Who We Are

A veteran of the underground arts, Nicole Gluckstern (co-founder; she/her) has worked variously as a performer, lighting designer/technician, stage manager, producer, publicist, tour support, dramaturg, and critic. An award-winning arts journalist, her byline has appeared in many publications including Other, the Quarterly Conversation, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, East Bay Express, the San Francisco Chronicle, Reasons to be Cheerful, Roadtrippers, American Theatre Magazine, and KQED. She’s the co-creator of Bikes to Books, a hyper-local literary history bicycle tour and mapping project, and IncivilitySF, a Trump-era showcase of radical and politically-engaged performance. estrellasuerteproductions.com

J. Elliott Mendez (he/him) is a content creator and storyteller. He knows the power of voice, striving to challenge and complicate social narratives by making space for unrepresented experiences. His works include staged plays, graphic novels and nonfiction journalism. He has written for EXIT Theatre, Awesome Theatre, El Tecolote and BCN in San Francisco, and currently writes for United Way Bay Area. He believes it is a moral imperative that communities of color, women, and other traditionally marginalized groups write themselves back in to the narrative so that future generations will have a clearer account of our historical context in our own words; that the taking of this space must be taught to those generations as early as humanly possible. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting and a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

Julius Rea (co-founder; he/him) is a writer, performer, and arts producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a background as a journalist, he obtained a degree in Philosophy at San Francisco State University. He co-founded The Forum Collective, a multidisciplinary arts organization that focuses on new journalism, theater, and community-focused events. Recently, Rea developed his new play Kaleidoscope while participating in Crowded Fire Theater’s 2020-21 Resilience and Development Lab. In 2020, he was selected as a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Also an actor, Rea has performed across the San Francisco Bay Area with Ragged Wing Ensemble, Left Edge Theatre, and Benicia Old Town Theatre Group; he received a 2019 Arty award for his portrayal of Chris in Lynn Nottage’s Sweat. Currently, he is a Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Arts Leadership Recipient with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Learn more and connect with him at juliusernestorea.com.

Hiya Swanhuyser (co-founder; she/her) was born on the ninth floor of UCSF, earned her MFA from USF, and has lived in the city for 20 years, this time. In San Francisco, her writing has appeared in San Francisco, 7×7, SF Weekly, KQED, Mission Local, City College’s Etc. and Forum Magazines, the Believer, and Curbed SF, and outside the city in Fandor’s Keyframe, Otis Nebula, Petals and Bones, the North Bay Bohemian, the East Bay Express, and others. She has read at Lit Crawl, Muni Diaries, and Porchlight. She is writing a book about the Montgomery Block

A bar columnist for Mission Local and former nightlife reporter for Playboy.com who has lived in a Buddhist monastery in India, Benjamin Wachs (co-founder; he/him) is frequently mistaken for a fictional character.  The Philosopher Laureate of Burning Man and the former chair of the San Francisco Institute of Possibility, he has covered the arts in San Francisco for the SF Weekly and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. He is the author of multiple books, most recently Turn Your Life Into Art: Lessons in Psychomagic from San Francisco’s Underground (2021) and The Scene That Became Cities (2019) which is considered the definitive exploration of the philosophy underpinning Burning Man’s culture.  Exclusive looks at his work are available at Patreon.com/BenjaminWachs