Our Team
Meet Ron
Ron Emile is the co-director of Exploring Black Narratives. He is an actor, voice over artist, and native New Yorker. His theater credits include Macbeth (Broadway), The Gospel Woman (National Black Theatre), All We Need Is Us (Keen Company), Feeding Beatrice (St. Louis Rep), and Actually (Theatreworks Hartford). You can hear Ron’s voice in the audio plays Hop Tha A (Audible) and We Can’t Breathe (The Playwrights Realm). On TV, you can catch him in the Emmy Award nominated series Inventing Anna (Netflix), the long running New York crime drama Blue Bloods (CBS), and Harlem (Amazon Prime). Ron has trained at some of the greatest actor training programs in the world including Marymount Manhattan College (BFA), BADA, and NYU’s Graduate Acting Program (MFA). @hollywoodrondon
Meet Lonnie
Lonnie Firestone is the founder and co-director of Exploring Black Narratives. She is a writer, interviewer, and educator. Lonnie has written articles on theater and television for The Wall Street Journal, Glamour, Vanity Fair, The Forward, Tablet, American Theatre, Playbill, Departures, Michigan Alumnus, and the Canvas Compendium. She has conducted live interviews for audiences at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center and JCC Manhattan. Lonnie hosts the podcast Places Everyone where she explores how stage and screen artists develop their work. She holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan and an MFA in theater from Columbia University with a specialty in dramaturgy. Lonnie lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two sons. (Photo credit: Kreg Holt)
Meet Mister
Mister Fitzgerald is a teaching artist with Exploring Black Narratives. A native of Baltimore, MD, Mister has been steadfast in diversifying his artistic experience in theater, tv, film and modeling. Mister graduated from Florida Southern College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater Performance. After graduating and continuing to hone his skills through coaching, he found himself working on sets of tv shows and films in LA, NY, and Atlanta primarily. Mister has graced the stages of Broadway, starring alongside Audra McDonald in Ohio State Murders, directed by Kenny Leon. His Off-Broadway credits include: On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop), A Raisin In The Sun (Public Theater), and Exception To The Rule (Roundabout Theater Company). Film: The Last Deal, Boogie, 30 Weeks. TV: “Power” “FBI” “The Blacklist'', “Godfather of Harlem”, “The Night Agent”. Mister's love of film extends behind the camera as well. He has directed and produced short films and a web series. Additionally, he founded Soul Soirée, a cultural collective group that showcases and celebrates creatives in the NYC arts community.
Meet Rebecca
Rebecca S’manga Frank is a teaching artist with Exploring Black Narratives. She is an actor, writer, director, and educator. Rebecca performed in Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2019, and in "The Beginning Days of True Jubilation" by Mona Mansour in 2020. Other credits include: Sundance Theatre Lab in Morocco, Humana New Play Festival, Red Bull Theatre, and many other regional and off-broadway theaters. TV Credits: FOX’s Prodigal Son and Elementary (NBC). Rebecca was the assistant director of "Nat Turner in Jerusalem" (New York Theatre Workshop), "Spunk" (California Shakespeare Company), and directed Romeo and Juliet in a church in downtown Oakland, CA. She is a member of Society, an ensemble based theatre company in New York. She has shared her writing through Hillel International, Lilith Magazine, Jewish Theological Seminary, Reboot Jews, JCC Manhattan, LAB/SHUL, and other Jewish arts and culture institutions. Rebecca is a 2021 LABA New York Fellow at the 14th st Y and a fellow of The Workshop at the JTS. Rebecca teaches writing and performance to teens internationally. She recently performed in the world premiere of "Is Edward Snowden Single?" at The New Ohio, and will be in "At The Wedding" at Lincoln Center LCT3 this February. @smanga_yahart
Meet Tatiana
Tatiana Wechsler is a teaching artist with Exploring Black Narratives. She is a New York City based actor, singer/songwriter, educator, and creative. Tatiana made her Broadway debut in Mr. Saturday Night with Billy Crystal and has performed at theaters and in many venues regionally and in NYC, including the Paper Mill Playhouse (Benny & Joon), the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Love’s Labor’s Lost), the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (The Golden Bride), The Acting Company (X: Or Betty Shabazz V. The Nation, Julius Caesar, Othello), Two River Theatre (Love in Hate Nation), and more. She was the first woman to play Curly in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and can be heard on the Love in Hate Nation Original Cast Album. Onscreen credits include award-winning short film Netuser. Tatiana has produced, edited, and directed multiple commissioned concerts of original material, as well as covers. Tatiana received her BFA from NYU’s New Studio on Broadway. www.tatianawechsler.com @tatiwex
Meet Nemuna
Nemuna Ceesay (she/her/hers) is an advisor for Exploring Black Narratives. She is an actor/educator originally from California and based in New York. She has an MFA in acting from American Conservatory Theater and has been seen onstage at CalShakes, Joe’s Pub, PlayMakers Rep, Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., The Public Theatre, and spent 2 years at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Favorite TV credits include: Bull, Broad City, Instinct, Younger, FBI, Prodigal Son and Katy Keene. She has performed internationally at Theatre Calgary and the Moscow Art Theatre. Nemuna teaches acting at Hunter College and Circle in the Square Theatre School. Nemuna is the founder of an all BIPOC training program called The Blueprint and has her own business coaching actors for MFA Auditions. Follow her on Instagram @_nemuna_ and @theblueprintartist. You can also visit her website: www.nemunarceesay.com or learn more about The Blueprint at www.theblueprintartist.com
Meet Kendell
Kendell Pinkney is the senior advisor of Exploring Black Narratives. He is a Brooklyn based theater artist, creative producer and rabbi who creates art at the intersection of race, religion, identity and sacred text. A graduate of NYU-Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, he has most recently been featured in the acclaimed new Israeli docuseries "The New Jew" with actor-comedian Guri Alfi, Saturday Night Seder and the “Unholier than Thou'' podcast. His broader collaborative works have been presented at venues such as 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, LABA @ the 14th St. Y, and Two River Theater, to name a few. kendellpinkney.com
Meet William
William DeMeritt is a teaching artist with Exploring Black Narratives. He is an actor, narrator, writer, dialect coach, and educator who splits his time between Los Angeles and his hometown of New York City. William received his BFA in acting from Marymount Manhattan College, has studied in London at BADA, and earned his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. As a voiceover artist and narrator, William’s work has been featured in a wide variety of genres & mediums; from commercials to video games to audiobooks, podcasts, and journalism. As an actor, William has performed in some of the most respected theatres in the country, including: The Humana Festival of New Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, St.Louis Rep, Marin Theatre Company, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Signature Theater Company. His tv/film credits include: the Emmy Award winning HBO film, The Normal Heart, the critically acclaimed webseries, The Outs, NCIS: New Orleans, One Life to Live, Law & Order: SVU, Person of Interest, and HBO Max’sThe Flight Attendant . Additionally William is the writer/co-creator/star of the New York Innovative Theatre Award winning one-man show, Origin Story. And as an educator, guest lecturer, and talent coach, William has been able to work for a wide variety of educational institutions and international businesses, including: Iona College, Fairfield University, SUNY Purchase, Circle in the Square Theare School, Broadway Bound Kids, Hartford Stage Company, Cirque du Soleil, and even Apple (but he can’t really talk about that last one). www.williamdemeritt.com. @demeritt