Artists

Associate playwrights

drew david combs
(he/him)

drew is an actor, poet, and playwright based in Seattle. He has been a proud member of Parley since 2017, with multiple workshops of his scripts and a micro production of death in the digital age. Favorite onstage credits include Joshua in John Baxter is a Switch Hitter at the Intiman, Anton in Parley's Anton, and Luke in Theater of Possibility's Love Letters.

Amber Hughes
(she/her)

Amber, a proud founding member of Parley, is a versatile artist—actor, poet, and playwright. After a hiatus dedicated to raising two kids and three step-kids while building a successful career as a mental health practitioner and trauma therapist, she returns to the playwriting scene with enthusiasm. Her experiences as a parent and mental health professional infuse authenticity into her creative work.

Carol Lee
(she/her)

Carol is a playwright and illustrator. Her work has been produced by The Undergraduate Theatre Society (University of Washington), Bucknell University Department of Theatre & Dance, and Parley Productions. In her artistic practice she is interested in making do with what she has. She likes good digestion, visiting local parks, and watching movies.

Susan McNally
(she/her)

Susan McNally is a filmmaker and a playwright. For her work in film and television, she received EMMY, CINE and TELLY Awards, as well as a development grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. As a playwright, she is a founding member of Parley and six of her full-length plays have been performed in Parley workshop productions. In 2023, Parley produced Sue's first radio play. Sue’s short plays have appeared at various local festivals, including Forward Flux and the Seattle Play Series.

Rebecca Tourino Collinsworth
(she/her)
creator/managing artistic director
co-editor, parley lit

Rebecca is a Seattle-based playwright and director, At twenty, she made her professional acting debut at the rebuilt Globe Theatre in London and spent fifteen years performing in regional theaters across the United States. As a teaching theater artist, she’s worked with the Claire Trevor School of the Arts; the Alliance Theater in Atlanta; the New York Film Academy in Soho; Seattle University; Meadows School of the Arts at SMU; and Freehold’s Ensemble Training Intensive, among others. For three consecutive years, she also made weekly trips to Gig Harbor to work with incarcerated people at the Washington Correctional Center for Women as part of the Engaged Theater Residency. Her plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and elsewhere. She is also the co-book writer (with Evynne Hollens) of Mija: A New Musical (Teatro de Cámara “Hugo Carrillo,” Ciudad de Guatemala, 2024 [director], 2023 NAMT Festival of New Musicals, Kleban Prize finalist); and the co-screenwriter/director of the feature-length Psyche and Cupid: A Puppet Film.
In Parley Rebecca has established the most robust new work developmental program in the Pacific Northwest, offering unprecedented support to its playwriting associates. Through Parley, Rebecca has developed, directed, and produced more than 85 world premieres of important new plays by underrepresented writers in the last decade. NPX (comprehensive playwriting info)
MFA (Acting), U.C. Irvine; BA (English), U.C. Berkeley; Pacific Conservatory Theater

Dustin Hageland
(he/him)
technical producer

Dustin is a playwright and educator from the Washington and serves as Parley's Technical Producer. He received his BFA in Creative Writing from Western Washington University in 2018 and his MFA in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2021. His play Small Box with a Revolver has been performed as part of the 2021 Big Muddy New Play Festival, the 2021 St. Lou Fringe Festival the 2022 SETC Fringe Festival, and the 2022 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival. At the beginning of pandemic he began producing virtual productions, including numerous evenings of short plays, the 2020 Big Muddy New Play Festival Online, and Parley's Proofs.

Asha Dore
(she/her)
associate art & marketing director
managing editor, parley lit

Asha Dore is a writer, artist, and editor of Parley Lit. Her work can be found at www.ashadore.net.

n8 heneghan
(he/him)

n8 is an independent scholar, poet, playwright, and punk rock drummer based in Seattle, WA. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California and has taught Japanese literature and culture at various institutions across the country. He plays in a band you’ve never heard of.

Katherine Jett
(she/her)
associate producer

Katherine is a Seattle-based interdisciplinary theatre maker and performance artist. A proud member of Parley since 2018, she has workshopped full-length plays (This Pleasant Prison, The Mermaids), a solo performance, and co-mounted an interdisciplinary, covid-conscious performance promenade (Aposiopesis). As an actor, she has performed locally with Book-It, Greenstage, Seattle Immersive, Taproot, Thalia’s Umbrella, Rebel Kat, and many times with Parley Productions. Her original musical about Bigfoot, Squatch! The Musical (in collaboration with composer Adam Quillian), received its inaugural production at Centerstage Theatre in the Spring of 2017 and won a 2017 People’s Choice Gregory for Best New Play. She holds a BFA in Theatre: Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts and has trained as a performer locally with Roger Curtis and in Greece with the DUENDE company.

Nelle Tankus
(she/her)

Nelle is a playwright and performer whose work explores queerness, the absurd, and metamorphosis. Her full-length work has been seen in Seattle at 12th Avenue Arts (The Untitled Play About Art School, dir. L. Nicol Cabe), The Umbrella Project (Slack Water, dir. QuiQui Dominguez), and Parley Productions (Yom Kippur, dir. Rebecca Tourino Collinsworth). Her shorter works have been seen most recently at 12 Minutes Max, Parley, and MirrorStage. She was a semi-finalist for the Jerome Fellowship (2021/2022), Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series (2019), and the Eugene O'Neil National Playwright's Conference (2018). Most recently, she was a cohort of the 2021 María Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop. She holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts. She is based in Seattle, and is a proud member of Parley.

Emeriti

Elijah Merrill

Elijah is a playwright, fantasy novelist, and leader of writing workshops in Seattle. He is fascinated by folklore from around the world, the history of United States immigrants and migrants, firsthand accounts of resistance to tyranny, and theatre that centers marginalized voices. His plays workshopped by Parley include Bipolar Inkwell, Water Over My Head, Crooked Grace, Magpie and Marita, The Orchid and the Skull, and Triceratops Love Song, the last of which was also produced by Somniterum Productions. His play Memory-Eaters and his adaptation of Pride and Prejudice were produced by the Bush School's high school drama department. Elijah has offered over ten writing workshops through the organization Gathering Ground, and has been a production assistant on many Parley shows.

Ryan Nole Fields

Ryan is a Seattle native and theatre artist. As an actor he has been on stage at Intiman, Book-it, Balagan, Theatre 9/12 and other various theatres in and around Seattle. He has done film work in various commercials, small independent films and NBC's Grimm. Ryan is proud to be a member of Parley. He admires Parley's commitment to make theatre accessible to all and to tell stories for people who otherwise may not have a voice.