Lisa Portes is an award-winning director, leader, educator and advocate. She is a co-founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons, and serves on the board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and on the Directors Council of the Drama League. Her work has been seen regionally at Cal Shakes, Cincinnati Playhouse, Denver Cetner, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, Olney Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep, South Coast Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre and Victory Gardens Theatre. In New York she has developed and/or directed new work for Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, the Public, and New York Theatre Workshop. In 2016, she was honored with the SDC Zelda Fichandler Award for Directors and was the first freelance director to be so honored. Recent projects include the world premieres of Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer (Denver Center) and Clean/Espejos by Christine Quintana (South Coast Rep), as well as numerous productions of Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis (Denver Center, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Portland Center Stage, and Round House Theatre). She serves as Chair of the UCSD Department of Theatre & Dance and is the proud mom of two amazing college students: Eva Rose and Carlos Alejandro. Lisaportes.com

Bobby Kennedy is the Director of Artistic Development at Writers Theatre. He has been the resident dramaturg at the theatre since 2008 and has led the theatre's new work program since 2014. Highlights of his tenure include the world premieres of Dhaba on Devon Avenue by Madhuri Shekar, Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol, Wife of a Salesman by Eleanor Burgess, Dishwasher Dreams by Alauddin Ullah, Witch by Jen Silverman, Trevor by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick-Davis, The Hunter and the Bear by PigPen Theatre Co., and Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf by Tim Sniffen; the national premieres of Quixote: On the Conquest of Self by Mónica Hoth, Claudio Valdés Kuri, and Georgina Escobar, and The Dance of Death by Conor McPherson; and the Chicago premieres of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, A Distinct Society, Tiger Style!, Athena, The Last Match, The Niceties, Vietgone, Smart People, and Marjorie Prime. His dramaturgy credits also include the world premieres of Give It All Back (SideShow Theatre Company), Body and Blood (The Gift Theatre), Ibsen is Dead (Interrobang Theatre Project) and The Peacock (Jackalope Theatre Company), as well as the midwest premiere of The Luck of the Irish (Next Theatre Company). Kennedy co-founded The Spontaneous Theater Project in Boston and has also worked with Huntington Theatre Company and New Repertory Theatre. He is an alumnus of Boston University.