playbill vip

Nicole Oliver

Producer/Founding Member

Nicole is a theatre arts teacher with the JCArts High School Honors Program @ NJCU. She was previously the director & founder of award-winning Conwell Kidz Drama Program. CKDP traveled the country receiving top honors at festivals around the country. She was the 2017 JCPS District teacher of the year and the recipient of The Freddie G Fellowship, an award which  honors outstanding muscial theatre educators from around the world. She is a proud graduate of Fordham University @ Lincoln Center with a BA in Theatre Performance & is working towards her Masters Degree at St. Peter's College. She worked as a professional actor for 10 yrs. & is a member of Actors' Equity. She is on The Board of Directors at Pushcart Players, & works with JC Youth Foundation to bring opportunities in the arts to the youth of JC. She is extremely honored to be working with such an amazing team this year!

Melida Rodas

Producer

Poet Laureate of Jersey City | Award-Winning Artist | NJ Certified Teacher K–12

Melida Rodas is a writer, interdisciplinary artist, activist, and former School Coordinator for the Dodge Poetry Festival. Her work has been featured at New Jersey Performing Arts Center with Nimbus Dance Group’s People Place Disruption. Blending poetry with projection mapping, light, music, and film, she creates immersive work rooted in social and climate justice. Rodas serves as Poet Laureate of Jersey City (2024–2026) and was the city’s inaugural poet in 2013.

She founded the Jersey City Poetry Festival. Her work on migrant and working-class experiences has been featured by Save Ellis Island and published by Oxford University Press, Pearson, and The Feminist Press. She has performed with the New Jersey Symphony and teaches poetry at WALDO International School and the Newark Museum.