director, creative producer, educator

Mara is a director, producer, and educator invested in how theater allows individuals’ self-expression, so that they live as the best version of themselves, inspiring others to do the same. Her theater work includes new play development, new musical development, and theater for all ages. Mara grew up in Massachusetts, acting in her school’s after-school theater programs and with local community theater productions. Mara graduated from Wellesley College, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies and Political Science (Double Major). Post-graduation, her work took her into higher education admissions while acting and writing with companies in the Greater Boston area. Currently based in the Greater Los Angeles area, Mara continues her work with companies including AnyWay Productions, 14/48 Hollywood, and Center Theatre Group. 

Mara directed a student-led production of THE LION IN WINTER for Wellesley College’s Upstage Productions. After a few years in the Greater Boston Area assisting for Lyric Stage Company and Fresh Ink Theatre, she moved to Seattle. There, she directed an after-school production of THE LION KING KIDS in Washington state through the Disney Musicals in Schools Program, in partnership with Seattle Theatre Group. Mara then relocated to the Los Angeles area where she continued to direct and assistant direct for educational theater such as Blurred Vision Theatre Company / Culver City Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and community theaters such as Morgan-Wixson Theatre. She served as the associate director for DISNEY’S THE TALE OF MOANA for Disney Cruise Lines, helping to install and open the Disney Treasure.

Mara’s work as a multi-hyphenate theater artist leads to creating theatrical experiences that honor the complexity of human identity while building meaningful connections across differences. She is a first-generation Filipina immigrant woman seeking collaborators making art that bridges Self and Community, Beauty and Strength, and the Old and New. The personal is political, art is political, especially when my artistry is informed by all the identities she holds.

highlights

• Two Kids Who Blow Sh*t Up by Carla Ching
• Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph
• Cardboard Piano by Hansol Jung
• Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch
• Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
• King Charles III by Mike Bartlett
• Peter and the Starcatcher adapted by Rick Elice
• This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing by Finegan Kruckemeyer
• The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman

• Fun Home
• Hadestown
• Alice by Heart

• Movement and Music piece inspired by the music of Ruby Ibarra
• Devised piece based on the poem, Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
• Adaptation of Brave New World
• Stage adaptation of Raya and the Last Dragon

• As You Like It by William Shakespeare
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare
• Duchess of Malfi by John Webster