Liz has achieved a rich history in the Theatre as dancer, poet, actor, playwright, director and producer. Her credits span NY, regionally and abroad. She has produced and/or directed staged readings and workshop productions of over 75 works showcasing over 300 artists, providing dramaturgical support to colleagues, in a directorial capacity, and as a script consultant.

As DAPLab Moderator (Alumni Playwrights/New School for Drama), 2008-2018, Liz produced their Annual Spring Readings and Phase II, full-length staged reading seasons which launched in the Fall 2013. It included her play Millennium Mom, which premiered at Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival in 2016. Liz played Militant Mom. Other mom roles include Tattoo Mother in Merri Biechler's Occupation, Veteran Mother in Maria Micheles’ PhotoPlay, Mamo-O in Jorshi Taleon-Sonza’s Haiyan, and Evelyn Swain in Killian Beldy’s The Surge.

Phase II Spring 2015 included her full-length play, Evolution: Among Statues. The Spring 2016 Reading included her one-act play, The Bench. Phase II Spring 2018 included her full-length play, Skeletons.

As Cosmic Orchid’s Artistic Director, Liz curates Integrative Theatre, a synergy of performing and visual arts in contemporary culture. Their launch production, The Hoodie Play, was chosen for inclusion in the anthology, The Best American Short Plays of 2015-2016, and has recently had four university productions - Santa Clara University (CA), Wittenberg University (OH), University of West Florida and Sacramento State (CA) – and a NJ Thespian Festival presentation.

The Voire Dire Project, their signature production which features 25 artists/4 one-act plays/4 works of art, had its inaugural cycle Spring 2016, featuring work inspired by paintings. The 2018 Conscious Glass Residency was inspired by art glass, with performances in the Art Glass Studio.  The 2019 cycle, The Photography Cycle, ran at The Medicine Show Theatre - a Puffin Foundation Grant recipient. These included her plays In the Attic, The Goblet, & Guardian of the Field (Best American Short Plays 2018-2019).

Their upcoming cycle, The Voire Dire Project 5.0: Images in Sepia, postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, is scheduled for a three-week run in November 2021 at Theater for the New City.

CO’s virtual production, Behind Closed Doors (2020) featured nine short plays inspired by the medium - all characters on either side of a closed door, and included her play, The Closing.

Other producing venues for Liz’s plays include Circle in the Square (Downtown), Manhattan Rep, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, South Oxford Space, Theatre Row and Vortex Theatre (Albuquerque).

Earlier directing projects include her Deeply and Roommate Simulation by Maria Micheles at Manhattan Rep Theatre, Jorshi Taleon-Sonza’s Haiyan at the 2015 Potpourri World Women Works, and GC Grant's PUSH at the 2011 Strawberry Festival for which she garnered a Best Director nomination.

Liz helms iPower Theatre Collective, a NYC high school arts program integrating performing/visual art with social justice – Recipient: Citizens Committee Grant, 2018; Chelsea & Hudson Yards Grant, 2020. Their current project, iPower Pandemic Empowerment is a documentary with students interviewing students about the pandemic, integrated with related artwork.

Liz has a BA in Psychology, minor in Dance, from Temple University. She has over 25 years concurrent business experience as a Financial Advisor and brings that expertise into her fiscal role at Cosmic Orchid. She has an extensive teaching background, spanning early childhood arts education to professional training for financial professionals. Liz has designed curricula for finance, education and arts content.

Liz’s photography informs her vision of Integrative Theatre. BA, Psychology/Dance, Temple University. MFA, Actors Studio Drama School. Lincoln Center Education Leadership Lab, 2019. Member: Dramatists Guild; National League of American Pen Women; Honor Roll!. Executive Board/Treasurer: League of Professional Theatre Women, 2020-2021.

Artistic Statement

My goal as a Theatre Artist is to invoke traditional dramatic structure in challenging and innovative compositions - deconstructing space, time and identity within the narrative.  My work explores the malleable nature of the temporal world that we illusively perceive as fixed.  I am compelled to explore the fundamental human condition through a metaphysical lens - in ways that transcend rational laws of nature.

My personal experiences and observations in life influence my interpretation of this condition.  Storytelling hinges upon an affinity with the collective consciousness.  This process is both painful and exhilarating, and whilst very personal, manifests most effectively in collaborative creative soil.  My heart and soul are committed to communication.  The tools of story are a vehicle for this passion.  It is my labor of love, my dharma.