BARN RESIDENTS

Ankita Sharma is a performance artist invested in world-making where content dictates genre and betrays expectation. Their creations unpack systems and symptoms of power from a queer, punk solidarity-based lens that rehearses freedom in body and mind. In aesthetic, their work is grungy, confrontational, and cheeky, a dance-horror, with physicality rooted in contemporary dance-theater and South Asian and African diasporic forms. Ankita's work has been shown at venues across the US, including Denver Art Museum, Dixon Place, JACK, Abrons Arts Center, Ormao, The Basement, The Tank, University Settlement, and LaGuardia Performing Arts. They hold a Bachelor's in Dance and Anthropology, and are a past resident with BASE and GALLIM, MNE ECS Recipient, Performance Project Fellow, Crown Goodman Resident, and LEIMAY Incubator.

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Francesca D'Uva, spring '24 resident (inaugural cohort): Francesca D'Uva is an experimental comedian living in Brooklyn. She has a background in electronic music and studied composition at Peabody Institute in Baltimore. In her performance, she alternates between improvised storytelling and meticulously crafted mini-musicals where she plays all the characters. Her musical act-outs use abrupt tonal shifts and dramatic tropes to take the audience on a chaotic and strange journey inside her mind. She has performed all around New York City and at venues like MoMA PS1, MOCA and Ars Nova. Francesca was the 2022 Performance AIRspace Resident at Abrons Arts Center, culminating in her solo show, This Is My Favorite Song.

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Jaymes Sanchez, spring '24 resident (inaugural cohort): Jaymes Sanchez is a Texan playwright, actor, and educator living in Brooklyn. Jaymes's plays have been developed with The Lark, Latinx Playwrights Circle, Broadway Podcast Network/Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Company One, Teatro Vivo, San Diego REP, and Artists' Theatre of Boston. He was an Inaugural Latinx Playwrights Circle Summer Fellow in 2023; The Summer Fellows then formed a collective called DIEZ, which received an Artist Grant from the The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) in 2024. Jaymes received the 2020 Keene Prize for Literature and the second place prize of Playing on Air's James Stevenson Award. Jaymes has been a finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and the Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval as well as a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Award. MFA: The Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Mahayla Laurence, fall '23 co-resident: Mahayla is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, merges performance, movement, poetry, and social practice to explore states of transition and in-betweenness. Much of their work centers around personal health and wellbeing, stewardship of our environment, practicality of ritual, and strength in community. Mahayla attended NYU Tisch and earned their BFA in Drama. Upon graduation they were awarded the Beth Turner Award for Scholarship in the African Diaspora. Mahayla is at 23/24 New Victory LabWorks Fellow and regularly facilitates developmental programs for artists in their community at More Art and Ars Nova. Mahayla is also a certified breathwork practitioner and herbalism apprentice at the Sacred Vibes Apothecary. 

 

Olivia Cade, fall '23 co-resident: Olivia is an actor, filmmaker and artist whose work centers on queering the "female gaze" and prioritizes cultivating community through intentional collaboration. Her most recent work, "Give It To Me", premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival and Outfest this year. In this piece, which she wrote and starred in, Olivia explored the relationship between trauma and kink in order to heal. She graduated from NYU Tisch with a BFA in Theater and has since worked her way from experimental theater to independent film. Olivia strives to find new creative ways to infuse film sets with ethical practices.​​

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Gus Laughlin, spring '23: Gus (he/they) is a writer, comedian, and theater artist based in Brooklyn. Former CAMP resident at Ars Nova and freak for all things immersive, interactive, stupid and disgusting. Big fan of wigs.​

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Soph(ie) Sagan-Gutherz, fall '22: Soph(ie) is a writer, actor and singer based in New York City. Most recently they were in the upcoming short film IDOL CHASER produced by VLV Media and were an artist in residence at the BRB Retreat (Fresh Ground Pepper).

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Matilda Sakamoto, spring '22: Matilda is a choreographer, movement director, dancer and actor based in Brooklyn and LA. Her work can be seen on stage and film.

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Nazareth Hassan, winter '21: Nazareth is an interdisciplinary artist working in writing, performance, music, and image making. Their play Vantablack was selected for Theatretreffen Stuckemarkt 2019, and workshopped at the Royal Court Theatre and Emory University. Recipient of the 2017 Dramatist Guild Young Playwright Award. Their choral text performance Untitled (1-5) was commissioned by The Shed in 2021 and published by 3 Hole Press (2022). Their solo performance Memory A was most recently shown at Museo Universario del Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City (2022). Their play Bowl EP was long listed for the Brentwood Prize. Sound design and composition credits include The Trees (Playwrights Horizons) and A Song of Songs (Bushwick Starr). They have released three singles, available on all platforms. Their first book of poetry and photography, Slow Mania, will be published by Futurepoem (2025). They were the dramaturg at the Royal Court in 2022, and are a 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow.