Artistic Director

Isabel Nelson

Isabel Nelson is a performer, director, and theatre creator in the Twin Cities. She received her B.A. from Macalester College in Theatre and Religious Studies, and a certificate in Creating Theatre at the Lecoq-based London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). She conceived and directed Ballad of the Pale Fisherman, Red Resurrected, and Emilie/Eurydice, and performed and collaborated on Ash Land, These Old Shoes, and Solitaire, and co-directed ​Promise Land. Other directing credits include work with Black Dirt Theater, Macalester College, and Theater Unbound.  As a performer, she has worked with the Children's Theater Company, Live Action Set, Jon Ferguson Theatre, and Four Humors, among others. In 2012, the expanded version of Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (presented at the Illusion Theater) was recognized with an Ivey Award for Emotional Impact, and Isabel received the Emerging Artist Ivey.  She, along with Diogo Lopes, was recently honored with the National Theater Conference's 2015 Outstanding Emerging Professional Award.

Core Ensemble

Heather Bunch

Heather Bunch has been a core ensemble member of Transatlantic Love Affair since 2011.  Other Twin Cities credits include Off-Leash Area, Frank Theatre, Interact and Dreamland Arts.  Heather is also an educator, working as a part-time instructor at Interact, and she was recently awarded an ArtSage Fellowship to develop an education program in assisted living facilities and day centers across the metro area. Heather received her B.A. from Macalester College and a Certificate from the London International School of Performing Arts. 

Diogo Lopes

Diogo Lopes studied at the Academia Contemporânea do Espectáculo in Porto, Portugal, and at LISPA (London International School of Performing Arts). He has been performing, devising, teaching, and directing Physical Theatre and Clown since 2001 in Portugal, Spain, France, the UK and the USA. In the Twin Cities he has performed with Live Action Set’s The Happy Show, for the Minnesota Fringe Festival with Ballad of the Pale Fisherman and Red Resurrected, the Children’s Theatre Company’s productions of Babe and The Cat In The Hat, The King Is Dead directed by Jon Ferguson, and Theatre Novi Most's Picnic on the Battlefield. With Transatlantic Love Affair, Diogo has conceived and directed Ash Land (2012) and These Old Shoes (2013), Solitaire (2014), 105 Proof (2015), and Promise Land (2017). 
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Eric Marinus

Eric Marinus is a Twin Cities-based performer. He trained in the UK at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). Here in Minnesota, he has worked with Transatlantic Love Affair, Live Action Set, Interact, Black Dirt Theater, and Savage Umbrella. He has performed at the Guthrie's Dowling Studio, the Illusion Theater, the Southern, Theatre in the Round, and in the Minnesota Fringe. With Transatlantic Love Affair, he has performed in Ash Land, These Old Shoes, 105 Proof, Emilie/Eurydice, Promise Land, and The Privateer.
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Derek Lee Miller

Derek Lee Miller is an actor, puppeteer, designer, writer and musician. He earned his BFA in acting and technical theatre at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. During his time there, he founded the Last Chance Theatre, an underground experimental black box space and was awarded the school’s McNabb Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Theater.  He has toured nationally as a puppeteer for Madcap Puppets in Cincinnati, OH and regionally as an actor/educator for Twin Cities companies National Theatre for Children and Teatro del Pueblo. The Yaddo Artists Colony in Saratoga Springs, NY awarded him two residencies for playwriting in 2006 and 2007.  Derek was voted Outstanding Male Performance of the 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival for his role in Transatlantic Love Affair’s Red Resurrected and was also part of that group’s 2012 Ivey Award-winning play, Ballad of the Pale Fisherman.

Adelin Phelps

Adelin Phelps is a founding and core member of Transatlantic Love Affair. Since graduating from Coe College with a B.A. in Theatre, she has worked with the Minnesota Shakespeare Company, the Brazen Theatre, the Workhouse Theatre, the American Shakespeare Repertory Theatre, Jon Ferguson Theatre, Freshwater Theatre, Illusion Theatre, Walking Shadow Theatre, Swandive Theatre, Park Square Theatre, and others.

Allison Witham

Allison Witham is a local Twin Cities-based performer, author, teacher, and deviser. When not in the rehearsal room, Allison teaches Humanities English and AVID for ninth graders at South High School in Minneapolis. Originally from a suburb of Chicago, she ventured up to MN for the U of M where she received B.A.s in English Literature and Theatre Arts, as well as a M.Ed. in English Education. Allison is a core and founding member of both Transatlantic Love Affair and Theatre Forever, sits on the board of Theatre Novi Most, and is a collaborator with the various factions of 1419. Additionally, Allison has been honored to have worked with Black Label Movement, Live Action Set, Jon Ferguson Theater, Freshwater Theatre, and 20% Theatre's writer's cabaret. Most recently, Allison's piece, "Elegant Carnage" was published in Freshwater Theatre's Dirty Girls Come Clean anthology, which is currently available for purchase on Amazon.

Past Core Ensemble Members

Anna Reichert (Founding and past Core Ensemble Member)
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010, 2012)
Red Resurrected (2011, 2013)
Ash Land (2012, 2014) - Costume Designer
These Old Shoes (2013) - Costume Designer

Willie Gambucci (Founding and past Core Ensemble Member)
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010, 2012)
Red Resurrected (2011, 2013)
Ash Land (2012)

Collaborators

Avi Aharoni
Promise Land (2017)

Amber Bjork
Solitaire (2014)
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2015, 2016)

China Brickey
The Privateer (2017)

Barry Browning
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2016) - Lighting Designer

Cristina Castro
​The Devout (2019)

Emily Dantuma
Emilie/Eurydice (2015) - Musician
Promise Land (2017) - Musician

Peyton Dixon
Promise Land (2017)

Joy Dolo
Solitaire (Development Workshop 2014)
Emilie/Eurydice (2015)
The Devout (2019) - Assistant Director

George Dornbach
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2015)

Antonio Duke
The Privateer (2017)

Emily Dussault
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2016)

Julia Gay
Promise Land (2017)

Joanna Harmon
Emilie/Eurydice (Development Workshop 2015)

Alex Hathaway
Solitaire (2014) - Musician
Emilie/Eurydice (2015)
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2016)

Emily Madigan
Promise Land (2017)

Peyton McCandless
Ash Land (2012, 2014)
These Old Shoes (2013, 2015)
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2015)

​Emily Michaels King
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2016)
Promise Land (2017)

Natavia Lewis
The Devout (2019)

Nora Montañez 
The Privateer (2017)

Gregory Parks
Promise Land (2017)

Adam Patterson
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2016) - Musician

Natalie Remus (Founding Ensemble Member)
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010)
Emilie/Eurydice (2015)

Nick Saxton
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2016)

Walken Schweigert
The Devout (2019) - Musician

Siddeeqah Shabazz
The Devout (2019)

John Stephens
The Privateer (2017)

Sam Stroup
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2015) - Musician

Dustin Tessier
These Old Shoes (2013, 2015) - Musician
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2015, 2016) - Musician
The Privateer (2017) - Musician

Michael Wangen
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2012, 2016) - Lighting Designer
Red Resurrected (2013) - Lighting Designer
Ash Land (2014) - Lighting Designer
These Old Shoes (2015) - Lighting Designer
Emilie/Eurydice (2015) - Lighting Designer
The Privateer (2017) - Lighting Designer
The Devout (2019) - Lighting Designer

Sally Wingert
Emilie/Eurydice (Development Workshop 2015)

Nick Wolf
Ash Land (2014)
105 Proof, or The Killing of Mack "The Silencer" Klein (2015, 2016)

Harper Zwicky
Ash Land (2012, 2014) - Musician

Advisory Board

Flannery Clark
Robin Gillette
John Heimbuch
Sarah Hilton
Bonnie Morris
Michael Robins
and Sally Wingert

TLA representatives: Diogo Lopes, Isabel Nelson, and Adelin Phelps