the ripple, the wave that carried me home

CHIOMA ANYANWU (Gayle) (She/Her) KCRep: 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: Dot, The Pests (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Jesus Christ Superstar (This Happy Breed, The Arts Asylum); Godspell, Hairspray (Starlight Theatre); 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 (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   

TIFFANY YVONNE COX (Helen) KCRep: debut. Regional: The Children’s Hour (Intiman Theatre); By the Way Meet Vera Stark (Santa Monica Repertory Theatre); Season on the Line (The House Theatre); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream, SS! The Taming of the Shrew, among others (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); four seasons with Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks; The Tempest (American Players Theatre); Godspell (PCPA Theaterfest); Jackie and Me (First Stage Children’s Theatre); and Avenue Q (Skylight Music Theatre).  TV/Film: Reasonable Doubt (Hulu), American Horror Stories (FX) and Good Trouble (Freeform); Chicago Fire, Grey’s Anatomy, Dead To Me, and Good Trouble. Ms. Cox a first-generation Trinidadian actress, director, writer, and producer. AEA Member http://www.tiffanyyvonnecox.com and https://imdb.me/tiffanyyvonnecox. 

MEREDITH NOËL (Janice) (She/Her) KCRep: The Village of Vale (reading), Flood (reading), for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, A Christmas Carol. Local: Brainstorm (The Coterie). Regional: Nina Simone: Four Women (South Coast Repertory Theatre); Crowns, A Christmas Carol, The Parchman Hour, The Wiz, Oliver Twist, The Hampton Years (Virginia Stage Company); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Billie Holiday), A Christmas Carol, Grotesquerie Lake (reading) (Zeiders American Dream Theatre); for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (National Black Theatre Festival). University Theatre: The Color Purple, Ruined, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, A Raisin in the Sun, Jitney, Tambourines to Glory, Black Nativity, Fences (Norfolk State University); Discovering Hamlet (UMKC Theatre). Education: BA in English with concentration in Theatre, Norfolk State University; MFA in Acting and Directing, UMKC. AEA Member 

GREGORY WARREN (Edwin) (He/Him) KCRep: debut. Off-Broadway: Colorblind (Actors Temple Theatre). New York: Watch Me Burn (The Wild Project); The Prisoners of Quai Dong (The Tank); Will (The Hudson Guild Theater); The Exonerated, The Tempest and The Motherf*cker With the Hat (The Secret Theatre). Regional: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Virginia Stage Company); Mana and Her Underground Family (Gorilla Tango Theatre). Awards: Outstanding Performance in a Supportive Role at Fresh Fruit Festival Awards, 2017 (Watch Me Burn). Training: Second City Acting program & Green Shirt Studio (Chicago). AEA Member @gregkwarr  

CHRISTINA ANDERSON (Playwright) Christina Anderson is a 2022 Tony Award Nominee for Outstanding Book of the Broadway musical Paradise Square. She is a playwright, tv writer, screenwriter, educator, and creative. Her work has been produced by theaters such as the Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Kansas City Rep, Geva Theatre, and Yale Rep. Awards and honors include: 2022 Horton Foote Prize, 2022 Arthur Miller Legacy Award, 2021 Prince Prize, 2020 United States Artists Fellow, MacDowell Fellowship, Lily Awards Harper Lee Prize, Herb Alpert Award nomination, Barrymore Nomination, and New Dramatists Residency. She was a staff writer on Edie Falco’s CBS tv drama Tommy. She taught playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, Wesleyan University, Rutgers University, SUNY Purchase College, and served as the interim Head of Playwriting at Brown University. An avid photographer for nearly ten years, the Magnum award review described Christina’s work as “compelling” and “poignant.” (Some of her photos can be seen throughout her website:  christinaandersonwriter.com). Since 2019, she has produced hip hop instrumentals under the moniker Purely Magenta.  

KHANISHA FOSTER (Director) Khanisha’s work and her outrageous family history landed Khanisha’s work and her outrageous family history landed her writing opportunities with K&L Productions (Kay Cannon & Laverne McKinnon), as well as Julie Hébert (The Man in the High Castle), and Electric Shepherd Productions (stewards for the adaptations of the Philip K. Dick library). She was also a Fox Fellow, and her series Sancho was a semifinalist at the Austin Film Festival and is being produced by Max Arciniega (Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul) and Alonso Alvarez (Snowfall). She’s written video games for Probably Monsters (the company founded by the creators of Halo and Destiny), and for Episodes. Her solo show Joy Rebel, directed by Obie Award winner Lou Bellamy, received critical acclaim, and was chosen as a DC Metro Staff favorite for 2019. Her plays have been commissioned by Penumbra Theatre, 1st Stage, and 2nd Story. 

Khanisha was named one of 18 Black Women We Think Are Phenomenal by Mater Mea Magazine along with Lena Waithe. American Theatre Magazine named her in their Role Call series as one of the 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know. Broadway World named her Best Director for The Bluest Eye, which also won Best Production. Her production of Yellowman is currently nominated for seven OC Theatre Guild Awards. 

JOSAFATH REYNOSO (Scene Design) (He/Him) KCRep: debut. Regional: The Glass Menagerie (Arizona Theatre Company); Once (Berkshire Theatre Group); Need Your Love (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Director’s Lab 2018 (Lincoln Center Theatre); The Hobbit, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Bluest Eye (Virginia Stage Company); Mamma Mia, Ella and Her Fella Frank, Fences (Virginia Repertory Theatre); The Inheritance Parts 1&2 (ZACH Theatre); Man of La Mancha, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Triad Stage). International: Hitler in My Heart, Arabian Night, La Sodomai (Argentina); Titus Andronicus, No Exit (Venezuela); Prague Quadrennial 2019 US Featured Artist (Czech Republic); International Biennale of Architecture 2016 (Argentina); Stage |Set |Scenery 2015 featured speaker (Germany); Lamdè (Israel). Awards: Opera America Rober Tobin Director-Designer Award (US); Richmond Critics Circle Award 2022/2019 (US); World Stage Design 2017 Gold Medal (Taiwan); USITT Scenic Design Award 2015 (US); Larroque Theatre Festival First Place (Argentina). Education: BFA in Scenography from Escuela Nacional de Arte Teatral in Mexico City; MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. 

WENDELL C. CARMICHAEL (Costume Design) KCRep: debut. Theatre credits: Polymnia, Ain’t MisBehavin’, Head Over Heels, Phantom of the Opera, Lavender Men, Uncle Vanya, Both And ~ Laughing While Black, Blues for An Alabama Sky, Three Sisters, Yellowman, Spring Awakening, Miss Julie Freedom Summer, Paradise Blue, Cyrano De Bergerac, McBeth, A Winter’s Tale, Sweeney Todd, Waiting for Godot, Salvage, Ragtime, Scraps, The Mountaintop, Our Town, The Wizard of Oz, WINK, Fool for Love, In the Heights, Happy Ending, American Saga: Gunshot Medley, Jews, Christians and Screwing Stalin, Vol. 1: A Post Racial America, Violet, Her Portmanteau, Native Son, A Walk in the Woods, Cabaret, West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief, The Crucible, An Octoroon, Br’er Cotton, Waiting for the Parade, The Good War, Greenwood 1964. Awards: 2018 Stage Raw winner – Costume Design, three-time L.A. Ovation Award nominee, 2017 Orange County’s Best Costume Designs, 2015 NAACP Theatre Award winner. Member of Local 768, the Theatrical Wardrobe Union/LA Opera. 

CONNOR WANG (Sound Design) KCRep: debut. Off-Broadway: Where You’ll Find Me: Jason Gotay (Minetta Lane); An evening with Amber Iman (Minetta Lane); An evening with Ali Stroker (Minetta Lane); You Are Here: Solea Pfeiffer (Minetta Lane); Dutchman (Access Theater). Regional: The Hot Wing King (Alliance Theatre); Kim’s Convenience (Theatre Squared); How to Dance in Ohio (Syracuse Stage); Mud Season Mystery: The Lodger (Northern Stage); Last Stop on Market Street (Northwestern Wirtz Center); Singin’ In The Train (McCarter Theatre). Other credits: Disney Princess The Concert (US Tour, Sound Engineer); DCappella (Dubai Opera, Sound Engineer). Assistant Designer: Hadestown (Broadway, Korea, US Tour), Hamilton (US Touring companies), The Cher Show (Broadway), TINA (US Tour). Upcoming: Sorry For Your Loss (Minetta Lane). Affiliations: United Scenic Artists USA-829. Education: The Theatre School at DePaul University.  ConnorWangDesigns.com 

RACHAEL CADY (Lighting Design) (She/Her/Hers) KCRep: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B, Frankenstein, Frida…A Self Portrait, Of Mice and Men, Brother Toad, Man in Love, Evita, Sunday in the Park with George, Sticky Traps, A Christmas Carol (2010-2018, 2021, 2022), When I Come to Die, The Glass Menagerie, Circle Mirror Transformation, Sticky Traps, Incognito. Regional: Frida…A Self Portrait (Portland Center Stage), (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Oklahoma! (Theatreworks); The Underpants, A Perfect Wedding, Shake Rattle and Roll, Smokey Joe’s Café (Florida Studio Theatre); Fellowship! (NYMF festival); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Theatre League); Love Janis (Zach Theatre, Austin). Local: Ragtime, Blame it on the Boogie (Music Theatre Heritage); The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds, Tally’s Folly, Tally and Son, 5th of July, The Cripple of Inishman (Kansas City Actors Theatre). As the resident designer for the Unicorn Theatre (1995-2010) Rachael designed over fifty shows. 

DARREN CANADY (Dramaturg) KCRep: Legacy Land and the Monday Night Playwright Series. New York: He Was Mine But Then You Took Him (New York University, New York, NY); No Kerchiefs (The BE Company, New York, NY); Muddy the Water (The BE Company, The Red Room Theatre, New York, NY); One Night at Fern’s (Quo Vadimus Arts’ ID America Festival, New York, NY). Regional: Brothers of the Dust, Congo Square Theatre Company (Chicago, IL); One Night Dickie Didn’t Come Home (Helen Hocker Center for the Performing Arts, Topeka, KS); False Creeds (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA); Black Idiot Box and No Sparkle in the Dust (Scotch ‘n’ Soda Theatre, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA); How Theo Changed His Name (Music by Matthew Heap, Libretto by Darren Canady, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh, PA); False Creeds (National Playwrights Conference of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Waterford, CT). International: You’re Invited! (Old Vic New Voices, Old Vic Theatre, London, UK). Awards and Honors: America-in-Play (Residency); Primary Stages, Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group (Residency); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Residency); Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award, May 2006 (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta GA); Lecomte du Nouy Prize (The Juilliard School / Lincoln Center Theater); Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award; Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwrights. 

MARC WAYNE (Fight and Movement Coordinator) KC Rep: debut. Local: Mr. Wayne currently serves as Resident Choreographer and Technical Director/Master Carpenter at The Coterie Theatre. He has served on faculty at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, The Culture House Academy of the Performing Arts, Dramatic Truth School of The Arts. DanceWorks, and Dance Revolution National Touring Convention.

CORTNEY MANDOSKE (Production Stage Manager) KCRep: debut. Regional: Rachel, One Man, Two Guvnors, The Prince and the Pauper, Waiting for Godot, Frankenstein, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Production Stage Manager, Quintessence Theatre); The Wild Duck, Julius Caesar, My Fair Lady, Uncle Vanya (Assistant Stage Manager, Quintessence Theatre). Education: BA in Theatre, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Magna Cum Laude, Concentration Stage Management). AEA Member 

PAMELA A. WEST (Assistant Stage Manager) (She/Her) KCRep: Ghost Light, Company, Blood Wedding, A Christmas Carol (Production Assistant). Local: Smart People (Assistant Stage Manager, Wardrobe Supervisor), About Alice (Production Stage Manager), The Price, The Pests (Assistant Stage Manager, Kansas City Actors Theatre); Akeelah and the Bee, 2022 Young Playwrights Festival (Assistant Stage Manager, The Coterie); The Miracle Worker, The Outgoing Tide (Production Stage Manager, City Theatre of Independence. Upcoming: Peter Pan (Production Assistant) (KCRep). Education: studied theatre at Missouri Southern State College. 

ADDISON PRICE (Production Assistant) KCRep: A Christmas Carol (Production Assistant), Twelfth Night (Assistant Stage Manager); Ghost Light (Event Coordinator). Local: Alice’s Wonderland (Production Assistant/Deck Manager, The Coterie). Production Stage Manager: Alice in Wonderland (Manhattan Parks and Recreation); Macbeth (A Podcast), Gloria (Staged Reading), Oklahoma!, Inn-Dependent, Unity 1918 (Kansas State University). Assistant Stage Manager: Into the Woods, Winter Dance (Kansas State University). Education: BA in Theatre, Minor in French, Minor in Leadership (Summa Cum Laude), Kansas State University. addisonprice.org  

CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY (Licensor)  Positioned at the nexus of talent, content, brands, technology, sports, and live events, CAA creates limitless opportunities for the storytellers, trendsetters, icons, and thought leaders who shape popular culture. Across film, television, music, sports, digital media, marketing, and beyond, we represent thousands of the world’s leading actors, directors, writers, producers, musical artists, comedians, authors, athletes, coaches, broadcasters, teams, leagues, chefs, designers, fashion talent, consumer brands, and more. In service of them, we are committed to remaining the strongest, most vibrant, and most innovative service company in the world. Since our founding in 1975, CAA has continued to deliver on its promise that every client is represented by the whole agency. This collaborative approach benefits our clients now more than ever, as they look to build their careers and their brands across multiple disciplines and platforms. With a global network of employees and strategic partners in North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond, CAA taps its unequaled internal and external ecosystem of experts, relationships, access, and industry intelligence to help ensure that our clients achieve their goals. The trailblazer of the industry, CAA has created an ever-widening scope of services and businesses. We were the first talent agency to build a sports business, create an investment bank, launch a venture fund, found technology start-up companies, establish a business in China, create a brand marketing services business, and launch a philanthropic arm, among other industry innovations. It is also our goal to lead the way in diversity, advocating with marketplace buyers for talent from historically underrepresented groups – and for the cultural and commercial value of inclusion. CAA continues to increase the diversity of our talent roster and our employees, and always will. With a passion matched only by that of our clients, CAA is committed to crafting precedent-setting deals and building new brands and businesses driven by our clients’ ideas, interests, and opportunities. 

HAYLEY JOHNSON (U/S Helen, Aunt Gayle, Young Chipper Ambitious Black Woman) KCRep: debut. Local: After Midnight (Black Repertory Theatre) Graduate: I am The Dead Man and Dog Act (University of Florida). Undergraduate: Heathers, 39 Steps, Ghost: The Musical, Speech and Debate and (Dis)Connected (Graceland University). Awards: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 1st place Recipient; Mark Twain Award for Best Comedic Performance. Education: BA in Theatre, Graceland University; MFA in Acting & Theatre, University of Florida.   

TEONNA WESLEY (Janice U/S) KCRep: The Royale, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, A Christmas Carol. Local: Honky!, The Colored Museum (The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City); Tomorrow Inshallah (The Living Room Theatre); Regional: Steel Magnolias (Creede Repertory Theatre). Upcoming: Cinderella, The Royale, and Mountain Octopus (Creede Repertory Theatre). Education: New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. AEA Member @Tefamous 

ROBERT VARDIMAN (Edwin U/S) KCRep: The Royale. Local: Hair: Then & Now, Blame it on the Boogie, A Spectacular Christmas Show, Ragtime, In the Heights, Oklahoma!, Nelly Don the Musical (Music Theater Heritage); Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom, Memphis, The Meeting (The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City); Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly (Theater for Young America); Footloose (Robidoux Resident Theatre). Educational Theatre: Cronkite, School House Rock Live!, Eclipse, The Wedding Singer Cabaret, Cabaret. Education: BM, General Studies, Minor in Music and Dance (Missouri Western State University).