EWR Program Director

Natalie Wilson has worn many hats in this industry, as a singer, voice and music theory teacher, writer, and producer. Her performing career included such diverse roles as the title role in Carmen, Sesto in La Clemenza Di Tito, and Desiree in A Little Night Music.

In addition to being on faculty at Circle in the Square, Natalie has taught private voice for 30 years, and her students perform on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on national tours, and with regional theaters across the country.

As a writer, her works include: Sweethearts of Swing (Lark grant, residency and Workshop; NAMT grant; Rockefeller Brother’s Fund grant; NAMT finalist; developmental reading at Aurora Fox Arts Center); (Un)sung (Lark grant and workshops at NYFA and CITS); The Taming of Cats (Resident Production at The Brick); The Innkeeper (Soap Gets in Your Eyes Festival); and numerous short plays that have been produced across the US and in Montreal.

Natalie is also the co-founder of Lather Rinse Repeat: A Playwrights’ Collective, and has produced a number of new works festivals and short play showcases, including the Ladies Lab featuring plays by all women-identifying playwrights. Natalie is passionate about making singing and theater more accessible to a wider array of both performers and creators, and couldn’t be more proud to be at the helm of this exciting new development process for new works.

Advisory Committee Member

Billy Bustamante is a New York City based theatre artist.  Recent credits: Associate Choreographer for Here We Are at London’s National Theatre and Assistant Director for Here Lies Love on Broadway. 

Other credits: Soft Power (Signature Theatre -Helen Hayes nom.), LARRY: An American Journey (World Premier), Finn (Kennedy Center), Notes From Now (Prospect), Whisper House (Civilians), Gold Mountain (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Into the Woods (Arden Theatre), Virginia Stage Company, Goodspeed, Lincoln Center, and NAAP.

Broadway performing credits: Miss Saigon (Engineer alt.), The King and I (Lun Tha u/s).

Off-Broadway/Regional: Soft Power and Here Lies Love at the Public Theater, Center Theatre Group, Arena Stage, Old Globe and Paper Mill Playhouse.

Billy is also co-founder of Broadway Barkada and on faculty at Jen Waldman Studio and Circle in the Square Theatre School. He is passionately committed to the development of new artists and building a more equitable world.

Artistic Director of Circle in the Square Theatre School

Jeanne Slater began her career in NYC as an actor with credits including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regional Theatre and commercials.  She has been teaching, directing, and choreographing for over 35 years and, in addition to serving as the Artistic Director of Circle in the Square Theatre School, she is currently on faculty at The Juilliard School, The Trinity School and Juilliard Pre-College. 

Previously, she served on faculty at The Aspen Music Festival and The Metropolitan Lindemann Young Artist Programs and as guest artist/faculty at Harvard University, Ithaca College, the Juilliard/Windermere Program and The Hamptons Shakespeare Company. 

Directing and choreography credits encompass a wide range of projects spanning both educational and professional theatre including: The 2008 Carnegie Hall Gala, Link Up Concert (Carnegie Hall), Amelia al Ballo, L’enfant et les Sortileges, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Cunning Little Vixen (Juilliard), A Little Night Music, Sweet Charity, Urinetown (Circle in the Square Theatre School), L’Etoile (Ithaca College), Aesop’s Fables (New World Stages), Godspell, Little Women, Mean Girls (THS), West Side Story, Candide (AOTC), Oreste (Festival dei due Mondi). 

Jeanne holds a BA in Theatre from the University of California – Irvine, an MA in Shakespeare & Theatre from The University of Birmingham/Shakespeare Institute, and is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School.

Director of the Play/Advisory Committee Member

Galia Backal is a first generation Mexican-American director, choreographer, and collaborator. She is drawn to work that supports themes of diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality, specifically pieces that center women and Latinx stories. Galia received her BA in Directing from Pace University and is currently the Associate Director of Six the Musical North America.

She has worked with New Georges as one of the 2022 Audrey Residents, The Civilians as a part of the 2020 – 2021 R&D Group, and was a part of the 2020–2022 Roundabout Directors Group Cohort. Galia has also collaborated with The Drama League, Samuel French, Atlantic Theater Company, The Broadway League, Theatre for a New Audience, The Sol Project, The Tank, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, and TADA Theatre. 

Recent directing credits include Ride the Cyclone (Queens College), El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith (Brooklyn College), Into the Woods (Prima Theatre), Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (LIU Post Theatre Company), El Cóndor Mágico by Noelle Viñas (The Civilians R&D Group), Untitled Puppet Show by Daniella De Jesús (San Diego Repertory Theater), Inútil by Alisha Espinosa (Teatro LATEA), Canciones Project Workshop by Beto O’Byrne (The Sol Project), and Latch by Tom Mularz (Samuel French OOB Festival).

Director of the Musical

Jason Aguirre is a queer, Mexican-American director, book writer, and choreographer. He has developed and presented work at Ars Nova, Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Civilans, HERE Arts, EST, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

He has been an Artist-In-Residence at Ars Nova, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) Fellow mentored by Susan Stroman, an alumnus of the Directors Group at Roundabout Theatre Company, a Future Faculty Fellow and graduate of the George and Joy Abbott MFA in Musical Theatre Collaboration at Temple University, a member of the BMI Workshop, and the recipient of the Boris Sagal Fellowship at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

As an associate and assistant director, Jason has worked alongside Tina Landau, Anne Kauffman, Rachel Chavkin, Walter Bobbie, and Darko Tresnjak. He is the Founding Co-Artistic Director of UNTITLED Musical Project, a not-for-profit dedicated to creating space for marginalized musical theatre writers of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and their intersecting identities. Jason serves as the Associate Artistic Director of Vineyard Theatre.