Television audiences might know her best as Florence Menlove, the wife of the Mayor (played by Alan Cumming) in the hit musical spoof Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+ starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key.

As a member of Philadelphia’s Wilma Hothouse she has appeared in Romeo and Juliet and Dance Nation. Other acting projects include Sweat at Philadelphia Theatre Company, On the Exhale at Theatre Exile, The Few at Theatre Horizon, and Cabaret at the Arden, and an appearance on HBO’s Mare of Eastown.

As a writer and director, she is a longtime collaborator with choreographer Nichole Canuso and has developed commissions for the National Constitution Center and the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University. A founding member of Pig Iron Theatre Company, she went on to co-found Stein | Holum Projects with Deborah Stein where she co-created and performed the Drama Desk-nominated Chimera, and The Wholehearted. 

She recently launched Suli Holum/The Work, a Philadelphia-based incubator for live performance. A recipient of a Drama Desk Award, a TCG/Fox Resident Actor Fellowship, and a Barrymore Award, she is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College where she was the recipient of the 2020 Engaged Artist Award.

Ryan works for Only Make Believe, a non-profit that provides theatrical experiences to kids in hospitals (for which he's translated shows into Spanish), as well as Mursion, one of the

fastest growing American companies, which fosters social skills, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and empathy through online virtual reality.

He is in development with the Broadway-aimed shows Distant Thunder, a contemporary Native American musical by

Shaun Taylor-Corbett, and Passing Through. Ryan also wrote the twistedly funny holiday musical A Gander Family Christmas

She received the Tony Award nomination for Directing for the 2009 Revival of Ragtime on Broadway and is one of just a handful of women who have climbed the ranks as successful and commercially viable theatre director/choreographers. She is currently directing a new revival of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast that as she puts it “really challenges each of us to look around the room with an equitable lens in which all races, ethnicities, body shapes and abilities can be identified and celebrated.”

Rashad attended Morehouse College where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. He also earned his JD and MBA degrees from The Ohio State University. Rashad is a board member of On Broadway Performing Arts Training Program and Houses on the Moon Theater Company.

Kate has also appeared Off Broadway, and at various regional theatres across the country. Young audiences may know her best for her TV appearances, especially her portrayal of Miss Jenn in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series now streaming on Disney+.

I interviewed this week’s guest live during the Keynote presentation of the Virginia Theatre Association (VTA) conference online. VTA is one of the largest statewide theatre associations in the country and is the central resource for connecting, creating, cultivating and advocating for practitioners of theatre in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  For more information about VTA or to donate, please go to virginiatheatre.org  

James has also appeared at some of the most prestigious regional theatres across the country including The Papermill Playhouse, The American Conservatory Theatre, Steppenwolf, Goodspeed, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Hartford Stage and The Shakespeare Theatre Company and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC.

You may have also seen James on television in The Flight Attendant on HBO Max, and in Living With Yourself on Netflix. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School Drama Division and The University of Virginia.

Eric has also performed with several Symphonies throughout the country and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. His solo album Once In A Lifetime, was produced by his company EnJoY! Productions and his one-man musical Sammy & Me is the winner of the ArtVoice and Salt Awards.

Eric served as the Resident Director of Baz (Venetian/Palazzo) and loves working as a Creative Director for original projects including Renegades at Caesars Palace and Drag Supper Club.  Eric is currently the Associate Director for the Norwegian Cruise Line production of Footloose and the recent production of Rock of Ages in Hollywood, CA.

He has appeared in leading roles in numerous plays and musicals regionally at The Old Globe, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Lyric Opera San Diego, Maine Shakespeare Festival, Heritage Theatre Festival and many others.

In addition to having served for two years as Assistant Professor of Theatre and Resident Artist at Stephens College in Columbia, MO, he has also taught at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, CA and currently serves on the Theatre Arts faculty at Grossmont College in San Diego, CA. 

He is a summa cum laude graduate of Hartwick College with a dual BA in Music and Theatre Arts, holds an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Priyanka made her Off-Broadway debut with her second solo play #Charlottesville at the Drama Desk award-winning 59E59 Theaters’ “East to Edinburgh” Festival in July 2021. She was also handpicked for the prestigious Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive 2021, where she further developed The Wall, the final play in her triptych of solos.

Priyanka earned a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Virginia and has served on the faculty of the University of Virginia’s Department of Drama.

At Signature, Gardiner has directed or choregraphed over 25 productions including revivals of classic and contemporary musicals, new works, and world premieres and of course many musicals by Stephen Sondheim, as part of Signature’s special commitment to producing the great master’s work.

Over the past year, amid a global pandemic that has made live performance nearly impossible, Matthew has worked to ensure Signature continues to engage audiences with bold and exciting new online content, while also actively working to expand its reach.

Matthew is the recipient of three Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Director of a Musical and has been honored with over a dozen nominations. He holds a BFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University and is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Her professional career in musical theater around the world spans four decades and many thousands of performances and she has shared the stage with such Broadway legends as Carol Channing, Joel Grey and Bernadette Peters.

She is also a well known star of many regional theatres across the country, having performed dozens of lead roles including Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Sally Durant Plumer in Follies and Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music at the Tony Award winning Signature Theatre and appearing in Sunday In The Park with George at The Kennedy Center.

He's spent the pandemic serving as a delegate in Actors' Equity Association and working on arts-labor policies for the upcoming New York City mayoral election.

Originally hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, he studied theatre and political science at the University of Michigan and lived in D.C. before settling in New York.

His most recent live theatre performance was in Michael Friedman’s Unknown Soldier which opened on March 9, 2020 off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. Three days later live theatre was suspended due to the COVID19 pandemic and since then he’s accumulated many remote live-stream virtual credits in plays, musicals, concerts and works in development.  He has also kept busy appearing in many roles in television and film and teaching a popular course called “Acting on Zoom”. 

He is currently starring in an online production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, with an all Asian cast, produced by CollaborAzian and with proceeds going to #StopAAPIHate that will stream starting July 15th.

His Off-Broadway credits include August Rush, Missed Connections, and Balls…The Musical which he also wrote and he is in the process of writing a new musical called The Drum Bridge with Drew Gasparini.  

His TV/Film work includes 30 Rock, Vinyl and Shake Rattle and Roll.  He holds a BFA in Acting from University of North Carolina Greensboro.

He is currently appearing in Seven Deadly Sins, an Off-Broadway production set in the meatpacking district, directed by Moises Kaufman, playing in a limited engagement until July 18. 

She has appeared off-Broadway in the new musical Loveless, Texas and in The Time Machine at New York Musical Theatre Festival and her other New York credits include the Atlantic Theater Company, Primary Stages and Boomerang Theatre Company.

Bligh has performed at many regional theatres across the country including the Paper Mill Playhouse, Ogunquit Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Ford's Theatre, The Studio Theater, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Signature Theatre.

She wrote the book for a new Cole Porter revue called, Let’s Misbehave: Cole Porter After Dark and she served as the editorial director of Nasty Women of New York, a photography project melding the world of portrait photography with storytelling, giving a voice to the uniquely diverse women of New York City.

Her solo show No Really, I’m Not Crazy debuted at The Green Room 42 in New York City.

Currently she is working on a country/bluegrass EP.

Her Broadway credits include Paul Simon’s The Capeman, and leading roles in Seussical, and the 2004 revival of Man of La Mancha, in which she also understudied the role of Aldonza, performing the role opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell.

She is well known to DC theatre audiences, having won two Helen Hayes awards, and appearing often at the Tony Award winning Signature Theatre, MetroStage and other notable venues.

She is also featured in the Broadway Documentary Film, Every Little Step, about the auditions for the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line.

Their collaboration has resulted in nine full length musicals including, Night of the Living Dead the musical, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Turn of the Screw, Monsters of the Villa Diodati, Kaleidoscope, Witch, and On Air. Several of their works were commissioned by Creative Cauldron as part of their Bold New Works Initiative. Their latest project is a new musical based on the story of the five women that Jack the Ripper killed, called Whitechapel.

Both Matt and Stephen were nominated together for the Helen Hayes Award for Directing their musical, The Turn of the Screw and each has also received the award individually.

They are currently delighting theatre afficionados with their podcast The Conner & Smith Show interviewing DC creatives and exploring their past and future works.

He designed the 2013-2018 Academy Awards ceremonies and 4 live musicals for television and he is the winner of multiple Obie, Lucille Lortel, Art Director’s Guild, Emmy and Drama Desk Awards.

Arbender starred in the 2016 hit musical Shuffle Along alongside many Broadway Legends including Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter. The show was Directed by Tony Award Winner George C Wolfe and Choreographed by Savion Glover.

He is the adaptor/director of Shakespeare’s R&J, which ran for a year Off-Broadway and earned him a Lucille Lortel Award. He also directed the play’s premieres in Chicago, D.C., London and Tokyo, garnering multiple awards along the way. 

He has directed national tours, world premieres and many award-winning productions at regional theatres across the country including at the Tony Award winning Signature Theatre.

As a writer his published works include Shakespeare’s R&J, In The Absence of Spring, and Walter Cronkite is Dead. His new play, Winter Break was published by Dramatists Play Service earlier this year.

She has directed dozens of productions at Rorschach, including the Helen Hayes nominated Voices Underwater and God of Vengeance and at various other theatres in the D.C. area.

She has served as a mentor director for the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival and as Artistic Director of DC’s Source Festival for over a decade, overseeing the selection, development, and production of more than 200 works for the stage.

Currently she is part of an 8-member team building Rorschach's ground-breaking Distance Frequencies, an immersive experience that sends participants to seven locations around Washington, D.C. to explore chapters in an unfolding story about the city’s history--real and imagined. The project will culminate in a live show in July 2021.

She can be heard singing the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated song “Journey to the Past” in the movie Anastasia, as well as numerous other animated features including Disney’s Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Beauty and the Beast, and The Swan Princess.

Her extensive concert and symphony career has included appearances in London, Paris, Sydney, and nearly every major city in the U.S. and she performs regularly with her sister Ann Hampton Callaway, with whom she created and recorded the theme song to the sitcom The Nanny.

Valarie was the first American to portray Velma Kelly in the West End revival of Chicago starring alongside Chita Rivera. When Ms. Rivera was inducted into The Kennedy Center Honors, she personally requested Valarie reprise the role.

Valarie is honored to be part of The Verdon Fosse Legacy, reconstructing Bob Fosse’s choreography and teaching it to a new generation of dancers including reconstructing four numbers for the hit FX show Fosse/Verdon starring Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell.

He appeared in London’s West End as Max Bialystock in The Producers and in several national tours of major Broadway shows, various celebrated productions Off-Broadway, several Encores! at City Center as well as regionally at Arena Stage, The Old Globe, the LaJolla Playhouse, and the McCarter Theater amongst others.

His film and television credits include Ghost Town, The Producers, “Madam Secretary,” “Smash,” “The Good Wife,” and three “Law & Order” series.

Veronica’s credits include Othello at The Shakespeare Theatre Center, Arabian Nights at Constellation Theatre, El Paso Blue and Ana en el Tropico at GALA Theatre, August: Osage County at Everyman Theatre, Adventures of Homer at The Kennedy Center, Savage in Limbo at MetroStage, My Children! My Africa! and Rock n' Roll at Studio Theatre, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents at Roundhouse Theatre. Currently making her home base in Spain, she is beginning to devise and develop her own directorial projects.

Michael’s New York credits include Romeo & Juliet at TheatreRats, Beyond Therapy at Bohemian Archeology and Arden: The Lamentable Tragedie… at Spring TheaterWorks. In DC he has appeared at The Shakespeare Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre, Studio Theatre, Mosaic Theatre Company, Theatre J, Imagination Stage, MetroStage and Constellation Theatre and he is a company member at The Hub and Spooky Action Theatre. His regional credits include the Cincinnati Playhouse, Chautauqua Theatre Company, and Rhinoleap. Michael has been nominated five times for DC’s Helen Hayes Award, and he has appeared on HBO's The Wire.

Veronica and Michael will be starring together in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune, as part of MetroStage’s Tribute to the late great American playwright Terrence McNally streaming online from April 21-25 at MetroStage.org

In Part 1 Betty talked about growing up in Texas and how she first became interested in performing and musical theatre and everything in her life that prepared her for and led up to her first big break in the musical 1776 on Broadway. 

In this week’s episode, Betty shares her experiences working in film and TV, her Tony winning role in Cats and playing Margaret White in the cult musical Carrie on Broadway.  She also talks about her passion for teaching – which she is now doing online through the T. Schreiber Studio in New York.  

She recently completed headlining the National Tour of the new Broadway Production of Hello Dolly! and received an Olivier Award nomination for her critically acclaimed interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of Sunset Boulevard, which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway.

Her other Broadway credits include 1776, Pippin, Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Carrie and she has appeared multiple times Off-Broadway and at various regional theatres and concert halls across the country.

For over forty years Ms. Buckley has been a teacher of scene study and song interpretation, giving workshops in Manhattan and various universities and Performing Arts Conservatories around the country. She is now offering her Master Class online, enabling actors and singers the opportunity to work with her from anywhere in the world.

Off-Broadway, Emily has appeared at City Center Encores!, Manhattan Theatre Club, WPA Theatre, The Transport Group, Madison Square Garden, York Theatre, Playwrights Horizons and the Roundabout Theatre and she has performed lead roles at many of the major regional theatres across the country.

Emily was nominated for a Tony Award (along with Alice Ripley) and received a Drama League Award for her performance as Daisy Hilton in the short-lived, but now cult classic, original Broadway production of Side Show.

Chung also has an extensive resume of work in film and has appeared on various popular TV shows including "Monday Mornings," "Bones," "Torchwood," "Boston Legal," "Chuck," "Heroes," "How I Met Your Mother," Stephen King's "Desperation," "Las Vegas," and "Sucker Free City."

He’s often writing, singing, speaking Chinese and French, recording audiobooks, and involved in various projects like the sci-fi web series "Shangri-La: Near Extinction," and podcasts like “The White Vault: Imperial” and “Vast Horizon”.

Chung will be playing the role of Will in the upcoming production of Terrence McNally’s Mothers & Sons for MetroStage in Alexandria, Virginia streaming online January 13-17 at MetroStage.org 

Ilona is an accomplished actor, singer and voice over artist. She has performed in multiple productions at The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre, Olney Theatre Center and Wayside Theatre among many others. Her portrayal of Maria Callas in Terrence McNally’s Master Class at MetroStage garnered rave reviews.

Tom has appeared as an actor in over 70 productions in New York, DC, and in many cities throughout the country. He is an Affiliated Artist at The Shakespeare Theatre Company where he has starred in works by Shakespeare, Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim, David Ives and others. He has also directed various productions at Baltimore Theatre Festival, Adventure Theatre, Solas Nua and Roundhouse Theatre. Tom is a graduate of Duke University and The Juilliard School and he has been nominated seven times for DC’s Helen Hayes Award. He last appeared at Metro Stage in the one person show “Fully Committed” where he played over 40 characters.

Ilona and Tom will be starring together for the first time as part of MetroStage’s tribute to the late great Terrence McNally in his play Mothers and Sons, streaming online Jan 13-17 at MetroStage.org

Many may also recognize her from her extensive TV and Film work in all 4 Law and Orders, 3 seasons of House of Cards, Deception, Arranged and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall.

Mercedes is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and a member of AEA, SAG/AFTRA.

Aside from his theatre credits, Page may be best known as the voice of Mr. Oogie Boogie in Tim Burton’s cult classic film, The Nightmare Before Christmas and for his film appearances in Dreamgirls, Torch Song Trilogy and All Dogs Go To Heaven.

Page has performed his one-man concert, Page By Page across the country and the show has been recorded live released by LML Music. Ken can also be heard on various Original Broadway Cast recordings, film soundtracks and compilations.

Off-Broadway she has worked at The Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, New York City Center, New York Theater Workshop and Signature Theatre Company.

Regionally she has worked at the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC and Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland. 

She holds an MFA in Stage Management from Columbia University.

His most recent projects include the twelve-time Tony nominated Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris and the critically acclaimed immersive Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd.

At Show Shepherd, he helps writers and producers navigate the development of new work, and he produces live immersive audio dramas as Director of Operations for Resounding.

He currently serves on the board of New York Theatre Barn and The New Harmony Project and he is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Technical Theatre/Stage Management.

She most recently helped develop the new musical, Black No More with choreography by Bill T Jones and she continues developing the new musical, Lempicka, directed by Tony Award Winner Rachel Chavkin.

Mary Page has performed in numerous Regional/Off-Broadway productions and has been an integral part in the development of various shows including Soft Power, The Cher Show, and War Paint.

Aside from performing, Mary Page is passionate about arts education and stays busy teaching the world's next generation of theatre performers.

Now, as a director/choreographer, he has added a Latinx flair to many of his productions, including a spiced up version of Sweet Charity at the New Harlem Arts Theatre and a Latin inspired Guys & Dolls at Theatre Under The Stars in Houston.  

He is co-author (with Kathleen Potts) of The Professional Actor's Handbook: From Casting Call to Curtain Call and he is the creator of The Transition Workshop, a monthly NYC audition studio. He is currently associate professor and director of Music Theatre at Elon University and has two forthcoming, peer-reviewed articles on radical inclusivity and the absence of Latinx creatives on Broadway

Preston conceived and wrote book, music, and lyrics for We Are The Tigers which won the L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation award for Best Lyrics/Composition, Never Better, and The Rage: Carrie 2, An Unauthorized Musical Parody and many others. His play Modern Gentleman was also featured as part of the 2020 PRIDE PLAYS Festival.

Preston is a member of the Ars Nova Play Group, graduate of the Second City Chicago Comedy Studies Program, and an alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Off-Broadway and regionally he’s been seen in Putting It Together, Dangerous Beauty, Elegies, A New Brain, Falsettos and The Merchant of Venice.

As a writer/composer he’s written Mail and 3 Guys Naked From the Waist Down. He has also directed productions of Ragtime, Sweet Charity, Sunday in the Park With George, The Crucible, Spring Awakening, Parade and Off-Broadway’s Thrill Me for which he received a Drama Desk nomination.

He also recently worked on the video design team to adapt the Broadway show Mean Girls for its first national tour. His work has been nominated across the country, and he is a passionate advocate for Theatre for Young Audiences.

He holds an MFA in Projection Design from The University of Texas at Austin.

As the current President of Virginia Theatre Association (VTA), one of the largest state theatre associations in the country, she is responsible for connecting, creating, cultivating and advocating for practitioners of theatre across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Debra’s directorial credits include work at Virginia Repertory Theatre, Firehouse Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Dogwood Dell and countless productions at the Weinstein JCC in Richmond, VA, where she is artistic director of the Jewish Family Theatre.

Debra is a proud recipient of the 2013 Theresa Pollack award for excellence in theatre, as well as a recipient of a Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Award for her libretto and lyrics for the original musical, Croaker, along with composer Jason Marks, which received a NYC production Off Off Broadway in 2016. 

Her theatre work has been seen Off-Broadway at the Classical Theatre of Harlem and PS122 and at regional theaters across the country including the Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Guthrie Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre, the Alley Theatre, Syracuse Stage, DC’s Studio Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Contemporary American Theater Festival and Florida Studio Theatre.

Half-Ecuadorean and born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she grew up speaking Portuguese, Spanish and English. Her extensive TV and film work include the feature film Bel Canto opposite Julianne Moore, and roles on NBC’s Manifest and CBS’s The Good Wife.

Gisela frequently lends her voice to national commercials, campaign and audiobooks, in English and Spanish, including the promos for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio for NBC Universal and Univision.

He was also the original Dan Goodman in the critically acclaimed and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical Next To Normal for which he earned a Tony Award Nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

Since 2011, J. Robert has performed in over 700 concerts all over the world with his singing group, “The Midtown Men – Four Original Stars from Broadway’s Jersey Boys.” touring all over the United States and internationally in Italy, Canada, Mexico City, and Beijing.

http://www.jrobertspencer.com/

His work has also been featured at various regional theatres across the country and for 10 seasons, he served as the resident music director for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where among other things he directed the legendary Late-Night Cabarets, featuring iconic performers including Renee Fleming, Kathleen Turner, Allison Janey, Tyne Daly, David Hyde Pierce, Judy Kuhn, Kelli O’Hara, Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and many others.

He began his career working for musical theatre icon, Elizabeth Swados, and has committed to keeping her legacy alive and he recently arranged, orchestrated and conducted Lincoln Center’s American Songbook: The Music of Elizabeth Swados.

Kris is a Graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and he has taught at Tisch/Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, The New School, Duke University, Columbia University, and Queens College.

Her driving passion is student agency, which takes the form of student led playwriting, choreography, direction and design.

Michel has guided her students to create moving theatre works dealing with police brutality, racism, discrimination, racial profiling and gentrification.

She shares her 2019 Tony Excellence in Education Award with her students at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia who are the true award winners.

In 2019 Mojgani’s design for Into the Woods at Barrington Stage won a Berkshire Theatre Critics Circle Award and in 2017 she served as Associate Lighting Designer for the legendary Howell Binkley on Broadway’s hit musical Come From Away.

Mojgani is a member of United Scenic Artist 829 and she is an assistant professor in the School of Theatre at George Mason University. Originally from Orange County California, Mojgani holds a BA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz, and an MFA in Lighting Design from UC San Diego.

Skybell’s Broadway credits include: the 2015 revival of Fiddler on the Roof, Wicked, The Full Monty, Pal Joey, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Café Crown and Ah, Wilderness! 

During the pandemic, Skybell has been fashioning an evening of Yiddish songs that will include highlights from the Yiddish Fiddler as well as songs from the treasury of Yiddish music.

Gretchen has written numerous other shows with Nancy Ford and they were the first female composer-lyricist team to have their work produced on Broadway and Off-Broadway. 

Cryer and Ford’s new show “Still Getting My Act Together” is slated for production in 2021.

Gretchen is on the Dramatist Guild Council and is President Emeritus of the Dramatists Guild Foundation. She also teaches a workshop entitled “Creating Your Own Solo Performance” and has helped dozens of solo artists develop their pieces.

She will be presenting five of her solo artists at the Cherry Lane Theater in May 2021 in a festival entitled “True Stories.”

Throughout VA, NC, GA, and DC, Brittney has created several community engagement-based theatre projects and conducted workshops on solo performance development and devised theatre. Currently, she is workshopping and touring her two solo performance projects, The Intersection: The Sandra Bland Project and Being B.A.D.; each project explores the adverse effects of violence in social media on the personal psyche and how narrative-based storytelling is used as a vessel for social resilience and redemption.

She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Georgia.

https://brittneysharris.com/

Her other Broadway credits include: Mrs. June Adams in Bandstand, Emily in Elf, Donna in Mamma Mia!, Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein, Dorothy Brock in the 42nd Street revival, Tess in the original company of Crazy For You, Mrs. Bixby in The Civil War, Ellie in Hal Prince's Showboat, and her Broadway debut as Anytime Annie in the original production of 42nd Street.

She will soon be bringing the iconic role of Miranda Priestly to the Broadway stage in the highly anticipated production of The Devil Wears Prada. 

Lindsay is currently in the Broadway cast of Wicked where for years she has understudied the role of Glinda and performed nightly in the ensemble. Jared was in the original Broadway cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and performed in Jersey Boys for 8 years in Chicago, on tour and on Broadway.

Both of them are often called to take on the most challenging roles as understudies or swings. Their work often keeps performances running even under the most difficult circumstances and, in many ways, they are the backbone of the Broadway industry.

When not on stage, both of them work hard to balance maintaining a career in the performing arts while being parents to their 6 year old daughter Georgia.

Known for her portrayal of smart, vulnerable yet resilient characters, Joy has deep roots in DC, and some of her most memorable credits have been on stages in the Nation’s Capital including Jubilee, A Raisin in the Sun and Mary T & Lizzy K at Arena Stage and The Hard Problem, Cloud Nine, Belleville, and Invisible Man at Studio Theatre.

Her performance as Nina Simone in the world premiere of The Champion at TheatreSquared in Arkansas garnered rave reviews and she has built a strong reputation in regional theatres across the country for her versatility, being able to play everything from jazz singers to white-collar professionals, to Shakespearean queens and caring mothers.

Joy has an MFA in Acting from UNC-Chapel Hill and she has trained at the British American Drama Academy. She is a Helen Hayes Award winner and an instructor, teaching voice-and-speech at the Shakespeare Theatre Company and coaching private clients.

https://thejoyjones.com

He is a graduate and faculty member of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Georgetown, and has appeared in productions with many area theatres including Arena Stage, Imagination Stage, Round House Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Avant Bard Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, 1st Stage, NextStop Theatre Company, Theater Alliance and SCENA Theatre.

He has appeared regionally at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Firehouse Theatre in Richmond, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Burning Coal Theatre Co in Raleigh, NC, and off-off-Broadway at La MaMa ETC in New York City.

In 2018, he earned the Helen Hayes Award (DC’s equivalent of the Tony) for his performance in JESUS HOPPED THE ‘A’ TRAIN.

In his 20 plus year career in the theatre, Bobbitt has commissioned new works by noted playwrights, transferred two shows to Off-Broadway, built an academy, and earned dozens of Helen Hayes Award Nominations including eight wins.

He has directed or choreographed at Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Center Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and the Washington National Opera.

As a writer, his work was chosen for the NYC International Fringe Festival and he has two plays published by Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals.

He is one of a small group of African-American men who lead prominent regional theatres in the US, and a focus of his work has been to reach out to under served populations and increase cultural diversity in theater.  

She is committed to producing the best contemporary writing and showcasing the best regional artists reflecting the diversity of the DC metro area for a broad-based audience. She has built three theatres by re-purposing nontraditional storefronts (and a lumber warehouse) into intimate well-equipped theatre spaces, and is currently working on a fourth.

She has chaired both the Alexandria Arts Forum, which she co-founded, and the Cultural Affairs Committee of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and has served on regional panels for both the Virginia Commission for the Arts and Kentucky Arts Council.

She has received many awards including the Actors Center Award of Distinction, the Cultural Affairs Award from the Alexandria Commission for Women, and the “Helen’s Star”, named after Helen Hayes, from Theatre Washington, “presented to daring visionaries who have shaped and redefined the landscape of Washington theatre.”

He is co-founder of Broadway Barkada a Filipino cultural organization that aims to nurture and support Filipino artists and bring their experience to a diverse audience. He is also on the faculty at Jen Waldman Studio and he runs a successful photography business, Billy B Photography.

Off-Broadway she recently starred in Romeo and Bernadette receiving an Outer Critics Circle Award and she created the role of Vienna in Johnny Guitar, garnering a Drama Desk Nomination and a Drama League Award.

Her other Broadway credits include: Kiss of the Spider Woman with the legendary Chita Rivera, Aspects of Love with John Cullum, and Chess.

From the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods and Maria Callas in Master Class, to Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and Diana in Next to Normal, Judy McLane has a knack for playing strong leading ladies.

Her directing and choreography credits include work at Convergence Theatre (which she co-founded), Synetic Theater, Keegan Theatre, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Imagination Stage, Source Festival, Mosaic Theatre Company, Avant Bard, and Theatre J. and she has performed at the Kennedy Center, Theatre Alliance, Discovery Theatre, Imagination Stage, Signature Theatre STAGES, and in several films, commercials, and TV shows.

She serves as the Co-Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and has provided EDIA consultation for organizations such as Theatre Washington, Gandhi Brigade, North Carolina Women’s Theatre Festival and Southeastern Theatre Conference.

In 2019, Jenelle wrote, Executive Produced and starred as Eartha Kitt in I Wanna Be Evil: The Eartha Kitt Story performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. 

She is also the founder and producer (alongside Mildred Marie Langford) of the Always Working Reading Series, which started as The August Wilson Reading Series, a new initiative to create opportunities for actors of color with monthly readings of August Wilson’s plays.

She serves as the primary Intimacy Choreographer for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and has served as Intimacy Coordinator with NBC Universal/Amazon.  As a director and actor she has worked in film and television, in NYC, internationally, regionally, and on national tours. She has also devised various solo performance productions.  

She is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of South Carolina Upstate and she has served on the faculty at Stephen F. Austin State University, Brown University, and the University of Miami.

He began his career as a classical actor playing some 75 roles for over 36 years at the Shakespeare Theatre Company including acting alongside Stacy Keach and other greats. He has made a smooth transition to contemporary work bringing an authenticity and precision to roles as disparate as Mark Rothko in Red, Harry Brock in Born Yesterday, Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, and Antonin Scalia in The Originalist a role that was created for him and he toured with culminating in an Off-Broadway run. He has also appeared in several musicals including The Pajama Game and Newsies at Arena Stage.

He is Professor of Theatre and Head of Performance for the School of Theater at George Mason University and he has recently started a Facebook live series called “Cooking with Eddie: La Mia Cucina” where he shares recipes influenced by his Italian-American roots.

He has danced on Broadway in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown with Patti Lupone, and Promises, Promises opposite Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth and in the films The Last Five Years alongside Anna Kendrick & Jeremy Jordan, and Across the Universe directed by Tony Award winner Julie Taymor.

He was Associate Choreographer for the Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago and Resident Director for the Off-Broadway immersive hit Queen of the Night. He has gone on to direct and choreograph shows with Second Stage, The Public Theater, Playmakers Repertory Company, and Revolucion Latina,  among others.

He also works with various charities and foundations, including Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, and the Visible Ink program through Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.