Samson Syharath is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, educator, and administrator focusing on visibility of Asian-American artists and under-served communities. After receiving a B.A. from the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, Samson trained at the Portland Actors Conservatory where he is currently Associate Artistic Director. He was part of the Theatre Communications Group Rising Leaders of Color Cohort in 2017 featured by American Theatre Magazine and was the recipient of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild’s Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship that same year. Samson is also a company member of Theatre Vertigo and helped Bag&Baggage Productions with artist outreach for their Problem Play Project.  www.samsonsyharath.com

Rebekah Lee is a photographer, art director and graphic designer based in Portland, OR. She is a storyteller by nature and is passionate about learning people’s stories and perspectives. Rebekah values curiosity and challenge because she believes that there is always room to grow in learning about the world around you. Her hope is to be able to tell honest human stories through the craft of acting and to be able to represent the AAPI community well in every project she partakes in.

Cecelia Shroyer is thrilled to be part of the Fertile Ground Festival and especially highlighting AAPI stories! She has been a long time lover of the arts starting with acting classes in college. After an unplanned 13 year break from theatre, she got cast in 36 Conversations at HART Theatre in Hillsboro. She also played several roles in Sleepy Hollow at Beaverton Civic Theatre. The pandemic definitely put a hold on live theatre, but she participated in a few Zoom productions. Last year she participated in a staged reading called The Ransom of Granny Red Jeans at Stomping Grounds Arthouse. Cecelia is currently a graduate student in counseling at George Fox University. She also loves singing and playing the piano in addition to acting. Recently, she was in the new 10 minute play Danny and Rose as part of the Chapel Theatre Play Festival. The arts are so important and she is so grateful to Theatre Diaspora and Samson for this opportunity!

Chisao Hata is a performing artist, community organizer, and global citizen artist. Her work shares the Japanese-American story to communities from Hiroshima, Japan to Cuba, and New Mexico to Ontario, Oregon. As an arts educator, her perspectives are shared as an Oregon Humanities Conversation Leader.

Lexie Quandt (she/her/hers) is a fat performer who dedicates her time and energy to hanging out with her sweet cat, Henry. When she’s not cuddling Henry, she can be found Twitch streaming horror video games on her Shrek-loving channel as ShrexyLexie. She’s performed throughout Portland in new works and is delighted to be working with Theatre Diaspora.

Larry Toda (producing ensemble) earned his B.A. in journalism and communications, and is a corporate marketing manager for Mentor Graphics Corporation in Wilsonville. Previous professional roles include Henry in South Pacific (Lakewood Theater), Emperor and Sailor in Pacific Overtures (Keller Auditorium) and Mike in From Oregon With Love II (Fuji Television Japan). He has performed most recently in MediaRites’ Theatre Diaspora’s productions of Breaking the Silence, The Theory of Everything, A Sound of a Voice, and After the War Blues. He currently serves on the board of MediaRites.

Ari Aquilla-Saund (they/them) is a South Asian/mixed race
nationally produced playwright and multidisciplinary artist based in Portland, Oregon. They proudly serve as a company member of Theatre Diaspora, Oregon’s only professional Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) theatre company. Recent and current production work includes collaborations with Oregon Children’s Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, LineStorm Playwrights and Bag & Baggage Theatre, Profile Theatre, Body Home Fat Dance, Risk/Reward PDX and On The Boards Seattle, Renee’s Queer Cabaret, Kryptic Films, APANO/AMP, Advance Gender Equity in the Arts and Literary Arts.
Recent poetry publications include collections in Pile Press’ Winter Issue Vol. 3 and Mythos Magazine’s Moon Goddess Issue. Future publications include a trio of poems to be published by Drip Literary Magazine in the autumn/winter of 2022. They are currently working on editing their first poetry chapbook, Twist the Legend.

Emery Thanathiti is a writer, filmmaker, and third culture kid originally from Thailand and raised partly in Hong Kong.

Growing up in three different countries with very contrasting cultures, she has developed a passion for understanding the human condition and the importance of identity and representation. 

With education and background in communications, literature, creative writing, theater, and journalism, Emery believes that storytelling is a powerful way to help bridge the divides between people.

Fiely Matias is a freelance artist, writer and theatermaker. Some career highlights include touring with IMAGO THEATER, performing at the Kennedy Center with ANNIE 2, and directing and developing the Off Broadway musical DISENCHANTED! currently being licensed worldwide via Broadwaylicensing.com. Currently Fiely is developing the TYA musical “Zazzie Sings!” which is based on his children’s book “Reebee dedoo dada.”

Jacqueline Mai is a Vietnamese-American film and theatre actor based in Portland, Oregon. She looks for compelling and challenging roles across genres, and values fleshing out characters’ motivations and emotions. 

​Ashley Song is a biracial actor/producer and co-founder of Desert Island Studios. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she worked as a professional actress for over a decade before relocating to Portland, Oregon. She prioritizes work for and about BIPOC and other marginalized voices, and is especially interested in telling stories that investigate trauma, mental illness, and prejudicial biases. She has written and produced for commercials, music videos, and short films, and is currently working on producing her third feature.

Jake Fung is an actor and performer in the Greater Portland Area, and he is so grateful to be sharing this piece of theatre with the community! His favorite theatre credits include Footloose (ACMA), Act Three, Scene Five (Twilight Theatre Company), The Music Man (STAGES), Matilda Jr. (HART Theatre), Side by Side by Sondheim (Bridgetown Conservatory), and MAMMA MIA! (Theatre in the Grove). Jake is a junior at the Arts and Communications Magnet Academy (ACMA), where he studies acting, dance, and scenic design. Special thanks to the Fertile Ground Festival, Theatre Diaspora, and Jason.

Dmae Lo Roberts has been the executive producer of MediaRites since 1991 and has managed numerous projects. Her Peabody-winning documentary Mei Mei, a Daughter’s Song is a harrowing account of her mother’s childhood in Taiwan during WWII, adapted  into a film in 2014. Roberts and MediaRites won another Peabody-award for the eight-hour Crossing East, the first Asian American history series on public radio. Roberts received the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Civil Rights and Social Justice award from the Asian American Journalists Association and was selected as a United States Artists (USA) Fellow. As a theatre artist, she has won two Drammys, one for her acting and one for her play Picasso In The Back Seat, which also won the Oregon Book Award in 1996. She has has performed in and produced dozens of stage plays in her career on Portland stages including the IFCC, Artists Repertory Theatre, OSF-Portland and Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company. She will be featured in Artists Rep’s production of Caught in October 2017.

Kelly Novahom (she/her) is a queer Pilipino and Mexican American multidisciplinary artist, educator, community organizer, event producer, cultural worker, and a cofounder of the Queer & Trans Asian & Pacific Islander writing and movement project, Liminal Bodies. She is currently a student of prose, in the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) Portfolio Program and a Program Manager at Center for Community Engagement at Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling where her work strives to bring social justice focused continuing education opportunities to writers, educators, and counselors.

In the past, she has served as the Education & Community Programs Director for Shaking the Tree Theatre, organizing events on fight choreography, movement and intimacy direction. Other works include co-producing Coming Out & Overcoming with Theatre Diaspora and Artist Repertory Theatre, a storytelling project that seeks to provide connection and opportunity to center narratives around what it means to fully live in multiple identities as queer and trans Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), and guest curating and co-producing events such as the APANO Annual East Portland Arts & Literary Festival and the Portland launch event for the Pilipinx Radical Imagination Reader with Whitenoise Project.

Ezri Galban Reyes is a vibes-based artist born in the 408 where he was raised by his family, community, and the land. She is currently based in Portland and lives in the Muppet Museum. At their former college, they were a resident advisor, student art center co-manager, improv team co-captain, and held a leading role as the Emcee at Fir Acres Theater. Since graduating in 2022, they have performed in Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble’s The Americans and Cardiac Organ and Third Rail’s Sanctuary City. He is passionate about collaborative theatre-making as a container for chaos. And right now, she’s cooking up some BANGERS (music) with her dear friend Rocco Weyer. 

Miro/Jooyoung Oh (she/they) is a writer and dancer. Jooyoung Oh is a co-founder of StudioYellow, a social design consulting group that challenges systemic injustice through revolutionary love within a racial justice and equity framework. Their work is rooted in the love of the outdoors, Ajuma, and healing history. 

Imani Unique-Marie is a multidisciplinary artist and writer keen on expressing the world within themselves and creating strong bridges between other worlds to strengthen our community’s network with love