(Founding Artistic Director) Nancy is a lyricist, playwright and producer.  Writing credits include: Sin!; Rio, a Brazilian musical novella (Theatre for the New City); Dinner and Delusion, an opera co-written with composer Michael Sahl (The Center for Contemporary Opera/New York City Opera’s VOX Festival); Hey Jude. Her passion is for the arts and her dream is the cell, a 21st century salon.

Kira Simring is the (Artistic Director) of Nancy Manocherian's the cell theatre in NYC, where she has developed and directed new works since 2006. Directing credits include the world premiers of The Women Who Rode Away by Natalia Zukerman (the cell and off the WALL), Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom (Irish Rep), Crackskull Row by Honor Molloy (New York Times Critics’ Pick) and Hard Times: An American Musical by Larry Kirwan (New York Times Critics’ Pick). Kira is a three-time Origin Theatre 1st Irish Award Winner for Best Director.

(Associate Director) is a New York based theatre director and developer. With the cell he has directed Hoard (co-production with Off the Wall), The Long Wet Grass, The Real McGonagall and served as associate director of The Evolution of Mann, Crackskull Row, Hard Times, The McGowan Trilogy, and more.  Other favorite directing credits include Far Away and After Miss Julie (MMC). Brian has worked with HERE Arts, Irish Rep, Distilled Theatre Company, The Vineyard, Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Barn, and the New York Opera Exchange and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College. www.brianreager.com

(General Manager) was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and started working for his family business Levys’ Unique New York! as a tour guide at the age of 19. The Levy’s produced joyous celebrations of NYC-themed events such as Freeze Tag on Wall Street, We Hardly Knew V, a funeral party for the V train, and the Panorama Challenge, which is now in its 13th year. He began his professional career in the arts in the late stages of the Clocktower Gallery and soon moved on to become Project Director at the Center for the Holographic Arts where he received a cultural achievement award from the Long Island City Business Improvement District for activating the historic LIC Clocktower Building. He eventually moved the Holocenter to Governors Island, where the organization continued to engage with the scientific and arts community.

Jonah has worked as the co-producer Destination Moon, a solar-powered music festival, as well as a series of nature-oriented events and weddings at the family-run Catskills venue Franklin Chthonics. In 2015, Jonah was the Project Manager of Everywhere Logistics, in which two teams of bicoastal artists completed a seven-city run of guerrilla events staged in box trucks on city streets. He and his collaborators subsequently won a Burning Man Global Grant to create a similar cultural exchange project between NYC and Philadelphia artists called Lost Bridge Exchange. From there, they formed Shadow Traffic, an art collective that curates and produces free art events in interstitial areas of the urban landscape. 

Jonah’s professional career has seen him spinning plates as the Assistant Director of the (un)SCENE, Production Manager of You Are So Lucky and Immersive Experience Curator for the llluminati Ball. He most recently spent a few years working on the Production Team for House of Yes before joining the cell theatre.

Technical Director

Juls is the Technical Director for Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre in New York City. He recently spent a season in residence as Director of Production for The Why Collective, an interdisciplinary arts group. Freelance clients include Princeton University, Rockefeller Center, World Wildlife Fund, HERE Arts, American Opera Project, Gotham Hall and Emitha Records. His teachings, compositions, and talents have been featured at Santa Fe Opera, Detroit Youth Symphony, ArtPark, EMPAC at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Collective Conservatory, and The University of New Mexico. For joy, Julian travels and performs his original works as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He’s come a long way from his native Albuquerque, New Mexico, but he tries to bring a little bit of high desert sunshine everywhere he goes.

(Founding Artistic Director) Nancy is a lyricist, playwright and producer.  Writing credits include: Sin!; Rio, a Brazilian musical novella (Theatre for the New City); Dinner and Delusion, an opera co-written with composer Michael Sahl (The Center for Contemporary Opera/New York City Opera’s VOX Festival); Hey Jude. Her passion is for the arts and her dream is the cell, a 21st century salon.

(Vice Chair) Alan Manocherian has been a leader in the real estate business of New York City for many years. In addition to being a founding board member at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre, he has served as a board member for the Rye Neck School District and the not for profit Mazon for 10 years each. He has been a significant contributor to the NY Academy of the Arts, the Actors Fund and many others. Alan is an enthusiastic collector and patron of the arts.

(Board Member) Alissa Schwartz received her Masters in Social Work from NYU in 2005. She is an avid yogi and a lover of arts, especially musical theatre. In addition to this she is a mother of three budding thespians.

(Artistic Director, Treasurer 15 years on board) has been with Nancy Manocherian's the cell since its inception in 2006. A professional director for over 25 years, Kira has worked closely with writers to develop and realize their work. Kira's work has been seen at The New Theatre Row Theatres, The Skirball Center, The Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, The Connecticut Grand Opera, CenterStage in Baltimore and The Kino-Theatre outside of London. She received a BA in Anthropology from Smith College and her MFA at The New School for Drama.