Emma

May 6May 25, 2025
ByKate Hamill
Based on the Novel byJane Austen
Directed byMeredith McDonough
Located atSpencer Theatre

Read the Show Program

“With screwball comedy and surprises aplenty, this fresh, fast-paced [production] interprets the Jane Austen classic with delightful unconventional flair.” – BroadwayWorld

Fresh. Funny. Flirty. Step into the world of EMMA, where wit and romance collide in Kate Hamill’s delightful adaptation of Jane Austen’s timeless classic. Join the party as Emma Woodhouse romps through Regency-era England navigating the complexities of matchmaking, friendship, and love in a new adaptation that’s a bit zany and refreshingly contemporary. One thing’s for sure, you’ll leave smitten with the irresistible charm of EMMA.

Emma is approximately 2 hours long, with one 15 minute intermission.

Cast

Chioma Anyanwu
as Mrs. Weston/Mrs. Bates

Justin Barron
as Mr. Elton/Mrs. Bates

David Toshiro Crane as
Frank Churchill/Robert Martin/Servant

Grayson DeJesus
as Mr. Knightly

Talley Gayle
as Harriet

Dri Hernaez as
Mrs. Elton/Servant

Amelia Pedlow
as Emma

Julie Pope as
Jane/Mrs. Bates/Servant

Mark Robbins as
Mr. Woodhouse/Mr. Weston

Vanessa Severo
as Miss Bates/Servant

 

Creative Team

Directed by
Meredith McDonough

Written by
Kate Hamill

Scenic/Costume Designer
Lex Liang

Light Designer
Jacqueline K. Fox

Sound Designer
Palmer Hefferan

Wig Designer
Blaine Shepherd

Choreographer
Emily Michaels King

Associate Scenic Design
Nicholas Renaud

Assistant Sound Design
Jeffrey Salerno

Assistant Sound Design
Paul Vedros

Casting
Andi Meyer

New York Casting
Katja Zarolinski, CSA

Intimacy Coordinator
Jenise R. Cook

Dialect Coach
Jill Walmsley Zager

Dance Captain
Vanessa Severo

Production Stage Manager
Rachel M. Dyer

Assistant Stage Manager
Alex Murphy

Production Assistant
Addison Price

Understudy – Mr. Knightley
David Toshiro Crane

Understudy – Frank Churchill, Mr. Woodhouse, Mr. Elton
Ross Hellwig

Understudy – Harriet
Dri Hernaez

Understudy – Jane, Mrs. Weston, Miss Bates, Mrs. Elton
Shanna Jones

Understudy – Emma
Julie Pope

CAST

CHIOMA ANYANWU (Mrs. Weston) (She/Her) KCRep: Little Shop of Horrors, the ripple, the wave that carried me home, Noises Off!, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, A Christmas Carol, Antony and Cleopatra( Co- Production, UMKC Theatre). Local: Trouble in Mind, Little Women, Dot, The Pests (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Jesus Christ Superstar (This Happy Breed, The Arts Asylum); Godspell, Hairspray (Starlight Theatre); Doctor Moloch, Backwards Forwards Back, The Revolutionists, The Wolves, Men on Boats, The Mountaintop, Everyday Rapture, Hungry, Pipeline (Unicorn Theatre); Evil Dead the Musical (EGADS! Theatre); 1776, Evita (Music Theatre Heritage). Directing: Pippin, Rent (Avila University); Bomb’itty of Errors (Fishtank Productions); Emotional Creatures (Co-Director, Spinning Tree Theatre). Education: BFA in Theatre Arts, Stephens College; MFA in Acting and Directing, UMKC. AEA Member

JUSTIN BARRON (Mr. Elton) (He/Him) KCRep: Man in Love, Twelfth Night (US). Local: Native Gardens, Sweat, How to Use a Knife, Nomad Motel, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Informed Consent, Our Black Death, The Ghosts of Lote Bravo (Unicorn Theatre); Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Sister Act (New Theatre); Guys & Dolls, South Pacific (Musical Theatre Heritage); A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Coterie Theatre). Regional: Something’s Afoot (Maples Repertory Theatre); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Our Town, Guys and Dolls, Reading! and Other Superpowers, Bodyguard! Protector of the Anatomy (Creede Repertory Theatre). Education: BFA, University of Central Missouri. Upcoming: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival). AEA Member

DAVID TOSHIRO CRANE (Frank Churchill/Robert Martin/Understudy, Mr. Knightley) (He/Him) KCRep: debut. Regional: Reefer Madness (LA Revival); The Prince of Egypt, Tuck Everlasting, Miss Bennet, New Works Fests ’17 and ‘18 (Theatreworks Silicon Valley); Don’t Stop Me (World Premiere) (Korsa Musical Theater); Guys and Dolls (SF Playhouse); Vietgone, Miss Bennet (Capitol Stage); 110 in the Shade (Actor’s Co-op of Hollywood); The Glass Menagerie, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Sacramento Theatre Company); West Side Story, Hair, Grease (Mountain Play); Noises Off (Hillbarn Theatre); The Mochi Project (Vacancy Arts Collective); Gandhi (B Street); Next to Normal, Les Miserables (Korsa); Do I Hear a Waltz? (Musical Theatre Guild); The Sparrow (Coeurage Theatre); Footloose (San Diego Musical Theatre). TV/Film: Straight on Until Morning (CraigO Film); Doubleblind (UCLA Graduate Film Program); Less (Outside Films); Six Degrees with Mike Rowe (Hungry Soldiers Produce); Dropping the Soap (Huge NoHo Productions); countless Buzzfeed Videos (Buzzfeed Films). Education: BA, UCLA Ray Bolger Musical Theatre Conservatory. Instagram: @craviddane davidtcrane.com AEA Member

GRAYSON DEJESUS (Mr. Knightley) (He/Him) KCRep: debut. Broadway: War Horse (1st National Tour) (Lincoln Center Theater). Regional: The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet (Guthrie Theater); Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Romeo & Juliet, All’s Well That Ends Well (Santa Cruz Shakespeare); A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre); Zoey’s Perfect Wedding (Denver Center for the Performing Arts); Jane Eyre (Hartford Stage, Geva Theatre); Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Longwharf Theater); Pride & Prejudice, Lion In Winter (St. Louis Rep); Native Gardens (Cleveland Playhouse); The Messenger, Lion In Winter (Pioneer Theater); The Importance of Being Earnest. The Tempest, King Lear, Amadeus, The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, The Country Wife, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Winter’s Tale (The Old Globe); All Is Bright, Winnemucca (Shelby Company). Film: Kate Can’t Swim, Thirdy. Television: Law & Order (NBC); High Maintenance (HBO); Sneaky Pete (Amazon Studios); Conviction, Forever (ABC). Education: MFA, University of San Diego/Old Globe. graysondejesus.com AEA Member

TALLEY GALE (Harriet) (She/They) KCRep: debut. New York: The Report. Regional: Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty! A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure (Cleveland Play House); The Importance of Being Earnest (Florida Repertory Theater); Primating (Arkansas Repertory Theatre); Hamlet, Love’s Labors Lost, Richard II, Macbeth (The Old Globe); Private Lives, Antony and Cleopatra (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Proof (Oldcastle Theatre); This is Our Youth (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). TV: Harlem (Amazon) Evil Lives Here (Investigation Discovery). Education: BFA, Ball State University; MFA, The Old Globe/University of San Diego. talleygale.com t heafoundation.org. AEA Member

DRI HERNAEZ (Mrs. Elton/Understudy, Harriet)) (She/Her) KCRep: Cyrano de Bergerac, A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan & Wendy. Regional: The Heart Sellers (Theatreworks, Colorado Springs). Local: The Heart Sellers, Poor Clare (The Unicorn Theatre); Gulag Girls (Rising Tide Productions); Princess. Goddess. Witch. Weaver. – Play Reading (InterUrban ArtHouse) Alphabet Soup: Theatre From Queer Voices (Whim Productions); Wheel of Fortune, Crutchie: Go F*ck Yourself (Charolotte Street Foundation – Scratch Night) Film: Once I Was Engaged (Main Dog & Escapology Little Wagon Films) Education: BA in Elementary Education – Minor in Theatre Performance at B.Y.U – Hawai’i. MFA in Acting, University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory. Labyrinth Theatre Intensive Ensemble Member 2022

AMELIA PEDLOW (Emma) New York: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (BAM); Intelligence (Dutch Kills); The Metromaniacs,’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Red Bull); Pride & Prejudice (Primary Stages); The Liar, The Heir Apparent (CSC); You Never Can Tell (The Pearl). Regional (select): Emma (world premier Guthrie, Denver Center); POTUS (City Theatre); Scarlet Letter (Two River); Dear Jack, Dear Louise (world premier Arena Stage, George Street); Private Lives (St. Louis Rep); Doubt (Studio Theatre); Red Velvet (Old Globe); Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Ether Dome (La Jolla, Hartford Stage, The Huntington); 39 Steps, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet (Denver Center); Legacy of Light (Cleveland Playhouse). TV: FBI: Most Wanted, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Shades of Blue, The Blacklist. Education: Juilliard. AEA Member

JULIE POPE (Jane/Understudy, Emma) (She/Her) KCRep: debut. Local: Newsies, Mamma Mia, Chicago (New Theatre); A Chorus Line, Cabaret (MTH); Legally Blonde (Starlight). Regional: Evil Dead-the Musical (Natl. Tour – Marriott Lincolnshire, Drury Lane, Theatre at the Center, Mason St. Warehouse). International: Tokyo DisneySea, Hongkong Disneyland. TV/Film: Raffle, Earlybird, Nelly Don; The Musical Movie. Education: BFA Western Michigan University. Instagram: juliebee_pope juliepope.me AEA Member

MARK ROBBINS (Mr. Woodhouse/Mr. Weston) (He/Him) KCRep: Once, Roof of the World, Sticky Traps, Angels in America (Parts I and II), Death of a Salesman, The Mystery of Irma Vep, A Christmas Carol (24 seasons), Oedipus the King (title role), Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure (title role), Circle Mirror Transformation, Bus Stop, The Voysey Inheritance (co-production with ACT), Man and Superman, The Front Page, Guys and Dolls, Saint Joan, King Lear, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Major Barbara, The Sea Gull, Inherit the Wind, The Deputy, Crown of Thorn, Taming of the Shrew, Nicholas Nickleby, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Loose Ends. Local acting: Several roles for Kansas City Actors Theatre, The Living Room, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, New Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, The Coterie. Local directing: Unicorn Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Founding member of Kansas City Actors Theatre: directed several productions. Education: BA, Webster College Conservatory; MFA, Wayne State University. AEA Member

VANESSA SEVERO (Ms. Bates/Servant/Dance Captain) (She/Her) KCRep: Twelfth Night, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson- Apt 2B, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frida…A Self Portrait, Sex with Strangers, Vanya, Sonia, Masha, and Spike, A Christmas Story (The Musical), Roof of the World, A Christmas Carol (2009-2019). Local: Men on Boats, Clean House, The Revolutionists, Venus in Fur (Unicorn Theater); Gypsy (Musical Theater Heritage); The Miracle Worker (Coterie Theatre); Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival). Regional: Frida…A Self Portrait. International: Frida…A Self Portrait. Awards: Kilroys List 2020 (Frida…A Self Portrait); TCG Fox Fellowship Grant 2018; Dramatist Guild Grant 2022; Artist in Residency, Carlsbad, CA- 2021; Artist in Residency, Peoria, AZ -2025. Education: Missouri State University, American Theater Conservatory (San Francisco), Trained and certified Suzuki Method/The Viewpoints – under the direction of Ellen Lauren (SITI Company), 2018. Upcoming: Dracula (KCRep); Shane (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Frida…A Self Portrait (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre). VanessaSevero.com AEA Member

UNDERSTUDIES

ROSS HELLWIG (Frank Churchill/Mr. Woodhouse/Mr. Elton US) (He/Him) KCRep: debut. Local: Rumors, Newsies, Squabbles, Catch Me If You Can, Freaky Friday, The Play That Goes Wrong (New Theatre). Regional: Spinning into Butter (Pittsburgh Public); Vincent in Brixton, Don Juan, Macbeth, Antony & Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors (The Old Globe); King o’ the Moon (North Coast Rep); RFK: The Journey to Justice (National Tour, LA Theatre Works); Not Medea (B Street Theatre); The Liar, The Lion in Winter, The School for Lies (Ensemble Theatre Company Santa Barbara); Noises Off (Sierra Rep); Crimes of the Heart (Rubicon Theatre); Equivocation, Beau Jest, The Explorer’s Club, Noises Off, Babette’s Feast, Chaps! (Lamb’s Players); Photograph 51 (The Fountain); The Rainmaker (A Noise Within); Private Lives (Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre); The Two Noble Kinsmen, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, Richard III, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors, The Winter’s Tale (Kingsmen Shakespeare). International: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Vienna’s English Theatre). TV/Film: The Selling (RedWood Pictures); NUMB3RS, Guiding Light (CBS); Law & Order: SVU (NBC). Upcoming: Clue (New Theatre). AEA Member

SHANNA JONES (Jane/Mrs. Weston/Miss Bates/Mrs. Elton US) (She/Her) KCRep: Once, Between the Lines, Side by Side by Sondheim, The Diary of Anne Frank, Sunday in the Park with George, Stillwater, Hair: Retrospection, Santaland Diaries, A Christmas Carol. Local: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (The Coterie) Freaky Friday, Bridesmaids, Mama Mia, Sister Act (New Theatre); Next To Normal (Kansas Repertory Theatre). New York: Phaedra’s Floating Cabaret, Undone, Decline and Fall (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: Tug of War; Foreign Fire & Civil Strife (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Les Misérables (Pioneer Theatre Company); Romeo and Juliet (Utah Shakespearean Festival); Man of La Mancha, Into the Woods, Miracle Worker, 42nd Street, To Kill A Mockingbird (Hale Center Theatre); Saturday’s Voyeur (Salt Lake Acting Company). Education: BFA, Actor Training Program University of Utah. AEA Member

CREATIVE TEAM

KATE HAMILL (Playwright) Kate Hamill is an actor & playwright. Kate has been one of the most-produced playwrights in America from 2017-2023 and is the most-produced playwright in the country for 2024/25 (tied with Rajiv Joseph). Wall Street Journal Playwright of the Year, 2017; Einhorn Award, 2023. Plays include Pride & Prejudice at Primary Stages / HVSF (originated role of Lizzy; nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award), Sense & Sensibility at Bedlam (originated role of Marianne; winner, Off-Broadway Alliance Award; nominee, Drama League Award); Vanity Fair at the Pearl (originated Becky; nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award), The Light and the Dark (the Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi) at CTC / Primary Stages (originated Artemisia), The Odyssey at A.R.T., Mansfield Park at Northlight, Little Women at Primary Stages & the Jungle, Dracula at Classic Stage Company (originated Renfield), Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B at KCRep, The Little Fellow (or: the Queen of Tarts Tells All) at Cygnet Theatre, Emma at the Guthrie; BadAssGalBoss at Primary Stages; The Scarlet Letter at Two River. Other plays include Scrooge for Senate; The Piper (O’Neill Finalist, PlayPenn Fellow), In the Mines (Sundance Finalist), and Murder Play (or: The Aristocrats!). kate-hamill.com

MEREDITH MCDONOUGH (Director) Meredith McDonough was the Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville for seven seasons, where favorite directing includes Angels in America, Peter and the Starcatcher, and the premieres of Colman Domingo’s Dot, This Random World and Airness. She has done extensive regional work, including the premiere of Kate Hamill’s Emma (Guthrie, Playmakers Rep, Denver Center). Other favorites include the premieres of both Miss Bennett and Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberly (Marin Theatre), The Lily’s Revenge with Taylor Mac (Magic Theatre), Noises Off (Guthrie), Falsettos (Latte Da), The 39 Steps (Denver Center), Fair Use (Steppenwolf), Private Lives and Lifespan of a Fact (St Louis Rep), and the US premiere of NSFW (Roundhouse). She was the Director of New Works at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the New Works Director for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and a Drama League Fellow. Education: Northwestern; MFA, UCSD.

LEX LIANG (Scenic/Costume Design) KCRep: debut. NYC/Off-Broadway: 50+ productions. Regional: 200+ productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Alliance Theatre; Asolo Repertory Theatre; Cleveland Play House; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Dallas Theater Center; Denver Center; Geva Theatre Center; The Goodman; The Guthrie; La Jolla Playhouse; Long Wharf Theatre; Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Paper Mill Playhouse; Pasadena Playhouse; Portland Center Stage; Syracuse Stage; Woolly Mammoth. Other: Founder and owner of LDC Design Associates, an experiential event design and production company in New York City. Recent projects/clients include Absolut Vodka, Johnson & Johnson, Invesco, The Kardashians, Tony Awards Gala, NY Fashion Week, NYC Wine & Food Festival, William Hill Winery. lexliang.com Instagram: @MrLexLiang

JACKIE FOX (Lighting Design) KCRep: debut. Regional: Little Mermaid (CSFAC); POTUS (City Theater); EMMA (DCPA); Helen. (La Mama); Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt 2B (Dorset Theater Festival); The Oresteia (The Juilliard School); The WOLVES (McCarter Theatre Center); Dear Jack, Dear Louise (Northlight Theatre); UNTOLD PARA/MAR Dance Theatre). Scenic credits: Little Mermaid (CSFAC); Pretty Fire (Omaha Community Playhouse); Pride and Prejudice (Wagon Wheel Theatre). jackiefoxdesigns.com

PALMER HEFFERAN (Sound Design) KCRep: debut. Broadway: John Proctor Is The Villain (Booth Theatre), Alex Edelman: Just For Us (Hudson Theatre), The Skin of Our Teeth (Tony nom, Lincoln Center); Grand Horizons (Second Stage); The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54). Off-Broadway: Liberation, what the end will be, Something Clean, Bobbie Clearly (Roundabout Theatre); Shit.Meet.Fan, Nollywood Dreams, BLKS, Collective Rage, Charm, School Girls (MCC Theater); Teeth (New World Stages, Playwrights Horizons); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Audible Theater); Merry Wives, shadow/land, Shipwreck, Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theater); Waiting For Godot, Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); Blood Quilt, Flex, Becky Nurse Salem, Marys Seacole (Lincoln Center); The Comeuppance, Fabulation, The Death of the Last Black Man… (Signature Theatre). Awards: Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design, American Theatre Wing. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama. Instagram: @palmzhefferan palmerhefferan.com

BLAINE SHEPHERD (Wig Design) (He/Him) KC Rep: debut. Wig Design: Sweeney Todd (University of Kansas), Cabaret (Washington University), The Little House on the Prairie (Quincy Community Theater). Costume Design: The Inheritance Part 1 & Part 2 (Unicorn Theater), The Revolutionists (Truman State University), Company (Music Theater Heritage), Camelot (MTH), Little House on the Prairie (QCT), Flora & Ulysses (QCT), Obama-ology (Bay Street Theater), Shrek the Musical (Gladstone Theater in the Park). Assistant Costume Design: American Apollo (Des Moines Metro Opera), Blame it on the Boogie (MTH). Education: MFA in Costume Design & Technology – University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Instagram: @blaine.shepherd.design

EMILY MICHAELS KING (Choreographer) (She/Her) KCRep: debut. Regional: Emma (Guthrie Theater, Denver Center of the Performing Arts, PlayMakers Repertory Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Guthrie Theater); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Moving Company); Falsettos (Theater Latte Da). Creation: Magic Girl, Digital, In Person, Chicken Wing, Star Keeper (select solo performance); The Show, Animus, Lewis/Clark (E/D); The Hollow (Trademark Theater); many with Live Action Set. Upcoming: Passion (Theater Latte Da). Education: University of Minnesota; The Ailey School. emilymichaelsking.com

JENISE R. COOK (Intimacy Consultant) (She/Her) KCRep: Broke-ology, Twelfth Night. Local: West Side Story, Legally Blonde (Starlight Theatre); Romeo et Juliet (Lyric Opera of Kansas City); Smart People (KCAT); fire work, Refuge, Toni Stone (Unicorn Theatre); Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, Collective Rage, Spilled Milk (Fishtank Theatre); She Kills Monsters, Romeo & Juliet, Stop Kiss (UCM). Regional: One Shot (Cleveland Playhouse: New Ground Festival); The Handmaid’s Tale Opera, Aida (Glow Lyric Theatre). Education: MFA: University of Missouri, Kansas City. Jenisec.com AEA Member

JILL WALMSLEY ZAGER (Dialect Coach) (She/Her) l Jill has served as the Resident Voice, Text and Dialects Coach at The Guthrie and American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Regionally she has worked at the Marriott Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Arizona Theatre Company, Drury Lane, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. An actor for over 20 years, she has appeared in over 80 productions. Her positions in academia were Senior Lecturer for the UMN/Guthrie BFA Actor Training Program, Co-Head of Voice and Dialects for the MFA at the American Conservatory Theater and Head of Voice for the BFA and MFA Actor Training Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Jill earned her master’s degrees in Voice and Dialects from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London) and Northwestern University.

JEFFREY SALERNO (Assistant Sound Design) (He/Him) KCRep: Emma. Off Broadway: The Ford/Hill Project (The Public Theater) Regional: Beautiful, Sweat, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, Wizard Of Oz, Honky Tonk Angels (Capital Repertory Theater); Indecent, Pippin, Into The Woods, The Agitators, Webster’s Bitch (Playhouse on Park); What The Jews Believe (Berkshire Theater Group). Assistant/Associate Design: All Nighter, Space Dogs (MCC); Penelope (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company); Godspell, Rock and Roll Man (Berkshire Theater Group); Dead Outlaw (Minetta Lane Theater); White Christmas (Papermill Playhouse). Awards: The Agitators, CT Broadway World’s Best Sound Design 2022. Education: B.A., Catawba College. Upcoming: Waitress (Theater By the Sea); Once (Capital Repertory Theater). Affiliations: United Scenic Artists USA 829; Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association – TSDCA Instagram: @salernosounddesign jeffreysalerno.com

PAUL VEDROS (Assistant Sound Design) (He/Him) KCRep: debut. Local: Doctor Moloch, Poor Clare (Unicorn Theatre); Pirates of Penzance, Vinegar Tom, The Magic Flute (UMKC). Awards: Meritorious Achievement in Sound Design for Vinegar Tom, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Education: MFA Sound Design, UMKC – Expected Graduation 2025. Upcoming: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); The Roommate (KCAT).

ANDI MEYER (Casting) (She/Her) Based in Osage/Kikapoo/Kansa/Sioux/Otoe Missouria ancestral territory (Kansas City), Andi is an award-winning Kanaka Maoli/Asian American theatre maker/activist, arts educator, and parent. She is the Producing Artistic Director of Tradewind Arts, a boutique arts organization devoted to illuminating, motivating, and amplifying the voice of Native Hawaiian, Oceanic, and Asian American artists. Andi was a 2017-18 Charlotte Street Foundation (CSF) Studio Resident. Her work has been recognized with support from ArtsKC, TCG, Asian Arts Initiative, The Kauffman Foundation, Charlotte Street Foundation, JOCO libraries, InterUrban ArtHouse, and the Dramatists Guild Fund, as well as two NEA award winning projects in partnership with The Coterie Theatre including Hana’s Suitcase and Justice at War. Andi’s directorial credits include Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them for Tradewind Arts; Justice at War at The Coterie; and Nomad Motel and Poor Clare at The Unicorn. She has appeared in productions at The Unicorn Theatre, The New Theatre, The Coterie, The Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Disney’s Spirit of Aloha, with voice and on-camera clients including Hallmark, H&R Block, Sprint, and McDonald’s. AEA Member

KATJA ZAROLINSKI (New York Casting) Katja Zarolinski, CSA, is a New York-based casting director handling productions for theater, film and television. Previous theatre casting work includes Broadway, off-Broadway and regional productions including Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Barrington Stage Company, Cape Playhouse, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Mosaic Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, People’s Light, Pittsburgh CLO, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Studio Theatre, Theaterworks Hartford, Virginia Stage Company, and many more. Film credits include Bernard and Huey, Fair Market Value, Senior Moment, Year By The Sea, Child of Grace, My Man Is A Loser, After The Sun Fell, Police State, Stalking the Bogeyman (short). Television credits include Twisted (ABC Family Pilot), Sesame Street, Saint George (NY Casting), and One Night Only (Vevo Pilot)

RACHEL M. DYER (Production Stage Manager) (She/Her) KCRep: Production Stage Manager: A Christmas Carol (2024), Once, Cyrano de Bergerac, Flood, Twelfth Night, Brother Toad, Man In Love, Lot’s Wife. Assistant Stage Manager: Nina Simone- Four Women, The Old Man and the Old Moon, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apt. 2B, A Christmas Carol (2021-2023 and 2014-2019). Mary’s Wedding, Fun Home, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Pride & Prejudice, Last Days of Summer, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Between the Lines, Side by Side by Sondheim, Evita, The Diary of Anne Frank, Sunday in the Park with George, Hair: Retrospective, An Iliad. Local: Romeo & Juliet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Morning’s at Seven (Kansas City Actors Theatre) Education: BS in Theatre Design and Technology, Northwest Missouri State University. AEA Member

ALEX MURPHY (Assistant Stage Manager) (He/They). KCRep: Broke-ology, A Christmas Carol, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, A Christmas Carol, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Death of a Salesman, The Tallest Tree in the Forest, The Who and the What, The Santaland Diaries, Angels in America, Sticky Traps. Local: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical, Justice at War (Coterie Theatre); Death and the Maiden, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Blithe Spirit, Skylight, Sea Marks, A Lie of the Mind, And Then There Were None, The Realistic Joneses, My Old Lady, I’m Not Rappaort, At Home at the Zoo, The Gin Game (Kansas City Actors Theatre). Touring: The Prom (First National Tour). Off-Broadway: The Harder They Come, Romeo and Bernadette, Two’s a Crowd. Regional: Gem of the Ocean, The Scarlet Letter, Two Sisters and a Piano, Wine in the Wilderness (Two River Theater); American Prophet (Arena Stage); A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story, Still Ready (Actors Theatre of Louisville); How I Learned What I Learned, An Iliad (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). Education: MFA, University of Missouri– Kansas City. AEA Member

THEATRICAL RIGHTS WORLDWIDE (TRW) (Licensor) Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), comprised of TRW Musicals, TRW Plays, and TRW Production, was founded in 2006 by Owner and CEO Steve Spiegel. With headquarters in NYC and London and local offices around the world, TRW provides full-service representation on behalf of authors and rightsholders for live-stage performance of their musicals and plays to the global marketplace of school, amateur and professional theatre organizations. The growing TRW Musicals catalog of shows include Jersey Boys, The Prom, The Addams Family, Monty Python’s Spamalot, All Shook Up, Million Dollar Quartet, On Your Feet, Curtains, Ghost The Musical, Bright Star, Ring Of Fire, Memphis The Musical, The Color Purple, Big Fish, and many more. The TRW Plays catalog of shows include Born With Teeth, Sanctuary City, The Coast Starlight, Barbecue, Zoey’s Perfect Wedding, Dracula, Selling Kabul, Macbitches, Sagittarius Ponderosa, and more, and features esteemed playwrights such as Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, Matthew López, Kate Hamill, Robert O’Hara, Sophie McIntosh, Keith Bunin, Liz Duffy Adams, Douglas Carter Beane, Sylvia Khoury, and many others.

LIONFISH MUSIC GROUP (Music Licensor) Lionfish Music is a leading music supervision and clearance company that specializes in providing top-notch music solutions for all your audiovisual projects. Our team of experienced professionals is dedicated to ensuring that productions are brought to life with the best music that perfectly fits the mood and tone of the project. Our mission at Lionfish Music is to provide our clients with the best possible music solutions, delivered with professionalism, efficiency, and a passion for great music.

 


 

Sponsored by

Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts - Commerce Bank, TrusteeMark Edelman Theater Fund

Additional support provided by

Pamela Miller & Michael Cummings

Restaurant Partner

Cafe Trio

EMMA is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by TRW PLAYS 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.trwplays.com

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