Scrypt Lab

Mishelle Apalategui - Scrypt Lab Mage. Mishelle has been working with Stage Fright in some capacity since its first festival in 2022, where she performed in Dead to Me, an Oscar Wilde-inspired slasher/zombie play written by Caitlin Nolan. The following year, she performed in and directed her own ten-minute piece, HELLSCAPE, and appeared as Nona, an octogenarian Italian crone with some culinary secrets, in Fork Tender.

At SFF 2024, she wrote, directed, and designed her solo clown show, HR: THE FINAL DIRECTIVE, a surrealist HR meeting with a truly unhinged protagonist straight from the United States' newly formed HR Department.

For Stage Fright Festival 2025, Mishelle found herself helping local playwright Dominique Knight, who had submitted a piece but, as a first-time SFF producer, needed support getting it workshopped and onto the stage. With only a month to work, Revenge of the Attack of the Killer Sirens was cast, workshopped, rewritten, and presented in the Work in Progress slot to great success. Mishelle had so much fun helping an emerging horror artist in this way that she proposed Scrypt Lab to the producers. Less than a year later, she's embarking on this journey—with her first two subjects... er... playwrights.

Mishelle comes from both a traditional playwriting background and a performance art and devised theatre practice, having graduated from Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Original Works. She also produced and directed DIGEST, a monthly performance art night in Chicago, where she helped artists across disciplines develop new work each month around a shared theme.

Mishelle hopes Scrypt Lab can fill a little corner of Portland theatre that she feels is deeply needed, in a city overflowing with talented playwrights. She can't wait to see what strange, terrifying, funny, and unforgettable work comes out of the lab.

Leiana Petlewski (they/them) is an actor, dancer, theatre maker, choreographer, musician, and intimacy director who is interested in creating work that explores universal experiences within particular circumstances. They hold BAs in Dance and Applied Theatre from Pacific University and a certification from the PETE’s Institute for Contemporary Performance. They’ve performed with various theatre companies, including Portland Playhouse, Corrib Theatre, Bedrock Theatre, Salt and Sage, ProLab Dance, and the Stage Fright Festival. Leiana has choreographed and/or Intimacy Directed for Salt and Sage, Ponderosa Players, SouthWest StageWorks, Many Hats’ The Hatchery, and a collection of other new works. They’ve been a resident artist with From the Ground UP and The Verdancy Project and a guest resident choreographer for the Pacific Dance Ensemble. Leiana strives to create art in a collaborative and ethical way and can’t wait to be part of Stage Fright again this year!

@Leiana.petlewski

Emily Smith (any pronouns) is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist residing in the Pacific Northwest. They hold a BA in Theatre from Pacific University, and a certificate from the Institute for Contemporary Performance at PETE. She is the producer of the Instant Theatre Festival at Pacific University, as well as the resident costume designer for the department. They are fascinated with death and grief, and love exploring how to find joy, wonder, and whimsy within them. Emily's work has been published in the Passionfruit Review and the Red Cedar Review. 

@emilbeesmith