Connect With Our Actors
Kariné Poghosyan
Kariné Poghosyan is a classical concert pianist, who has performed on some the greatest stages in the world, including Musikverein in Vienna and Carnegie Hall in NYC! In addition to concertizing, she also produces and performs her own monthly concert series, which can be attended in person in NY or virtually on her Patreon. Kariné fell in love with acting in 2024 in Catherine Russell’s Acting studio, where she’s now taken several courses, including Advanced Acting and Chekhov & Shakespeare. Since then, Kariné has been in several plays, including Susan Assadi’s “Fleating Beauty” , Michael Fishman’s “When the Bird is Done”, John Kearns’s “In the Wilderness”, Jack Wohl’s “Blake & the Moose” as well as the short film “Stop Looking” currently in post-production.
Jack Wohl
Jack Wohl is an actor and playwright based in New York City. His plays have been performed at Cannon Theater's 10 Minute Play Festival, Secret Theater's Short Play Festival, Flatbush Community Theater's Night of New Works, and Chain Theatre's 2026 Summer One-Act Festival. His short play “Blake and The Moose” was a finalist in The Theater Center’s Making it Happen Festival.
Abena Akyaa
Abena Akyaa is a Brooklyn-based Ghanaian-American actor/writer. Starting in high school, her love for theater manifested in her first musical playing Margot in LEGALLY BLONDE. She went on to study the Meisner method under the tutelage of John Astin at the Johns Hopkins theater department, earning her minor in Theater Arts along with her BA in Film and Media Studies.
She continues to study the craft through voice lessons and acting class, the most recent being a scene study class FCT!
Her credits include THE SOUND OF MUSiC as Sister Margaretta, SHREK: THE MUSICAL as Gingy, UNCLE VANYA as Maria Vasilyevna and THE DROWSY CHAPERONE as Janet Van de Graaff.
Email: abena.akyaa.07@gmail.com
Wendy Sealey
An internal stirring motivated me to step into the physical space occupied by the Flatbush
Community Theater when it opened its doors at the end of my block. That stirring was
unmistakable...terrifying and unmistakable. I entered that space for the opportunity to
deter encroaching social isolation. I stayed... through many Improv classes ... for all the
challenges and joys that followed. I learned [indeed I am still learning] to trust myself and
to collaborate [willingly] with others: both lessons continue to lead me to be more
courageous. I realized from having to participate in many end-of-semester Improv class
performances that the trust road often terminated in huge bouts of laughter...or not, but
always I learned more about myself and this craft...I continue to learn to consider what is
offered by others sharing the space with me and to marvel at the unexpected results. I also
continue to learn to balance this with healthy attention to my own mind-body responses.
These skills have served me well in participating in Cold Reading and Stages to
Performance events sponsored by Flatbush Community Theater and Brooklyn Playwrights’
Connect.
Additionally, I have grown a great deal from prepared [non-Improv] acting roles. I was
invited to act the part of a bereft, and spiritually gifted mother who had lost her son to gun
violence in the play GRADUATION which was written and directed by Sarah Germain Lilly. I
performed this as part of the Lower East Side Theater’s festival on May 24, 2026 about 4
weeks after receiving the script. I thrived on interaction with a compassionate, flexible,
articulate, playwright-director who was herself spiritually gifted. I rediscovered memory
abilities that I had feared were surely waning. Not so! And I sharpened my listening skills so
I could respond fully to what was being offered by my colleagues.
Finally, performing the roles of Faye and Shanita [from Skeleton Crew by Dominique
Morisseau Act 2: sc.4 and Act 2: sc.1 respectively] as part of my FCT Scene Study class
gave me a wonderful opportunity to choose which acting methodology worked for me.
Especially, I re-discovered that I could astutely inject comedy into serious scenes and vice
versa by a change in tone, a raising of the eyebrow, an elongated pause. I rediscovered my
ability to tell a story in a way that held the listener’s attention and made him/her share or
want to share my experience.
I look forward excitedly to the continuation of my acting journey.
Tony Mitchell
Brooklyn born actor Tony Mitchell has a passion for acting and the arts that's as deep as his voice. It also encompasses his strong love for filmmaking, cartoons, music and even ministry. All of which he pursues while acting. He is a graduate of New York’s High School of Art & Design having majored in Cartooning & Animation and earned a BFA degree in 16mm filmmaking & production from the School of Visual Arts. His other talents are as an announcer, voice-over actor, singer / songwriter, public speaker and live/on-camera and radio host of the former on-line and YouTube Gospel Music Talk radio show "Ushering In The Kingdom". Tony's film work includes roles in HBO's "The Leftovers", Cartoon Network & Netflix live-action & animated kid's series "Team Toon" and the often running TV commrrcials for ESPN Radio and Clear TV 4k Ultra HD Antenna commercials. His theater performances include acting and some singing roles in acclaimed works like "Dreamgirls", “Christ Lives After All”, "A Raisin In the Sun", "A Soldier's Play", and "Christmas in New York" at notable venues like the Lamb's Theatre, the Brooklyn Music School and Lincoln Center. He also served as a drama team ensemble member at Brooklyn, NY's Christian Cultural Center (CCC) under the direction of 1982 Tony Award winner Ben Harney and was their service announcer for eight years where he ministered and performed before live audiences of 4,000 to 12,000 people weekly.
Jesse Read-Jones
Jesse Read-Jones is currently flirting with acting; his dalliance is facilitated by his local theatre organization, the Flatbush Community Theatre, with whom he loves to render dramatic readings of scripts at their Cold Reading Nights. He has also been cast previously in a high school production of Pippin, and has been an award-winning attorney within his high school mock trial program and an accoladed participant in speech and debate, particularly in Spontaneous Argument and Interpretive Duo with a two-man, 10-minute rendition of Aladdin. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and several animals.
Jasmine Belis
Jasmine Belis, playing the role of Lily, is a performance artist, director, makeup artist and writer. Her credits include RELIGIOUS INFIDELITY with Haiti Cultural Exchange, A Sketch of New York, ‘We Will Rock You!’ and ‘Fame: The Musical’ with Baruch College of Fine & Performing Arts. She is also an active member of Flatbush Community Theater. Jasmine is honored to be a part of this production and given the opportunity to uplift her community. Be sure to follow up on her upcoming ventures!
Nate Nieves
With early training in college, including acting coursework and the writing of an original play, my artistic path began in theater before shifting toward music as a creative outlet. In recent years, I have returned to performance through focused scene study, re-engaging with the craft with discipline and renewed purpose. I approach acting as a long-term practice and am committed to continued growth as a performer and storyteller.
email: nastywlc@gmail.com
Emily Cordes
Emily Cordes is an NYC-based stage, film, and new media actress. A founding member of the feminist theatre group Tapestry Collective, she develops, produces, and performs in original devised plays, most recently "#SoSadSoSexy," about the fetishization of mentally ill women. Recent roles include Friar Laurence/Lady Montague in “Romeo & Juliet” (Tier5 Theatre Company); Faye in “TomToms” (The Theater Project); & Debby in “Trauma, Bonding” (Hudson Guild Theater). As part of the site-specific comedy group “Our Bar,” she performs in bimonthly sketch shows at Murray Hill’s Fáilte whiskey bar. She is also a published poet, and performs spoken word live in NYC and on Zoom screens across the country and globe. Proud Member of Actors Equity Association.
IG: @postmodern.psyche
Madelene Bueno
Madelene “Maddy” Bueno has dreamed of acting since childhood. As a teenager, she was accepted into a program at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting but was unable to pursue the opportunity at the time. After building a career in social work and raising two children, she began pursuing that dream through improv and scene study and has since performed with Flatbush Community Theater. She is excited to read for Brooklyn Playwrights Connect.
Phil Gagliano is an actor living in New York City. His theater credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Cherry Orchard, Death of a Salesman, The Divine Sister, Grapes of Wrath, Twelve Angry Men, A Dream Play. In addition, Phil has performed in many short play festivals in New York City. He has worked at Theater for the New City, The Chain Theater, The Episcopalian Actors Guild, to name a few. He also performed in the Playground Experiment’s Voices of America Monologue Festival and his film credits include “Out” & “Beyond the Cursor”.
Phil Gagliano
Paul Jacob is a financial analyst and published poet who has recently veered into acting, playwriting, improv comedy, and standup. In recent months he has played leading roles in several new works, including Phil Gagliano’s Sick to My Stomach, a Brooklyn Playwrights Connect production, and Sarah Lilly’s Barbara Major and Graduation at Theater for the New City. In addition, he has appeared in scenes from The Odd Couple and the Scottish play at Flatbush Community Theater, where he also does improv. As a playwright, his short play, Operation Majestic Rage, was presented in a staged reading by Brooklyn Playwrights Connect in June 2026. His current playwriting projects include The Leader, a story of the Roman emperor Caligula set in the present day; God and Satan on a Park Bench in Brooklyn; and It’s a Lot Harder to Stay Married Than to Get Married. Paul believes that theater, the arts, and laughter are essential to our common humanity.
Paul Jacob
Jerilyn comes into theatre via a long career as an ESOL instructor overseas & here in N.Y.C., a stint in contemporary dance back when her knees were functional, and occasional forays into tarot card reading/astrology. She now acts at every opportunity she gets. Studied at BADA and with various teachers. Member AEA & Sag-Aftra. Favorite past roles include: Nurse in "Romeo & Juliet", Fool in "King Lear" with Prague Shakespeare, and Birbal in Charles Mee's "Coney Island Avenue" at New York Theatre Workshop, numerous creative short films, and a shit-ton of Featured Extra Work. And scan tix for Molière in the Park.
Jerilyn Sackler
Born and raised in southern New Jersey, Adam M. Salem is an Egyptian -
American actor who has been performing since the age of 14 in on and off-stage
productions. Adam first fell in love with acting at a young age while attending
Woodland Country Day School in Bridgeton, N.J. Initially debuting as the lead in Larry
Shue’s two-act comedy: ‘The Foreigner,’ Adam immediately became drawn to theatre as
a means of expressing one’s self creatively. Thereafter, Adam continued his acting
journey at Sanford High School where he starred in two theatrical productions: “Harvey,”
and “The Last Night of Ballyhoo.” It was at that point that the former Sanford High
School Theatre Director recommended Adam to audition for a Delaware Theatre
Company staged reading performance which ultimately gave him the role.
After taking a hiatus for some time, Adam jumped back into several on-stage
theatrical productions, ultimately getting noticed for his on-stage charm and presence.
He has been involved in a wide variety of productions from theatrical productions, tv
series, and movies, to short films and even student projects. Most recently, Adam
played the role of a Palestinian refugee named Rami in Susan Assadi’s theatrical
production of “Fleeting Beauty;” in addition, he also starred as Hanify in “Love and
Terror” - a film based on the book by Palestinian activist Dr. Frank Romano. Moreover,
Adam also played the roles of Sayed and Najaty in “Out of the Cattle,” as well as Evan
in “Out of the Blue.” In his free time, Adam enjoys spending time with family and friends
learning how to fly planes and spending time in the great outdoors.