D'Lo (Producer/Writer)
Mark Alton Brown (Producer/Writer/Script Supervisor)
Mark Alton Brown most recently worked as a Consulting Producer on INSTANT MOM on Nickelodeon and TV Land. He also currently has several television pilots in development. He and his writing partner Dee LaDuke served for eight years as Writer/Executive Producers on the CW’s hit series, GIRLFRIENDS. Mark created and Executive Produced REUNITED, a comedy series starring Julie Hagerty with Castle Rock for UPN. His produced pilots include NBC’s, DANGEROUS WOMEN WITH BAD ATTITUDES and GABBY. He has worked as writer/producer on multiple half-hour series, most notably as Supervising Producer on the long-running DESIGNING WOMEN.
Mark co-wrote and produced the cult classic, comic mock-documentary film, JACKIE’S BACK for Lifetime. His features MOUNTAINHEART, LIFE OF THE PARTY and VENTURA BLVD. are currently in pre-production. He has also have written BEFORE AND AFTER for USA Network and the original features THE WHOLE TRUTH, TOO HIP and LIFERS. He also wrote and produced the YouTube web series sensation, JENIFER LEWIS AND SHANGELA.
Brown and LaDuke are also the authors of “Writing and Producing Television”. They conduct seminars based on the book worldwide, most recently in Rio Rio de Janeiro. They are on the faculty of the Global Shift Film Festival and developed an online course for its affiliated Institute. Mark is also on the faculty of Inner City Filmmakers. He and Ms. LaDuke are recipients of a Shine Award, GLAAD Media Award, and the BET Comedy Award.
Ken Sawyer (Director)
Ken Sawyer is an award-winning director based in Los Angeles, California. His work has spanned a wide range of projects that include musicals, plays, and experimental theatre. The majority of his directing career has focused on developing new works.
Ken originally directed D'Lo in the critically acclaimed solo show D' Funct at Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Professional highlights include collaborating with Emmy Award winner Paris Barclay on the Vietnam era musical ONE RED FLOWER, with rock icons Charlotte Caffey (the GoGos) and Anna Waroonker (That Dog) on LOVELACE: THE ROCK OPERA , with Stephen Schwartz and David Stern on the development of SNAPSHOTS, and with Colin Escott on development of the Broadway hit THE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET.
Other directing projects include: THE LARAMIE PROJECT:TEN YEARS LATER, DEATHTRAP, THE GOAT, and the award winning HIT THE WALL (LA LGBT Center), The world premier of Ingmar Bergman's 1954 radio play THE CITY at The Demon Theatre in Faro, Sweden; RAGTIME, CABARET, and SWEENEY TODD (CSUN); and DRACULA (Noho Arts Center). THE WOMAN IN BLACK (The Coronet and Road Theatre).
Ken is a graduate of Dallas' The Arts Magnet High School at Booker T Washington and The Juilliard School. For more info, please log on to: www.kensawyerdirector.com
Jon Imparato (Producer)
JON IMPARATO worked as an actor in New York for 25 years before making the switch to producing. In 1998, he was tapped by the Los Angeles LGBT Center to be artistic director of the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center, a program he created for the Center. Highlights include the West Coast premiere of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and three official 25th anniversary productions: Jack Heifner’s Vanities (starring Kathy Bates), Jane Chambers’ lesbian classic Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, and an all-star staged reading of Larry Kramer’s incendiary AIDS drama, The Normal Heart, directed by Joel Grey. Jon has also produced the debuts of new shows by Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin, Alec Mapa, Jenifer Lewis, Carol Channing, Coco Peru, as well as the world premieres of Victory Dance (Ovation Award nomination), by Jessica Litwak; Patricia Cotter and Lori Scarlet’s Ovation, Garland, and LA Drama Critics Circle Award-winning musical, The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical; the Ovation-nominated Miss Coco Peru Is Undaunted; Adelina Anthony’s Mastering Sex & Tortillas and Bruising for Besos; Nick Salamone’s Sea Change and The Sonneteer, and highly acclaimed revivals of Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, Tectonic Theater Project’s The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, and most recently, the multiple award-winning Hit the Wall, by Ike Holter (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award: Best Production, Stage Raw (formerly LA Weekly) Award: Production of the Year). Jon also produces Conversations with Coco, in which Miss Coco Peru conducts onstage interviews with such legendary performers as Lily Tomlin, Liza Minnelli, Jane Fonda, and the late Bea Arthur. During Imparato’s tenure, the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has received 87 theatre award nominations, with 66 wins.
Adelina "Ade" Anthony (Producer - Aderisa Productions)
ADELINA ANTHONY is a critically acclaimed and award winning two-spirit Xicana lesbian multi-genre artist, cultural activist, teaching artist, director and producer. She has over 20 years of performance experience and has garnered Best Actress nominations and awards. In 2012 she began to write for film, and she wrote and directed her first short film, Forgiving Heart, which premiered in 2013 at the Outfest Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival Gala; her second screenplay, You're Dead to Me, was executive produced by Film Independent's Project Involve and the National Minority Consortia for PBS (this short film won the 2014 Imagen Award and several film festival audience awards); and most recently she wrote the screenplay,Get the Life, which was produced by a 2016 Film Independent Project Involve team and is already playing on the international film festival circuit. In 2014 she was invited to participate in the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive. The year prior, 2013, she was awarded the Sony Pictures Diversity Fellowship through Film Independent's Project Involve program. Adelina's debut feature film, Bruising for Besos, premiered at Frameline Film Festival 2016 and played at Outfest. The film is currently making the rounds on the national and international film festival circuits. The film showcases a primarily LGBTQ people of color cast and production team.
Along with Marisa Becerra, Adelina is a managing member and co-founder of AdeRisa Productions, LLC. Together they have executive produced three short films, including The Good Kind written and directed by Ofelia Yánez and Gold Star written and directed by Karla Legaspy--a Latino Public Broadcasting 2014 New Media Winner and the 2016 PBS Online Film festival People's Choice Winner.
Marisa Becerra (Producer - Aderisa Productions)
MARISA BECERRA is very proud to be a co-founder/producer of AdeRisa Productions. She is a successful business owner and entrepreneur who brings over 15 years of business management and accounting experience to the company. In addition, she has many years of volunteer work and activism focused on issues affecting people of color and LGBT communities. Her passion for the arts, progressive education and social/economic justice movements matches the vision of this company. She is the producer of Forgiving Heart and an Executive Producer for Ofelia Yánez's The Good Kind and Karla Legaspy's Gold Star.
Karla Legaspy (Production Coordinator)
KARLA LEGASPY is a L.A. based MeXicana indigena filmmaker and actress. She’s the writer/director/producer of the award winning film “Gold Star The Short”. She is co-producerof AdeRisa Productions, whose feature film Bruising for Besos has screened in the U.S. and abroad. In 2014, she was awarded the LPB New Media Grant. Legaspy’s filmmaking experience, includes production coordinator in new media projects at Maker Studio, directing/producing music videos, and line producer/producer in various films. Currently, she’s developing an episodic series “DIX” and the feature film "Marisol".
Legaspy has starred in films, such as Flor de Naranja, Roses of April, Betrayed, and Pura Lengua, which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. She is the co-founder and director of programming of the Latin@ Queer Arts and Film Festival/Cine Arte Film Festival. She envisions her work as the best tool for activism and her contribution to empowering her community.
Eulises "Euli" Jimenez (DP)
Eulises Jimenez is an inspired filmmaker since he was a kid. In a time and place where his peers prefer entertainment to education, Eulises sold all his worldly goods, including his CDs and DVDs to buy a camera. In addition to his art classes at Lynwood High School, he has independently pursued his passion for both still photography and video production and has already produced a unique body of work. Eulises has the artist's eye, he sees beauty and finds meaning in the everyday, allowing us to experience his connection to friends, neighborhood, and his city Lynwood . He offers a unique perspective on such traditional themes as dark beauty, comedy and human emotion. Grit and idealism mix to reveal not only his subject matter but the artist himself.
Karin Labby (Costume Designer/Props/Art/Design)
Karin Labby worked as a stylist and costumer throughout the 90’s. Dressing Ellen DeGeneres to host the Grammy’s , Julianne Moore for her Academy Award nomination for Boogie Nights you could see her work in print for just about all up and coming young celebrity for publications like Vanity Fair, Elle, British Vogue, Rolling Stone and many more.
Karin has a deep love of costumes and fashion. Recently Karin has returned to her love of costuming with some small stage productions and her work with D’Lo on his project "Private Dick".
When Karin isn’t reimagining how people look you can find her reimagining her friends gardens.