VORTEX Austin Introduces New Staff, July, 2023
The VORTEX Introduces Stellar New Staff
Over the past year, The VORTEX has been thrilled to build a brilliant staff supporting all areas of the organization. We are excited to introduce our amazing new staff members: Indiia Willmott, Emma Robertson, David Edwards, Daniel Hernandez, Linda Leseman, Kayleigh Nunez, Jasmine Games, Chris Fontanes, and Campbell Duffy.
We also announce the departure of Sandie Donzica. After supporting The VORTEX over the past seven years as Marketing and Development Associate, Sandie is leaving Austin to return to her native France where she will pursue her dance career full-time. She supported The VORTEX through the challenges of the pandemic and spearheaded the expansion of social media and promotions. In addition to membership events, bookings, and calendar coordination, Sandie has provided outstanding choreography and performance in a number of VORTEX productions including Selfie! The Musical and Vampyress. We will celebrate Sandie at The Butterfly Bar on Friday, July 14 (Bastille Day) from 7-10 pm. We will miss her insightful creativity, dedication, reliability, and truth. And we look forward to visiting her in the South of France!
Indiia Willmott re-joined our team as Outreach Coordinator. She was instrumental in successful outreach for Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven in the summer of 2021 and returned to The VORTEX this year to work on i see you. you’re seen. She continues to build relationships with business, organizations, and individuals. Indiia is an actor, director, teaching artist and emerging playwright. As an actor she has performed on stages in several cities including Phoenix, San Francisco, Berkeley and Paris. Credits include: Dance Nation (San Francisco Playhouse), Lucia Berlin: Stories (San Francisco/France), Bootycandy (Brava Theater Center) and various developmental workshops with Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco. In 2023, she made her Austin acting debut in the world premiere of Nightbird at Austin Playhouse. In 2020 she wrote and directed 4 voting PSAs for the Texas Civil Rights Project. In 2021 she won the B. Iden Payne award for Dramaturgy for her work on Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven at The Vortex. She has had the privilege of teaching theatre at the American Conservatory Theater, Museum of the African Diaspora, California Shakespeare Theatre, Z Space , Ecole Jeannine Manuel, and Creative Action. Indiia is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association.
Emma Robertson began Management of The Butterfly Bar last summer and solidified the bar staff as we emerged from the impacts of the pandemic. Emma is a native Austinite, an avid traveler, story collector, cat lover, and lifelong learner, always looking to discover more about herself, others and the world around her. She received a B.A. in English Lit. from the University of Missouri and later became certified in Forest Therapy, Wilderness First Aid, and UX/UI Design. She enjoys using her creativity and problem solving skills to cultivate beautiful experiences, bring people together, and craft delicious cocktails.
David Edwards began building our work with booking musicians and improving audio engineering at The VORTEX last October. As Bookings Manager, he has expanded programming and built musician residencies. David is an audio engineer with 10 years experience, over 1,000 shows under his belt, and an audio degree from Clemson University. He has been booking inclusive events his entire adult life and loves building infrastructure in music and arts industries.
Daniel Hernandez joined us as a full-time Technical Associate in January. He is responsible for planning and implementing scenery and facilities support. Daniel was born and raised in Odessa TX and is a graduate of the University of Texas in the Permian Basin, with a BAS in Mechanical Engineering. While in college, he worked part-time as a stagehand for the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center, as well as lighting/sound/prop showcalls. After moving to Austin, Daniel worked part-time for The VORTEX, doing set construction and facility assistance. He is applying his skills to more elaborate and challenging theatre projects to come.
Linda Leseman joined our marketing team in January and is now the Director of Marketing, a crucial position that The VORTEX has always wanted. Linda worked in marketing and communications for 13 years across non-profit, independent business, and corporate sectors. Concurrently, she was a freelance journalist for 8 years, covering music and the performing arts for outlets including The Village Voice and LA Weekly. As a playwright, her work has been seen at Theater for the New City (NYC), Cherry Picking Festival (NYC), and The Cohen New Works Festival. She has a B.A. in Theatre with a playwriting concentration from UT-Austin and an M.A. in Journalism from the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University. She is also an alum of the Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives at Rice University.
Kayleigh Nunez joined The VORTEX as The Butterfly Bar Assistant Manager in March. A long time hospitality veteran with their beginning as a pastry chef, she loves blending cuisines of the world into her cocktails. A Key West native and Austinite for 6+ years.
Jasmine Games joined The VORTEX team in May as Director of Education and Social Activation. This position finally expands this crucial aspect of The VORTEX’s mission as we grow programming for future generations and continue our work for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access and funded by City of Austin Thrive funding through the Economic Development Department. Jasmine is a queer Black poet, educator, and theatre-maker based in Texas. She utilizes drama-based pedagogy and the historical literacy framework as a mode for self-introspection and positionality interrogation, partnering with schools, museums, and community-based organizations. She produced, directed, and co-facilitated a spoken word action-residency for high school youth, Courageous Cadence, which was celebrated with a final performance of shared poetry on race and gender (in)justices. Her research examines how practices from Black literary societies can change applied theatre and spoken word practices to further engage queer youth of color. She is the winner of the 2021 Sexton Prize for Poetry, awarded by The Black Spring Press Group, and the 2021 Winifred Ward Scholar, awarded by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. She holds a BA in English and Performance Studies from Texas A&M University (2018) and an MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from The University of Texas at Austin (2022). Wielding her words, she is fiercely committed to complete and total justice for people who are marginalized in our society, especially queer youth of color. Read more at https://www.jasmineigames.com/
Chris Fontanes joined the artistic leadership team as Associate Artistic Director in May. He joins Rudy Ramirez, Teresa Cruz, and Clarissa Smith in supporting the work of Bonnie Cullum (Producing Artistic Director) and Melissa Vogt (Managing Director). Chris is a playwright and director whose work has been described as "where poetic meets paranormal." He is the founder of DIY punk inspired Bottle Alley Theatre Company and has been producing all manner of original works in strange locations since 2012. He began collaborating with The VORTEX in 2018 and became an official company member in 2022. His collaborations with The VORTEX have included Self Portraits 2.5 (B.Iden Payne Nominee -- Outstanding Digital Production, Edited), Self Portraits: VORTEX Edition (B. Iden Payne Nominee -- Outstanding Digital Short Production, Edited), Dandelion, Wildcraft (B. Iden Payne Nominee -- Best Production), and Peckin the Crown. He has also assistant directed VORTEX productions Pandemdem Edition: Another Great Depression (Summer Youth Theatre production), Rap Unzel and Naked Feast. He will be directing Raven-Winged Hours for Archive Theatre in September before rejoining VORTEX for Naked Feast again in October.
Campbell Duffy recently joined The VORTEX as Marketing Associate and cultivates social media and content creation. Campbell Duffy is an Austin-based Performer and Social Media Manager. She graduated from Southwestern University with a BA in Theatre Arts in 2022. She appeared onstage at The VORTEX in Salvador Dali’s Naked Feast and The Dragonfly Princess. She is also a creator of the adventure podcast, Gals and Goblins, where she performs as the character Esta Ruadon.
The VORTEX Mission: We conjure urgent, unashamed art to create action in a shifting age. We embrace diverse communities, break down barriers, and elevate inclusive discourse from our cultural harbor in Austin, Texas. We enliven humanity with magical green new theatre at our Butterfly Bar and Sanctuary.
The VORTEX Core Values:
Our core values are encompassed by the Pentacle of Integrity–
Transformation, Magic, Community, Diversity, and Earth.
Integrity lives at our core.
We engage in radical transformation through edge-walking artistic creations and innovations.
Magic emanates from our cultural harbor, engaging Spirit.
Our space and our culture support expanding circles of inclusive community.
Our art reflects diversity of people and voices from the global majority.
Sustainability and environmentalism center Earth at our foundation.
The VORTEX is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department, the Texas Commission on the Arts, Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural District, and ATX Theatre.
