SKIN TO SKIN

 

Founded in 2001, Houses on the Moon Theater Company was created to amplify unheard voices, inspire bold dialogue, deepen understanding, and ignite action. One of New York’s most fearless and socially impactful theater companies, Houses develops and produces original plays through first person interviews, creative workshops and community collaboration, exploring some of the most challenging social complexities of our time: gun violence, immigration, incarceration, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. housesonthemoon.org

 

Jeremy J. Kamps (Playwright) is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He was a Fellow at The Public Theater (EWG) and NYC Center for Fiction. He is a Playwright-in-Residence for Esperance Theater Company and Spectrum Theater Ensemble. His work has been produced in NYC and LA, and has won numerous awards and distinctions including the William Saroyan Human Rights Award, The Goldberg Award, Page 73 (finalist) and the Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award. His film work is in development with Smoke and Mirrors  Productions, Leah Natasha Productions, and RDS Entertainment. His debut novel NOT A SINGLE RACIST BONE is currently under review. He facilitates drama, writing, leadership and DEI workshops around the world as a means of social justice and community building. MFA: NYU.

 

Trixie Ndanu Kioko (Co-Creator) is a Certified Nurse Midwife. Her path to this vocation started with her own home birth in Vermont, where her midwife showed her that birth is an inherently sacred part of the human experience. She saw the importance of centering the pregnant person in the birthing process, and making them feel heard and empowered. She has since dedicated herself to bringing midwifery into the mainstream as a time-honored, evidence-based, and holistic model of care. As one of approximately 500 Black midwives in the US, Trixie is particularly passionate about providing the BIPOC community access to midwifery care. She has over seven years of experience as a Labor and Delivery Nurse at Mt. Sinai West and, most recently, as a full-scope midwife in Paterson, NJ. She received her M.S.N. in Midwifery from Frontier University, her B.S. in Nursing from Russell Sage College, and her B.S. in Biology from the University of Albany.
 

Aaliytha Stevens, (moderator) Director of Strategic Planning and Cultural Affairs at Houses on the Moon, helps shape organizational strategy, cultural engagement, partnerships, and opportunities to deepen the impact of storytelling beyond the stage. A longtime marketing and audience development strategist and community builder, Aaliytha's work sits at the intersection of arts and culture, community engagement, health equity, and social impact, connecting organizations with the communities they seek to serve. She is particularly passionate about Black maternal health and the power of SKIN TO SKIN to spark dialogue, build partnerships, and inspire meaningful action. Aaliytha serves on the boards of the Black Theatre Coalition (BTC) and the New Heritage Theatre Group. She is a member of the advisory council for National Black Theatre’s (NBT) Catalyst Seeding Permanence, and The Theatre Leadership Project (TLP). She co-chairs the Multicultural Task Force at the Broadway League while sitting on their EDI and Business Development Committees and is a member of the Broadway Women’s Alliance (BWA) and Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA).

 

Trixie Ndanu Kioko is a Certified Nurse Midwife. Her path to this vocation started with her own home birth in Vermont, where her midwife showed her that birth is a sacred part of the human experience. Experiencing the importance of centering the pregnant person in the birthing process and making them feel heard and empowered, she has since dedicated herself to bringing midwifery into the mainstream as a time-honored, evidence-based, and holistic model of care. As one of approximately 1,400 Black midwives in the U.S., Trixie is passionate about providing the BIPOC community access to midwifery care. She currently works as a Midwife in NYC and NJ. M.S.N. in Midwifery, Frontier University; B.S. in Nursing, Russell Sage College; B.S. in Biology, University of Albany.

 

Faith Armstrong is a Professor of Nursing and Director of Nursing Programs at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York (CUNY). Before entering academia, she spent over a decade as a staff nurse in Telemetry, Cardiac Pulmonary Care, and ICU.

Professor Armstrong holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing Education. Her scholarly work has addressed quality of life among patients with fibromyalgia and systemic sclerosis, as well as posttraumatic growth among nurses.

Throughout her career, Professor Armstrong has been committed to caring for vulnerable populations and to mentoring and educating future nurses. She considers nursing education and compassionate patient care both a privilege and a responsibility and remains dedicated to preparing nurses to provide equitable, culturally responsive care.

Her personal motto is, “Be the voice you want to hear.”

 

Christina D. Eskridge, MPH is the founder and executive director of Elevate Theatre Company LLC, an organization dedicated to creating space for audiences and artists to explore health and well-being through the art of storytelling. Christina has worked extensively in public health settings from clinics to safety net hospitals and large health systems, and considers herself a public health theater-maker. Leveraging her experience and Master’s Degree in Public Health as well as her acting training and performance career across the United States, Christina crafts plays, engages in teaching artistry, and leads Elevate with a “health first” mind-set. Elevate’s performances cover important public health topics ranging from sexual and mental health, to Black fatigue, to frontline health worker stories and are always paired with a panel of public health experts to support audience engagement and understanding after the curtain falls. Christina believes arts participation, especially theater-going, is a healing tool, ripe with opportunity to build community and improve well-being for all.

 

Desi K. Robinson is a community health professor, media commentator, birth/postpartum doula, lactation educator, diva farmer and urban belle. Her work in maternal health specifically addresses the disparity in maternal and infant outcomes for Black women in New York City. Desi’s work uses media as a lens to explore the intersections of pop culture and public health. She created, produced and hosted Women in the Making: Tomorrow’s: History Today, a health and lifestyle radio show amplifying the voices of girls and women, and was a health and literacy educator in Quito, Ecuador. She has also served as a reporter for WBAI Radio in New York (PACIFICA) and Rice N’ Peas magazine in London. Desi’s grassroots efforts connects the community with elected officials as the Education and Culture Committee Co-Chair on Manhattan Community Board 1. Desi serves as the doula community liaison in East Harlem at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She holds an MBA in Media Management, a BA in Communication and a certificate in Community Health Work. Desi enjoys all things garlic and orange lollipops from the bank.

 

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MAMA/RUN

 

Lester Eugene Mayers is a Brooklyn-born director, writer, performance artist, dramaturg, choreographer, and educator whose work centers Black life, queer experience, memory, grief, survival, and the body as archive. His interdisciplinary practice moves between theatre, poetry, movement, and installation, creating performances that ask audiences to witness rather than consume. Mayers holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac School and a BA in Theatre Arts from SUNY New Paltz. His recent work includes CATCH, a docu-poetic ensemble play on HIV history and survival that premiered at SUNY New Paltz in Fall of 2026, and MAMA/RUN, which received its first staged presentation at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center's Rough Draft Festival in March 2026. Across his work, Mayers builds theatrical worlds where history lives in the body, silence has consequence, and survival is never mistaken for simplicity.

 

 

Jermaine Rowe is a Jamaican-born multidisciplinary theater artist whose practice lives at the intersection of story, music, movement, ritual, and memory. An actor, writer, director, dancer, and composer, Rowe creates contemporary theatrical worlds rooted in Jamaican and Afro-Caribbean storytelling traditions. His performance credits include Broadway’s The Lion King and Fela!, London’s West End and National Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Jamaica’s National Dance Theatre Company, where he was a principal dancer. His original works include The Children from the Blue Mountain, Legend of the Rolling Calf, Transitions, and Standpipe. A recipient of Jamaica’s Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in Culture, Rowe holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a 2025 Candela Fellow in Playwriting & Musical Theatre.

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FURBALL

 

Jeana Scotti (she/her) is a New York born and based playwright. She is a 2026 Creative Capital awardee, a 2025 MacDowell fellow, a 2025-2027 member of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers’ Group, and a 2025 Audrey Resident at New Georges. Her selected plays include: Furball, A Necessary Killing (Clubbed Thumb’s Winter Works, dir. Laura Dupper), and oh, Honey (dir. Carsen Joenk, site-specific production at the restaurant Little Egg in Brooklyn, produced by Ugly Face Theatre). She was a member of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group and is a New Georges affiliated artist. She is the co-founder of Ugly Face Theatre, where she makes site-specific and community-focused theatre.

 

Tara Elliott (she/they) is a director and choreographer of plays, devised works, and site-responsive performances. Recent directing includes Jesse Jae Hoon's TITANS (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks) and Emma Horwitz + Bailey Williams’ Two Sisters Finds a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods (Rattlestick Theater/New Georges). She is the recipient of a Venturous Theater Grant for development of experimental audio drama Pleasure Machine and a Tow Travel Grant for research in Cuba. She has developed new plays with The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, Rattlestick, Colt Coeur, Pipeline, Fresh Ground Pepper, and LaMicro Theater, among others. 2025 New Georges Audrey Resident. Mercury Store Residencies 2024 & 2022. 2021 Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow. 2020 CoCo Resident with Colt Coeur. 2018 Drama League Directing Fellow. MFA Directing, Brooklyn College.

 

James Ryan (JR) Caldwell JR received his MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University. As an actor and a playwright JR’s work has been seen at Playwright’s Horizons, the Public Theatre, the Ohio Theatre, Dixon Place, Walkerspace NYC, La MaMa ETC, and 3LD, among others. JR currently serves on the Executive Board of the Region 1 American College Theatre Festival.