CO-FOUNDER/HEAD OF OPERATIONS

Akari is a filmmaker and photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. She believes in championing scrappy art making. She has written and directed two narrative short films, HAPA(2022) and TRADITION(2025), with her short documentary TSUBAME currently in progress. When she’s not filmmaking, she is behind the camera as a creative director and producer.

She is also the co-founder/Head of Operations of WRITE CLUB where she helps foster a community of emerging writers and artists. She believes that when it comes to making art, intuition is EVERYTHING!

WEBSITE for more info.

CO-FOUNDER/CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Ethan Manuel Homen is a Playwright, Director, and filmmaker currently living in Brooklyn. He graduated from the University of Washington where he received his bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Media studies. As a big city transplant, and chronic dreamer, he crafts stories that his younger—fearfully queer—self would have liked to see on the stage and screen growing up in rural America.

Ethan has written scripts that have placed as finalists in contests at the national level, staged his theater work across the city, directed several short films, and produced various other projects. In addition he co-founded and is the creative director behind the artist collective and organization known as WRITE CLUB.

WEBSITE for more info.

CO-FOUNDER/HEAD OF OPERATIONS

Born and raised in Seattle, WA, and now based in NYC, I am a filmmaker, writer, poet, actor, and so much more! I began my professional journey with my short documentary, Very Sincerely Yours, which explores the cyclical nature of being a Black student activist across two different generations. The second short film in my journey was co-producing a short titled Peach Fuzz. Inspired by The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith (who also serves as our Executive Producer), Peach Fuzz follows 15-year-old Penny in the PNW as she navigates self-discovery, envy, and poor choices, reminding us we are both our authentic selves and our lost versions in need of love. Recently, I wrote, directed, and acted in my short film, Hooyo Macaan. Hooyo Macaan tells the story of Samira, a recent post-grad who, at a Somali tribal party, tells her mother she is pursuing poetry instead of engineering. Samira, like me and many others, is figuring out where and if she is wanted.

WEBSITE for more info.

PRODUCER

ISABELLE CHIRLS (they/them) is a producer, theatre and intimacy director, arts administrator, and writer based in New York City.

With both independent and commercial experience, Isabelle has worked on projects in development for Broadway, as well as productions off-Broadway (HERE Arts Center, Classic Stage Company, 59E59) and off-off-Broadway (The Tank, Court Square Theatre, The Vino Theatre). Isabelle is also the Creative Producer for WRITE CLUB, a collective that supports early-career writers in new work development.

Isabelle graduated from Wesleyan University in 2023 with a BA in Theatre and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. They were awarded the Outreach & Community Service Prize in Theatre and earned High Honors for their thesis “Make the Roof Cave In: Writing Queer Experience on the Page and the Stage.” They have also trained with Intimacy Directors & Coordinators (IDC). 

WEBSITE for more info.

SCENIC DESIGNER/TECHNICAL MANAGER

Sean Lillis is a Brooklyn based scenic designer from Poughkeepsie, New York. 

Sean aims to design for a diverse audience through work that speaks to universal truths while challenging expectations of form. His process centers itself around specificity and invention, designs that are characters in and of themselves with a focus on thorough research and familiarity. His goal is to create the world of new works and re-contextualize the worlds of the classics. 

He is also the resident designer for WRITE CLUB!

WEBSITE for more info.

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