The Field Research Team

The Field Research Team (FRT) contributes directly to The Civilians productions and artistic programs, while gaining hands-on training in The Civilians' method. The FRT works in residence with our company to research project and interview ideas, conduct, transcribe and edit interview materials, and support the general creation of performances, events and online media projects both in the present season and beyond. Members of the Team receive training in The Civilians' method and interview techniques from Artistic Director Steve Cosson, The Civilians' Artistic Team and Associate Artists.

Participants in the 2015-16 Group are:

Danny Bryck
Danielle Chu
Rose Costello
Adi Eshman
Michael Feldman
Katie Looney
Aaron Lynn
Ashley Marinaccio
Stephanie Pierson
Cory Tamler
Leyla Vural
Emily Welty
Talya Zax

Danny Bryck is a playwright, actor, educator and activist, currently based in Brooklyn. Plays include his solo show NO ROOM FOR WISHING (Company One, Underground Railway Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Outside the Box Festival, Theatre at St. Clement's), QUIXOTE IN KABUL (Boston University), THE RIVER AND THE SEA (New Repertory Theatre reading), LOVE IN THE TIME OF TIME TRAVEL, co-written with A. Vincent Ularich (American Repertory Theatre, reading), and CEMENT, LOVE, NOTHING ELSE (Boston Center for the Arts, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center). As an actor, he has performed regionally, off-Broadway, on TV and in independent film, and was an artistic associate with Whistler in the Dark Theatre in Boston for three years. He is currently a writer and actor on the web series WE’VE GOT HISTORY, and also works as a dialect and accent coach and theatre educator. He is a recipient of New Repertory Theatre's Next Voices Fellowship and Company One’s David Wheeler Award, and has been nominated for four awards by the Independent Reviewers of New England. He holds a BFA from Boston University and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Danielle Chu has worked in production and post-production for non-fiction projects that have aired on HBO, TLC, Arte, PBS, and TV One, as well as award-winning and nominated independent documentaries, which have premiered at SXSW, IDFA, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival. Researching for The Civilians is her first work with theater since playing a lion and a pilgrim on stage (in kindergarten and fourth grade, respectively).

Rose Costello is thrilled to be joining the Civilians Field Research team this season. She is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Adi Eshman is a playwright and teacher living in Brooklyn, New York. Adi is a recent graduate of NYU Gallatin, where he focused on the role of narrative in American history, society, and literature. His plays include SUNDAY SHELTER (Midtown International Theater Festival), OSTROPOL (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater reading), PAINTERS (Theater for the New City, CAP21 readings), MISTRESS K (Bechdel Fest at Ophelia Theater), SUNDAY SHELTER (Midtown Int'l Theater Festival), and CLASSPASS (Nuyorican Poets Café). Currently, he work as the screenwriter's assistant on Steven Soderbergh's new HBO drama, MOSAIC.

Michael Feldman is the author of two plays -- THE CROSSROADS about gun violence and GOD'S WORK, which follows the relationship between a Ugandan motorcycle taxi driver and an American service worker. Following graduation from Vanderbilt University, Michael began his career in politics - interning at the White House Domestic Policy Council, serving on the advance team for President Obama, and working as a researcher for Everytown for Gun Safety. He currently works on the marketing team at SpotCo.

Katie Looney is a NYC-based writer, performer and director fascinated with the strange and familiar. Katie's plays and collaborations have been presented at Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, The Duplex Cabaret Theatre, La MaMa Club Theater, The Estrogenius Festival at 4th Street Theatre, 54 Below, The LGBT Center, Stella Adler Studio, and NYU's Cabaret Theatre. Katie is an ensemble member of Honest Accomplice Theatre and a teaching artist with Brooklyn Acting Lab. BFA/NYU Tisch. KatieLooney.com

Aaron Lynn is an actor based in NYC. His acting credits include, New York Theatre: THE GLORY OF THE WORLD (BAM), THE CHRISTIANS (Playwrights Horizons), TROLL KING RISES (Schapiro Theater/Columbia University). Aaron has performed in workshops and readings at New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova, The Lark, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. Regional Theatre: SO UNNATURAL A LEVEL, THAT HIGH LONESOME SOUND (Humana Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville), RYAN & ALICE? (KNOW Theatre/Cincinnati Fringe).

Ashley Marinaccio is a storyteller who creates work that challenges the status quo. She is dedicated to using theatre to document the socio-political issues that define our times. Her directorial work has been seen off-Broadway, at TED conferences, The White House, The Apollo, United Nations and on tour throughout the United States and internationally. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Girl Be Heard and a co-founder/director of Co-Op Theatre East. Ashley holds her M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and B.A. in theatre directing and sociology/anthropology with minors in women/gender and Middle Eastern from Pace University. She is a first year Ph.D. student in CUNY Graduate Center's Theatre Program where she is focusing on research surrounding theatre in conflict zones. Learn more: www.ashley-marinaccio.com

Stephanie Pierson is an author who focuses on lifestyle issues. She is also a former Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather. Ms. Pierson is proud that she saw CHICAGO in previews; two performances of THE PRODUCERS with the original cast; Hamilton at The Public (last row). She was at The Met the night that Juan Diego Flórez sang nine high C's in LA FILLE DU REGIMENT. Dame Edna once threw her a gladiola. Ms. Pierson is currently studying at ESPA with Bess Wohl.

Cory Tamler is a writer, translator, theatre artist, and scholar. Her essays, translation and criticism have been published with The Offing, Asymptote, New Museum/McNally Jackson, The Civilians' Extended Play, Culturebot, and HowlRound. She has created and produced site-specific, participatory performances with Open Waters, Yinzerspielen, Unlisted, and other collaborators across the United States and in Germany and Serbia. Cory is a collaborating artist on In Kinship, a multi-year civic arts project focused on the Penobscot River in Maine, and was the Spring 2016 R&D Season Fellow at the New Museum. A former Fulbright scholar (Berlin), she is in her first year of the Ph.D Program in Theatre Studies at The Graduate Center, CUNY. www.corytamler.com

Leyla Vural is an oral historian, writer, and editor and has worked in communications for nonprofits for more than 20 years. Leyla is most interested in helping to put the people Studs Terkel called "the etceteras" on the record and in the power of people's stories to effect change. She was recently the storyteller at a conference at the U.N. on sustainable energy for all and is working on an oral history project about Hart Island, New York City's potter's field.

Emily Welty is an activist and professor of Peace and Justice Studies at Pace University. She lives at Rockaway Beach where she writes books, articles and plays about the intersection of identity, power and social justice.

Talya Zax is an arts and culture journalist for the Jewish Daily Forward. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Washington University in St. Louis. Her radio play YOURS SINCERELY, ROBERT ROTH was commended in the 2012 BBC World Service International Radio Playwriting Competition, and her radio play FLORESTAN will be produced Chatterbox Audio Theater in the fall of 2016. She trained as a director and stage manager with Denver's PHAMALY Theatre Company between 2006 and 2010.