Theme for the 2025 season:
Performing Stories that Celebrate Joy, Hope & Healing
Each project and production for the 2025 season reflects how communities and individuals celebrate joy, hope, and healing. 

Dontá McGilvery, PhD
​Co-Artistic Director

Dr. Dontá made history as the first Black male to earn a Ph.D. in Theatre (for Youth and Community) from Arizona State University. A justice visionary and architect of equitable change, he is committed to amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities. Through the power of performance and theatre, he actively advocates for equity and justice within K-12 and higher education, the church, and broader communities.
A dynamic scholar-artist, Dr. Dontá’s research explores:

• Exploring how "equity" is performed in justice-based coalitions
• Black theatre and theological approaches to justice
• Theatre as a tool for activism
• The performativity of the American Civil Rights Movement

With over two decades of experience as a playwright and theatre educator, and 15 years as an ordained minister, Dr. Dontá has designed and taught innovative theatre courses across diverse settings—including communities, seminaries, universities, K-12 schools, and churches. As the co-founder and co-artistic director of Sleeveless Acts, he continues to create transformative artistic experiences that inspire social change.
Education:

• Ph.D. in Theatre (for Youth & Community), Arizona State University
• Ministry Training in Urban Ministry, Aspen Christian College & Seminary
• M.A. in Liberal Studies (Humanities & Social Justice), Southern Methodist University
• B.A. in Sociology, University of North Texas

Claire K. Redfield
​Co-Artistic Director

Claire K. Redfield is a director, educator, and community-engaged artist who believes in groups’ abilities to make lasting change in their communities. Originally hailing from Chicago, Claire worked as a teaching artist and freelance director for six years at several companies including the Tony Award winning Lookingglass Theatre, Adventure Stage Chicago, and Northlight Theatre. She is the Educational Theatre Manager at Expect Respect/SAFE Alliance in Austin, Texas. Claire earned her MFA in Theatre for Youth and Community from Arizona State University and is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Sleeveless Acts.
​More info at clairekredfield.com. ​

Benedicta Akley-Quarshie, PhD
Research Scholar In-Residence 

Dr. Benedicta Akley-Quarshie works as the Coordinator Senior for Equitable Student Engagement and Success at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Dr. Akley-Quarshie provides co-curricular empowerment and support to underrepresented and minoritized students in the Herberger Institute for success and retention. She is also a drama therapist, theatre educator, and applied theatre researcher who works and conducts arts-based and mixed-method research with youth experiencing incarceration and minoritized higher education student populations. Her research interests are youth agency and adultism in applied theatre spaces for justice-involved youth, architectural imperialism in post-colonial Ghanaian theatre, and Drama therapy practices for youth experiencing incarceration.
Education
​    •    Ph.D. Theatre (Youth and Community) - Arizona State University
    •    MA. Theatre (Drama Therapy) - Kansas State University
    •    MPhil. Arts and Culture - University of Education Winneba, Ghana
    •    BA. Theatre Arts - University of Education Winneba, Ghana

Alicia D. Johnson
Playwright, Actor, and Theatre Educator
​A native of St. Louis, MO., Alicia D. Johnson serves as a playwright, actor, and theatre educator for Sleeveless Acts. Some of her production credits include African American Storytellers a production and Celebration - Eastlake Park. Alicia’s talent and theatrical ambitions has afforded her prestigious opportunities such as performing the prologue at the Arizona Regional Theater for August Wilson’s play Two Trains Running and she co-taught a community-based theatre workshop class for students at Princeton Theological Seminary entitled, Defiant Joy: Storytelling and Dramatizations of Joy Embodied in Blackness.
In addition to her work with Sleeveless Acts, as a member of First Institutional Baptist Church, Alicia serves as the Assistant Director of the theatre program, THEE-Theater of Evangelism and Emancipation. As such, she has performed for several of the church’s productions, which include African American Storytellers, General Missions Skit, The Urban Christmas Story, and A Look Back at Black Arts which was performed at the Arizona Commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of Africans Brought to North America as Slaves. Alicia has a passion for helping people, health, and fitness.