SUMMER SEASON
Seeds of Time Festival
In Collaboration with Play On Shakespeare
514 Fourth Street Theatre
July 19 – August 3
This groundbreaking three-week festival will present six teams of artists exploring and reenvisioning world classics. These weeklong workshops will culminate in interactive public events, inviting audiences to witness the evolution of classic narratives and engage in conversations about their relevance today. Special attention will be given to teaching the insights and skills of dramaturgy.
Scroll down to learn more about the six festival performances and the artist behind each piece.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

AeJay Antonis Marquis (they/them)
Festival Curator
AeJay is a dynamic and visionary performance artist, scholar, educator, and activist with a passion for transforming the theatrical landscape. Their work focuses on decolonizing the theatrical canon, advancing the Black avant-garde, and pioneering queer political performance practices. As a PhD student in Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, AeJay’s scholarship delves into performances of prayer and praise as timeless liberatory acts, as well as exploring practices of Black and Queer cultural safety through performance in America.

Robert Parsons (Tri Sestry) has been an actor, teacher and director in the Bay Area and beyond for over 25 years. Writing credits include the adaptations Vanya Without Bullets (based on Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov), and Tri Sestry, (in development and based on Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov) Bay Area acting credits include work at Marin Shakespeare Company, Marin Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, Word for Word, Cutting Ball, San Jose Stage Company and Center Rep. Regional credits include work at Ford’s Theatre, Ahmanson Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company and The Sydney Festival. Film Credits include: Freaky Tales, Sunday Errand, Fairyland, Freeland , Prufrock (Pixar) and Black August. https://www.robertparsonsactor.com/

Cathleen Riddley, she/her (Where’s Mama?) is a Black woman, a deeply honest and loyal friend, and a member of the neurospicy clan. She prides herself in being a great colleague and collaborator, a dedicated mom, a captivating storyteller, a giver of the best hugs when someone wants one, and possessor of an open and welcoming heart for difference, diversity, creativity, and play. She’s an activist, a “good trouble” maker, a certified ASL interpreter, and earned an MA in Sociology from UPenn. As an actor she is a multiple award-winner in the San Francisco Bay Area (and beyond) who has performed at ACT, Aurora, SF Playhouse, and Cal Shakes, to name just a few. She is an Artistic Associate at Marin Shakes, and a company member with Shotgun Players and PlayGround. Cathleen is expanding her horizons by adding emerging director, dramaturg, playwright, and teaching artist to her skill set. None of us are free until all of us are free.

Torange Yeghiazarian (Leili and Majnun) is an award-winning playwright and director passionate about building community through theater. Her artistic practice reflects her values of radical hospitality and inclusiveness aimed at disrupting stereotypes of the Middle East both within the community and outside of it. A transplant from the 1979 Iranian revolution, Torange believes that life is inherently political and that the personal and the global are inseparable. Her plays frequently explore the cultural divide with tenderness and humor from an immigrant woman’s perspective. As a director, Torange’s focus has been on new plays, experimenting with Middle Eastern performance traditions, and staging poetry. Dubbed the “Margo Jones–founding-mother-figure of Middle Eastern–American theatre”, Torange founded Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, and served as its Executive Artistic Director for twenty-five years. Plays published in New Iranian Plays, Performing Iran, Salaam.Peace Anthology of Middle Eastern American Drama.

Dr. Austin Dean Ashford (Rap Monologues) is a multidisciplinary theatre maker, playwright, and performer whose work blends classical forms with hip hop, Afrofuturism, and poetic storytelling. A two-time MFA graduate and recent Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts, Austin’s award-winning solo and ensemble work has toured nationally and internationally, earning recognition from the Kennedy Center, Amazon Prime, and the U.S. State Department as a Hip Hop Cultural Ambassador. His plays challenge tradition while celebrating legacy—centering Black voices, memory, and imagination. Currently serving as Director of Interdisciplinary Arts at Flanner House and is an Artist in Residence at Z Space in San Francisco. Austin’s passion for Shakespeare is reframed through rhythm, resistance, and radical joy—making verse resonate with new generations. With a foundation in performance, debate, and education, he empowers communities through story and song, always in pursuit of what art can free.

Leigh M. Marshall (The Rosaline Play) is a multidisciplinary performer, writer, and editor. Currently, she is a resident playwright at the Playwrights Foundation, a member of Crowded Fire Theatre’s Resilience & Development Lab, and the Theater & Film Editor online for BOMB Magazine. Her work has been selected for Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Ground Floor Residency, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, Iowa New Play Festival, Examined Life Conference, Live Design International, and the Prague Quadrennial. BA: Stanford University. MFA: Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

Julius Rea, he/they (othello.exe) is a Bay Area-based playwright, journalist, producer, grant writer and conflict resolution facilitator. With a degree in Philosophy from SFSU, Rea co-founded journalism theatre company The Forum Collective in 2018 and cooperatively-owned arts magazine Substrate Arts in 2022. He is also a previous Theatre Bay Area Arts Leadership Residency artist, which allowed him to work with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Dedicated to holistic healing and equity, they create new projects on underrepresented narratives based on deeply-rooted research, interviews, and dramaturgy. Rea received a 2023-24 Creative Corps Initiative grantee to further develop The Day the Sky Turned Orange.