencies across all five boroughs and launched Roundabout’s partnership with JKO High School, pairing Walker to lead an interdisciplinary residency. In 2009, Hinkle-Wallace joined Strike Anywhere and, in 2010–11, coordinated the Same River project at JKO in partnership with Roundabout. The two organizations have since collaborated on several project-based learning initiatives at JKO, including Farce of Nature (2013), Worth of Water (2015), and Windows and Mirrors (2022 & 2023). Many Roundabout teaching artists have also worked with Strike Anywhere, and SA ensemble members have participated in TTI—sustaining a dynamic exchange of practice and future collaborations.

  • Strike Anywhere is deeply engaged in the international Soundpainting community, participating in global Thinktanks, live composition festivals, and teaching exchanges. Ensemble members are active Soundpainters, shaping and expanding Walter Thompson’s multidisciplinary sign language for live composition. Through workshops, jam sessions, performances, and collaborative dialogues, Strike Anywhere experiments, shares, and helps grow this worldwide network, keeping Soundpainting a vibrant and evolving tool for cross-disciplinary collaboration. These gatherings are as much about connection and creativity as technique, reflecting Strike Anywhere’s commitment to ensemble practice and the ongoing evolution of live compositional art.

  • Angélique Cormier is a pianist, singer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist celebrated for her pioneering work in Soundpainting. She founded the Tours Soundpainting Orchestra in 2009 and has collaborated with Walter Thompson and Strike Anywhere on multiple projects. Her work blends music, theater, and origami-based scenography and has been presented internationally from France to Singapore to the U.S. She co-created Des Rues Colbert with Strike Anywhere in 2015. In 2016, Cormier and SA Artistic Director Leese Walker won the SACD Écrire Pour La Rue Grant to develop Pop Up: An Artistic Treasure Hunt, which premiered in Tours, France in 2018 and had its U.S. premiere in Fort Greene, Brooklyn in 2019.