Name: The Founder’s Project
Start: 2021-10-18T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2021-10-18T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Landlock Gallery

The Founder’s Project

Amplify Arts

Join 2021 Drew Billings Artist Support Grant recipient, Anna Jordan to celebrate the inaugural year of The Founder’s Project.

Landlock Gallery

The Founder’s Project is a mentorship program established by Amplify Arts’ 2021 Drew Billings Artist Support Grant recipient, Anna Jordan. During each mentorship cycle, a group of emerging theater artists works with experienced mentors to develop new work, share skills, and come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a working artist. To celebrate the inaugural year of The Founder’s Project, Amplify is partnering with Landlock Gallery to present processed-based work by mentees Harrison Cook, Jessica Johnson, Daniel Keller, Vivian Parr, Anna Preston, and Lauren Vana and mentors Sarah Lynn Brown, Alej Bustillos, Jr, Echelle Childers, Anna Jordan, Matthew R Olsen, and Wai Yim during a culminating event organized by Anna Jordan. Followed by a talk-back with attendees, The Founders Project shines a light on the work of 6 incredible artists and their respective creative processes. *Due to ongoing COVID-19 related public health concerns, attendance will be limited to 30 people or fewer. Please register here or email peter@amplifyarts.org with questions. Face masks are required.About the The Founder’s Project Mentees:Harrison Cook is the Deputy Managing Editor for Guesthouse and a contributing writer for Hi-Fructose. He received his B.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Iowa where he studied playwriting. His play ECHO was produced by the Theatre Department at the University of Iowa. This is his first time acting in a one person show.Jessica Johnson is a theatre and film maker, educator and speech language pathologist based in Omaha, NE. Most recent stage credits include the roles of Kati in the premier of STORIES: ON THE BRINK with Anastasis Theatre Company, Mother Night in MOTHER NIGHT with Max in One Productions at the Omaha Fringe Festival, and Marianne in CONSTELLATIONS at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Jessica also served as a producer and director, as well as acting the role of Gabby in INNER WORLDS, a new web series premiering in 2022. Jessica is humbled and honored to be participating in the inaugural Founder’s Project and hopes that the audience will find as much joy in experiencing the process of creating new theatre as we did. Thank you to my biological and theatre families for your unwavering love and support!Daniel Keller is a Midwest born actor with credits in both stage and film. Daniel has been developing his work as an actor in the Omaha Metro area for nearly ten years now, most recently appearing as Lysander in Darkness Like Dream; an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for Omaha Fringe’s inaugural 2020 season. Daniel received his BA in Theatre from The University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2019 where he honed skills in acting, directing and set construction alike. When his head isn’t in a book or catching a showing at the Drafthouse, Daniel spends the quiet hours tending to his plants with a mug of coffee in his hand and his cat Onyx at his heels.Vivian Parr (she/her) is a graduate of Creighton University, where she received a BFA in Theatre Performance and a BA in Music. Her theatrical focuses are playwriting and acting. She produced her first play, Riot, Repeat, as a student-run production during her senior year. Riot, Repeat earned her a Kennedy Center America College Theatre Festival playwriting award. As an actor, she most recently performed the prologue of Feminine Endings for Flatwater Shakespeare’s Unshaken Festival, directed by Sarah Brown. Her favorite shows include She Kills Monsters (Agnes), Welcome to the Tree Museum (Harriet), Language of Angels (Kendra), and All’s Well That Ends Well (Soldier). She made her film debut as Terri in the short film Sheila, an official selection in the DC Independent Film Festival and the Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival. Vivian’s work is rooted in metamodernism. She finds artistic inspiration in the human ability to access joy in times of suffering.Anna Preston (she/her) is a theatre artist born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. Her acting credits include Antony in Julius Caesar (Duchesne Academy) and Snug/Cobweb in Darkness Like a Dream (Found Ensemble). In 2020, she won the Anne Dittrick Sonnet Contest in the high school division. Her senior year, she co-wrote and directed Everything but Seneca Falls, a short film on the history of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. She received an Acting Achievement Award and the Gordon Cantiello Drama Award for her theatre work in high school.Anna’s training includes the teen internship at the Rose Theater, where she worked on PlayScape! and Pride Players, and three years of Camp Shakespeare through NE Shakespeare. She participated in slam poetry and her high school’s literary magazine, and always makes room for creative writing in her daily life. She graduated from Duchesne Academy in 2021 and is currently pursuing a BA in theatre and English at Creighton University. She looks forward to growing her skills as an artist and storyteller, in the Founder’s Project and beyond.Lauren Vana is an artist and writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. She has worked with ceramics, painting, printmaking, video, digital illustration, collage, creative nonfiction writing, and as of late, focuses most of her work on photography and poetry. She graduated with her BA in Art and English from Elmhurst University in Elmhurst, Illinois. She currently works as a web and graphic designer in advertising. Her work was selected for the 2019 Spring Invitational Art Exhibition at Elmhurst University. In 2020, she participated in BFF’s “I Am Seen” show, as both an artist and mentor, at Split Gallery. Her photographs and writing have also been published in Hi Omaha. She currently has photographs displayed at Moonrise Gallery as a part of the “Transport” group show through December 31, 2021.About The Founder’s Project Mentors: Sarah Lynn Brown (she/hers) has worked in Omaha as a director, actor, adaptor, and educator for the past 20 years, where she has facilitated countless productions and theatre education programs.In 2016, Sarah founded “Juno’s Swans,” a program that explores identity and the gender continuum through theatrical storytelling, discussion, and performance workshops. She is currently on the Nebraska Arts Council Artist Roster as a Theatre and Gender Performance educator and a contract facilitator for Inclusive Communities.Additionally, Sarah has worked for Utah Shakespeare, Nebraska Shakespeare, NTC productions, Folger Library Theatre, BlueBarn Theatre, Omaha Performing Arts, Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha, Denizen Theatre (NY), University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Creighton University. Currently, Sarah created and teaches from a shared studio: Leavenworth Space in Omaha Nebraska. She has a Masters of Arts in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado and a BA from University of Nebraska at Omaha in Theatre Performance.Alej Bustillos, Jr. (she/they/he) is also known as nightlife socialite and fashion designer Karma LiLoLa. Karma is celebrating more than ten years of a tour de force of appearances, performances, and productions in venues in and around Omaha, NE. Karma is a proud graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (MA Theatre), Yale University (BA Theatre Studies), and Omaha South High Performing Arts Magnet. Three research trips to London, UK included studies at LAMDA (Shakespeare and his Contemporaries), the most recent funded by the Office of Research and Creative Activities at UNO via the Graduate Research and Creative Activities grant. They are a double bassist for Orchestra Omaha. Affiliate organizations include: the Trans Day of Visibility Omaha, the Trans Day of Remembrance Omaha, Benson First Friday Omaha, Queerniverse, EOU Magazine, Omaha Fashion Week, and the Heartland Pride Alliance. Published in *Theater and Performance* and *[howlround.com](http://howlround.com/)*They graduated from Yale with a BA in Theatre Studies with a concentration in dance composition and produced a senior project based on queer, avant-garde nightlife performance in London, UK. Since graduating from Yale, Alej has moved to back to their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska and founded Queerniverse, the region&#x27;s only queer, trans, non-binary, performer of color-centric cabaret and burlesque troupe. Alej is also known as nightlife entertainer and socialite persona Karma LiLoLa. They are founder of Karma LiLoLa Designs (KLD), a custom creations fashion brand. During the Covid-19 global health crisis, KLD launched a subsidiary accessories brand called Boutique &amp; Parlour which makes Olson-style masks/face coverings. KLD’s second runway collection and coordinating masks will be featured in this fall&#x27;s Omaha Fashion Week.Echelle Childers (she/her) is an Omaha native. She grew up in the Benson area. She has been involved in the Omaha arts community for 35 years. Echelle is a performer, having worked at many theatres in the Omaha area, as well as working behind the scenes. She spent 10 years at the Dundee Dinner Theatre starting as the Group Sales Coordinator and spending seven years as the General Manager. She worked for four years as a Box Office Manager and one year as the Ticketing Systems Assistant at Omaha Performing Arts. In between she was the Student Loan Project Assistant for University of Nebraska at Omaha for 10 years. Echelle has four children and truly believes in being the change that she wants to see in the world to make it the best place for them. She is an advocate and activist for Accessibility, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. She is nervous and excited to get the ball rolling at Benson Theatre.Anna Jordan (she/her) is an actor, director and artist from Omaha, Nebraska holding her Bachelor of Arts in theatre performance and directing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In 2019, Anna appeared as Nimmee in the Strangemen Theatre Company’s &quot;The Woodsman&quot; and as Caroline in &quot;I and You&quot; (Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award Nominee, Outstanding Actor in a Play), both at the BLUEBARN Theatre. The same year, she also launched the Found Ensemble and directed &quot;Darkness Like a Dream&quot;—her adaptation of &quot;A Midsummer Night’s Dream&quot;—for the inaugural Omaha Fringe Festival. Anna has worked with Nebraska Shakespeare for 9 seasons as an assistant director, educator and actor—most recently in the all-female production of &quot;All’s Well that Ends Well&quot;, and &quot;Othello&quot; on Tour. Additionally, she has been featured at the Rose Theater in the world premiere of Matt Gutschick’s &quot;Van Gogh and Me&quot; as Adeline Ravoux, and as the titular character in &quot;Curious George and the Golden Meatball&quot;. Recent credits also include Slippy Helen in &quot;The Cripple of Inishmaan&quot;, Pegeen Mike in &quot;The Playboy of the Western World&quot;, (Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre Company), and the Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s national tour of &quot;A Christmas Carol&quot;. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and pause of the theatre industry, Anna has worked to establish a parallel career in website design for actors and makers, and creates ink and resin art at the co-working studio, The Leavenworth Space.Matthew R Olsen (he/him)— Omaha based Artist. He works professionally as an Actor/Director/Fight Choreographer in numerous capacities and styles. Facilitator of workshops in movement, voice, Shakespeare, combat, and actor based creative exploration.You’ve seen him on numerous local stages, and in a variety of classrooms from Middle Schools to Universities.If you need a cup of coffee and a chat you can find them roasting and pouring lattes at Bad Seed Coffee &amp; Supply.Matthew proudly holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and an MFA in Acting from the Florida State University- Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.Wai Yim is an Actor, Director, Choreographer, a proud member of Actors&#x27; Equity and SAG-AFTRA. Originally from Hong Kong, he immigrated to Omaha, NE and started his acting career there. He now resides in Chicago and splits his time between both cities. He&#x27;s the Artistic Director for aetherplough, a performance art company in Omaha. He is also the Managing Director for Token Theatre in Chicago. He toured nationally with The White Snake, written and directed by Tony Award winner: Mary Zimmerman (McCarter Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Old Globe Theatre and WuZhen Theatre Festival in China). In Chicago, he has worked with: Token Theatre, Goodman Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, and Silk Road Rising. Movie credits: North of the 10 and Fatal Influence: Like, Follow and Survive. TV credits: Work in Progress (Showtime), Power Book IV: Force (Stars), Chicago PD (NBC), neXt (Fox), Patriot (Amazon) and The Chi (Showtime).About Amplify Arts: Amplify Arts is a 501c3 nonprofit whose mission is to promote unity, innovation, and progress in the cultural sector. Our Artist Grants program provides direct financial support to artists experimenting and creating work outside the confines of larger institutional systems.

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