Christen Celaya
Christen Celaya is the creator of the independent film company, Pocha Productions. Christen recently played the lead in American Mariachi at Arizona Theatre Company, by Jose Cruz Gonzales. When Covid hit, Christen was understudying Clara in Boston Court Theatre’s production of Passion and will be joining PCPA as artist and teacher in residence in 2021.
Christen is a company member of Teatro Luna in Los Angeles, which is the oldest pan latina theatre company in the United States. Recent LA productions include Teatro Luna’s devised pieces The Times and Lovesick. She also played Celia in The Southland Company’s production of As You Like It.
She was previously based in New York City where she performed in Off-Broadway productions of The Imaginary Invalid, The King of Infinite Space and the title role in Miss Julie.
Christen is also a filmmaker with three short films, La Sirena. Holes and Friends in High Places. Pocha Productions will also begin pre-production for their next short, for La Mano which is about healing from generational trauma in a trans-border Mexican America family. Christen is a recent graduate with a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is an aerialist, a screenwriter and a published author of prose, which can be found in Nos pasamos de la raya/We Crossed the Line vol 1 and vol 2.
Contact
- (865) 566-2633
- christen.gee@gmail.com
Christen is also an acting coach and available for lessons. To schedule your private lesson, click the link below.
Mariscela Mendez
Mariscela Beatríz Méndez was born and raised in Texas, where her passion for visual arts brought her to Los Angeles to pursue cinematography. Since attending AFI, Mariscela has shot numerous forms of media that have aired and screened for Slamdance and Amazon Prime. She regularly shoots for Conde Nast (Allure, Self, Vanity Fair) where she most recently shot JLo, Laverne Cox, and Miranda Kerr. Mariscela has been recognized by her contemporaries, shooting for the prestigious Project Involve for Film Independent. The Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences (AMPAS®) recognized her talent, inviting her to be part of the distinguished ‘Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today’ program. Mariscela recently wrapped Season 2 of the web series “Adulting”, as well as a few commercials for “The Ayurvedic Experience” and “Shapermint”.
Lori Celaya
Ph.D Lori Celaya is the executive producer for La Sirena and an Associate Professor of Spanish and Co-Director of Latin American Studies at The University of Idaho. She was born in Mexicali B.C. México, but grew up in Los Angeles, California.
She is the author of “México visto desde su literatura norte: identidades propias de la transculturación y la migración” (México Viewed from its Northern Border: Identities that Result from Migration and Transculturation) 2013. She has published on Human Traficking at the US-Mexico Border. Dr. Celaya also published “Nos pasamos de la raya/We Crossed The Line” a bilingual/bicultural compilation that includes one of her poems and one of her short stories. She has also co-authored a “Spanish for the Professions” text that is presently being used at over fifty colleges and universities. Currently, she continues to speak, research and publish on issues related to the United States-Mexico Border, Mexican-Americans, Chicanx and Latinx in relation to Latin America and the United States and she is finalizing the second volume of Nos pasamos de la raya as well completing a co-edited volume entitled “Transatlantic and Transcultural Dialogues on Identity, Culture, and Migration.”
Before going into academia Dr. Celaya a career in the film and television industry and was featured in several commercials, industrials and other film and television productions.
