Thank You Ryan for a Clean Microwave

Pamela Decker-Wright is a Deaf performer, director, interdisciplinary theater artist, and acting coach whose work brings together ASL, movement, storytelling, translation, improvisation, and educational theater. She trained at the Professional Theater School at the National Theatre of the Deaf and earned a BA in Theater Arts: Production and Performance from Gallaudet University. Select performance credits include Emilia in Othello (Gallaudet), for which she was nominated for the American College Theater Festival Irene Ryan Acting Award, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (Gallaudet), Deaf interpreter for Romeo and Juliet with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ensemble in Any One Of Us: Words from Prison in Minneapolis, and Thank You Ryan for a Clean Microwave at AntFest. Her directing work includes Romeo and Juliet at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf and All the Way for the Veditz Center in Colorado. She is especially passionate about ASL storytelling, collaborative artistic spaces, and language-centered performance.

Wade Green is a Deaf dancer, choreographer, actor, and soulful ASL performer with over 20 years of experience. His acting credits include Raisin in the Sun (VOCA), Out of the Mouth of Boys (Honestly Speaking Presents), The Color Purple (Honestly Speaking Presents), Dreamgirls (Honestly Speaking Presents), and A Strange Loop (VOCA). He is a current member of National Deaf Dance Theater and serves as artistic director of Wild Zappers. His dance training includes programs with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, as well as the Washington School of Ballet and Richmond School of Ballet. Based in Washington, DC, Green is a regular host of ASL Open Mic Night at Busboys and Poets, where he uplifts emerging artists and builds community through performance. As a soulful ASL performer, Green brings emotional depth and musicality to his work, using movement and language to create powerful, immersive experiences. He is a dedicated advocate for authentic representation within the Black Deaf community.

Amelia Hensley is a Deaf artist best known for her role in Spring Awakening on Broadway with Deaf West Theatre. Her work spans theater and film, with credits including Station 19 (ABC/Hulu), The Pitt (ASL dubbing), Beethoven’s Fidelio (LA Philharmonic), and Oedipus (Getty Villa). Beyond acting, Hensley works as a director of American Sign Language (DASL), as well as a director, writer, editor, and assistant stage manager. She recently completed production on her short film Alter, which she wrote and stars in, and is currently developing an original musical, Soldiers Without Guns.

Samuel Langshteyn is a NYC-raised Deaf actor, director, editor, writer, and dancer. His passion for performing started at NTID’s Performing Arts, doing Angels in America (Prior), Beauty & the Beast (Maurice), Dial M for Murder (Swann), etc. On top of it all, he made it to the finals of the Kennedy Center’s Irene Ryan with NTID’s support. He was also involved with Rochester Community Players’ Shakespeare in Park production of The Tempest (Ferdinand). Since graduating, he has found himself in a list of credits such as Deaf Broadway’s production of Rent and, very recently, Violet at Lincoln Center stages, Epic Players’ production of Into The Woods (Cinderella’s Prince), and Spring Awakening (Hanschen), became unhinged in the role of Columbia in ASL Rocky Horror Picture Show, and was fortunate to be part of new musicals such as 504: The Musical, Karkoid The Automaton, and various workshops. Credits also include choreographing through New York Theatre Barn. Currently, he’s a company member of New York Deaf Theatre and starring in two upcoming short films. Ecstatic is a word I would use to describe the feeling of getting to work with James Caverly and Andrew Morrill again, despite how sarcastic this may sound on paper.

Alona Jane Robbins is a young Deaf actor who made her film debut alongside Sarah Paulson in the thriller Hold Your Breath. Robbins has also guest-starred on episodes of Law & Order and New Amsterdam. She recently made her theater debut with Deaf Broadway as Lulu in Waitress and subsequently starred as Young Vi in Violet, both performed at Lincoln Center. Born and raised in NYC, Robbins is a big sister and obsessive reader and loves traveling and knocking back oysters.

Rebecca Spigelman is thrilled to be performing at The Shed! Past credits include Trash at PAC NYC (Out of the Box Theatrics), Do Re Mi, Woman of the Year (J2 Spotlight), Hairspray (Summer Theatre of New Canaan), Hair (Arizona Theatre Company), Team Starkid, TWUSA, NYMF, and 54 Below. Thank you in every language to Mom and Dad, Sarah, Josh, Gabi, Matthew, Audrey, Travis, Steve, Laura, Karl, and my teachers and friends at Sign Language Center and Gallaudet. Special thanks to Andrew and Joey for the incredible opportunity to be included in groundbreaking Deaf art.

James Caverly (he/him) is an actor, director, playwright, and director of Artistic Sign Language. He has performed in Children of a Lesser God at Studio 54. Regional theater credits include PAC NYC, Olney Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre Co., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre, Kitchen Theatre Company, and SpeakEasy Stage Co. He has directed works for Gallaudet University, Kent State University, New York Deaf Theatre, and Mosaic Theatre Co. His written works, A Better Place, Surprise Guest, and See/Hear/Speak No Beast, have been produced at Deaf Austin Theatre, Deaf Spotlight, and Kent State University, respectively. His co-written plays with Andrew Morrill are Trash, Thank You Ryan for a Clean Microwave, and If Dogs Talk. He also appeared in Hulu’s Emmy Award–winning show Only Murders in the Building as Theo Dimas.

Andrew Morrill (he/him) is an Obie-winning theatremaker and actor. His selected acting credits include Trash (Out of Box Theatrics & PAC NYC), Oedipus (Deaf West and Getty Villa), The Christians (Phamaly Theatre), and The Vanderburgs’ Dancing Girl (SheNYCArts). He received a Helen-Hayes nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer in Musical for portraying Mayor Shinn in The Music Man (Olney Theater Center). His recent artistic sign language direction was Grey House (Broadway), directed by Joe Mantello. He also received the Obie’s Michael Feingold Award for his DASL work with Ryan J. Haddad’s Dark Disabled Stories (The Public / Bushwick Starr). His additional DASL credits include Hamlet (Deaf West & Fiasco Theater), Oedipus (Deaf West & Getty Villa), This Moment (Prospect Theater Company), and Titus Andronicus (The Public & Apothetae). He also co-wrote Trash, produced by Out of the Box Theatrics at Perelman Arts Center, Thank You Ryan for a Clean Microwave at Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, and If Dogs Talk at NYTW’s Mondays @ 3 Series. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Recent and upcoming projection designs: THE TENDER LAND (Park City Opera), ROCK OF AGES (Suncoast Broadway Dinner Theatre), GHOST LIMB (Avant Bard Theatre), A STRANGE LOOP (Visionaries of the Creative Arts & Deaf Austin Theatre), WOMAN ON FIRE (Creative Cauldron; Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Media/Projection Design, Helen), COMMUNION (Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre), AMERICAN PSYCHO (Monumental). MFA: Carnegie Mellon.

Alexandria Wailes (she/her) is an award-winning, multi-hyphenated theater maker. A Helen Hayes 2026 nominee for Director on the VOCA/DAT co-production of A Strange Loop. She is thrilled to be part of the TYRCM team. Some career highlights include Broadway: for colored girls, Spring Awakening (associate choreographer), and Big River. Off-Broadway/Regional: for colored girls, FDR’s Very Happy Hour, I Was Most Alive with You, Oedipus, Our Town. TV: CW’s The Flash, Little America, Nurse Jackie, and High Maintenance. Directing: VOCA/DAT’s A Strange Loop (six Helen Hayes noms), VOCA’s A Not So Quiet Nocturne, Deaf Broadway’s Once on This Island, Deaf Spotlight’s 2023 Short Play Festival. DASL: Broadway: King Lear, Children of a Lesser God. Regional: Goodspeed and Signature Theatre’s Private Jones. Awards: 2022 Chita Rivera winner, 2022 Disability Futures Fellowship. 2020 OBIE winner and 2020 Lucille Lortel nominee.

Annie Wiegand (she/her) is the first and only professional Deaf lighting designer in the United States. Des Moines, Iowa native; BA Theatre Design and Technology Appalachian State University; MFA Lighting Design Boston University. Off-Broadway: TRASH (Perelman PAC/Out of the Box), I Was Most Alive With You (Playwrights Horizons). Regional: Elephant Shoes (Two River Theatre/Deaf West), Another Kind of Silence (City Theatre), Spring Awakening (Skylight Music Theatre), Cinderella (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, ZACH Theatre), Eclipsed (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Steel Magnolias (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center), The Upstairs Department (Signature Theatre), The Bridges of Madison County (SpeakEasy Stage, IRNE Award nomination). Opera and interdisciplinary work: Sensorium Ex (VIA/BMP Common Senses Festival Omaha), Inside/Look (Open Call Shed), Touch (Opera Birmingham), Anikaya Dance, The Acting Company national tours 2010-2013, company member Kinetic Light Disability Arts Ensemble, Resident Lighting Designer Deaf Broadway, Professor and Production Program Director of Gallaudet University Performing Arts. anniewiegand.com

Mark Weissglass is a New York–based composer and sound designer. Recent sound design credits include The Minotaur at the American Theater of Actors. He is the composer of Soldiers Without Guns, a developmental musical blending music and sign language. He also worked with New York Deaf Theater on the development of Meat Expectations. He holds a degree in music theory and composition from New York University Steinhardt.

Miriam Rochford (her/she) is an AEA stage manager and nationally certified ASL/English interpreter. As such, Deaf theater is the combination of her two most favorite things in the world. You may have not seen her (because she is backstage) on some of these projects: Trash (PSM, Out of the Box Theatrics / PAC NYC), Dark Disabled Stories (ASM, Public Theatre), Once on This Island, RENT, Company, Into the Woods (PSM, Deaf Broadway @ Lincoln Center), Asking 4 Trouble (PSM, Ensemble Studio Theatre), Maple & Vine, TITUS, Captive Audience (PSM, New York Deaf Theatre), Titanic, Guys & Dolls, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Singin’ in the Rain, Mr. Holland’s Opus (ASM, Ogunquit Playhouse), Sensorium Ex (ASM, Beth Morrison Projects / VisionIntoArt)…and many, many more. Much love to her family, both genetic and chosen, for their constant support in a career that is anything but constant. You can find her at @itmustbemiriam pretty much everywhere.

Kellie Martin is an artist, stage manager, and art director. They have stage managed Deaf Spotlight’s biannual Deaf Short Play Festivals and the Limitless Expressions Showcase, in addition to productions of Trash and Rent at Gallaudet University. Their interactive creative work has been selected for the She’s Fierce Storytelling Series at 12th Ave Theater, Theatre Off Jackson, and Seattle Open Arts Place.

They currently serve as the Art & Design Program Director at Deaf Spotlight, based in Seattle, Washington, where they cultivate platforms for Deaf artists to thrive through exhibitions, festivals, workshops, art summits, and collaborative programming.