Pop Up! Productions is a new theatre production company aimed at unifying individuals from all walks of life by providing them with an opportunity to perform on the world’s brightest stages.
We understand that the realities of professional theater often present difficulties when it comes to pursuing and maintaining a non-theatrical career, and we believe that people should not have to choose one or the other.
As such, we are committed to providing opportunities and accessibility for those with jobs and careers outside of the performing arts, as well as those fully dedicated to the craft.
To address the shortcomings of the industry, we created
Pop Up! Productions, an organization with loose but far reaching roots in various cities across the country.
OUR STORY
Our founding members hail from a variety of backgrounds - from law to business, from technology to arts. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, each of us were deeply involved in theater-making at a time when the bounds of the medium were shattered, and the global artistic community was calling into question what theater could be in a remote landscape.
With our founding members based in Chicago, New York City, and London we are committed to applying these hard-learned lessons to increase the efficiency, efficacy, and ethicality of our productions, even as we return to a world of in-person art.
We aim to develop highly mobile networks of support and resource acquisition, so that we may produce high quality, full length productions whenever and wherever opportunity arises, and connect passionate individuals across all walks of life.
OUR COMMITMENTS
1
Produce high-quality in-person productions across the United States, with locally based actors, writers, and production staff
2
Ensure that our productions are financially sustainable without compromising on creating timely, culturally relevant, and thought-provoking works of art in-line with our mission
3
Maintain open dialogue with all members of our team to ensure that we are fostering an empowering, rigorous, and safe environment
4
We recognize that theater is politics and politics is theater
OUR TEAM
Hershey Suri
Artistic Director
Hershey Suri is an actor, musical theatre artist, director, and producer currently based in Chicago. Receiving her Bachelor’s in Politics and Theatre in 2021 from Pomona College, she moved to Chicago to juggle two careers: one in law and the other in performance.
She likes to joke that she is a civil rights paralegal by day, an actor/director literally the rest of the time. Before starting law school in the fall, she decided to officially solidify her career in theatre by starting this production company with some of her closest multi-talented incredible pals and can’t wait to see the amazing things they are able to create together!
Hunter Lustberg
Technical Director
Hunter Lustberg is an actor, writer and lighting designer based in New York City. He received his Bachelors in Theater and Written arts from Bard College in 2021 and has continued his acting studies at John Strasberg Studios.
In 2022 his play Roomies haunted the New York Theater Festival, earning nominations for Best Play and Best Director.
Since then, he’s been hard at work on a novel about finding beauty in the things we can’t hope to understand. While that’s busy baking at 400°F for three thousand hours, he’s stoked to be joining the unbelievably talented tech team at POP! and can’t wait to help light up the stage.
Jack Morrill
Associate Producer
Jack is currently a House Manager for The Juilliard School and thrilled to be Pop Up! Productions' Associate Producer.
He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Elon University in May 2023 with a BFA in Acting and a BA in Arts Administration with a marketing emphasis.
They have done extensive research on queer theory and arts administration practices and aim to combine their love of performing and producing with their passion for creating inclusive and brave spaces for artists.
Fiona Ross
Fundraising Director
Born and raised in Sacramento, California, Fiona is a Chicago-based theatre artist and philanthropy professional. She holds a BFA in Acting, BS in English Literature, and Certificate in On-Camera Acting from Missouri State University. Fiona is a proud member of the Shattered Globe Protégé Program’s 2024 Cohort, Forefront's Grantmakers Institute, and is a 2025 Exponent Philanthropy Next Gen Fellow. She is passionate about accessible, equitable theatre, reading good books, and being a cat mom.
Nandini Mittal
Executive Producer
Nandini Mittal is a producer based in London. After receiving her Bachelor's in Economics and Philosophy from Claremont McKenna College in 2022, Dini moved to New York to work in the Sustainable Finance advisory space. She most recently moved to London, spending most of her time in a dance studio or trying to win rush tickets!
Dini grew up heavily involved in the performing arts community in Bangkok and then had the pleasure of sharing the stage with deeply talented peers—now POP! co-founders—during her time at CMC. Having acted, directed, produced, and dabbled in set design, Dini is thrilled to be a founding member of the POP! team.
Tiffany Zhou
Marketing Director
Tiffany Zhou is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. She studied theater and mathematics at Pomona College and dabbles in both in The Big Apple!
When she is not overseeing one too many financial spreadsheets, you can find her lounging under foliage, doing yoga with cats, or hanging out with New York Cares.
She is absolutely delighted to be a part of the POP! team and cannot wait for you to see where we pop up next!
Anuka Sethi
Outreach Associate
Anuka Sethi is an India-born, Dubai-raised, and New York City-based actor and producer. She is currently the Artist in Residence at Live & In Color. Her recent credits include Luz in Alexandria (Pop Up! Productions/Dixon Place), #8 in The Wolves (Soho Playhouse), Sightings (Philipstown Depot Theatre), Love Around The Block (Dave Malloy), and the award-winning short film Hide & Seek, currently streaming on Tasveer TV. She is also a proud Nine Muses Lab alumni where she worked directly under founder Bryce Dallas Howard. A Third Culture Kid, Anuka draws on her multicultural background to tell authentic stories and amplify South Asian voices. BFA: NYU Tisch
