MEET THE TEAM
Elena Siyanko
Founder and Co-Director
Veteran programmer and arts administrator, Elena Siyanko serves as Co-Director of DOWN TO EARTH. She guides the concept and international programming and oversees strategic partnerships and fundraising for the inaugural 2025 Festival program. Siyanko is Inaugural Artistic and Executive Director of PS21 /Center for Contemporary Performance (2019–2024), where over six seasons she brought more than 100 distinct productions to PS21, featuring artists and companies representing 15 countries. She produced new multidisciplinary projects and performances in public spaces, curated more than 220 events for diverse audiences, established collaborations with regional, national, and international organizations, and hosted over 30 artists’ residencies for projects in visual art, dance, music, contemporary performance, and theater. A regular attendee of international arts festivals in Europe and Latin America, Siyanko has witnessed the power of creative performance to shape the physical and social character of outdoor spaces. Over the past six years, she has been in the vanguard of curators popularizing international contemporary circus and in-situ multidisciplinary performance. Through her curation, she has brought large-scale outdoor spectacles developed during residencies and hosted dozens of North American premieres and company debuts from renowned artists and productions. A cornerstone of Siyanko’s recent tenure at PS21 is PATHWAYS, a creative placemaking and co-programming initiative that established partnerships with 27 organizations. This program created new contexts for presenting challenging work while engaging diverse audiences. Through collaborations with local and regional partners—ranging from organizations serving at-risk youth to environmental groups, town governments, and more—visionary artists connected intimately with audiences in schools, churches, libraries, city parks, village streets, farms, and parking lots. PATHWAYS became a counterweight to the restrictive, cost-prohibitive paradigm common throughout the country. By introducing large-scale outdoor spectacles and innovative collaborations, Siyanko increased attendance tenfold and raised PS21’s regional, national, and international profile.
Frank Hentschker
(MESTC), Founder and Festival Co-Director
Frank Hentschker, who holds a Ph.D. in theatre from the now legendary Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, Germany, came to the Graduate Center in 2001 as program director for the Graduate Center’s Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and was appointed to the central doctoral faculty in theatre in 2009. Currently executive director and director of programs at the Segal Center, Hentschker has transformed the center into the nation’s leading forum for public programming in international and U.S. theatre and theatre studies; each year, he curates and produces more than forty events—staged readings, lecture-demonstrations, symposia, works-in-progress, and conversations with theatre scholars, theatrical luminaries, and emerging voices in the international, American, and New York theatre scenes. Among the vital events and series he founded at the Segal Center are the World Theatre Performance series; the annual fall PRELUDE festival, which features more than twenty New York–based theatre companies and playwrights; and the PEN World Voices Playwrights Series. Hentschker also led CUNY’s nineteen performing arts centers in founding the CUNY–Performing Arts Consortium (C–PAC), producing the consortium’s first joint festival in 2009. Hentschker edited the MESTC publications Jan Fabre: I Am A Mistake, Seven Works for the Theatre (2009) and New Plays from Spain (2013), and he served as president of the board of PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art from 2005 to 2009. Before coming to the Graduate Center, Hentschker founded and directed DISCURS, the largest European student theatre festival existing today; he acted as Hamlet in Heiner Müller’s Hamletmaschine, directed by the playwright; performed in the Robert Wilson play The Forest (music by David Byrne); and worked as an assistant for Robert Wilson for many years.
Ruth Wikler
Festival Advisor and Conference Co-Director
Ruth Juliet Wikler consults for the performing arts field internationally as Wikler Arts (wiklerarts.com) and serves as Director of Arts Programming, Partnerships, and Philanthropy, as well as on the Theatre faculty, at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. She also serves on numerous local, national, and international advisory boards and committees, from the International Artistic Committee of MASA (Abidjan Performing Arts Market, Ivory Coast) to the Advisory Board of Gravity and Other Myths (Australia). As Deputy Director of Programming for TOHU and the Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival from 2019 to 2023, Ruth directed the MICC (International Market for Contemporary Circus) and curated contemporary circus works from Quebec and around the world for TOHU’s season as well as its Montreal Completement Cirque Festival. Prior, Ruth curated seven seasons of contemporary international theatre and performance for Boom Arts in Portland, Oregon, which she also founded, introducing Portland audiences to vital global and US artists including Kristina Wong, Adrienne Truscott, Silencio Blanco, Touretteshero, and Teatro Linea de Sombra. She previously served as Associate Director of Programs for the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (The Graduate Center CUNY) and holds an MA in Theatre from Hunter College CUNY. Her article “Vive le cirque: A Contemporary Circus Curation Primer” was recently published in TURBA Journal: Curating Live Arts.
Meg Araneo
Associate Director of Programs, Segal Center
Natalie Rine
Associate Producer, Prelude Festival
Founder of Broadway DNA, an international theatrical producing and licensing agency committed to connecting theatrical work to a prosperous life through distribution across borders on global stages. She has represented theatre and location-based entertainment deals in Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Australia, Russia, Mexico, and Brazil, to name a few. Previously: The Road Company (Business Affairs, natl tours: Wicked, The Outsiders, PlayStation Live, more), Peanuts Worldwide (International Licensing, Snoopy), Broadway Asia (Japan: Anastasia, Great Comet; more). As a creative producer and independent theatrologist, topics of interest include the business of transnational performance and distribution, IP adaptation, and multi-author collaboration models in Playlist Musicals. Publications include “Devising, Decolonizing, and Disrupting American Musical Theatre Aural Anatomy Through the Playlist Musical” (Critical Stages/Scènes critiques), “Immersive Theatre as Christian Liminality” (American University), “Fiscal Collaboration as Urgent Artistic and Humanitarian Practice Within the US-International Producing Model” (Nová dráma, Bratislava, Slovakia), and articles for Stage Natalie (Japan). She currently serves on the Membership and International Committees for the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) and is a member of the Creative and Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA). She holds a degree in Theatre Arts Management from American University, Washington, DC, with additional training in Business and the Arts at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. www.broadway-dna.com
Anastasia (Nastya) Dzutstsati is a multimedia producer, writer, and social researcher based in New York City. Formerly a reporter for Current Time (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) in Moscow, they fled Russia in 2021 after receiving death threats related to their work. As a social media producer and creative, they have collaborated with notable clients including Netflix, Channel 4 (UK), Transport for London, Public Health England, Visit England, Penguin Random House, Uniqlo, L'Oréal, and the Estée Lauder Companies, among other major brands. Their research focuses on autocracy, independent journalism, and LGBTQ+ rights. They have worked with the Russian Independent Media Archive (PEN America), Bard College, and HIAS. In 2023, they delivered a TEDx talk titled Writing Within Exile at Bard College. In April 2025, they presented their ongoing research on LGBTQ+ discourse in Russian independent media at NYU's Jordan Center during the NESEEES conference. Anastasia holds an MA in Human Rights and the Arts from Bard College (U.S.) and a BA in Journalism from the University of Kent (U.K.). From 2022 to 2024, they were a Threatened Scholar Integration Initiative Fellow through the Open Society University Network (OSUN) and have also been supported by the New York Film Academy and the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. Their writing has appeared in The Gay & Lesbian Review, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Global Commons (Open Society University Network) and other outlets. Anastasia's website: dzutstsati.com
An MS in Media Management from The New School has elevated Anna's skills. She specializes in media literacy, production, website creation, videography, editing, and creating engaging stories through documentaries, promotional content, narratives, explanatory journalism, and social media content. She thrives on bringing creative, innovative ideas to life. Her experience ranges from partnerships with professionals across multiple disciplines, work as a member of a Telly Award-winning Team at Media Smart Citizens, a Graduate Teaching Fellow in Digital Video Production at The New School, archival research and database management, and collaborating with organizations such as The Gotham Film & Media Institute, DocNYC, Qubic Pictures, Media Smart Citizens, Dakoit Pictures, Luminescence Media Group, Jewish Federations of North America, Future Media Conferences, and Hunter College. In addition, she has a mastery of Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Davinci Resolve, and continues to expand her repertoire with advanced studies and mastery of her effective use of cutting-edge technology. As a videographer, she is highly skilled in using Sony and Canon cameras (camcorders, mirrorless, DSLRs). Her pleasant demeanor, outstanding organizational skills, and ingenuity make her a valuable, productive team member. Anna holds an MS in Media Management (Summa Cum Laude) from The New School and a BA in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Drew University. Website: annarishik.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annar171/
Rob Reddy
David Stark Design Tech Supervisor