Three new artists will join Trinity Repertory Company’s resident company in the 2021-22 Season. Tatyana-Marie Carlo, Rachel Christopher, and Taavon Gamble have each worked with Trinity Rep for many years and will take on a more active role with the organization by joining the company. They will contribute as actors, directors, choreographers, and educators.
Established in 1964, Trinity Rep’s resident artistic company is among the oldest in the country and has long been an important part of the organization’s core values. Its members are actors, directors, writers, and educators, whose diverse talents and abilities shape Trinity Rep’s artistic endeavors. New plays premiered at the theater are frequently written with resident company members in mind and developed with their input throughout the workshop process. The three new additions to the company bring the group’s membership to 19 artists.
Curt Columbus, the Arthur P. Solomon and Sally E. Lapides Artistic Director, selected the three artists knowing how much they could contribute to the company. “I am so thrilled to add these three exceptional artists to our resident company. Working with them over the past several years has been a delight — not only are they truly talented theater makers, but they are also lovely people. Their creativity, experience, and vision will be a valuable addition to our company. I can’t wait to share their work with audiences this season.”
TATYANA-MARIE CARLO
Tatyana-Marie graduated from the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program in directing in 2020 and even before officially finishing her third and final year in the program, was tapped to direct Tanya Saracho’s play Fade in December 2019. When the originally-booked director had to step aside due to personal reasons, Tatyana stepped in at the last minute and worked quickly and brilliantly with the cast and design team to create a moving and poignant production. This season, she will direct Sueño, the adaptation by José Rivera of Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s Spanish Golden Age classic Life is a Dream.
A Puerto Rican director from Miami, her credits include serving as the artistic director of Micro Theater Miami, where she added English/Spanish bilingual productions to the company’s previous all-Spanish repertoire. She also helped revive the Seminole Theatre after a 40-year closure and served as its associate director. Tatyana received the 2019 Matt Harris Directing Fellowship at Williamstown Theater Festival and the 2021 Drama League Public Works fellowship at Dallas Theater Center, where she recently directed a devised film with Public Works Dallas called A Little Less Lonely.
In Providence, Tatyana-Marie was active in Teatro en El Verano, a partnership between Trinity Rep and Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA) to produce free, English/Spanish bilingual theater in parks and community centers each summer. She directed Tanta Bulla… ¿Ya Pa’ Que? (Much Ado About Nothing) adapted by Kufa Castro and La Tempestad adapted by Orlando Hernandéz.
On her addition to the company, Tatyana remarked, “My lived experience as a Latina leader in the arts and an active theater maker has taught me how to create space for my voice where there seemingly is none, and in turn curating spaces where all voices can be heard, that is what I hope to bring to Trinity Rep.”
RACHEL CHRISTOPHER
Since graduating from the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program in acting in 2011, Rachel Christopher has worked in TV, film, and theater in New York City, regionally, and internationally. Trinity Rep audiences most recently saw her on stage in The Heidi Chronicles in the 2015-16 Season and online in the 2021 reading of Anna K. during The Writer’s Room streaming new play workshop series. In the upcoming season, Rachel will take on the role of Jasmine in Fairview.
Rachel has also performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music (B.A.M), Playwrights Horizons, PlayMakers Repertory Company, St. Louis Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, American Repertory Theater, Shakespeare & Co., and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, among others. Her film and television work include: Instinct, Blindspot, Girl on the Train, Billions, and others.
In addition to her work as an actor, Rachel is a teacher who was recently named a full-time assistant professor of the practice in acting for the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program after several years on the part-time faculty.
Rachel commented, “I am filled with gratitude to find an artistic home amongst the esteemed Trinity Rep family. Some of my greatest performance memories were made on these stages; I look forward to the many more to come.”
TAAVON GAMBLE
When Taavon Gamble takes the stage in A Christmas Carol this year, it will be his first time as a member of the resident company, but the fifth time he has appeared in the show, including last year’s online version which featured him in the role of Bob Cratchit. Taavon was also seen as Bob Cratchit in Hanover Repertory Theater’s production of the show last year.
In addition to being a part of the Trinity Rep holiday tradition, Taavon has appeared in the company’s productions of Oklahoma!, Ragtime, Little Shop of Horrors, and A Tale of Two Cities. He has also been seen on stage throughout New England, including roles at SpeakEasy Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, North Shore Music Theater, and locally at Theatre By The Sea.
Also a director and choreographer, Taavon was responsible for the dance and movement in Trinity Rep’s 2019 production of A Christmas Carol, including the “mug dance” during Fezziwig’s party.
Taavon says, “I am so honored to be making Trinity Rep my official artistic home and to join a company of artists I have been so inspired by for many years. Trinity is a very special place to me and has allowed me to continue to grow in an environment that encourages artists to reach for all that is possible. I am very grateful to continue that journey here.”