About

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Atonia Pettiford began her career as a model, appearing in numerous print ads, seen on billboards and in magazines including Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and Essence. She appeared in commercials in the U.S. and Europe for such major brands as Listerine, Yoplait Yogurt, Nescafe, NY Lottery, Johnson Hair Care, Bacardi, Ron Rico Rum. Additionally, Atonia’’s work on television credits include the soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live.   Audiences with a flair for fashion may know Atonia from the many years she spent as a  Host for The Home Shopping Network, Entertainment Television, Bid NY and Full Frontal Fashion. Her voice over credits include Publix Supermarket, DF King Financial, NJ Commission for the Blind, and Dark and Lovely. She also appeared in industrial films for corporations such as Prudential, Schering Plough, and Warner Lambert.   Lastly, but definitely not least, Atonia appeared as a showgirl in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club.  Atonia made her directorial debut in 2005 with the world premiere play, Girl Power, in the Estrogenius Festival at Manhattan Theater Source. After securing critical and popular reviews, she returned to direct The Monologues of Teen Life, an original work, and Voices of Africa. She has also directed live theatrical readings for the Reproductive Freedom festival.  She currently designs and facilitates after-school programs in theater for Educational Alliance Boys and Girls Club in NYC where she teaches, mentors and directs performance showcases for the students, where she has directed several Disney Jr. musicals. Atonia is also a highly sought-after entertainment industry lecturer and drama-teaching, artist trainer. 

Valarie Pettiford is an award-winning actor, dancer and singer. She earned a Tony and Grammy nomination for the hit Broadway musical, “Fosse," and can be seen currently as a series regular on two television shows: Bad Wolf Productions’ A Discovery of Witches on AMC and BBC America as Emily Mather, and as Chippy Duncan in The Family Business on BET PLUS. She has also recently starred in two Christmas movies, BET Plus' Switchmas and Hip Hop Christmas.    Valarie spent four years and earned three NAACP Image Awards nominations for her role as Big Dee Dee on UPN's hit sitcom Half and Half.  Her othertelevision highlights include the recurring role of Nancy on BET’s The First Wive’s Club, Sonia Eberhart on NCIS, Carol Dante on The Equalizer, Rachel on Home Economics, Grandma on Black AF, and recurring as Ronda Sales on season four of Being Mary Jane. She is also known for portraying Simone Porter on the CW's Valor, her recurring role as Charlene Cooper on NBC's “The Blacklist, Beverly on TVOne's "Born Again Virgin, Mrs. Duckworth on NBC's “Blackish, and wonderful guest-starring roles on shows such as Bones, House of Payne, True Blood, Treme, Criminal Minds, CSI Miami.  Valarie also spent time on soap operas, portraying Sheila Price on One Life To Live and Det. Courtney Walker on Another World.   On the silver screen, Valarie’s film highlights include the role of Wendy in Eleanor Coppola’s short film The Lunch, Aunt Geneva in Jumping the Broom, Aunt Jackie in Stomp The Yard, and a litany of co-starring roles in films such as Senior Moment, Jingle Belle, Boy Bye, If Not Now When?, Note To Self, Preacher's Son, Battlefield America, Why Did I Get Married 2, and Glitter. Her early film credits included being a Featured Dancer in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club and The Wiz!   In addition to her Tony nomination, Valarie was also nominated for the Outer Critics, Drama League, and Mora Dora awards for "Fosse". She was one of the principal dancers in the first national tour of Bob Fosse's "Dancin" and his last original musical, "Big Deal," in which she was in the trio Dancin Dan and his Shadows, and was given various supporting roles throughout the show. She was also personally asked to participate in the Backers Audition, then became part of his skeleton Crew and Dance Captain. Valarie was part of the original cast of ”Sophisticated Ladies" and was Judith Jameson understudy, where she got the chance to go on during previews, getting her first glowing review. Valarie was also nominated for an Ovation Award as Julie in the tour of "Showboat" directed by the legendary Hal Prince. Valarie was the first American to portray Velma Kelly in the West End revival of "Chicago," starring alongside Chita Rivera. When Ms. Rivera was inducted into The Kennedy Center Honors, she personally requested Valarie reprise the role.   Her other theater highlights include the role of Anita in the 30th Anniversary Tour of "West Side Story,” performing ‘America’ from the show on CBS’ Celebrating the Bicentennial, and the role of Fleta in Hal Prince’s “Grind.” She won an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress as Queenie in the LA premiere of Michael John La Chuisa's “The Wild Party.” She also received the Bistro Award for Cabaret Debut at the Metropolitan Room. Valarie has performed sold-out concerts of her one woman show across the country. Valarie has released two albums entitled, 'Hear My Voice', and 'Velvet Sky'.   Valarie is honored to be part of The Verdon Fosse Legacy. She is one of a handful of dancers/choreographers who have been trusted by his estate with the reconstruction of Bob Fosse's original choreography, and teaching it to a new generation of dancers. She was privileged to reconstruct four numbers for FX’s Fosse/Verdon, starring Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell, both of whom received awards for their portrayals. 

Robert Hensley is an award-winning makeup artist and content creator: writer, director, and producer with more than 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry.  Robert's career began in fashion styling and costume design, later transitioning to makeup. As a costume designer, his work has included  designs for contemporary ballets and off-Broadway plays, including the world premiere of Gatsby in Hollywood by Joshua Rebell, for which he received a Best Costumes Honorable Mention from the 2003 Garland Awards. As a makeup artist, he has created looks for some of the most famous faces in the world for red carpets, magazine covers, television shows, and on film. Robert was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on season four of Kit Williamson's Eastsiders. A dare led Robert to write his first play, The Dark Sisters, a short adaptation of a Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, which was originally produced as part of George Larkin's Grimm Fest at the MET Theatre in Los Angeles in 2003, and was later published as part of The True Stories of the Brothers Grimm by JAC Publishing. In 2004, his next play, the full-length dark comedy, Turning Out, was produced in Los Angeles by the Blank Theatre Company. It was also published by JAC. He later self-published a collection of short plays, Death, Life and a Creme Filled Center, which had been produced as a staged reading at Anthony Meindl's Meta Theatre. His first self-published work of fiction was the YA novella, Leo's Love Story, an LGBT-themed, sci-fi teen romance. It was nominated for the YA Fiction Award at the 2013 Los Angeles Book Awards. Robert most recently published a collection of short screenplays, Short Attention Span. Robert's first screenplay, the short film Texas Toast, was produced by Alyson Fouse and directed by Chane't Johnson. Since then, he has written, directed and produced numerous short films, including the psychological thriller Birth Mother, the supernatural drama A Moment, and the family drama A Mother's Love. His short films, The Taste of Salt, a relationship drama, and Homewrecker, a genre thriller, both screened at numerous international festivals and won multiple awards. Robert's first feature film, Family Affair, which was completed during the pandemic lockdown, is now in festivals and winning awards. Robert works as talent producer and host for Tony Sweet's Truth Be Told media collective, hosting Monday afternoon's Truth Be Told Minuteman Report. Additionally, he is a producer on the mental health advocacy podcast Mental Health Mondays with Marla and Dave. He created the beauty-based, digital series and podcast Face Value, which premiered in January 2022.  With a number of completed screenplays in his catalog, Robert is always looking for opportunities to create and tell new stories. He is currently attached to direct the romantic comedy, Roasted, for Leonian Pictures from a screenplay he wrote. He continues to develop new content and film ideas.