Our Team
Alicia Queen
Alicia Queen is an American writer, director, performer, and artistic director of the Ohlavaka Ensemble. Prior to creating BETTY which began workshops in Chicago, Illinois in 2021, she co-wrote and performed in Beyond the Mountain of Glass in Guimaëc, France with the Ohlavaka Ensemble. She met the members of Ohlavaka at L'Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. She has also been involved with several theaters in Chicago, Illinois, in numerous capacities over a decade, including writer/performer of Shakespeare's Female Women for the Chicago Comedy Festival, author of The Merry Wives of Reservoir for Two Pence Shakespeare, director of No Exit at Trap Door Theatre, director of Pagliacci with The Cobalt Opera, puppeteer/performer/creator of Erik Tylkowski's shadow theater version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; and producer/director of Pandemic. She has also directed several theater workshops at Rhodes College in Tennessee.
Alexander Burnett
Alexander is an American actor and puppeteer trained at the École Jacques Lecoq. He recently appeared Off-Broadway in The Immortal Jellyfish Girl with Wakka Wakka Productions. Passionate about the fusion of drag and theater, he appeared in a one-man show Unexpected Turbulence at the Edinburgh Festival. When he's not on stage, Alexander teaches at the Université Paris-Est Créteil and runs drama workshops with DramaTies and ArtEd cie.
Remi Oriogun-Williams
Remi is a British actress originally from London. She trained for two years at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. For several years, Remi has worked on both sides of the Channel. In France, she has appeared in shows such as Even Elephants Do It with the Horizontal Vertical company, a play about Cécile Winter, a doctor during the deadly years of AIDS, and in the monologue Working girls with the Compagnie MB. In the UK, she collaborates with the Gobbledegook Theatre company on several street art pieces, including Geophonic and Ear Trumpet. She has also worked with other companies in the UK, including a national tour as a performer in The Cause, an original production about suffragism with Dreadnought Southwest, and the immersive production Hanging Around with Angel Exit Théâtre.
Ellie Whittaker
Ellie Whittaker is a British theatre maker based in France. She moved to Paris to study at L'école Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. Since graduating she has performed with Cie Oh La VaKa, worked with Cie Gros Plaisir & Cie ShiftShape as a dramaturg and outside eye and is currently developing a clown duo with Alexander Burnett to premier in the UK in May 2024. Previous to moving to France she co-founded Fiercely Spun company with whom she performed multiple times at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was a member of the Leeds Playhouse Young Company. She is also passionate about teaching theatre and delivers courses and workshops as well as directing youth theatre projects in France.
Ivet Sanz Vincent
Ivet is a Spanish performing artist and creator. She has been working with Ohlavaka Ensemble since the beginning of 2024 and graduated from L'école Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in 2021. In addition to working with Ohlavaka, she is also currently creating an original, multi media production with Remi Oriogun-Williams.
Kyra Vandenenden
Kyra Vandenenden is a Nantes-based playwright, performer and puppeteer, and co-producer of Ohlavaka Ensemble. She has written and acted in several of her own works, including The Super Sad and Really Tragic Story of Analeise and Dingbat Dodo Down Disco. She helped create and collaborate the Ohlavaka Ensemble from a shared love of puppetry and physical theater during her studies at the École Lecoq in Paris. You can currently see her in Dracula by Plexus Polaire and in The Immortal Jellyfish Girl with Wakka Wakka Productions.
Andres Hernandez
Andres Hernandez was born in Rancagua, Chile. He began studying piano at the age of 10, which led him to play in numerous bands of various genres (classical, rock, progressive rock, metal, folk, cumbia, salsa) before working as a conductor for musicals. In 2014, he embarked on studies in popular music composition and arrangement in popular music at the Modern Schoolof Music and Dance in Santiago de Chile. At the same time, he has worked for various theatrical productions, both indoor and street shows, notably in the play Doctor Dappertutto by Cie Teatro del Silencio directed by Mauricio Celedon and Claire Joinet. As a theater composer, he plays both acoustic instruments and computer-assisted music (for Colectivo Ladra with Panxo Jimenez). Today, he lives in Paris and plays an active role in the musical creation of the OHLAVAKA Ensemble company.