Community Profile: Voices From The Real World

From the vault - Recorded nearly a year ago, Community Profile member (and 2024 gala performer) Jane Mantiri describes her father’s determination to bring his family to the United States, the dreams she put on hold until his passing, and her plans to return to her birth country of Indonesia to film a documentary about her story - a trip she just returned from!

 Mare Biddle is a playwright, author, and member of the DGA. Flash Nonfiction publications include “Hair Ties” at The Manifest-station and “Tuesday Morning” in Under the Gum Tree. Her One-Act companion plays “Throwing Snowballs at the Moon” and “Post Game Show” were produced at Arizona’s Theatre Artists Studio. Other dramatic and literary works have app...

Indigenous 2 Spirit artist a.c.ramírez de arellaño (Taíno Hiwayawa) utilizes public spaces to create a dialogue that educates, inspires, and builds bridges between communities. The artist seeks to draw attention to the capacity for individuals and communities to heal, grow, and thrive through our interconnectedness. Like many Indigenous peoples who push back against erasure and are writing themsel...

Darlene Zimbardi is an author and performer. Her illness memoir, “If Only George Clooney Were My Doctor,” is an off-beat take about her time on life support. Her writing about illness advocacy has been performed as staged readings in New York City and her writing on caregiving has been featured in ensemble theater pieces at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey, and a...

"Jessica Rich is a seasoned veteran of Community Profile, having found herself, time and again, through her own unique intersectionality, identifying as a member of three of our different cohorts. As a mom, a musician and a writer, Jess has been a creative in all of her life, and the poetry she shares here is only one (potent) sliver of that creativity." Jessica Rich is a writer and student i...