During the 8.5-week program, participants meet twice weekly to explore each phase of a production life cycle and hone concrete skills they can use to develop and produce new performance works. The program includes:

• Curriculum Modules on the process of developing a project; budgeting & fundraising; touring; production design and technical theater; organizational and administrative structure; DEIA and the production process; and more

• Two to three virtual sessions per week of cohort-style learning as well as homework assignments

• Personalized mentorship from the BMP team, with opportunities to learn directly from Beth Morrison

• Networking opportunities with professional producers and presenters in the industry

• Feedback on pitch materials and projects by high-level industry presenters

"The BMP: Producer Academy is a community of hope, confidence and love for live arts. Attractive as it is to be trained in producing and touring cutting-edge performance, the real strength of this course lies in the hearts of its instructors and participants. We appreciate an intimate view of the fears inherent in bringing new ideas to the stage, and we experience first-hand examples of pushing through. There is a warmth and generosity from each guest instructor—people with major accomplishments to show. Simply being part of this group allows me to feel not only as if my ideas matter, but that it is imperative for me to do the gentle work to clarify and realize them.”
--Cambell Thibo, current BMP: Producer Academy participant

Meet the 2026 BMP: Producer Academy Cohort

César Abreu is a Puerto Rican artist, dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and producer whose career includes 20years with the Metropolitan Opera. His producing work spans immersive performance salons, interdisciplinary events, opera, and fundraising galas; his films include SELF and LAYERS.

Mark Bankin is a choreographer and dance notation specialist whose work has been presented in Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, and New York. A Fulbright Scholar and member of the International Council of Kinetography Laban, he has staged performances in both conventional theaters and unconventional architectural spaces.

Morganna Becker is a Boston-area artist, producer, and arts administrator whose practice spans writing, directing, performance, stage management, and design. She holds a leadership role with Exiled Theatre and works as a Booking Associate with BroadBand Collaborative.

Andrea Blunt is a Los Angeles-based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work spans stage and screen. Her projects include preparing the rehearsal score for The Yellow Wallpaper’s Carnegie Hall debut and executive producing a first-time director’s debut short film. 

Fredrika Brillembourg is an American mezzo-soprano with a three-decade international career at leading opera houses and festivals. She is developing War Has a Woman’s Voice, an interdisciplinary music-theater work inspired by war correspondent Marie Colvin.

Sam Brukhman is a conductor, composer/producer, director, and founding Artistic Director of Dallas’s Verdigris Ensemble. He creates immersive performances connecting vocal music with theater, visual art, and emerging technology.

Shiuan Chang is a composer, Taipei Symphony Orchestra Artist-in-Residence, and Asian Cultural Council Fellow. He co-founded STUDIO F.A.C.E. with designer Yuanyuan Ma, developing work at the intersection of sound, movement, and space, including People Concerto.

Claire Choquette is an award-winning stage director whose Salome concept won OPERA America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. She has directed more than 20 productions across the United States, with a particular interest in new work and collaboration across artistic disciplines.

Ilima Considine is the writer and composer of the award-winning queer musicals Waiting for the Kick, Drug Holiday, and How to Be a Cat Lady. Based in Portland, Oregon, she has toured internationally as the singer for art-pop project The Sexbots.

Sawyer Craig is a singing actor and stage director with a passion for collaborative storytelling and non-standard repertoire. Her training includes McGill University, the Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program, Banff’s Opera in the 20th Century, and Music Academy of the West.

Sangeetha Ekambaram is a classical soprano and producer whose independent projects encompass concerts, original vocal choreography, and cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaborations. Her practice explores how artistic collaboration can connect performers with wider communities.

Siobhán Foley produces collaborative explorations of performance and place, including the jazz opera O SPARTAN DOGS, KEEP THE HOUSE! and the multidisciplinary project TO BUTTE, AMERICA. Alongside her artistic practice, she leads commercialization and partnerships in climate technology.

Anne Hege is a composer, conductor, instrument builder, vocalist, and scholar; founder and artistic director of Laptopera Productions, artistic director of Peninsula Women’s Chorus, and Scholar in Residence with San Francisco Opera. Her operas for laptop orchestra and live voices include The Furies and The Glance.

Carolina Heredia is a composer and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans acoustic ensembles, electronics, and multimedia. Her commissions include projects for the Fromm Music Foundation, Barlow Endowment, and Sphinx Organization; she previously served as Director of Programs at the American Composers Forum.

Manna K. Jones is an American soprano, creative, and people experience strategist whose work connects artistry, storytelling, and culture. Her credits span opera, Broadway, and the autobiographical visual album and live performance experience MANNAfesto Vol. 1.

Maximilian Kempf is a New York-born playwright, director, songwriter, and choral singer whose dramatic projects draw on history and archival research. His work explores connections between the past and present and uses music to bring people together.

James Kennedy is a writer and self-producing theater maker whose work spans plays, musicals, concerts, and development events. His musical Prodigy enjoyed a sold-out extended run at University Settlement’s Speyer Hall; other credits include Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative and Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival.

Liz Lang is a Lebanese-American soprano and creative producer working across opera, musical theater, jazz, and interdisciplinary performance. She creates, co-produces, and performs in This Silent Music, an experience inside Philadelphia’s James Turrell Skyspace.

Sharrell D. Luckett Luckett is Executive Director of the Black Acting Methods® Studio and Director of the Helen Weinberger Center for Drama and Playwriting at the University of Cincinnati, where she is a Charles P. Taft Distinguished Professor. She is lead editor of Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches.

Pete McCabe is an actor, writer, dramaturg, acrobat, and producer trained at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. A longtime resident dramaturg at HERE, he was developmental producer of LIZZIE and wrote and produced STREET MACBETH.

Courtney Miller is a Bay Area-based performer and recitalist whose work includes opera, programs featuring female and queer composers and poets, and interactive performances for children. Her projects include How’s it bee? and the solo show Tell me the truth about love.

Shambhavi Mishra is a multimedia artist, composer, producer, and co-founder of Ted & Togo Productions, a women-led company developing original work across music, theatre, film, and interdisciplinary performance. Her experience also includes programming and major entertainment events at NBCUniversal.

Carter Morgan is an international comedian whose performances have reached audiences in New York City, Paris, London, Edinburgh Fringe, and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Allison Rodman is a Boston-based musician and executive support professional who works with Maria Finkelmeier’s MF Dynamics. She supports multidisciplinary performances and public art installations combining music, digital art, light, and emerging technologies.

Sarah Scofield is a French-American mezzo-soprano, producer, and teaching artist whose work connects performance, education, science, and new works. She is producing a chamber opera about Southern Resident killer whales with composer Sheila Silver and librettist Rob Lewis, developed in conversation with the Center for Whale Research.

Lara Secord-Haid is a Canadian soprano and creative producer, and a founding member of the Berlin-based artist collective Musik für Musik. She has conceived, commissioned, curated, and performed interdisciplinary projects spanning opera, new music, dance, and multilingual vocal repertoire.

Elena Stabile is a Twin Cities-based music-theater performer, writer, multimedia artist, and educator. Her work as a dramaturg, librettist, and producer includes Blood Money and The Carmen Files; she serves as Director of Operations for Opera Reading Project.

Teila Theisen is an artist and producer with more than a decade of work in community-based arts and cultural advocacy. Her collaborations include dance and music performances and festivals, with a focus on accessible, equitable, and inclusive live theater.

Cambell Thibo is a conceptual artist, dancer, and vocalist whose work explores the musical and theatrical potential of built environments. Now based in Germany, he brings performance to neglected spaces and develops projects connecting landscape, music, and spatial restoration.

Sam Villarroel is a South Florida multidisciplinary creative working across directing, writing, and producing. Her play 26th Street returned to the Broward Center in 2026, and she is in post-production on We Are All Mad Here, a grant-winning short film she wrote, directed, and produced.

BMP: Producer Academy 2026 Faculty

• Abby McLoughlin, Managing Director, CauseLab

• Alexis Peart, Director of Administration, Producer Academy & Associate Creative Producer, Beth Morrison Projects

• Alisa E. Regas, Founding Principal & Executive and Creative Producer, Pomegranate Arts

• Ampersand Paris, Founder, FAILSPACE & Design Partner, FAILSPACE Design Services

• Ann Hamada-McLaughlin, Freelance Grantwriter & Performing Arts Management Consultant; Grant Manager, Page 73

• Bellisant Corcoran-Mathe, Program Manager, Producer Academy

• Beth Morrison, President & Creative Producer, Beth Morrison Projects

• Brian Freeland, Production Manager, Producer & Experimental Theater Maker

• Christopher Koelsch, President & CEO, LA Opera

• Eric Simpson, Managing Director, Beth Morrison Projects

• Geoff Sobelle, Actor, Director & Creator of Original Performance Works

• Huang Ruo, Composer & Conductor; Artistic Director, Ensemble FIRE

• Jecca Barry, Founder & Producer, Fin Productions

• Julia Mendes, PROTOTYPE Festival Producer, Beth Morrison Projects

• Kim Whitener, Founder & Creative Producer, KiWi Productions

• Kristin Marting, Director, Writer & Creative Producer; Founding Artistic Director Emeritus, HERE

• Maria Manuela Goyanes, Artistic Director, LCT3 & Producer, Lincoln Center Theater

• Matthew Ozawa, Chief Artistic Officer, Lyric Opera of Chicago

• Niegel Smith, Artistic Director, The Flea

• Noel Holloway, Chief Development Officer, Beth Morrison Projects

• Roderick Murray, Director of Production, Beth Morrison Projects

• Sam Linden, Director of Finance, Berkeley Repertory Theatre

• Susan Feder, Arts Funder & Advocate; Former Program Officer, Arts and Culture, Mellon Foundation

For more information, visit BMP: Producer Academy.