Neema Bal is a physical theatre artist is to represent the stories of his community in a way that not only reflects and heals the traumas from the past, but also creates a space for reimagining a positive future. He is a former refugee from the Bhutanese-Nepali-American community who resettled in Akron in 2013 and became a citizen of the United States in 2019. Since 2017, Neema has worked as Co-Artistic Director of Gum-Dip Theatre which excites him as a method of creating multilingual plays for, with, and about marginalized communities. He has performed original theatre in nearly 40 different locations throughout Northeast Ohio. Recent acting credits include: Denied Admission, My North Hill, Rebranding the City, Imprisoned, Namaste-WHAT?, and In Search of Alternative Dreams (Gum-Dip Theatre). As a 2019 winner of the Knight Arts Challenge for Three Countries, One Mother, he sees the project as an important process for his community because of the ways it will bring them together in storytelling, and then have an opportunity to share it throughout the United States. He has been featured in two public photography exhibits by Shane Wynn and Erin LaBelle.

Katie Beck is a creative community builder, director, writer, facilitator, speaker, and artivist who works to build spaces that highlight, center, and prioritize historically excluded voices. Since establishing Gum-Dip Theatre in 2016, Katie has produced or directed nearly 90 performances that celebrate, challenge, and reinvent community identity through neighborhood story circles and pay-what-you-can performances. GDT creates theatre as a vehicle for practicing different factual and imaginary versions of oneself, for representing the narratives that are often ignored, and for elevating voices and identities that are not included in the mainstream. Recent directing and devising credits include Three Countries, One Mother (upcoming) Brokers Without Borders, Denied Admission, My North Hill, Imprisoned, Namaste-WHAT?, In Search of Alternative Dreams, and Into the Mold. Some of her playwriting highlights include Obnoxiously Unconstitutional (upcoming), Rebranding the City: a Humanizing Tour of Akron, Into the Mold, and A Town For Us. In 2017, she helped to open the Exchange House with the Better Block Foundation, which transferred ownership to North Akron CDC in 2019. From 2020 through 2021, she served as Executive Director for North Akron CDC, a nonprofit with the mission to unite people, places, and programs in stimulating a creative economy in North Hill, while anchoring a flourishing intercultural community and celebrating its vibrant diversity remains intact. During her tenure, the organization’s operating budget grew by nearly 800% over two years and three public spaces opened including Maker House, the NoHi Pop-Up restaurant (winner of Greater Akron Chamber’s Grit Award 2020), and NoTique, a pop-up retail storefront selling the unique creations of over 20 North Hill minority- and female-vendors, makers, and artists. In addition, two vacant lots were purchased for new development, and more than 75 partnerships with groups, organizations, and businesses have been established. Katie serves as a Commissioner for the City of Akron's founding Public Art Commission, co-chair for Firestone CLC's Performing Arts Academy, and a member of Torchbearers Akron class of 2020. She is a recipient of Greater Akron Chamber’s ’30 for the Future’ Award in 2019, Arts Alive! Outstanding Artist in Theatre Award in 2018, Akron Fellowship for League of Creative Interventionists in 2017, and three Knight Foundation Arts Challenge Awards in 2016, 2019, and 2021. Katie holds a BA in Theatre, Writing, and Community and Justice Studies from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA.

Benjamin Rexroad is a theatre artist with a passion for poetry, travel and community. He has trained with John O’Neal of The Free Southern Theater, New York-based SITI Company and was one of 25 international directors selected to participate in the 2014 Directors Lab North in Toronto. Since establishing Heads Up Productions eight years ago (now Wandering Aesthetics), Benjamin has produced or directed over 70 performance events. In 2011, he was presented with the Rising Young Star/Leadership Akron Area Arts Alive Award. The same year, he helped launch Akron’s only African-American theatre company and received a grant to tour a role-playing workshop about racism, poverty, class and social status. In 2013, Benjamin and his partner completed a thru-hike of the 2,185.9-mile Appalachian Trail. Last year, he was part of the National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellows cohort. Wandering Aesthetics is a Knight Arts grant recipient for “Bigger Than a Breadbox”, a quarterly neighborhood-centric vaudeville production.

MLK once said that “we must accept our finite circumstances, but we must never lose infinite hope”. This sentiment rings especially true for Ohio-based artist Floco Torres, whose struggles earlier in life have paved the way for the deeply personal, grounded, and motivational lyricism that has evolved into a robust career in hip-hop. Citing influences from the likes of Jay Z, Biggie, Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, and St. Vincent, Torres' sound is a collation of the old school boom bap hip-hop sprinkled with pop and indie influences. Both lyrically and emotionally, his music pivots around themes of motivation, faith, and resilience, drawing on his struggles with homelessness in his teens and his upbringing around addiction. With intricate flows and deeply relatable wordplay at the very core of his sound, Floco Torres creates an intimate musical experience that simulates the feeling that Floco is speaking directly to you.As a child, Torres played the violin, drums, and trumpet. His parents also encouraged him to journal, with this gradually evolving into a love for writing lyrics when he first discovered hip-hop. Now with 24 unique musical projects to his name, including involvement with a hip-hop group called ‘Free Black!’ with producer/drummer HR3 and Akron, Floco Torres is showing no signs of slowing down. Torres' career took flight in 2011 when he received a $25,000 grant to produce the '10,000 Hours EP' w/ Grammy Nominated Producer/Percussionist Steve Moretti. Additionally, his song 'Cherry Street' went on to win 6 ADDY awards and a Mosaic award for diversity. Since his debut release 'Another World' in 2006, he has played shows with Gym Class Heroes, Chester French, Slick Rick, Raekwon, KRS-One, Black Moon, Black Milk, Desiigner, and Amine.