ttlab ensemble - spring 2021
Sekou Laidlow
Sekou Laidlow is an actor who loves his craft. His guest-star credits include ABC’s Women of the Movement, and CBS’ The Good Wife, and was supporting lead in feature film The Mend, and appears in the upcoming Warner Brothers feature film, Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson, due for release in 2022. Other premiere credits include VH1’s critically acclaimed series, The Breaks, romantic comedy Better Off Single, The Wire, and Law & Order. Sekou’s Broadway credits include Airline Highway and Boys in the Band. A graduate of the Julliard School, he collaborated with Juilliard alumnus Michael Urie on the comedic web-series What's Your Emergency, and originated the role of Homer in the Pulitzer and Kennedy prize-winning productions of Father Comes Home from the Wars. Sekou sees his artistry as an extension of his responsibility to his community and has a passion for using his storytelling craft to empower others to tell their stories. He is co-host alongside Maxime Paul of the Podcast Let Me Introduce Myself, where they co-create space for Black men to explore their humanity, their blackness, and everything in between.
Liza Jaine
Atlanta-based actor, singer, and writer, Liza earned her BA from Columbia University and her MFA from Johns Hopkins, both in writing. Her theatre career includes three national tours, a multitude of regional credits, and two world premieres. Choice productions include A Chorus Line, Mary Poppins, Tuck Everlasting, 25th Annual…Spelling Bee, Pump Boys and Dinettes, and The Marvelous Wonderettes. Screen credits include If Loving You is Wrong (OWN), Being Mary Jane (BET), Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell (Adult Swim), and Confirmation (HBO), as well as many commercials, short films, and indies. Liza trained at Broadway Theatre Project with Ann Reinking, Gwen Verdon, Gregory Hines, and Stanley Donen. She holds a brown belt in Muay Thai, multiple group fitness certifications, tactical training certificates, and has a love of wire work and one day, she wants to learn to be a stunt driver, though parallel parking continues to vex her. Liza is mother to an incredible child named Wyatt who challenges her every day to do the best she can. Her husband, Jonathan French, is the brilliant author of The Lot Lands and Autumn’s Fall series. She also has four fur babies, all of whom snore loudly and try to sleep on her head
Kevin Aoussou
Producer, actor, director, community-focused artist, and first year MFA Actor at Northwestern University. A 2018 graduate of Winthrop University and the National Theater Institutes Moscow Art Theatre Semester, Kevin has performed with Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (Akeelah and the Bee), Actor's Theater of Charlotte (Bootycandy), and Shakespeare Carolina (Portrait of Dorian Gray). His credits also include Hedgerow Theater’s Barrymore-nominated Moby Dick, Three Musketeers, and Game of Love and Chance, Theater at Monmouth’s Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, and Sense and Sensibility. Self-produced projects are "We R Allies" and “Joe and Buddy Kill a Guy”. Kevin is creating a community outreach/service artist collective in Chicago, and will present at the Scholar-Artist Debut Panel at The Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME) virtual conference this August
Déjà Dee
Déjà Dee started her career in acting in 1998, and has since become a fixture on screens both large and small. In LA, she booked three seasons as ‘Alma’ on Banshee, landed a recurring role on Sleepy Hollow, and guest starred on both The Inspectors and Criminal Minds. She relocated to Atlanta in 2015 and landed guest star or recurring roles on Queen Sugar, Women of the Movement, Dopesick, Mindhunter, and Star, and co-star roles on Cobra Kai, The Walking Dead, and Amazing Stories. Film work includes guest star roles on The Ballad of Richard Jewell, Freaky Friday the 13th, Hillbilly Elegy, and Evolution, among others. When Déjà is not on set she enjoys helping other actors as an acting coach, and taking long rides on the trail as a novice cyclist. Her company, Dream It First Productions, produces The Working Actor Mentorship Program.
Jason C. Louder
An Atlanta-based Actor-Teacher-Storyteller-Coach-Mentor, Jason brings well-rounded experience to his teaching. Notable screen credits range from guest star roles in CW’s Black Lightning and Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga, to voicing the 2016-2017 Adidas Sports Needs Creators National campaign, to a stint in Bollywood in the hit feature Simran, to Netflix’s They Cloned Tyrone. He has major stage production experience in Atlanta and New York, and has worked on over 40 independent screen projects (features, shorts, & web-series), including Odyssey: A Star Wars Story and post-apocalyptic SF pilot Grey Hairs. He has been working off and on with a transformational production entitled GO, a non-dialogue exploration into abuse and its holistic affect and impact on our lives. As a storyteller, Jason joyfully appears as one of his most coveted characters, ‘Babatunde The Griot’, and has inspired thousands of students throughout Georgia. Jason has worked as an elementary and middle school teacher, acting coach at Nova House and is a youth acting instructor with AGI Entertainment
Hannah-Rose Broom
Atlanta-based actor Hannah-Rose has been immersed in performance art for most of her life. Her training spans several modalities. For acting, she has practiced the techniques of Stanislavsky, Michael Chekov, Uta Hagan and Strasberg. Her vocal performance training was based upon Patsy Rodenburg and Kristin Linklater. Hannah-Rose is passionate about physical and emotional embodiment and attributes this interest to her training in Viewpoints, Laban, Clowning, and Lecoq. She also thrives as a mixed-media visual artist and yoga teacher. In her visual art, she explores themes of the physical manifestations of emotion, projection, and reflection. She has a studio in the artist cooperative, The B Complex. As a yoga teacher, Hannah-Rose teaches through a trauma-informed lens, loves versatility of movement, and believes that yoga is for every body, as she works with individuals of all ages and abilities. Outside of the pandemic times, she teaches studio yoga to Atlanta and Dekalb County public high school students and instructors.
Justin Rossbacher
Writer-director-actor, currently residing in New York City with his rescue dog, Malick. Raised in Virginia, Justin graduated college summa cum laude and was awarded the top award for his major in Speech Communication. In 2007, he co-founded Cry, a creative, production, and post-production house where he brings 20 years of experience in commercial and film production. He has written 30+ short films, 40+ commercials, 5 screenplays, a play, and he journals regularly. He has directed 100+ commercials, 20+ short films, and a feature film. These works have garnered over 140 awards. His acting has landed him two best actor awards. He co-founded Motivated Mornings in 2020 in order to support creatives pursuing their passions by providing structure, community, and accountability. His hobbies include skiing, snowboarding, water skiing, Crossfit, yoga, sketching, and reading. He also has a knack for dog training.
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