JACK BOard of Directors

​​Lance Fensterman (Chair) has been a long time participant and supporter of the arts.  Fensterman is the President of ReedPOP, the largest producer of pop culture events in the world, a company he also founded. ReedPOP is responsible for events such as New York Comic Con, Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), ComplexCon and in total 44 events in 12 countries.  ReedPOP has long supported free speech, education and literacy causes. When not up in the air, Lance splits his time between Westchester County NY and West Palm Beach FL with his very tolerant wife, two young daughters, 3 dogs, a cat, a horse, a goldfish and 1800 pounds of LEGO’s.  
Brittany Williams (Vice-Chair) is an international dancer, choreographer, and organizer originally from Homestead, Florida. Brittany is 2017 Dancing While Black Fellow and an Artist in Resident at the Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn New York. She is a 2016 Jacob’s Pillow Scholarship recipient for the Program, Dance & Improv Traditions; a principal dancer with Olujimi Dance; the founder of Dancing for Justice and Obika Dance Projects. Brittany has worked with Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Yon Tande, Makeda Thomas, Chris Walker, Michelle Grant-Murray, Urban Bush Women, Forces of Nature and more. 
Meredith Phillips Almeida (Treasurer) | After more than 15 years in the nonprofit sector, Meredith launched a consulting practice in 2019 that specializes in building capacity in community-based organizations, with projects spanning economic development, community outreach, strategic planning, and small business advocacy. While at Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, Meredith broadened the scope and impact of the Partnership’s work as Executive Director and Deputy Director before that. During her tenure the Partnership deepened its reach into the community, engaging residents as advisors, advocates, leaders and volunteers, and strengthening community networks with Myrtle Avenue at the core. Meredith is a long-time member of Brooklyn Community Board 2’s Youth, Education & Cultural Affairs committee. A proud alum of both NYU Wagner and UC Berkeley, Meredith is mom to two high energy kids, a runner, and nerdy map enthusiast.
Mimi Lien (Secretary) is a designer of sets/environments for theater, dance, and opera. Arriving at set design from a background in architecture, her work often focuses on the interaction between audience/environment and object/performer. In 2017, Mimi won the Tony Award for her design of Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. In 2015, she was named a MacArthur Fellow, and is the first stage designer ever to achieve this distinction. Mimi is a company member of Pig Iron Theatre Company, and co-founder of JACK, a performance/art space in Brooklyn.  In addition to her work on the stage, she also creates large-scale public artworks, and sculptural/performance installations.  She is a recipient of the Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity at Lincoln Center Theater, a Bessie Award, Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award, LA Drama Critics Circle Award, and an OBIE Award for sustained excellence.
Thomas F. DeFrantz directs SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology, a group explores emerging technology in live performance. DeFrantz received a 2017 Outstanding Research in Dance award from the Dance Studies Association. DeFrantz believes in our shared capacity to do better, and engage our creative spirit for a collective good that is anti-racist, anti-homophobic, proto-feminist, and queer affirming. For the Smithsonian Museum of African American Life, DeFrantz contributed concept and voice-over for permanent installation on Black Social Dance. Recent teaching: University of the Arts Mobile MFA in Dance; Lion’s Jaw Festival; Movement Research MELT; ImPulsTanz; New Waves Institute; faculty at Hampshire College, Stanford, Yale, MIT, NYU, Duke, University of Nice. Founding member, Collegium for African Diaspora Dance.
Jordana De La Cruz, Co-Director of JACK, is a Brooklyn-based director and creative producer. She creates performances, gatherings, and public programs that question what it means to be free and, more urgently, how we are helping each other achieve this freedom. Her practice sparks cross-cultural dialogue and expands the concept of community. Before joining JACK, Jordana held positions at the Story Pirates, Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company, 52nd Street Project, and INTAR Theatre. Most recently, she served as Program Manager at Park Avenue Armory where she was instrumental in the creation of the institution’s Public Programs Series. Jordana is a member of Theater Communications Group’s 2019-2020 Rising Leaders of Color Cohort and is dedicated to achieving equity and inclusion in the arts. Photo by Sammy Tunis.
Alec Duffy, founder and Co-Director of JACK, moved to New York in 2000 and, inspired by the work of performance artists Linda Montano and Tehching Shieh, began to create projects that blended art and life. He eventually formed a theater company, Hoi Polloi, and created work often involving large masses of performers singing together or some sort of melding of music and theater. These pieces were produced mostly at The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, including Three Pianos, a paean to Franz Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle that he created with Dave Malloy and Rick Burkhardt and which won an OBIE. In 2012, he started JACK (named after his grandfather) with his wife Mimi Lien and several co-founders, in an attempt to build a microcosm of an ideal city, with music, theater, dance and conversation serving a larger political project of putting art to work towards liberation.  Photo by Susan Young.
Steven Leffue is a sound designer and musician who probes the fringes of sonic expression.  He currently teaches sound and music at Ohio University.  Steven has worked with JACK Co-Director Alec Duffy on multiple Hoi Polloi productions and, with Duffy, Julian Rozzell Jr. and Jason Quarles, formed the band The Georges.  He is a Co-Founder of JACK and curated music at JACK for two years before his move out of the city. Steven is a member of the International Computer Music Association and a little league baseball coach.   
Gail Rivers is a long-time Brooklyn resident and came to know JACK through activities at the Grace Agard senior center. She writes plays and is a part of a few Senior Centers
and is on the AARP Chapter 180 Board. She is a part of JACK's Reparations365 People's Think Tank, a small working group focused on generating solid proposals for distributive justice efforts on the local level.  
DeeArah Wright is a Brooklyn-based mama, artist, mover, and collaborative leader. DeeArah is a former Co-Director of JACK, and her approach to activism, facilitation, leadership, and partnerships are informed by over 20 years of experiences and experiments in diverse fields, such as: education, dance and performance, social entrepreneurship, and community engagement. She is currently Director of Education at Brooklyn Children’s Museum and guides the strategy for innovative programming, collaborating with the BCM team and community to power a vision for inclusive and interactive learning experiences rooted in exploration, inquiry, and play.  DeeArah's current adventures also include writing, cooperative initiatives, and development of revolutionary educational framework and philosophy.