Meet our staff
Jaylin Guerrera
Journeying Artistic Collaborator
Public AllyJaylin Guerrera (she/her/hers) is a Dominican-American multi-media artist with a passion for filmmaking, graphic design, and fine arts. She grew up on the East Coast and moved to Arizona in 2021. Jaylin values the healing properties of creating, and strives to extend that healing to others. Her interests include music, movies, creating, video games, and more. Jaylin has an Associate’s in the Arts from Scottsdale Community College, where she studied graphic design and filmmaking. She also has experience as a Production Coordinator, a freelance designer, and as a 1st AD on various film shoots. Her first experience with Rising Youth Theatre started back in 2021 with Keysmash, a performance based on mental health struggles for youth. Jaylin values creativity, adventure, leisure, and community. When she is not working, she is listening to music, painting, or taking photos!
Journeying Artistic CollaboratorTom JOHNSON
Bio Coming Soon!
Producing Artistic CollaboratorRaeana Casillas
RaeAna Casillas (they/them) is a first-generation Chicanx immigrant with a passion for film, performance art, photography, and social activism. Coming from a family of visual artists, they know that art is the key to impacting laws and opening dialogue across differing communities. By focusing their work on social justice and human rights, they aim to make an impact on all of the people who view their work. The first play RaeAna participated in with Rising Youth Theatre was Antonia, a Chicanx adaptation of Antigone. They have continued to work with Rising Youth Theatre for the past ten years and are currently employed as a Producing Artistic Collaborator. In 2022, they earned the Arizona State Seal of Arts Proficiency. In 2025, they earned the Moeur Award and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University with a BFA in Film and Media Production.
Producing Artistic CollaboratorThameenah (tai) muhammad
Thameenah “Ty” Muhammad (they/he/she) is a 20 year-old Black {Afro-Caribbean} queer artist and activist. Ty is a Producing Artistic Collaborator with Rising Youth Theatre and a co-founder of RE:Frame Youth Arts Center. She is the Arts Camp Manager for the Rising Youth Theatre and Phoenix Center for the Arts Summer Camp. They are a multidisciplinary artist whose main mediums include: acting, dancing, poetry/spoken word, and visual art. Ty’s work reflects the fire in her heart; they aim to help the world the best she can, whether that’s during a protest or by joking with everyone they meet.
Producing Artistic CollaboratorKate haas
Kate Haas (she/her/hers) is a Phoenix-based performer, writer, teaching artist, and collaborator. She holds a BA in Theatre from Arizona State University, where she especially enjoyed working on the Student Production Board to help produce student-driven work. She has also been part of the ensemble with Childsplay since 2007, and has spent many months during the year touring theatre into schools and devising new work with her students. Kate believes in the power of art to stimulate conversation, empathy, self-expression, healing, and social change; and she is passionate about integrating the arts into educational curriculum. She also works in the Doctoring program at the UofA College of Medicine in downtown Phoenix, where medical students train to communicate efficiently and empathetically with their patients. Kate is the Financial Collaborator for Rising Youth Theatre, and has also appeared in The Light Rail Plays, which she loves due to its emphasis on creating art in unexpected places.
Producing Artistic CollaboratorSarah sullivan
Sarah Sullivan (she/her/hers) is a theatre artist, arts administrator, and writer living, working and creating in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a Producing Artistic Collaborator at Rising Youth Theatre, where she focuses on administrative and operational work, building systems that support radical and innovative artmaking and community. She holds an MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University and a BS in Theatre and English from Northwestern University. Her background is in both creative and administrative work, having taught and directed all over the Phoenix area, and previously serving as the Director of Development for Childsplay in Tempe. She makes art because it’s how she makes sense of the world, how she builds connections and bridges between people, how she learns and grows.
Producing Artistic CollaboratorXanthia Walker
Xanthia Angel Walker (she/her/hers) is an ensemble-based theatre artist, director, facilitator, creative strategist, and educator. She works locally, nationally, and internationally at the intersections of multigenerational collaboration, site-specific performance, justice, dialogue, and community. She earned an MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University. Xanthia is a Producing Artistic Collaborator of Rising Youth Theatre. Xanthia is also a founding member of the Las Fronterizas Ensemble, which creates original multidisciplinary work to honor, celebrate and visibilize stories of people and place that shape binational communities. Xanthia is a certified facilitator of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process. She works with the Design and Arts Corps at Arizona State University, dedicated to learning that centers community wisdom in community-engaged partnerships and practices in arts and design. She is the winner of the 2015 Phoenix New Times Big Brain Award in Performing Art. Her writing is featured in the anthology Staging Social Justice: Collaborating to Create Activist Theatre.
Journeying Artistic CollaboratorRay anderson
Bio Coming Soon!
Producing Artistic CollaboratorRachel Solis
Rachel Solis (she/her) is the Technical Artistic Collaborator for Rising Youth Theatre. She has an expertise in theatre production, having formerly worked as the Production Manager of Childsplay and stage managed throughout the state of Arizona. She is passionate about finding innovative ways to create art with young people in unexpected places. She holds a BA in Theatre Design and Technology from Northern Arizona University and is currently pursuing a MA in Art Education from the University of Florida. When she’s not constructing sets or designing calendar systems she can usually be found running, painting, or listening to audiobooks.