FACULTY
Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel
(Program Director, Improvisation, Creation, Seminar)
Quinn is a co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company. Since 1995, Quinn has been one of the leading artists with the company, co-creating many of the company's 30+ original works of theatre and touring them to venues and festivals in Brazil, Germany, Scotland, England, Romania, Poland, Peru, Italy, Ukraine, Lithuania and Ireland, among others. Additionally, Quinn and Pig Iron regularly present their work in New York City and have toured throughout the States including engagements in San Francisco, Washington, DC, Princeton, Providence, Cambridge, Atlanta, Tampa, Logan (Utah), among others. He has directed, designed and performed with the company since its inception.
Quinn has taught courses in acting and movement theatre since 2002 at Swarthmore College. Additionally, he has been on the faculty of the Headlong Performance Institute and has taught courses at Princeton University. Quinn has taught workshops at the Alternative Theatre Festival in Budapest, with Arts on Location in Bangkok, Thailand, at Les Kurbas Theatre in Lviv, Ukraine, with Cabuia Teatro in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at Teatrul Fara Frontiere in Valcea Rimnea, Romania and at Princeton University, Stanford University, UVA, Wesleyan university, Utah State, Georgetown, American University, and UPenn, among many others. Additionally, he has taught professional theatre training workshops in Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco for the past 15 years.
Sarah Sanford
(Movement Analysis, Improvisation, Performance Dares, Creation, Pedagogy)
Sarah Sanford teaches Movement Analysis, Improv, Pedagogy, Creation, and Bouffon. An early Pig Iron member, Sarah created 8 works with the company and has been core faculty at the school since its inception. She has also taught at Swarthmore, Villanova, and Temple, and has led professional workshops in the U.S. and abroad. As an actor Sarah has appeared on numerous regional theatre stages, and as a director her work includes InFlux Theatre’s The Choice and the Philadelphia premiere of Lightning Rod Special’s Underground Railroad Game. In the Fall of 2024 Sanford premiered Love you Love you Love you, a devised solo work inspired by her mother’s experience with Alzheimer's. She holds a BA in Theatre Studies from Swarthmore College and a 2-yr certificate from École Jacques Lecoq.
Aram Alan Aghazarian
(Jeu, Absurd)
Aram Aghazarian is a performer, theater creator, and teacher. He was a founding member of Strange Attractor Theatre Company 2009-2019 (Sans Everything, Enlightenment On E Floor North, A Terrific Fire). Theater work includes Pig Iron Theatre Company (Swamp Is ON, 99 Breakups, PAY UP), Team Sunshine Performance Corporation (The Sincerity Project, Punchkapow), Swim Pony Performing Arts (War of the Worlds), Lightning Rod Special (Let the Dog See the Rabbit), Perseverance Theatre (Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Eurydice), Nick Gillette Improv (Yurodivy). Aram can currently be seen on wallpaper created by Nick Cassway in the exhibition What Times are These? at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a graduate of Temple University and the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA).
Nell Bang-Jensen
(Civic Practice)
Nell Bang-Jensen is the recently appointed CEO & Producing Director of FringeArts in Philadelphia. She is passionate about work that helps arts organizations align with community-held values and creating theater with people who do not identify as professional artists. Nell is an award-winning Theater Director/Creator and the recipient of a Map Fund grant, a Next Stage Director’s Fellowship, and a Watson Fellowship. In 2016, Nell was a participant in TCG’s Leadership U program; a national fellowship given to eight individuals who TCG believes are the core and future of theater. Nell has taught Directing and Civic Practice for colleges and universities including UArts, Pig Iron, Swarthmore College and Carleton College.
Nicole Burgio
(Acrobatics)
With extensive experience in gymnastics, circus, and physical theater, Nicole Burgio fervently pursues movement through performance, aesthetics, technique, and education.
Nicole is proud to have been an acrobatic consultant and ensemble member of Almanac Dance Circus Theater. She toured America, Europe, Asia, and Mexico performing original and ensemble work, and leading educational intensives. Her solo evening-length production, xoxo moongirl, received critical acclaim at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival, winning a Barrymore award in Philadelphia in 2019.
As founder of The Ready Room, Nicole joyfully strives to foster an inclusive and empowering space for teaching movement and balance to all walks of life.
Nichole Canuso
(Dance Theatre, Catapult Advisor)
Nichole is the artistic director of Nichole Canuso Dance Company (NCDC). Her artistic projects have been presented nationally (New York Live Arts, American Repertory Theater [MA], Los Angeles Performance Projects, The International Festival for Art and Ideas [CT], Bates Dance Festival [ME], among others) and internationally (Hungary, Mexico, Sweden, U.K., Czechia, Italy). Commissions include The American Philosophical Society Museum and The Philadelphia Museum of Art and residencies include the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (FL), MacDowell (NH), Millay (NY), Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences (GA), Headlands (CA). She is a 2017 Pew Fellow, a 2021 New York Stage and Film fellow and a 2025 United States Artist Fellow.
Emmanuelle Delpech
(Improv)
Emmanuelle Delpech is a French physical theater artist and teacher living in the States.
She was classically trained and then studied physical theater at the École Jacques Lecoq. 25 years later she validated her 3rd pedagogical year, which makes her one of a few certified Lecoq teachers in the US. After that year, she was invited to teach at the Lecoq school in Paris. She also has an MFA in Directing from Temple University.
She has worked with Pig Iron for many years as a performer and teacher.
She teaches workshops all over the States and in many different universities including Yale University. She has received many grants and awards for her work.
You can find more information about her artistic work here: www.emmanuelledelpech.com
Liz Filios
(Voice)
Liz Filios is an actor, composer and teaching artist. She has performed in Cittá della Pieve, Italy; Chennai, India; Cape Town, South Africa and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Regional credits include: The Tempest (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Into the Woods (Theatre Horizon), Passion (Arden Theatre), Eurydice (Wilma Theatre) and Marlene & The Machine (Bearded Ladies Cabaret). Liz holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan. She studied Commedia dell’Arte with Antonio Fava, Primitive Voice with Jean René Toussaint, and Gamelan at the Çudamani Summer Institute in Bali, Indonesia. Liz is an Independence Foundation Fellow, a Barrymore Award winner, a Helen Hayes Award nominee and a recipient of the F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Theatre Artist. www.lizfilios.com
Ben Grinberg
(Acrobatics)
Ben is a proud graduate of the inaugural class of the Pig Iron School, and has been on faculty since 2016. He co-founded Almanac in 2013 with fellow alum Nick Gillette, which has created 16 full length works and toured to Egypt, Mexico, Croatia, Canada and the UK, and won Barrymore, Rocky and other awards. He co-founded, directed, and now serves as Head of Partnerships for Cannonball Festival, and received the 2025 APAP/CIPA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Creative Producing. At Circadium, he developed and taught a three year curriculum merging Lecoq pedagogy with circus skills. He’s performed in various Pig Iron shows, and his work has been presented on stages including Jacob’s Pillow, FringeArts, New York Live Arts, Queer Zagreb, and Breaking Walls Festival.
Makoto Hirano
(Catapult Advisor)
Makoto Hirano is a Philadelphia-based choreographer and theatre-maker. His award-winning, original performance projects have been presented across the nation, including Off-Broadway at the National Asian American Theatre Festival (NYC), DanceTruck (Atlanta, GA), Ringling Museum (Sarasota, FL), Yale University (CT), and FringeArts (Philadelphia, PA). As a freelance collaborating performer, Hirano has originated over 25 roles, with highlights that include projects with Bill Irwin, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Nichole Canuso Dance Company, and Thaddeus Phillips/Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental. Hirano is a founding member and current advisor to the arts collective PAPA (Philly Asian Performing Artists); co-founder of installation art duo Gatto+Hirano; co-founder of Team Sunshine Performance where he is a creator, producer, performer, administrator, and choreographer (2018 Barrymore-Award nomination for Outstanding Choreography for ¡BIENVENIDOS BLANCOS! OR WELCOME WHITE PEOPLE!), as well as Lead Artist for the forthcoming The Great American Gunshow, to be created in Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, and Whitesburg KY (2025-2027). From 2007-2014 Hirano was a Facilitator with Philly/Baltimore/South Carolina-based professional development program Artists U. A former U.S. Marine, Hirano earned his BFA in dance at Temple University.
Suli Holum
(Open Canvas, Dramaturgy)
Co-Founder of Pig Iron Theatre Company. Writer of Barrymore Award Winning Gentleman Volunteers, published in Pig Iron: 3 Plays (53rd Street Press), Wandering Alice with Nichole Canuso Dance Company and Oedipus at FDR with Emmanuelle Delpech, One Beach Road with RedCape Theatre, UK, and A Fierce Kind of Love with the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University. Stein | Holum Projects, a collaboration with playwright Deborah Stein, produced Chimera (HARP residency, Fox Fellowship, Drama Desk nomination), Movers+Shakers (Lowe Award), and The Wholehearted (NEFA National Touring Grant). Holum is a member of the HotHouse Company at the Wilma Theater, and is currently writing The Woman Question, a Pew supported commission from People’s Light Theater Company, premiering in spring 2026.
Allen J. Kuharski
(History, Theory, & Practice of Ensemble Physical Theatre)
Kuharski taught directing, performance theory, and theater history at Swarthmore College, where he founded the Department of Theater and served as Chair for twenty years. He co-founded and co-chaired Swarthmore’s study-abroad programs in theater and dance in Poland. He has taught at the Pig Iron School since 2012, and is a member of the Pig Iron board. He has received two Fulbright scholarships to Poland, one to study scenography with the experimental director/designer Józef Szajna, and the second as a research scholar at the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. His translations from Polish and French and have been widely performed in the US and abroad, his articles have been published in 7 languages, and he has lectured in the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and China.
AJ Luca
(Music Skills)
Multidisciplinary artist AJ Luca is a pianist, vocalist, composer, actor and leader of congregational worship. She has been a professional performer since age 10 and has had the privilege of using her gifts in various disciplines and venues, including jazz clubs and concerts in Philly, the shore and NYC, countless recording sessions, touring, regional and NYC theater as an actor, and solo cabarets. She is also a credentialed reverend and a passionate worship leader. Directing music and production each week for City Life Philly and playing piano/leading the choir for historic Reform synagogue Rodeph Shalom, AJ loves the power of congregational singing and believes that personal and community transformation can happen when we raise our voices together.
Trey Lyford
(Catapult, Improv)
Trey Lyford is an actor, director, designer, and play fabricator who has been creating original works for the stage for over two decades - most recently with his company gimmick. His past collaborations include devised works KOAL, The Accountant, all wear bowlers (2005 Drama Desk Nomination, NY Innovative Theatre Award), Amnesia Curiosa, the OBIE award-winning machines, machines, machines, machines, machines, machines, machines, and the absurd magic extravaganzas Elephant Room and Elephant Room II: Dust from the Stars. He continues to collaborate with artists in the U.S. and abroad. More info at www.treylyford.com.
Dan Rothenberg
(Measures, Dramaturgy for Devisors)
Dan Rothenberg is a Philadelphia-based director and creator of experimental performance. As co-founder and co-artistic director of Pig Iron Theatre Company, Dan has directed and co-created almost all of Pig Iron’s original performance works. Together with Quinn Bauriedel and Dito van Reigersberg, he received a Pew Fellowship in Performance Art (2002) and a USA Artists Knight Fellowship (2010). With Pig Iron, Rothenberg has directed and co-created more than 30 original works, including the OBIE-winning productions Hell Meets Henry Halfway (2005) and Chekhov Lizardbrain (2010). At Pig Iron, Rothenberg engages in collaborations with visionary artists who push the ensemble in new directions. Collaborators have included: director Joseph Chaikin; playwright Toshiki Okada; designers Mimi Lien and Machine Dazzle; songwriter and performance artist Cynthia Hopkins; Daniel Rudholm of Stockholm’s Teater Slava; and choreographers Sam Pinkleton and David Brick. Rothenberg’s work with Pig Iron has toured to 15 countries on four continents.
Dan has taught workshops to MFA students at Brown, Yale, University of New Mexico, University of Texas Austin, and Stanford; and semester-long courses for undergraduates at Swarthmore, UArts, and Princeton. Internationally, Rothenberg has taught workshops to professional actors in Brazil, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, Germany, Poland, Peru, Argentina, Scotland, and India. Outside of Pig Iron, Dan has directed three critically-acclaimed English-language premieres of plays by Toshiki Okada for the Play Company in NYC, as well as a national tour for the Acting Company, with stops at the Guthrie, New Victory, and Lincoln Center. He designed sound for painter Alexandra Grant’s solo show at MOCA in LA, and directed the Berserker Residents’ Annihilation Point (Phila. Fringe & Abrons Arts Center).
Dito van Reigersberg
(Cabaret, Open Canvas)
Dito van Reigersberg is a co-founder of Pig Iron Theatre Company. He has performed in almost all of Pig Iron’s productions since its founding, including the OBIE-winning original pieces Hell Meets Henry Halfway and Chekhov Lizardbrain. He also dreamed up Pig Iron’s most recent endeavor, Poor Judge, a dance-theatre cabaret based on the songs of Aimee Mann. In 2022 Dito sang in Heather Christian’s “rapturous” Oratorio for Living Things (Drama Desk, Lortel Awards, NYT Best of 2022). His alter ego Martha Graham Cracker, famously ‘the tallest, hairiest drag queen in the world,” performs regularly at Joe’s Pub. She recently sang as a featured soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nezet Seguin, and released an album of original songs entitled Lashed But Not Leashed.
Jonathan VanDyke
(Visual Art, Object Performance)
Jonathan VanDyke is a visual artist based in New York City. Solo exhibitions and installations have appeared at 1/9 unosunove in Rom, Loock Galerie Berlin, Tops Gallery in Memphis, Four Boxes Gallery in Denmark, NADA New York, Scaramouche in New York, abc berlin, The Islip Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts at FSU, and The Hartnett Gallery at University of Rochester. Recent solo performances and commissions have appeared at The Columbus Museum in Georgia, Storm King Art Center, Este Arte in Uruguay, The Power Plant in Toronto, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, The National Academy Museum in New York, and The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. His work has been featured in many group exhibitions, including Queen Abstraction, a major survey at The Des Moines Art Center, and reviewed and featured in many publications, including Art Forum, Art Papers, Modern Painters, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Time Out New York, T Magazine, Bomb, and Art Review. He has served as a faculty fellow at the University of Chicago, Illinois State University, The Pennsylvania Governor's School for International Studies, Krabbesholm Academy in Denmark, and The University of Alaska Fairbanks. He designs and leads workshops focused upon embodied practice, and these have been presented at many institutions internationally, including recent sessions at Mount Holyoke College, Dickinson College, The Currier Museum, and The Museum of the North.
He received his MFA from Bard College, attended the Skowhegan School, and also studied at Glasgow School of Art and The University of Glasgow as a Rotary Ambassadorial Fellow. He has been a resident at Yadoo, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Hans Scharoun House, and received grants including a Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts Artists & Communities Fellowship and Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship. jonathanvandyke.com