DIRECTORS
JENNIFER ALICE ACKER is an Atlanta based director and actor. She is a graduate of Florida State University, holding dual degrees in Music and Theatre, and has studied with Theatre Academy London, The Globe Theatre (London), and apprenticed with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. Recent directing credits include Lizzie at Actor’s Express; At the Wedding, Christmas Dearest and Christmas with the Crawfords at Out Front; Wonderland and Mac|Beth at Synchronicity; Citizen’s Market at Horizon Theatre; Wonder Women for Studio Tenn and the Atlanta Music Theatre Festival; and The Last Time We Were Here for The New York Music Theatre Festival. Influenced by her background in musical theatre, comedy, the works of William Shakespeare and the devised theatre of Jerzy Grotowksi, Jennifer’s work favors striking visuals, authentic storytelling, and a strong flirtation with the line where magic and reality meet. www.jenniferaliceacker.com
ERIC J. LITTLE is an actor, director and educator. He is a graduate of Alabama A & M University and Louisiana State University. Eric is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Communication Studies at Clark Atlanta University. Eric has worked as an actor and director with Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company, Actor’s Express, Theatrical Outfit, Aurora Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Theater Emory, Horizon Theatre, North Carolina Black Rep/International Black Theatre Festival, and Hattiloo Theatre Company. He is also on the Board of Directors for Working Title Playwrights. A few of Eric’s selected Film/TV acting credits include “Praise This,” “Bandit,” “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” “Lottery Ticket,” “Christmas Deja’Vu,” and “Stalker.” He also serves as a Georgia Lottery Host, and Eric is a three-time Suzi Bass Award-winner for acting.
ERIKA MIRANDA is a Mexican-Norwegian actor, producer and director based in Atlanta, GA and just finished directing her first Horizon production, Laughs in Spanish. She received her BFA in Acting from The Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Erika has pursued additional training from institutions such as the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Upright Citizens Brigade. Her theater credits extend from Chicago to LA to Atlanta. Erika is a proud alumni of the Horizon Theatre Apprentice Program and was last seen as an actor at Horizon in The Wolves. Some of Erika’s recent TV work consists of acting in a Blumhouse horror film, and FOX’s Monarch and Hulu’s Tell Me Lies. Erika founded Cafecito Productions, an incubative production company in Atlanta, GA. Their first production, Mi Casa, which was first written by Jocelyn Rick and performed at Horizon during the Apprentice Company can be found on all HBO platforms. Cafecito’s second film, Sweetie, is a part of the Give Me An A anthology produced by Tasha Halevi, and can be viewed on all VOD platforms. Films produced by Cafecito Productions have been screened at festivals across the country, including Cleveland International and Palm Springs Short Fest. Trailer [Trash] Magic, Erika’s directorial debut, won the GA Film Impact Grant, and premiered at LALIFF in 2024. Erika Miranda began as first Executive Producer of SheATL Arts (of SheNY). SheATL is a festival where Erika, alongside staff, mentors up and coming playwrights through the development and production process. Erika has been awarded top accolades in the past couple of years, some of which recently include being named One of the Amazing Women in Film by Oz Magazine (2023). Featured in Telemundo’s Atlanta con Sabor: Latinos in Entertainment Segment (2023). One of Georgia’s Top Industry Influencers by Georgia Entertainment, 2024.
MFA MENTORS
MO HOLMES (she/her) is a black queer Southern playwright, librettist and dramaturg, born in San Antonio and raised on the long stretch of road from Texas to Alabama. She is a Next Wave Initiative Lorraine Hansberry Award winner, a Jane Chambers finalist and a two-time O’Neill National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist. She will attend the 2025 Sewanee Writers’ Conference as a Tennessee Williams Scholar. Her writing has been produced and/or developed with the Sam French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, the Playwrights’ Center, Vertigo Theatre, Minnesota Opera, and Atlanta Opera. As a dramaturg and teaching artist, she has supported new play development at Good Apples Collective, the Playwrights’ Center, Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, and Columbia University School of the Arts. She is a current MFA Candidate in Playwriting and Undergraduate Writing Program Teaching Fellow at Columbia.
M KAMARA (they/them/theirs) is a writer of many worlds, both real and fictional. Living in many different places with a variety of people has shaped them into the person they are today, opening their eyes to the multitude of stories varying communities hold. As a playwright, M is interested in telling Black diasporic stories that utilize documentary theater tactics and engage history, afro-surrealism, speculative fiction, and various cultural myths. They received their BFA in English and Cinema Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. They are currently working towards their MFA in Playwriting at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Outside of SIU, they’ve been a two-time finalist for the Playwrights’ Center Core Apprentice 2024 and 2025, a nominee for the Playwrights’ Center Venturous Fellowship 2024, they were a part of the Kennedy Center’s 2024 Black Playwrights Gathering cohort, and a part of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s 2024-2025 Confluence Writer’s Project cohort.
ELLIE MELICK is a playwright, screenwriter, and educator whose work explores the power and violence of femininity. Recent projects include a play about teenage figure skaters (Edge Call; 2025 O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist) and a horror-comedy set in a fitness studio (PassionSculpt.; 2024 O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist). She has previously worked with The 24 Hour Plays, Yonder Window Theatre Company, and Page 73 Productions. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. from Kenyon College, where she was awarded the James E. Michael Prize in Playwriting.