EQUALLY REPRESENTED ARTS
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R+J: A Telephone Play or Don't Drink the Milk: ARTISTS
Mollie Amburgey (actor: Friar Laurence, Prince, Mrs. Montague, Performer 2)
Mollie is graduate from Saint Louis University ('13) with a double major in theatre and journalism/marketing. Theatrical credits: R-S Theatrics (Lizzie Cherry, The Cherry Sisters Revisited), Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble (Stage Manager: Nine/Sketch, The Woman in Black, and Bachelorette), Shakespeare Festival Saint Louis (Assistant Stage Manager: Old Hearts Fresh), and independently produced and directed A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merry Wives of Windsor for the Shake 38 Festival, Saint Louis. Recently, she performed as Lauren Vail in the local production of The Violinist, and the role of Letta in Death of a Salesman with Insight Theatre Company. Mollie is now newly an EMC candidate.
Cara Barresi (actor: Paris, Lady Capulet, Prince, Ms. Capulet, Performer 5, Audience 1)
This is Cara’s second time working with ERA. Most recently she was seen in ERA’s The Residents of Craigslist and the first ever “pop science” play called Brainworks with BJC and Washington University at the Sheldon Concert Hall. She has also performed in several plays with The Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble, as well as worked with The New Jewish Theatre, The Uppity Company, and First Run Theatre. She received her BA in theatre performance from Bradley University and also spent some time in London where she worked both on stage and on film. During the day, Cara educates kids on overall health with Delta Dental Health Theatre, and is a Standardized Patient at Washington University.
Will Bonfiglio (producer, actor: Friar Laurence, Mr. Capulet, Prince, Performer 3, Actor, Rob)
Will first started working with ERA last year as a performer in Make Hamlet, and he recently co-adapted and performed in The Residents of Craigslist. Recently he has performed in The Little Prince (COCA Presents) and was Assistant Director of Old Wounds (GoodPeople Theatre). He also has performed with November Theater Company and Variety Children's Theatre, and he works as an Arts Educator for COCA. Many thanks to Lucy and his friends and family for putting up with his crazy schedule in order for him to do what he loves. And the biggest thanks of all to the audience for supporting Saint Louis arts and local artists!
Mitch Eagles (actor: Romeo, Prince, Romeo, Performer 4, Audience 2, Richard, Frank; improvisor - Bodysnatchers)
Hailing originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Mitch is a company member and associate producer with ERA, focusing on the use of improvisation in the theater. He performed in ERA’s first two productions (Make Hamlet and The Residents of Craigslist) and assisted in a workshop of a future production of Moscow!. He is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied physics and mathematics, as well as performed in theatrical, dance, and improvisational productions. He now lives in St. Louis City and has worked with several companies in addition to ERA, including St. Louis Shakespeare, Stray Dog Theatre, and November Theatre Company, as well as performing regularly at The Improv Shop, where he is a graduate of their training program.
Carl Overly, Jr. (actor: Page, Romeo, Montague, Prince, Mr. Montague)
Carl is thrilled to be making his first appearance with ERA. Carl has worked with numerous companies throughout St. Louis such as Shakespeare Festival-STL, The Black Rep, Upstream Theater, Metro Theater Co., St. Louis Shakespeare, St. Louis Actor’s Studio and Slightly Askew Theater Ensemble, to name a few. Carl has appeared in 2 episodes of Welcome to Sweetie Pies on the OWN Network. Carl has appeared in numerous Short Films and PSA’s as well as appearing as Elijha in the 2012 Independent Feature Casualties of the State. He can be seen next in the One Hour Game of Thrones at Magic Smoking Monkey Theater in June and The 39 Steps with Slightly Askew Theater in November. Carl also taught drama with Girls Incorporated of St. Louis for three summers. Carl would like to thank a wonderful and hard-working cast and crew for this experience. Carl thanks his family and friends for their continued support. #GOSEEAPLAY
Rachel Tibbetts (actor: Juliet, Romeo, Prince, Julieta, Performer 1, Audience 3, Julia, Laura, Juliet)
Rachel is a founding member of Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble (SATE), and has appeared in eleven of SATE’s productions including Top Girls, Nine/Sketch, Mary Shelley Monster Show and Or,. Rachel directed SATE's productions of Macbeth, Burn This, The Woman in Black and Bachelorette. She will appear in their production of The 39 Steps in November. Rachel has also performed with R-S Theatrics in their productions of The Cherry Sisters: Revisited and Oh, Hell! and will work with them again in Mr Burns, a post electric play this September. She has worked in arts education since 2000 at the Delaware Theatre Company, Young Audiences of St. Louis and Prison Performing Arts. She received her B.A. in Theatre from Oklahoma State University and graduated from the 2006‐2007 Community Arts Training Institute at the Regional Arts Commission. Love to Mom, Dad and Jason.
James Ryan Caldwell (playwright: two character play)
James is an actor, playwright, and screenwriter from New York City. His work has been seen at Walkerspace NYC, P.S. 122, 3LD, Classic Stage Company, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Public Theatre, and Playwrights Horizons. The first season of his web-series, Ms. Guidance (featuring Tony Award Winners Kristin Chenoweth and Adriane Lenox) will be available online in 2015. James has studied extensively with the SITI Company in New York City. He received his BFA in Acting from C.W Post Long Island University, and his MFA in playwriting from Columbia University.
Otso Huopaniemi (playwright: Still Standing)
Otso, MA, MFA, is a Finnish-born, Berlin-based playwright, director and performer who has shown work internationally including PS122 (NYC); 3LD Art & Technology Center (NYC); Kiasma Theater (Helsinki); ZKM Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany); Theaterdiscounter (Berlin). He has received grants for artistic projects (e.g. love.abz and The Finnish Mafia in the Bronx) and academic studies in Europe and in the U.S. (Berlin Senate, Fulbright, Wihuri, Thanks to Scandinavia, Finlandia Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Center Finland, Huber, Kone, among others). He has collaborated with various artists and companies including: Juha-Pekka Hotinen, Juha Hurme, Kimmo Kahra (Finland); Anna Brenner, Lucy Cashion, Jess Smith, Kon Yi (USA); Josep Caballero Garcia, Lee Meir, and Ania Nowak (Germany). Currently, Otso is working on (love.abz)³, to be premiered in Berlin in 2015, among other projects.
camila le-bert (playwright: rosaline called)
camila le-bert is a Chilean American playwright, actor and director. She holds a BFA in acting from the University of Chile and an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University. She is the Artistic Director of Teatro del Carmen theatre company and the Lápiz de Mina women's playwriting festival. She was awarded the Presidential Scholarship from 2008-2011. Her play Chan! premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London as a reading for New Plays from Chile. She has written and performed in film, theatre and television. le-bert's plays also include: Trio (2014), The Baby (2013), Latino (2012), My Three Sisters (2008), Betamax (2005).
John Douglas Weidner (playwright: Number 4)
Samara Weiss (playwright: Untitled)
Samara Weiss is a playwright from Southern California; her plays include AK-47 Sing-Along (HERE Arts Center, also with Lucy Cashion), Lines in Code (3LD), and Dirt (Part 1) (HERE). She is the screenwriter for the animated films Still and Feast in a Fallen City, as well as the Princess Grace Award-winning The Red Witch (forthcoming). She is a frequent collaborator with the Lucrece Project, an NYU Humanities Initiative Working Group which fuses scholarship and the arts, and a contributor to the website The Toast. MFA Columbia; New Georges Affiliated Artist. www.undecipheredscript.org
Zhu Yi (playwright, The Offended Audience)
ZHU Yi is a NY based playwright and screenwriter, born and raised in China. Playwriting MFA, Columbia University. She is a 2012-2013 Emerging Artist Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, a Youngblood Writer at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and an adjunct lecturer at Nanjing University, China. Stage plays: Long Life (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, China), Long Distance Affair (Bienal Arte Joven Buenos Aires, Argentina; Edinburgh Fringe, UK), I AM A MOON (Theater Emory, Atlanta GA; FringeNYC; Edinburgh Fringe, UK; Mu Ma Theater, China; 3LD Art and Technology Center, NYC), Evolutionism (Beijing Fringe, China; National Avant-Garde Theater, China; Manhattan Repertory Theater, NYC), How Time Flies (Capital Theater, China), Lifetime Fairytale (Riverside Theatre, NYC). Films: Apolitical Romance (Best Feature Nomination at Taipei Film Festival; New York Asian Film Festival; Hawaii International Film Festival; Udine Far East Film Festival, Italy; Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival), Scrape (Alcances Film Festival, Spain; Beijing Independent Film Festival)
zoezhu.com
Lucy Cashion (producer, director, scenic & sound designer)
Lucy is a multi-disciplinary theatre-artist and founder of ERA. Notably in St. Louis, she directed and designed The Residents of Craigslist, which she created with Will Bonfiglio; she adapted, produced, and directed Make Hamlet, an experimental re-envisioning of Shakespeare's iconic play; and she assistant-directed The Invisible Hand by Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Her major NYC theatre credits include AK-47 Sing-Along (director, sound designer, co-composer; New York International Fringe Festival award - "Excellence in Directing"), a play by Samara Weiss about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and De Sous (now called Latino; director, sound designer), a new, bi-lingual work by camila le-bert about the Latino experience in the US. She is a guest artist at St. Louis University. Lucy received her MFA from Columbia University, studied at l'École d'art dramatique Eva St-Paul and trained with SITI Company.
Katrin Hackenberg (photographer)
Originally from Berlin, Germany, Katrin left a predictable career in banking to move with her husband to St. Louis, USA. She combined her previous love for capturing a moment in time through photography with her newfound spare time as she explored her new environment. She began a new, unpredictable life of creative work. She enrolled in the art classes at St. Louis Community College. She began working with ERA, which has provided her with a phenomenal opportunity to photograph and engage with unique, creative people. Katrin won first prize in the International Student Photo Contest in Missouri in April 2014.
Erik Kuhn (lighting designer)
Erik has worked both on and off stage, including dabbling briefly in design. Most recently, he's worked with St Louis Shakespeare as an actor and fight choreographer and with groups such as Shooting Star Productions and Max & Louie Productions on carpentry and lighting. He's worked with ERA on Make Hamlet and The Residents of Craigslist is thrilled to be given another chance to play and explore with such an exciting group and wonderful group of artists.
Meredith LaBounty (costume designer)
Meredith is thrilled to be working with ERA again after having such a rewarding experience last year when she costume-designed Make Hamlet. She graduated The Savannah College of Art and design in 2013 with a BFA in Production Design with a concentration in Costume Design. More recently she costumed Good in Everything, the 2014 Shakespeare in the Streets show for Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis. She also costumed-designed and Stitched November Theatre Company’s inaugural show Assassins. This summer she will be working as Stitcher for Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ 2015 Season. More of Meredith’s work can be seen on her website www.labounty-costumes.com
Charlie Mueller (composer, music arranger)
Charlie is a music director, composer, arranger, and vocal coach throughout the St. Louis area. Music direction credits include: Oliver!, 1776 (Insight Theatre Co.), Nevermore, A Year with Frog and Toad (Webster University), Quilters, The Little Prince (COCA), Assassins (November Theatre Co.), Little Shop of Horrors, Bat Boy (St. Louis University), Tomfoolery (West End Players Guild). He served as music supervisor/vocal coach for Henry V (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis), Old Jews Telling Jokes (New Jewish Theatre), Our Town (Insight Theatre Co.), Moscow! (ERA - workshop), and The House of Blue Leaves (St. Louis University). Charlie has also had the opportunity to work at The Muny for many years, on shows including Hairspray, Aida, Les Miserables, Footloose, and Godspell. He has served as a Tenor soloist in several chancel choirs around St. Louis and holds his Masters of Arts in Choral Conducting from Webster University, where he now serves as adjunct faculty. He currently teaches vocal music and musical theatre at COCA.
Gabe Taylor (assistant director, stage manager)
Gabe is a St. Louis native and currently serves as Resident Stage Manager at New Line Theatre. Gabe's stage management experience also includes The Theatre Lab's inaugural production of The Sunset Limited and the 2012 summer season at Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater, MI. His directing credits include assistant directing ERA's The Residents of Craigslist, and a successful production of the Neo-Futurist's piece Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind with the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Theatre Department in October 2012, which was remounted for SIUE's 2013 XFEST in partnership with the Student Experimental Theatre Organization. He'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing live theatre over yet another movie about vampires.
Brooklynn Mcdade (hair & make-up)
Brooklynn is a 2011 graduate from Southwestern Illinois College with an AD in Art. Brooklynn has worked with Merle Norman Cosmetics & Wigs as a Makeup Artist & Wig Consultant since 2006, becoming Store Manager & Principle Owner in 2012. She has attended numerous training seminars throughout the country including the Merle Norman Beauty Consultant Certification in Los Angeles, CA (2012); Jon Renau’s Certification of Renau Education (C.O.R.E.) in Vista, CA (2013); and HairUWear’s hands-on workshop for Wigs & Hair Loss Solutions and Clip-In Extensions & Hair Pieces in Kansas City, KA (2014). Throughout her career Brooklynn has done freelance makeup artistry for numerous photo shoots including clothing companies and weddings. She also has experience with theatrical event makeup. Brooklynn is constantly updating her skills by attending continuing education classes to benefit her clients.
Randy Brachman (improvisor - Bodysnatchers)
Randy is an aspiring lawyer by day, asleep by night. When he’s not studying for the bar, you can usually find him at
a bar. He would like to thank Lucy for all the wonderful things she’s done as BODYSNATCHERS’ artistic director and all the cool ERA people he gets to hang out with. If you like what you see, come back for all of BODYSNATCHERS’ performances after every R+J show, and you can also see Randy play with Galaxander at The Improv Shop in the Central West End.
Brian Ackley (videographer)
Writer, Director and Producer Brian Ackley studied film production at Brooklyn College where he excelled at Cinematography and Directing under the tutelage of Professors Bill Hornsby and Robert Tutak, respectively. In addition to his credited roles on various student projects as Director of Photography, Gaffer, Grip, Actor, Prop Master, Co-Writer, Script Supervisor, Producer, and Production Assistant, Brian has written, directed, edited, produced and acted in several short films of his own; most notably, the pre-Faculty Selected crime-fiction-comedy, Hostage Person, and the Faculty Selected feminist-inspired melodrama, La Fleure Sans Vie. Brian became a video instructor for an after school program in Far Rockaway, NY where he developed lesson plans in screenwriting, editing and video production for grades K-5. Brian also wrote, produced, directed, and edited a number of short subject videos starring elementary students for the program.
Kevin Arkell (Managing Director, ERA)
Kevin Arkell joined ERA in the fall of 2013, taking on the responsibilities of Managing Director. He oversees ERA's financial and marketing activities. Outside of ERA, Kevin Arkell is an Assistant Brand Manager with Nestle Purina, working on product development for the Friskies brand. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Skidmore College and an MBA from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.