Staff/Crew List & Bios

Lynn Manning; Artistic Director
Lynn Manning is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater Company, now in its 17th year of serving the communities of South Los Angeles and Watts. Lynn’s work with WVTC earned him an Unsung Community Hero Award from KCET-TV in 2004. He is a poet, playwright, actor, and former World Champion of blind judo. A graduate of LACC, Lynn honed his playwriting skills in Center Theatre Group’s blacksmiths and Mentor Playwrights workshops, and The Actors’ Studio Writers/Directors Unit/West.
Lynn’s autobiographical, solo play, WEIGHTS, received three NAACP Theater awards.
Lynn currently serves on the SAG-AFTRA Performers With Disabilities Committee.

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David Mack; Managing Director

A graduate of California Institute of the Arts (MFA, Theatre) and Cornell University (BA, Theatre), David is the Managing Director of Watts Village Theater Company and General Manager of The Industry. He also serves as Chairman of LA Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’
Empowerment Congress Arts & Culture Committee and a member of the Empowerment Congress Leadership Council, Secretary of the Watts Neighborhood Council and Chairman of its Education Committee, and member of the LA Producer’s League Transitional Committee. David is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Mutineer Theatre Company.

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Raul Cardona; Director
Bio: N/A

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Joe Cedillo; Lead Playwright, Asst. Director
Joe Luis Cedillo (Writer/Asst. Director) is a left-handed Chicano Playwright-Director.  He is the Artistic Director for Company of Strangers and Associate Artistic Director for Texas State’s Black and Latino Playwright’s Conference.  Writing credits include:  69 PORTRAITS OF CHE, TEXTBOOKS & FENCES, ON PAINTED SKIN, and NOCHE Y MOURNING to name a few.  He is a Director and Dramaturg with Watts Village Theatre Company working with Playwright Donald Jolly to develop the Riot/Rebellion project.  He is currently directing his play 7, 8IGHT, 9… at El Teatro Campesino.  Thanks to the Creative Team, Animo Locke High, and the students…”Que Cosa!”

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Aaron Saldaña; Stage Manager, Audio Designer, & Lighting Designer
Aaron is pleased to be working once again with W.V.T.C. in order to help the students of the Locke High Schools develop and express their talents. For more information about his production history, please, feel free visit www.Tech-tor.com

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Marissa Herrera; Producing Director
Marissa is currently serving as the Artistic Director and choreographer for the Inner-City Arts Repertory Dance Company and co-founder of The Heart and Soul Collective- a cross-discipline of young artists using their art to empower personal and social transformation where she was the Co-Artistic Director for the original production “MY L.A.” She was also a featured teaching artist in the PBS documentary “Art and the Mind.” Professional credits include the West Coast Regional Premiere of “In the Heights,” “the 25th Anniversary Tour of “Zoot Suit” as Lupe Reyna with El Teatro Campesino and Sony Pictures “You Got Served.”

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Gloria Lanuza; Assoc. Producing Director
Gloria has trained and performed with her extended family of artists since childhood. She also has many years of work as a featured performer and dancer in concert and commercial venues internationally and is co-founder of Lanuza-Morales Productions Inc., an educational academy and performance company, consisting of her family and other professional performing artists. Throughout her years of experience, she has created an exciting and unique approach of fusing styles and cultures together to create an exhilarating experience in her classes, performances, and collaborations. Her experience in working with W.V.T.C, and the Animo Locke students has been a privilege and blessing.

 

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AnnJeannette Remy; Volunteer Teaching Artist
AnnJeannette is a native of sunny Southern California. After spending 14 years as a competitive swimmer she decided to study dance. She received a B.A in Dance from California State University Long Beach and has performed with various companies in LA including the Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble, Pennington Dance Group, Ptero Dance Theatre and Vox Ensemble. This is her first production with the Watts Village Theatre Company.

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David Guerra; Volunteer Teaching Artist
David Guerra has actively participated with Watts Village Theater Company as an actor, administrator, musician, mentor and volunteer since 2008. He served as Associate Artistic Director from 2011-2012; where he led workshops in collaboration with the Watts Towers Art Center, directed Myth Making with J.A.M. Sessions, in partnership with the Ford Theatre Foundation and a special presentation at the Willowbrook Station welcoming former NEA chairman Rocco Landesman’s visit to Los Angeles. He was music coordinator for Meet Me @Metro III. David is proud to volunteer for this production.

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Dorrill Griffin; Volunteer Teaching Artist
Dorrill, born February 5, 1993, is a native to L.A. Having just graduated from Locke High School in 2011, he saw this as an opportunity to reconnect with his former classmates, met new people, develop a new play and work on his writing abilities, and learn about the inherent trials that come with theatrical productions. He is currently working on attending a film college so that he may further develop his production skills.

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Dalilah Aja Rajah; Marketing/Development Director
Bio: N/A

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Rick Davitt; Photographer
Bio: N/A

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Paola Morales; ASL Interpreter
Bio: N/A

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Teri Grossman; Audio Describer
Teri received her training in Los Angeles. She has 100+ live theatre credits providing description for the Center Theatre Group, and Watts Village Theatre among others. For over 10 years she has been a describer or producer for live description of the Rose Parade. Teri has extensive experience with video description and trains describers for live theatre and video description.

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Hilda Estrada; Spanish Language Interpreter
Bio: N/A

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Jameelah Nuriddin; Videographer
Bio: N/A