Company Members
Tonya Beckman
Actor, Singer, Dancer, Voice Coach
Lise Bruneau
Actor, Director, Singer, Dancer
Kathy Cashel
Composer, Musician
Chad Clark
Composer, Musician
Dan Crane
Actor, Musician, Director
Omar D. Cruz
Actor, Dancer, Singer
Chris Curtis
Director, Light & Sound Designer
Danielle A. Drakes
Actor, Director
Kimberly Gilbert
Actor, Musician, Dancer
Safi Harriott
Dancer
Marcus Kyd
Actor, Musician, Director
Kelsey Mesa
Director, Singer
Erin Mitchell Nelson
Choreographer, Dancer, Musician
Katie Murphy
Dancer
Teresa Spencer
Actor, Writer
Board of Trustees
Ian Armstrong
Renee Beaver
Barbi Broadus
Kathy Cashel
Kimberly Gilbert
Marcus Kyd
Erin Mitchell Nelson
Ricky Ramón
About Us
Taffety Punk exists to sustain an actively collaborative company of actors, dancers, and musicians who make theatre exciting, meaningful and affordable. We think of ourselves as a band, a theatre band if you will, in which acting, dance, and music are intricately linked. Focusing on our artists makes our work more vivid, deep, and meaningful to our audiences. Since 2004, these principles have guided us. Our ensemble grows together, challenging each other and complementing each other, while establishing a relationship with our community.
We are utterly committed to making theatre affordable. We have never charged more than $20 for a show. Take a chance with us and explore the vast human riches of theatre and dance and music.
Taffety Punk recently won a Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Production for company member Kelsey Mesa’s La Salpêtrière, directed by company member Danielle A. Drakes. Fellow company member Kimberly Gilbert also won a Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the same show. Over the years, Taffety Punk has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for our work and, in fact, won the very first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the Helen Hayes Awards. The Washington Post declared us “The most vital of the city’s small troupes.”
In addition to live on-stage content, Taffety Punk has released albums by our company members and their tangential bands, most notably the indie rock sensation Beauty Pill—the musical home for two Taffety Punk Company Members: composer Chad Clark and singer Erin Mitchell Nelson. Soon we will add audiobooks to our catalog, and a new book of new fiction and poetry by company member Teresa Spencer.
As Taffety Punk Theatre Company moves forward, we are excited to continue our legacy of excellence by making the greatest theatre for the lowest price.
We are the Resident Theatre Company at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop in Washington, DC. They, like us, believe that art is for everyone. They host all sorts of classes for Adults and Kids. They are so committed to getting art into everyone’s lives they have never turned a child away for inability to pay for a class. Check them out at CHAW.org.
Everything we think you would ever want to know
Catalog
In the works.... coming soon. In the meantime, there are great photos on our Flickr page.
Taffety Punk Brings Home Two Helen Hayes Awards for
La Salpêtrière
Outstanding Production
We are so grateful to company members Danielle A. Drakes (director) and and Kelsey Mesa (playwright) for creating such an amazing show with actors Fabiolla da Silva, Yihong Chen, Danny Puente Cackley, and our very own Kimberly Gilbert, with lights by Elijah Thomas, costumes by Johnna Presby, and fight choreography by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone, and Stage Management team Jenna Keefer and Carrie Edick.
. . .
Outstanding Supporting Performer:
Kimberly Gilbert!
Company member Kimberly played Antoine in La Salpêtrière, a bubblegum cigarette toting naughty package of brilliance in disguise. She and the rest of the cast played to raves and sold out houses. We are so proud of her for this recognition.
Outstanding Production
We are so grateful to company members Danielle A. Drakes (director) and and Kelsey Mesa (playwright) for creating such an amazing show with actors Fabiolla da Silva, Yihong Chen, Danny Puente Cackley, and our very own Kimberly Gilbert, with lights by Elijah Thomas, costumes by Johnna Presby, and fight choreography by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone, and Stage Management team Jenna Keefer and Carrie Edick.
. . .
Outstanding Supporting Performer:
Kimberly Gilbert!
Company member Kimberly played Antoine in La Salpêtrière, a bubblegum cigarette toting naughty package of brilliance in disguise. She and the rest of the cast played to raves and sold out houses. We are so proud of her for this recognition.
And a win for company member Lise Bruneau!
We also celebrate company Lise’s win for Outstanding Supporting Peformer for her work in The Honey Trap by Leo McGann. This world premiere to the DC area by storm last winter and we were so thrilled that Lise was involved.
Anti-racism
The American theatre has a long history of racism and white supremacy. That sucks. Taffety Punk is inspired by the punk rock ethics of anti-authoritarianism, anti-consumerism, feminism, collective organization, and DIY producing. Anti-racism should always have been on that list. We will rebel against white supremacy in the theatre, in the country, and in ourselves by maintaining a company that reflects and supports the community we live in. Every decision we make, about the stories we tell, the artists we champion, our leadership, and our methods, will be guided by the question: “Is it radically inclusive?”
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Taffety Punk Theatre Company
PO Box 15392 Washington, DC 20003 • 202.873.5330 • 123go@taffetypunk.com
Theatre in Residence at the
A Place where the Arts Connect and Transform People
545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003
© Taffety Punk Theatre Company
Logo by Ryan Nelson
