Meet The Team

Olivia Buntaine is an award-winning playwright, director, and theatrical intimacy professional who focuses on themes of liberation after violence. Through plays, poetry, and audiodrama, Olivia works most often in the universes of queerness, girlhood, and survivorship. Her work has troubled stages in Los Angeles, New York, Denver, and Chicago.She also is the Artistic Director of Project Nongenue, a theatre company dedicated to centralizing the voices of women and marginalized populations in classical theatre and mythology.

A rhapsodist at heart, she often sees contemporary political struggles sneaking through the cracks of classical literature and mythology, and in her writing aims to rip those cracks wide open. She's so happy to have found kindred spirits at Two Cent Lion and is ready for queer theatre to take over the world. 

Graduated with a degree in Marketing & Theatre from the University of Denver, Jose Serrano continues to utilize his skills for several projects and nonprofit organizations in the Denver area. Whether on stage or behind the curtains as a consultant, he aspires to be a positive voice within the Hispanic/Latinx community.

Kevin Douglas (he/him) is a queer playwright, filmmaker, producer, and sound/projections designer from Denver, Colorado. He recently won a Henry Award for Sound Design (Clink Clink, co-designed by Taelor Hansen). He completed his Bachelor’s (theatre/english) and Master’s (management) degrees at the University of Denver. He recently lived in London, where he completed his Master’s (screenwriting) at Raindance Film School. His plays, films, and TV series aim to create positive queer representation by exploring the complexity (and the messiness) of human relationships.

 Learn more on his website: www.kevintdouglas.com

Gracie Jacobson is a 26-year-old artist whose passions lie in arts access and equitable arts education. They graduated from the University of Denver where they earned a BS in Finance and BA in Theatre in 2021, and are currently pursuing their master’s degree in documentary filmmaking at the University of Edinburgh. Gracie has performed and worked in theatre since they were 5 years old.

At the age of 16, Gracie co-founded, designed, and taught at Discover Theatre, a week-long theater camp for children in the foster care system. The program ran in Portland for 3 years. Other directing/assistant directing credits include Tony Kushner's Flip, Flop, Fly!, Dale Wasserman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at Sterling Correctional Facility, as well as Yesterday Today, In Loving Memory, and Josie’s Diner here at Two Cent Lion.

Gracie strives to make art more equitable and elevate queer narratives. They are incredibly excited to be along for the ride of 2¢ Lion Theatre Company with two of their closest friends. 

Izzy Chern is a queer theatremaker born and raised in Chicago. They graduated from the University of Denver in 2021 having earned a BA in theatre with distinction in acting.

They were introduced to the world of theatre at age 8 and realized there was nothing else they would rather do. Izzy began their official theatre training at age 14 at The Chicago Academy for the arts. Since then, they have been seen onstage in over 30 productions ranging from classics to new works (The Wolves, Hedda Gabler, Kid Simple, Cymbeline, Noises Off!). Along with their work onstage, they are also well versed in directing, designing, and technical theatre.

Outreach theatre and theatre education have also been a big part of Izzy’s life. Along with three years as a kindergarten, first grade, and ECE teacher, they have assisted in arts-based family days for incarcerated folks (DU Prison Arts Initiative) as well as a three-week devised theatre workshop in Zanzibar, Tanzania (Global Empowerment Theatre). Their goal as an artist is to make people feel held, seen, and valued.

Maxwell O'Neill, born and raised in Connecticut, moved to Colorado in 2017 to study at the University of Denver and graduated in 2021 with a BA in Theatre. Since then, Maxwell has been a jack-of-all-trades in the Denver theatre community, fulfilling such roles as; Lighting Designer for Two Cent Lion's Clink Clink (winning a Henry award for Lighting Design); Actor at Casa Bonita and DCPA Off-center; Stage Manager for the Japanese Arts Network; Technical Director for Colorado's Elusive Ingredient (The Rocky Horror Picture Show Shadow-cast).

Maxwell's true passion lies in immersive performance, and aspires to be a creator capable of transporting audiences into different worlds, regardless of what role he plays in the creative process.