Board Nominees and Voting
2025 PTO Board Nominees listed below!
Donna Pearl Cotterell*
Rachel DeSoto-Jackson
Jay Hayden
Ilaria Paradiso
Charisa Ramsey
*Current board member seeking reelection to the board.
How Voting Works
The PTO Board has a total capacity of 15 elected board members. For this election term, 2025-2027, each PTO Member will be able to vote on the website for up to five (5) nominees. Voting will begin on Sunday, August 10, 2025 continues through Saturday, August 23, 2025. A nominee will be considered elected if they receive a majority of votes (that is, half the votes plus one. If 100 people voted, a nominee would be considered elected if they receive 51 votes).
You must be a member to vote!
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To submit your vote you must be a current PTO member. Click on the link below and log in using your member email and password.
Click Here to Submit Your Vote!
Donna Pearl Cotterell*
Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA
Statement of Interest: Greetings, PTO Community. My name is Donna Pearl Cotterell, and I am honored to seek reelection to the PTO Board of Directors. I am a lifelong educator, theatre practitioner, and community healer whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, liberation, and social transformation. For nearly two decades, I have been committed to Theatre of the Oppressed and its power to create spaces for dialogue, justice, and healing. I am the founder and director of Indaba Theatre, based in Massachusetts and Florida, where we use theatre as therapy to support people in processing trauma, reclaiming their voices, and imagining liberated futures. Our work centers on historically marginalized communities and has addressed issues such as domestic violence, youth violence, anti-LGBTQ+ bullying, HIV/AIDS awareness, and homelessness. My introduction to Theatre of the Oppressed began through the lens of education and community engagement, and deepened after participating in a PTO post-conference with Julian Boal. That experience clarified that TO wasn’t just a methodology, it was a calling. Since then, I have led workshops, facilitated community dialogues, and supported youth and adults in using performance as a vehicle for transformation. My academic background includes a BA in Theatre Arts, an MS in Administrative Studies, and an M.Ed. in Middle School Mathematics. I bring a multifaceted lens to the board: that of an educator, artist, and organizer. On the Board, I have been an advocate for ensuring inclusive representation, intergenerational leadership, and support for BIPOC-led grassroots theatre work. I believe in PTO as a space where theory meets the real lives of those most impacted by systemic injustice and where imagination and action co-exist. If reelected, I will continue to contribute strategic thinking, organizational development, and facilitation skills that elevate the collective wisdom of our membership. I am committed to supporting transparent communication, nurturing partnerships, and building a welcoming PTO culture rooted in equity and care. Thank you for considering my candidacy. I remain deeply grateful to be in community with all of you and hopeful for the continued evolution of our shared work.
In solidarity and service, Donna Pearl Cotterell
Rachel DeSoto-Jackson
Murrysville, Pennsylvania, USA
Statement of Interest: I am an Applied Theatre practitioner and educator of over 12 years working currently as a Professor of Applied Theatre at Indiana University of PA. I am also a past PTO board member (2016-2019) and served as the Conference Chair (2018) and past Co-President of PTO (2019-2022). After taking some time away from PTO due to complicated pregnancies, I am eager now to re-join the board and contribute my labor to advance the PTO mission. During my time as the Conference Chair, I worked with local organizations to fundraise for the conference, raising funds that exceeded our goals. As the Co-President, I worked with the current board to develop the Action Group model and supported the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic.
I have been practicing TO in education and community settings throughout my career and am part of the TO Pittsburgh community network. I am well familiar with the working board model and the needs of the organization. Specifically, I am able to provide labor and support in grant writing/fundraising/sustainability; communications; conference/large event planning; strategic planning; and documentation/archiving. I am excited to rejoin the board and continuing advancing liberatory theatre and popular education.
Jay Hayden
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Statement of Interest: Jay Hayden is a multi-hyphenate artist & educator newly based in Los Angeles. They are an alumnus Emerging Leader Fellow with TYA/USA, as part of a cohort of future industry leaders in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences. They have worked as a teaching artist with Theatre SilCo, Omaha Theater Company, Vermont Fairy Tale, and Nebraska Thespians. As a Theatrical Gender Consultant, they have presented on best practices for including transgender artists with ACLU Nebraska, Benson Theatre, TYA/USA, the American Alliance for Theatre & Education, and the NYC Roundtable – their students of the PRIDE PLAYERS troupe performed at the 2025 PTO Festival in Omaha. Their DIY Zine, METAMORPHOSIS: transsexual flash fiction can be found in free-little-libraries around SoCal. They are a proud member of Ring of Keys, and a proud graduate of the University of Vermont. @flareupwithlove As a creator and producer, I would be overjoyed to join the PTO board – after meeting some amazing collaborators and artists through my membership through PTO, I would love to give back. I would love to bring my skills from producing, social media management, and development – from the world of non-profits – into PTO as a measure to create more accessible, dynamic, and engaging programming that uplifts our shared goals of collective liberation. I envision a world where we are able to mobilize our world-wide movement, utilizing tools of social media and non-traditional communication to bring Boal’s work to a new generation of creators. Thanks for your consideration – it means the world.
Ilaria Paradiso
Bologna, Italy
Statement of Interest: I am a PhD student in Pedagogical Sciences from the University of Bologna. My academic and professional journey is rooted in my dual training as a pedagogist and as a professional educator, experiences that have shaped my approach in designing and implementing inclusive educational projects within a variety of community settings in Bologna. Theatre of the Oppressed is a key element of both my research and my practical work for several years: I am part of Krila a collective that practice TO in Bologna. Together we facilitate workshops, collaborate on projects, and use embodied creative practices inspired by Augusto Boal to empower marginalized groups and foster critical consciousness. I believe that education should not merely transmit knowledge, but also seek to cultivate critical thinking, empathy, and collective agency. My commitment to applying the TO method is rooted in a deep belief in Freirean pedagogy: breaking down barriers between educators and educants, fostering horizontal relationships, and co-creating knowledge and strategies for social change. I see participatory theatre not just as art, but as a political and pedagogical method, crucial for personal and social transformation. I am deeply interested in participating in the upcoming PTO conference. I look forward to connecting and collaborating with an international community of scholars, practitioners, and activists who are committed to liberatory education and TO. For me, this gathering is a precious opportunity to exchange experiences, deepen my understanding of global social movements, and contribute my perspective on how TO can respond to the urgent challenges of contemporary society. Engaging with the PTO network nourishes and strengthens my commitment to fostering spaces where care, creativity, and critical pedagogy generate meaningful change. I would like to offer my support and contribute my skills in social media management as well as conference and large event planning, including efforts to ensure great accessibility. I am eager to assist in these areas to help make the conference a successful and inclusive experience for all participants.
Charisa Ramsey
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Statement of Interest: CHARISA RAMSEY (she/her) is a theatre artist, playwright, teaching artist, and activist currently based in Omaha, NE. Despite being new to the world of PTO, she is not new to the core tenets. From her years working in human services to her present employment as a full-time theatre artist, the driving force behind her efforts has always been to build connections and provide a safe space for exploration and expression. For fifteen years, she has incorporated liberatory theatre practices into her creative interactions with marginalized communities—including youth impacted by HIV/AIDS, incarcerated teens, unhoused women, and children and adults with disabilities. Currently, she works both as a community-based teaching artist and as the artistic director for an educational theatre company that performs plays / workshops focusing on various mental health topics. Charisa has an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction – Theatre Pedagogy and, as a self-professed lifelong learner, she has taken additional coursework in drama therapy, grant writing, stage intimacy, and radical empathy for theatre. Add to that her skills at social media and communications, her knowledge of popular education and pedagogies, and her love of event planning (seriously!) and you have a dedicated Board Member in the making. This summer’s PTO Conference compelled her to dive deeper into the methodologies and practices of Boal and Freire. But of equal importance to her was the wealth of knowledge and experience from having the opportunity to interact with and get to know so many passionate, talented and creative PTO members.
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