Our Staff:

Krista D’Agostino, Producing Artistic Director and Director in Residence, graduated from Boston College in 2005 with a BA in Theatre Arts. She co-founded Holland Productions in 2006 and directed the company’s inaugural production of Emily Dendinger’s Swimming After Dark. Additional full-length directing credits include Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz, Naomi Iizuka’s Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, Jane Martin’s Keely and Du, and Philana Gnatowski’s Halfway House Club. Krista has also been involved directing new works for festivals produced by local companies such as Another Country Productions, Boston Actors Theater, Company One, and for the Boston Theatre Marathon. As a directing intern at Williamstown Theatre festival in 2009 Krista assisted Amanda Charlton on Melinda Lopez’s new play Caroline in Jersey and directed Film Noir, by Adam Szymkowicz; Sidewalk Art, by Erica Lipez; and The Admiral and Diane, by Crystal Gomes.

Lydia Anderson, Director of Development and Dramaturge in Residence, graduated from Bard College in 2003 with her BA in Theater with a concentration in Theology, and received her MA in Theater History from the University of South Carolina in 2007. Dramaturgical work includes The Baltimore Waltz and Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls with Holland Productions, Fuddy Meers and Gather Together: An Evening of Music and Theater at USC, and The Taming of the Shrew and The Importance of Being Earnest at the Kudzu Playhouse in her hometown of Hernando, Mississippi. Lydia has also worked as a director at the Claremont School of Theology (Abraham by Hrotsvit of Gandersheim) and assistant director with the USC Opera Department (Acis and Galatea, Dr. Miracle, L’Enfant Prodigue, and Postcard From Morocco).

Victor Shopov, Director of Finance and Operations, is a local actor/wannabe playwright/grad student living and working in Boston. He graduated from Emerson College in 2004 with degrees in Political Communications and Broadcast Journalism and is currently wrapping up his MBA at Northeastern University. After having been bitten by the acting bug in early 2008, he has performed in numerous productions in and around Boston, including Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls and The Halfway House Club with HP, The Heidi Chronicles with the Longwood Players, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare {Abridged) with the Gurnet Theatre Project. This summer, he will be tackling Shakespeare’s goliath Macbeth with the Gurnet Theatre Project and Neil Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady in the fall with the Happy Medium Theatre company.

Emily Dendinger, Playwright in Residence, has had works produced around the country including Massachusetts, North Dakota, Florida, and her native Virginia. Her play Swimming After Dark was first performed at Boston College and was then selected for performance at the 2006 American College Theatre Regional Festival in Fitchburg, MA after being named one of the two winners in the 1X2 One Act Playwriting Competition the previous winter. It was the inaugural production for Holland Productions in August 2006, and it most recently won the Women Playwrights’ Initiative’s 2008 Playwriting Competition and was produced in Orlando, FL this past May. Emily is a recipient of the 2005 National Selection Team Kennedy Center Fellowship for Outstanding Achievements, and she is a twice participant in the KCACTF Summer Intensive Playwriting program. Her one-act play Family Tree was named the Senior Theatre League of America’s Best Play 2004, and it is currently published by Dramatic Publishing. Emily recently completed her Masters in Humanities with a focus on Literature and Playwriting from the University of Chicago and currently resides in Chicago.


Our History:

Holland Productions was founded in 2006 by three Boston College graduates looking to promote the female voice on Boston’s stage. The company opened that July with co-founding member Emily Dendinger’s Swimming After Dark; a story of love, literature, and ownership.

After taking a short break, Holland Productions launched its first full-length season at The Factory Theatre in October of 2008 with Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz. Since then, Holland productions has produced several more full-length plays including Naomi Iizuka’s Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, Philana Gnatowski’s, The Halfway House Club, and a staged reading of Emily Dendinger’s Hideous Progeny. The company and its staff are active members of the Boston theatre scene, participating in The Boston Theatre Marathon and working and collaborating with a number of other Boston-based companies in a variety of capacities.

Now in its second season at The Factory Theatre, Holland Productions continues its commitment to the advancement of female artists in the theatre. The company produces plays by contemporary female playwrights and those by males which feature substantial and challenging roles for women. Holland Productions strives to advance females in all disciplines of the theater and encourages the participation of female designers and staff on every production.


Mission Statement:

Holland Productions believes in honest theatre; theatre that engages the heart, cultivates creativity, and dissolves boundaries. We believe that theatre is truly a collaborative process and we strive to create work where all those involved, from actor to audience, can bring individual experiences to explore. It is our goal to provide a forum for the ideas of contemporary playwrights and a channel for the female voice. Through smart, sensitive, and stimulating theatre Holland Productions is committed to challenging the complexity of reality.