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Film Team

Hilari Scarl

Producer/Co-Director

Hilari is an award-winning writer/director/producer chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 12,000 filmmakers to appear his television show ON THE LOT. Her first feature film SEE WHAT I’M SAYING: THE DEAF ENTERTAINERS DOCUMENTARY received Critics’ Pick in the New York Times, dozens of awards and was screened in 800 cities in 19 countries. Hilari consulted for Amazon Studios on SOUND OF METAL, winning Variety’s Social Impact Marketing Award. Hilari became fluent in American Sign Language after total immersion on tour with the National Theater of the Deaf. She is the founder of The Young Players Ensemble working with teens in communities around the world to create original theater productions based on their lives. She has lead workshops and panels for Universal Studios, Walt Disney Imagineering, the Sundance Art House Convergence and Women in Film. She was a participant in the PGA’s Power of Diversity Workshop, a board member of the Alliance of Women Directors and has consulted for Google, Anheiser-Busch, Nike and Sprint. Hilari taught screenwriting for three months in Beijing for Relativity and was hired to write an original feature film for a Deaf actor in India.

Chase Chambers

Co-Director/Editor

After finishing his film degree in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Chase submitted his senior project, Deaf Code, to the College Television Awards, and won! Recognized for his win in the 2016 Variety category, the Television Academy connected Chase with two accomplished deaf writers and actors, Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman. Upon meeting them, Chase was able to uproot his life and move to Los Angeles to work on their show, This Close. Having worked on several big budget projects since then, Chase felt his cumulative experience qualified him to operate an online television network. 

Brandon Simmoneau

Co-Cinematographer

Brandon Simmoneau is a deaf photographer wielding his camera, his editorial eye, and his passion for adventure to share his vivid visual perspective. His photography works have been featured in several high-profile online magazines like Advocate. Brandon worked as the Production Coordinator at DPAN (Deaf Professional Artists Network), and is currently contracted with Media Monks and Deaf West for his photographic work. 

Jeff Gatesman

Co-Cinematographer

Jeff Gatesman is an award-winning cinematographer known for feature length films and documentaries as well as television commercials. His career started in Chicago as a cameraman on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight and True Stories of the Highway Patrol. Jeff worked as a cinematographer on the award-winning feature films See What I’m Saying, Amazonas and No Ordinary Hero and the short film Passport that premiered at Slamdance.

Jeff has over 46 credits as a studio gaffer who has worked alongside world-class Academy Award winning cinematographers including Dante Spinotti (Red Dragon, After the Sunset), Dean Semler (The Longest Yard, Dr. Doolittle), Vilmos Zsigmond and Janusz Kaminsky (Steven Spielberg’s cinematographer.) Jeff earned a BA in film production from Columbia College and studied photography at the prestigious Film and TV Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, CZ. Gatesman is licensed by the FAA as an airman for aerial drone photography and a member of the International Cinematographers Guild and the American Photographic Artists. Notable accolades include two Telly Awards, a Gold Aurora Award (Amazonas) and received an Honorable Mention from the Advertising Photographers of America for his feature Whirling Dervish.

 

Madison Anglin

Composer

Madison is a high-spirited pianist and film composer who began writing music at the age of 7 and now has her Master’s Degree in Screen Scoring from New York University. Growing up in Dallas, TX, Madison got her start attending the performing arts high school, Booker T. Washington HSPVA and received her first professional experience in the studio interning for gospel recording artist Fred Hammond. After several years of training and preparation, Madison is excited to pursue her passion for film scoring in Los Angeles, CA as well as becoming a recipient of the Television Academy Foundation Internship Program in the music category. With an added passion for self-love and growth, Madison founded the very first Women Empowerment Organization at her alma mater Belmont University in Nashville, TN known as SWIM (Strong Women In The Making). She hopes to one day create a platform that serves African American women a louder voice and greater opportunity in the film music industry. 

Victoria Sampson

Post Production Sound

During her successful and award winning 40-year career as a Supervising Sound Editor with over 200 feature film credits, Vickie has won an Emmy, 4 Golden Reel Awards and has worked on Oscar winning films for sound (The River and Speed.) Her mother, Kay Rose, who was on the Board of Governors at the Academy, won an Oscar for The River, which Vickie co-supervised. Together they worked on the films The Rose, On Golden Pond, Prince of Tides, Ordinary People and many more. In addition to her award-winning sound career, Vickie was one of twelve women out of 600 selected to the Directing Workshop for Women from AFI. She has directed seven short films and dozens of commercials and PSAs. As an adjunct professor/lecturer, Vickie teaches post-production and filmmaking at USC, AFI, UCLA, Cal State LA, NYFA, Video Symphony and Ball State University. She is in the feature documentary Making Waves:The Art of Cinematic Sound directed by Midge Costin and has been a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild since 1973, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1988 in the Sound Branch, the Motion Picture Sound Editors, Emeritus board member of the Alliance of Women Directors and is on the Advisory Board of Women in Media.

NICHOLAS SANTIAGO

Projections

NICHOLAS SANTIAGO has worked for numerous universities and theatre companies around Los Angeles including the Pasadena Playhouse (Ham), Skylight Theatre (Church & State, Obama Ology), Rogue Machine (A Permanent Image), USC (Trojan Women, On the Town), The Chance Theatre (Big Fish, American Idiot), The Road Theatre (Nowhere on the Border, A Delicate Ship), LA LGBT Center (The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life Revisited, Menstruation), and the Fountain Theatre (Arrival & Departure, The Cost of Living). He has received numerous awards including a LA Drama Critics Circle award for his work on Rogue Machine’s A Permanent image, an Ovation Award win for his work on The Fountain Theatre’s production of The Cost of Living, and an OCTG and Stage Raw Award for his production of American Idiot at The Chance Theatre. www.nsantiagodesign.com

Developmental Play Team

Hilari Scarl

Writer/Co-Director/Producer

Hilari is an award-winning writer/director/producer chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 12,000 filmmakers to appear his television show ON THE LOT. Her first feature film SEE WHAT I’M SAYING: THE DEAF ENTERTAINERS DOCUMENTARY received Critics’ Pick in the New York Times, dozens of awards and was screened in 800 cities in 19 countries. Hilari consulted for Amazon Studios on SOUND OF METAL, winning Variety’s Social Impact Marketing Award. Hilari became fluent in American Sign Language after total immersion on tour with the National Theater of the Deaf. She is the founder of The Young Players Ensemble working with teens in communities around the world to create original theater productions based on their lives. She has lead workshops and panels for Universal Studios, Walt Disney Imagineering, the Sundance Art House Convergence and Women in Film. She was a participant in the PGA’s Power of Diversity Workshop, a board member of the Alliance of Women Directors and has consulted for Google, Anheiser-Busch, Nike and Sprint. Hilari taught screenwriting for three months in Beijing for Relativity and was hired to write an original feature film for a Deaf actor in India.

Monique “MoMo” Holt

Co-Director

Monique Holt is an actress, director, translator, storyteller and acting instructor. Her specialty is translating and performing Shakespeare in American Sign Language (ASL.) Directing credits for film include Always a Bridesmaid? (Feeney/Holt Film Productions); Grisha by Ben Stamper (Russian Sign Language and French Sign Language.) Directing credits for stage include Titus (visual gestural communication without using spoken English nor signed ASL), Movement of the Soul: Story of Laurent Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet, (American Sign Language, French Sign Language, Methodological Sign Language), The Mystery of Irma Vep Cloud 9, Urinetown, the Musical, The Dea/hood Monologues, UNcontentED Love and desiREgret. Monique served as the Director of Artistic Sign Language at the prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival for Cymbeline, The Heart Of Robin Hood, Richard Ill, Into The Woods, The Merry Wives Of Windsor and the Odyssey. Acting credits include Richard Ill at Shakespeare in the Park in New York, I Was Most Alive With You by Craig Lucas. Monique served as the script consultant for Skin by Crystal Green and Safe Place With You by Cesar Baquererizo. She is one of co-facilitators for Theatre Communications Group for 2016-2018. She holds a BFA in Acting from TSOA/NYU and a MFA in Theatre from Towson University.

Gail Winar

Creative Producer

Gail Winar is a theater director/producer/educator/
consultant based in NYC. With Paul Lucas Productions, she has produced, directed, managed, and/or marketed over 50 theatrical productions at the international Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. She also collaborated with Paul Lucas to develop, and produce, his critically acclaimed and award-winning verbatim play
Trans Scripts, which explores the lives of transgender women. Gail has directed, produced and/or consulted for New Jersey Repertory Company, George Street Playhouse, Kean University, LIU/CW Post, Montclair-Kimberley Academy, Classics on Tour, American Globe Theatre, Rutgers University, and Shotgun Productions. Gail currently teaches with the Education Department at the Roundabout Theatre Company, Broadway’s largest non-profit theater company, and has taught at Kean University’s Theatre Conservatory in Union, NJ for 15 years. Other teaching credits include Circle-in-the-Square Theatre School, Marymount Manhattan College, NYU/Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, CUNY/Queensborough Community College, Columbia Teacher’s College, Vassar College, the American Globe Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Theatre for a New Audience, National Shakespeare Company, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC. Gail has also served as a Literary Consultant with the Kennedy Center’s Playwriting Intensive program, National New Play Network’s Smith Awards, and the Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Awards. Gail is passionate about social justice driven theater, and has collaborated on a variety of diverse projects, including, most recently, Silent Voices, devised by the students of the Starfish Academy in the Republic of The Gambia, West Africa, focused on raising awareness of violence against women.

Chase Chambers

Short Film Director

After finishing his film degree in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Chase submitted his senior project, Deaf Code, to the College Television Awards, and won! Recognized for his win in the 2016 Variety category, the Television Academy connected Chase with two accomplished deaf writers and actors, Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman. Upon meeting them, Chase was able to uproot his life and move to Los Angeles to work on their show, This Close. Having worked on several big budget projects since then, Chase felt his cumulative experience qualified him to operate an online television network. 

Brandon Simmoneau

Short Film Cinematographer, Photographer

Brandon Simmoneau is a deaf photographer wielding his camera, his editorial eye, and his passion for adventure to share his vivid visual perspective. His photography works have been featured in several high-profile online magazines like Advocate. Brandon worked as the Production Coordinator at DPAN (Deaf Professional Artists Network), and is currently contracted with Media Monks and Deaf West for his photographic work. 

Nick Zerlentes

Associate Producer

Nick is a producer and has worked closely with renowned director Jules Dameron on several productions including a six-episode series, “Reverse Polarity,” and two music videos with American Sign Language (ASL) translations of “Let it Go” (Idina Menzel) and “The Lazy Song” (Bruno Mars). Nick works closely with Deaf actors and was once involved in an improv workshop and showcase led by Tyrone Giordano under Deaf West’s leadership. While Nick enjoys producing as a side gig, he works full-time as an instructor of ASL at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, California. 

Vaibhav "Vai" Kothari

Associate Producer

Vaibhav (Vai) is the founder of OMVAI, (www.omvai.com), an e-commerce store that produces and sells exquisite pashmina shawls, stoles, jewelry, fashion apparel, and home decor, which he founded in Jaipur, India in 2021. In addition to holding executive positions in the construction and engineering industries in India, Vai has earned degrees from three American universities including a MBA from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, CO; BSc in Industrial and System Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY; and MS in Technological Entrepreneurship from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

 

After completing his MBA, Vai worked as a Senior Talent and Culture Manager with Communication Services for the Deaf, a world leader in providing human service programs and telecommunication relay services for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Born in Kota, Rajasthan and raised in New Delhi, Vai is profoundly Deaf. He is fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), as well as English and Hindi. 

 

Vai is also a film/tv actor, interviewer, and producer. He produced the award-winning short documentary, “Not Anymore,” chronicling his work as a leader in professional settings in India;  hosted and produced a 14-episode, 20-minute talk show at the University of Denver, interviewing successful entrepreneurs; and is currently hosting The OMVAI Talk Show in India, interviewing prominent business/cultural leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs. Vai has earned 6.9 million viewers for his Instagram Reel about Mahashivratri (Hindu) puzzles!

Doug Haverty

Artistic Director, Group Rep Theatre
Graphic Designer

Doug is a playwright, librettist, actor and graphic artist. He has been a member of Group Rep since 1982. His play, IN MY MIND’S EYE had its world premiere at Group Rep in October 1984 and is published by Samuel French. His musical (co-written with Adryan Russ) INSIDE OUT had its world premiere at Group Rep in April 1989 and is now published by Samuel French. DRG issued an Original Cast Recording featuring the Off-Broadway cast that was re-mixed, re-
mastered and re-released on Kritzerland Records. As an actor, Doug has appeared in dozens of productions at The Group Rep and serves as their artistic director.

Michaela Delaney

Stage Manager .

Michaela Delaney Guthrie is a hard of hearing dance artist, student, actress, social media consultant and stage manager. Michaela’s training focuses heavily in dance, however she also has professional experience in theater and film acting, as well as theater dance production and lighting design with Conwell Dance Theater and Performance Garage. When she’s not backstage, she works on the social media team for Boyer College of Music and Dance, as well as being the Event Coordinator for In Motion Dance Team. While she thoroughly enjoys her time working and learning behind the scenes, she is a performer at heart. She has been recognized for her performance and dance roles at the Jerry Herman Awards, receiving best performance of the day while previously attending California School of the Arts. Recently, she was also given the opportunity to perform in various dance festivals in Philadelphia and New York, as well as on the 76er’s court. While studying dance at Temple University, she is also in the process of earning her American Sign Language certificate by her graduation in 2025. She is excited to see what is next and can’t wait to share her passion for the arts and community with others.

JORDAN TENNISON

Assistant .

Jordan Tennison is currently a junior at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, majoring in Theater Production. She has always had a love for film and theater, which is the reason she’s pursuing a career as a writer/director for film/tv/stage. Jordan served as Production Manager at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont. While at Gallaudet, she was an ASM for the university’s production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. During her senior year, she plans to work on more theater productions, both on and off campus. Jordan is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but plans to make Los Angeles or New York City her home, once she graduates.  

Madison Anglin

Composer/Sound Design

Madison is a high-spirited pianist and film composer who began writing music at the age of 7 and now has her Master’s Degree in Screen Scoring from New York University. Growing up in Dallas, TX, Madison got her start attending the performing arts high school, Booker T. Washington HSPVA and received her first professional experience in the studio interning for gospel recording artist Fred Hammond. After several years of training and preparation, Madison is excited to pursue her passion for film scoring in Los Angeles, CA as well as becoming a recipient of the Television Academy Foundation Internship Program in the music category. With an added passion for self-love and growth, Madison founded the very first Women Empowerment Organization at her alma mater Belmont University in Nashville, TN known as SWIM (Strong Women In The Making). She hopes to one day create a platform that serves African American women a louder voice and greater opportunity in the film music industry. 

NICK FORAN

Lighting Designer

NICK FORAN, originally from Australia, Nick has worked in LA as a stage manager and designer since 2014, working with directors such as Broadway legend Robert Allan Ackerman in Blood (2016) as well as touring with the Second City company. He is the technical director at a number of theaters in Los Angeles and has been the resident lighting and sound designer at Theater of Arts Hollywood as well as the Stella Adler Academy of Acting since 2018. He designs for a number of local high schools too; he is absolutely thrilled to present this unique and exciting project to audiences in Los Angeles

NICHOLAS SANTIAGO

Projections

NICHOLAS SANTIAGO has worked for numerous universities and theatre companies around Los Angeles including the Pasadena Playhouse (Ham), Skylight Theatre (Church & State, Obama Ology), Rogue Machine (A Permanent Image), USC (Trojan Women, On the Town), The Chance Theatre (Big Fish, American Idiot), The Road Theatre (Nowhere on the Border, A Delicate Ship), LA LGBT Center (The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life Revisited, Menstruation), and the Fountain Theatre (Arrival & Departure, The Cost of Living). He has received numerous awards including a LA Drama Critics Circle award for his work on Rogue Machine’s A Permanent image, an Ovation Award win for his work on The Fountain Theatre’s production of The Cost of Living, and an OCTG and Stage Raw Award for his production of American Idiot at The Chance Theatre. www.nsantiagodesign.com

Lauren Miller Headshot

Lauren Miller

Costume Designer

Lauren Miller is Hard of Hearing. She is a clothing creator and draper, currently living and working in San Luis Obispo, which is the most beautiful place to live, (according to Oprah). Lauren is passionate about sewing great products that make people’s lives easier and brighter by making crafts, quilts, and garments with an emphasis on plus size. She has a small business, LaMoineBird, that specializes in all things related to sewing. Lauren has over 20+ years of experience sewing and enjoys creating beautiful things.  Lauren has an A.A. in Arts and Humanities, Certificate in Fashion Studies and Small Business at Allan Hancock College, and just completed a two-year Internship as a First Hand at PCPA (Pacific Conservatory Performing Arts) working on multiple stage productions. Her favorite productions include: Into the WoodsBright Star, and Mother Road. Lauren is very excited to be a part of this wonderful stage production and cannot wait to do more!