MARA ISAACS, co-Founder & Board Treasurer

Mara Isaacs is a Tony® and Grammy® Award winning producer and founder of Octopus Theatricals, an independent production company dedicated to fostering an expansive range of compelling theatrical works for local, national and international audiences. She has produced over 150 productions that have been seen on Broadway (Hadestown, The Inheritance, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Translations, Anna in the Tropics, Electra), off-Broadway (Hadestown, Fiasco Theater’s Into The Woods, The Brother/Sister Plays, Crowns, Miss Witherspoon, Valley Song), at theaters and performing arts centers around the US and the world (UK, Europe, Asia, Middle East, South America, South Africa, Canada). In 2019, she co-founded Sing It Again Records, winning a Grammy award with their first release, the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hadestown.

Current projects include Social! A Social Distance Dance Club (created by David Byrne, Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones); Theatre For One; Dreaming Zenzile by Somi Kakoma; Iphigenia by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding; Bill Irwin’s On Beckett. Mara is proud to produce the work of Homer’s Coat, Phantom Limb Company, Song of the Goat Theatre and more, and serves as Artistic Advisor to Fiasco Theater.

She was Producing Director at McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, NJ for 18 seasons and was an associate producer for Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. She is a founding member of CIPA (Creative and Independent Producer Alliance) and serves on the boards of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund and TCG, where she is vice-chair. Mara teaches at Cal Arts and Princeton University.

RONEE PENOI, Co-founder & Board president

Ronee Penoi (Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee) (she/her/hers) has been with Octopus Theatricals since 2016. She is a two-time ISPA (International Society for Performing Arts) Global Fellow, and has been an APAP (Association of Performing Arts Professionals) Leadership Fellow and TCG (Theatre Communications Group) Rising Leader of Color. Ronee is a composer at work on two new musicals with collaborator Annalisa Dias under the banner of FLORA MUSICALS, and is a co-founder of the Groundwater Arts Collective dedicated to climate justice in the arts (recipient of a SPACE at Ryder Farm Residency Grant). Groundwater Arts’ work includes movement building/organizing around a Green New Theatre (GNT), bespoke consulting in decolonization and anti-racism, and new creative theatrical projects. Ronee is also a Founding Member of The Industry Standard Group (TISG), a multimedia commercial investment and producing organization with an intentional focus on promoting work reflecting diversity, increasing the presence of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) investors and producers in the commercial producing field and expanding the access and opportunities granted to BIPOC communities within the industry.

Ronee is a proud NEFA (New England Foundation for the Arts) National Theater Project Advisor, serves on Western Arts Alliance Committees (Indigenous and Conference Steering Committees) and leads the Creative and Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA) Programs Committee. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Global First Nations Performance Network. Ronee is a two-time recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Individual Artist Fellowship for her musical composing work. Previously, Ronee was NNPN Producer-in-Residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Senior Producing Fellow and Directing Fellow at Arena Stage, and toured nationally with Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy. She spent three years with the Consensus Building Institute, a non-profit specializing in facilitation and mediation services. Her current anti-racism practice builds upon a decolonization framework and embraces systems change as a key component of that work. She graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in Music with certificates in Vocal Performance and Theatre & Dance. She has been invited to guest lecture on producing at Princeton, Howard University, and for American University’s graduate Arts Administration program.

SOPHIE BLUMBERG, ProduceR & programs Manager

Sophie Blumberg (she/her/hers) is a creative producer and dramaturg focusing on the development of new performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and audience experience. Her producing work spans multiple sectors of the entertainment industry, including live performance, themed entertainment, and television. Her theatrical work has been seen with Octopus Theatricals, CalArts Center for New Performance, TeatrStudio (Warsaw, Poland), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, REDCAT, The Civilians, BAM Next Wave Festival, Goodman Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cherry Lane Theatre, the Orchard Project, Chicago Dramatists, and Cold Basement Dramatics, where she served as Artistic Director for two seasons.

Prior to joining the Producer Hub team, Sophie was the Associate Producer at the CalArts Center for New Performance, where she produced artist residencies, as well as world premiere productions. She is a member of CIPA’s Programs Committee, and an alumna of the Walt Disney Imagineering CalArts Educational Initiative, the Drama League, and Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Professional Training Company. In addition to her work with the Producer Hub, Sophie is an Associate Producer with Octopus Theatricals, and a Creative Executive with Littleton Road Productions.

Sophie holds an MFA in Creative Producing from the California Institute of the Arts.

michael francis, Producer & fiscal sponorship manager

Michael Francis (he/him/his) has spent 20 years in non profit and commercial theater as a multi-hyphenate theater administrator specializing in fundraising, general management, talent representation and producing. He spent 12 years as a team member of Fiasco Theater. Notable Fiasco works include Cymbeline (Theatre for a New Audience/Barrow Street/Broad Stage/Folger Theatre); Into the Woods (McCarter Theatre/Old Globe/Roundabout/Menier Chocolate Factory/NETworks); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Folger Theatre/Theatre for a New Audience); The Imaginary Invalid (Old Globe); Measure for Measure (The New Victory/The Long Wharf); Tweflth Night (Classic Stage Company); Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout). As a core member of Producer Hub he manages the Fiscal Sponsorship program which serves over 30 artists, arts organizations and social justice initiatives. Michael spent a decade as a part of the staff of Leading Artists, Inc. a boutique talent agency in NYC.

Kelly letourneau, management associate

Kelly Letourneau (she/her/hers) is a New York City-based performer, playwright, and arts administrator. As an administrator, Kelly has worked with Primary Stages, Fiasco Theater, and The Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford. Behind the scenes, Kelly has experience as a stage manager, playwright’s assistant, and house manager. As a performer, Kelly has appeared off-Broadway, regionally and on tour. Theater credits include: A VALENTINE FOR SONDHEIM (Fiasco Theater), MIDSUMMER (Tiltyard), PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Kate Hamill (Playhouse on Park), and THE APPLE BOYS (HERE Arts Center). Kelly has trained with Fiasco Theater, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and she holds a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.kellyletourneau.com

Cindy Tsai, social media and communications associate

I'm Cindy! Born in New Orleans and raised in Los Angeles, I'm a Taiwanese and Chinese-American performer, producer, and arts administrator. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley – raised in the 626 – with a passion for art in all its forms. BFA in Musical Theatre, Minor in Critical Race and Ethnicities. Theater Producers of Color 2023 Cohort. In my free time, you can find me going on foodie adventures in the five boroughs and binging anime.

Recent producing work includes PERFORMING FILIPINA by Lianah Sta. Ana, JEANNETTE at 54 Below, THE DECIDERS at New York Civil Liberties Union, Broadway for Racial Justice SINGS: THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL at Little Island. Recent performing work includes THE CHINESE LADY at Southern Plains Productions (Afong Moy), THE JUMP SHOT at Windhover Center for Performing Arts (Heather), THE CHINESE LADY at Central Square Theater (u/s Afong Moy), WE WON'T SLEEP aka JEANNETTE workshop at Signature Theatre in NYC, NYCLU's Sing Out For Freedom. IG: @cindyctsai | cindy-tsai.com

KATIE DRAGONE, PRODUCER HUB INTERN

Katie Dragone (She/Her) is a director, playwright, and producer interested in creating immersive and site specific theatrical experiences that experiment with form to surprise, challenge, and excite audiences. She recently graduated from Stanford University as a double major in Theater & Performance Studies and Anthropology. Her senior thesis investigated non-profit theater company origination for which she received Honors and Distinction. While Katie was the Artistic Director of Stanford Theater Lab from 2021 to 2023, she curated and lead seven productions. Most recently, she wrote and directed Lines (2023), which is a fourth-wall-shattering meta-comedy about life, death, family, and the creative process.

ADAM HYNDMAN, Board Secretary

Adam Hyndman is a Tony Award winning producer, as well as a performer, director, and activist who has worked extensively in the arts. Some notable credits include: NBC’s THE SING OFF, CHILDREN OF EDEN in concert at The Kennedy Center, ALADDIN on Broadway, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND on Broadway, HADESTOWN on Broadway, THE INHERITANCE on Broadway, and HERE LIES LOVE on Broadway.

He incubates projects as an independent producer as well as within the team at Octopus Theatrical. Adam is on the board of directors for both Pipeline Theatre Company and Producer Hub, and he continues his work of disruption, radical accessibility, and conciliation as a co-founder of The Industry Standard Group and its subsidiary; Second Act Theatrical Capital, the first accessible community investment and producing entity for commercial theater. Adam is also a creative and organizational consultant; having served as an equity strategy consultant with Groundwater Arts, and also as the project manager for RISE Theatre; an initiative of Maestra Music and The Miranda Family Fund, which creates an industry wide database to provide greater visibility and amplification for all professionals backstage, behind the scenes, and in support of theater making (Adam was named as one of Variety Magazine’s 10 Broadway Stars to watch for the 2023-24 season for his work with RISE Theatre). www.adamhyndman.com