About The Company

Melanie Stewart creates darkly absurd movement-driven theatre focusing on the nuanced, weird, and vulnerable side of American culture. 

She was the Artistic Director of Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre from 1984-2014, producing over 50 original works of dance and movement-driven theatre for the concert stage, in dance/film/video, and education, both nationally and abroad. Presently, she is the Artistic Producing Director of Blind Faith Theatre.

As a critically acclaimed director and choreographer, Stewart’s awards include numerous grants and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, Dance Advance/Pew Charitable Trusts, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the New Jersey Council on the Arts. She is also a Leigh Gerdine Distinguished Alumna Award winner from Webster University. Her recent productions include; MONSTER, a frankenstein play (2024), Just Like Hollywood (I See You Watching) (2023), Small Gifts (2020), In America, That is to Say No Where (2019).

Kylie Westerbeck (Performer / Collaborator) is a NYC based actor/musician/photographer.

Professional credits include: Nocturne, The Lydie Breeze Trilogy, Curse of the Starving Class and Company, (EgoPo Classic Theatre), Witness for the Prosecution (Bristol Riverside Theatre) and Our Town (People’s Light Theatre Company).  She has produced several original works including Complexity (DC Fringe) and Peg! (Philly Fringe) and has released two original albums: Bellow (2018) and Summertime (2019).

Presently, Kylie is pursuing her MFA in Acting at the Juilliard School (Group 56).

John Clancy is a contemporary American playwright, novelist and director. He was a co-founder and first Artistic Director of the New York International Fringe Festival and its producing organization The Present Company.

His written work centers mainly on the American experience and is characterized by dark humor and farce. His best-known play is Fatboy: An American Grotesque, a modern re-working of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi. His monologue The Event premiered in Edinburgh in 2009 and has gone on to tour Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and the United States and has been translated into Greek and German.

Clancy’s directing has earned six Fringe First Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and two Best of Fringe Awards at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. He was awarded a 2005 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Direction, a 2002 Glasgow Herald Angel Award for Excellence in Direction, a 1997 New York Magazine Award, and a 2008 Dialogue ONE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theater.

Mackenzie Trush is a stage manager, actor, and arts administrator based in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

Mackenzie earned a B.A. in Theatre Arts with a concentration in Acting from Rowan University where she was nominated for The Kennedy Center’s Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. During her undergrad, Mackenzie also had the honor of studying Clown and Le Jeu under Philippe Gaulier. Mackenzie is currently pursuing an M.A. in Arts Administration from Rowan University.

When Mackenzie is not in a theater, she uses her social media presence on TikTok & Instagram to help spread awareness and advocate for people with disabilities.

David Calvitto (Performer) was born in America and has lived for most of the last 12 years in London.

Last year, he appeared in Cock at Theatre de Capucins in Luxembourg followed by The Marilyn Conspiracy at the Park Theatre in London where he played Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson.

Other London credits include: Juror 2 in 12 Angry Men at the Garrick Theatre in the West End; Elder Jay in The Christians at the Gate Theatre; These Shining Lives and 9 Circles, also at the Park Theatre; Americana Absurdum at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Other credits: The Shawshank Redemption, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; The Odd Couple, Theatre-at-the-Mill, Belfast; with Secret Cinema: Bladerunner (London) and Casino Royale (Shanghai). He’s toured John Clancy’s solo play The Event around the world including in Adelaide, Amsterdam, Belfast, Berlin, London, Luxembourg, New York and Perth, Australia.

He’s appeared in 7 Fringe First winning plays in Edinburgh, two of which he also produced. He also directed Fringe First winner, Enterprise, by Brian Parks. Awards: The Stage Best Actor award for Horse Country,Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Best Theatre Performer award for The Event, Adelaide Fringe Festival.