Dot’s Home Live! Company Bios

Coming soon!

Sherrine Azab (she/her) - Co-Director/Founder

Sherrine Azab is the Co-Director of Detroit-based theater ensemble A Host of People. She is a director, producer, and educator that has worked nationally and internationally in cities such as Detroit, Seattle, New York, Berlin, and more. Sherrine holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and a postgraduate certificate from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University. She was a member of the 2008 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab,  a 2017-18 UMS Artist in Residence, and a 2018 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow. In addition to numerous directing credits with A Host of People and other theaters, she has also worked with the Arab American National Museum, The Foundry Theatre (NYC), the Network of Ensemble Theaters, Wayne State University, Ping Chong + Co (NYC), as well as Target Margin Theater (NYC)  of which she is a proud Associate Artist. Woven into her artistic/theater life is ongoing training in subjects intersecting and supporting art for social change, such as Emergent Strategy Immersion Training and Restorative Practice.

Toni Cunningham (she/her) - Co-Director

Toni is an independent filmmaker, a 2018 Kresge Arts in Detroit fellow, and the founder of Splash of Tonic Media LLC. Her first film Good Grief premiered in the Detroit Voices competition of Cinetopia Film Festival in 2019. Since then Toni has written, produced and directed films in multiple formats and is currently developing a pilot and feature film. She recently produced the short film T-Minus which held its premiere at the Oscar Qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival. She is also a Redford Center Environmental Documentary Grantee for her work on the feature length documentary Sacrifice Zones: the 48217 as well as a Black Public Media grantee for her work as writer/co-director/producer of the short narrative film Well. Follow her on twitter @turtle7313 or visit her website www.splashoftoni.com.

MJ Slide  (they/them)- Production Manager 

MJ Slide is a Black queer nonbinary storyteller and cultural worker born and raised in South Carolina who now calls the eastside of Detroit, home. Their creative background is primarily Film Production where they have worked as an Assistant Director for the past 15 years alongside writing, directing, producing, and occasionally acting in their own films. Winner of the 2020 New Orleans Film Society South Pitch Fellowship they’re currently in Post Production for their Black Queer Scifi Feature film E IS FOR which is slated to premiere in 2024. When not on set you may spot MJ meandering the eastside on their ebike with their film camera, and foraging bag in tow. They’re thrilled to be a part of AHOP’s production team for Dot’s Home Live and are grateful for the opportunity to work with so many brilliant and caring humans speaking truth to power through innovative and engaging storytelling mediums. You can find MJ at @MJ_Slide via Instagram or probably boppin about in their housing collective’s backyard garden.

Madison Jones- Technical Director

Madison (she/her)  is a scenic designer and artist who has a passion for community-based theatre. Although involved in the scenic arts, she mostly enjoys experiencing what makes theatre the best career: people. She is currently pursuing her MFA in scenic design at Wayne State University and relies on her project-based experience in both theatre and film.

Vanessa Mukes - Stage & Ensemble Manager (she/her) 

Born from parents who excelled in Wayne State University’s Theater program, Vanessa was enthralled with the finesse of stage production from a young age. She started working in stage production at her local church theater, gaining hands-on experience during a production of A Christmas Carol designing and building sets. She also headed the design and building of unique sets for sermon series at her church’s behest. Recently, she has started the exciting journey of becoming the new Stage and Ensemble Manager at A Host of People, touring with them for their production of Cleopatra Boy. Vanessa really enjoys being part of a team and a creative process that entertains people and is passionate about supporting work onstage from behind the scenes.

Chantel Gaidica (she/her) - Co-Set/Lighting Designer

Chantel is proud to be a part of AHOP's Core Ensemble, she serves as both the company's producer and lighting designer. She is a graduate of New York University, Tisch School of the Arts and feels incredibly lucky to be working in with incredible artists in Detroit, New York, and elsewhere whenever possible. Selected lighting credits include Cleopatra Boy (AHOP), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Detroit Public Theater), The Moors (Aquinas College), Fred (On The Rocks/Dixon Place), Neither There, Nor Here (AHOP), and Re-Release Party: The Golden Record (AHOP). She is honored to work alongside the artists of AHOP. Her work is dedicated to her amazing partner Charlie, and their incredibly funny and boisterous kiddos Lucelenia & Claudia.www.chantelgaidica.com

Dorothy Melander-Dayton (she/her) -  Co-Set/Costume Designer  

Dorothy Melander-Dayton is a theater maker and artist. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Visual Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 and her Master’s in Performance Design and Practice from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London in 2014. Dorothy has been working as a designer and core ensemble member with A Host of People since 2015. In addition to working with AHOP, Dorothy is a freelance film and theater designer and artist, maintaining a practice that encompasses live and mediated performance, video, and installation. She has worked internationally in Greece, the UK, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, and Mexico.

Website: surrenderdorothy.org Instagram: dorothy505

Jake Hooker (he/they) - Projection Designer

Jake Hooker is a writer, director, projection designer, scholar, and educator. With A Host of People, his work ranges from generating text, including many poems, designing and creating video, projections and technology, dramaturgy, co-directing, and even occasionally performing. With the company, his work has been seen at ArtlabJ, Detroit Contemporary, Play House, the Jam Handy, Light Box, Sidewalk Detroit, N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, and Andy, as well as elsewhere in the US and abroad. He is a 2018 Kresge Artist Fellow and an Associate Artist with Target Margin Theatre in NYC. Prior to co-founding A Host of People, his work had been seen in Seattle, New York, Berlin, and the UK at venues such as HERE, Dixon Place, The Chocolate Factory, La Mama, The Bushwick Starr, The Ohio Theater, Ida Nowhere and many others. He was the Company Manager and Assistant Director for Big Dance Theatre (NYC), as the recipient of a 2005-2007 TCG New Generations Grant. He holds a BFA in Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, an MA in Performance Studies from the University of Wales, and a PhD from the City University of New York Graduate Center. He teaches in the Theatre & Drama department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Phill Hall- Associate Lighting Designer

Phill is thrilled to join the AHOP team to help bring beautiful art to life! A graduate student of Wayne State University, he is currently finishing his MFA in Lighting Design. As a freelance Detroit designer, he has worked at Meadow Brook Theatre on shows such as: Fancy, The Spitfire Grill, and Blithe Spirit. He also has designed at Riverbank Theatre: The Sound of Music, and The Great American Trailer Park Musical, as well as for the dance company ‘etude Productions’ on their Pretty. Odd. Experience concert. A lifelong computer and videogame nerd at heart, he spends a lot of time putting in the work on any game under the sun, and also caring for his beautiful and incredibly sweet husky puppy (@kasahusky).

Tamia Jackson (she/ her)- Youth Talent Supervisor

Tamia Jackson is an animation, illustrator, filmmaker, and preschool teacher. She recently graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2022 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Film/Animation/Vidéo with a minor in Literary Arts and Studies. She’s been working as an assistant teacher with kids of all ages and college students for the past 5 years. She has worked on student film productions with a variety of actors.

Chris Jakob (they/them) - 4D

Chris Jakob is a queer, nonbinary, interdisciplinary performance artist born, raised and based in Detroit, MI. Holding a BA in Theatre from University of Detroit Mercy, they are an actor, singer, dancer, poet, playwright and teaching artist focused on the creation of fresh, thought-provoking, experimental work. They have performed at Detroit Repertory Theatre, Ringwald Theatre, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Planet Ant, Shakespeare in Detroit, and Matrix Theatre. Chris is a 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow and recent work includes the world premiere of Cleopatra Boy with AHOP in Detroit; previews of LOGOS, their new solo-performance-choreopoem, at Sidewalk Festival 2019; and the tour of their play, I, Too, Sing America, produced by the Detroit Opera Theatre. IG: @chris.o.jakob //www.chrisjakob.com

Jala Jackson - Dot

Jala Jackson is a Detroit native and  has been here her whole life. After graduating with her degree in theater from Michigan State University, she went on to work as the theater director for the Detroit Youth Choir Performing Arts Company. She has always had a passion for the arts and the stage and she’s had her hands full with a few projects since. Jala has been seen in “The Gun Show” a one-woman show that toured across Michigan in early 2020 that explored the topic of gun violence in a non-partisan way. Early this year, she wrote and directed her first stage play, “E-Race-Sure” a youth play that explored the topics of Black history in the past, present, and future and how our youth are todays future. Jala also just recently co-directed the Detroit Youth Choir’s production of “Once On This Island” and attended the Tribeca Film Festival for Detroit Youth Choir’s upcoming Disney+ docu-series “CHOIR”. This is Jala’s second production with A Host of People, as she also played Dot in the staged reading back in March. 

Website: jalajackson.com

 Instagram: @jelly_jala

Aja Dier (she/her) - Georgia

Aja Dier (aka Salakastar) is a Detroit born and based actor, singer-songwriter, poet, and teaching artist working in theatre, television, film, and music. She earned her BFA and completed her classical acting training at the State University of New York at Purchase College. She is an artist-in-residence at Poetic Societies, a member of the touring company of I, Too, Sing America at the Michigan Opera Theatre and a founding member of iii Sisters, a Detroit-based feminist writing ensemble. Previous AHOP credits include Re-Release Party (The Golden Record), Neither There, Nor Here, and Cleopatra Boy. She is a 2018 Gilda Award Winner and a 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow in Live Arts awarded by the Kresge foundation. Outside of her professional artistic practice she loves fashion, spending time with her cat, listening to records, being an auntie, and making delicious vegan meals. Follow her on Instagram @shestoopstoconquer.

Dax Anderson (he/him) - Mr. Murphy

Dax Anderson is a veteran of 45 Detroit-area theatrical productions.  He earned a BFA in Theatre from The University of Detroit Mercy in 2001.  From 1998 to 2015, he performed at myriad local venues, including Planet Ant, The Ringwald, Detroit Repertory Theatre,  Meadow Brook, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Shakespeare In Detroit, Shakespeare in the Park Royal Oak, as well as with certain companies that are sadly now defunct, but fondly remembered, chief among these The Abreact, but also Magenta Giraffe, Breathe Art, and The Zeitgeist.  From 2021 until recently, he cultivated a YouTube channel called Anderson D.D.’s Bargain Jamboree, wherein he presented idiosyncratic, visually and conceptually expansive vocal covers of classic songs.  For the time being, however, the channel is defunct.  Since 2009, he has been a fixture at Empire Packing Co., a food distribution facility (incidentally just down the street from Andy Arts), where for quite a few years he has worked in a managerial capacity.  Hey wait a minute, that has absolutely nothing to do with the realm of the performing arts!  Yeah, exactly.  In the final analysis, Dax ain’t nothin’ but a Morlock who once believed he could be an actor.

Tish Delano - Alma

Tish DeLano is an actor of both stage and film, an edu-tainer, and a videographer. She has been performing for over 25 years and has done everything from improv to shadowcasting to burlesque. Her recent acting credits include films such as Feaster Sunday (Rock Bottom Video) and Sugar Plum (Troma) and stage productions such as Armchair Dating (Planet Ant) and Taking Out The F-Ing Trash (Planet Ant). She can be seen regularly performing in schools, at birthday parties, and at family-friendly festivals throughout the Metro Detroit area as Tyrannosaurus Tish for Mad Science of Detroit. www.tishdelano.com