Nikhil Mahapatra
Nikhil Mahapatra is a multi-disciplinary writer based in Brooklyn. They write about queerness/race/power/family/non-family/existence/politics, but most of all, where grief and joy meet together, which, as one audience member once said, had “mixed results, but I guess I liked it”.
They are a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, O'Neill National Playwright's Conference Finalist, SPACE at Ryder Farm Creative Resident, Yaddo Resident, Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group member, and a finalist for a bunch of other fancy stuff. Their work has been showcased at Bucks County Playhouse, The Road Theatre Company, Gingold Theatrical Group, The Tank, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Brick, The Wild Project, and more. Latest theatrical works include Bridge Play; LOVE YOU MORE; SWEETFISH!, American Hunger; CARNAL; Lost in the Fire; The Fields; Bali Babes; and an untold amount of other things of questionable quality. Other media include the short film SPF (NYITFF 2019) and select short stories and poems published in America and Singapore.
During their time in residence, Nikhil will continue the development of SWEETFISH!
About SWEETFISH
SWEETFISH! is a play with music that deals with themes of race, colour, gender, and sexuality, but really about the silent power that exists behind relationships — all with a strong dose of camp and drag.
“I really want to come of this with not necessarily a completed, ready to be produced project, but with a project that feels sturdy and ready for its next step. I want to merge the ideas that I have been working on in the drafts with live action and sound, and use that to modify the script to get it towards the realm of actualization. Now is the time for practice, and realistic experimentation. ”
Nikhil Mahapatra
Image courtesy Nikhil Mahapatra
Programming
Creative Team
Nikhil Mahapatra
Lead Artist & Playwright
Nicky Maggio. Image courtesy of Artist.
Nicky Maggio, Director
Nikki Maggio(they/them) is a new works director and theatrical curator for the disquiet. Experimenting with form, composition, and space, Nicky manifests theatrical worlds with an eye towards transition, discovery, and a gemini-like quality of intensity. They are currently an artist with Mercury Store, having served as a director for Mercury Store's inaugural Director's Intensive and Director's Lab. Nicky was a member of Cultivate Theatre Lab's inaugural cohort and Roundabout Directors Group (Cohort 6). N has directed and workshopped productions at Juilliard School, Breaking the Binary Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Hi-ARTS, Atlantic Acting School, University of New Mexico, The Brick, The Tank, IRT Theatre, National Queer Theatre, Cherry Lane, and many others. BFA Emerson College, MFA The New School. nmaggio.com | @nickymaggio
Ellen Winter. Image courtesy.
Ellen Winter, Composer
Ellen Winter is a composer, music producer, and performer based in Brooklyn. Composition & Performance: Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (as "Ethel Sonnenblick"; Northern Stage), The Beastiary (On the Rocks / Ars Nova). Music Direction, Arrangements, & Bandleading: Cold War Choir Practice (as "Choir Leader"; MCC), Hurricane Diane (NYTW), Salty Brine's Living Record Collection (Joe's Pub), Folk Wandering (Pipeline Theatre Co). Audio Fiction Writing & Composing: Hit Singles (Audible), 36 Questions (TwoUp), The Story Pirates Podcast (Gimlet). Albums: YIKES (2024), 36 Questions: The Deluxe Album (2021), Every Feeling I've Ever Felt (2020), Governor's Square (2017, with Chamber Band). Commissions & Awards: EST/Sloan, The Alley Theatre, Ars Nova, Bryan Gallace Posthumous Productions Fellowship. Residencies: Ucross, 54 Below Verses & Voices, Joe’s Pub Working Group, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, Mercury Store, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and BarnArts. ellenwinter.com | @itsellenwinter
Mars Juno Bartolome Neri. Image Coutesty.
Mars Juno Bartolome Neri, Stage Manager
Mars Juno Bartolome Neri (they/them) is an artist and stage manager dedicated to supporting those who want to tell their personal stories and to creating community through social justice-oriented art, including new plays and devised works. Their passion lies in community care and the joy that can be found through these collaborative storytelling processes. They’re devoted to doing work that brings unheard voices and untold stories to light. Previous collaborators include Leviathan Lab, NAATCO, Breaking the Binary Theatre, National Queer Theater, JACK, and Signature Theatre DC. marsjbneri.com
Miles G. Jackson. Image courtesy.
Miles G. Jackson, Actor/Eric
Broadway: Chicken & Biscuits; Off-Broadway: Bull (JACK), The Great Privation (Soho Rep), Stargazers (Page 73), Pay The Writer (Signature), Three Sisters (Sheen Center), Endlings (NYTW); Regional: Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens, Again (La Jolla), Endlings (ART), Hand to God (TheaterWorks Hartford), Typhoid Mary (Barrington), Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Rep of St. Louis), Mama's Boy (George Street), Tribes (Barrington), My Name is Asher Lev (George Street), 4000 Miles (Capital Rep), Mad Forest (Williamstown). Television: “The Other Two” (HBO Max), “Hunters” (Amazon), “The Last O.G.” (TBS), “Monsterland” (Hulu), “Lisey’s Story” (Apple TV). Film: A Different Man (A24), Problemista (A24).
https://www.milesgjackson.com | @milesjee
Jarvis D. Matthews. Image courtesy
Jarvis D. Matthews, Actor/Ursula
Jarvis D. Matthews (he/they), actor/writer/founder of YOJI Productions, creates art that embraces nuanced perspectives of the Black American experience, centering love and redemption as the guiding force. They have written and produced the short films LOVE IS (Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival), THE REAL THING, and HERE IS A MAN (2023 REEL Sisters Film Festival (Best Director Award); Katra Film Series; People’s Film Festival of Harlem; Diversity in Cannes Showcase in France). Their most recent projects as writer/producer, MEN LIKE US, FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, and FORWARD are set to premiere on the 2026/2027 festival circuits. Jarvis amplifies LGBTQIA+ voices as Head of Production for Rehab Entertainment’s PRIDE: The Podcast. As an actor, their work has been featured at the Apollo Theater, Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, Williamstown, National Black Theatre, Yale Repertory, HBO Max, PBS, Tribeca Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, and GARAGE Magazine. Jarvis is a graduate of Georgetown University (BA) and the NYU Graduate Acting Program (MFA).
@jarvisd_matthews | @pridethepodcast
Mahima Saigal. Image. courtesy.
Mahima Saigal, Stage Directions
Mahima Saigal (she/her/leo) recently completed a run of THE CEREMONY, a world premiere play part of Boston’s Ufot Family cycle by Mfoniso Udofia.
Mahima holds several artistic titles (favorite being Extraordinary Alien), and with her artistic practice she tends to explore works that concern itself with truth, joy, grief, hypocrisy, and the polite horrors. Select NY credits: Elyria (World Premiere/Atlantic Theater Company), Queen (NY Premiere at the Astoria Performing Arts Center/ nom Best Actress in a Leading Role, NYIT awards),LOVE YOU MORE(Tank’s ‘25 Core Production), Our Almost will Forever Haunt Me (the cell 24/25), The Bridge Project (The Brick), Hiding Kanye (Winner Best Featured Actress Award, Tamasha/Hypokrit Theater Festival), Invasion! (Winner Best Ensemble SAIPAF/Hypokrit Theater Festival), Jhaanjhar Di… (National Queer Theatre)
Workshops: NYTW, Atlantic Theater, Drama League, New Dramatists, Gingold Theatrical, the Bushwick Starr, and New Georges, to name a few. Mahima has served on the panel of the Leah Ryan Fund, PGE, SheNYC arts festival (24/25), and is a proud board member/co-chair of the OBIE Award-winning National Queer Theatre. When she’s not acting, directing, dancing, or writing, Mahima could be found obsessing over a plethora of topics ranging from Zodiac signs to Zohran Mamdani. www.mhimasaigal.com
Residency Highlights
More to come soon!