Our newest edition spotlights theatre workers in the Boston area. If you would like to recommend a theatre artist (from anywhere) for a future Role Call, fill out our open Google Form here.
Armando Rivera (he/him/el)
Director, actor, producer
Hometown: Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Current home: Chelsea, Massachusetts
Known for: Rivera is a founding member and current co-artistic director of Teatro Chelsea, Boston’s hub for professional bilingual Latine theatre. At this past summer’s Elliot Norton Awards, presented annually by the Boston Theater Critics Association, the Teatro Chelsea and Gloucester Stage co-production of The Hombres by Tony Meneses, directed by Rivera, was awarded outstanding play in the midsize category and outstanding director in the midsize category. Additional directing credits include Josie Nericcio’s 619 Hendricks, Joel Ulloa’s Revitalized, and Melinda Lopez’s Sonia se Fue with Teatro Chelsea, as well as directing works at Kitchen Theatre Company, Apollinaire Play Lab, Central Square Theatre, Apollinaire Theatre, and B Street Theatre.
What’s next: Rivera recently wrapped up an extended run of Teatro Chelsea’s production of the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) by Matt Barbot, Rivera’s first Puerto Rican play as both a director and actor. Rivera will direct and produce the world premiere of Andrew Rincon’s The Leopard Women in the fall of 2026, and produce Teatro Chelsea’s next iteration of A-Típico: Latinx New Play Festival (dates to be announced), an annual festival of staged readings featuring a selection of English/Spanish/bilingual full-length plays.
What makes him special: Boston-based director Shira Helena Gitlin praised Rivera’s leadership, which has helped grow Teatro Chelsea into “a powerhouse company in Boston,” as well as his dedication to uplifting Boston’s Latine theatre artists. “He has brought together a Boston cultural community that has historically been very separated from each other,” they said. “He is also an incredibly kind and compassionate human.” Added Ahtziri Ulloa, a Boston- and New York-based actor who worked on Revitalized with Rivera, “Armando does more than preach about the inclusion of Latinos in theatre, he actively makes sure to build in space for them everywhere he goes…Armando spends literally every second of his life making sure Latinos from everywhere and all walks of life know that there is a space for them in theatre.”
Feeding the soul: Rivera believes that now more than ever we must all be reminded of the central function of theatre as a gathering place for community and a warm flame to huddle around in times of crisis. “Even during the difficult challenges faced in my city of Chelsea, with the specter of ICE raids and continuing food insecurity,” Rivera said, “the role of the theatremaker is to provide food for the soul. We give voice to the feelings in our hearts.”
Bryn Boice (she/her)
Director, educator, producer, actor
Hometown: Blue Springs, Missouri
Current home: Boston
Known for: Boice is associate artistic director and director of education and training at Boston’s Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC). She also runs the CSC Apprentice Program, an eight-week Shakespeare intensive for early-career actors, that runs concurrently with CSC’s flagship production of Shakespeare on the Common each summer. She also hosts a podcast called The ShakesDown that allows her to fully nerd out about selections of Shakespeare’s text. Boice is also an award-winning freelance director, receiving the Elliot Norton Award for outstanding director in the large theatre category for Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle & Here We Go, two Caryl Churchill one-acts. Additional credits include Tartuffe, The Winter’s Tale, Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Gloria.
What’s next: Last weekend, Boice closed Aphra Behn’s Restoration comedy The Rover at Suffolk University. Now she turns her attention to Eugène Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and The Lesson, which she will direct for Hub Theatre Company of Boston (set to open in February), and CSC’s Romeo and Juliet, which will begin performances in May.
What makes her special: Local theatremaker Lauren Cook, who previously worked with Boice as assistant director and intimacy director for Hub Theatre’s production of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will, praised Boice’s directorial work on stages large and small around the area, as well as her efforts to train young Shakespeare actors. “She is a wizard with challenging texts, has high standards, and is dedicated to maintaining these standards while creating a safe, respectful, and fun rehearsal space,” Cook said. “She is an expert at assembling excellent teams of designers and is collaborative while being a steadfast leader. She also just happens to be the coolest and most excellent human!”
Theatre that heals: For Boice, all arts, but theatre in particular, are key to fixing what ails society now. “I think reinstatement of arts learning in our elementary and middle schools will drive empathy, creativity, and free thinking in ways that STEM simply can’t. I see it when I go into schools for Shakespeare workshops. Students come out of their shells with this type of learning: being able to step into another person’s shoes, to try on another point of view, to play the bad guy and have to reason it out, to make a decision you wouldn’t make yourself. These are valuable skills that are always the first thing to be cut when the budget is grim. But I think it’s the thing that will save us.”
Deb Acquavella (she/her)
Production Stage Manager
Hometown: New York City
Current home: Boston
Known for: Acquavella has spent many years as a production stage manager of new American plays, having spent 15 seasons at Actors Theatre of Louisville (working on over 250 productions, including the Humana Festival) and nearly 20 years working on productions at Contemporary American Theatre Festival. In addition to working on productions for numerous companies—Boston Lyric Opera, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, ArtsEmerson, the Guthrie, the Huntington, and more—Acquavella has worked on Broadway productions of Athol Fugard’s “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys (directed by Lonny Price), Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, and John Caird and Paul Gordon’s Jane Eyre. Acquavella also currently serves as the head of Emerson College’s stage and production management program.
What’s next: As a production stage manager, Acquavella recently closed Stan Lai’s A Dream Like a Dream 如夢之夢 at MIT Theater, directed by Jay Scheib, and next turns her sights to production stage managing Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s production of Kevin Kling: Unraveled (Jan. 21-Feb. 8, 2026). She is also looking forward to events with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops.
What makes her special: Stage manager Lilian McGrail was one of multiple former Emerson College students who wanted to ensure Acquavella received the credit she deserved for teaching a generation of Boston stage managers. “Deb is the unsung hero of performing arts at Emerson College,” said former student Carleigh Allen, who is currently serving as company manager for the North American tour of Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty Sided Tavern. “She has shaped countless stage managers who have continued to work in the Boston area, while also working herself. She is the epitome of what a kind, empathetic leader is and continues to teach that year after year.” Added stage manager and former student Ryan Kane, who is serving as assistant stage manager on the Broadway production of Oh, Mary!, “Her leadership, kindness, and intuition are unparalleled in this industry.”
Paying it forward: Earlier this year, Acquavella was honored by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) for Distinguished Achievement in Management. In accepting the honor, Acquavella uplifted the mentors and teachers who helped her along the way. “I had such remarkable teachers and mentors in college,” Acquavella said, “notably Nick Petron and Bob Perkins, and it has been my wish to return the kindness shown to me. I hope I have lived up to their achievements with my own students who are succeeding as the new generation of theatre artists in New York, on tour, and across our country. ‘To lead the people, walk behind them,’ Lao Tzu has said. That’s all I have wanted to do; inspire and support others in their endeavors.”
Jenine Florence Jacinto (they/them)
Administrator, actor
Hometown: Born in Vallejo, California, and raised in Oceanside, California
Current home: Boston
Known for: Jacinto currently serves as the marketing and communications associate at CHUANG Stage, Boston’s Asian American theatre company. Their acting credits include M. Sloth Levine’s The Interrobangers at Company One Theatre, Hortense Gerardo’s Middleton Heights with the Umbrella Stage Company, and Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers at Horizon Theatre Company.
What’s next: Jacinto is keeping their next projects close to their chest (“That’s a surprise!”), but you can keep an eye out for their work on their website: JenineFlorenceJacinto.com.
What makes them special: For Jenny S. Lee, CHUANG Stage associate producer, Jacinto’s dedication and thoughtfulness stands out within the Boston community. “They pour 120 percent of themselves into every project they work on and continuously work to elevate the queer and Filipinx theatre communities here in Boston,” Lee said. “They are a light of positivity and community connection in every room they enter and they have a way of making everyone around them feel like family.”
Pride in your work: Jacinto called working at CHUANG Stage alongside Lee and executive director Alison Yueming Qu “one of the best experiences I could ask for. To experience new AAPI theatre projects develop within our community has been the best joy…From working on Asian Joy Nights (AAPI affinity nights hosted at various theatre companies throughout Boston) to world premieres that push for accessible theatre with a ‘pay-as-you-are’ model, allowing all who felt left out of theatre to feel like they’re home—this is what theatre looks like for the future and it is an honor to be a part of it.”
Justin Lahue (he/him)
Scenic and projection/video designer
Hometown: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Current home: Boston
Known for: Lahue works on projects with immersive elements across scenic and projection designs, with special interest in new work and well-known pieces told from a new perspective. Recent highlights include Hub Theatre Company’s production of Tartuffe, John Glore’s Flora & Ulysses at Wheelock Family Theatre, Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Brenda Withers’s adaptation of The Bohemian at Harbor Stage Company, Kirsten Greenidge’s Morning, Noon, and Night at Company One, Terry Guest’s Oak at Alleyway Theatre, and Kevin Rice’s The Pickleball Wars at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater. As a guest artist, Lahue has collaborated with a number of institutions across New England, including Boston Conservatory, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, and Brandeis University.
What’s next: Lahue is working on the New York City transfer of Harbor Stage’s production of My Dinner With André (which ran in Boston this past March) as well as productions of The Bald Soprano and The Lesson at Hub Theatre Company (set to open in February), Chiara Atik’s Poor Clare at Northeastern University (Feb. 18-22, 2026), Into the Woods at the College of the Holy Cross (Feb. 5-15, 2026), and Urinetown (April 9-12, 2026) and Robert O’Hara’s Good Breeding (Feb. 26-28, 2026) at Boston Conservatory.
What makes him special: Raved designer James Fenton, with whom Lahue has worked as an assistant or associate scenic designer on multiple productions, “You will be hard pressed to find another designer with the breadth of technical knowledge while willing to get as hands-on involved with all points of the process….Justin’s combination of old-world theatrical scenographic philosophies and techniques coupled with an extensive knowledge of the immediate technological advances in staging practices make Justin a formidable contemporary designer who is also a positive presence in any room.”
An experiment in closeness: Lahue said he’s keen to work on theatre that creates unique, intimate experiences for the audience while embracing technology and innovative techniques, all without losing the heart of what makes the communal experience of theatre so special. “Theatre in my mind is at its best when it removes barriers between the audience and the story it is telling, both in content and overall presentation…We do a lot of work to capture the same feelings we felt sitting around a campfire sharing stories, learning more about our loved ones, and growing closer to people we once considered strangers.”
Omar Robinson (he/him)
Actor, fight choreographer
Hometown: Baltimore
Current home: Somerville, Massachusetts
Known for: Robinson is a resident artist company member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project. During his time with ASP, he has played Hamlet, Macbeth, and Mr. Darcy. Earlier this year he received an Elliot Norton Award for outstanding lead performance for his portrayal of Boy Willie in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.
What’s next: Robinson will next head to Rhode Island for Trinity Repertory Company’s upcoming production of The Winter’s Tale (Feb. 12-March 22).
What makes him special: For ASP artistic director Christopher V. Edwards, Robinson’s impact goes beyond the talent he shows onstage. “He knows what it means to be the lead actor in a show,” Edwards said, “but also what it means to be a leader and mentor in the rehearsal room for his peers. His generosity and rigor inspire the whole ensemble to reach higher.” Added Evan Turissini, ASP director of marketing and communications, “In the past three years, Omar has solidified his place as one of Boston’s elite actors….With a résumé that boasts August Wilson, Shakespeare, Molière, Jane Austen—and not just on Boston’s biggest stages but around New England—it’s just a matter of time before Omarmania goes national.”
Looking inspiration in the eye: Robinson said he usually finds inspiration for his work outside the theatre. “It could come from a walk in the rain, a book, a video game, a museum exhibit,” Robinson said. “Recently I have found inspiration in the eyes of scene partners. This has been a year of heavy, emotionally draining productions, and I’ve been relishing it. Jumping into the deep end and finding moments of play, terror, joy, and dread with artists that I trust and adore has truly been a gift. Their bravery and care has led to some unforgettable moments and I’m very grateful to them.”
