IT Awards Staff
We would like to acknowledge and thank our friends throughout the New York Theatre community who helped make the dream of these awards a reality.
The Awards Committee
is responsible for the selection of the recipients of the Honorary
Awards. Its members also act as advisors in the development of the
awards process and as arbitrators in the case of production awards
disputes.
Founding Directors
Jason Bowcutt - Upon graduating from the University of Utah's Actors Training Program, Jason received the Kenneth Washington Scholarship to move to Washington DC and work with the Shakespeare Theatre. Jason's acting carrer eventually brought him to New York where he received a Drama Desk nomination, Helen Hayes Award nomination and recognition from the Drama League for his role as Nathan Leopold in the Outer Critics Circle Award winning play "Never the Sinner". Jason continued to act in New York as well as many Regional Theatres including Signature Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, Rep Theatre of St. Louis and Cincinnati Playhouse. Jason's varied work activities have had him working in theatrical casting agencies as well as non-theatrical businesses throughout New York. Artistically Jason began directing and producing Off-Off-Broadway leading to his co-founding of the IT Awards. Since that time Jason has produced and event managed with many organizations including serving as Conference Planner for the Utah Arts Council's 2007 'Mountain West Conference on the Arts'.
Shay Gines graduated from the Actors Training Program at the University of Utah with a dual degree in theatre and marketing. She then made the smartest decision of her life and (despite her father’s wishes) choose to pursue a career in theatre. Since then she has done everything from spackling walls at the Pasadena Playhouse and running follow-spot for the Pioneer Theatre Company to serving as the Artist in Residence for Touchstone Theatre. She has performed in theatres of all sizes from 30 seats to 1,000 across the country, from L.A. to NYC. She is an award winning producer whose Off and Off-Off-Broadway shows include: Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig, What the F**k?!, Hamlet and Muse of Fire. Shay was a Founding Member and the Producing Director for Esperance Theatre Company. She is currently one half of the producing team for Theatrical Fair, an active member of TOSOS II and of Emerging Artists Theatre Company where she also serves as an Associate Director.
Nick Micozzi
is originally from northeast Ohio, where he founded Prodigal
Theatre Group. In New York, he has been a member of Esperance
Theatre Company, Pure Pop Rep, and The Splinter Group. He trained
and worked with Jim Slowiak (Grotowski’s Objective Drama) and
Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, MA. Acting credits include FringeNYC,
The Chekhov Vaudevilles Festival, The Pure Pop 2000 Festival, Tybalt
in Romeo and Juliet, Lucio in Measure for Measure,
Bernard in Death of a Salesman, Sam in Pervy Verse,
Luka in The Bear, and Iago in Othello. Recently,
Nick played "Tom" in Patrice Johnson's film King's County,
which has screened at the Urban World Film Festival in New York, and
throughout the festival circuit in the US and Europe. Nick's
Off-Off-Broadway producer credits include The Pure Pop Theatre
Festival, The Chekhov Vaudevilles Festival, and Trojan Productions'
The Illiad. He was the founder of the free Off-Off-Broadway
listings site, NYonstage.com, and is currently acting, directing and
producing with HotHouse Productions.
Staff
Akia (Company Manager) is an active member of the flourishing Off-Off/Indie & Off Broadway theatre communities having produced, directed, and performed with numerous NYC companies since 1997. Most recently Akia worked as Production Coordinator for The Puerto Rican Traveling theatre, where she was associate producer of the Playwrights Unit Staged Reading Series and INSIGHT 13 Production Series. Proudly, she is the Founding Artistic Director of the Rising Sun Performance Company, now in its sixth season, and has been involved on all levels with each of its 30+ productions. She is on staff at Horse Trade Theatre Group, a Board Member of The Paul Butterfield Fund & Society, General Manager for FRIGID New York, a new international theatre festival. Akia serves on the Honorary Awards Committee as Sub-Committee Chairperson, and as an at Large Judge. In addition, Akia is a contributing writer/reviewer for several theatre websites, a playwright, stage director and choreographer. She resides in the Bronx, with her husband and their 3 cats.
Christopher Borg (Communications Manager) has been very active in the Off-Off-Broadway scene since 1999 as an actor, director or dialect coach, as a company member of NY Companies Emerging Artists Theatre and TOSOS II, and with notable companies La Mama ETC., Inverse Theatre Company, Vital, Ontological and Themantics. Borg’s 20 years in professional theatre are marked by diversity in experience and styles alongside such distinguished directors as Joe Dowling, Michael Kahn and Kenneth Washington. In Washington DC, Borg acted as a company member for 2 years at The Shakespeare Theatre at the Lansburgh, as well as with respected companies Studio Theatre and Woolly Mammoth, and received critical acclaim for work in solo The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me and as Juliet in Shakespeare’s R&J (adapted & directed by Joe Calarco) at The Folger. Accolades include 2 OOBR Awards as an actor, and, as a director: an OOBR Award, a nomination for a GLAAD Media Award and a nomination for the first It Award for Outstanding Director. Currently, Borg writes and performs with the NY Neofuturists every Friday and Saturday night at the Kraine Theatre in the heart of the East Village. He has a BFA from the University of Utah, was the founding member of 2 successful Improv Groups, and occasionally does stand-up comedy and back-up vox with the band Utah Mafia.
Hillary Cohen (Development Manager) graduated from Drexel University with a degree in Corporate Communication and a Theatre Production minor. Hillary saw her first off Off Broadway play as a second grader in 1988 and has been hooked ever since. Her fundraising experience represents work with varied arts and political non-profits including Philadelphia's Mayor's Commission on Technology, Vox Populi co-operative art gallery, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Film Forum. Hillary was as a stage management intern for 2002 O'Neill Playwright's Conference. Her New York stage managment credits include Cantata (Playwrights Theatre of New York), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Causin' A Scene (Big Step Productions), Chopin's Preludes (HERE American Living Room series), and several great Emerging Artists Theatre Company shows. She has been a proud Emerging Artists member since 2002 and now serves the company's Production Manager.
Desmond Dutcher (Judge Coordinator)
Nancy Kim (Member Services Manager) has actively been involved in all levels of theatre. She is a Core Member of the Rising Circle Theater Collective. She was the co-Associate Producer of the Rising Circle production “Pulling the Lever,” which won the Best Ensemble Award at the first annual New York Innovative Theatre Awards. For the National Asian American Theatre Company, she was an Associate Producer for several productions. In addition, Nancy has also worked with many theatre companies including The New Group, Page 73 Productions, Upright Citizens Brigade, Theatre for the New City, Imua! Theatre Company, Musicals Tonight!, LaMaMa E.T.C., Hangar Theatre, and others in a wide range of capacities from Stage Manager to Assistant Director to Props Supervisor.
Nancy works at the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts (formerly Non-Traditional Casting Project), a 20 year old non-profit organization dedicated to promoting diversity in theatre, film and television. At the Alliance, she has worked closely with theatres across the country to advocate for diversity and inclusion.
Morgan Lindsey Tachco (Community Relations Manager) originates from Thousand Oaks, California. Practically born in a booth, Morgan has been involved in countless productions both onstage and off. Favorite roles on the ‘other coast’ include lead roles in The Zoo Story, Ruthless!, Equus, Sweet Charity, and Laundry and Bourbon (Produced by Dick Van Dyke). Morgan worked as a Performance Coach at the Ill-Fated Club Disney until she relocated to New York in 1999. She has since worked in every theatrical capacity from wearing a bow tie at the New Amsterdam Theatre (The Lion King), to touring with the National Theatre of the Performing Arts (Tartuffe – Mme. Pernelle/Bailiff). Off stage credits include Naked Angels and York Shakespeare. In 2003, Morgan met Horse Trade through the resident company Edge of Insanity portraying Laura Sands in the coming of dick. With Edge, she co-produced the revival of Galaxy Video and the world premiere of its sequel, Galaxy Video 2. She then joined Horse Trade as Associate Producer. Two years and a FRIGID Festival later, she finds herself gloriously smack in the middle of Off-Off Broadway as Horse Trade’s Artistic Producer. She continues her acting career as well, most recently receiving critical acclaim for dual roles in JMTC’s We Call Her Benny (first-ever FRIGID Festival), and her portrayal of Laura Bush in Dumbya’s Rapture (Rough Theater). She can also be seen in the Box Office at Second Stage Theatre. Morgan is excited to serve as The Innovative Theatre Awards’ Community Outreach Manager and is honored to join this extremely talented family in recognizing this vital art form. Morgan resides in Brooklyn with Zooey and their crazy little extended family. They, along with her actual family not to mention Justin and Missy, deserve great thanks and kudos for their undying love and support.
