about us

The Shadow Box Theatre (SBT) is a non-profit, 501(c)3 children's theatre that brings musicals, puppetry, art workshops and storytelling to children all around New York City. For over five decades, SBT's diverse theatre troupe and their musical multimedia puppet shows have brought love, laughter and affirmation to over two million children.

The Shadow Box Theatre is recognized as one of New York City's major arts resources and is an award-winning non-profit repertory company dedicated to creativity, diversity and providing children with a positive view of themselves, their world, and their future.

our mission

The Shadow Box Theatre's mission is to touch the minds and hearts of children through shadow and three-dimensional puppet-based theatre arts. SBT's programs encourage creative exploration, celebrate diversity, and teach humanistic values such as how to deal with bullying and respecting individual differences, peaceful solutions, and appreciation of our earth.

This is accomplished through an integrated program of performances given in our spaces and brought to your space, creative theatre arts workshops for children, teachers, and parents, and picture books with companion audio, as well as films and audio recordings based on our musical puppet productions.

Meet the Team

Founding Executive and Artistic Director
Sandra (she/her) is the founding Artistic/Executive Director of The Shadow Box Theatre. For more than half a century, her dedication and love of children, as well as her tenacious awareness that children are our future, has driven her to keep SBT alive and vital. Originally a modern dancer, her love of movement was how she expected to dedicate her life. To make a living, she also became an early childhood educator. However, her marriage and three wonderful children made her dance career take a backseat.
Life unfolded in unexpected ways and while teaching in a community program she created a show to earn funds for the program. Out of this community project The Shadow Box Theatre was born.

Associate Artistic Director
Emelia Pinamang Asiedu (she/her) is an actor and theatre maker from Ghana with over ten years’ experience in theatre and performance. She has worked with SBT both in person and remotely as a performer and assistant administrator. She has performed on stages across Accra, New York, Iowa and California. Emelia holds a BA in Theatre from Pomona College (CA) and an MFA in Acting from the University of Iowa (IA).

Operations Manager
Raymond (he/him) runs the day to day operations of SBT from soup to nuts. He was formerly an administrator/director for NY Dinner Theatre and Artistic Director of Theatre in the Schools, as well as an Audie Award nominated audiobook narrator of 70+ unabridged titles for Blackstone Audio and Hovel Audio. He is an active actor/director, poet, musician, and filmmaker. His event company, Ivesian Arts, produces original plays, films, podcasts, artist exhibitions, dance concerts, new music concerts; and poetry, play and fiction readings. Ivesian Arts is also a publisher of fine art and literature ivesianarts.com

Music Director and Company Member
Greg (he/him), a singer, songwriter, musician, and performing artist - is The Shadow Box Theatre's Music Director and also performs with the company. He has been a core company member since 1989, creating memorable roles in The African Drum, The Firefly Star, and many other SBT productions. Greg also tours with SBT's Storybook Theatre: Stories That Sing! shows, serving as guitarist/performer.

Choreographer, Dancer, Social Media Manager, Master Teaching Artist and Company Member
Gina Mayers (she/her) is a professional dancer from Bridgetown Barbados. She started her early training in Ballet and Jazz at The Dance Place Barbados. She completed Royal Academy of Dance Advanced Graded examinations from 4 to Grade 8 with Distinctions. In 2010, she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Creative Arts: Dance and Film from The University of the West Indies Barbados with Honors. In 2011 she attended The Ailey School (part of the multi-award winning and historic Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre). Gina’s other credits include, soloist in the ASHA Dance Company, The Buglisi Dance Theater: Table of Silence 9/11 Project, The Dance Cartel’s Dance Safari project and with The Linda Diamond Company in the restaging of Anna Sokolow’s Classic work Una Semana. She also danced with Insight Dance Company in the world premiere of The Emperor's New Clothes, a contemporary ballet.
Gina is currently a principal dancer with the acclaimed, award-winning, Shadow Box Theatre.
She has reprised the principal role of Mother Earth in The Earth and Me from 2013 to present day. She also performed as Punda Malia the Zebra, The Lion and The Ancestors in the acclaimed musical The African Drum. Gina is an accomplished teacher and choreographer.
She re- choreographed Little is Big & Sing Out for Peace, and also developed the movement component of the Shadow Box Theatre’s One Foot In, One Foot Out workshop curriculum at Children of Promise; an organization to nurture the children of incarcerated parents. Gina is excited for another season at SBT where she continues to grow and inspire as an artist!

Drummer, Master Teaching Artist and Company Member
 Neil Clarke is an internationally noted percussionist who has been a student of his craft for more than fifty years. He was trained through long term apprenticeships with Chief James H. Bey among others. He has also performed, studied and collaborated with percussion masters and iconic artists worldwide such as Randy Weston, Harry Belafonte, Dianne Reeves and Miriam Makeba.
He has performed in North, West and South Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, the South Pacific and a majority of the United States.
 Mr. Clarke has also been an educator and consultant in Arts in Education programming for more than 4 decades. He has conducted artist residencies and designed programming at all educational levels, including Artist Residencies and Master classes at higher education institutions such as Harvard University, Duke Univ., Rutgers Univ., LIU – C.W. Post, University of Hartford, Lewis and Clark College.
He has served as a presenter and consultant for major cultural institutions in the NY and Tri-State area including The Caribbean Cultural Center, Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

Assistant Director, Assistant Music Director and Company Member
Marcus Turnage (he/him) has been a company member at Shadow Box Theatre since 2005, working alongside Sandy to become Assistant Director. A classically trained singer, Marcus also performs in Musical Theatre in NYC and Regionally. Favorite roles include Coalhouse and Booker T. In Ragtime, Newt Lee in Parade, C.C. White in Dreamgirls and Michael in Tick, Tick…BOOM!

Puppet Master, Production Manager, Assistant Choreographer and Company Member
Bevin Bell-Hall (she/her) has been a company member at Shadow Box since 2015. A professional actress and musical theatre performer, theatre maker, puppeteer, voice-over artist, arts educator, award-winning documentary producer (The WAMM Movie, Tales From the Long Memory) and choreographer, Bevin holds a BA in Film and Digital Media and Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz, an MFA in Acting from Wayne State University/The Hilberry Theatre in Detroit. She is a certified teacher of the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique through Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium, and a certified actor through Moscow Art Theatre School, USA.
Recently, Bevin was in the cast of Man of La Mancha at Asolo Rep. Other musical theatre roles include Gingy/Sugarplum in Shrek at Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Roberta White in Speakeasy at Theatre for the New City, Diana in Next to Normal at the Nevada Theatre, Ethel Toffelmeier in The Music Man at Cabrillo Stage, and Marian Ames (U/S) in Swingtime Canteen at The Cherry Lane Studio. She also sang on the original cast recording of The Princess and the Pea for Santa Cruz Shakespeare.
Bevin was the director and puppet master for the San Francisco based web series Through the Golden Gates. She was part of the original staff at All About Theatre (teaching, directing and choreographing), acted as Managing Director of Santa Cruz Parks and Recs Children’s Theatre, and Center Stage Children’s Musical Theatre, and has produced plays, TYA, and documentary screenings in CA, OH, Detroit, Ontario and NYC. She is currently providing voice over for Mar-Mar Productions Funko Pop inspired animated series of Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors on YouTube. www.bevinbellhall.com

Company Member and Puppet Maker
Kasey Moorhouse (she/her) has been a Company Member and Puppet Maker for the Shadowbox Theatre since 2019.
She has puppeteered in several Shadowbox Theatre shows including: The Firefly Star, Tobias Turkey, Earth and Me, Little is Big and more.
She graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Company Member and Puppet Maker
Sophie Larin (she/her) is a performer and crafter with a passion for children’s theatre. She has toured in musicals for young audiences everywhere from Dallas to Hartford to Seoul. Her best original roles have been for Blue Gate Musicals in Indiana Amish Country and at The Signature Theatre in Manhattan. In between building puppets for Shadow Box, she works as an educational actor at the School of Visual Arts and freelances as a coordinator on catalog and e-commerce shoots. In her free time, Sophie co-writes, directs and performs in her sketch comedy series- Switch Seats With Me. The show centers inclusion, experiments with genre and recently won Best Web Series at Lavender Film Festival 2023.

Teaching Artist, Video Editor and Project Coordinator
Regina (she/her) is a professional actor and teaching artist based in New York City. Recent NYC credits: The Golden Bride (National Yiddish Opera Folksbiene), Science Fair (ArsNova ANT), and Leah in Leah, the Forsaken (Metropolitan Playhouse) Regional: As You Like It (Connecticut Shakespeare) Charlotte's Web (Theatreworks/USA). Readings with Lark, EST, and ArsNova. TV/Film: Spiders (Cannes Festival), IDiscovery. She stars as Amelia in her comedy series, Honestly, Amelia at www.honestlyamelia.com. As a teacher she has taught Acting, Improv, Filmmaking, Commedia, and Musical Theater for the past ten years with children's theater programs in all five boroughs. BFA NYU TISCH Stella Adler.

Company Member
Rebecca Aparicio (she/her) has worked for SBT for over a decade! She is a performer, director and writer of new work --with a passion for theatre that intersects social and human justice. Recent directing includes Beastgirl (Kennedy Center, world premiere), House on the Lagoon (Gala Hispanic Theatre, world premiere), Sarita (Roundabout Refocus Reading Series), and Siluetas (O’Neill Theatre Center). As a director, she’s developed new work with American Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, EST, Musical Theatre Factory, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Ars Nova, Syracuse University, Parsnip Ship, The Tank, and more. Past Fellowships include: Roundabout Theatre’s Inaugural Directing Group, MTC Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow, The COOP’s Clusterf**k Writing Cohort, and a two-time SDCF Observership Award recipient.
As a writer, her work includes the award-winning musical Pedro Pan (New York Musical Festival, Musical Theatre Factory, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, FringeNYC), Tree Tales (Prospect Theatre), Hindsight 2020 (Live & In Color, commission), Legacy (Prospect Theatre), The Garcia Sisters (Red Mountain Theatre, commission), Nora Saves The World (Barn Arts), Sweet Tea & Jesus (Player’s Theatre- Best of Fest), and Acceptance (EAT’S New Work Series, Player’s Theatre).
Rebecca is a member of the Latinx Theatre Commons, Latinx Playwrights Circle, Board Member of The Flea Theatre, and a founding member of Magic Forest Theatre, dedicated to creating new musicals for young audiences.
www.RebeccaAparicio.com

Company Member and Musician
tephen Anthony Elkins (he/him) is an NYC-based composer/lyricist and performer, originally hailing from Athens, Alabama. Music and lyrics include Pedro Pan (Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, NYMF 2017-2018, Fringe 2015, TRUF 2014, MTF’s writers group), Salome vs. John (Queens Theatre NYC Artists Grant Showcase, University of Montevallo) SweetTean and Jesus (Audience Favorite-SASF), Acceptance (EAT’s Illuminating Artists Series/SASF), Nora Saves the World (Barn Arts). He studied at NYU’s GMTWP, the BMI Workshop, and has studied at ESPA with Adam Gwon and Kait Kerrigan. Commissions include Prospect Theatre Company’s Musical Theatre Lab), Live & In Color’s Hindsight 2020, and The Garcia Sisters (Red Mountain Theatre Company). He is also a founding member of Rogue Writers Group as well as Magic Forest Theatre Company, presenting new theatre for young audiences. In addition to writing, he enjoys musically directing, performing and heading up the bluegrass group Wild Magnolia.

Company Member and Musician
Alex Keane (they/she) is a non-binary actor, singer and dancer based in New York City. Currently, Alex is performing as a musician and puppeteer with Shadowbox’s touring production of Little is Big. Aside from that, Alex was seen performing with The Rev Theater Company and The Triad Theater in New York City.
Favorite credits include Beauty and the Beast (Syracuse Stage) and Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cortland Rep). Syracuse University BFA Musical Theater.

Company Member, Teaching Artist, and Musician
 Tommy Montgomery (he/him) is a Chicago-born, NYC-based actor, singer, and musician. Tommy plays guitar for Shadow Box storytellings. Outside his creative endeavors, he is a certified kayaking instructor and leads paddling tours on the Hudson River!
Select acting credits:
Jim/Andy in The Office! A Musical Parody (OffBroadway), Amadeus (Syracuse Stage), This is Our Youth (Piven Theatre Workshop).
BFA: Syracuse University.
tommymontgo.com
@tommy_montgo

Teaching Artist
Claire Fleitz is an Educator and Creator. She is thrilled to be joining the Shadow Box team. Claire is passionate about facilitating important conversations with young ones and exploring their natural curiosities through theatre, play, and storytelling!
She spent the last two years as a preschool teacher and is eager to jump back into the incredible world of teaching artistry.
In addition, she is pursuing her Masters in Applied Theatre at CUNY School of Professional Studies.

Teaching Artist
Heather Sawyer (she/they) is a proud Asian American actor, and dog mom to Winnifred Bagel. Since graduating from the Molloy College CAP21 BFA Musical Theatre Program, she has been working as actor on stage, screen, and voiceover.
Her Atlantic Theater Credits include: James (James and the Giant Peach), Scottie (The Big One-Oh!), Tatted Man (The Last Stop on Market St), and Time (She Persisted) on both stage and screen! Other Off Broadway Credits include: Angel (Revelations the Musical), Charles (Blood On My Mother’s Apron). Her favorite roles include Charlotte Lucas in Charlotte Lucas is 27 and Not Dead! and Tweedle Dee in Lost in Wonderland (dir. Bayyork Lee). She is passionate about telling stories that reflect, inspire, and celebrate the people of every race, gender, orientation, body type, and beyond. Insist, resist, persist.

Teaching Artist
Kelley (she/her) is educator, performer, and advocate with a passion for creating inclusive spaces for children to explore and express themselves. Also a student herself, Kelley is currently pursuing her M.S. in Theatre Education at the City College of New York.
She holds a B.F.A. from Emerson College and has eight years of professional theatre experience. Kelley is drawn to all kinds theatre, across mediums, and is thrilled to share her love of puppets as a resident teaching artist with Shadow Box!

Teaching Artist and Musician
Sharp Radway is a pianist/composer/arranger/author. He is a protégé of Dr. Randy Weston. Sharp is a formidable, seasoned bandleader, with decades of experience heading various groups of his own. Sharp has worked with several Jazz luminaries. Among them are Yusef Lateef, Benny Golson, James Spaulding, Slide Hampton, Curtis Fuller, and many more. He served as music director, pianist, and arranger for The Celebration of Lionel Hampton Big Band and The New York City Ska Orchestra. In addition to playing the piano he is also a prolific composer and arranger, having written over 1,000 compositions.
Sharp has done extensive work in The Church, serving as music director for Methodist, A.M.E., and Baptist Churches; and has served as pianist and/or organist for the Pentecostal Church and A.M.E. Zion Church. He is founder and director of The Sharp Radway Gospel Chorale.
Sharp appeared in film with Mos Def, Beyonce Knowles, Cedric the Entertainer, and several others in the major motion picture Cadillac Records. He acted and performed in the historic Off-Broadway play The Connection, under the direction of Judith Malina.
In addition to being a seasoned performer he is also author of the book Musicianship 101 (What They Don’t Tell You In School). Sharp has decades of extensive teaching experience and currently enjoys teaching a roster of both professional and non-professional musicians of all ages.
Sharp can be heard on a host of recordings. His latest and well-received recording, Black Woman (A Conversation), enjoyed a sustained run on Jazz charts as one of the top 100 records played.
Sharp has performed in a litany of venues and music festivals both domestically and internationally and remains high in demand.

Company Member, Teaching Artist, and Musician
My name is Shakim Hill-Wassi. Born and raised in New York City. I am one of the musicians for the Shadow Box Theatre. I play guitar and a lil bit of drums. I’ve been playing guitar for 10 years, and even teach a songwriting class through Shadow Box Theatre. In that class, I teach the different techniques of songwriting, how to formulate a song and what devices are used when creating a song as well. I’ve also taught guitar, poetry and dance as well. Being a part of Shadow Box Theatre has been a blessing and I enjoy showing the youth creativity that I wish I saw a lil more when I was younger.

Company Member
Samuel Humphreys has performed with the Shadowbox Theatre in The Earth and Me, and choreographed How the Turtle Got His Shell in collaboration with Nedra Ward. He also performs with the Anna Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company under the direction of Lori Belilove. He trained under Dr. Raoul Gelabert, Larry Ensign, and at the Gelsey Kirkland Ballet Conservatory.

Teaching Artist
Marlee Koenigsberg (she/her) is a theatre director and educator in the New York City area known for her visual aesthetic, movement-based work and focus on inclusion in the arts.
Marlee has collaborated with a myriad of organizations in the NYC area, such as New York Deaf Theatre, Underground Skills Exchange (U.S.E.), Adelphi University, Roundabout Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse and Chautauqua Theatre Company. Marlee enjoys devising original youth theatre productions, adapting literature/classics for educational settings, and is committed to accessibility as a proud member of the disability community. Marlee earned a B.F.A. from Adelphi University in Acting, and is currently pursuing an M.A. CUNY: School of Professional Studies M.A. in Applied Theatre program. She is thrilled to be a part of The Shadow Box Theatre as a Teaching Artist this season!

Teaching Artist
Megan (She/they) is a theatre maker and teaching artist. Megan is currently pursuing her masters in applied theatre at CUNY School of Professional Studies. In addition to her work in theatre, Megan is a certified yoga instructor.
She seeks to incorporates mindfulness practices in all of her work.

Master Teaching Artist and Puppet Maker
Jon Riddleberger (he/him) is a NYC-based actor, puppeteer, filmmaker, director, and teacher. He has been teaching with Shadow Box since 2015. His work can be seen on-screen in the Clifford the Big Red Dog feature film, and the TV shows Moon and Me on the BBC and Hello Tomorrow! on Apple TV+. He has worked extensively on stage around the world with Handspring Puppet Company, Dead Puppet Society, Nick Lehane, Andy Manjuck and Dorothy James, and more performing at amazing venues such as The Sydney Opera House, Versaille Palace, and the Barbican Center. He is the Director of Puppetry for demons. coming this spring to the Bushwick Starr. He is the creator of The Handmade Puppet Dreams produced short film The Memory Trade and is currently in development for a new series called friend. Jon is an adjunct teacher at NYU Tisch where he teaches puppetry to the drama students. You can find out more jonriddleberger.com

Photographer and Videographer
Bio Coming Soon!

Company Member and Musician
Andrew Shield (he/him) is a guitarist, composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist. His arrangements have been performed all over the world from the West Coast to London to NBC on broadcast television. Andrew loves exploring new musical styles and is a graduate of New England Conservatory's Jazz Guitar program.

Teaching Artist
Sara James is a UCLA ‘19 graduate now working as an actor, writer, and educator in New York. From theatre workshops to ESL to puppetry for beginners, Sara has spent nearly ten years teaching children in various subjects and is so grateful to the SBT for the opportunity to continue to do so! Sara has spent the last year or so bouncing around Off and Off-Off Broadway theatres as both an actor and a playwright, and she continues to eagerly share all she is learning with kids who might one day hope to make or enjoy theatre in any capacity.

Teaching Artist
Amanda Trajano (she/her) is a musical theatre nerd and enjoys spreading her love of music and theatre while teaching around NYC schools with Shadow Box! She has a BA in Arts Entertainment Management and interned for Wicked’s Broadway marketing team, but her newfound passion is teaching. She is currently studying for her Masters in CUNY’s Applied Theatre program and hopes to continue with more theatre education after graduation.

Company Member
Jonathan is thrilled to be a part of the Shadow Box team! He’s a Kenyan actor based in NYC. Some previous credits include: Orcus in She Kills Monsters at the University of Utah, Ensemble in Elf the Musical at Pioneer Theatre, and most recently Joseph Asagai in A Raisin in the Sun at Clear Space Theatre. He’d like to thank his family and his voice teacher for supporting him. Haki Yetu!

Company Member, Stage Manager
Holden Davies is a multi-hyphenate creative and educator born and raised in NYC. Other roles include stage management and literary management for off-off Broadway companies such as Kef Productions Inc and Seaview Playwrights Theatre, as well as education and outreach for Snug Harbor Cultural Center. They are thrilled to be part of the Shadowbox team!

Company Member
Nedra Ward is an extraordinary performer and teaching artist. She moved to New York from Chicago and took the city by storm! She has achieved so many milestones while living in NYC such as NYFW, Good Morning America, MTV, BET, Carnegie Hall, Janet Jackson and more! She was recently honored for her extraordinary community work with youth as a change leader. She provides free dance classes in underprivileged communities through her organization called CommUnity with Regine Bellinger. While working in the community with youth she is also a well-known cultural ambassador within the African Diaspora. She has won countless awards for her involvement in uplifting and spreading culture within the African, Caribbean and African American communities. In 2022 she was presented with the award for "Entertainer of the Year" presented by Africa Everything for her outstanding work as a choreographer & Performer. When it comes to connecting the dots between black culture and dance you can count on Nedra! She is trained in Ballet, Modern, Hip-Hop, Dancehall, Afrobeats, and more! In 2023 she started her journey as a puppeteer and dancer for The Shadow Box Theatre located in NYC and has been thriving with this magnificent company ever since!
CREDITS:
Wiz Kid, Drake, Janet Jackson, Davido, Stonebwoy, MTV, TRL, Wild’n Out, Grammys, Essence Festival, VH1, Smirnoff, OkayAfrica, Ghana Entertainment Awards, Nigerian Entertainment Awards, ShowTime at the Apollo, Yeezy Season 3 NYFW, Acana Festival, Reebok, OwnTV, DOVE, The Crown Act, DJ Tunez, Kuamie Eugene, Brooklyn Museum and more.

Company Member
McKenna McQueen is a New York City based theatre artist and a graduate of Flagler College earning a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with minors in Music and Arts Administration. McKenna is excited to be working with Shadow Box Theatre while pursuing a career in stage direction and arts administration. She serves as the Community Engagement Associate of Kitchen Sink Theatre Company. Recent productions include Ace in the Hole (Director), The Imaginary Invalid (Assistant Stage Manager), Separate Loads (Director), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Assistant Stage Manager), About What Matters (Stage Manager), We’re Still Standing or Whatever Elton John Said (Artistic Director/Director), Rice Water (Stage Manager), Cabaret 2023: The House We Live In (Assistant Director/Performer), Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Assistant Director(KCACTF Region IV Student Director Nominee)), Folktails (Assistant Director), and Suddenly Last Summer (Co-Stage Manager). McKenna is passionate about supporting the next generation of theatre artists and using theatre as an outlet to enact positive change.