The Weft in the Weave
We are a creative collective dedicated to generating, producing and curating works of art. We seek to weave together our varied artistic interests in order to create an electrifying fabric which surprises ourselves and our audiences. Our backgrounds in ensemble based physical theatre and the visual arts have led us to many unique opportunities and collaborations with a diverse group of artists and theatrical companies. In addition to the work we devise as a collective, we aim to collaborate with other artistic teams or individuals to dream up cutting edge works, invent extraordinary pathways for expression and to inject new life into traditional artistic mediums. We are also a Member of the Network of Ensemble theaters (NET). Follow us on Instagram .
Founding Members
Elizabeth Colon Nelson. Producer/Managing Director. Elizabeth has been a professional performer, collaborator, and director for over 15 years. Living in artistic hubs such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Northern California and Louisville, KY., Elizabeth has had the pleasure to work with The House Theater, The Bailiwick Theater, The Dell’Arte Company, Shakespeare Behind Bars, The Grand Guinolers, Wet the Hippo, and The Actor’s Gang. While in LA, she had the honor to perform at the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art (LACMA) with her mentor, Alicia Martinez Alvarez, in conjunction with the female surrealist exhibit “In Wonderland”. Elizabeth holds an MFA from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater. With a passion for community based arts, she created a radio play with 63 inmates living in the secured housing unit at Pelican Bay State Prison that was broadcast live on the local NPR station. Elizabeth was invited by Western Kentucky University to direct their theater students in the creation an ensemble devised theater piece inspired by interviews with residents at a local nursing home. In addition to performing, Elizabeth worked at FOXTV Animation as the office manager for Family Guy, American Dad and the Cleveland Show. While working at FOX, Elizabeth wrote a one act play, Cambiar, that was performed at the Broadway Center for Performing Arts in Tacoma Washington. Elizabeth moved to Las Vegas in 2014 and is excited and inspired by this city bursting with possibility.
Photo by Emily Wilson
Heidi Rider. Artistic Director. Heidi is a visual and performing artist, director and educator with over fifteen years of professional experience. She is a proud graduate of CUNY Hunter College and Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She has performed traditional and devised theatre and dance works in NYC, California, Washington, Japan and Bali. Heidi has had the pleasure of performing at the Clown Theatre Festival at the Brick Theater, Theatre for the New City, LaMaMa, Abingdon Theater Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Harlequin Productions, with NW Playwrights Alliance and in the Mad River Theatre Festival. As a teacher, she has designed and taught performance and art making workshops and classes for groups ranging from kindergarten to seniors, from 2 participants to 150 participants. Heidi has taught coast to coast in the USA, and in Japan, where she also had the pleasure to perform original performance art and theatre works in Tokyo, Kobe, Hiroshima, Onomichi, and Awaji. At Hunter, Heidi was granted the Kossak Painting Fellowship from the Art Department and awarded a substantial post-graduation scholarship through the Theatre Department for Excellence in Acting. Her artistic perspective is influenced deeply by a uniquely nomadic upbringing rooted in working class culture. She explores art making around non-traditional materials and emerging/undefinable fusions of performing and visual elements. Heidi’s big dreams envision art and theatre frolicking as an exhilarating and cohesive pair.
Photo by Adriana Chavez
Adriana Chavez. Operations and Social Media. Adriana is an actor-creator, interdisciplinary performer, director, educator and image maker seeking to collaborate on compelling, innovative projects that take risks and give voice to the various perspectives of the human condition. She is committed to creating works of theatre that are visceral, provocative, physically engaging, challenging to herself, her ensemble and audiences. She is a performer and board member of The Lab Experimental Theatre Company in Las Vegas, NV. Adriana received an MFA in Ensemble-based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre and a BFA in Theatre Performance from Chapman University. Currently based in Las Vegas, you can find her performing in the local theatre scene with Majestic Repertory Theatre, The Lab LV and others. Outside of Las Vegas credits include, New York City: Homunculus Mask Theater (Innovative Theatre Award), Palissimo Dance, NYC Clown Theater Festival, Collective Opera Company, Elke Rindfleisch Dance. California: Naked Empire Bouffon Company, Dell'Arte Company. Massachusetts: Shakespeare and Company. Washington: Theatre Artist of Olympia (TAO). In her life as an educator she has taught and directed theatre projects in the New York City Public Schools, elementary schools in California, and for the Academy of International Education in both Washington State and Japan. adrianachavezphotography.com.
Photo by Emily Wilson.
Guest Directors
Julie Richardson
From a young age Julie Richardson dreamed of flying through the air with the greatest of ease on a flying trapeze. She was terrible at it. It led her to circus theatre however, and after dusting off her chalky wrists she has spent the last ten years on the road as part of the creative team of the two time Olivier Award winning show La Soirée, formerly known as La Clique. Debuting to a delighted Edinburgh audience in the Famous Spiegeltent in 2004 that show has since toured the world to sold out standing ovations from the West End to Broadway, Paris to Montreal and Melbourne to Dublin. She was the Resident Director of Vegas Nocturne at Rose. Rabbit. Lie. in the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Most recently she was Associate Director for the Swiss Nouveau Cirque Production Wings in my Heart in Zurich and Edinburgh.
Darren Weller
Darren moved from Australia to Las Vegas in 2010 and was the Resident Director of Human Nature's The Motown Show at The Venetian and Spiegelworld's much acclaimed production Vegas Nocturne at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. inside The Cosmopolitan. Darren graduated with a BA in Acting from the Queensland University of Technology in 1998 and has worked extensively with most of Australia's major theatre companies including Company B Belvoir (Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2000 Feet Away, The Birthday Party, The Homecoming), Griffin Theatre Company (Tender, The Night Heron, The Lord of the Flies), The Bell Shakespeare Company (Pericles, Hamlet, Shakespeare’s R&J), Theatre of Image (Lulie the Iceberg) and The Sydney Theatre Company (Volpone, Summer Rain) where he most notably performed the role of Ray Dooley in Tony Award winning director, Garry Hynes' Production of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane which toured nationally to sold out houses. Since moving to Vegas he has appeared in Nevada Conservatory Theatre's The Hound of the Baskervilles as Sherlock Holmes and To Kill a Mockingbird as Atticus Finch, John Patrick Shandley's Doubt for The Las Vegas Little Theatre, A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Wizard of Oz for The Las Vegas Shakespeare Company. In 2011 he became the first actor in the world to play the controversial Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in Ron Elisha’s Stainless Steel Rat in both the Sydney and London productions. He also co-wrote and performed in a successful adaptation of Giovanni Boccacio’s The Decameron for The Old Fitzroy Theatre in Sydney. For Television, he was one of the lead cast members in the 11 part sketch comedy series Double Take for Freemantle Media and Channel 7 and has appeared in guest roles for many Australian broadcast network shows.
Associate Artists
Olivia Petzy-Binning
Brilliant, talented, funny. Lives in NYC
Maite Mejean,
Maite Mejean, Operations Team. Maïté was born and raised in the south of France and as a kid she was always dancing and spending her entire summer in the pool. That is how in 2000 she started synchronized swimming and joined the best club of France in Aix en Provence. She moved to Paris in 2009 to train with the National team and competed in many European championships, World championships and was part of the French duet for the Olympics in 2012 in London. During this time she graduated in communication studies. In 2013, she moved to Las Vegas to perform in the show Le Rêve - The Dream at the Wynn hotel to explore her passion in a different way. She also studied event and wedding planning in Las Vegas. Passionate about outdoor activities, traveling, Maïté is always discovering new adventures.
Sommre Phillips.
Sommre Phillips. Our amazing and talented intern. Las Vegas Academy of the Arts graduate. Currently attends Copper Union in NYC.