PUNCH BACK
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2025
3PM & 7PM at Open Jar Studios
by Genevieve Simon (he/they)
Directed by Kedian Keohan (they/he)
Stage Manager: Bea Perez-Arche (they/she)
Dramaturg: Dezi Tibbs (they/she)
Fight Choreographer: Alex Might (her)
featuring Ashil Lee (they/he), Ashton Muñiz (they/he), Che Kabia (they/them), Daphne Always (she/her), Sagan Chen,
Smith Alfieri (he/they), and Vann Dukes (they/them)
with Stage Directions read by Lisa Stephen Friday (she/her)
Seven trans college students fall in love and secretly distribute HRT while learning how to box in the red state of Ohio.
Genevieve Simon (he/they)
Writer
Genevieve Simon (he/they) is an actor and playwright born in Ohio and based in New York. His work has been supported by Ars Nova, The Bushwick Starr, The Brick, New Georges, Fresh Ground Pepper, Shadowland Stages, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arts on Site, The Motor Company, Oberlin College, Willamette University, Holton-Arms School, Cincinnati Fringe Festival, The Parsnip Ship, and The Tank. He is a 2025 NYSCA Commission Winner, a 2023-24 New Georges Audrey Resident, and was a member of the 2024 Page 73 Writers Group. His climate-doom-comedy BLOOM BLOOM POW was a Finalist for the 2022 EMOS Ecodrama Playwrights Festival and will be published in 2026. Genevieve’s plays include THIS BUG IS GAY, GUARDING, SISTER/FRIEND, and HELL IS REAL. Playwriting Lecturer, Skidmore College. www.genevieve-simon.com
Kedian Keohan (they/he)
Director
Kedian Keohan is a trans theater director and creator of live performances. Director: DeliaDelia! (The Brick/Edinburgh Fringe), reid tang’s ISABEL (NAATCO) and BOIDS (BTB workshop), Haruna Lee’s Let’s Sit Down (Say Gay Plays), Erin Markey’s First Lady (Bard Spiegeltent), Jimmy Fay’s Straight Wedding (Brown / Writing is Live). Associate Director: Morgan Bassichis’ Can I Be Frank? (Soho Playhouse), Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s Rheology (The Bushwick Starr), Ryan J. Haddad’s Dark Disabled Stories (The Public Theater/Bushwick Starr). Kedian is a 2025 Audrey Resident with Minna Lee and a 25/26 Resident Artist at The Cell with Utkarsh Rajawat. Kedian is a former Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, Soho Rep Writer/ Director Lab alum, and a regular collaborator of Julia Jarcho/minor theater. Upcoming: Nurit Chinn’s Godbird and Kaye Hurley’s :/secondplace (Exponential Festival, Director). @justkedian
Bea Perez-Arche (they/she)
Stage Manager
Bea Perez-Arche (they/she) is a Queer Cuban-American Theatre Artist, currently freelancing as a Stage Manager & Director in New York City. They are glad to be returning for their 3rd year working with Breaking the Binary! They are currently the Production Stage Manager for the National Tour of HANG TIME by Zora Howard. She has mainly dedicated her talents to civic artistic programming and new work, collaborating with a range of institutions including: The Flea, The Civilians, One Whale’s Tale, Women’s Project, Little Island, Chelsea Factory, and Ballet Collective. She has primarily worked at the Public Theater on Shakespeare in the Park, the Under the Radar Festival, Public Works, and the Mobile Unit. She is an Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and received her BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University. Thank you Adalhia, John, and all my chosen family.
Dezi Tibbs (they/she)
Dramaturg
Dezi Tibbs (they/she) is obsessed with exploring how we fabulate and perform our identities. As a freelance dramaturg, Dezi has facilitated the development of dozens of original and established plays and musicals with esteemed collaborators such as Sam Pinkleton, Lileana Blain Cruz, Max Vernon, Erin Courtney, and Truth Future Bachman. Dezi's work has been featured on stages and festivals nationwide including New York Theatre Workshop, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Powerhouse Theatre, Joe's Pub, Lincoln Center, Wilma Theater, Breaking the Binary, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. As a writer, Dezi has been published on The Civilians' Extended Play, the Public Theater website, TDF Stages, and most recently, "Role Models: Breaking Theatre’s Gender Binary, an Intergenerational Story" for American Theatre.
Alex Might (her)
Fight Choreographer
Alex is a fight and intimacy director based in Chicago. Film: Little One (Secret Beach). Broadway: POTUS. Select Off-Broadway and Regional: How to Defend Yourself (NYTW), In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot (Playwrights Horizons), RENT (Paper Mill Playhouse), The Wolves (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Fight Call (Breaking the Binary), backstroke boys (Fault Line), TWITCH (Williamstown), The Scarlet Letter (Two River). www.alexmight.com
Ashil Lee (they/he)
ANI
NYC-based actor, playwright, director, and sex educator. Korean-American, trans nonbinary, child of immigrants, and best friend to pup, Huxley. 2023 Lucille Lortel nominee (Outstanding Ensemble: The Nosebleed). Colt Couer 25-26 Resident. Selected acting: Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies… (World Premiere, Woolly Mammoth), The Nosebleed (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, Woolly Mammoth, US & International Tour), Dogville (theatrical premiere, dir.Robert O’Hara). Selected playwriting: Relentless 2024 Semi-Finalist (Me No Know Korean), ‘Pericles: Prince of Tyre’ adapted with Mark Wing-Davey (NYU: Grad Acting), Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group (23-24), Pataphysics with Clare Barron (2020). Selected directing: Coach Coach, US Drag (NYU: MSNR). Education: NYU Tisch. BFA: Acting, Minor: Youth Mental Health. www.ashillee.com
Ashton Muñiz (they/he)
NAOMI
Ashton Muñiz (they/he) is an actor, artist, & activist. Super happy to returning to the BTB stage! Ashton will be making their screen debut in Maggie Gyllenhal’s feature film The Bride this spring. Recent acting credits include Keelay Gipson’s demons, Andrew Rincon's I Wanna F*ck Like Romeo & Juliet, Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance on Broadway, Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Ashton has also been seen in productions Off-Broadway at Second Stage, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theatre, Cherry Lane and more! Recently, Ashton has collaborated with various artists/featured in their works around the world at The Guggenheim, Art Institute Chicago, Swiss Institute, New Museum, CND(Paris), Lehmann Maupin and Pace Gallery.Training: Ithaca College, Moscow Arts Theatre School, Shakespeare & Co, Hillman Grad Mentee. @arshton
Che Kabia (they/them)
SAM
Che Kabia (they/them) is thrilled to return to the Breaking the Binary Festival. A Northeast-based actor, dramaturg, poet, and technician, Che’s work celebrates identity, play, and cultural connection. A first-generation transmasc Sierra Leonean artist, they bridge the classical and contemporary through text and clown. Che is a 2025–2026 Folger Shakespeare Library Research Fellow, a Resident Actor at Mercury Store in Gowanus, and an Apprentice with Theater Mitu. They hold a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University. Recent credits include Twelfth Night (Folger Theatre), Notice to Appear (Visual Echo/La MaMa), and Richard III (SoHo Shakespeare Company).
Daphne Always (she/her)
MAEVE
Daphne Always is a performing artist with over a decade of experience in New York nightlife, stage, and screen. She’s a resident hostess at Alan Cumming's East Village cabaret Club Cumming and the LES theater the Slipper Room. Recently, her short film SECONDS with Emmy-nom Amanda Mustard was selected in the Tokyo International, Rome International, and Couch Film Festivals. Daphne performed the role of "Regina" in The Voices In Your Head, which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.
Sagan Chen
KEI
Sagan is seeking representation, and seeking liberation for all. The daily fight continues for a free falastin. Most recently seen in ‘i know with iris chang died’ by BTB artist Esmé Maria Ng, and proud to have supported new work in NYC with companies including NYTW, NAATCO, Rattlestick, Ars Nova, Manhattan Theater Club, Roundabout, Atlantic, Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Realm, National Queer Theater, and most importantly, Breaking the Binary every year since its inception. Onscreen: Survival of the Thickest (Netflix/A24), Grand Crew (NBC), High Maintenance (HBO), films at Tribeca, Newfest, Outfest, Sundance, NYCIFF, AAIFF. Sagan has co-created two award-winning digital series called Here We Wait and Sideways Smile. Heard in the Audible Original The 126 Year Old Artist, and narrating the audiobooks: This Way to Happy, Ana On the Edge, All The Things We Don’t Talk About, The Jump.
Smith Alfieri (he/they)
EMERSON
Smith is a Brooklyn-based actor/musician/bodyworker and is absolutely thrilled to be involved with Breaking the Binary. Some favorite credits include: BLOOM BLOOM POW (A.R.T/NY), Twelfth Night (The Acting Company), Now Becomes Then (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Food For The Gods (La MaMa), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare on the Sound) TV: New Amsterdam (NBC), Extrapolations (AppleTV+). @youvegot.smith
Vann Dukes (they/them)
FRANKIE
Vann Dukes (they/them) is an actor and artist from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and now based in Brooklyn. Select credits include This Is Government (59E59 Theaters), Henry V and Love’s Labor’s Lost (Smith Street Stage), and A Raisin in the Sun (The Public Theater). They are also member of the Mercury Store Acting cohort. Endless thanks to Breaking the Binary for having me <3. and to tyler, I love you always. vanndukes.com
Lisa Stephen Friday (she/her)
Stage Directions Reader
Lisa Stephen Friday (she, Her) is a Singer, Musician, Actor and playwright/composer. Her most notable work is her one woman musical TRANS AM which had it’s world prime at the Keegan Theater in Washington DC in 2022. She is also the composer of Doll/Girl A New Musical about the artist Greer Lankton. Lisa is a New York Voices commissioned artist with Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater where she is developing a brand new musical. In 2025 she received an FY2025 artist grant through the New York State Council on the Arts. Lisa has worked as an actor and singer for over 30 years. Performing in numerous regional productions in theater such as Goodspeed Opera House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Ordway Theater as well as the National touring company of the Buddy Holly Story.