The Heart sellers Creative Team

DESDEMONA CHIANG † (Director)

Desdemona (she/her) is a Taiwan-born American director/writer working for the stage and screen, creating and developing stories about unique intergenerational immigrant experiences. Theatre credits include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, OR), The 5th Avenue Theatre (Seattle, WA), Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis), Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Alley Theatre (Houston), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre (Washington DC), Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, CT), Seattle Children’s Theatre, and ACT Theatre (Seattle), among others. Her stage adaptation of Amy Tan’s novel THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER received its world premiere in the summer of 2022. Film/TV: "Fire Country" (CBS/Paramount+), "Zhizha!" (short), "See You Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow" (short), "Made in USA" (short). Education: MFA, University of Washington. Affiliations/Awards: Princess Grace Award, Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, Drama League Fellow, Sundance Episodic Program, Film Independent, Tribeca Untold Stories, American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women+, Women in Film. www.desdemonachiang.com. IG: @deschiang.

Sasha Jin Schwartz (Scenic Designer)

Sasha is a theater scenic designer and artist driven by empathetic and collaborative processes. Selected designs: The Heart Sellers (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park & Virginia Theatre Festival), Liberation (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Eureka Day (City Theatre Company), Dragon Lady (Pittsburgh Public Theatre), A Wrinkle In Time (Arden Theatre Company), The Children (Northern Stage), Run Ben Run (Applied Mechanics), The Thanksgiving Play (Dorset Theatre Festival), DANCEFLOOR (The Voxel), Off Peak (59e59). Sasha is a 1/52 Project Grant Recipient, Prague Quadrennial Featured Emerging Designer, and Theatre Communications Group Rising Leader of Color. Her understanding of space and how and where we feel 'at-home' is shaped heavily by her mixed immigrant family. BFA Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. www.sashaschwartzscenic.com

Regan Densmore (Assistant scenic designer)

Regan is a scenic designer and artist based in NYC. Scenic Design credits include: Cendrillon (CCM), King James (The Warehouse Theatre), Hair (CCM), The Winter’s Tale (CCM). She was the associate scenic designer on the Heart Sellers at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park, and very excited to be returning to this show. She received her MFA in Stage Design from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Instagram: @regandensmore

Christine Tschirgi § (Costume Designer)

Christine is a Costume Designer based in Seattle, Wa.  Her work has been seen nationally at Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre; OSF, Baltimore Centerstage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Asolo Rep, Virginia Theater Festival and Internationally with the Kinoshita Circus, Japan. She holds an MFA from the University of Washington and is a member of USA 829.

Porsche MCGOVERN §  (Sound Designer)

Regional: Folger Theatre: Julius X. Seattle Rep: Blues for an Alabama Sky. Round House Theatre: Sojourners. Baltimore Center Stage & Long Wharf Theatre: Fires in the Mirror (Connecticut Critics Circle Nomination). Virginia Theatre Festival: The Heart Sellers. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: The West End. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Playmakers Repertory Company: We Are Proud to Present... , The Skeleton Crew. Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: The Thanksgiving Play. New York: The Playwrights Realm: Mothers. Author, Howlround series, “Who Designs & Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun”. MFA, CalArts. BA, St. Lawrence University.(Assistant Scenic Designer)

SHARATH PATEL § (Sound Designer )

Sharath (He/Him) works nationally and internationally focusing on experimental, commercial, academic, political and socially conscious theatre. Recent designs: American Rep, The Alley Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, The Acting Company National Tour, Union Arts Center, Cincinnati Playhouse, TheatreSquared, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley, Indiana Rep, Asolo Rep, Seattle Rep, Artists Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Yale Rep, Rep Theatre of St. Louis, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Theatre Festival, Alabama Shakes, California Shakes, Cleveland Playhouse, Theatrical Outfit, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Tantrum Theater, Arena Stage, Hypokrit Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Geffen Playhouse, East West Players, CompanyONE. EDUCATION: MFA Yale School of Drama, BFA Ohio University. AFFILIATIONS: USA829 IATSE, Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, Arts Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. WEBSITE: sharathpatel.com

Kim Fuller * ( Stage Manager)

Abbigail LaRocque * (Assistant Stage Manager)

is very excited to be joining Virginia Stage Company's production of The Heart Sellers.  Previously, she has worked on VSC’s productions of Come From Away, Emma, Wait Until Dark, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Little Shop of Horrors, A Merry Little Christmas Carol  and Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy Really as an assistant stage manager. Abbigail is from Virginia Beach and has her B.F.A in Theatre Design & Production from Coastal Carolina University. Before joining the VSC team she worked at King’s Dominion Halloween Haunt and Winterfest as a stage manager. During the summer she can be found working in Staunton, Va for the Heifetz International Institute of Music as their festival stage manager. She would like to thank her family for their support in her passion for theatre.

Tom Quaintance (Perry Producing Artistic Director)

 is in his eleventh season with Virginia Stage Company, where he has directed Come From Away, Emma, Little Shop of Horrors, The Three Musketeers, Henry V, Every Brilliant Thing, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, The Santaland Diaries, and Matilda The Musical. Regionally Tom directed Twelfth Night at the Guthrie Theater, and as an Associate Artist at PlayMakers Repertory Company he directed An Enemy of the People, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and The Little Prince. As Artistic Director of Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT), Tom produced over 35 plays and directed many others, including the World Premiere of Downrange: Voices from the Homefront, a play based on interviews with military spouses from Fort Bragg. As the founder of FreightTrain Shakespeare in Los Angeles, he earned a Drama-Logue Award for his direction of Pericles. Other Los Angeles credits range from King Lear to The Devil With Boobs. A member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Tom is a graduate of Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) with a B.A. in Theatre and Economics, and the University of California, San Diego MFA directing program, where he was the assistant director on the original production of The Who’sTommy. Tom and his wife Wallis are the proud parents of Mireille Julia and Annika Christine.

Jeff Ryder (Managing Director)

has been the Managing Director of Virginia Stage Company since March 2022. Jeff serves on the board of Hampton Roads Pride, and was proud to be its president from 2023 to 2025. He is also the fundraising director for the Rotary Club of Norfolk. He was a member of the Civic Leadership Institute class of 2025. Jeff holds a Master of Public Administration Degree from the Levin College at Cleveland State University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University. At Levin, Jeff was inducted into Nu Lambda Mu, the international honor society for the study of nonprofit management and philanthropy. Jeff also holds a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion for HR Professionals from Cornell University. Prior to coming to VSC, Jeff served in several roles at Cleveland Play House from 2013 to 2022. In Cleveland, Jeff was honored to be a part of the Cleveland Leadership Center’s Advanced Leadership Institute and the Cleveland Foundation’s Foundations for Philanthropy Program. He has previously served on the boards of the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank, Theatre Forward, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Cleveland, and the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club. Jeff has also been a stage manager at several theatres including Talespinner Children’s Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Berkshire Theatre Festival.

† Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Inc., an independent labor union.
§  Member of United Scenic Artists, local USA-829 of the IATSE
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States