THE PEOPLE

COMPANY

Leadership, performers, designers, producers, and recurring conspirators who make Live Animals Onstage happen.

01 / LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP

ARTISTIC DIRECTION / PRODUCTION

Photobooth strip of Fiona Selmi, John Murphy, and Victoria A. Pysher
LEADERSHIP TEAM / FIONA / JOHN / VICTORIA
Headshot of Fiona Selmi

CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

FIONA SELMI

FIONA SELMI (Director) is a director and dramaturg based between Brooklyn and the Bay Area. She is the co-artistic director of Live Animals Onstage! and is currently pursuing a PhD in Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. Her artistic work and research explore contemporary theater, DIY aesthetics, alternative theater scenes, and the resurgence of theater companies and collectives. Recent directing credits include Our Town, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Dance Nation, and the world premiere of Spitfire: A Space Femme Fantasia. Upcoming: Our Town (again) and Cowboy Mouth, both at Stanford.

MORE AT FIONASELMI.COM ↗
Headshot of John Murphy

CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

JOHN MURPHY

John Murphy is an actor and producer based in Brooklyn. He is a co-founder of Live Animals Onstage!, through which he starred as George Gibbs in Our Town and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. Additional credits include Edmund in King Lear-Khuy, Pasha in The Barista (Alien Theatre Collective), Jim in Red Cross (Garden Variety). He is working on a new play in development at Coffey Street Studios set to premiere later this year.

MORE AT @REALJMURPH ↗
Headshot of Victoria A. Pysher

PRODUCTION MANAGER

VICTORIA A. PYSHER

Victoria A. Pysher (AEA) is a born-and-raised New Yorker and proud alumna of LaGuardia High School and Williams College. She has stage managed on and off Broadway for over a decade. Her shows include Gutenberg! The Musical!, Death Becomes Her, Only Gold, American Music, Planet Funk, Parallel Lines, A Doll’s House, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Hair 50th Anniversary Gala, The Tangibles, and more. After stage managing Live Animals Onstage’s 2025 production of Our Town, she is thrilled to return this year to support LAO’s inspiring mission of creating art centered around community and connection. Love you, mom!

MORE AT VPYSHER.WIXSITE.COM/HOME ↗

02 / PAST & PRESENT

CO- CONSPIRATORS

Talented artists, past and present, who have made Live Animals Onstage what it is today.

01 CHLOE DITTLOFF LIGHTING DESIGNER
Headshot of Chloe Dittloff

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Chloe Dittloff (she/her) has a BFA in Lighting Design from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. Design credits include: Rutgers’s Men on Boats, R & J, and Orlando, Columbia University’s The Winter’s Tale, BAKKHAI, and Is God Is, Barnard College’s Octagonal Amusement Park. Associate credits include: Waterbury Symphony’s Broadway Scores!, Lucky Man: A Warrior’s Journey, and the New American Ensemble’s The Brothers Karamazov. Recent assistant credits include: DOLLY: A True Original Musical. More at chloedittloffdesign.com.

Featured in Decapitatrix

MORE AT CHLOEDITTLOFFDESIGN.COM ↗
02 EVAN DOMINGUEZ ACTOR
Headshot of Evan Dominguez

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Evan Dominguez is a Brooklyn-based writer, director, actor and film editor, whose passion for film and theater was first ignited while studying drama at New York City’s most prestigious public arts school, LaGuardia High School. Upon graduating, he was generously granted the Joanne Woodward First Year Scholarship at the Neighborhood Playhouse and spent a year studying the Meisner technique, assembling among his classmates the cast and crew of his off-broadway directorial debut, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at Theatre at St. John’s. Dominguez then earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Ancient Greek and Latin at Brooklyn College, working simultaneously as a documentary film editor. While writing screenplays, directing shorts, working as a freelance film editor, and acting both on stage and screen, he has had the privilege of collaborating with a diverse array of esteemed artists, including film icons Kate Winslet, Chloe Sevigny and Eric Roberts. Dominguez’s short film THE SUPERINTENDENT, has screened as close to home as the Prospect Park Nitehawk Cinema, and as far as Beijing, China.

Featured in Decapitatrix

03 CAROLINE FAIRWEATHER ACTOR + DIRECTOR
Headshot of Caroline Fairweather

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Caroline Fairweather is a theatre-maker based in Queens. Caroline is an Associate Director on Maybe Happy Ending and recently served as the Assistant Director on The Lost Boys and The Queen of Versailles. Other directing: Carmilla, Red Giant. Performance: Parade (B’way, NYCC, Nat’l Tour), The 2024 Met Gala, and at Barrington Stage, Shakespeare & Co., and Williamstown Theatre Festival. With Live Animals Onstage: Midsummer, Romeo & Juliet.

Featured in A Late Summer Night’s Dream / Romeo & Juliet / Decapitatrix

MORE AT CAROLINEFAIRWEATHER.COM ↗
04 MELIA HAGINO ACTOR
Headshot of Melia Hagino

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Melia Hagino (she/they) is a queer, Asian-American comedian, writer, and actor based in Brooklyn, NY. After producing audiobooks for their day job, Melia can be found performing improv, sketch, and stand-up at UCB, Brooklyn Comedy Collective, and any other venue that will have them. Recent theater credits include: CRINGE (Edinburgh Fringe), ROMEO AND JULIET (Live Animals Onstage), MY POOLBOY (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and CARMILLA (Garden Variety Theater Co). Melia's comedic writing can be found at McSweeney's, The Belladonna, and PointsInCase.com.

Featured in Romeo & Juliet / A Late Summer Night’s Dream

05 PETRA HINDS ACTOR
Headshot of Petra Hinds

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Petra Hinds is a Brooklyn based actress and singer, and she can’t wait to serve this piece to you on a silver platter. She received a BA in Theater and Political Science at Williams College; while there, she studied physical theater, voice, devising, directing, design, and dramaturgy. She also completed the Atlantic Acting School’s Evening Conservatory. Recent credits include Sam Melton’s Bury Your Gays at the SheNYC Summer Theater Festival (Ensemble), and Mile Square Theater’s production of The Mountaintop (u/s Camae).

Featured in Our Town / Decapitatrix

MORE AT @PETRAHINDS ↗
06 ALINA MUHA ACTOR
Headshot of Alina Muha

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Alina Muha was born in Russia where she studied movement and theater. She’s now based in New York where she continues studying acting. Alina is also a director and writer and has a great interest in bringing classical literature to a modern stage.

Featured in Decapitatrix

07 OBI NWAKO ACTOR
Headshot of Obi Nwako

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Obi Nwako graduated from Williams College with a bachelor of arts in theater. Born and raised in New York, Obi works with American Immersion Theater and has enjoyed performing and teaching improv throughout New York. Some of Obi’s performances include “The Best Brother,” “A House Full Of Flies,” “Our Town,” and “Carmilla”. He’s super excited to be back with Live Animals Onstage!

Featured in Our Town / Decapitatrix

08 STELLA OH ACTOR + WRITER
Headshot of Stella Oh

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Stella Oh is a Korean American-Canadian NYC-based actor, writer, singer-musician, and occasional sound designer who’s delighted to be making her debut with Live Animals Onstage! She’s greatly interested in an holistic artistic practice that investigates text and movement through interdisciplinary playmaking and physical theater. Past credits include her solo show Even Monkeys Fall From Trees (Mabou Mines & 3AM Theatre, ChuanFest), Molly-Kate in CRINGE (Edinburgh Fringe & 59E59 Theaters, Fishmarket Theatre Co.), Before it Hurts (The Tank & Mabou Mines & 3AM Theatre, in-version ensemble), and Mom in The Firebird (The Rat NYC, Foul Fiend Theatre Troupe). Many thanks to her 엄마, Grace, friends, and mentors for their loving support!

Featured in Decapitatrix

09 CAROLINE PARKER ACTOR + CHOREOGRAPHER
Headshot of Caroline Payton Parker

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Caroline Payton Parker is thrilled to be returning to Live Animals Onstage and joining the Decapitatrix team. A queer, award-winning fight and intimacy director, she is passionate about creating collaborative, consent-forward processes that support bold storytelling. A mentee of Broadway Fight Director and former SAFD President David J. Brimmer, her recent credits include Just Juliet (Off-Broadway), Carmilla (Off-Off Broadway), Alone, Alone, Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea, a short film whose award-winning festival run qualified it for Academy Award consideration, and more Shakespeare than she could ever hope to count. Upcoming work includes Fire Girls (feature film). Endless love to her family, friends, and partner for their unwavering support.

Featured in Decapitatrix / Our Town / Romeo & Juliet / Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

10 SAIDIE STONE ACTOR
Headshot of Saidie Stone

BIO / CREDITS / LINKS

Saidie Stone is a New York based actor originally from Santa Cruz, California. She has performed at The Tank, New World Stages, Columbia MFA, Dixon Place, and has appeared in multiple shorts and feature-length film projects. Selected credits include EURYDICE (Eurydice), THREE SISTERS (Masha), OUR TOWN (Mrs. Webb), and FEMM (Zee). BA: Northwestern University.

Featured in Our Town / Decapitatrix

MORE AT SAIDIESTONE.COM ↗