PROGRAM 3
Program #3* (4th Floor)
Cycles by Shakerria Breonie
Justice for Geetha by Sunita Deshpande
*Shows in this block include Equity Members appearing with permission of Actor’s Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this off-off Broadway production.
cycles
By Shakerria Breonie
Directed by Candaceia Charles
Synopsis: Two relationships, decades apart, reveal how patterns of love and loss repeat across generations. A young woman discovers that breaking free from her parents' mistakes requires more than just recognizing them—it demands the courage to choose differently.
Shakerria Breonie Henderson* (Bianca Harris) is a NYC-based playwright and actress whose work explores themes of memory, identity, and emotional inheritance. She trained at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater and holds an AS in Theater from LaGuardia Community College. Her acting credits include The Frenchman (The Tank), A Doll's House (Sanctuary Theater Company) and Columbus Is Happening (Joe’s Pub). She is endlessly grateful to her family and the entire Cycles team for their dedication, talent, and belief in this work. Cycles marks her debut as both playwright and producer! IG:@shakerriabreonie
*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.
Malissa Y. Myers (Samantha Harris) is a New Jersey native who discovered her passion on stage 16 years ago at Crossroads Theater. She has starred in notable stage productions such as American Menu, Love Under Contract, Tangled Vows, and Sunset Baby. Malissa is known for her dedication, professionalism, and contagious laughter. In 2025 she won Tommy’s Best Actor of the Year Award and lives by the motto, “Stay Encouraged for the Best is Yet to Come!” IG:@msmyers707
Skyler James Bailey (Terrell Dixon) is a New York City based actor. Born in The Bronx, NY. THEATER: Thoughts Of A Colored Man Dir. Tremane Harris (651 Arts 2025) Lions Don’t Hug Dir. Stella Sacca (Winterfest 2020, Brooklyn Art Haus Residency 2023), Black Magic Dir. Tony Jenkins (Fringe Festival Winner 2016), Serials at The Fled Dir. Crystal Sky Williams.
Colin Pieters (Cedric Harris) is a Guyanese-born actor. He was most recently seen on stage as Hamlet in Hamlet at The Collapsable Hole. He has trained continuously at HB Studio, T. Schreiber Studio, and with The Barr Hill Players. When not acting, Colin can be found behind the camera as a photographer archiving life and as a creative producer creating stories for digital platforms.
Anayah Cobbler (Young Bianca) is a dynamic young Brooklyn-based performer. At just 11 years old, she has trained at Barbizon and brings experience in theater, dance, modeling, and music. She has starred in school productions, cultural festivals, and youth media projects with CAMBA. Anayah is a joyful force in any room and a young star to watch
Candaceia Charles (Director) is a Brooklyn-based multi-hyphenate artist working across theater and film. She’s no stranger to this building, having directed Frenchman at The Tank, and has helmed projects ranging from short films to children’s theater classics like Annie and Winnie the Pooh. As a performer, she’s appeared in Addy and Uno (Theatre Row) and Columbus is Happening (Joe’s Pub). She’s also performed alongside artists like Jennifer Hudson, and Andra Day. She’s grateful to God and to her village.
Cory Fletcher (Terrell - Stand In 7/11) is a Brooklyn-born performer and graduate of LaGuardia Community College’s Theatre program. He is a member of Truthworker Theatre Company, a hip hop social justice collective addressing mass incarceration, prison reform, and community healing through performance. Cory is grateful to the Cycles team for welcoming him aboard and creating space for reflection, forgiveness, and most of all, family.
justice for geetha
Written and Directed by Sunita Deshpande
Synopsis: BASED ON A TRUE STORY --- In an ugly, fluorescent-lit breakroom of a New Jersey water treatment plant, two secretaries—bold, self-aware Tabitha and sweet, sheepish, religious Chelle—find themselves trapped in the emotional fallout of a mysterious workplace tragedy. Their colleague, Geeta Angara, an accomplished Indian-American chemist and mother of three, has been found drowned in one of the plant's massive water tanks. The official story says accident. Tabitha suspects otherwise. Tabitha, a WOC, desires pure faith for the truth while Chelle retreats into fear, HER faith, and denial. What begins as idle chatter becomes an interrogation of complicity, silence, and the cost of survival in a system stacked against women—especially women of color.
Inspired by a real-life case, Justice for Geetha is a tense, darkly comic workplace thriller about corporate cover-ups, invisible labor, and the quiet courage it takes to speak up when the world is telling you to stay silent.
Sunita Deshpande is a New York–based actor and writer whose work explores silence, identity, and the tension between belonging and invisibility. Her new play, Justice for Geetha, examines the real-life drowning of Geetha Angara—an immigrant scientist whose success was met with resentment—and draws a chilling parallel to the suffocating structures of corporate America. It marks her third original play at the Chain Theatre Festival, following Princess of Tea and An Indian Wedding on a Starry Night in South Georgia Somewhere in Early November. Her award-winning short A Sari for Pallavi highlights her passion for telling untold stories with heart, depth, and bite.
Julie Priscilla Amangoua (Tabitha) is a first-generation Ivorian-American actress who's thrilled to be making her theatre debut at Chain Theatre. She's been honing her craft with her acting coach, Michael Ryan and proudly calls the Freeman Studio her artistic home. Most recently, Julie wrapped filming on the feature film "As Good as Dead". A fluent French speaker, she brings a multicultural perspective to her work. When she's not on stage, she's often found in front of her mirror singing into a hairbrush and dancing like nobody's watching, to her favorite R&B tracks. Julie is deeply grateful to her incredible support system -whose love and encouragement continue to fuel her artistic journey!
Margaret Burrus (Chelle) is a NYC-based actor who performs for the stage, in sound, and on camera. She is a series regular on the audio anthology show THE TRUTH (Radiotopia from PRX), most recently playing the role of Lake in Davy Gardner's PARIAH, a 3-part crime drama. She can be seen in THE DEBUT (Just for Laughs), MONSTERLAND (Hulu), LOVE LANGUAGES (Condé Nast Traveler) and several national commercials. Recent theater credits include Live from Chapel Hill! by senior SNL writer Bryan Tucker; Miss New Hampshire by 20-time Moth Story Slam Winner Adam Wade; and Pat Robinson's Sublease. She is represented by Take 3 Talent and a student at The Prep NYC.
Sunita Deshpande (Narrator) As an actor, Sunita is known for her emotionally grounded performances in Marvel’s Daredevil, Moonshot (HBO Max), 30 Rock, and Broad City. With a background in Meisner training and longform improv, Sunita brings visceral honesty and bold vulnerability to both the page and the stage.
Producer
Shubhra Prakash | शुभ्रा प्रकाश is a theater artist committed to telling bold, community-driven stories. She has co-created international festivals, socially conscious comics, and short films centering women and people of color. She is proud of this team of artists who are bringing light to the untold story of Geetha Angara.