Cast & Creative Team
Chloé Hung (Playwright, she/her) is a Chinese-Canadian writer/director and graduate of the MFA in Dramatic Writing program at NYU Tisch School of the Art. Her plays include ALL OUR YESTERDAYS (Toronto Fringe, Next Stage Theatre Festival), ISSEI, HE SAY (New Jersey Repertory Company), THREE WOMEN OF SWATOW (Tarragon Theatre world premiere canceled due to pandemic) and MODEL MINORITY (workshopped in LA and Banff). She is part of the Playwrights Writers’ Room for the Geffen Theatre. Chloé has been a Black List screenwriters lab fellow and Women In Film Production program fellow. In TV, Chloé has written for CHERISH THE DAY and QUEEN SUGAR (OWN), and is developing a show for a streaming service.
www.chloehung.com
Headshot Credit: Janis Yue
Zhailon Levingston (Director, he/him) is a Louisiana-raised director, writer, producer, and performing artist. He is the Creative Director for Broadway Advocacy Coalition. In 2016, Levingston founded Words on White, an arts and activism campaign that helped organizations talk about social justice. He is also an associate producer for Fire This Time Festival, a “platform for talented early-career playwrights of African and African American descent to explore challenging new directions for 21st century theater.” As a director, he’s helmed works including “The Years That Went Wrong” by David Zheng at The Lark and MCC, “Chariot part 2” at SoHo Rep for The Movement Theatre Company, Douglas Lyons’ “Chicken and Biscuits” at Queens Theatre, and “Runaways” at The Public with Sam Pinkleton. He is also the U.S. associate director for “TINA: The Tina Turner Musical” on Broadway. His play “The Hole: A New American Play” had its world premiere at New Ohio Theatre during the 2018 Ice Factory Summer Festival of New Work.
Michele Selene Ang (ANNA, she/her/hers) is a Chinese-American actor, writer, and artist. She was born in Indonesia, raised in San Francisco, educated in New York, and is currently based in Los Angeles. She holds a B.A. degree in Theatre Performance from Fordham University, and was chosen as a 2012 YoungArts winner and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Her work can be found on Netflix’s hit drama 13 Reasons Why and CBS’ Elementary. When she’s not memorizing lines or tapping away at her laptop, you can find her at your local bookstore, nose deep in a novel, curled up with a cup of tea.
www.michelesang.com
www.mtlune.com
Headshot Credit: Chris Waggoner
Katie Lee Hill (CYNTHIA, she/her/hers) is an actor and a singer/songwriter with the band baby chemist. TV includes New Amsterdam (NBC), Tales of the City (Netflix), Succession (HBO), and Spongebob the Musical: LIVE (Nickelodeon). Theatre includes Vineyard, PlayCo, Ma-Yi, NYTW, Ars Nova, Pan Asian Rep, Women’s Project, Sundance, NYSAF, and many workshops including John Cameron Mitchell, Elton John, Keone & Mari. Her band’s premiere single “Ride In” is now streaming anywhere you get music.
www.katieleehill.com
Headshot Credit: Ted Ely
Marquis Rodriguez (DEREK, he/him) is a Black New York City based actor. Recently, Marquis was honored to be a part of telling the important story of When They See Us. Marquis also starred in a Game of Thrones prequel pilot for HBO, directed by SJ Clarkson. Previously, Marquis starred in Damon Cardasis’ coming of age musical drama Saturday Church, which premiered at the Tribeca Film festival. He shared the screen with Jenny Slate and Abby Quinn in Landline, which premiered at Sundance. On television, Marquis played “Daryl" on the Marvel Studio’s Netflix series Luke Cage, and subsequently recurred on Iron Fist. He recurred on NBC’s Chicago Fire, NBC’s Manifest, and CBS’ Hostages, and made guest appearances on Showtime’s The Affair, TV Land’s Younger, and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU. Getting his start on stage, Marquis played "Young Simba" in both the Broadway production and National Tour of The Lion King.
Headshot Credit: Ellis Dawson
Cardi Wong (JIMMY, he/him) With everything going on around in the world, this was the perfect opportunity for Cardi to contribute towards art made by, and for underrepresented communities. When he was approached with this project, he couldn’t say yes fast enough. @cardiwrong on Instagram, @_cardiwrong on Twitter.
Headshot Credit: Russell Baer
Tom Zhang (ROLAND, he/him/his) is an L.A. based teaching artist dedicated to creating theatrical performances that use humor to explore race relations and American identity. As an actor and writer, his works focus on telling stories typically left out of mainstream entertainment, which currently means telling jokes about his parents and growing up Chinese in Florida. Tom has great comedic timing, which you can tell because he graduated from CalArts with his Master of Fine Arts in Acting in the middle of a pandemic-induced lockdown. Recent Chinese shows include: Witness the Yellow Peril, an original three-person comedy about Chinese American stereotypes, and the role of Blue Boy in Nightwalk in the Chinese Garden, written and directed by Stan Lai.
www.thetomzhang.com
Headshot Credit: Hao Feng Photography
Taj Burroughs (DJ / STAGE DIRECTIONS, he/him/his) is a NYC native. Born and raised in Queens, Taj began his artistic journey well into his adolescence. He took theatre and music classes at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning or the “birthplace” for his newfound love for the art of acting. Post JCAL he continued to hone his craft by attending and graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts and is now enrolled at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University as an undergraduate earning his BFA in acting. Taj hopes to not only obtain the training he needs for the betterment of his artistry but to also use his gifts to teach, encourage and inspire youths of color. This journey is not only his but his ancestors’ and the futures’.
Headshot Credit: Mirza Babic
Jessica R. Aguilar (Stage Manager, she/her) is a first generation Salvadoran American AEA Stage Manager. She is thrilled to join Aye Defy on this much needed story. Select works include: Off-Broadway: Stew (Page 73), God Said This, The Dork Knight, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother (Primary Stages); National Tour: A Night with Janis Joplin; Regional: Miracle on 34th Street, Our Town, Shout Sister Shout!, The Originalist, Fly, 12 Angry Men (Pasadena Playhouse); Significant Other, reasons to be pretty, Death of the Author (Geffen Playhouse); Jazz, Straight White Men, Fences (Marin Theatre Company); Dementia (LATC).
Joyce Zheng (Artist Observer, she/her) is a current student in Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts Acting BFA program and a graduate of Bergen County Academies’s Theatre Concentration. She has appeared as Guiderius in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, Mayor Sapsea in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, as well as Jacqui B in a devised piece based on Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. Joyce has also stage managed, directed, and is an amateur playwright. She is also a songwriter and creates content on Youtube (JoyceMZheng). Joyce is very excited to be the Artist-in-Training for Model Minority and to work with fellow artists in this unprecedented time.
Headshot Credit: Sophia Zuo
Thomas Dieter (AYE DEFY Resident Stage Manager)
Leslie Roth (AYE DEFY Co-Creator, Producer)
Mirirai Sithole (AYE DEFY Founder)
(Graphic Design by Leslie Roth)
www.chloehung.com
Headshot Credit: Janis Yue
Zhailon Levingston (Director, he/him) is a Louisiana-raised director, writer, producer, and performing artist. He is the Creative Director for Broadway Advocacy Coalition. In 2016, Levingston founded Words on White, an arts and activism campaign that helped organizations talk about social justice. He is also an associate producer for Fire This Time Festival, a “platform for talented early-career playwrights of African and African American descent to explore challenging new directions for 21st century theater.” As a director, he’s helmed works including “The Years That Went Wrong” by David Zheng at The Lark and MCC, “Chariot part 2” at SoHo Rep for The Movement Theatre Company, Douglas Lyons’ “Chicken and Biscuits” at Queens Theatre, and “Runaways” at The Public with Sam Pinkleton. He is also the U.S. associate director for “TINA: The Tina Turner Musical” on Broadway. His play “The Hole: A New American Play” had its world premiere at New Ohio Theatre during the 2018 Ice Factory Summer Festival of New Work.
Michele Selene Ang (ANNA, she/her/hers) is a Chinese-American actor, writer, and artist. She was born in Indonesia, raised in San Francisco, educated in New York, and is currently based in Los Angeles. She holds a B.A. degree in Theatre Performance from Fordham University, and was chosen as a 2012 YoungArts winner and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Her work can be found on Netflix’s hit drama 13 Reasons Why and CBS’ Elementary. When she’s not memorizing lines or tapping away at her laptop, you can find her at your local bookstore, nose deep in a novel, curled up with a cup of tea.
www.michelesang.com
www.mtlune.com
Headshot Credit: Chris Waggoner
Katie Lee Hill (CYNTHIA, she/her/hers) is an actor and a singer/songwriter with the band baby chemist. TV includes New Amsterdam (NBC), Tales of the City (Netflix), Succession (HBO), and Spongebob the Musical: LIVE (Nickelodeon). Theatre includes Vineyard, PlayCo, Ma-Yi, NYTW, Ars Nova, Pan Asian Rep, Women’s Project, Sundance, NYSAF, and many workshops including John Cameron Mitchell, Elton John, Keone & Mari. Her band’s premiere single “Ride In” is now streaming anywhere you get music.
www.katieleehill.com
Headshot Credit: Ted Ely
Marquis Rodriguez (DEREK, he/him) is a Black New York City based actor. Recently, Marquis was honored to be a part of telling the important story of When They See Us. Marquis also starred in a Game of Thrones prequel pilot for HBO, directed by SJ Clarkson. Previously, Marquis starred in Damon Cardasis’ coming of age musical drama Saturday Church, which premiered at the Tribeca Film festival. He shared the screen with Jenny Slate and Abby Quinn in Landline, which premiered at Sundance. On television, Marquis played “Daryl" on the Marvel Studio’s Netflix series Luke Cage, and subsequently recurred on Iron Fist. He recurred on NBC’s Chicago Fire, NBC’s Manifest, and CBS’ Hostages, and made guest appearances on Showtime’s The Affair, TV Land’s Younger, and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU. Getting his start on stage, Marquis played "Young Simba" in both the Broadway production and National Tour of The Lion King.
Headshot Credit: Ellis Dawson
Cardi Wong (JIMMY, he/him) With everything going on around in the world, this was the perfect opportunity for Cardi to contribute towards art made by, and for underrepresented communities. When he was approached with this project, he couldn’t say yes fast enough. @cardiwrong on Instagram, @_cardiwrong on Twitter.
Headshot Credit: Russell Baer
Tom Zhang (ROLAND, he/him/his) is an L.A. based teaching artist dedicated to creating theatrical performances that use humor to explore race relations and American identity. As an actor and writer, his works focus on telling stories typically left out of mainstream entertainment, which currently means telling jokes about his parents and growing up Chinese in Florida. Tom has great comedic timing, which you can tell because he graduated from CalArts with his Master of Fine Arts in Acting in the middle of a pandemic-induced lockdown. Recent Chinese shows include: Witness the Yellow Peril, an original three-person comedy about Chinese American stereotypes, and the role of Blue Boy in Nightwalk in the Chinese Garden, written and directed by Stan Lai.
www.thetomzhang.com
Headshot Credit: Hao Feng Photography
Taj Burroughs (DJ / STAGE DIRECTIONS, he/him/his) is a NYC native. Born and raised in Queens, Taj began his artistic journey well into his adolescence. He took theatre and music classes at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning or the “birthplace” for his newfound love for the art of acting. Post JCAL he continued to hone his craft by attending and graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts and is now enrolled at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University as an undergraduate earning his BFA in acting. Taj hopes to not only obtain the training he needs for the betterment of his artistry but to also use his gifts to teach, encourage and inspire youths of color. This journey is not only his but his ancestors’ and the futures’.
Headshot Credit: Mirza Babic
Jessica R. Aguilar (Stage Manager, she/her) is a first generation Salvadoran American AEA Stage Manager. She is thrilled to join Aye Defy on this much needed story. Select works include: Off-Broadway: Stew (Page 73), God Said This, The Dork Knight, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother (Primary Stages); National Tour: A Night with Janis Joplin; Regional: Miracle on 34th Street, Our Town, Shout Sister Shout!, The Originalist, Fly, 12 Angry Men (Pasadena Playhouse); Significant Other, reasons to be pretty, Death of the Author (Geffen Playhouse); Jazz, Straight White Men, Fences (Marin Theatre Company); Dementia (LATC).
Joyce Zheng (Artist Observer, she/her) is a current student in Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts Acting BFA program and a graduate of Bergen County Academies’s Theatre Concentration. She has appeared as Guiderius in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, Mayor Sapsea in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, as well as Jacqui B in a devised piece based on Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. Joyce has also stage managed, directed, and is an amateur playwright. She is also a songwriter and creates content on Youtube (JoyceMZheng). Joyce is very excited to be the Artist-in-Training for Model Minority and to work with fellow artists in this unprecedented time.
Headshot Credit: Sophia Zuo
Thomas Dieter (AYE DEFY Resident Stage Manager)
Leslie Roth (AYE DEFY Co-Creator, Producer)
Mirirai Sithole (AYE DEFY Founder)
(Graphic Design by Leslie Roth)
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