Co-Artistic Directors
Gerrad Alex Taylor (he/him/his)
Gerrad is an award-winning director and multidisciplinary theatre artist based out of the Greater Baltimore region and an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His current creative work and research centers around creating space that preserves history and celebrates culture of the Global Majority.
In 2021 he was named one of Baltimore’s “40 Under 40” by the Washington Business Journal. In 2020, he founded Chesapeake Shakespeare’s Black Classical Acting Ensemble (BCAE), an affinity space for black actors interested in training and exposure of the “classics” and what an expansion of the classical canon may look like today. In 2024, Gerrad joined colleague Lizzi Albert to take on the roles of Co-Artistic Directors of Perisphere Theater in Montgomery County, MD.
He holds a BA in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has worked with theatres and educational institutions across the country including the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Perisphere Theater, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Pacific Conservatory Theatre-PCPA, Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Mosaic Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, and Washington Stage Guild. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.
Lizzi Albert (she/her/hers)
Lizzi is a director, actor, and teaching artist who directed Perisphere’s 2023 production of Hazardous Materials, by Beth Kander. Other directing credits include This Historic Night (Seed Productions/Capital Fringe 2018), A Christmas Carol and The Tempest(Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), and an all-female Macbeth (Notre Dame of Maryland University). Acting credits include Avant Bards’ Julius Caesar, Constellation Theater Company’s Absolutely! Perhaps, and several productions with Chesapeake Shakespeare, where she is a company member. Lizzi is interested in creating intimate, expressive, psychologically insightful theater that allows audiences to both see their own experiences reflected on stage and be inspired to seek out new ones. She holds an M.A. in acting from the University of Essex and a BFA in theater from New York University.
Board of Directors
Kia Hunter (she/her/hers) *President
Kia has been involved in the Washington, D.C., theater scene from an early age, most memorably as the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland with Adventure Theater. After a brief period as a television producer, Kia now works in the museum field, emphasizing the convergence of history and performance. Most recently, Kia has collaborated with theaters in D.C. and Charleston, South Carolina, in many capacities, including advisory work, fundraising, reviewing and stage managing. Kia received her B.A. from Davidson College in history, with a minor in theater, and her M.A. in museum studies from George Washington University.
Jeff McDermott (he/him/his) *Secretary
Jeff has been an attorney with the federal government for 14 years, currently serving as investigative counsel to the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of State. He is also the President of the Capitol Hill Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, having previously served as its Treasurer and Secretary. He was a member of the editorial board of the monthly periodical The Federal Lawyer from 1999 to 2010. Jeff has produced, directed, and acted for several theaters in the Washington area. He has been a member of the Rockville Little Theatre Board of Directors since 2012 and currently serves as its Treasurer. Jeff received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary and his J.D. from Georgetown University.
John McCoskey (he/him/his)
John is a media & technology executive with background spanning television, film, broadcasting, and Internet technologies. He is Chief Operating Officer at SpectraRep, a Virginia-based digital technology company. Previous roles include EVP & Chief Technology Officer at the Motion Picture Association where he led global technology policy and strategy; the first-ever CTO at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS); and SVP, Technology and CTO at Discovery Networks. He is an inventor with 27 issued & 28 pending Patents. John received a Technology & Engineering Emmy® award in 2010 for pioneering work on digital television workflows. He is a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, where he served two terms as a Governor. John has been a director on multiple non-profit and for-profit boards over the past two decades. He holds two MS degrees from Johns Hopkins University (management & computer science) and an electrical engineering degree from Bucknell University.
Jana Doughty (she/her/hers)
Jana is a multi-faceted marketing and communications professional with expertise in digital engagement, social media strategy, and brand management. With a background in global communications, Jana has been instrumental in driving revenue and market expansion for a wide range of products and brands. An artist at heart, Jana channels her innovation and creativity in her 9-5 corporate role, as mom to a super fun five-year-old, and as a stand up comedian when time allows.
Keegan Cassady (he/him/his)
Keegan is excited to be joining the Board of Perisphere Theatre Company! He brings
a wealth of experience in fundraising and development in nonprofits, specifically for independent
theatre companies. He has worked with a number of theatre and education companies in the
DC area, including The Educational Theatre Company. He currently works as a Theatre teacher
in Baltimore City, and can be found every fall performing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
Nigel Semaj (they/them/theirs)
Nigel is a Baltimore-based director, movement director, and educator originally from Washington, D.C. As an Assistant Professor of Performance and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Nigel’s work is rooted in fostering inclusive and equitable theatrical spaces through anti-racist pedagogies and restorative practices.
Nigel’s directing career spans a wide range of work, including the Off-Broadway premiere of Bloodshot by Elinor T.Vanderburg, Ntozake Shange’s Spell #7, and most recently Bryony Lavery’s Slime. Nigel’s work speaks to those who have let the sadness in—for those who have been attuned to the haunting wail of the banshee. Often exploring themes of grief, violence, and the hardships of life, their work seeks to embrace the darkness from within. This work is evident in their adaptation work, projects like 10,000 Moor, an all-woman adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus exploring rage and violence, For Hylas—an adaptation of the Hercules myth exploring love, loss, and grief, and Call Me By Any Other Name…Just As Sweet, a queer deconstruction of Romeo and Juliet. Upcoming adaptations include in the darkest forest, exploring Shakespeare’s forested worlds, and the serpent under’t, exploring the elements of horror and supernatural complexities of Macbeth.
Having trained under companies such as Frantic Assembly, Pig Iron, and Tectonic Theatre Company, Nigel approaches movement as a pivotal tool in storytelling. Their work can be found in plays, operas, musicals, and films. Notable credits include movement direction and fight choreography on Heartbeat Opera Company’s Fidelio, fight and movement for Sarah Young’s award-winning short film Not Him, and Federico Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Their dedication to creating accessible and inclusive performance is reflected in their academic work, which focuses on developing anti-racist pedagogies in theatre education. Nigel is a board member of the American Alliance for Theatre Education and co-chair of the Irene Ryans Acting Scholarship for Region II’s Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.