Richard Costes (he/him/his)

Richard Costes is a Chicago-based actor, director, and accessibility consultant. Selected roles include Snout in Midsummer Night's Dream at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Bosun in Mosquitoes at Steep Theatre Company, Arjun in Opportunities of Extinction (World Premiere) at Broken Nose Theatre, and Rev D./Baby in In the Blood at Red Tape Theatre. Richard was one of 10 recipients of a 3Arts Award in 2019 and is also a 2020 ADA 25 Advancing Leadership Member. A 2006 graduate of Kent State University (B.A. Theatre) he has presented at Gallaudet University’s symposium on Visual Shakespeare and was a panelist and member of the 2019 Deaf Theatre Action Planning Session hosted by HowlRound at Emerson College and now sits on the board of the National Theatre of the Deaf.

Marion Grey (she/her/hers)

Marion Grey is a New York City based actress, creator, writer, and poet who holds a bachelor's degree from James Madison University and is in her third year of graduate study in Drama at The Juilliard School. Marion is passionate about all things Black Women and is the president of the Juilliard Black Student Union (JBSU). As an advocate for diversity and accountability at academic institutions, she called in The Juilliard School for an event that the drama division facilitated, which she named “Slavery Saturday.” With a feature article in American Theatre, Marion’s advocacy efforts gained national and international attention. On stage, Marion has played Sarah in Ragtime, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Irina in Three Sisters, and Jesus in Godspell. Offstage, she develops her love of language through writing poetry, music composition, and studying Italian.

Tonya Pinkins (she/her/hers)

Tonya Pinkins is a Tony Awarding actor/singer who has starred in nine Broadway shows, including the original Caroline, or Change. Her award-winning film Red Pill was recently released on TVOD and has been translated into Spanish, Catalonian, Russian, and Greek. Her book Red Pill Unmasked – a historical, spiritual, and philosophical memoir on life – is available as a paperback or audiobook on Amazon.com. The accompanying “Red Pill Game” is available at www.redpillmovie.com or www.redpillmovie2020.com. In addition to being an actress and author, Tonya is a playwright, director, and educator. Her Medium essay “Why I am Fed Up With Performative Activism From Black and White Theatre Makers” has been made required reading at universities, including Yale School of Drama. She is the author of the self-help book Get Over Yourself: How to Drop the Drama and Claim The Life (Hyperion). She is also a painter with an NFT collection on OpenSea. You may have also seen or heard her in The Chicago Strangler on Discovery, Scandal, Gotham, Madam Secretary, or All My Children. She played Alma Carthan, Emmett Till’s grandmother, in ABC/Hulu’s Women of the Movement.

Yura Sapi (they/them/theirs)

Yura Sapi (aka Viviana Vargas Salvatierra) is an indigenous (Kichwa) and mestiza, Ecuadorian and Colombian nonbinary interdisciplinary artist, activist, arts manager, educator, facilitator, and healer at the intersection of the arts, social justice, and healing. Their work extends beyond U.S. borders and prioritizes anti-racism, decolonization, and disability justice for our collective liberation. Yura holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University and an MFA in Performing Arts Management from CUNY Brooklyn College, but they most value their education from the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute’s Innovative Cultural Advocacy Fellowship Cycle IV and artEquity’s National Facilitator Training. 

In 2018, Yura Sapi started Advancing Arts Forward, a movement to advance equity, inclusion, and justice through the arts by creating liberated spaces that uplift, heal, and encourage us to change the world. In 2019, Yura Sapi started BALISTIKAL, a healing and arts space that centers LGBTIQ+ community in Latin America. In 2020, Yura joined a team of students and alumni to create the School of Theatre Anti-Racist Student Initiative (SARSI) at Boston University and began producing and hosting the podcast turned book “Building Our Own Tables,” which discusses with founders of colors ways to work together that do not replicate white supremacy culture.

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