Performers
Sipiwe Moyo
Is a professional actor who has worked in TV, film, off-Broadway and regionally and is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and the Actor's Equity Association. Sipiwe, graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing and minored in Applied Theatre. In addition to being an actor, she has also worked in management consulting, as a holistic health coach, and a high school acting teacher. Performance has always been her first love, as she believes strongly in the power of storytelling to transform and build community. She is honored to have been a member of Big Apple Playback Theatre since 2003. Her website is www.sipiwe.com.
Kim Anderson
Is a composer, songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist based out of New York. Raised by jazz musician parents in New York City, she grew up absorbing a diverse blend of musical genres, continuing to study composition more formally at New England Conservatory in Boston, MA, and later to immerse herself in the world of West African music when she began studying the rhythmic percussion traditions of Ivory Coast and Guinea. She works as a composer/arranger and music teacher, and is a member of the Kotchegna Drum and Dance Company, led by Ivory Coast-based master drummer and dancer Vado Diomande. She also performs her own original music throughout the NY area and beyond. Her debut Album 'Yarrow' is out this year on Biophilia Records.
Christine Witmer
Holds a BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She has trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She received her MA in Performance Studies from NYU in 2004 where she had the opportunity to study and perform under Anna Deavere Smith and Richard Schechner. She has trained with Gardzienice Academy of Theatre Practices in Gardzienice, Poland and Raina Van Waldenburg in NYC. You can see her in the award-winning mock-u-mentary short ‘The Humberville Poetry Slam’ (www.humberville.com). Christine is passionate about helping families navigate the world of childbearing and teaches Childbirth Education classes.
Shawnee R. Benton, LMSW, FDLC
Is an actor, vocalist, composer, poet, author and playwright who has incorporated music and the arts into every aspect of her 25 year career as a clinical social worker, healer and activist. Ms. Benton-Gibson is a psychodramatist who utilizes the power of storytelling and enactment to assist individuals, groups and communities with sharing their lived experiences for the purpose of healing and transformation. She has been a principal actor in various productions, including, “The Maafa Suite: A Healing Journey”, a reenactment of the Trans Atlantic slave trade and traveled with the touring company from 1995 to 2007. She is also the co-writer, producer and director of a choreopoem entitled “Mother Wit: E
choes From The Womb” which addresses the darker side of reproductive health and the need for birth equity.
Ricardo Pérez González, BFA, MFA
Is a writer and actor who splits his time between his stoop garden in NYC and his window garden in LA. His first play, the story of the WWI Christmas Truce In Fields Where They Lay (dir. Brad Raimondo) was hailed by the NY Times as “gripping” and “moving drama.” Since that debut, Sundance Institute selected Ricardo for their Inaugural Writer’s Intensive and his Alan Turing Biopic, The Tender Peel, won him an Alfred P. Sloan Grant. He has been a fellow of the Emerging Writer's Group at the Public Theater where he developed his play Separate & Equal, and he has received several grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Upcoming projects include a 2017 remount of In Fields Where They Lay and the Public Theater’s production of his most recent play.
Hannah Fox - Founding Member
Hannah, Associate Professor of Dance and Theatre at Manhattanville College, conducts dance and theatre workshops internationally, teaching and performing in Cuba, Japan, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Brazil, and West Africa. Hannah has been a dedicated artist-in-residence in New York City's public schools, and was the founder and director of the 92 St. Y Young Women’s Youth Theatre (an Eve Ensler pilot project). She is the editor of Akimbo: Scenes and Monologues by the Young Women's Theatre Collective (1999). In 2003 Hannah received her Masters degree from New York University with a concentration in Performance Studies. Hannah has had articles published in TDR (The Drama Review) (2007), Contact Quarterly (2009), and Utne Reader (2010). Her latest book, Zoomy Zoomy: Improv Games and Exercises for Groups (2010), is on stands now. Hannah is the daughter of the founders of Playback Theatre and a certified yoga instructor.
Patrick Michael Joseph Cornelio
Born and raised in Milford, Connecticut. He recently graduated from Manhattanville College where he studied under Hannah Fox. Two years out of college, he has become a new member of Big Apple Playback Theatre and is thrilled! While working fulltime at The Adventure Park, in Bridgeport, Ct, he performs with The Tara Theater, The Westport Community Theater, and The Eastbound Theater. BAPT has been opening so many doors and connecting him to new people and projects to grow with. He shines as a light for others and performing is a way for him to light the way for others.