Marlene Le Roux is the CEO of the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. In this capacity she aims to close the divide that exists due to the legacy of the country’s Apartheid history. Spearheaded by Le Roux, Artscape collaborated in a Learnership programme in many rural areas with projects for disadvantaged children. She is a motivational speaker and speaks out for the rights of women and children and especially the disabled. She also conceptualized and edited two books and is a multi-award-winning activist in the arts sector and for women’s rights, both nationally and internationally. Amongst her many awards – too numerous to mention – she received the Stellenbosch University Alumni of the Year – for outstanding contribution to nation-building; Shoprite/Checkers Woman of the year award (Art category); The Desmond Tutu Legendary Award. She also received the German Peace Award, to name but a few.

Marlene is also the Chairperson of Chrysalis Provincial Youth Academy; has been given an Honorary doctorate from CPUT and serves on the South African Presidential working group for Persons with disabilities.

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Alongside being an disability advisor on The Sensorium Project  - he is CEO and founder of the Nossell & Co, where he is bridge-building between disability and society. He has extensive experience creating award-winning arts and media projects, that provide a more deeply embodied and nuanced understanding of disability - including journalism; documentary films – The Red Chapel (Sundance Award Winner - 2009) and Natural Disorder (2015); theater plays – Human Liquidation (2016); podcasts – My Damn Voice (2018); comedy, talks, and campaigns – It’s not a handicap (2013).

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Mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin has received high praise from The New York Times chief classical music critic Anthony Tommasini, who wrote that she possesses "compelling artistry," "communicative power," and that her voice displays "earthy, rich, and poignant qualities." Los Angeles Times special critic Josef Woodard has lauded Rubin’s "charismatic, multi-textured performance," stating that Laurie Rubin " seems to have an especially acute intuition about the power and subtleties of sound and she was a compelling force at the center of the music. Her outstanding artistry was showcased recently at the AT&T Center Theater in Los Angeles, where LA Times critic Mark Swed described her as "a young mezzo-soprano whose voice is darkly complex and mysteriously soulful and who adds intense emphasis to every word of text.”

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Jenny Sealey OBE is Graeae’s Artistic Director. She has pioneered a theatrical language coined ‘the aesthetics of access’ with bilingual BSL and English, pre-recorded BSL, creative captioning, pre-recorded or live audio description. Two, The Fall of the House of Usher, peeling, Bent, Blasted, Diary of an Action Man, Blood Wedding (Japan) Romeo and Juliet (Japan and Bangladesh) and her recent opera Paradis Files are particular examples. Jenny co-directed London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

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Gregg Mozgala is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Apothetae, a theatre company dedicated to the production of works that explore and illuminate the “Disabled Experience.” An award winning and critically acclaimed actor and playwright, Gregg has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway and regionally with Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Kennedy Center, Theater Breaking Through Barriers, La Jolla Playhouse and the Ensemble Studio Theatre.

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Roger Weitz recently completed a successful 11-year tenure as General Director of Opera Omaha. Under his leadership the company grew significantly, doubling the patron base and exponentially expanding the number of individuals engaged though community programming and partnerships. With Opera Omaha Roger developed and launched an annual festival of new work centering contemporary artists, as well as a groundbreaking community engagement and civic practice initiative, the Holland Community Opera Fellowship. Roger’s opera administration career began in 2000 as the Artistic Administrator for Chicago Opera Theater under the leadership of General Director, Brian Dickie. He left Chicago in 2007 to accept an Arts Management Fellowship at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Upon completion of the
Fellowship, Roger returned to Chicago Opera Theater in a new capacity, as the company’s General Manager. To date, Roger has managed the planning and creation of over 60 new productions including numerous local, regional, and world premieres. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of OPERA America, the national service organization for the field of opera, and is co-facilitator of their New General Directors’ Roundtable. Roger is the proud husband of Kate Weitz, Founder and Director of the Common Senses Festival, and father of Freddie.

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