SAMANTHA TOY OZEAS
“I use fantasy to ask questions about civic engagement and believe that storytelling's most important power is to lead audiences into reimagine futures. I create character-centric work that shows both the dream and the nightmare. I make excuses to work with the people I love and admire. I am drawn to site-specific work that interacts with its environment, world-building, and leaving questions unanswered. I make work I can cry to.”
ABOUT SAMANTHA
Samantha Toy Ozeas (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based director, playwright and recent graduate from the John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Directing credits include Chinatown, My Chinatown (Ma-Yi Theater Company), One Day Down (SheNYC), Park Song (Frank-Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry Grant), The Chinese Lady (Southern Plains Productions), Athena (Carnegie Mellon University), Nannyville (Grassroots Artist Collective), r/TheRedPill (Back in Blacks), God Has Retired (Carnegie Mellon University), and Major Minor (The Complex). Their film directing credits include SCHEJ (Miami Webfest), STICKY, Think, and Can We Pretend (Hollyshorts Film Festival, New York International Film Festival, San Fransisco International Film Festival, Dumbo Film Festival Semi-Finalist)
During her time at university, Samantha served four years as Student Representative for the Carnegie Directing department. They dedicated much of their time to ZAPI Artists, writing publications relating to Asian/Pacific Islander history, theory, and culture.
CURRENTLY:
Cotton Candy Skies music video by Sunday Saari (April 2024)
Programmer and Screenplay Coordinator for the 2024 Asian American International Film Festival by AsianCinevision
