Playwright and Performer

Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Rogério M. Pinto is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Pinto focuses on finding academic, sociopolitical and cultural venues for broadcasting voices of oppressed individuals and groups. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, his community-engaged research focuses on the impact of interprofessional collaboration on the delivery of evidence-based services (HIV and drug-use prevention and care) to marginalized racial/ethnic and sexual minorities in the United States and Brazil. Pinto also conducts art-based scholarly research. He performed Marília, a one-person play, on New York City's Theatre Row in 2015 and at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, Vrystaat, South Africa in 2016. Marília won the United Solo Festival award for Best Documentary Script. In Marília, Pinto explores the tragic death of his 3-year-old sister, and how that loss haunted and inspired him and his family. Funded by the University of Michigan Office of Research and several other sources, he has now built the Realm of the Dead, an art installation, based on Marília, to investigate his own marginalization as a gender non-confirming, mixed-race, Latinx immigrant. Marília/Realm of the Dead will be performed in the fall of 2021 at the University of Michigan, as part of the centennial celebration of the U-M School of Social Work.

Director

Erwin Maas is a New York-based international theatermaker, curator, and educator from the Netherlands. He has worked extensively in Australia, Europe, South Africa, South Korea and in the USA. He is the Co-founding Director of the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE), Fellowship Director for International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY), and Programming Director of the Off-Broadway Origin Theatre Company. From 2015 to 2019, Maas was the Artistic/Creative Director of the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA). He currently teaches at CUNY Brooklyn College's MFA Performance & Interactive Media Arts Program. Erwin is a core-member of Theater Without Borders, Georgetown University's Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, and the Netherland-America Foundation Cultural Committee. He serves on the Artistic Advisory Board of ISSUE Project Room Brooklyn, First Nation Spiderwoman Theater, and DecadesOut, an organization at the intersection of art, science, and policy - www.erwinmaas.com

Design & Construction Supervisor

Sarah Tanner is a scenic, prop, exhibit and puppet designer and artist, working in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is currently the Associate Prop Master for University Productions at University of Michigan, and has worked as a designer, artist, and teacher with Redmoon Theatre, Encore Musical Theatre, Wayne State University, The Performance Network, JET Theatre, Wild Swan Children’s Theatre, Mosaic Youth Theatre, Interlochen Center for the Arts, The Detroit Science Center, Eastern Michigan University, The Public Art Project, and Oakland University.  Some of her recent designs include Smokey Joe's Cafe, Fun Home, Crazy for You, West Side Story, Camelot, 9 to 5, Into the Woods and Assassins at the Encore Musical Theatre, Complex Rhythms and Sun and Shadows at the University of Michigan, and the traveling exhibit "Diabetes: A Deeper Look" for the Detroit Science Center, a 2,500-square-foot traveling exhibit housed in a giant model of a blood vessel.  https://sarahtannerdesign.com

Sarah McNamara, alumni of U-M School of Art and Design, over-hire employee for University Productions Properties Shop and Katie Kim, work study student, under Sarah Tanner’s supervision, both worked as props artisans on Realm of the Dead.

Stage Manager

Jerome Rork is the General Operations Manager (GOM) at the U-M SSW. In addition to his numerous duties, for the past 13 years, in collaboration with students and faculty, he has been a steward of the School's 55-piece Art Collection. He was involved as Co-producer in Juliana Huxtable's performance sponsored by the SSW. Recently, he is working as stage manager and lighting consultant for the installation performance of Pinto's Realm of Dead, taking place across several spaces in the SSW building.

Lighting Designer

Guy de Lancey is an award winning director, designer and conceptual detective across many disciplines, with a background in Performance, Human Movement and Neuro-psychology. He was awarded a collaborative research grant to attend Fabrica, the Benetton cross- disciplinary Arts and Communication Research Center in Italy under the directorship of Godfrey Reggio and Oliviero Toscani. He also studied creative and screen writing at NYU. With with over twenty years in multiple forms of image and story making practice, he has worked in film and theater as director, cinematographer, lighting and scenic designer and technical design consultant. Information about his work can be seen at www.guydelancey.com

Postdoctoral Fellow in Arts-based Social Justice Research and Practice, and Line Producer

Marc Arthur holds a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University (2019) and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Arts-based Social Justice Research and Practice at the University of Michigan where he is studying community-based theatre approaches for decreasing stigma and oppression. His research and teaching interests encompass devised and applied theatre, theatre history, dramatic literature analysis, and directing as they overlap with social work research, queer theory, and critical race studies. As an artist and director he creates devised theatre that incorporates methods from dance, painting, and socially engaged art. His work has been presented at theatres and galleries internationally, including the Martha Graham Dance Theater, La MaMa E.T.C., Dixon Place, The Living Theater, Movement Research at Judson Church, the Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance, the Wild Project, University Settlement, and Chashama in New York City; New Langton Arts and David Cunningham Projects, San Francisco; Moyse Theatre at McGill University, Montreal; Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels; the Emily Harvey Foundation, Venice; Universität der Künste, Berlin; and FRISE, Hamburg- www.marc-arthur.com

Lighting Designer & Voice Recorder

Chris Goosman joined the University of Michigan’s Medical School as a technical consultant, and currently is a Media Solution Engineer with the U- M Center for Academic Innovation. He designed the lighting for Realm of the Dead sculptures, and assisted by Tim O’Brien, all voice recordings. He is a 25-year audio industry veteran, is the owner/chief engineer of Baseline Audio Labs.mSly Pup Productions (Video Recorder) is an Audio/Video production company. David Newton, who worked directly with the Realm of the Dead crew to create all videos for the installation, personifies Sly Pup’s mission “to empower artistry through video … and tomfoster inclusiveness in the arts.”

Audio/Visual

Sly Pup Productions is an Audio/Video production company dedicated to the creation and dissemination of high quality media for classical instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, and dancers. It is our mission to empower artistry through video, and provide a platform for artists of diverse backgrounds to engage and share their passion with an equally diverse audience. We strive to foster inclusiveness in the arts and work diligently to ensure these promotional outlets are financially viable for both students and professionals.

Musician

Jean Carlo Ureña González, a native of Dominican Republic, began his musical studies at the Elila Mena Music School, with piano. He further his studies at the National Conservatory of Music in D.R. where he studied classical percussion. During his bachelor degree at The Hartt School, Jean Carlo was awarded as a winner of the Paranov Concerto Competition of 2015. In addition, in 2017 he was the recipient of the Alexander Lepak Percussive Award given to the outstanding, collaborative and percussion community involving percussionists. Jean Carlo was the first Dominican to perform a marimba concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic. Jean Carlo holds a Bachelor in Music from the Hartt School of Music, a Master in Music Performance and a Master in Chamber Music Performance from the University of Michigan. Currently Jean Carlo is a pre-candidate for his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from The University of Michigan. His teachers include Ben Toth, Douglas Perkins, Ian Antonio, Joseph Gramley, Jonathan Ovalle, Thomas Sherwood, Jeremy Epp and Shane Shannahan.

Properties Artisan

Sarah McNamara is an alumna of U-M School of Art and Design, over-hire employee for University Productions Properties Shop and a multimedia artist. She worked five seasons as a properties workstudy and shop swing for University Productions. Some of her puppets were featured in Disney’s the Little Mermaid and You for Me for You. She worked in early design and production on Realm of the Dead. She now lives in Maine making artisanal concrete planters with Lunaform.