NEW YORK CITY: Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre and the publisher of this magazine, has announced the 2025 Rising Leaders of Color (RLC) cohort. This year’s cohort of Mike Davis, Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel, and Miranda Purcell marks the second RLC cohort comprised entirely of early-career theatre journalists and critics of color, following the 2023 cohort. All three are shaping the future of cultural discourse and deepening the field’s engagement with Black, Indigenous, and Theatres of Color (BITOC).
“At a time when the theatre needs culturally responsive criticism and storytelling, these three leaders bring clarity, boldness, and vision,” said Emilya Cachapero, TCG’s co-executive director of national and global programming, in a statement. “We are excited to invest in their continued growth and to amplify their voices through the Rising Leaders of Color program.”
The RLC program builds on the learnings and momentum of the Young Leaders of Color Program (YLC) and the SPARK Leadership Programs. It expands and re-envisions the community of leaders of color as part of a growing national network. Cohort members will be offered individual mentorship, webinars, and full cohort meetings through June 2026.
This year’s iteration of the RLC program is aimed at uplifting and providing professional development for leaders whose work centers stories, artistry, and legacies of communities that are often marginalized in the U.S. theatre landscape. Since 2020, the field has seen a surge in BITOC-led productions and initiatives, but there remains a critical need for journalists and critics who bring cultural fluency, historical context, and a lived understanding of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artistry. The 2025 RLC cohort embodies that need—and represents what’s possible when criticism becomes a space for justice, curiosity, and celebration.
Mike Davis is a Seattle native currently living in Chicago. He covers theatre for WBEZ and the Chicago Sun Times. Davis started his journalism career as a music writer at an alt weekly newspaper. In 2020, he tried his hand at reporting on local politics. It was short-lived. He quickly returned to the arts, joining KUOW, Seattle’s local NPR station. These days, you will find Davis in theatres across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs watching shows. When he’s not in the theatre, Davis loves rooting for the Seahawks, having beers with friends, and reading good books in quiet parks.
Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel is a Chicago-based dramaturg, arts journalist, and cultural producer. As a queer, fat, Iranian-American femme, they endeavor to amplify and archive stories that go lost/stolen/forgotten. Their praxis across producing live, digital, and print media centers audience experience that is community-focused, responsive, and vibrant. Mikhaiel’s arts writing and research explore possibility models for a more inclusive and sustainable theatre culture and industry (American Theatre magazine, the Chicago Reader, In These Times, Teen Vogue). As a new play dramaturg, their work centers narratives at the intersections of queer family drama and diaspora, especially of the SWANA region. Mikhaiel’s facilitation practice spans workshops on topics like cultural competency (Roundabout’s Broadway premiere of English), self-archiving for artists (Digital Development Project), and post-production debriefs (The Theatre School at DePaul University). Mikhaiel holds a MA in performance as public practice from The University of Texas at Austin and a BFA in dramaturgy/criticism from TTS DePaul University, where they teach as part-time faculty. Mikhaiel recently founded BIYA BIYA, a creative agency and production house dedicated to supporting artists and their artistic homes. Socials: @yasminzacaria.
Miranda Purcell is a Puerto Rican actress and journalist working at the intersection of performance, media, and cultural access. She recently earned a master’s degree in journalism from Harvard University and currently works in marketing and communications at Art Bridges, a national nonprofit dedicated to bringing American art out of storage and into underserved communities. She was a 2024-25 cohort member of the BIPOC Critics Lab at the Public Theater, where she explored criticism through an equity-focused lens. Her multidisciplinary background includes work as a screenwriter for The Writer’s Gang, a reporter at El Nuevo Día—Puerto Rico’s leading newspaper—and a content creator for Caribbean Cinemas, the fourth-largest movie theater franchise in Latin America. Miranda holds a BFA in theatre arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she trained in the Meisner technique. She also studied Shakespearean performance at London’s Globe Theatre, grounding her in both contemporary and classical traditions.
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 500 member theatres and affiliate organizations and over 3,000 individual members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year.
