OUR COMPANY
Making Our Space is an artist-led theatre company creating risky new work while building the creative home we always hoped to find: a place where rising and established artists work side by side, ambitious stories are championed, and community is treated as part of everything we do.
We're directors, actors, producers, playwrights, filmmakers, and arts workers building a creative home together in New York City.
ELLIE M. PLOURDE
CO-FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Ellie is a NY-based actor, theatre producer, and casting director. Her performance work spans regional and indie theatre, Off and Off-Off Broadway, commercials, voiceovers, and independent film — including a decade in Philadelphia, where she appeared in eight world premieres that shaped her love of risky and collaborative storytelling. She trained at The University of the Arts and the Terry Knickerbocker Studio Conservatory.
Ellie began producing and directing in 2015 with This Is Not About 9/11 by Sarah Van Auken, which sold out runs at the Philadelphia SoLow Festival and NYC's NuBox Theatre. She continues to co-produce all MOS productions.
As a casting director, Ellie works across film, theatre, and new work development. Her projects span indie film, staged readings, and live performance, and all genres. Her work prioritizes thoughtful casting, strong ensemble building, and bridging rising talent with established artists.
She founded the Making Our Space showcase to offer actors an alternative to the overpriced, for-profit showcase model — which grew into Making Our Space Theatre Co., a home for ensemble-driven, inclusive, accessible indie theatre.
SOPHIA CASTUERA
CO-FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Sophia Castuera is an actor, singer, & award-winning filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Her directorial debut august at twenty-two was lauded in The Guardian as a "commendable first outing." After training at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio from 2019-2021, Sophia made a name for herself as an actor both on stage and on screen. Recent credits include: Anna in Kin (MOS), Celine in break up shoot (Richard Ho, 2026 Art of Brookyln Film Festival), and Vanessa in Cabin Pressure (Adi Eshman, in development).
Sophia is passionate about community-building and runs the monthly variety lab NOVAS alongside Eli Mazursky. She also has projects in the works, such as a proof of concept for her next feature film. Growing up half Mexican, Sophia is passionate about creating space to tell stories by and about underrepresented communities, and hopes to dive deeper into her Mexican heritage in future projects.
ELI MAZURSKY
CO-FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Eli Mazursky is an actor/writer/producer based in Brooklyn. He attended Boston University’s School of Theatre with a concentration in acting. He also attended the 2-year acting program at the William Esper Studio upon arriving in NY. He’s worked as an Art Director and Production Supervisor for film (including Somewhere in Queens for dir. Ray Romano, Three Women for Showtime) and commercial projects (including Google, Dodge, and Zara). He has a passion for the collaborative nature of storytelling through theater and film. Eli has dreamed for a long time of being part of an organization that creates affordable opportunities for actors to learn and showcase their talent. He strongly believes Making Our Space has the power to create a home for a formidable community of storytellers in NYC.
SPENCER WHALE
DIRECTOR OF NEW WORKS
Spencer Whale is a Brooklyn-based director and playwright focused on developing subversive new works and unearthing fresh, queer readings of classics. Recent projects include Making Our Space Theatre Co.’s inaugural production of Bathsheba Doran’s Kin and the premiere of Justin Halle’s end-of-days comedy Vile Isle at the Tank.
Spencer made his Broadway debut last year as Assistant Director on Lempicka, directed by Rachel Chavkin. He received his MFA in Directing from Columbia University, where productions included his original play Cuck, Cuck, Bull; Justin Halle’s Vile Isle and Cowgirl; The Two Noble Kinsmen; and Vanya: An Active Analysis Workshop. He studied under Anne Bogart, whom he assisted on SITI Company’s farewell tour revival of The Medium.
His training in new play development includes stints as Directing Fellow at Manhattan Theatre Club and Directing and Producing Fellow at City Theatre, where he helmed the Young Playwrights Festival, led developmental workshops, and assistant directed productions including Nomad Motel (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), A Funny Thing Happened…, and The Guard. Other favorite productions include Sam Morrison’s Hello, Daddy! for Dixon Place’s HOT! Festival; LUNGS, Fun Home, Big Fish, and Quentin Crisp: The Last Word in Pittsburgh; and Titus Andronicus and subculture at Cornell. Spencer has also worked with the Pittsburgh Public, Quantum, Kinetic, and Hangar Theaters.
He is a patented inventor and inductee into the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors.
INSIDE MOS
three years of
building our artistic home
and community...
and counting.
Rehearsals.
Readings.
Late nights&
Opening nights.
JOSHUA PIPER
LITERARY MANAGER
Joshua Taylor Piper is a 24’ Wagner College graduate with a BA in Theatre Performance hailing from Katy, Texas. He is now attending Pace getting his MFA in Playwriting. His plays have been performed at the Wild Project, The Tank, Adult Film, The Atlantic Acting School, The Secret Theatre, Pace University, and Wagner College. Most recently, his play Lumina Viventia was seen at Under St. Marks for the Queerly Fringe Festival. Another play of his Fireflies Taught Us Pyromania was seen at The Tank, and is published by 1319 Press.
GIANNA COLLIER
DIRECTOR OF BRAND & AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Gianna Collier is an actor and producer based in New York, NY. She attended NYU, receiving her BA in Cinema Studies from the Tisch School of the Arts before completing the 2-year acting program at Terry Knickerbocker Studio. She has appeared in several commercial projects for major brands including Champion and Zarbees Naturals, and was featured in Seventeen and Teen Vogue for her LGBTQ+ advocacy work with GLAAD. Her most recent credit includes the indie feature film Junction, directed by Bryan Greenberg.
Gianna has always been passionate about indie storytelling, and her work off-screen includes event operations for film festivals such as Sundance and Tribeca. She co-organized The Museum of Modern Art’s 2018 DocFortnight film festival. Ever since she participated in the inaugural showcase, she knew that Making Our Space was a unique opportunity to create art and foster community for artists, by artists.
Aside from acting, Gianna’s talents run the gamut from film photography and writing to poetry and competitive rowing.
ATHENA NICKOLE
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Athena Nickole is an actor, filmmaker, artist, and author based in New York, NY. Originally from Boston, MA, she attended DePaul University in Chicago, where she received her BFA in acting. While in Chicago, Athena starred in the play EVERYBODY, a unique production where actors' roles are chosen at random nightly. Athena’s most recent onstage credits include the role of Alice in 21 SHILLINGS at Piper Theatre in NYC.
Offstage, Athena writes, directs, and stars in original short films exploring memory, queer identity, disability, and the evolving digital landscape, which she shares on her TikTok (@athenz) and Instagram (@athenanickole). Throughout her career in social media, Athena has collaborated with several major brands in multiple capacities, including social media management, film editing, content creation, modeling, and artistic direction for Haverhill, ReFoundNYC, EnRoute, and most recently Farmhands Productions.
Athena has been featured several times in RUFF AROUND reading from her upcoming poetry collection WORDS TO PUT ROCKS IN YOUR POCKETS TO. You can read Athena’s work in her Substack publication, FRUIT LEATHER.
Athena is passionate about work that centers fresh, underrepresented voices across identity and ability. She believes strongly that theatre must be a place accessible to and for all people, which is why Athena is incredibly excited to be joining the brilliant team at Making Our Space.
SHAY MCWEENEY
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Shay McWeeney is an actor from San Francisco, California, living in Astoria, New York. She graduated from Point Park University with a BFA in Acting and an Applied Music Minor where her favorite roles included Imogen in Much Ado About Nothing and Sally Applewhite/ Mary in It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Before undergrad, she also studied at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, California in the Summer Training Congress, San Francisco Semester Program, Young Conservatory, and Studio. You may have seen her in Seance in the Black Cat's Back Room in The Secret Theatre's Short Play Festival or in Witches Brew at Producer's Club.
Beyond acting, she enjoys taking classes at The Freeman Studio, singing and playing guitar, and collaborating with fellow artists. Shay believes that storytelling's power lies in its ability to immerse audiences in emotions, relationships, and contexts outside their daily experiences, fostering empathy and potentially driving change. She also loves chocolate, sleeping, and farm animal videos.