Jasmine B. Gunter (she/her) is a third-year MFA directing candidate at Northwestern University. She is the 2021 recipient of the Hangar Directing Drama League fellowship, the 2020 recipient of the Leighton M. Ballew Directing Scholarship, and a SDC associate member. Recent directing credits include Jump (Northwestern University) Lost Girl (Hangar Theatre), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Hangar Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Northwestern University) Wine in the Wilderness (Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts), Intimate Apparel (SUNY Brockport), Ghost Story (Kane Repertory Theatre), Lines in the Dust (Geva Theatre Center), Reroute (24 Hour Plays: Nationals). Assistant directing: Nina Simone: Four Women (Arena Stage), In the Heights (Seattle Rep), Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage/Huntington Theatre Company), and The Luckiest People (Actors Theatre of Charlotte/NNPN). Jasmine has also taught at the Berkshire Theatre Group and the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY.

Manna-Symone Middlebrooks (she/her) is a Chicago-based theatre director and producer. She believes that theatre-making is excavation— the ways we dig through our histories, (re)discover artifacts of personal or cultural pasts, and use them in the stories. Her work is engaged in epic storytelling that unearths humanity’s complexity, rawness, and joys to embrace healing. Before relocating for school, she lived in Washington, DC, working as the Casting Associate for The Folger Theatre. Manna-Symone was also the 2017/2018 Resident Assistant Director & Artistic Apprentice.

Recent credits include Northwestern University: Precious Little, The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World. Associate credits: Steppenwolf Theatre Company: The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington; Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Amen Corner. Assistant credits: Chicago Shakespeare: All’s Well That Ends Well; The Folger Theatre: Amadeus, Henry IV, Part I;  Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: BLKS; Arena Stage: Indecent, Turn Me Loose; Studio Theatre: The Remains, Translations, The Wolves, Curve of Departure, Skeleton Crew;  Theatre J: Broken Glass. Education: MFA Directing Candidate, Northwestern University; BA Theatre Arts, American University; British American Drama Academy (BADA). @mannasymone

Tor Campbell’s experience is wide and varied, and he has extensive creative direction credits both domestically and internationally—most notably in The Venetian Hotel & Sands in Macau, China. On a national level, he has produced, choreographed, and directed numerous productions, including his recent full feature film Paradise  & short film Lovers Discretion. He has also directed stage productions of Dreamgirls and Beauty & the Beast at two renowned LA Theaters. He was the choreographer for Paradise during two runs in LA and for the regional production at the Austin Playhouse. He has directed/choreographed for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Macau Cultural Arts Center, Macau Stadium, Paris Bennett Tour, Ann Nesby Tour, Bollywood Awards, Venetian, Las Vegas & Sands Macau, Sheraton Korea, Hollywood Park Casino, Alice Tully Hall, Hansberry Sands Theater Events, George Faison Firehouse Theater, Playboy Club. He has independently developed several innovative Performing Arts programs, encompassing the many varied aspects of the Musical Theater experience.