About the Company

Spellbound Theatre is New York's award-winning theater devoted to creating original, multi-disciplinary performances for very young audiences. We believe that young people deserve sophisticated and innovative art experiences and are constantly inspired by the complex and imaginative world of young children. Each of our shows is based in the rich, imaginative tapestry of young children's world and utilizes a variety of art forms including storytelling, puppetry, animation, visual art, and physical theatre. Spellbound's innovative programming includes Mainstage Productions, in-school residencies and performances, Free Family Art Days, workshops, and tailored experiences designed especially for our youngest audience members. Spellbound is governed using a shared artistic and administrative leadership model. ​
​Oversight Committee Members: Susanna Brock, Melissa Costidis, Jody Doo and Asha John
General Manager: Maureen Donohue 
For more information about who we are, click here.

Meet the Lullaby Land Team

Susanna Brock: Devisor, Artistic Liaison
Susanna Brock (she/her) is a disabled, New York based, Swedish theater maker, performer, director and educator who creates multi-sensory, multi-lingual and interactive theater with and for young audiences. For the past 15 years, she has had the opportunity to work in many different parts of the world including Stockholm, Paris, Kampala, Nairobi and New York where she has facilitated and performed in school and community-based programs. She is an ensemble member and senior leader at the award-winning company Spellbound Theatre, an ensemble member and administrator with Flying Leap Productions and has been a teaching artist with organizations like ArtsConnection, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and The Children’s Museum of Manhattan. The past 5 years she has also led trainings and professional development for The Department of Education, NYU, Brooklyn College and Bank Street School of Education. In 2020 she graduated with a Master’s of Applied Theater from CUNY School of Professional Studies.
Ana Cantorán: Director
Ana Cantorán is a Mexican-born, NYC-based Theatre Artist and Arts Educator. She is an actress, director, mover, singer, collaborator, teaching artist, space holder and passionate theatre creator. She has toured her original works worldwide throughout North and Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Her devised work and collaborations have been selected by Singapore fringe festival, New Victory Theater, Labworks, Barn Arts Collective, The Quarry: Contemporary Arts International, Up close Festival, Barn Fest, United Solo, Poetic License Festival, Itinerant Performance Festival, Saint Louis fringe festival, Festival of the Death Miquixtli, Teatro en la Alacena, centro cultural Santa Rosa, 11th and 12th Festival International du Théâtre Universitaire d’Agadir Maroc, and featured by The Tank, Dixon Place, IRT Theater, and more. Ana holds a BFA in Dramatic Arts by BUAP, Puebla, Mexico and an MFA in Theater: Contemporary Performance by Naropa University, Boulder CO. Ana is elated to collaborate with Spellbound Theatre again to direct Lullaby Land. 
Jody Doo: Producer
Jody Doo is a producer and host born and raised in sunny Singapore. She is passionate about using her work to uplift minority and diverse voices. Her love for diversity was sparked at a tender age by her father. Instead of watching cartoons, her father would put on documentaries. From the !Kung Bushmen to The Indonesian Sea Gypsies Tribe to endless Attenborough-narrated wildlife features. Apropos of nothing, her beloved pet scoby is named Scooby.
Dorothea Gloria: Devisor
Dorothea is an artist from Manila, Philippines. She is currently a teaching artist in several New York City schools as well as a resident artist for Spellbound Theatre and Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre. She has performed for La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Rattlestick Playwrights, Lucille Lortel Theater, and many more. She has performed in various theater companies back home as well such as Repertory Philippines, PETA (Philippine Educational Theater Association), and CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) to name a few. She also earned BroadwayWorld’s Best Featured Actress for her performance with Repertory Philippines. She is often seen in Bryant Park where she practices her juggling and flow arts. For more info, check her website at www.dorotheagloria.com ig: @dorotheagloria
Dorothy James: Phase 2 Puppet Designer
Dorothy James (she/her) is a puppet artist and fabricator who creates otherworldly narratives that meld the grotesque with a sense of innocence. Theatre: Dead as a Dodo, The Immortal Jellyfish Girl, and Made In China (Wakka Wakka), Hansel & Gretel (Basil Twist with Michigan Opera Theatre), SELF MUST DIE: "Fly Away" (Derek Fordjour + Nick Lehane), The New York Spectacular… (Radio City); Film/TV: Hello Tomorrow! (AppleTV+), Moon and Me (BBC), and Patriot (Amazon), "That Life" music video (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Double Solitaire).  She is co-creator of Bill’s 44th, which was named a NY Times Critic’s Pick and has toured nationally and internationally, including sold-out runs at both the London International Mime Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. She is co-founder of Official Puppet Business. www.dorothy-james.com
Aviva Jaye: Music Director, Musician
Aviva Jaye is a performing artist primarily creating music, wielding voice, keys, harp, guitar & ukulele. She often combines acoustic & electronic elements to unlock a portal for listeners to venture, exploring the dimensions of empathy, self-awareness, social justice & Afrofuturism. Her interdisciplinary work includes theatre, dance, paper arts & poetry.  In addition to solo work, Aviva is a band member with Arthur Moon, Dessa, Echo Bloom & Raia Was. As a youth advocate, she has co-created with students as Program Associate with Brooklyn Youth Chorus & as a teaching artist with Marquis Studios & The Wooster Group in New York’s city schools.
Lisa Kitchens: Co-Producer
Lisa Kitchens (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator. She primarily works at the intersection of arts and Nature, and she takes particular interest in the connection we have to the more-than-human world as well as the interconnectedness of communities around the world. Lisa was artist-in-residence with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on Togiak National Wildlife Refuge where she created the play, "The Edge of the Earth," which was performed in NYC in 2019 for young audiences. She also was an artist-in-residence with The Arctic Circle Residence where she created the digital installation, "Fragments from the Arctic: A Journal of Mediations on Grief in the Norwegian Arctic." She is the founder of Earth Stories Initiative, a platform that uses storytelling to connect young children to the natural world. She is so grateful to be co-producing this important new work with Spellbound!  www.earthstoriesinitiative.org
www.lisakitchens.com
Sydney Prince: Stage Manager
Sydney Prince is thrilled to be back with Spellbound Theatre Company for Lullaby Land. She is a New York City-based Stage Manager and Director. Off-Broadway: Sesame Street the Musical (PSM, Rockefeller Productions), Shakespeare Stars (PSM, Spellbound), My First Nutcracker (PSM, NYCCT) Other NY Credits: The Reunion (Director, NPTC), Ghostlight(SM, NYC Premiere), Grey (PSM, SheNYC Festival). Sydney is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan and would not be here without the support of her family. Enjoy the show! sydneyhprince.com & ig: @sydneyprince_
Marisol Rosa-Shapiro: Devisor 
Marisol Soledad is a cultural worker, theater artist, educator, and facilitator. Her acting, directing, writing, and devising work have appeared in NYC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Maine, Colorado, Alaska, Texas, Italy and Mexico. Marisol is a tenured member of the teaching artist ensemble at the New Victory Theater in NYC, where she has also developed original work for young audiences as a lead artist in the LabWorks program and made her Off-Broadway directorial debut with Spellbound Theater's Wink. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Helikos International School of Theatre Creation in Florence, Italy. Recent original works include Read Me World, Auntieland, The Most Important Place in the World, and The Seven Ravens Project. Her new play, Junk/Baby was recently a semi finalist for the Terrence McNally Award in Philadelphia. 

Lullaby Land:
The Web-Series & ​Devising Phase 1

"Spellbound put together a team of 6 ensemble members, a director, a sound designer, a video editor and a producer to create 6 digital episodes with the series being titled Lullaby Land. The concept is simple – each episode is in a different language, a lullaby that soothes the performer to sleep." - Jody Doo, Lullaby Land Producer and author of TYA Today Magazine article, Incorporating Anti-Racist Work into TVY: Spellbound Theatre devises Lullaby Land
 Every episode is in a different language and aims to lull your little ones to dreamland.  The languages in the first iteration of Lullaby Land are Tagalog, Spanish, Mandarin, Swedish, & Haitian Creole. Lullaby Land (2021) was created by Khalia Davis, produced by Jody Doo, edited by Melissa Costidis, sound design by Krystal Brenes, animated by Robert Thaxton-Stevenson, and featuring Colleen Horan, Patrick Chico, Ashni Sunder, Jody Doo, Susanna Brock​ and Kathleen LeBlanc. Click the image below to learn more about the web-series that started it all!

Lullaby Land Devising Phase 1

"Spring 2023 – Spellbound Theatre received grants from the CreateNYC Language Access Fund of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs to further develop Lullaby Land in FY23. The goal is to have 3 devising phases which will ultimately transform the 6 episode digital series into a full staged production in 2025. Phase 1 of in-person devising began! For this phase, Ana Cantorán Viramontes – a longtime member of Spellbound’s ensemble – was hired as the director. Ana is an immigrant from Mexico, fluent in Spanish and brings with her years of TYA experience, devising as well as directing. To kick off Phase 1 of in-person devising, we put together a team of 8 devisors, explored 10 languages and 4 instruments." - Jody Doo, Lullaby Land Producer and author of TYA Today Magazine article, Incorporating Anti-Racist Work into TVY: Spellbound Theatre devises Lullaby Land
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Lullaby Land is supported, in part, by

Thank you to University Settlement for hosting this special showcase. Thank you to Materials for the Arts.