WHO WE ARE:
Bios below.
| co-artistic directors | board of directors |
| • Stephanie Davis | • Melinda Davis |
| • Anna Gutto | • Stephanie Davis |
| • Anna Gutto | |
| • Sue Rosener | |
| • Michael Soussan | |
| associated artists | advisory board |
| • Ron A. Albrecht | • Marita Lindholm Gochman |
| • Ann Oren | • Len Gochman |
| • Dagny Drage Kleiva | • Moni Yakim |
| • Oda Radoor | • Mina Yakim |
| • Ane Skumsvoll | |
| • Michael Soussan | |
| • Andrea Sundt |
| Stephanie Davis, aka Phannie Davis, co-artistic director Stephanie hails from Kansas City, Missouri. Her formal acting training began in Chicago, Illinois at the Theatre School of DePaul University. At DePaul she studied with many accomplished professionals, the renowned Phyllis E. Griffin and Ric Murphy, to name a couple. Stephanie also attended a master class with well-known actor and DePaul alumni, John C. Reilly. She then went on to complete her B.F.A at the University of Kansas. While in Kansas, she studied Playwriting and Directing, in addition to Acting. She then went on to star regionally in such shows as The Little Miss Firecracker Contest, Hot ‘n’ Throbbing, and Tales from the Wasteland. In 2000, she came to New York and studied acting at the Circle in the Square Theatre School. One of her prized roles at Circle in the Square was playing MIMI in The Workroom directed by Moni Yakim. After founding the Unbound Theatre, now Unbound Collective, Stephanie played ROSIE PROBERT in Under Milk Wood, and has since directed her efforts more towards producing than acting. Over the past few years, her love for producing has grown. She enjoys the backstage spotlight and looks forward to bringing new, exciting works to international as well as New York City audiences. |
| Anna Gutto, aka Anna Guttormsgaard, co-artistic director Anna is an internationally working actor who has also written, co-written, translated and adapted several plays, as well as been commissioned to write essays for books and industry publications. In New York, she has received critical acclaim for her roles in Jon Fosse´s US-premieres Night Sings Its Songs and Sa Ka La, both at 45 Bleecker, The Workroom and Under Milk Wood, both directed by Moni Yakim, Henrik Ibsen´s Rosmersholm (REBECCA WEST) directed by Timothy Douglas at 59E59 Theaters, Boys’ Life, The Physics Project, After the Fall directed by Alan Langdon, To Barcelona! and Sharing to name a few. Before coming to New York she worked professionally at major theaters in Norway with award-winning actors and directors such as Hilda Hellwiig, Stein Winge, Bjørn Sundquist and Sven Nordin. Among her European credits are; SOLVEIG in Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, Harold Pinter’s The Lover, LADY ANNE in Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, The Little Prince and The Taming of the Shrew. Her one-woman show Fidel´s Island (co-written with Carl Morten Amundsen) about a Norwegian woman wanting to travel to Cuba was a great success at Molde International Jazz Festival the year Buena Vista Social Club was the festival's main attraction. Her other plays include Time and Pissing in the Wind (2002 NYC International Fringe Festival). Anna has directed plays only on a few very specific occasions, among them are A Left at Happily Ever After for the Estrogenius Festival and The Lover by Harold Pinter. When it comes to film, she has worked only as an actress, and her credits include the independent feature Tom and Valkyrie, where she played the female protagonist, VALKYRIE, I’m Afraid I am Hitler (as EVA BRAUN), The Ride, Liliana.Rebecca, Poise, Anniversary (Best Ensemble Award, First Run Festival), Shutterbug and Gone with the Woman (dir. Petter Næss) where she appeared alongside Peter Stormare (Fargo, Minority Report). The film won TOP FEATURE AWARD at Hollywood Film Festival, and was Norway´s contender for the ACADEMY AWARD nominations in the category for best foreign language film. Anna is also co-artistic director of Oslo Elsewhere, known for introducing Jon Fosse to American audiences, and has written essays for theatrical publications, among them the essay Rebecca West 2006 for the book Ibsen’s Women. Anna Gutto is the recipient of the prestigious 2-Year Emerging Artist Grant from the Norwegian Arts Council and the 2007 Cultural Grant from American Scandinavian Society. |
Ron A. Albrecht image-based Creative Director Ron is an image-based print Creative Director, with a classic eye and a strategic brain, experienced in launching new products, growing existing brands and renewing interest in older brands. Advertising / Marketing: Lifetime Television, The Syms Corp., Warnaco, Speedo / Authentic Fitness, Robert Stock Menswear, Primedia / Corporate Trade Group, Outward Bound, WNET / Thirteen, Wedgwood China, Seagrams, Oil Of Olay, IBM, Proctor & Gamble. Creative Director: Elle, Self, Lear’s, Ms., Harper’s Bazaar. Instructor / Parsons New School for Design: Advertising Design, Magazine Design, Design Concepts. Non Profit: Safe Horizon, Tanenbaum, Citymeals-on-Wheels. Ron is very proud to be part of Unbound Collective and especially the production of Anna Gutto’s “IN SECURITY”. Website: www.albrechtplus.com |
| Dagny Drage Kleiva set and costume designer Dagny Drage Kleiva has her degree in set and costume design from Central St. Martin College of Art and Design in London and has worked in theater, opera, film and dance professionally since 2000. She was the in-house set and costume designer at the renown Torshov Theater as well as the National Theater in Oslo, Norway, including productions such as; Mann Without a Cause (dir. Alexander Mørch Eidem) and Lenz (dir. Armin Petras). Both productions were subsequently shown at Maxim Gorkij Theater in Berlin, Germany. Within dance, she has worked internationally on Big Bird, Small Stick and Hamburger Allée, productions that have toured in Europe as well as in Norway. She has also worked on Time To and Ursula X at the Estonian National Opera in Estonia. For on camera work, her credits include; Parat and Kjell Universell (nominated for the Norwegian Film Award AMANDA in the category for Best Television Series in 2003). Her work have been exhibited at the International Quadrinal for Set Design and Costume in Prague, and she was the winner of the BBC Vision – Design Competition 2003. |
| Ann Oren video installation artist and filmmaker Ann Oren is a film and video installation artist whose work is primarily rooted in examining the different ways of communicating with the spectacle infused viewer, trying to dig into the viewer's psyche, working through the layers contemporary medias are imposing. Originally Israeli, she started her professional career when she moved to New York and received her BFA in Film and her MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts. Her short films have been critically acclaimed and were shown in film festivals worldwide such as the New York independent international film & video festival, Festival du Cinema de Paris and the Pink Cow – Tokyo. Her video installations' exhibitions include "Freewaves" at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, "Come out&play" APEXART New York and "View from here" at PS122 New York, Awards include The Jerome Foundation Travel and Study grant, a merit grant from The School of Visual Arts for their MFA program, a grant from The National Board of Reviews New York for her film Poise (AKA "Olga"), and a grant from the Visual Arts Fund for her film "Exercises in Separation". Please visit www.annoren.com |
| Oda Radoor dramaturg Oda Radoor is educated at the Institut for Dramaturgi at The University of Aarhus in Denmark, and has worked as script consultant, assistant director and dramaturg at the largest theaters in Norway as well as for Oslo Elsewhere in New York. She was assistant director to Eirik Stubø on his production of Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck (2006 OBIE Award), and to Yanni Houvardas in the Bacchae, and as dramaturg for among others; Georg Büchner’s Lenz, Democracy by Michael Frayn, for Pour un oui ou pour un non by Nathalie Sarraute and the World Premiere of Jon Fosse´s Eg er vinden (I am the Wind), and on Fosse's Deathvariations and Sa Ka La for Oslo Elsewhere´s New York productions. Oda Radoor has adapted several plays, her latest works being a modern adaption of Goethe’s Faust I, and a newly written rap-version of Romeo and Juliet called Shakespeare in Rap. |
Ane Skumsvoll actress Ane Skumsvoll is an internationally working actor who has also written, directed and produced several plays and art productions. For the last four years she has been based in Norway, working at major theatres, and in film and television. After graduating from the Theatre Academy of Helsinki she was privileged to work with the award winning company PLASMA in Zürich, Switzerland, where she received critical acclaim for her role as LADY MACBETH at The Gessnerallee Theatre house. After two years in Zürich, touring Germany, Switzerland and Finland she went to Stockholm to work with Goro Tronsmo, known for her theatrical performances and investigation of theatrical setting in untraditional arenas. In 2008, Ane was a guest star in the NRK network TV-series “Sky Blue Sky” (Himmelblå Himmel), the most viewed series in Norway of that year. She also played the part of ANNE in the film Vegas by Gunnar Vikene, opening in 2009. Ane is co-founder and producer of the company “Scenekollektivet” in Oslo, working on the Prøysen Festival and independent art projects. Because of their accomplishments as a company, they have received major funding from several Norwegian arts foundations. Ane has also attained several individual grants, including a three week stay at the important “Theatertreffen” in Berlin, and a month-long stay in South-Korea in 2009, a workshop designed to develop professional relationships between actors and directors internationally. |
| Michael Soussan author and journalist Michael Soussan is the author of "Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy," (Nation Books, Perseus Group, 2008), a coming-of-age memoir set at the United Nations in New York and Baghdad. Soussan has contributed editorial articles to the International Herald Tribune, The New Republic, Prospect Magazine (UK), Salon, The Irish Times, The New York Post, Commentary Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, among others. He is a regular contributor to the Providence Journal editorial pages. He holds an MA in International Relations from Science-Po in Paris, a certificate in film directing from NYU, and a BA from Brown University, where he founded and edited The Brown Journal of World Affairs. Soussan has been invited to lecture by various organizations including the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), the Ditchley House at Oxford, the Harvard Club of New York, the London School of Economics and the World Affairs Council. He has also testified before the House International Relations Committee of the US Congress. Soussan has been interviewed by over a dozen of NPR stations, the BBC, CNN, Fox News and ABC News, among others. Prior to publishing as a journalist and author, Soussan worked at CNN and at the United Nations, where he served as Program Coordinator for the United Nations Iraq Program. He currently teaches international affairs and the Iraq conflict at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, and lives in New York City. www.michaelsoussan.com |
Andrea Sundt costume designer Andrea Sundt graduated from Esmod Paris 2007 with a degree in costume design. She has worked with theater and film in Norway the past year on productions such as Even Benestad’s Tempus Fugit (short film) and assisting with costumes on the major multimedia international musical, dance and theater production, Songs Across Walls of Separation in Stavanger, Norway, (designated by European Union as Cultural Capital 2008). Director: Marit Moum Aune. She also won Guerlain’s best costume award for her exam costume outfit at Esmod Paris 2007 (collaboration between Guerlain Paris and Esmod Paris). Won first price, designing a clothing line for the computer game Sims2 (collaboration between EAgames Norway and Esmod Oslo) 2006. |