Dr. Amanda Kemp, Playwright/Artistic Director
founded Theatre for Transformation in fall of 2007 in the course of a year of spiritual exploration and major life changes. Since founding the company, she has authored several plays and conducted workshops for adult and children. Her plays include Show Me the Franklins!, Sister Friend, Hoodwinked, a play with music, and God’s Image Carved in Ebony which she co-wrote with Michelle Armster. All of Amanda’s work focuses on recovering Africans from the margins of the past and placing them front and center on stage. She has been awarded grants from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Pennsylvania Arts Council and Franklin & Marshall College. Twice, Amanda’s plays have been selected for the prestigious New Plays Reading Series at the National Black Theatre Festival. Most recently, Amanda has been honored to work with young people, conducting readers theatre workshops and directing fifth graders in a commissioned play I Didn’t Know My Own Strength, a play about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Amanda has taught literature and culture at Cornell University, Dickinson College, and Franklin & Marshall College, where she was the Chair of Africana Studies. She regularly teaches workshops that blend academics and creative writing and movement, including “From the Page to the Stage” a workshop using historical documents; the Ancestors Workshop; Yoga for Performance; and “Creating New Possibilities for Race in America.” She earned her PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and is currently a Research Associate at Franklin & Marshall College.

Dave Ebersole, Resident Director/Technical Director
has directed 2 world premiere’s for TFT ( Hoodwinked and Sister Friend ) as well as directed and stage managed Show Me The Franklins! Before working for TFT he was the Associate Artistic Director for HATG Theater Company directing credits included: Streamers and Four Dogs and a Bone. Other companies Dave has directed for include Allens Lane ( Psycho Beach Party ), Celebration Theater ( Boy Gets Girl, Lend Me A Tenor ), Players Club of Swarthmore (Angels in America Part I and II ) Barnstormers Theatre (A Raisin in the Sun) and The Stagecrafters (Fences).

He has also taught acting for both Media Theater Summer Camp and Night & Day classes for youth and currently coaches actors privately. He holds a BA in Theater from Temple University. www.daveebersole.com

Deborah Billups, Musical Director/Actor
is an entertainer in the truest sense of the word! Singing is her passion and she performs with her two touring jazz bands 6th Street Quaternion (new CD release “Summer Nights”) and 4AM (For All Music), as well as her own cabaret show throughout the east coast and Istanbul. As an actress, Deborah was seen most recently in Sister Friend (Obour Tanner) and off Broadway in Show Me The Franklins (Jemima, Phillis Wheatley) with Theatre For Transformation’s national tour, The Stuttering Preacher (Efay) at New Freedom Theatre (2009 Philly Fringe Festival) and Hoodwinked (Francine Valentine) at the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem. She also performed in Crowns (Wanda) at Chester Fine Arts Center, The Bluest Eye (Mama) and Purlie at Freedom Repertory Theatre, Finian’s Rainbow at Walnut Street Theatre, Central Avenue (Angel Brown) at Interact Theatre, The Three Willies (Grace) and Hospice (Jenny) at Painted Bride Arts Center and South Pacific (Bloody Mary) at Bucks County Dinner Theater.

Working with August Wilson, as the guest director of The Owl Killer (Fran) with Pittsburgh Black Theater Dance Ensemble, was one of the highlights of her career. Deborah is thankful to Bob Johnson for invaluable life skills and to God for blessing her with the opportunity to pursue her dreams.

Mary Comfort Ferrell, Actor
is an administrator at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Center for Study an Contemplation. She is completing graudate studies in spiritual direction. Prior to her tenure at Pendle Hill, Mary enjoyed a long and varied career in non-profit leadership and fundraising.

Throughout her career she relied on her early training in theatre and television. She has been performing with Theatre for
Transformation since fall 2007.

Vision/ Perry di Virgilio, Actor/Spoken Word Artist
Vision, one of the founding members of the spoken word collective, “Spoken Soul 215,” is known for his work ethic among his peers. He’s toured the country performing his poetry and has shared stages with Saul Williams, Taalam Acey & The Last Poets among others. As a headliner in the Philly Spoken Soul Tour, Vision has performed his poetry at over 20 colleges and universities including Cornell University, Dickinson College, & George Washington University. In 2008 he was awarded Alternative Soul “Best Spoken Word Performer” by Philadelphia Weekly art columnist Raymond Tyler. As a recording artist, he’s currently working on his 2nd LP, a collective effort with his fellow SS215 cohort “Just” Greg Corbin. He is the co-host of Philadelphia’s largest poetry venue, “The Harvest,” which features poets from around the country while giving Philadelphia residents an outlet to be heard, grow & heal. He’s performed with national recording artists including Joe, The Delfonics and Jaguar Wright. and less fortunate. Vision is a graduate of Dickinson College where he earned a B.A. in Sociology.

Along with being a successful touring spoken word poet, Vision is a mentor for the Philadelphia Youth Poetry team which competes in the Youth Speaks international competition annually, and was featured on HBO’s “Brave New Voices.” He encourages young poets to rediscover things they’ve hidden in themselves. Vision also volunteers his time as a member of “Poets for Peace” which gathers monthly to make and distribute bag lunches for the homeless and less fortunate. Vision is a graduate of Dickinson College where he earned a B.A. in Sociology.