The Andy’s Team

ARTISTIC STAFF

  • Co-Artistic Director

    Jess is a queer folk artist, playwright and educator who creates both performance and tangible art — often at the same time! She specializes in storymaking, playwriting, early childhood education, and working with loose parts. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton, NH, alongside her brilliant friend SMJ. As a playwright, Jess is a LABA Artist Fellow Alum, a Jeffrey Melnick New Playwright Award Nominee, an O’Neill Finalist + Semi-Finalist (x?), a recipient of the Mary Marlin Fisher Award for Excellence in Playwriting, a BAPF Semi-Finalist, a Premiere Stages Semi-Finalist, a Heideman Award finalist, a 24 Plays: Nationals alum, and a Theater Masters alum. Her plays have been performed and produced at various universities, the New York Transit Museum, Actors Theater of Louisville and the Pittsburgh Opera, among others. As a visual artist, Jess has been proud to showcase her work with Brooklyn's Arts Gowanus, San Francisco City Hall, and briefly in collaboration with her 3K students at the MoMA! She earned her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and her BS in Educational Theatre from NYU. She is a full time tenured teacher in the NYC DOE, and she lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two cats, Buckett and Tubbs.

  • Executive Director

    SMJ(they/them) is a mixed-Latiné, non-binary, and NYC-based playwright, theatermaker, and educator originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They are proud to be a Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse. They were a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Their work has been seen in various forms with Ars Nova, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Orchard Project, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, and Manhattanville University. SMJ has been a finalist for the 2024-25 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting at New Dramatists, 2024-25 Ars Nova Vision Residency, 2024 June Bingham New Playwright Commission, 2024 Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative at Illinois State University, and 2023 Parity Development Award. They were a Top 30 semifinalist for the 2024 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Currently,  SMJ is in consideration for the following: 2025 National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (semifinalist), 47th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (semifinalist), 2025 Pegasus PlayLab at UCF (finalist), 2025 Distillery New Works Festival at the Seattle Public Theater (Short List), and 2025/26 Residency at the cell theatre (semifinalist). They are a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com

THE 2025 ARTISTS

Thank you to our professional artists!

Nick Hahn
Peter Leibold
Emery Frost
JD Dowd
Elsa Guerra
Oliver Keller
Riley Dunham
Sarah Miranda
Orange Grove Dance
Mackenna Goodrich
Natalie Myrick
Emily Bubeck
Noelle Viñas
Ashley Renee Thaxton-Stevenson
Haleyann Hart
Anya Richkind
Aaron F. Brateman
Meredith Lustig
Michael David Axtell
Ella Blanchard
Leslie Wickham

The Andy’s Board of Directors

Andy’s has an active and vibrant Board of Directors that facilitates the strategic planning for the Playhouse, defines and maintains our mission, advises our staff, fundraises, and performs many other essential functions.

Alison Barney, President
Amanda Dumont, Vice President
Crista Burrel, Treasurer
Sarah Kunyosying, Secretary

Katie Carchia, Beth Dunham, Susan Holmes Glazier, Leah Huntington, Mozammel “Muzi” Husainy, & Bob McCarthy, Board Members