Sharing Power with Artists at Play

Julia Cho, Producing Artistic Leader, was born and raised in Los Angeles and is an actor and proud member of Artists at Play. Upon graduating from UC Berkeley, Julia made her professional acting debut in the Bay Area premiere of An Alphabet, presented by the John Cage Trust Fund. She then starred in the Word for Word production of Amy Tan’s Immortal Heart at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. After an extended award-winning run, the show toured domestically and in France. Since then, Julia has performed/toured shows with East West Players, Will & Company, Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, hereandnow, as well as readings for The Blank Theatre, Playwrights’ Arena, Pasadena Playhouse, and Center Theatre Group.

In the summer of 2009, Julia embarked on her first producing venture, leading an ensemble cast– calling themselves Actors at Play– to create and perform an original Valentine’s Day show. Beware of Cupid had a successful run in February 2010 and was featured on angryasianman.com as well as the Hyphen blog.

Julia is probably best known for playing “Charlotte Lu” in the Emmy Award-winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Other credits include films like Larry Crowne (starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts), the web series Jeff and Ravi Fail History which screened at SXSW, and recurring roles on TV shows such as Scandal, Goliath, and This Is Us. Check out IMDb for a full list of credits, and look for @thatjuliacho online.

Stefanie Lau, Producing Artistic Leader, has been a theatre professional since 2000 when she graduated from UCLA and became an intern and volunteer at East West Players. She joined the staff full-time in 2001, serving as the Public Relations and Marketing Director. Before Stefanie left in June 2006, she increased the theatre’s earned income through innovative marketing and outreach initiatives and helped launch the first national Asian American theatre conference. In November 2006, Stefanie joined the Center Theatre Group Development Department as their Special Events Coordinator. She helped plan the organization’s successful annual fundraisers, and other major events include Freakin’ Sweet! with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Center Theatre Group’s 40th Anniversary Luncheon. When Stefanie left in July 2008, she had organized or assisted with more than 75 donor events ranging from opening night dinners to backstage tours and intimate artist dialogues. She continues to work part-time at CTG on fundraising events including Season Celebration, Angels’ Night Lite and Enter Laughing (honoring Carl Reiner).

Stefanie is the Managing Director of Cold Tofu Improv, the nation’s oldest Asian American comedy improv group. She started with the organization as a student in 2003, completing its improv training workshops and becoming an Ensemble member. She joined the Board of Directors in 2006 and was appointed Managing Director in 2013. As a producer, Stefanie has worked on the organization’s comedy sketch show Tofu Exposed, fundraiser Changing of the Guard, monthly improv performances in the Los Angeles Arts District and TeleMongol: Invading Your Box 24/7 (co-production with Cold Tofu Improv, Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors and OPM).

As an independent theatre professional, Stefanie has worked with many organizations on a number of successful productions including: Letters to a Student Revolutionary (AddWord Productions and Metamorphosis Theatre Company); Songs for a New World and Ordinary Days (Yes, and… Productions); Beware of Cupid (Actors at Play); and The Chinese Massacre (Annotated) (Circle X Theatre Company). She also worked for the Ford Amphitheatre’s Community Bridges Program and served on its advisory committee. Twitter: @MsStefanieL

Lori Elizabeth Parquet, co-host, (she/her), is a Flux Creative Partner and actor, director, and playwright from New Orleans, Louisiana with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. Her New York City stage credits include Macbeth, Dispatches From (A)mended America (Off-Broadway, Epic Theatre Ensemble), The Providence of Neighboring Bodies (Dutch Kills Theater/Ars Nova), The Honeycomb Trilogy: Sovereign (Gideon Productions), Medea (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), Dog Act, Ajax in Iraq, Honey Fist, Operating Systems (Flux Theatre Ensemble), and Republic, Baal, Murder In the Cathedral (JACK/Hoi Polloi). She made her international debut performing in Pillars of Society at Teater Ibsen in Skien, Norway. She also performed in The Providence of Neighboring Bodies at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018. In 2019 she was nominated for and won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for her performance in Operating Systems. As a director, Lori has directed Topdog/Underdog at Princeton Summer Theater and assistant directed The Public Theater’s most recent Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.  She was alsoas an acting coach on Disney’s Hercules, a Public Works production.  Lori just served as Associate Director of New York City Center’s Encores: Off-center production of Maria Irene Fornes’ Promenade and has directed many readings and workshops with Public Works, Flux Theatre Ensemble, The Brooklyn Generator, and other theatre companies across New York City.  As a playwright, Lori was selected as one of six featured playwrights for Season Five of The Fire This Time Festival, which produced a reading of her full-length play In Communion, and her short plays have been produced through Flux Theatre Ensemble, New York Madness, and other NYC indie theatres and festivals.

Corinna Schulenburg, co-host, (she-her), is a Flux Creative Partner.  She is a trans artist and activist committed to ensemble practice and social justice.As a playwright, her work with Flux includes Riding the Bull, Rue, Other Bodies, The Lesser Seductions of History, Jacob’s House, DEINDE, Honey Fist, Salvage,The Sea Concerto, and Operating Systems. With Flux, she directed Ajax in Iraq (NYITA nomination), A Midsummer Nights Dream, and the Food:Souls Goldsboro and Volleygirls. As an actor with Flux, she has played Sam in Metra: A Climate Revolution Play with Songs; Max in World Builders, Dr. X in Hearts Like Fists, Ezekiel in 8 Little Antichrists (NYITA nomination), and the Professor in Rue.