About

Kay Matschullat is an accomplished performing and media arts director, producer, educator, and founder whose work is dedicated to deconstructing barriers and exploring inventive collaborations.

In 2013, Matschullat set her sights on driving innovation in performing arts through the intersection of technology and the arts by founding Scriptopia, the first software application for collaborative, online script development. After successfully launching Scriptopia, Matschullat secured angel funding for Media Art Xploration (MAX), a non-profit dedicated to the cultivation and presentation of performing and media arts with the goal of increasing artistic exploration and humanistic inquiry into the light-speed advances in science and technology. She most enjoys creating space for artists and scientists to change the world and to that end, she is curating MAX 2019: A Space Festival.

Also currently producing America In The Balance, "AIB", a series of nonfiction theater episodes that explore critical moments in the American experiment through media, music, and storytelling. July 20, 2019 MAX's Young Americans, an episode of AIB presented at the festival, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing at Carnegie Hall.

Directing credits include the classics Threepenny Opera, All’s Well That Ends Well, Skin of Our Teeth, and Love’s Labour’s Lost; stage premiers of Dimetos and Echoes of a Thousand Hills in Rwanda; and Carson McCullers Talks About Love with Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik and songwriter Suzanne Vega (nominated for a Drama Desk Award). She has directed premier productions by renowned writers including former Czech Republic president and playwright Vaclav Havel (The Conspirators), Nobel Prize-winning Caribbean playwright Derek Walcott (To Die For Granada, Pantomime), and Pulitzer Prize winner Ariel Dorfman (Widows). Matschullat founded the new play program at The Williamstown Theater Festival and InTheRaw at Red Bull Theater.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and recipient of a Master of Arts degree from NYU, Matschullat’s awards include an NEA Directing Fellowship, a TCG Fellowship, a Rubin Foundation Production Grant, a Fulbright Senior Fellowship, and Harvard’s Rudolf Arnheim Award for Interdisciplinary Work. As an artist and educator, Matschullat served on NYU’s Tisch full-time faculty for over two decades and taught in Princeton University’s Theater and Dance program. Matschullat has held artistic residencies at Dartmouth College, Harvard College, CALARTS, SCAD, Duke University, and she will be a lecturer at Harvard College in 2019. Photo by Gabrielle Herman.

Rod Starr is a retired executive with extensive business experience in the energy industry, where he held senior leadership positions around the globe. Most recently, Rod was the CEO of a Dubai-based geophysical technology company with a fleet of advanced seismic acquisition vessels operating throughout the world. An active philanthropist, Rod uses his executive leadership expertise to develop and grow non-profit organizations and foundations. In addition to being Director of Strategic Development and Operations at Media Art Xploration, Rod is also the founder and current Board Chair of the Grant-A-Starr Foundation. The non-profit organization advocates and generates funding for the advancement of diagnostic testing in the medical field to save children’s lives and funds world-class research projects at Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Alia Brandt is passionate about the arts and their ability to produce positive change. As an Assistant Producer at MAX, she facilitates the interplay of art and science to foster innovation and break boundaries. Alia has a BA in English from UC Berkeley and experience working in film and television production.

Andrew Burmester is a San Francisco based marketing professional whose specialty is non-profit and performing arts organizations. Since 2012 he has been been on staff at Z Space, where he is the Marketing Director. An intense focus on communicating the artistic essence of a work, while always keeping the audience's perspective in mind is a hallmark of his marketing strategy. Previous companies worked for include the California Academy of Sciences and Levi Strauss & Co., and freelance clients include foolsFURY, 3 Girls Theater, Comunicado, and of course Media Arts eXploration. When not marketing theater, he’s usually playing and writing music, hiking, or with his nose in a book. 

Deniz Tortum works in film and new media. His work has screened internationally, including Venice Film Festival, SxSW, Sheffield Doc/Fest and True/False. He has organized new media exhibitions and conferences at MIT Open Documentary Lab, Istanbul Independent Film Festival and Camden International Film Festival. He has an MS from MIT in comparative media studies and a BA from Bard College in film & electronic arts.

Abigail Johnson is very excited to be working at the intersection of the arts and sciences. As MAX's Development Associate, she manages grants, donor relations, and strategic planning. Abigail will graduate with a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia, where she studies computational humanities.