LoNyLa

The Team

Producing Artistic Director, London: J Dakota Powell – Please see: Board of Directors, TimeWave.

Literary Advisor, International: Jake Witlen is a theatre and video artist based between Brooklyn and Berlin. After spending three years as the Artistic / Literary Associate at the award-winning Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, he helped found The Internationalists, a collective of directors from around the world. With the Internationalists, he has devised and developed many pieces using new technologies, and presented work live and virtually from dozens of countries. Previous work examples includes: a collectively written adaptation of the Odyssey with 12 writers around the world using wikis, emails and waves (OD@C); an interactive puppet show written live in a wiki and performed in English and German (Rubble Room; winner 2010 Zitty Top Buhne); and a simultaneous dinner between New York and Berlin (The Virtual Dinner Party). US Work: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, HERE Arts, 3-Legged Dog, PS122, the Ohio Theare etc. International Work: Berlin, London, Athens, Bucharest, Oslo, Sibiu, Quito and Bagalore, India. www.theinternationalists.org/profile_jake_witlen.html 

Production Advisor: Pun Bandhu is an award-winning actor and two time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer. He graduated with his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama and has appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway and at regional theaters across the country. He has a special interest in new work and has originated roles in world premiere plays by playwrights such as Theresa Rebeck, AR Gurney, John Pielmiere and David Henry Hwang among others. In 2010, he received the Colorado Theatre Guild's Henry Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play. He has played guest star and co-starring roles on TV shows such as Body of Proof, Without a Trace, White Collar, Nurse Jackie, and all Law and Orders (including Conviction). In movies he can be seen in Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading and the upcoming Two Days in New York starring Chris Rock (summer 2012). 

As a producer, Pun has started his own theatre company, a shorts film festival, and as a partner in ZenDog Productions, has produced two Tony Award-winning projects on Broadway, GlenGarry Glen Ross (Best Play Revival 2005) and Spring Awakening (Best Musical, 2007). Spring Awakening also won the Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, toured the US for two years and has been translated and seen in over 40 productions around the world. In addition to Broadway, ZenDog Productions has also been involved in productions in London, most recently with the first revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Pun was given the "Star of Asia" award by the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce and was honored at the New York Musical Theatre Festival Gala as one of "The Next Generation of Broadway Producers." He is a frequent speaker on theatre and marketing panels, is called upon to adjudicate festivals and competitions and has been featured in periodicals such as Variety, The New York Times, American Theatre and FastCompany Magazine. 

Producer, Berlin: Wolfgang J. Fischer has worked as film festival coordinator, producer, journalist and photographer in Germany and the United States. With Radijojo WCRN based in Berlin he co-founded international youth media projects such as EUCHIRA and the Transatlantic Children’s Radio Bridge, awarded by UNICEF, UNESCO, the EU Commission and the German government. As a radio/media producer and journalist, he worked with children and young people in various countries around the world. Following studies in media and communication science at Free University of Berlin, he engaged as developing producer for international feature film projects at Luna Film and as a dramaturgy consultant with Polarlicht Film production and RTL television. In Berlin he also operated as cinematographer and production consultant on commercial and music videos and independent feature films. For the distinguished NGO Transparency International he coordinated the International Anti Corruption Film Festival “Film for Transparency” in Seoul/Korea, as well as a national conference about Media and Corruption. While in New York City, Wolfgang was part of the production team behind “The Trail of her Inner Thigh” at the Labyrinth Theater Company. He co-founded Adrenaline Studios to produce theatrical performances and audios of “The Erotica Project”, directed by John Gould Rubin. Educated as a Financial Advisor and Economist, he served as a management consultant in Germany and the USA, specializing in the multimedia sector and commercial theater production.

Producer, Los Angeles: Alexis Carra has a B.A. in Theatre Studies from Yale University. Her time at Yale included producing and directing three plays, several dance shows, and her own solo show, STILL Moving, in which she was nominated for the Louis E. Sudler Prize for excellence in the arts. Broadway performing credits include: Fosse, Wicked, Sweet Charity (u/s Nickie, Dance Captain), and The Pirate Queen. Carra produces material for the creative branding company Layer Cayke. She is also a core member of The New Hollywood Group, a non-profit, philanthropic women’s group, which is producing a benefit for the international organization, Free the Slaves, in Los Angeles in autumn 2011.

Producer, Hong Kong: Janice Poon is a writer and theatre professional from Hong Kong who was recently researching dramaturgy and new play development in the United States through a 2010-2011 Asian Cultural Council fellowship. Poon began as an arts journalist and then created Hong Kong’s first literary department as a member of PIP Theatre Limited, where she also inaugurated the first annual Hong Kong Playwright Festival and a Conference on Contemporary Performing Arts. Poon has edited five publications on Hong Kong theatre and culture, and created and performed original solo works and collaborated on major productions. Three of her plays received staged readings in the Hong Kong Playwright Festival.