V-DAY 2007 BIOS

Lillian RibeiroLillian Ribeiro (_gaia member/ Director)Her friends call her “Lilly Lips.”
Lillian Lips Ribeiro is “a woman who believes in vaginas, who really sees vaginas, who helps other women see their own vaginas by seeing other women’s vaginas.”
-- Quote from Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, "The Vagina Workshop”.
Artistic Background: BS in Marketing and Theatre Arts from Rutgers University . She is _gaia's Director of Performance & Film, member of The Hudson County Theatre Alliance, and member of Cuchipinoy, a theatre company based out of New York City.
Artistic Love: Photography, composition notebook cover making, mosaics, refurbishing antique furniture, sewng and silk-screening. Loves to watch others paint and draw.
Activist Involvement: Performing arts and film as medium to social change, protecting the environment (no littering in her car! Often heard saying “Don’t litter, litter bug. Pick it up!”), beach cleanups, aids, lupus, and breast cancer walks, women’s marches and peace marches.
Artistic Passion: Lillian organizes _gaia’s Lips Living Room reading series, _gaia Reel Fest, LUNAFEST HOBOKEN and LUNAFEST JERSEY CITY, a national film festival for, by, and about women - benefiting the Breast Cancer Fund and Eve Ensler's Obie Award winning play, The Vagina Monologues as part of the V-Day Worldwide Campaign to help raise money and awareness to stop violence against women and girls.
She recently directed in the Hudson County One-Act Festival, the Strawberry One-Act Festival, the Midtown International Theatre Festival, and brought together locally recognized dance and theatre performers for the Jersey City Studio Artist Tour and Hoboken Studio Artist Tour.

 

Adil Mahmud Chohan (Production Assistant) began his creative life in the music industry in 1994 playing and creating music.  Over the years, he has taken on new challenges, after meeting an intriguing director, Lillian "Lips" Ribeiro, the theater world became his new creative interest in addition to music.  The Vagina Monologues is his first play.

 

Nancy Amirati Ghani (_gaia member/V-Day Union City Organizer) holds a BA in Communication from Douglass College and is a founding member of _gaia studio where she enjoys writing and exploring her photographer's eye.  Nancy has been involved with V-Day for the past two years as a dedicated Vagina Volunteer and was nominated to be the organizer for this year's V-Day Union City since the mere act of organizing can bring her happy to tears.  Nancy is happy to have dedicated much of her free time towards V-Day where she has been able to meet incredible women and men committed to help stop violence against women and girls.

 

Jenna Ingham (Stage Manager) is honored to be working with _gaia studio on V-Day for the third year in a row. Past credits include assistant directing A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, and internship for the Off-Broadway production of Fairy Tales of the Absurd. She lives in New Jersey and has three hamsters.

 

 

 

 

Kate Mitchell (Costume Designer) followed her career all over the country, and finally settled in New York and is working as the drapery shop manager for I Weiss, designing costumes as time and opportunities allow.  Prior costume design credits include Into the Woods and Anne Frank and Me for City Lights Youth Theatre, Side Show for the Weathervane Theatre in New Hampshire, Macbeth for the Human Race Theatre in Dayton Ohio, Luke's Father and the Sled for Butler University in Indianapolis, and Hedda Gabler at Franklin College in Indiana, among others.  Movie credits include When Boys Become Monsters and The Death of Noir.

 

Jennifer Visco (Production Assistant) This is Jennifer's fourth year working on The Vagina Monologues with _gaia.  For two years she performed the monologue "I Was There in the Room," and last year she was a stage manager.  For the second year in a row she put together and hosted a fundraiser and the NUYORiCAN Poets Cafe in Manhattan to support the show.  She thanks the cast of the extraordinary women for working so hard, and all of her friends and family for always supporting her ongoing effort to think outside the box.

 

Directions and Parking

The Park Performing Arts Center is located at 560 32nd Street (on the corner of 32nd St and Central Ave) in Union City, New Jersey. PPAC is just outside the Lincoln Tunnel from New York City.

BY CAR
From Points South: NJ Turnpike (Exit 16E-Lincoln Tunnel): Follow signs to Lincoln Tunnel (495), exit at Kennedy Boulevard. At light make second left onto Kennedy Boulevard. At second traffic light (McDonalds on left) make a right onto 32nd Street. Park Performing Center is 300 yards on the left (32nd Street and Central Avenue).

From Points North: From George Washington Bridge to NJ Turnpike South (Exit 17-Lincoln Tunnel); Follow directions above.

From Garden State Parkway: Routes 46 to Route 3 East; follow directions above.

From New York City Lincoln Tunnel follow signs to 495 and Turnpike, exit at Kennedy Boulevard. At traffic light (McDonalds on left) make a right onto 32nd Street. Park Performing Arts Center is 300 yards on the left (32nd Street and Central Avenue).

PARKING
There is metered parking in front of PPAC and Municipal Parking lots one block away between Kennedy Blvd and Bergeline Ave on 35th - 39th Streets.

Directions to Municipal parking from PPAC (if you are facing Central Avenue): Make a left onto Central Avenue and go to light (35th Street). Make a left at the light (Church will b in front of you) and proceed to next light (Kennedy Boulevard). Make a right onto Kennedy Boulevard and proceed for one block (36th Street). Make a right onto 36th Street to the middle of the block to the Municipal Parking lot.

Directions to Municipal parking from PPAC (if you are facing Kennedy Boulevard): At Kennedy Boulevard make a right and proceed two blocks to 36th Street. Make a right onto 36th Street to the middle of the block to the Municipal Parking lot.

From Bergenline Avenue: Turn right onto 35th Street to the Municipal parking lot.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

BY Mini-Bus

Commuter mini-busses run from 41st Street near 8th Ave (towards 7th Ave) in NYC.  They are white and usually say "Paterson" on the front.  They leave regularly throughout the day, usually every ten minutes or so.  Ask the driver to let you off at Bergenline Ave.  Walk one block in the direction you exit the bus to 32nd Street.  Turn left and walk one-and-a-quarter blocks.  The Park PAC is on your right. Fare is $2.00, cash only.

BY BUS:
Port Authority - South Wing: NJ Transit bus #127 (Gate 210), #123 or #125 (Gate 211) will stop in front of PPAC. Exit the bus at the New York Avenue stop and walk two blocks to 32nd Street. Continue along 32nd Street for three blocks to PPAC.

BY PATH:
Journal Square, Jersey City: NJ Transit bus #88. Take bus along Kennedy Boulevard to 32nd Street. Make a right and walk down 32nd Street to PPAC.

Hoboken Terminal, Hoboken: NJ Transit bus #85 or Academy bus #22. Take bus to Bergenline Avenue stop and walk down 32nd Street to PPAC.

BY AIR:
Arrive at Newark International Airport. From the airport take the Shuttle bus #302 to Penn Station, Newark. Transfer to NJ Transit bus #108 to Union City.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

New Jersey Transit (in NJ) 800-772-2222
Out of state call: 973-762-5100
Path Info: 800-234-7284
Journal Square Transportation Center: 201-659-8823