2023 Fellows
Sivan Battat
Discipline: Theatre
Sivan Battat (she/they) is a theatre director & community organizer. Sivan has developed work with companies including Roundabout, NYTW, Drama League, Atlantic, Ars Nova, National Queer Theatre, New Georges, Goodman, New York Stage & Film, Cape Cod Theatre Project, MCC and more. Sivan is the Associate Artistic Director of Noor Theatre, a company in NYC dedicated to supporting the work of theatre artists of Middle Eastern descent. As an organizer, Sivan works with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and has curated several iterations of Salon Al-Mahjar صالون المهجر, a performance salon for queer & trans MENASA artists. Upcoming: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Studio Theatre, DC), Layalina (Goodman Theatre, Chicago). sivanbattat.com
Luis Roberto Burgos
Discipline: Photography
Luis Roberto Burgos is a Black, Queer, Jewish, Neurodiverse Earthling based on Lenape Land, colonially known as New York City. Born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised between three boroughs, Luis lived in Los Angeles from 2013 to 2018. He learned how to question at Phillips Exeter Academy and how not to question at Bard College. His photography is often based in literature while his writing is visual and sensory. In 2022, NY Jewish Week named him one of the "36 to Watch." (Formerly 36 under 36) That same year, he debuted his first photobook, Moses of the City, which received a stellar review from The Forward.
Alex Chester-Iwata
Discipline: Theatre; Journalism
Alex Chester-Iwata (she/her) is an Actor and the Editor-in-Chief of Mixed Asian Media - A Media Platform to share stories and celebrate Mixed APIs, recognized by the Nielsen Consumer Report on Asian Americans. In 2022 she was honored as one of the top 50 Unsung Heros at Asian Hustle Network’s Uplifted Conference, and she was a grant winner at the Minority Women Lead's pitch competition.
Some acting credits include Broadway’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Off-Broadway Keen Company’s This Space Between Us, TV’s The Good Fight, New Amsterdam, The Closer, ER. Alex is a community builder and has been featured in Shout Out LA, East Side Stories, The Mixed Space, AAPI Democracy Project, Theatre Art Life, No Cilantro Please, and Worst Asian Podcast. Alex is on the advisory board of her alma mater St. Mary’s College LEAP program, she is also a board member of ACE Next Gen’s NYC Chapter and of Strong Asian Lead and she is a Community Leader for the Lunar Collective. @MixedAsianMedia @AlexFChester
Anthony Russell
Discipline: Music
For the past ten years ANTHONY RUSSELL (he/him) has been a vocalist, composer and arranger specializing in music in the Yiddish language. Anthony's work with klezmer trio Veretski Pass resulted in Convergence, an exploration of a century of African American and Ashkenazi Jewish music. His recent release on the Borscht Beat label with accordionist and keyboardist Dmitri Gaskin, Kosmopolitn, features their original settings of Yiddish modernist poetry for voice and string ensemble. Anthony has also been a culture essayist in a number of publications, including The Forward, Tablet Magazine, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, PROTOCOLS, Full Stop Magazine, Ayin Press and Jewish Currents.
Sharone Sayegh
Discipline: Theatre
SHARONE SAYEGH (she/her) is an Iraqi/Israeli/American theater artist in NYC. As an actor she has performed in multiple Broadway shows, and has written and directed Off-Broadway. She most recently played Bonnie in Come From Away on Broadway, after playing the role on the 1st National Tour. Before that, she originated the role of Anna in The Band’s Visit on Broadway (OBC). Other Broadway: Mamma Mia! Off Broadway: Mrs. Trumbauer in Road Show (City Center Encores), Anna in The Band's Visit (Atlantic Theater Co, World Premiere), Sharone in The Wildness (Ars Nova, World Premiere), and Scheherazade in Scheherazade (Prospect Theater Co). Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, The Muny, Florida Rep, San Jose Rep. TV: Instinct (CBS), Limitless (CBS). Syracuse University Alum, sharonesayegh.com @sharonesayegh