Team: My Favorite Person
Director and Founder of The How
Polina Ionina
Polina Ionina is a Russian-American director/actor. Classically trained at Pace University BFA Acting program in lower Manhattan, Polina has also studied abroad in Kyrgyzstan and at the Grotowski Institut in Poland. In NY she’s worked with Interactive PlayLab led by improv pioneer and master clown Jeff Wirth, and with the experimental theater group Dzieci. Polina is a founder of The How, and has performed with and directed the ensemble at celebrated venues such as HERE Arts Center, IRT, The Tank NYC, and Dixon Place. Previous work with The How include: The Vyuga Project, Vandals, Hunger, What We Do, and I Am the Wind, 5 Hour Piece, and My Favorite Person. Polina has also worked with up and coming film-makers in NYC such as Alex Blackstorm, Sonoko Ogata, and Steve Perterson as well as industry giants such as Bob Balaban, and Lisa Robinson.
ig: @mspyaari
Assistant Director/Scenic Design
Veronika Vozniak
Veronika (org. Weronika Wozniak) is a Polish NYC actress and graduate of Conservatory program at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Since 2016 performed on numerous Off- and Off-Off-Broadway stages. Selected theatre: A Midsummer’s Night Dream (The Seeing Place), The Jewish Question (Sandra Kahn Wasserman Jewish Studies Center), The Video Games (Off-Broadway, Elektra Theatre), Vandals (The How Theater at The Tank, Dixon Place), Detective Story (Heights Players), Spyglass Seven (international Edgar Allan Poe Festival), (Beyond) Doomsday Scrolling (Anomalous Co). She’s also worked as a dialect coach and cultural consultant for a new play IDEOLOGIX produced by Play Machine Performance Lab workshopped in Julius Slowacki Theatre in Cracow. Currently, she’s enjoying a new artistic endeavor as a set designer with The How Theater, which she joined in 2018 as ensemble member.
ig: @vivivozniak
Ensemble
Tana Sirois
Tana Sirois is an NYC-based actor, director and producer. She graduated from The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts with a degree in Acting, and went on to co-found Dirt [contained] Theatre Company, which makes provocative, socially conscious theatre with an absurd twist.
Tana is a co-founder of the non-profit Arts & Culture Center, Culture Lab LIC, where she worked as Performing Arts Director for six years, curating the interdisciplinary performances taking place in Culture Lab's 90 seat theatre, multiple art galleries, and outdoor venue.
In 2019 she originated the role of “Alice” in the NYC Premiere of the musical Painted Alice. Film credits include Alexis (Blue Bloods) and Katie (For Hope). NYC theatre highlights include playing the title role in Fernando Arrabal's Garden Of Delights, Nina in Stupid Fucking Bird, Tracy in Seascape With Sharks And Dancer, Judy in the NYC Premiere of Easy Laughter, and a screwed up version of herself in Crushing Baby Animals which she co-wrote in 2019 with her long-term collaborator Maria Swisher, and produced at The IRT Theatre.
Tana has been a proud company member in the feminist, musical comedy troupe, Broad Comedy, which tours the country raising money for Planned Parenthood and The ACLU for the past seven years.
With a background in physical theatre and original work, her style is rooted in collaboration and improvisation. She is particularly drawn to lightness in moments of despair, and truth in absurdity.
The process of making this show has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I am so thankful to everyone on this team.
ig: @tana_sirois
Main Musical Composition
Tyler Agnew
Tyler Agnew is a musical artist that works in a number of different forms, including: Busy Beds, Toy Factory, Blue Plutos, Howling Boil and Covered Bridges. His aesthetic is hauntological, and a mix between synthetic digital sounds and organic sounds. He works with a group of artists known as Being Records. His most recent records are "Toy Factory" and "Covered Bridges" available from Neverwood Records.
Ensemble
David Glover
David Glover is an artist drawn to telling needed stories; stories that challenge comfort, question vulnerability, and press at the potent roots of trauma and healing. His artistic body of work centers on identity, history, and home. With a focus on the complexities and measures of black life, love and liberation. He has been a company member of The How since 2017. His debut book of poetry Beneath My body Armor will be released Fall 2022.
ig: @sirdavidlawrenceglover
Light Design (HERE Arts Center)
Zach Lobel
ZACK LOBEL is a lighting and video designer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. His work ranges from theaters and museums, to nightclubs and cruise ships. Theater: The Public, Guggenheim, Signature, NYTW, Roundabout, La MaMa, New Ohio, Ma-Yi, McKittrick (Sleep No More), 3 Dollar Bill, among others. TV/Film/Other: "Viral" (Editor, Tribeca Film Festival), Lead Editor at Greener Media. Education: Wesleyan University.
https://www.zacklobel.com/
ig: @zacklobel