Donna Ahmadi
Co-Producing Artistic Director
(she/her/hers)
Donna Laila Ahmadi’s work explores themes such as adoption, entomology, Butoh, puppetry, the human body, mycology, and the environment. Donna earned her BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase College in 2000 and a clinical education from The Swedish Institute of Massage Therapy. Donna Ahmadi is a multi-disciplinary performance artist who blends Butoh, dance, puppetry, and site-specific collaborations. Her major projects include Lucada Mélange, “No. 1 A Mental Health Crisis,” “Chroma,” “The Uprooteds,” “Creatures of Light,” and “A Safe House in Tenderloin,” performed at venues like Ice on Fire, the Garment District, Central Park Bandshell, and UNFIX NYC. Donna has danced with Third Rail Projects at the National Museum of the American Indian, Lincoln Center, LaMama, Dance Theater Workshop, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as at Burning Man, Hong Kong, and Chashama. She has worked with Red Hawk Indian Arts Council and Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, performing at schools, Vassar College, the United Nations, Lotus Music & Dance, and New England/NY Native Gatherings. Donna was part of The Grand Steps Project “Flight” (choreographed by Steve Koplowitz) at the NYC Public Library, St. John Divine, and Wintergarden. She has performed with Pilobolus Dance Theater and Apogee Arts in “Two Grey Hills” (Alison Chase), and as a soloist with Brett Howard and Company in “Canopy of Words” and “Hiding Places.” Other credits include “Spirit of Place,” “Ghost Blood” (Tarin Chaplin), and founding Mantis Dance Theater, sponsored by NORPA Dance Action in Australia.
Dianna Cortez
Co-Producing Artistic Director
(she/her/hers)
Dianna Cortez is an Interdisciplinary Artist and Voice Coach based in NYC. She is a classically trained Actor & Singer (Equity Eligible), Audiobook Narrator (ACX, Fiverr, Upwork), Voice, Speech & Dialect Coach, as well as Director, Puppeteer, Butoh & Experimental Composer, and Arthouse filmmaker. As an educator, she primarily teaches acting through voice, speech, dialects, and interdisciplinary artworks for theatre, film, and public speaking. Dianna has coached actors on and off-Broadway, as well as in Liverpool. At The New Group Theatre, she worked with Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Marisa Tomei, and Vincent D’Onofrio; also on Broadway with Sam Rockwell; and with Kim Cattrall in Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Janet Suzman, in Liverpool. She teaches at LIU Brooklyn, Circle in the Square Theatre School, Syracuse University/Tepper, Molloy/Cap 21, The Linklater Center, and in her private studio. From 2006 to 2010, she served as the Artistic Director of City Attic Theatre (C.A.T.), and is currently the Co-Artistic Director of Lucada Mélange-home of her interdisciplinary artwork. She has a B.A. from C.M.U. in Opera and Acting (10+ years of Opera lessons in NYC), M.F.A in Acting from S.M.U., 10+ years of movement & Anatomy training with Merry Conway, 5+ years of Butoh with Yokko, trained in Audiobook Narration, is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher and certified Louis Colaianni Speechwork & Phonetic Pillows practitioner. She is currently developing “Les Berceaux & The Lighthouse: No. 2 Forest Junctions,” which is the 2nd movement in a 5-movement experimental opera she is devising with Lucada Melange.
Baltazar Cortez
(he/him)
Baltazar Cortez works as a technical crew member for Lucada Mélange. A grandson of the famous Dominican Merengue Saxophone player Ramón Garcia, he was raised in New York City, and music and movement were integral to his life. Carrying a boombox over his shoulder and using a cardboard box for his street performances, he was a “B-boy” (breakdancer) during the 1980s. This was a time when breakdancing gained popularity, notably alongside “The King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, who popularized the “moonwalk,” a dance move he learned from friends of his neighborhood crew. He also studied martial arts, including Kenpo Karate, Taekwondo, Krav Maga, and Boxing. As a Technician, he served as the assistant cameraman for the Award-winning film “My Chamber” and as the sound technician for “A Safe House in Tenderloin” in the Garment District’s Beyond Fashion window displays. He built a home studio soundproof room for audio recordings. He supports his family through his investment in all of the endeavors of Lucada Mélange.
Luther Elliott
(he/him)
Lauren M. Lowell(she/her)
www.lowelldesigns.com
Lauren M. Lowell is a Professor and Head of Costume in the Illinois State University School of Theatre, Dance & Film. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Costume Design from the University of Georgia. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Michigan University with a major in General Theatre and double minors in Music and Broadcasting Television Production. She served as the resident Costume Designer for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival from 2003-2022. She has taught courses in Prague, Czech Republic (2011, 2019, 2023) and in Bangkok, Thailand (2016, 2020, 2024). Lauren is the author of the textbook DRESSING HISTORICAL CHARACTERS available via Waveland Press, Chicago. Lauren resides in Bloomington-Normal, IL with her two children, husband, two stepdaughters and a small crew of step-grandchildren.
Derek J. Weagle(they/them)
www.derekjweagle.com
Musician/Educator/Wearer-of-Many-Hats Derek J. Weagle (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based artist and healer invested in the disruption of social and academic barriers around classical music, as well as the preservation of music-making as an act of joyful humanness. With a practice rooted in syncretism, Derek can be found equally comfortable in roles ranging from conductor to composer, performer to teacher. They hold a B.M. in Music Education from UMass Lowell and an M.M. in Composition with a minor in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory, as well as a Certificate in Sound Healing from the Sage Academy of Sound in Woodstock, NY. Current engagements include work as an independent Sound Healing Practitioner; Associate Conductor of the Queer Urban Orchestra; Assistant Conductor of Choral Chameleon; Artistic Director of the Adelphi University Vocal Ensemble; Founding Artistic Director of Bloom Sound Collective; Composer & Owner at Risanare Music; Board of Directors for the Refugee Orchestra Project. Their work as a composer has received recognition both nationally and internationally, including the American Prize in Composition, The International Horn Society, and the International Composition Competition Harelbeke.