AIMEE CHOU is still figuring out how theater works, but has loved storytelling/writing for as long as she can remember. Recently, she directed an ASL reading of Mike Lew’s Tiger Style! (Huntington Theatre). Playwright credits: Humanly Possible (‘19 Deaf Spotlight Short Play Festival, ‘21 Deaf Short Play Showcase for California State University Northridge), Motherclucker! (Theatre Battery), Plumb Crazy Pipe Dream (‘21 Deaf Spotlight Bathroom Tales Short Play Festival) and a collaborative short for the ‘20 National Theatre of the Deaf Playwright Convening. Acting credits include Snow in Midsummer and Romeo & Juliet (U/S, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Kiki’s Delivery Service (Theatre Battery) and God of Carnage (Deaf Spotlight). A longtime Seattleite, Chou is a graduate of the University of Washington.

DICKIE HEARTS (he/him) is a Deaf Gay BIPOC Actor and 3x national film contest winner, based in New York City. His TV credits include Netflix’s Tales of the City (2019) and HBO’s High Maintenance (2020); stage credits include New York Deaf Theater’s Maple & Vine and IRT’s Stepchild. His 2015 short film, Passengers, won Best Filmmaker award from Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and a mentorship with Director Peter Farrelly. In 2016, Hearts won Project Greenlight’s LGBTQ “See Yourself” contest, landing him a developmental deal with Adaptive Studios in partnership with GLAAD & Section II. In 2017, Hearts won 1st Place in AT&T Create-A-Thon, taking home the Grand Prize of $20,000 with the 7-min short he wrote, directed and co-starred in: The Deaf VS The Dead. Currently, Hearts has written and remotely directed an ASL musical short film slated for release in 2021.

JOYCE HOM is originally from Maryland and is very excited to be a part of Ars Nova. She recently appeared on HBO’s High Maintenance (episode “Hand”) in 2020, New York Deaf Theatre and Public Work as cameo. When she isn’t on stage, she works as a museum educator for several museums in NYC and also as ASL programs coordinator at the Jewish Museum.

JUBIL KHAN, a native of Philadelphia, received her BFA in Dance at Temple University. She has studied at an array of schools and companies pursuing African, Hip-Hop, Modern and Ballet dance techniques. Among her credits in TV/Film as an extra in Law & Order, she had roles in multiple award-winning independent films, The Shattered Mind as Imani and Parallax as Melanie Bardo, both Deaf roles. She also acted in SOFIE, directed by award-winning director Ella Jane. In Theater: Almost Maine, a Deaf role; award-winning play FETES DE LA NUIT; along with others, an understudy for Purple Lady in FOR COLORED GIRLS… Off-Broadway; and multiple ensemble roles in Deaf Broadway play Legally Blonde the Musical. Currently, Khan is grooming her career into investments and other outlets, such as fashion and more, to create a brand name as an entrepreneur, as well as a platform to inspire those to never give up striving.

ALEXANDRIA WAILES received a 2020 Obie for Sustained Excellence as an Artist and Advocate. She received a Lucille Lortel nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play For Colored Girls… at The Public. Broadway: Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, Big River (Tony Honoree for Ensemble). Off-Broadway: Playwright Horizons I Was Most Alive with You and A Kind Of Alaska. Regional: Pasadena Playhouse/DWT’s Our Town, Mixed Blood Theatre’s Gruesome Playground Injuries and Love Person. Film: The Hyperglot. TV: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, High Maintenance, Little America, Nurse Jackie. As Director of Artistic Sign Language: the revival of Broadway’s Children Of A Lesser God and King Lear; TV/Film: This Close Seasons 1 & 2; Quantico Season 3; CODA; A Quiet Place 1 & 2; Wonderstruck. Wailes performed with Heidi Latsky Dance and is now a member of Forest of Arden. She is also a co-founder of BHo5.org and an educator at The Whitney Museum of Arts, The Jewish Museum and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Her short plays Other and The Interrogation/By The Numbers are being virtually shown Spring 2021 via Deaf Spotlight and Deaf Austin Theatre.

VIDCO (VIRTUAL DESIGN COLLECTIVE) was founded in the middle of the pandemic, and is a collective of over 20 designers, programmers and technicians innovating new ways to tell stories and create communities online. Focusing its core values on audience engagement and live design, ViDCo generates entirely live performances with heightened design elements that bridge theater, TV and cinema tricks into an online hybrid form. We strategize to use the strongest elements of every discipline to inspire the artistic community to use their tools while we provide them the platforms and expertise to tell their stories.