Our Team
President
Chapter Director
Lindsay Shields
Lindsay Shields serves as Chapter Director and teaches drama at Flushing High School, Troupe #7892, in Queens. She serves on both the New York and NorthEast Thespian Boards. She studied theater at Brevard College in North Carolina and received her Master's in Educational Theater from New York University and a Master's of Theater Studies in Production and Design from Southern Oregon University. She is involved in several off-Broadway productions as Technical Director and Stage Manager.
Contact Lindsay at: 917-952-4559, lindsay.m.shields@gmail.com, or on Twitter and Instagram, @ActingPolitical.
Marie Iachetta
STO Coordinator
Marie Iachetta just finished Directing A Diseased Feeling for Repertory Theatre Company 7892. Marie was a founding member of Thespian Troupe 7892 and has served as a chaperone for them during their Building Emily Warren journey. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice from John Jay College. She was recently in Minefield Theatre’s production of #BitchDrinks. Her college theater credits include The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, and The Just Assassins. Marie has also dabbled in both Directing and Producing with credits including 12 Angry Jurors and Love & Information. She is thrilled to become apart of the NY Thespian Board!
You can continue to follow her drama queen adventures on Instagram @thetangomarieee
Erin Moughon
Treasurer
Registration
Erin Moughon is a drama teacher at the Bronx Academy of Letters and a playwright with an MFA from Columbia whose plays have been produced across the USA and internationally.
Plays: Snow White Padded Room (BBTF, 14th St Y), Survived By (New Plays Now, 3LD), Slip Her a Mickey (Schapiro Theatre), Pretend That You Owe Me… (Schapiro Theatre). Short plays include “In Memory of Calvinball” and “Out of Body/On a Train”. See her Instagram: @erinplaywright for more. Erin has been a semi-finalist for both the Princess Grace award (‘10) and the National Playwrights Conference (‘12 and ‘14) She completed 31 Plays in 31 Days every year and participated in 365 Women a Year every year so far. She is published in The Best Ten Minute Plays of 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018. Erin is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild.
Sandy Qiu
Sandy is excited to be part of the Thespian Board! Throughout high school she has been involved in its theatre troupe 7892 where she mainly worked across crew, with a focus on lights and publicity. After graduating, she continues to stay in theatre by volunteering for the NY Thespian Festival as well as being part of the Thespians Board. She is very excited to be involved in planning events and helping to grow the NY chapter!
Webmaster
Suzy Qiu
Suzy is excited to be part of the Thespian Board as Social Media Chair! In high school she participated in her school productions as a sound designer and marketer, which led to her passion for marketing. She continues to participate in theater-related events by volunteering for the NY Thespian Festival, and worked with her friend to put on Angels in the Sky for the SummerFest Theater Festival. Suzy is excited to be a part of the NY Thespian Board and continue her passion for the arts.
Social Media Chair
DEIA
Diversity & Inclusivity Co-Chair
Brandon Williamson
Brandon Williamson is the founder of Pure Ink Poetry and a member of the Ujima Theatre Company. He has performed in multiple productions including Ruined, The Scavenger’s Daughter, and The Green Pastures. Brandon is also an internationally acclaimed spoken word artist who has graced stages across the US, Canada, Iceland, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Brandon was brought up in theater under the mentorship of Lorna C. Hill and the Ujima Theatre company, and has a Bachelors degree in Theatre Arts from SUNY Fredonia, and a Masters in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity.
Megan Kemple
DEIA
Diversity & Inclusivity Co-Chair
Megan Kemple is a multidisciplinary writer, performer & teaching artist. Her plays have been professionally produced by Buffalo United Artists, ART of WNY, and her alma maters. As a slam poet, She placed 3rd at the Rookie Slam at the National Poetry Slam 2017, & 3rd in the NUPIC Slam at NPS 2018, where her team placed in the top ten. She has been published in Milk Press, The Drama Therapy Review, Preposition: the Undercurrent Anthology, & other publications. Her first chapbook, American Blasphemies, was released through Ghost City Press (2017), & was staged as an immersive dance piece. In 2022, she founded Omnipresent Magic Productions, a theatre company producing new works by marginalized playwrights. Her play, "Accidental Intimacies", was produced at the 2022 Fresh Fruit Festival in NYC., and won the "Fresh Fruit Spirit Award: Fostering Pride, Survival, History, and Progress". Her short plays "The Rules" and "The Algorithm" were selected for the Players Theatre Short Play Festival in February and October 2023, respectively. She has facilitated drama therapy workshops for Write About Now, TodayTix, EdTA, and the International Thespian Society. She has an MA from NYU Steinhardt in Drama Therapy, and has a BFA in Theatre Performance from Niagara University. She is currently the Arts Programming Coordinator at The Door: A Center for Alternatives in NYC.
Ainara Hidalgo
Ainara is a native New Yorker, but her roots spread across the globe. For the past year, she lived in Athens, Greece. From all her travels, her all-time favorite places are Budapest and Rome! Ainara is currently working as a College and Career Counselor at a High School in Manhattan. In her free time, Ainara enjoys running, and her most recent favorite read is The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morison. .
Alumni Relationship Chair
Karen Watson
Karen Watson is an actress, writer, director and a 19 th year Drama Teacher with the NYC DOE. She was the NYC coordinator of programming for The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Organization and created a theater lesson for the worldwide curriculum. She has presented her workshops at colleges, teacher trainings throughout the country as well as conferences( Stage the Change,Educational Theatre Association National Conference). She has directed over 12 productions including Matilda this past summer in Maine. She has performed throughout the country and won several awards for her solo show Ripple of Hope. She directed and produced the documentary Warriors of Education that own several awards at the film festival circuit.Karen is the recipient of the 2015 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights honor for her work in theatre and human rights.
One Acts Chair
Cyndi Feinman
Vice President
Education Chair
Cyndi Feinman (she/her) is a theatre creator and a trained vocalist and pianist. Cyndi holds two K-12 NYS teaching certifications, Theatre and Chorus, and teaches at Rye Neck High School. She has been an educator for thirteenyears and currently teaches beginning, intermediate, and advanced level acting and technical theatre classes as well as a musical theatre class. Cyndi Feinman has a Bachelors of Music, Masters in Music, and is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts which will lead to a PhD in Theatre Education from the University of Idaho. At the University of Idaho she is specializing in directing and playwriting.
Cyndi is a director, producer, and playwright both in public schools and community theaters. She has experience working with all age groups, young children to adults. She is passionate about all areas of theatre, and is also a lighting designer, intimacy director, and fight director for various theaters around New York. She has trained with ETC and has completed four levels of lighting training, has taken Intimacy Direction classes with Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE) and at the University of Idaho, and has gone through fight choreography training with certified SAFD trainers at Summer Sling at Brooklyn College. Each summer she attends Broadway Teachers Workshop Professional Development where she gets training in choreography, projection design, best practices, directing, and more. Her students attend the New York Thespian Festival where they learn about the industry and perform for feedback. Next year her students will be attending the New York State Educational Theatre Association's conference (NYSTEA). Cyndi also hosts the New York Thespian One-Act Festival at her school.
Cyndi Feinman has received numerous accolades for her work including recognition at the New York Play Festival for her plays, Discovering Sylvia and Raisins and Almonds. In the spring of 2023, Cyndi's production of Anastasia won "Best Overall Production" at the prestigious Metro Awards for High School Excellence in Theatre. Her students took several awards as well after the entire production received 11 nominations. Her students have received top honors at the Roger Rees Awards for Theatrical Excellence and the New York Thespian Festival.
In 2023, Cyndi Feinman created the Westchester Artists Guild in collaboration with Iona College. Students from around Westchester have the opportunity to showcase work from plays without music for a chance to win scholarships and acceptances to college. This program is free for schools to participate in order to create equitable access to theatre for all students. Cyndi also created the ACDA Summer Honors Chorus for High School students in 2019. After chairing the Middle School Honors Chorus for three years and chairing the Nassau County Division 5 All-County Chorus, she had the skills and knowledge to create this additional opportunity for high school students across New York State.