Misfit Toys Collective - FAUSTPILLED

A tragic tale of hunger for unbridled knowledge and intellectual ecstasy is reclaimed and re-examined through a Gen Z lens by weaving together classic literature, timeless philosophy, and modern internet culture to create an urgent multi-media exploration of a generation who learned connection through omnipresent screens. FAUSTPILLED is a digital fairytale warping through generational fever dreams of cracked screens and breaking psyches.

Rory James Leech (Co-director and Producer)

Rory James Leech is a theatermaker and creative from the United Kingdom. He is the founder of Misfit Toys Collective, a performance company dedicated to creating art by and for Gen Z. He is also the managing director of Riot Act Theater. He has formerly served as an associate producer at the Center for New Performance; as an associate producer at Lemonada Media, where he produced the award-winning investigative journalism podcast Believe Her, described as a "sensation" by Good Morning America; and as the Associate Artistic Director of Rec Room Arts, where he was involved in the creation of experimental opera, ballet, and drama, appointed as an artistic leader at just sixteen years old. He has been involved in works presented at REDCAT, The Walt Disney Modular Theater, Crawlspace LA, Illusion Magic Lounge, The Elysian Theater, Inner City Arts, MOCA Geffen Contemporary, Boxxie Studios, Non Plus Ultra, Hollywood Fringe, and The Roy O. Disney Concert Hall. Directing Credits Include: Gross Old Man, Fear of Kathy Acker, Death of Walt Disney, FAUSTPILLED, The Twenty-Seven Club, (not) Seinfeld Live!, and A Streetcar Named Desire. He was honored as an Arts Advocate by The Dramatists Guild of America in 2017, and is a member of the 2023 Beth Morrison Projects Producers Academy. He is a graduate of California Institute of the Arts. 

Aviana Glover (Co-director)

Aviana Glover is an actor, clown, director, and multimedia artist hailing from Las Vegas, NV. Their neon hometown raised them with a sense of self rooted in transgression, kitsch, and intensity thanks to the city’s inherent extremes, hyper reality, and commitment to instant gratification. Aviana just graduated with their BFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts in May 2024. As a clown they have performed multiple times at CalArts, creating their own acts which embody the grotesque, sexual, and hilarious. In their tenure at CalArts, they have directed productions such as Unveiling the Veil, FAUSTPILLED, and Voyeur.  They were a part of the creation of live installations Elevator Show, to kiss on a battlefield, Ribs (an opera), morning dove song, and Cum Dumpster along with acting in a number of other productions. They consider themself a queer creative whose blend of theater, collage, burlesque, and clowning strives to arouse, disgust, and always entertain. 

Siena Foster Soltis (Adaptor)

Siena Foster-Soltis is a playwright from Los Angeles California. She has shown work with New Arts Foundation. 2220 Arts + Archives, NPU, The Elysian Theater, Revisionist NYC, Illusion Magic Theater, Stevenson Blanche and Coffeehouse Theater at California Institute of the Arts. Her performances focus on the abject within corporeal storytelling, allegory, food, mythos, devotion and exhibtionized cycles of failure. She currently spends her time workshopping her performances with Conjugal Visit Collective in venues across Los Angeles and New York City.