OUR TEAM
Leo Lion | Founder, Artistic Director
Leo is a theatremaker, game designer, and arts educator who founded Firebird in 2013 when he was 13 years old. Since then, Leo’s directed 15+ productions with Firebird’s adult and youth companies, taught classes in improv, playwriting, shakespeare, and taken his interactive shows to Edinburgh, Seattle, and the Bay Area. He’s also the Assoc. Artistic Director of Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, where he turns classic books into interactive experiences.
Leo is known for playful, interactive, and game-driven work like Help Me!!!!, Liar’s Night, Scandalton, Trouble Feature, Insomnia, and KafkaTech Metamorphosis. He loves to conduct immersive experiences that explore the role of repeatability, chance, and accident.
Leo holds a B.A. in Theatre from Fordham University and is a Member of Dramatists’ Guild and Stage Directors and Choreographers Association. For more, visit leolion.com
2026 PRODUCING STAFF & TEACHING ARTISTS:
Sonja Dighe | Associate Producer
Sonja is a theatre producer and administrator who has worked across multiple international theatre venues and festivals, contributing to teams through development, casting, scheduling, and most of the odds and ends business and fundraising support that makes art successful. She is passionate about managing creatives and providing practical support so directors and writers can feel empowered while moving their work from ideation to fruition. She has brought shows to Dublin, Edinburgh, Prague, London, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Nyack, and has worked in New York theatre since 2025. Sonja is best known for her support on original musicals and interactive experiences, such as Edinburgh Horror Festival’s Best Musical Ghosted! A New Musical, Eden Goes Home, and Liar’s Night. She enjoys contributing to work that champions the power of collective experience and innovation of dramaturgical form.
Joshua Henry Brelsford | Teaching Artist (Shakespeare Studio)
Joshua is an actor, playwright, and teacher in New York City. He achieved his BFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota and Guthrie Theater. Theatre for young audiences has been essential to Joshua's own practices since he was eight years old under the mentorship of Gemini Children's Theater in Pittsburgh, PA. Past highlights include touring to 52 high school's, community centers, and juvenile detention centers in rural Montana with Shakespeare's "Richard III" and Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, and bringing his original play, "KILN", to premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Outside of performing, Joshua enjoys learning tunes on his hammered dulcimer and exploring small towns on his bike.
Isabelle Pflanz | Teaching Artist (Playmakers, Robin Hood)
Diana Dominguez | Production & Development Intern
Anastasia Zhylnikava | PR & Media Intern
Resident Artist Company
Rae Bell
Wyatt Camery
Sophie Falvey
Katie Homer-Drummond
Alex Nemfakos
Kamau Nosakhere
Isabelle Pflanz
Benny Rendell
Maximillian Romanov
Eli Wassertzug
Juli Worth
EMERITUS STAFF & LEADERSHIP
Zoe Senese-Grossberg (Associate Artistic Director Emeritus)
Nick Roblee-Strauss (Artistic Producer Emeritus)
JB Morrissey (Production Manager Emeritus)
Thomas Manfred Pflanz (Technical Director Emeritus)