Alex Paquin is a cook by day and a comedian by night. In a quest to find meaning and have hobbies, she found something raw and entertaining within herself. Through storytelling and improv, Paquin will present life from her own lens and show you that there isn’t much separating the lives between you and the stranger next to you. 

She will be presenting, “Falling in Love During a Pandemic, and Waking Up in Reality”, a story of one woman’s journey through love during a Global Pandemic. In a time where millions of people feel lost, scared and alone, she finds herself at the beginning of the one thing she has wanted her entire life – a romantic relationship. As a twenty something living through a global pandemic, just trying to retain some kind of normalcy. “Falling in Love During a Pandemic, and Waking Up in Reality” is an epic tale of Love, Loss, and Betrayal. Less Rom-Com and more mask wearing first dates.

Jay Sefton is an actor and licensed mental health counselor, originally from Philadelphia, and based in Easthampton, MA. Selected theatre credits include What the Constitution Means to Me (WAM Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group & Capital Rep in Albany), Honor Killing, Paradise (WAM Theatre, Fresh Takes Reading Series), Million Dollar Quartet, Outside Mullingar (The Majestic Theater), Two Rooms (Silverthorne Theatre Company), The Most Mediocre Story Never Told (Writer/Performer), A Life in the Theatre, Dark Rapture (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre). Jay is the recipient of the LA WEEKLY Award for Best Solo Performance for The Most Mediocre Story Never Told. 

Coming this fall to citySpace is Unreconciled is the true story of an adolescent actor cast as Jesus in a play directed by a pedophile priest. It’s a solo play written by Mark Basquill & Jay Sefton, directed by James Barry, and performed by Jay Sefton,  Unreconciled chronicles a survivor’s journey as he confronts his past and discovers the courage to use his voice and redefine what reconciliation means.

Jim Messbauer, trombone, baritone, euphonium, tuba, is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music with a degree in Music Performance, Trombone. Jim has toured extensively and is the co-founder of several Latin and brass groups, including Grupo Mambique, music and rhythms of the Caribbean, South America and the Lower Antilles done in a vibrant acoustic Chamber Mambo format of horns and drums.

Celebrating Mondongo’s 40th anniversary of playing and composing Salsa, featuring Grupo Mambique and guests, they will be featuring an event called 40 years of Mambo at CitySpace. 

Angelique Baker is a Latin dance instructor who creates events called Safe Spaces that provide fun consensual dance spaces welcoming to all. Angelique is interested in bridging the gap and making dance more physically and financially accessible. As part of her Safe Spaces events, she brings skilled dance instructors from further afield to Western Massachusetts who share new styles and expertise. Angelique’s dedication to vulnerable populations extends to the public sector where she serves as Chair of the Commission on Disability in Easthampton. 

Kyle Langlois is a professional musician, songwriter, and producer. A two-time graduate of Berklee College of Music, Langlois loves pushing the limits and breaking the boundaries of the “solo musician,” constantly molding his artistry and excited to share his music with his audiences.​ His original music, somewhere living in the folk / Americana / pop genres, discusses important topics to Kyle, such as mental health, relationships, and living life to the fullest.

Kyle will perform original songs and more in CitySpace’s Blue Room.

Based in Holyoke, Latin Wildfire is a salsa dance company founded by Zamirah Santos and Michael Rodriguez, who grew up in the area dancing salsa and were trained in New York City. With over 15 years of experience performing and teaching salsa dance, Zamirah and Michael are passionate about sharing their love for salsa with others.

Through their performances and workshops, Latin Wildfire provides a fun and engaging introduction to the basics of salsa dance, welcoming dancers of all skill levels and backgrounds. The company’s youth dance program allows young dancers to learn and grow in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Zamirah and Michael’s expertise in creating engaging and innovative salsa dance performances and their dedication to the local dance community sets Latin Wildfire apart.

Look out for their  Beginner Salsa Bootcamp and Salsa Choreography Challenge classes culminating in a final spectacular event. 

MAD House Plays is Wren Gilbert and Gabby Farrah

Wren Gilbert is an actor/creative located in Northampton, MA. In addition to receiving her BA in Theatre from Smith College, she has over a decade of experience directing, choreographing, teaching theatre, visual art, and improvisation. She attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Beginnings Workshop, and completed her undergraduate career with departmental awards. Currently, you can find her working with kids, collaborating with MAD House Plays.

Gabby Farrah is a New York-based director from Boston, Massachusetts. The work she makes employs precise physicality and artful design to tell stories that explore profound emotional truths and tackle difficult conversations. 

She studied Theatre and English at Smith College where she directed a number of shows including Far Away by Caryl Churchill and Church by Young Jean Lee, as well as the first college production of Gracie Gardner’s Athena. At Smith, she received the Samuel A. Eliot Jr./Julia Heflin Award for distinguished directing in the theatre. She has assistant-directed for Daniel Aukin, Will Davis, Mark Wing-Davey, Knud Adams, Joshua William Gelb, and Portia Krieger, among others. She is passionate about new play development. She spent a summer as the Producing Associate at Page 73 Productions in Brooklyn, and worked as an assistant dramaturg on A Departure by Daria Miyeko-Marinelli at the Kennedy Center. 

They will be incubating a work-in-progress — a hybrid performance piece blurring the lines between stand-up, confession, and play.

 Red Jasper is a performer, singer, composer, dancer, and social activist. budding musician in the Western Mass area. They bring their music and message to the local community and beyond. They specialize in jazz-inspired indie-alternative music centering themes of healing from inter- generational and religious trauma, heartbreak, love, and toxic relationships as well as the exploration of queerness while situated as a trans non-binary first- generation Afro-Indigenous Dominican. 

Red Jasper will produce a mixed-media multidisciplinary show with queer and trans black, brown and indigenous artists with a variety of music, art, drag, burlesque, and dance.

Sophie Lippert is a pianist, teacher, and creative entrepreneur. As a concert pianist, she has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, and Olympia Symphony, and numerous other musicians and ensembles. Over the past decade, she founded two event-based businesses in Portland, OR (Vibrant Studios and Connections Concert Series), ran an online membership program (The Connection Sessions), and released two albums: Time Travel and Seaside, which feature music by multicultural female composers. In 2022, she spent a year serving as All Classical Portland’s International Arts Correspondent while living in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Sophie is creating a connective afternoon of music featuring a range of multi-genre music—from traditional classical tunes, to music written by underrepresented female composers, to modern folk and singalong songs.

Tony(a) Lemos works at the intersection of art and herbalism. She has worked as a community herbalist/educator for over 25 years helping people connect with plants as allies for healing. She is inspired by all aspects of the natural world and the elements and works actively with the alchemical processes of Green World, be it eco-printing, alternative photography methods or foraging and medicine making. Her artwork and healing work is process based centering around relationship, well-being, creativity, connection and co-existence. She believes art and creativity to be an integral part of the healing process. She has led Blazing Star Herbal School in Conway MA for the past 23 years.  

Tony will be presenting Art that Breathes: A Festival of the Botanical Arts that includes a series of events and workshops at CitySpace.