Annie Howell is a writer, filmmaker, and educator based in Manhattan, where she teaches third-year writing in NYU’s Graduate Film program and holds a Distinguished Lectureship in Film at City College’s MFA program. A returning Catwalk resident (Summer 2023), Howell will continue developing two major projects during her winter stay: a gothic stage musical addressing the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio, and an independent feature following three generations of a family on a single day trip from suburban New Jersey to Manhattan—each carrying a private agenda. Her work blends dark humor, intimacy, and social observation, and Catwalk once again provides a space for sustained creative focus.

https://linktr.ee/anniejhowell 

Molly Rydzel is a playwright, WGAE screenwriter, script consultant, and professor of screenwriting at NYU. A Catwalk alumna (August 2024), Rydzel returns to continue work on her provocative new play ChatGPT Says He Raped Me, which examines consent, kink gone wrong, artificial intelligence, and the uneasy transformation of private experience into consumable content. Having written a horror film during her previous stay, she looks forward to once again using Catwalk’s secluded environment to deepen focus and build momentum on this challenging and timely project.

https://mollyrydzel.com/

Chloe Sarbib is an American and French-Algerian filmmaker, writer, and professor based in Brooklyn whose work centers on characters caught in their own contradictions. Supported by organizations including Sundance, Tribeca/Chanel’s Through Her Lens, Cine Qua Non, and the Saltonstall Foundation, her films have screened at major Oscar- and BAFTA-qualifying festivals worldwide. A multi-time Catwalk resident (2019, 2022, 2023), Sarbib will begin a new project exploring love as cultural exchange, while also revising and translating her Sundance-supported feature Trou Normand, which follows a fading actress whose search for a lost family heirloom uncovers unexpected truths about her past.

https://www.chloesarbib.com/

Paulo K Tiról returns to Catwalk to continue developing DEAR AMERICA, a musical adaptation of the bestselling memoir by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and immigration activist José Antonio Vargas. Previously at Catwalk, Tiról collaborated with director Noam Shapiro on ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD, which premiered at East West Players in Los Angeles in 2023. During his Winter 2026 residency, he will focus on fleshing out, refining, and writing the music for DEAR AMERICA in preparation for the project’s next stages of development.

www.paulophonic.com

Affiliation: NYU

Ian Miller joins the Winter 2026 residency as music director for DEAR AMERICA, continuing his collaboration with Paulo K Tiról following their work together on ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD. He previously served as music director and orchestrator for the show’s world premiere and cast recording. During his time at Catwalk, Miller will support the musical’s development while also dedicating time to composing original music and advancing his pianistic repertoire.

musicianmiller.com

collaborator

Josie Bettman’s work investigates performance as a way of living—an ongoing act of self-creation that metabolizes memory into the present. Her practice moves fluidly between choreography, embodiment, and narrative, treating lived experience as both material and method. Bettman previously attended Catwalk during the Summer 2024 residency, where she developed the first draft of a narrative short film. During her Winter 2026 residency, she will continue refining and expanding this film, deepening its conceptual and performative dimensions.

vimeo.com/user61548105

Affiliation: Vassar

Rebecca Hart is a New York City–based performer and writer returning to Catwalk after a 2024 Main Residency. She is continuing development of submersible, a darkly funny semi-opera inspired by the 2023 Titan submersible implosion. The piece lifts the event onto a mythic plane, giving voice to both the Titan and the Titanic as female characters. During the winter residency, Hart focuses on refining the libretto and shaping the theatrical and musical structure of the work in collaboration with composer David Kornfeld, advancing the next integrated draft of the piece.

rebeccahart.substack.com

David Kornfeld is a Birmingham, Alabama–based composer, music director, and multi-instrumentalist making his first appearance at Catwalk. He has worked on national tours including Jagged Little Pill and Shucked, as well as productions at ART in Boston. During the residency, Kornfeld collaborates with Rebecca Hart on submersible, developing the musical language of the work. His focus includes crafting song moments, exploring the sonic seascape of the piece, and integrating music directly into the evolving draft of this opera-adjacent project.

www.davidkornfeld.net

João Paulo Schlittler is an artist, researcher, and Associate Professor at the University of São Paulo with an extensive background in motion design, broadcast graphics, and experimental animation. A returning Catwalk resident, he will further develop Banana Bubble, a documentary project begun in 1992. The work follows decades of interviews with Brazilian immigrants in New York and Brazil, centered on Maria Barragan, a woman closely connected to Schlittler’s family. The residency supports continued development of this long-form documentary exploring memory, migration, and enduring personal relationships across time.

www.tupi.tv