Max Berry
Lee Harrison Daniel
Eliza
Kuperschmid
Ellie Strayer
Max Berry (he/him/his) is a playwright and screenwriter based in New York City who strives to write plays that are unapologetically silly and radically kind. He is a proud resident artist with First Kiss Theatre Company for which he produced his interactive Zoom play “Same Time Next Year.” He also serves on the First Kiss admin team as the Creative Producer. Max is the creator and co-writer of the comedy webseries, “Hey, Professor!” that premiered on YouTube in the summer of 2021 and was an official selection for NYCWebfest 2021. Other pursuits include his work as a contributing writer of Encore Monthly Theatre Magazine, pole dancing, and teaching chess to 3-8 year olds. For more information go to maxberryplaywright.com or follow him on Instagram at @maximus_of_berry
Lee Harrison Daniel (they/them/theirs) is a Brooklyn-based artist and producer. Originally from just outside of Detroit, Michigan, Lee moved to New York in 2017 to study playwriting and new media at Marymount Manhattan College. While at Marymount, Lee worked as an intern at The Tank NYC and completed an apprenticeship at The Orchard Project. They joined the admin team at First Kiss in 2020 after writing a play for the Theatre Is Dead Festival and have since served as the company’s social media manager, a director of the residency program, and as a lead producer on several projects including the 2021 and 2022 February Film Festivals and the fall 2022 residency shows.
Aside from their work as a producer, Lee is also a writer and (occasional) performer most interested in creating semi-autobiographical theatrical work that incorporates film, music, and poetry. Some favorite past projects include gut instinct diaphragm monster fear peace play (Water House Collective), Ellie and Lee’s 35th Birthday Party: A One Woman Show (First Kiss Theatre Company) and To Be A Monarch Butterfly, To Return To A Home That Never Was (The Brick, ?!: New Works Festival).
Eliza Kuperschmid (she/her/hers) makes stuff. Sometimes she writes, sometimes she dramaturgs, sometimes she plays the flute, and sometimes, under the right conditions, she just likes to kick back and watch theater happen. Eliza has been part of FKT since the company’s inception, serving as the Director of Operations, the Director of the First and Second Year Residency Programs, and as a producer for various events, including FKT’s “Play in a Day.” In 2021, Eliza earned a BA in English and Music from Skidmore College. She is currently earning her MFA in Dramatic Writing at the University of Southern California. Eliza was born and raised in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and really really likes tofu.
Ellie Strayer (she/her/hers) is an interdisciplinary artist from Boston, MA. Ranging from traditional studio arts such as painting and printmaking, to traditional performance such as acting and directing, to mediums in between such as claymation and puppetry, her artistic practice exists in whichever discipline most meaningfully tells her stories. In 2019, she studied
physical theatre and clowning at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy. She graduated from Skidmore College in 2020, where she met Eliza Kuperschmid and became instant collaborators. She is also an alumni of The Orchard Project’s Core Company where she developed new work and met her lifelong artistic crush, Lee Harrison Daniel. In 2021 she was a Resident with Fresh Ground Pepper’s BRB retreat program with Max Berry and their other collaborator, former FKT resident Emmy Kuperschmid, developing a bold new script. Ellie is currently pursuing an MFA in interdisciplinary arts at Goddard College. She also teaches Middle School Theatre Arts and Math and finds much inspiration in her rich experience of creatively engaging with young minds. When she’s not running all over the place, searching for the magic that drives her to create, you may find her studying some Tarot cards, hiking, or trying a new kind of juice. New to her, at least!