Our Ensemble
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MARCELLA TROWBRIDGE is a theater artist, activist, community ritual keeper & the current and Founding Artistic Director of ARTFARM in the United States (2001). Marcella is dedicated to leaning into places of beauty & discord in the effort of gaining a deeper understanding of the human condition. Her work continues to seek spaces where embodied reflection, ‘presencing’, personal practice & community dialog & engagement guide the practice. She has written, directed, choreographed & produced over a dozen original works on issues of race, violence, women, war, oppression, grief & soul-consciousness, in addition to extensive directing/choreography/performance of classical & contemporary pieces (The Mahabharata, King Lear, Emperor of Haiti, Twilight Los Angeles,
Hamlet). She has worked in the US with NY’s The Village Gate & Greenwood Theater Companies, Los Angeles’ Twelfth Night Repertory Company, Key West’s Red Barn Theater, VA’s Mill Mountain Playhouse & VT’s Bread & Puppet Theater, done extended theater work in Sri Lanka & is delighted to be working with Thomas Prattki in Germany in Integral Movement & Performance Praxis. Marcella has studied with Judith Malina, Augusto Boal, Bill Ball (ACT), Jean Louis Rodrigue, Kate & Ellen Geer, Ruth Zaporah, Gabrielle Roth, The Pittsburgh Ballet, as well as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. She holds an MFA from Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance in London and specializes in Embodied Dramaturgy. Marcella has been artist in residence at the University of Kelaniya, University of Jaffna, University of the Visual & Performing Arts, Colombo & Wesleyan University. Marcella practices meditation and Iyengar yoga. She is a Justice of the Peace and a Death Doula, as well being a wife and a mother of four.
DIC WHEELER is a Theater and Circus Artist and is the Co-Founder of ARTFARM where he produced/directed many professional Shakespeare productions, new works, and performed with Circus for a Fragile Planet and Isaac Newton’s Little Apple Circus. Dic was Artistic Director at Oddfellows Playhouse for most of 1980 – 2004, where he now serves as Executive Artistic Director. Dic has directed over 90 plays and written and produced numerous original works. Dic founded The Children’s Circus of Middletown in 1988 and Circophony Teen Circus in 2004. He developed the Neighborhood Troupes program, a program that provides access to theater programs for young people from low-income housing areas. Favorite directing projects include many Shakespeare plays including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet, plus Red Noses by Peter Barnes, The Mahabharata, The Bakkhai, Fuente Ovejuna, Blood Wedding, Tartuffe, and a few musicals like Cabaret and Hair. Dic has written several plays which have been produced,
including the musicals Leap Up! and Moon Goddess. Dic has worked internationally as a performer and theater educator. Dic has worked in Sri Lanka with numerous performing groups and taught theater through the US Embassy. With ARTFARM he was the 1st American to teach at the Colombo International Theare Festival where he was part of a team teaching Generative Theater. Dic has been a national leader in Circus Arts, is a founding member of the American Youth Circus Organization (AYCO) and is a part of the American Circus Educators (ACE). Dic is a master teacher in mask work and Commedia Dell’Arte. Dic has trained with some of the great clown and circus performers of our time, including Avner Eisenberg, Bolek Polivka, Dimitri, Peter Schumann of Bread and Puppet Theater, Sandra Archer of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and Pierre Byland of the Ecole Jacque Lecoq. He is a graduate of the American International School in Vienna, Austria and the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
CECELIA MCCARTHY REID (CECE) hails from the beautiful, vibrant island of Jamaica. Cece was member of the Little Theatre Movement (LTM) Pantomime Company- which has been producing theater in Jamaica since 1941. Cecelia is also a member of The Jamaican Folk Singers and toured with the group throughout Jamaica and in New York, USA. Relocating to the USA, Cece has been engaged at Oddfellows Playhouse as an Assistant Director for teen productions and joined the ARTFARM Ensemble in 2019 with Terpsichore: The Women’s Movement, was a support in and Where Are We Now?: A Performative Grief and Healing Ritual To Tend Our Racial Wounds, Co-crafted a performance workshop- Theater in the Forest, was in the film BEING and is part of the generative team of The One Who- all with ARTFARM. Cece has done print and screen work and holds a Degree in Performing Arts from the Excelsior Community College in Kingston, Jamaica.
MIRANDA VOLPE is delighted to be working with ARTFARM! Her recent stage work includes the New York premiere of Arizona by Juan Carlos Rubio Cruz, The Vagina Monologues at the Charter Oak Center in Hartford, The Dining Room for TDC NYC, and performances in the acting corps for Columbia University’s MFA directing program. Miranda’s most recent film work includes Here produced by the Black TV and Film Collective and nominated for best narrative short at the 2022 Pan African Film Festival, and the upcoming Tiger Tiger starring Sydney Lemmon. Miranda returned to professional acting in 2021 after working as a theater teacher and director at Oddfellows Playhouse, Hall High School in West Hartford, and for many years at Watkinson School in Hartford, where she also served as the Director of
the Creative Arts Program. In her earlier acting career, she worked with groundbreaking NY artists at the Cucaracha Theater Company and Soho Rep and in more traditional musicals, such as the 20th anniversary revival of Hair in Woodstock, New York. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University.
ANITRA BROOKS is an actor, singer-songwriter, musician, & teaching artist. A graduate of Brown University & The Integrative Sound & Music Institute, she has toured the U.S. & world with Drama Desk Award-nominated puppet performers & masked musicians Big Nazo, Drama Desk Award-nominated “bad-ass masters of vocalogy” Hotmouth, & with Grisha Coleman's dance & live music performance installation echo::system. In her twenty plus years in New York City, she has performed at such venues as the Public Theater, Belasco Theater, LaMama, HERE Arts Center, Kraine Theater, Ohio Theatre & National Black Theatre. She has also been featured in numerous television & radio commercials, television shows & soap operas. As a recording artist,
she has released two albums of original music: Flood in 2008 & I Walk in Your Light in 2015. She is the co-creator of the community ensemble project & plays Where Are We Now?: Race, Pride, Class & Inequity (2017), and Where Are We Now?: A Performative Grief and Healing Ritual To Tend Our Racial Wounds (2021) both with ARTFARM. Anitra teaches Music & Movement at the Greenwich Country Day School and is a private voice teacher.
MIRANDA ISOBEL (ISO) is a journeyor, ritual holder, movement and vocal artist. Miranda sails, has worked numerous eco-spiritual festivals, practices lomi lomi & has been initiated as a water healer in Native & Central American Traditions. Iso practices yoga and meditation as well as dance as a place of healing and as performance. She has been working with ARTFARM for many years. Miranda holds a degree in Political Communications from Emerson College.
Olivia Blue is both a visual artist and an embodiment practitioner. She practices plant-based medicine, organic agriculture and is a wellness keeper. She utilizes movement and expressive arts as tools for transformation. Blue is known for her understanding of color, shape and the integration of interior design and landscape architecture to create sacred spaces. She has worked with ARTFARM for many years. liva holds a degree in Art Therapy from Albertus Magnus College.
ALLISON MCDERMOTT is a circus artist who was born, raised, and trained in Middletown, Connecticut. Growing up she learned to stilt, tumble, and clown at the Children’s Circus of Middletown, and as an adult discovered her love of aerial arts. She attended the New England Center for Circus Arts’ Professional Track Program in Brattleboro, VT, where she now lives. She is a stilter, juggler, dancer, acrobat and specializes in aerial hoop and hand balancing. She is a core member of ARTFARM’s Circus For a Fragile Panet, and Isaac Newton’s Little Apple Circus and appeared in ARTFARM’s circus-themed outdoor production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Allison is currently the Director of Circophony Teen Circus (a collaboration between ARTFARM & Oddfellows Playhouse) and has created several original Circus- Theater Pieces including Circus Botanicus, Spy-Sight is 20/20, The Things That Go Creep, Cirque du Schooleil and Planet Circus. Allison has worked with Big Teeth Collective (VT), Air Temple Arts (CT), Show Circus Studio (MA) and in addition to being a Lead Artist for ARTFARM, she is a core teacher at Oddfellows Playhouse and Matica Arts (CT). She is now a Lead Artist and the Assistant Director at The Children’s Circus of
Middletown and teaches and performs in a variety of circus shows throughout New England area.
MAEGAN FULLER grew up in Middletown and has been doing theater and circus since she was very young. She is a member of ARTFARM’s Circus for a Fragile Planet, performed in ARTFARM’s outdoor production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and was the lead teaching artist for ARTFARM at Kinsella Magnet Arts School. She taught at Middletown Stage Company and is currently a teacher at Oddfellows Playhouse and The Children’s Circus of Middletown and ARTFARM. Maegan has an infectious clown presence on stage and she is known for her Rainbow Faerie presence in the community. Maegan has a degree in Theater and Psychology from Central Connecticut State University.
MEGAN BERRITTA has been performing and teaching circus arts for over 25 years and is the creator and director of the Children's Circus of Middletown's Teeny Tiny Troupe. She performs with ARTFARM's Circus for a Fragile Planet, instructs dance and acrobatics locally and specializes in early childhood development through movement. Meg is known for her sweet clown and acrobatic work on stage and for being a model for how to structure classes and performances with the youngest of people.
Janoah Bailin creates and performs energetic, stimulating and educational shows for family audiences with zir unique blend of circus, puppetry, story and dance. Janoah grew up juggling with the Suspenders Juggling Troupe in Falmouth (MA) then traveled New England with the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour. Janoah coaches the Gym Dandies Children’s Circus of Scarborough (ME) and is the unicycle teacher at the Children's Circus of Middletown (CT) and is teaching and performing zirs shows with ARTFARM. Ze helped form the Living Room Dance Collective in Portland (ME), a space devoted to contemporary movement and performance. Ze has been touring SpinS, a full-length solo circus-puppetry performance
across the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit, including Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, winning "Best Variety" in London and meSSeS, a second full-length circus-dance performance in which the audience learns to juggle during the show. Ze has brought the show to The Dance Complex (Boston), Redfern (Keene NH), Oddfellows Playhouse (Middletown CT), APA's Contact East (Halifax NS), SPACE (Portland ME), as well as the Cincinnati, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Hartford and Elgin Fringe Festivals (where ze won "Spirit of the Fringe" 2022). Janoah has been a resident artist at the Barn Arts Collective in Bass Harbor and Subcircle in Biddeford (ME). Ze has been awarded the 2020 MAC Fellowship in the Performing Arts, NEFA's 2021 Public Art Learning Fund, as well as numerous MAC Project and NEFA Dance Fund grants. Janoah currently performs internationally for festivals, stages and parades, leaving behind a wake of tumbled juggling props.
ROWAN TASHI is a physical theater and circus artist, sound designer, deejay and activist. They have enjoyed such roles as Caliban in The Tempest, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Kreon in Antigone, Dromio in A Comedy of Errors, Anon in Anon(ymous), God and Adam in The Serpent (dir. Midori Nakamura) as well as creating original roles in the dance-theater piece Borderline (dir. Ishmael Houston-Jones) and The Adventures of Virginia and Orlando (dir. Kevin Kuhlke). Rowan has originated dozens of original roles in devised circus performances as part of Circophony. They grew up juggling and clowning at The Children’s Circus of Middletown, where they are now the Physical Theater and Clowning Teacher. Rowan has performed numerous times with Bread and Puppet Theater under the direction of Peter Schumann. Rowan has created Sound Design for over a dozen productions and creates electronic music for both performance projects and live events. Rowan is trained in various vocal and physical pedagogies, juggles, plays the saxophone, practices contact improvisation and stage combat and is certified in Broadsword. Rowan is a graduate of The Educational Center for The Arts and is currently in the Experimental Wing (ETW) of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
ARTEMISIA OMANI is a physical theater, circus and visual artist. Artemis has enjoyed such roles as Arkadina in The Seagull, Ismene in Antigone and Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Artemis has originated numerous roles in circus-theater productions with Circophony as well as numerous roles in devised works with the all-female company Breaking Silences. Artemis has performed several times with Bread and Puppet Theater under the direction of Peter Schumann. As a circus artist, Artemis specializes in contortion and has studied contortion intensively with Oyuna Yadamjav and Dahlia Fatale and acrobatics with Sylvia Hernandez and Michel Rodríguez Cintra. She has trained with contortion specialists Serchmaa Byamba, Otgo Waller and Sellam Ouahabi. Artemis’s long-time trainers are Naja Muller and Allison Mcdermott. Artemis grew up tumbling, clowning, stilting and painting at the Children’s Circus of Middletown where she is now the Art Teacher/Art Director. As a visual artist,
Artemisia focuses on oils, watercolors, portraits and figure drawing. She is committed to a constructive approach to creating on the canvas. Artemis has created masks and properties for numerous productions and has taught theater and circus arts to and co-directed productions for young people. Artemis is a graduate of the Actor’s Gymnasium Professional Circus Training Program in Chicago and is a student of The Florence Classical Art Academy in Florence, Italy.
Naja Muller, a Connecticut shoreline native, is a Circus Arts teacher, choreographer, and performer. Naja holds a BA from North Carolina School of the Arts with a Concentration in Ballet. She began her movement studies as a classically trained ballet dancer, performing with the New Haven Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Moscow State Ballet, and the Paul Hall Contemporary Dance Theater. She also received training in modern, ballroom, character, hip-hop, and jazz dance. Naja's training in Circus Arts began at the renowned San Francisco Circus Center where she received specialized training under Master Lu Yi and Xia Ke Min. She specialized in Chinese acrobatics, hand to hand, contortion and foot juggling while also studying rope, static trapeze, lyra, and tissue. Naja has taught extensively in the Bay Area and is well versed in teaching Chinese acrobatics and aerial arts. In addition to training at the San Francisco Circus Center, her career at SFCC spans from Choreographer to Coach to Asst. Director for
the SF Youth Circus productions. Naja's teaching career also includes: Associate Artistic Director and Troupe coach at Velocity Arts and Entertainment; Doubles Coach and Choreographer at Head over Heels Gymnastics; and as Choreographer/Coach for contortion, acro, and hand-balancing at the Kinetic Arts Center for CircusSpire. She has also performed with: The New Pickle Circus, the Vau de Vire Society, Velocity and Earth Circuses. She has served as director of Circus at Future Stars Camps in Westchester, NY and a guest instructor at NECCA in Brattleboro, VT. Naja is a co-director, coach, choreographer and trainer and contortion specialist for Circophony and a Lead Instructor for ARTFARM’s Circus for Adults program.
SAGE DELUCIA is a queer full-spectrum community practitioner & has a deep passion for weaving together trauma-informed care, sacred space and transformative justice. With over 5 years of experience working with LGBTQ+ and woman identified folks in trauma, recovery and health settings, they have found so much joy in holding space to help clients navigate birth, life and death, gender identity related processes & soul searching. Through their professional life (and who are we kidding, just living life), they have deeply developed the ability to "walk the edge" (aka those moments just before major change that sometimes prove to be the most challenging) as well as their ability to hold paradox and compassion. Sage brings this forward with all of their clients in the myriad of thresholds they encounter including birth, loss, grief, change and all the in betweens. Sage grew up in Southern California and currently lives and works in Middletown, CT. They graduated from SDSU with a degree in Psychology and are currently pursuing a Master's of Marriage and Family Therapy at Southern Connecticut State University. As this master's suggests, Sage is passionate about working within systems and has an eye for
finding misalignment and moving it towards ease and flow. They apply this everywhere in their life including technology and operations - mystical and logistal are their strong suits. Sage aims to dismantle systems of oppression that live inside of them and the community at large by showing up for community in ways that help move the needle. As of right now Sage does this through their therapeutic practice by providing person-centered care, gender and identity affirming practices, and participating in conversations/movements that get creative and imaginative with new ways to build an anti-oppressive, identity affirming existence.
JOSEPH GETTER is a creative world musician and teacher, with decades of experiences in kirtan, Carnatic music of India, Javanese gamelan of Indonesia, free improv and experimental music, and music to accompany yoga, theater, dance, sound meditation journeys, and the circus arts. In 2022, Marcella Trowbridge and Joseph c0-created a recording of music and poetry to ease the end of life, titled “RELEASE. FORGIVE. A Soundscape for Dying.” Also in 2022, he composed and performed music for Mind(ed) Over Matter, a dance piece about galamsey, problematic small scale mining in Ghana, choreographed by Iddrisu Saaka and his students at Wesleyan University. From 2006-2017, Joseph served as music director for a dozen seasons of outdoor Shakespeare productions with ART FARM, composing, arranging, and performing at every show. Throughout the 2010s, he composed and performed music for Lorelei Chang’s Hartford-based professional dance company dancEnlight. He has been a member of the Circus Band for the Children’s Circus of Middletown since 1997, serving as music director since 2018. He has been music director for Oddfellows Playhouse for numerous productions. Joseph has been a member of the Wesleyan Javanese Gamelan since 1996, and directed the Youth
Gamelan at Wesleyan from 2001-2020. Joseph performs throughout New England on bamboo flute to accompany Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of South India. With his spiritual name Kalidasa, he leads kirtan, the practice of call and response singing of mantras and holy names from the Hindu tradition. His creative music project Cosmic Hue performs at festivals and galleries, and for dance, yoga, and sound sessions. Joseph’s newest group is The Mindfolds, a collaboration with gong master Ed Cleveland and drummer Craig Norton. Joseph also performs with singer-songwriters, and participates in drum circles. Joseph’s teachers include the T. Viswanathan, a master of the south Indian flute; mridangam drummer Ramnad Raghavan; gamelan musicians Sumarsam and I.M. Harjito; and A.V. Srinivasan, founder of the first Hindu temple in Connecticut. He studied and performed with electro-acoustic composer Alvin Lucier, and played in the ensemble of avant-garde composer Anthony Braxton. Joseph practiced meditation at the site of Buddha’s enlightenment in Bodh Gaya with the Antioch College Buddhist Studies in India Program. There he learned from the renowned Vipassana teacher and Pali scholar Anagarika Munindra, and from Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, a great Dzogchen master and teacher. Joseph lived in India for two years, traveling extensively and learning meditation and music. He has degrees in Religion from Oberlin College and in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. Joseph’s writing on the music of India has been published by Wesleyan University Press, Oxford University Press, the journal Ethnomusicology and elsewhere. He has served since 2001 as Editor of Silent Sounds, the literary publication of Middletown Public Schools. Joseph accompanies modern dance classes at Wesleyan and at Educational Center for the Arts magnet high school in New Haven. He teaches music at Southern Connecticut State University, University of New Haven, Independent Day School, and elsewhere. He also now serves as President of the Raga Club of Connecticut, producing concerts of the best North and South Indian classical music for the community.