Artistic Staff Bios
VICTOR LESNIEWSKI (Playwright) Lesniewski’s plays include Couriers and Contrabands (World Premiere at TBG Theatre in NYC, Critic Howard Miller’s 2015 Best of Off & Off-Off Broadway List, Developmental Workshop at New York Theatre Workshop), Cloven Tongues (World Premiere at The Wild Project in NYC), Where Bison Run (Ars Nova Out Loud Reading Series, NY Times Profile), Amid Purpleheart (Geva Theatre Center Concert Reading), Pipistrellus (The Dramatists Guild Fellowship), Khardal (Berkeley Rep’s The Ground Floor), Cold Spring (Ashland New Plays Festival), and Tentative City (Roundabout’s Space Jam at Wyoming Theater Festival). He was the only American to be shortlisted for the inaugural Theatre503 Playwriting Award which included six writers culled from over 1,600 applicants. He was a 2015-16 Uncharted Artist in Residence at Ars Nova. In 2018 he developed work at Northern Stage (VT), Campfire Theatre Festival (ID), and La MaMa Umbria. The critically acclaimed Couriers and Contrabands was developed from initial idea through production with director Kareem Fahmy.[/bio]
KAREEM FAHMY (Director) is a Canadian-born director and playwright of Egyptian descent. He is the current Phil Killian Directing Fellow at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and was a 2017-2018 National Directors Fellow with The O’Neill Theater Center and the National New Play Network. Previous collaborations with playwright Lesniewski include: Couriers and Contrabands (world premiere), Khardal and Tentative City. Other world premieres: James Scruggs’s 3/Fifths (New York Times Top 5 Must-See Shows), Sevan K. Greene’s This Time (New York Times Critics’ Pick), Bess Welden’s Refuge*Malja, Adam Kraar’s Alternating Currents, Nikkole Salter’s Indian Head. As a playwright, he has been developed and produced at Atlantic Theater Company, Noor Theatre, Rising Circle Theater Collective, The Lark and Fault Line Theatre. He is currently adapting the seminal Egyptian novel The Yacoubian Building for the stage. Fahmy has developed plays with New York Theatre Workshop, MCC, Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage, Soho Rep, New Dramatists, The Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Sundance, The Civilians, Silk Road Rising, Geva Theatre Centre and Salt Lake Acting Company. He is a founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for organizations and artists engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. MFA: Columbia University. www.KareemFahmy.com
KELSEY JAMES (Stage Manager) is happy to be returning to Pioneer Theatre Company where her credits include previous Play-by-Play readings Art & Class, Requiem for August Moon and Perpetual Girl, and Assistant Stage Manager for In the Heights – Concert Production. Other stage management credits include: My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, The Winter’s Tale, Henry IV Pt. I and Julius Caesar (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre); Swing! The Musical (Little Theatre of the Rockies) and a collection of Cabaret productions (Florida Studio Theatre). She is a graduate of The University of Iowa Stage Management MFA Program and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
LINDSIE KONGSORE (Stage Directions) is graduating from the U with a BFA in Acting this Spring. Her recent credits include Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar, Mary McGuire in The Beautiful Game, Dolly in You Never Can TelI, Shelby U/S in Steel Pier (University of Utah), and Madge Owens in Picnic. (The Grand Theatre). She is excited to be working as an intern for PTC, and is grateful for the opportunity to work on this Play by Play.