Melissa Moschitto is a director, writer and producer, and the Founding Artistic Director of The Anthropologists.  Selected projects with The Anthropologists include Artemisia's Intent (Best Solo Drama, Frigid 2018), This Sinking Island (2018), THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS SAVE THE WORLD! (Ice Factory 2017 at the New Ohio), No Man’s Land (2016, TheaterLab), MAHALLA (Jewish Plays Project, 2013 Berkshire Fringe), Another Place (HERE), For the Love Of... (The Flamboyan/CSV) and Give Us Bread (Clemente Soto Velez; 2010 Berkshire Fringe). Other directing credits include: Lonesome Valley by Tim Lord (Folk Play Project 24 Hour Festival, Brooklyn Arts Exchange), Daddy’s Black & Jewish by performance artist Lian Amaris (Nuyorican Poets Cafe), The Developer (Brooklyn Playwrights Collective), Walkabout or Reverse Continental Drift Syndrome (The Flea), Lola Got Bite (Gene Frankel Underground). International: Directing Apprentice, Compania Atalaya (dir. Ricardo Iniesta), Medea, La ​E​xtranjera (2004). As a playwright, her full-length play When Santo Domingo Isn’t Enough won Best Play at the 2006 Downtown Urban Theater Festival and was a Top Ten Finalist in Repertorio Espanol’s 2006 Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition. She has also written for American Theatre Magazine and the Brooklyn Rail. Melissa holds a B.A. in Theater from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has studied with the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Pilobolus Dance Theater, SITI Company, Kathleen Baum (Biomechanics), and at the La Mama Umbria International Director’s Symposium with Tina Landau, Ping Chong, John Jesurun, Rina Yerushalmi, Arben Kumbaro, and Jean Guy Lecat.  She has led devising workshops for the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Ice Factory/New Ohio, Day One, Educational Alliance/New York Restoration Project and the Berkshire Fringe. Melissa is also a mom to two dramatic little children. 

Mariah Freda (Artistic Associate) is a theater-making performer with an MFA from The New School for Drama. She has worked with the company since 2012 developing Artemisia's Intent (winner, Best Solo Drama, Frigid 2018), The Anthropologists Save The World! (Ice Factory 2017), No Man’s Land, MAHALLA, and This Sinking Island. Mariah is grateful for this platform to inspire action through art. Other favorite NYC projects include Paiseu (Target Margin Lab) and Members Only (Downtown Urban Arts Festival.) Two of Mariah’s original scripts have appeared at FringeNYC and Hollywood Fringe. Above all things, she is a mom to Isaac and Shiloh who drive her to create work that counts.

Irina Kuraeva (Visual Designer) was born in Russia and attended Tatar State Pedagogical University where she received her Masters Degree in World Literature and English language. In 2009 she came to the U.S. as an international student. She has been working with us since 2017 and has designed the set for The Anthropologists Save The World! (Ice Factory 2017), as well as set and costumes for both iterations of This Sinking Island. Irina was also a core deviser of and visual designer for Artemisia's Intent. She most recently served as the scenic designer for Meile Production's Mozart, Saliere and The Bear. Irina is a visual artist and views art as an inseparable part of her nature.

Jean is a proud founding member of The Anthropologists and served as a Resident Artist from 2008 to 2017. She is a native New Yorker who is passionate about yoga, fighting climate change, and, most of all, acting. Highlights include: TV/Film: The Blacklist (NBC), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), Ghost Source Zero (Planet Nerd Rage Productions), Bruce!!! (Lighthearted Films), The Cabin (Zeitgerber Productions), Theater: The Anthropologists Save The World! (Ice Factory 2017, The Anthropologists) Family Planning (Nylon Fusion), No Man's Land (The Anthropologists), Half Moon Bay (Nylon Fusion), Give Us Bread (The Anthropologists), Another Place (The Anthropologists), The House of Fitzcaralldo (Buran Theater Company). 

Lynde received a B.A. in Drama from Hofstra University and an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from the American Repertory Theatre / Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. She served as the Resident Dramaturg for The Anthropologists from 2016-2018. She was also Literary Manager for Letter of Marque Theater Co., and Co-producer / Literary Manager of Lady Plays podcast. Other company affiliations include America-In-Play, The Humanist Project, and Starcatcher Productions.  She also works as Script / Continuity Supervisor in the film industry. Her work with The Anthropologists includes: Artemisia's Intent, No Man's Land, The Anthropologists Save The World! and This Sinking Island. She now serves as the Literary Manager for Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Brianna first met The Anthropologists in 2011 attending jam sessions and collaborated on several projects including development of The Lecture, The Blackout, and No Man’s Land. She appeared as Linden and a robot in The Anthropologists Save The World (Ice Factory 2017) and premiered This Sinking Island at University Settlement in October 2017.  She's worked internationally in both Australia and the UK performing circus and theatre. Favorite credits include: Seline in the premiere of Anna Jordan's new play A Serious Case of the Fuckits, multiple acts for 360circus at Streb, and has worked with The Queens Theatre, The Garage Theatre Group, MN Shakespeare and Company, and others. She received her MA from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Born in Orlando and raised in Rochester, New York and being the only yankee in his family, Brian has worked as a theater artist for over fifteen years. Brian started his career predominately performing in musicals, which will always be his first love. He has worked in new works of musical theater with Village Theater and Book-It Theatre Seattle, Fuse Theatre in Portland, Oregon, here in NYC on Benji Goldsmith's Scorched, and the Off-Broadway musical All Aboard (Algonquin Productions). In 2011, he fell in love with Shakespeare while working for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. There, he had the opportunity to direct, teach a summer musical theater camp, and be part of OSF’s Acting Company for four shows. He then moved to Portland, where he enjoyed a career of playing roles that helped grow as an artist, singer, and a human being. Most notable were The Brother/Sister Plays, Little Shop of Horrors where he played Orin, Winter’s Tale, Batboy in Batboy: The Musical, and his first award-winning devised piece called Snowstorm. After living in the Pacific Northwest, he moved to Idaho and then back to Portland, only to make the trek once again to NYC where lives now. While in Idaho, he had the opportunity to study Directing and work for the Idaho Repertory Theatre. Since returning to NYC, Brian has worked on a handful of shows and new play festivals. With The Anthropologists: Reggie in No Man’s Land (2016), Oscar in The Anthropologists Save The World!, part of New Ohio's Ice Factory Festival. He holds a B.A from SUNY Binghamton and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle. He also works as a acting coach, teaching artist, cabaret singer, and director.

​Sarah has been designing sets in the NY area for over 25 years, primarily in experimental venues such as The Ohio, The Kitchen, HERE and PS122.  She studied Fine Art in Falmouth UK, and Set Design at NYU.  In 1991 she was awarded an NEA TCG designers fellowship.  She also works as a teaching artist and resident designer at various schools around the city helping children create their own sets. She has also created original installation work, provided sets for events and painted murals.  Her main passion is collaborating with adventurous theater groups and individuals on work that aims to provide an exhilarating shared theatrical event, that engages and its audience fully. She collaborated with the Anthropologists from 2012 to 2017, helping to create Mahalla, No Man's Land and This Sinking Island.