THE NEIGHBORHOOD THEATRE COLLECTIVE LLC
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Tony Gatto Teaching Artist, Director, Actor, Producer and Coach.
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He’s taught with 24th Street Theatre, Bridge Theatre Project, Center Theatre Group, A Noise Within, The Oakwood School, Chautauqua Institution, The SAG Foundation, LA’s Best, and other organizations and theaters across the country.​
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​Throughout the last 25 years, he's directed, produced and acted in various LA theaters. For a few years in the 2000's was Artistic Director of Company of Angels Theater and was also a proud member of The Elephant Theater in Hollywood.
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Proudest achievements have been directing and co-producing a very long successful run of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ THE MFer WITH THE HAT; performing the lead role of ARCHIE in BABYDOLL at The Elephant; an Off-Broadway run of Lee Sherman’s UN-RULE-LEE as well as other world premiere plays like Ovation winner Damon Chua’s 1969 at Theatre/Theater, DRIVE by Emily Dodi at Company Of Angels, DUST by Gregory Phillips, and BROTHER JONES by Garth Stein.
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As a proud Teaching Artist, Tony's taught at about 70-75 different Elementary, Middle and High Schools throughout the Los Angeles Unified School district with various organizations. (Oh, and EVERY school within the Lynwood School District here in LA)
He's about to embark on a series of After School Theater Programming in a Bel Air elementary School with Melissa Booey in The Fall of 2025
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Bringing challenging theater to underserved communities is one of the most proud ongoing accomplishments of his career so far.
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Melissa Booey Teaching Artist, Director, Actor
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Melissa has taught with and directed for various theaters in the Los Angeles and Pasadena area, such as: Theatre 360, 24th Street Theatre, Shakespeare by the Sea and A Noise Within.
She’s also choreographed and performed for companies like the Environmental Defenders; written curriculum for PUSD's Open Stage’ and taught with enrichment programs such as SODE, Zip Zap Zop, and the Gifted and Talented Program in LAUSD. She’s an actress and proud member of Towne Street and Little Fish Theatres, and has published BIRDBRAIN, a book of poetry she performed in Hollywood at TST'S Sum Poetry and Theatre of Note's SLAMFEST.
​Melissa is joining Tony in Bel Air this Fall!
Jeanette Godoy Interdisciplinary Artivista - Actor, Director, Costume Designer and Social Justice Educator.
Raised in Inglewood, California and received her BA in Liberal Studies with a Specialization in Chicana/o Studies from San Diego State University. In addition, Jeanette holds a BCLAD Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and an MFA in Theater with a double focus in Acting and Costume Design from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television.
She has worked internationally and in public school education with elementary, middle, and high school and indigenous students. She has also taught Acting Fundamentals, Exploring The Viewpoints Through Drama and Diversity, and Theater for the 21st Century at universities such as UCLA and CSULB.
Jeanette has directed ensemble productions for the Acting and Performance Summer Institute (APSI) at UCLA, the Hollywood Fringe Festival for SEIU-USWW and most recently, Southern Rep Theater in New Orleans.
As an Actor and Costume Designer she has worked with: The Fountain Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, Frida Kahlo Theater, CASA 0101, Hollywood Fringe, NYU Fringe, Roots and Wings Project, Theatricum Botanicum, A Noise Within Theater, About Productions, Unusual Suspects, 13EXP, BRIDGE Theatre Project, AFI, UCLA, ULV, Project Involve-Film Independent, Ghetto Film School, Lodo Productions and Friendly Productions.
Jeanette is also founder of TIZAPAPALOTL Productions, which works with community and professionals in film, television and theatre to help create content that promotes healing through the understanding of cultura (culture) and decolonization, in order to facilitate social and systematic change.
She is owner of LA PACHUCADA, which specializes in vintage and recycled clothing.
You can follow her work via IG: @misskahlo
Armando Molina Director, Actor, Producer
Currently the Artistic Director of Company of Angels Theater (CoA), the oldest non-profit professional theater in Los Angeles. Over the last fifteen years Armando has transformed the 60 year old theater from an actor focused showcase into an important developer of original theater that represents Los Angeles’ diverse communities.
An award winning director, Armando has worked in theaters across the Country. He directed “My Manana Comes” by Elizabeth Irwin at The Fountain Theater, “This Land” by Evangeline Ordaz at Company of Angels, “The Long Road Today” by Jose Cruz Gonzalez at South Coast Repertory, “Visitors’ Guide to Arivaca” by Evangeline Ordaz at Teatro Vision in San Jose and the Denver Center of the Performing Arts. “Anna In The Tropics” by Nilo Cruz at PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria California; “Conjunto” by Oliver Mayer at Borderlands Theater Company in Tucson; “Living Out” and “Distracted” by Lisa Loomer at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California, and at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, among others. He also assistant directed Doug Wager at the Mark Taper Forum and Jo Bonny at Second Stage in New York.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the Theater Communications Group chose Armando from among directors across the Country to award him one of seven fellowships in their Career Development Program for Directors.
A former member of Cornerstone Theater ensemble for nine years where he acted, directed and helped oversee the running of the Company. While an ensemble member he helped develop, document and codify the community based theater methodology Cornerstone is famous for. He participated in Cornerstone community residencies in Baldwin Hills, Chinatown, Boyle Heights, Watts, South Central, and with the Bus Riders Union.
Co-founded Latins Anonymous, the critically acclaimed Latino Comedy Group. Their first play, “Latins Anonymous,” was held over for six months at the Los Angeles Theater Center. They followed with runs at the San Diego Repertory Theater, Group Theater in Seattle, South Coast Repertory Theater, Sacramento Theater Company. Their second play, “The LA LA Awards” premiered at the Japan American Theater in Los Angeles, and they also performed at the San Diego Repertory Theater, the Guadalupe Cultural Center in San Antonio, and the Odyssey Theater Ensemble in Los Angeles. These plays were published by Arte Publico Press and continue to be performed nationally. Armando also co-founded The Platform, a political cabaret that explored post-riot Los Angeles as a community in crisis. The Platform performed at the Los Angeles Theater Center, Highways Performance Space, UCLA, and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibits (LACE).
Justin Huen Actor, Director, Designer
He most recently starred as Jerry in Lucas Hnath's The Thin Place at The Echo, Pete Steele in the Zoom series Isolation Inn, and was seen in Apple Season, both with Moving Arts.
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Some favorite theater credits include, Death and Cockroaches (Chalk Rep.), Mojada (Getty Villa), El Nogalar (Fountain Theatre), Farragut North (Geffen), Electricidad (Mark Taper), Strike-Slip (Humana), Stones (Kirk Douglas), Zorro (TheatreWorks), Damn Yankees (Madrid Theatre), My First Radical (Ojai Playwrights Festival), Dias Y Flores (Company of Angels), dAWGS (Ivar Theatre), The Legend of Jane & Joe (Ricardo Montalbán Theater), and starred as Oedipus in Oedipus El Rey (Boston Court), for which he received Ovation and Weekly award nominations.
Justin has been seen in many Films and TV shows including The Terminal List, Shameless, Justified, Weeds and Dexter. Justin also directed and produced the World Premiere of Lolo at Company of Angels.
Fayna [faÄ«•na] Sanchez Actor, Producer, Director
Some of her favorite credits include: Hulu's Dollface, Angie Tribeca on TBS, and as a recurring guest star on AMC Shudder’s Creepshow, opposite Kiefer Sutherland, Joey King, and the legendary Mark Hamil.
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Fayna also voices characters on Crunchyroll's Onyx Equinox, Lonely Spectre's It Listens From The Radio, and as horror host Nocturna from Tales from the Dead of Night.
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On stage she's had the pleasure of performing in Jen Silverman's feminist fury, Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Boops at The Theatre @ Boston Court, So Um Thank You for Center Theatre Group, and as Veronica in Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherfucker With The Hat for The Hollywood Fringe Festival which earned a nomination for "Top Of The Fringe", and a win for "Best Ensemble Theatre" & "Pick Of The Fringe".
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You can connect and check out her work on her website www.faynasanchez.com or on IG @fayna.bo.byna.
