Uptown One Train Theater

Ben is interested in the intersection of public space, urbanism, and the arts. Outside of his producorial work with Uptown One, his career working to transform public space across the city is rooted in his commitment to world-building, communal play, and spatial equity. He is the Director of Deployments at the clean energy and mobility start-up, PopWheels, by day, and a co-founder of Uptown One Train Theater company by night. Performing since he was 8 years old, some of Ben's favorite credits include Mastiff (The Moors), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), and The Dentist (Little Shop of Horrors). Ben graduated from Brown University with a degree in History and has training in The Meisner Technique, Shakespeare, and musical comedy.

Lydia is a writer, performer, and sometimes director born, raised, and based in New York City. Her original plays include Rocks and Geodes (The Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research), Scorpions Don't Bite (Providence Fringe Festival), RUFUS (Brown University), and The IKEA Play (The National Theater Institute). She's developed work with Invulnerable Nothings, The Connecticut Theater Exchange, and Brown/Trinity's Writing is Live. Her thesis film, This Was Really Great, was an NYCIFF official selection. In all of her work, she draws on her background in sketch comedy and clown.

Elena Messinger is a director, producer, and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Select credits include: Last Laugh (director, upcoming, ZOO Venues); Lost Grrrl Found (producer, TV EYE); nesting (director/writer, Write Club’s Play Fest); Dad Don’t Read This (producing assistant, St. Luke’s); The Moors (producer, Uptown One Train); Climate Controlled Facility with Elevator Access and Other Amenities (director/writer, The Tank); Dr. Ride’s American Beach House (director, Columbia University Players); Ivanov (Assistant Director, dir: Laura Strausfeld). Previously, Elena has worked and/or interned for the creative producer Pomegranate Arts, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Clubbed Thumb, and the Redwing Blackbird Theatre.

Annie Stein is a producing member of Uptown One Train. White Elephant is her first full-length play to have a production! She developed it with Uptown One's inaugural playwriting cohort, as well as Trove Theater Collective. Before all of that, her one-act The Ghost of Bob Dylan Shows One of Us Greatness was a finalist in the 2025 Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series. More recently, she was a finalist for the 2026 Red Bull Theater Short New Play Festival. She has worked with the Episodic Theatre Project, Williamstown Theater Festival, and Brown University's Something on the Green, in roles varying in title but equal in fun.