Team
Hope Singsen
Hope Singsen (she/her/hers) is an artist, researcher, and activist based in New York City. Hope is the Founding Artistic Director and Host of NYC’s first #HealMeToo Festival (healmetoofest.com) and the #HealMeToo Podcast (healmetoopodcast.com).
As an actor, writer and singer-songwriter, Hope has appeared in numerous films and TV shows as well as on the national stage. The impetus for the #HealMeToo platform arose from Hope's deep gratitude for The "metoo." Movement founded by Tarana Burke, as well as Hope's experiences developing a solo play with music, SKIN (skintheplay.com), about reclaiming sex, intimacy and wholeness after sexual violence. For decades, Hope's work has investigated the mechanisms within creativity that support individual and cultural change. This research was fleshed out through practice in workshopping SKIN, and continues to expand through interviews on the #HealMeToo Podcast as well as in academic collaborations exploring neuroplasticity and healing through the arts.
Select acting credits include Disney’s College Road Trip (opposite Martin Lawrence), Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the indie feature Collar, and the New York Premiere of José Rivera’s Sonnets for an Old Century at The Barrow Group, where she is a frequently-contributing member. Hope developed SKIN with generous developmental support from The Barrow Group, IRT Theater, Red Fern Theater, and Theaterlab. She has also won Artist Residencies with the Mellon-funded Creative Arts Across Disciplines program at Vassar College, The Catwalk Institute in Catskill, NY and The Barrow Group. She presented a workshop of SKIN together with a talk on the neuropsychology of performance at the 2018 national conference of the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities.
Hope is also the founder of one of NYC's oldest and largest Swing Left activist groups, now running virtual and in-person actions to bring change through elections and legislation. The group also affiliates with Indivisible, Birddog Nation and the Center for Popular Democracy. With their mentorship, Hope was proud to lead a traffic-stopping Die-In outside NJ Congressman Tom McArthur’s incendiary Town Hall in May of '17, then put Staten Island's Dan Donovan on the record about Healthcare at a '17 Town Hall, and finally stand up to Trump in person on his Bedminster, NJ golf course in '17 with UltraViolet, coming out as a survivor in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and beyond, to protest Trump's serial sexual assaults.
Jessi D. Hill — director
Jessi D. Hill (she/her/hers) is a NYC-based theatre director whose credits in addition to SKIN include new work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, The Playwrights’ Center, Primary Stages, Labyrinth, The Women’s Project, 59E59, P73, The New Group, Rattlestick, Ensemble Studio Theatre, terraNOVA Collective, Clubbed Thumb, Culture Project, Musical Theatre Factory, The Acting Company, The Barrow Group, PS122, Abingdon, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New Dramatists, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, Naked Angels, The Wild Project, among others. Jessi is a recipient of the Denham Fellowship (SDC Foundation), an Alum of the Women's Project Lab, and an Affiliated Artist at New Georges. She served as Associate Artistic Director of terraNOVA Collective from 2009-2015 and is currently the Artistic Associate at Flying Carpet Theatre Co and on the Artistic Team at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Her work has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, New Zealand, Berlin and Hamburg. MFA: Yale. Member SDC. Current projects: www.jessidhill.com
Dillon Kondor — contributing composer
Raised by musicians immersed in the world of American pop, Dillon Kondor (he/him/his) grew up playing, listening to and dissecting music. An accomplished guitarist from an early age, his first paycheck was for live and session guitar work. Kondor began writing and recording his own songs at age 14, starting with pop tunes and later focusing on classical composition. He studied at Ithaca College and the Manhattan School of Music, where he focused on avant garde concert music. Eager for a return to more accessible, popular forms of music, Kondor began working as a guitarist on Broadway shows, simultaneously writing, performing and recording his own work. "Hostage EP" is his first record. Dillon arranged guitar for numerous songs in SKIN. He has been touring with Blood Sweat and Tears since June 2016. dillonkondor.com
Bob Parins — contributing composer
Bob Parins (he/him/his) might be best known these days as the bass and pedal steel guitar player of California folk-rock band, Vetiver, and the guitar, pedal steel guitar, and clarinet player with indie favorite Of Montreal (earning him a tout in Rolling Stone). But a little investigation will reveal that he's been involved in a long, trailing cloud of interesting musical projects, recording with Hot Sardines and playing and recording with the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Sondre Lerche, the Clientele (with whom he appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), and Fruit Bats to name a few. Bob collaborated on the development of SKIN through numerous readings and workshops, developing guitar arrangements for many of its songs and character themes. His music has also appeared in a french film Jusqu'a toi (Parins/Manchon composition "Nothing/Nowhere" sung by Sufjan Stevens), and the American films My Idiot Brother (Paul Rudd), Paper Man (Jeff Daniels, Lisa Kudrow, Kieren Culken), Manhattan Romance and Fairhaven. Also impressive are Bob's own recordings. The sound is eclectic yet familiar, with a wide palate of influences, from Spanish Flamenco to Marc Bolan's T-Rex. Pick up other tidbits from Bob’s resume (like his BA from Berkelee College of Music) and listen to some tracks at bobparins.com.