Abigail and Shaun Bengson
Writers and Performers
Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo raising two children in NYC and Vermont. They believe grief and joy are the same thing. They are interested in anything that gets us all free.
The Bengsons made their Broadway debut in All In: A Comedy About Love (Hudson Theatre).
They wrote and performed Ohio, for which they won The Scotsman Fringe First and was the Runner-Up for the Popcorn Award (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Bristol Old Vic, Young Vic); The Keep Going Song, for which they won the Obie Award for Sustained Achievement (LCT3, Actors Theatre of Louisville); Sovereignty Hymns (La Jolla Playhouse); Oh Courage (The Joyce, international tour); My Joy Is Heavy (Arena Stage); Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour); The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova); Where The Mountain Meets The Sea (ATL’s Humana Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club); Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theatre Festival, US tour); Hurricane Diane (Two River, NYTW); You’ll Still Call Me By Name (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow); Sundown Yellow Moon (WP Theater); and Iphigenia In Aulis (Classic Stage Company).
They were recognized with a 2024 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Performance and have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards, as well as nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards.
The Bengsons are proud to be NYTW Usual Suspects.
Caitlin Sullivan
Director
Caitlin Sullivan is a New York based director and theater maker.
Upcoming theatre includes: The Last Medicine Show (Ars Nova); Calf Scramble (Primary Stages); and Eat Me (South Coast Rep).
Recent theatre includes: Ohio which won The Scotsman’s Fringe First Award (Edinburgh Fringe, Bristol Old Vic, Young Vic); The Antiquities for which Caitlin was nominated as Outstanding Director for the Drama Desk Awards (Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theater, Goodman Theater); The Keep Going Song where they won the Obie Award for Sustained Achievement (LCT3); The Good John Proctor (Bedlam); Find Me Here, Work Hard Have Fun Make History (Clubbed Thumb); Nova (The Lyceum in Edinburgh, Pemberley); United States vs Gupta (JACK and New Georges); and Sanctuary City (New York Theatre Workshop).
Caitlin was a founding member and the Artistic Director of Seattle’s critically acclaimed Satori Group and is the former Artistic Director of the Williams College Summer Theater Lab. In addition to Williams, she has worked as a teacher and director at Rutgers University, Cornish College of the Arts, Atlantic Acting School, the New School and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is a core faculty member at the National Theater Institute.
Born and raised in Boston, she is a graduate of Williams College, an alum of the Drama League Directors Project and Next Stage Artist Residency, a former Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and a New Georges Affiliate Artist.
Cate McRea
Scenic Designer
Cate McCrea is a scenographer specializing in collaborative development of new works. Her designs are inspired by and drawn from craft techniques, recycled materials, and archival collections.
Off-Broadway theatre includes: The Bengsons’ Keep Going Songs (LCT3); The Good John Proctor (Bedlam); Corsicana (Playwrights Horizons, co-design with Lael Jellinek).
Other theatre includes: Uncle (The Kitchen); Cherie Dre (Danspace Project); Ashkenazi Seance (the Brick); Let’s Get Ready Together (the Tank); A Woman of the World (The Acting Company); Director Fest 2021 (Drama League at A.R.T./NY Gural Theatre); and Director Fest 2020 (Drama League at New Ohio Theatre); Stone Belly (Harlem Stage); Piramo e Tisbe (Little Opera Theatre of New York).
Cate is part of the 2025-26 New Georges Jam and a proud member of USA 829.
Nick Kourtides
Sound Designer
Nick Kourtides designs for musical theatre and creates sound environments for devised ensemble works. He is the global sound designer for Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas, London, Berlin, and Australia.
Theatre Off-Broadway includes: Oratorio for Living Things (Signature, Ars Nova); Three Houses (Signature); The Keep Going Songs (LCT3); Travels, The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova); Heather Christian’s Terce (Prototype Theatre); Blacklight (Greenwich House); Object Lesson (NYTW, BAM); Elephant Room (St. Ann’s Warehouse); Carson McCullers Talks About Love (Rattlestick); and Jomama Jones: Radiate (Soho Rep).
Regional Theatre Includes: Macbeth in Stride for Shakespeare Theatre and Philadelphia Theatre Company (Yale Repertory Theatre, BAM Harvey Theater, Michael R. Klein Theatre, Suzanne Roberts Theatre); Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Actors Theatre of Louisville); You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); The Waves for New York Stage and Film (The Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater); The Mousetrap (McCarter Theatre Center); The Lonely Few (Geffen Playhouse); The Comedy of Errors (Folger Theatre); If I Forget (Studio Theatre); Next to Normal (Milwaukee Rep); Passing Strange (The Wilma Theatre); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Philadelphia Theatre Company (Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse); and Dreamgirls, Anyone Can Whistle (Prince Music Theater).
With Pig Iron Theatre Company: A Period of Animate Existence; Cankerblossom; Isabella; Chekhov Lizardbrain; and Mission to Mercury.
With Rainpan43 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Object Lesson (Summerhall); Elephant Room (Assembly); and Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl (Traverse).
Nick has taught Sound Design for Live Performance at Drexel University and Swarthmore College. He has received an Obie, Lucille Lortel, Bessie, and Barrymore awards.
Bethany Gupwell
Lighting Designer
Bethany Gupwell is a London-based lighting designer, trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. In 2018, she was awarded the Association of Lighting Designers’ Francis Reid Award.
Theatre includes: The Earthworks (Young Vic); All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare's Globe); Larmes de Couteat / Full Moon in March (Royal Opera House); Escaped Alone / What If Only, Shed: Exploded View (Royal Exchange Theatre); Twelfth Night, Quiet Songs, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, Lay Down Your Burdens (Barbican); La Voix Humaine (Opéra National du Rhin); Dead Woman (Schaubuhne); Little Scratch (Hampstead Theatre, New Diorama); Visit from an Unknown Woman, This Much I Know, To Have and to Hold for which Beth received an Offie nomination in 2023, Wolf Cub (Hampstead Theatre); Robin Hood (Theatre Royal Bath); Here, The Woods (Southwark Playhouse); Lady Dealer (Bush Theatre); War & Culture, Keep Watching (New Diorama); Ignition (Frantic Assembly); The Pirate, The Princess and the Platypus (Polka Theatre); A-Typical Rainbow for which Beth received an Offie nomination in 2022 (Turbine); In Praise Of Love, Rice, Little Baby Jesus (Orange Tree); Little Brother, Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come, Fitter, Wonder Winterland (Soho Theatre); Talking Heads (Watford Palace).
David Bengali
Projection Designer
David Bengali is an award-winning projection, media, and lighting designer based in NYC.
Broadway theatre includes: Water for Elephants for which David was nominated for a Tony Award in 2024 and an Outer Critics Circle Award (Imperial Theatre); Good Night, and Good Luck (Winter Garden Theatre); Eureka Day (Manhattan Theatre Club); The Thanksgiving Play (the Hayes Theater); and 1776 (A.R.T., National Tour, Roundabout).
Off-Broadway theatre includes: We Live in Cairo (A.R.T, NYTW); Here There Are Blueberries (NYTW, La Jolla Playhouse, Signature D.C.; Hewes and Helen Hayes Awards); Twilight: LA 1992 (Signature Theatre; Henry Hewes Award, Drama Desk Nomination); Anthony Rapp’s Without You (New World Stages); The Visitor (The Public Theater; Lucille Lortel Award Nominee); Circle Jerk (Obie Award, Drama League Nomination); Einstein’s Dreams (Prospect Theatre, 59E59; Drama Desk Nomination); Van Gogh’s Ear (Signature Theatre; Drama Desk Nomination); and The Great Leap (Atlantic Theatre Company).
He was a 2017-2019 Arts Fellow at the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts and received his M.F.A. at New York University.
Lydia Cook
Associate Director
Lydia Cook is a theatre director and maker, creating bold, playful and imaginative work that often incorporates music and movement. She is committed to amplifying underrepresented voices, including global majority, LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse communities, sharing stories that often get overlooked. Lydia strives to make theatre accessible and engaging for everyone to experience and enjoy.
Theatre includes as Associate Director: How to Win Against History (Bristol Old Vic, Norwich Theatre Royal, Edinburgh Fringe); David Copperfield (Theatre Royal Bath); Emilia (Circomedia, Bristol); and Oliver Twist (Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol).
Theatre includes as Director: Arabella (Hampton Court, Kensington Palaces); Holes (Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China, Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol); Return to the Forbidden Planet, Little Shop of Horrors (The Egg, Bath); and The Future is Beige (Bristol Old Vic).
Lydia trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating with a Master’s in Drama Directing.
Ceci Calf
Associate Scenic Designer
Ceci is a set and costume designer based in London. She trained at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has since worked across the UK and Europe.
Upcoming productions include Emma directed by Stephen Unwin (Theatre Royal Bath, UK Tour).
Recent theatre includes: Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington); Don Giovanni, The Barber of Seville (Waterperry Festival Opera); HIR starring Felicity Huffman, Our Cosmic Dust (Park Theatre); Stiletto: The Musical (Charing Cross Theatre); Farm Hall (Jermyn Street, Theatre Royal Bath, UK Tour, West End); Autobiography of a Cad, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello (Watermill Theatre, Newbury); A Christmas Carol (Opera Holland Park, Concert); The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, A Skull In Connemara (Dailes Teātris Riga in Latvia); Under The Black Rock (Arcola); Breeding (Kings Head Theatre); Warrior Queens (Sadler’s Wells); Waiting For Anya, The Mozart Question (Barn Theatre); One Million Tiny Plays About Britain for which Ceci was Nominated for an Offie Award: Best Set Design (Jermyn Street, Watermill Theatre); Yes So I Said Yes for which Ceci Won the Standing Ovation Award: Best Production and was Nominated for an Offie Award: Set Design, How To Survive An Apocalypse, Not Quite Jerusalem and The Wind of Heaven for which Ceci won the Standing Ovation award: Best Rediscovery/Adaptation (Finborough Theatre).
Theatre includes as Associate: A Streetcar Named Desire (Sheffield Crucible); Macbeth starring Ralph Fiennes & Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough (Southwark Playhouse).
Dan Samson
Associate Sound Designer
Theatre as Sound Designer includes: Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, Rain Man, Rough Crossing, Cabaret, La Cage aux Folles, Filumena, Calendar Girl, The Cher Show, The Osmonds, Saturday Night Fever, Cilla The Musical, Save The Last Dance For Me, Dreamboats and Petticoats, Rehearsal for Murder, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Blood Brothers, Dreamboats and Miniskirts (UK Tour); How to Win Against History (Bristol Old Vic, Norwich Theatre Playhouse, Edinburgh); Heathers (New York, @Soho Place London, Theatre Royal Haymarket, UK Tour, The Other Palace); Grease (Germany, Austria, Switzerland Tour); Abenteuerland Das Musical (Capitol Theatre Düsseldorf); Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder! (West End, Edinburgh Festival, UK Tour); Berlusconi The Musical (Southwark Playhouse Elephant); The Famous Five (Theatre Clwyd, Chichester Festival Theatre); Fisherman’s Friends The Musical (Hall for Cornwall, UK Tour, Canada); Love Letters (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Berlin Berlin (German Tour); Ghost (UK Tour, International Tour, Paris Mogador, Moscow MDM); Evita (Dominion, Phoenix, UK and International Tour); How the Other Half Loves (Theatre Royal Haymarket, Duke of York’s, UK Tour); The War of The Worlds (Dominion); Sinatra On Stage (The London Palladium); The Glenn Miller Story (London Coliseum, UK Tour); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Newcastle Arena, UK Tour); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Colchester Mercury, Southwark Playhouse); and Carrie (Southwark Playhouse).
Oscar Burr
Associate Lighting Designer & Programmer
Theatre includes: The Maladies (Kiln Theatre); Show Pony (UK Tour); Queen of Wands, Bad Road (Union Theatre); A Christmas Carol(Ish) (Soho Place); The Dreams of A Ridiculous Man (Marylebone Theatre).
Dave Murray
Associate Video Designer & Engineer
Alison Kopit
Access Dramaturg
Alison Kopit is a queer and disabled cultural worker, access dramaturg, and movement artist based between Chicago and New York City. She was awarded the Michael Feingold award for Dramaturgy in the 2023 Obie Awards and holds a PhD in Disability Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Alison has been creating and developing an access dramaturgy practice with her collaborators that approaches access as central to the full creative process, and integrates access creatively into all levels of a production. She began to hone this practice with Ryan J. Haddad’s Obie Award winning Dark Disabled Stories during the Spring of 2023, produced by the Bushwick Starr and The Public Theater, presented by The Public Theater, dir. Jordan Fein.
She was honored and thrilled to further explore access dramaturgy with the brilliant team of Ohio by The Bengsons.
Other recent access dramaturgy collaborations include: Radiate (Red Eye Theater); Hold Me in the Water (Playwrights Horizons); Air Change Per Hour (Issue Project Room); and Dan Fishback is Alive, Unwell & Living in His Apartment (Joe’s Pub).
Alison is a co-director of the Pay Rate for Access Workers Now (PRAWN) project with Madison Zalopany, which advocates for greater standards of pay for access workers through research and consultation with cultural spaces. She also provides training and consultation to cultural spaces that want to grow in their access-centered practices and connections to the disability community.