Desiree Burch is New York City-based actor, comedian, writer, performance and teaching artist. A graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Theater, Desiree has committed herself to avant-garde performance on the Downtown art scene since 2001. She has been a NY Neo-Futurist, resident artist, and curator with Galapagos Art Space, stand-up comedian, emcee, and touring solo performance artist. In addition to being a contributor for the Huffington Post and VH1, her live work has been seen at Carolines, Comix, Gotham, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova, P.S. 122, Bowery Ballroom, The New Museum, The Ohio Theater, Columbia University, NYU, The Atlantic Theater, in the New York International Fringe Festival and at comedy clubs across the country. She is also the Executive Director of the Hysterical Festival for women in comedy, which debuted in New York in 2008. Desiree’s professional background of arts advocacy, arts education, activism and literacy reflects her progressive aesthetic in both on and offstage endeavors. Since 2003, she has worked in the New York City Public School system teaching reading, writing, performing and communication arts. She has toured the country as a Master Teaching Artist with The American Place Theatre since 2006, working in K-12, collegiate and community forums to cultivate connections between theater, literature, awareness and involvement. She currently works with Queens Theater in the Park’s CentreStage program, creating, developing and directing original theater pieces with various diverse students (including English Language Learners and Special Needs students) in her home borough of Queens, as well as with A-List Education, tutoring college-bound students in various Long Island neighborhoods. Desiree has always brought an empathic voice and passion to both her educational and performance work, and is proud to work with The American Place Theatre, which has pioneered a similar proactive and progressive approach to theater and education for decades. Desiree will faciliate a post-peformance discussion about The Things They Carried on Friday, November 19, at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre.