Twelfth Night

CAST

FREDDY ACEVEDO (Sebastian) (he/him/his) KCRep: Ghost Light 2021, A Christmas Carol. Local: La Intrevista (Playwright/Producer); Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Jack & the Bean Mágico, Secret Soldiers (The Coterie); Blind Faith (Unicorn Theatre); King Lear, Dracula (Kansas City Actors Theatre); El Amor Que Mueve El Sol y Las Demás Estrellas, El Árbol de Aguacate (KC Public Theatre). Regional: Dia y Noche, Mask Play (LAByrinth Theater Company); Lydia, Santos & Santos (William Inge Theater Festival); Justice Delayed (Playwright, A Call to Conscience Theatre). International: Pachakutec (Bolivia National Tour). Education: MFA Acting, UMKC; Intensive Ensemble 2020, LAByrinth Theater Company. AEA Member @freddyacevedo

DARRINGTON CLARK (Fabian) (he/him/his) KCRep: debut. Local: The Inheritance, Tiny Beautiful Things, Dance Nation, Kill Move Paradise, Who’s Your Baghdaddy (Unicorn Theatre). Hairspray, Godspell (Starlight Theatre); Once on This Island (Spinning Tree Theatre); Cats, My Fair Lady (Musical Theatre Heritage); Charlie Brown Christmas, Puffs, We Shall Not Be Moved, Garfield, Madagascar (The Coterie). Regional: Man of La Mancha, A Christmas Carol (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); A Christmas Carol, A Year with Frog and Toad (Children’s Theatre of Madison); Ghost, Newsies (Circa 21). Upcoming: A Christmas Carol (KCRep), Dreamgirls (The New Theatre). Education: BS in Theatre, Kansas State University. AEA Member

SAM CORDES (Sir Andrew) (he/him/his) KCRep: Mary’s Wedding, Pride and Prejudice, Pippin, A Christmas Carol, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Local: Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Henry V, Julius Cesar (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Our Black Death, Hir, RED, Farragut North, Mineola Twins (Unicorn Theatre); Wrestling Season, Ben Franklin’s Apprentice, Everyday Heroes (The Coterie); 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (New Theatre); Talk Radio (The Living Room). Regional: Richard Oberacker’s ACE, As You Like It, Hound of the Baskervilles, Much Ado About Nothing (Nevada Conservatory Theatre); Bad Jews, Diary of Anne Frank (Nevada Jewish Repertory Theatre); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Foreigner, Glass Menagerie, Little Shop of Horrors, The Game’s Afoot (Okoboji Summer Theatre). Upcoming: 2023 Agile Rascal Bicycle Touring Theatre. Education: MFA, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; BFA, Stephens College. AEA Member samcordes.org agilerascaltheatre.com

JOJO GONZALEZ (Feste) (he/him/his) KCRep: debut. Regional: Mlima’s Tale (The Public Theater); The Public Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, DR2, Culture Project, Queens Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, LA Theater Center, Laguna Playhouse. International: Thalia Hall (Romania), The Cultural Center of the Philippines (Manila). Awards: OBIE The Romance of Magno Rubio, Ma-Yi Theatre Company. TV: New Amsterdam (NBC), Maniac (recurring, NETFLIX, with Emma Stone and Jonah Hill), The Path (recurring, HULU), Madame Secretary, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Mysteries of Laura, Deadbeat, White Collar, Without a Trace, Law and Order SVU. FILM: Going in Style (with Alan Arkin, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman); Pirates of Somalia (with Al Pacino); Antarctica, The Smurf’s Movie, A Kiss for Jed, Disoriented. AEA Member

MANON HALIBURTON (Malvolia) (she/her/hers) KCRep: August Osage County, The Flying Doctor, Plaza Suite, The Proposal. Local: A Doll’s House Part II, Asher Lev, Farragut North, Mr. Burns, The Effect, The Whale (Unicorn Theatre); And Then There Were None, Good People, Crimes of The Heart (Kansas City Actors Theatre); And Then They Came for Me (The Coterie). Regional: Our Town, Huckleberry Finn, The Crucible (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Macbeth, Three Musketeers, Henry IV Part I (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Love Song, Almost Maine, The Tempest (Chester Theatre Company); A Christmas Carol, Murder on The Orient Express (Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre); A Christmas Carol, Wit, Old Times, Boyd and Oscar (Cincinnati Playhouse In The Park); Camino Real (Riverside Theatre); Present Laughter (Century Center for The Performing Arts). TV: Law and Order, The Sopranos. FILM: I Am Lisa (Mutiny Pictures). Education: MFA in Acting Ohio University; BA in Theatre, UMKC. AEA Member

BRANDON JONES (Orsino) (he/him/his) KCRep: debut. Regional: Valley Forge (First Flight); War Words (NewYorkRep); Yuri and Malcolm X and Chasing The Wolf (LA Writers Center); Meet you at the Galaxy Diner (New Light Theater Project); Amen Corner (Classic Stage Company); The Mountaintop (Capital Rep); Coming Up For Air (EST); The Sting of White Roses (NC Black Rep); Trouble In Mind and You Can’t Take It With You (The Actors Theatre Company NYC); ReEntry (Actors Theatre of Louisville and Roundhouse Theatre); References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Garson Theatre Company); Race Music (Samuel Beckett Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello (Livermore Shakespeare Festival).

JIMMY KIEFFER (Toby) (he/him/his) KCRep: debut. Off-Broadway: Alf in Peter and the Starcatcher (New World Stages); Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol (Canal Park Playhouse). Regional: Clown in The 39 Steps (Repertory Theatre St. Louis); Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Maurice in Ever After, Ben Davis in Nick’s Flamingo Grill (Alliance Theatre); Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Ed in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Repertory Theatre St. Louis and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Luther Billis in South Pacific (Guthrie Theater); Squash in Victor/Victoria (Theatre Under the Stars); Brian in Avenue Q (Arkansas Repertory Theatre); Charles Dickens/John Allan in The Completely Fictional-Utterly True-Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe, Bob Acres in The Rivals (Baltimore Center Stage); Amadeus, Ross in Macbeth (Chautauqua Theatre); Pap Finn in Big River, Frank Lubey in All My Sons, Lane/Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest, Touchstone in As You Like It, Carl in Opus, Wickham in Pride and Prejudice, John Browdie/Sir Mulberry Hawk in Nicholas Nickleby (PlayMakers Repertory Company). Film/TV: Ocean’s Eight, Ricki and the Flash, A Place Apart, Criminal Minds, among others. Education: MFA in Acting, UNC Chapel Hill. jimmykieffer.com AEA Member

FRANCESCA FERNANDEZ MCKENZIE (Viola) (she/her/hers) KCRep: debut. New York: Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre); Kenny’s Tavern (59E59); Sorry/Not Sorry (Ars Nova/Ant Fest); Not So Long, Love: Medea, Export Quality, …what the end will be (u/s, Roundabout). Regional: Good Person of Szechwan (CalShakes); Lily’s Revenge (Southern Rep); Twelfth Night (Theater Mu); SYZYGY (Two Rivers Theater); Nanay (Magic Theatre), Sheddin’ (Horizon Theatre); 10 Minutes in 2020, Liébling, King Lear, Oresteia, Mister Paradise, Electra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, and more. Film/TV: Blue Bloods, Arcadia, The Hardest Part, Mooshrooms, Locker Room Series, Timecode: NOLA; Gloria: A Life (PBS Great Performances recording). Yale: Blood Wedding, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Hour of Great Mercy, Salt Peppa Ketchup, Wrong River, Lear, As You Like It, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Wait… Now, What?!, Death of Yazgherd, Thunder Above, Deeps Below. Education: MFA Acting, Yale School of Drama (now David Geffen School of Drama at Yale). AEA Member Francescafm.com @cheskamckenzie

EILEEN RIVERA (Maria) (she/her/hers) KCRep: debut. Regional: Tiger Style! (TheatreSquared in NW Arkansas and Olney Theatre Center in Maryland); Men on Boats, The White Snake, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Baltimore Center Stage); Vietgone (Studio Theatre, DC); The Hour of Great Mercy (Diversionary, San Diego); The Long Season (Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska); The Comfort Team (Virginia Stage Company). Off-Broadway: Beast (New York Theater Workshop); Dogeaters (The Public); A Fable (Rattlestick); King Lear (Cherry Lane Mentor Project); Sides: The Fear Is Real (Culture Project). TV: Law & Order; Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Ms. Rivera is the co-founder of The Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC). Awards: AAPAC received a 2022 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, as well as a Special Obie Citation in 2020 for advocacy in the field of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Upcoming: Extrapolations (Apple TV+). Education: BFA in Acting, Boston University. AEA Member EileenRivera.com

CHELSEA ROLFES (Antonia) (she/her/hers) KCRep: debut. Local: Dance Nation (Unicorn Theatre); The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Dragons Love Tacos (The Coterie). Regional: Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Muse of Fire Theatre); The Winter’s Tale (First Folio Theatre); Henry V (Babes with Blades); Starcrossed Stagecoach (Montana Shakes!); It’s a Wonderful Life (Oil Lamp Theatre). Education: MFA, UMKC; BFA, Syracuse University. chelsearolfes.com

VANESSA SEVERO (Olivia) (she/her/hers) KCRep: Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frida…A Self Portrait (Playwright/Frida), Sex with Strangers, Vanya Sonia Masha and Spike, August: Osage County, Cabaret, Roof of the World, Lot’s Wife, A Christmas Story: The Musical, A Christmas Carol. Regional: Frida…A Self Portrait (Playwright/Frida, Portland Center Stage). Local: Collective Rage; A Play in 5 Bettys (The Black Box); Desdemona, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Death and the Maiden, Blithe Spirit, Taking Sides, Hamlet (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Dance Nation, The Revolutionists, Venus in Fur, Men on Boats, Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Clean House (Unicorn Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); The Miracle Worker (The Coterie); Annapurna, Black Bird, Burn This (The Living Room Theatre); Black Pearl Sings!, West Side Story (Spinning Tree Theatre). Ms. Severo is the recipient of the 11th Round of the Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowships, 2017. Upcoming: Frida…A Self Portrait (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park) as well as (The Pittsburgh Public Theater). AEA Member VanessaSevero.com

JESS ANDREWS (Olivia/Viola u/s) (pronouns She/Her/Hers) KCRep: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apartment 2B (u/s), Ghost Light, The Village of Vale (staged reading). Local: Romeo and Juliet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Dance Nation, Tiny Beautiful Things (Unicorn Theatre); Brainstorm (The Coterie); 12th Night, The Moors, An Italian Straw Hat (UMKC Theatre). Regional: Cymbeline (Great River Shakespeare Festival); Marina (Bellingham TheatreWorks). Education: MFA in Acting and Directing (UMKC). AEA Member. jessandrewsactor.com

JUSTIN BARRON (Sir Andrew/Sebastian/Fabian) (pronouns He/Him/His)
KCRep: Man in Love. Local: Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Our Black Death, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Nomad Motel, Sweat, Informed Consent, How to Use A Knife, The Ghosts of Lote Bravo (Unicorn Theatre); Sister Act (New Theatre); A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (The Coterie); South Pacific, Guys and Dolls (Musical Theatre Heritage). Regional: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Our Town, Guys and Dolls, Reading…and Other Superpowers, Bodyguard: Protector of the Anatomy (Creede Repertory Theatre). Education: BFA in Musical Theatre (University of Central Missouri). AEA Member.

SHANNA JONES (Maria/ Antonia u/s) (pronouns She/Her/Hers)
KCRep: Between the Lines, Side by Side by Sondheim, The Diary of Anne Frank, Sunday in the Park with George, Stillwater, Hair: Retrospection, Santaland Diaries, Christmas Carol. Local: Freaky Friday, 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 (2008). AEA Member

CREATIVE TEAM

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Playwright) [26 April 1564 (baptism) – 23 April 1616] was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. His existing works, including collaborations of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s men. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare’s private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all of them considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy in his lifetime. However, in 1623, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare’s, John Hemminges and Henry Condell, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare’s dramatic works that included all but two of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Johnson that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: “not of an age, but for all time”.

NELSON T. EUSEBIO III (Director) (he/him/his) KCRep: Associate Artistic Director.
Nelson T. Eusebio III is the Associate Artistic Director of Kansas City Repertory and is thrilled to be making his KCRep directing debut with Twelfth Night. Nelson is also a freelance director, producer, and award-winning filmmaker. He has directed and developed work at theaters throughout the country, including the Public Theater/NYSF, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore Center Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, The Old Globe, and St. Louis Repertory Theatre. Nelson has been a resident artist at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Target Margin Theatre Institute, and Mabou Mines. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers (where he also served on the SDC Foundation’s Callaway Award Committee), Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and the Rhodopi International Theatre Collective. Nelson was a recipient of the 2009-11 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors, and the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a participant in the SPARK Leadership program. Nelson is the former Artistic Director of Leviathan Lab, an Asian American creative studio. He also served as Artistic Director of Creative Destruction, a cross-disciplinary theatre collective. He received his B.A. in Drama from UC Irvine and an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. He is a former United States Marine. nelsoneusebio.com

RANA ESFANDIARY (Scenic Design) (she/her/hers) KCRep: debut. Scenic Design: Chasing Gods (Kansas Repertory Theatre); Cubic (Costume/Scenic), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (University of Kansas). Costume Design: Urinetown, Syncorax, Airness (University of Kansas); The Wolves (Montclair State University. Lighting Design: The Legend of Georgia McBride, La Cage aux Folles, (Kansas Repertory Theatre); Mascot (Projection, The Living Room); Sunset Baby (Melting Pot KC Theatre). Director: Gaza Monologues (Zoom production, Stanford University, Abbasi Program); Ashes to Ashes (University of Kansas). Awards: Commendation Award for Achievement in Costume Design Sycorx (The Kennedy Center of American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), 2020); Commendation Award for Achievement in Scenic Design for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (KCACTF, 2019); Kuhlke Humanitarian Award, University of Kansas, 2018; Joseph R. Roach Dissertation Research Award (University of Kansas, 2016-2017); Diversity Leadership Award, Group Category Interactive Theatre Group (University of Kansas, 2016). Upcoming: Everybody (December 2022, Costume Design) and Love & Information (April 2023) (University of Kansas). Education: Ph.D. (with honors, Theatre Studies) and MFA (with honors), University of Kansas; BA in Playwriting, Art University of Tehran, Iran. Dr. Esfandiary is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. ranaesfandiary.com

VALÉRIE THÉRÈSE BART (Costume Design) (she/her/hers) KCRep: debut. Off-Broadway: Wives (World Premiere by Jaclyn Backhaus, Playwrights Horizons); Little Women (NYC Premiere by Kate Hamill, Primary Stages); Something Clean (World Premiere by Selina Fillinger, Roundabout); Too Heavy for Your Pocket (world premiere by Jiréh Breon Holder, Roundabout); Vanity Fair (World Premiere by Kate Hamill, Pearl Theatre). Regional: It’s Christmas Carol! (World Premiere, Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Song of Summer (World Premiere by Lauren Yee, Trinity Rep); A Doll’s House Part 2 (Actors Theatre Louisville); Vietgone (Alley Theatre, Denver Center); The Great Leap (World Premiere by Lauren Yee, Denver Center and Seattle Rep); The Invisible Hand (Cleveland Playhouse); The Servant of Two Masters (TFANA, Seattle Rep, Guthrie, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Yale Rep); POP! (Scenic design, World Premiere, Yale Rep). Opera: A Thousand Acres (World Premiere, Des Moines Metro Opera); Fidelio (Heartbeat Opera); Rigoletto (Minnesota Opera); Rocking Horse Winner Winner* / Vinkensport (*US Premiere, Opera Saratoga); Listen, Wilhelmina! (costume/sets, World Premiere, Wolf Trap Opera); Butterfly (Heartbeat Opera); She, After (costumes/sets, World Premiere Urban Arias). Other: For You, Paige (World Premiere TikTok musical); Tina Packer’s Women of Will (costumes/sets, National/International Tour). Upcoming: Poor Yella Rednecks (NYC Premiere by Qui Nguyen, MTC). Education: MFA, Yale University School of Drama. valeriebart.com

BURKE BROWN (Lighting Design) (he/him/his) KCRep: debut. Dance Design: La Scala Ballet, English National Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Martha Graham Dance Company, Parsons Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Houston Ballet, Ballet West, Compañia Nacional de Danza (Mexico), and Aszure Barton & Artists. Mr. Brown’s work has been presented at the Joyce Theater, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, New York City Center, Yerba Buena Center and across North America, Europe and Russia. Theatre and Opera: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mabou Mines, Erratica, Ars Nova, NYSF-Public Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Two River Theater Company, and Playmakers Repertory Company. International: The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, The Golden Mask Festival in Moscow, the Seoul Performing Arts Festival in South Korea, and Erratica in London. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama; BA in International Studies and Theater Studies, Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. Affiliations: United Scenic Artists and Wingspace Theatrical Design. Mr. Brown currently teaches in the Hunter College Dance Department in Manhattan and lives in Queens with his wife and son. burkebrowndesign.com

HANA S. KIM (Projection Design) (she/her/hers) KCRep: debut. Off-Broadway: Eve’s Song, The Visitor (The Public Theater); Magdalene (Beth Morrison Project). Regional: American Conservatory Theatre, Baltimore Centerstage, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, Magic Theater, among others. Awards: Princess Grace Award, Sherwood Award from Center Theatre Group, Helen Hayes Award, LA Drama Critics Circle Distinguished Achievement Award, among others. Recent and upcoming design credits include Everything Rises by Jennifer Koh and Davóne Tines (BAM) and Tiger Style! (South Coast Rep). Ms. Kim is a visual artist and projection designer for live performances. hananow.com @hana.s.kim

SARTJE PICKETT (Sound Design) (she/they) KCRep: debut. Regional: Twelfth Night, The Great Leap (Guthrie Theater); Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, Richard II (Yale Repertory Theater); Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Count of Monte Cristo (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Cyrano de Bergerac, Mary’s Wedding, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Of Mice and Men. (American Players Theater); DODO, The Ascendants, Welcome to Here (Bricolage Production Company). Film: Accidental Occurrences (Premios Latino Spain); A Space of Time (Videobrasil and Moscow International Film Festivals); Insight Meditation Society Documentary, Far Away (Quantum). Awards: Helen Hayes Award (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Folger Theater). Teaching: Associate Professor Sound Design and Composition, Carnegie Mellon University. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama; BFA, Syracuse University.

JASON MA (Composer) (he/him/his) KCRep: debut. Regional: Gold Mountain book, music, lyrics (Utah Shakespeare Festival, World Premiere); New York Times Center, staged concert co-presented by Prospect Theater Company and National Asian Artists Project; Spike150 commemoration concerts, presented in Salt Lake City and Ogden; ASCAP/DreamWorks Musical Theater Workshop; Broken Ground – music, lyrics (Village Theater, commissioned work in development); New York Theatre Barn, new works series; Reignite concert (Prospect Theater); Twelfth Night (Old Globe, tour directed by Nelson Eusebio). Awards: 2021 ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Award; 2017 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award; Utah State Legislature special citation for world premiere production of Gold Mountain. New York acting credits: Original cast member of five Broadway shows; Others include The Public Theatre, Classic Stage Company, The Pearl Theatre Company, National Asian American Theatre Company, National Asian Artists Project, Pan Asian Rep. goldmountainthemusical.com; jasonmamusic.com

GAYLA VOSS (Hair Wig Makeup Consultant) (she/her/hers) KCRep: A Christmas Carol, Little Shop of Horrors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Rivals, among others. Ms. Voss was the Costume Shop Manager for Kansas City Rep for many years.

RANI O’BRIEN (Associate Director) (she/they) KCRep: debut. Favorite plays directed: Hamlet, Constellations, Candidate Confessions: A 2016 Cabaret, R&J, Modern Chalk Circle, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Machine, The Big Funk, and Les Misérables Jr. Rani has worked with The Second City, Boston University, The Lark, Pacific Symphony, McCarter Theatre Center, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Howl! Happening: an Arturo Vega Project, amongst others, and has produced new works and ensemble developed plays. Upcoming: Mankind and Three Sisters. Affiliations: Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Associate. Education: The Second City Directing program graduate; MFA in Directing candidate, Boston University (2023). www.raniobrien.com

TRAVIS CRAFT (Assistant Projection Design) KCRep: A Christmas Carol (Assistant Lighting Designer). Local: Dance Nation (Unicorn Theatre); Jane Eyre, Fall Dance Recital, Spring Dance Capstone, JUMP (University of Missouri, Kansas City). Regional: La Cage aux Folles (University of Alabama in Huntsville); Freedom Riders (Alabama Shakespeare Festival). Head Electrician: Romeo and Juliet (Heart of America Shakespeare festival); Unto These Hills (Cherokee Historical Association). Education: BFA in Theatre, University of Alabama in Huntsville; third year MFA Candidate, UMKC.

THOMAS NEWBY (Assistant Sound Design) KCRep: debut. Local: Romeo and Juliet (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); The Price (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties; Spilled Milk (Fishtank Theatre); Dance Nation (Unicorn Theatre); Brainstorm (The Coterie); The Hitchhiker (Kansas City Actors Radio Theatre, Kansas City). Regional: The Horrific Puppet Affair, She Kills Monsters, Lungs (HomeGrown Theatre, Idaho); Buyer and Cellar (Alley Rep Theatre, Idaho). Other credits: The Voice from the Other Side, Easy Aces- Pilot, Easy Aces- Jane Takes up Astrology, The Medicine Man, The Judge’s House, The Winter’s Tale, Smash, A Bright New Boise, Scapin (Irwin/O’Donnell), Brighton Beach Memoirs Scotland Road, Eurydice, Our Town, Twelfth Night (College of Idaho Theatre, Idaho). Educa­tion: MFA candidate, UMKC; The College of Idaho. thomasnewbysound.com

TERRANCE VOLDEN (Automation Associate) (he/him/his)

JENISE COOK (Movement & Intimacy consultant) (she/her/hers)

LOGAN BLACK (Fight Choreographer) KCRep: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apartment 2B. Local: Our Black Death, American Son, Bernhardt Hamlet, Who’s your Baghdaddy, Nomad Motel, Vietgone, HIR, Eclipsed, and Sweat (Unicorn Theatre); Spider’s Web, The Pests, Night’ Mother, Death and the Maiden, And Then There Were None, I’m Not Rappaport, and Hamlet (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Bus Stop (Kansas City Kansas Community College). Mr. Black is a core member and founder of The Confluence Theatre Company. AEA Member.

NELSON T. EUSEBIO III (Casting)

YETUNDE FELIX-UKWU (Casting) KCRep Casting: The Royale, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt 2B, A Christmas Carol, Mary’s Wedding, Ghost Light 2021. KCRep Acting: A Christmas Carol, School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play. Local Acting: Babel, The Wolves, Men on Boats (Unicorn Theatre); Secret Soldiers (The Coterie); Dracula (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Go. Please. Go., The Storytelling Project, Letters from Freedom Summer (UMKC Theatre). Directing: Legacy Land (Assistant Director, KCRep); The Game of Love and Chance (Assistant Director, UMKC Theatre). Education: MFA in Acting and Directing (UMKC). Instagram: yetundelive 

RACHEL M. DYER (Production Stage Manager) (she/her/hers) KCRep: Production Stage Manager: Brother Toad, Man In Love, Lot’s Wife. Assistant Stage Manager: The Old Man and the Old Moon, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apt. 2B, A Christmas Carol (2021 and 2014-2019). Mary’s Wedding, Ghost Light 2021, 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. Head Production Assistant: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Romeo and Juliet, The Foreigner, The Living Room Theatre’s production of Carousel, Death of a Salesman, Mystery of Irma Vep; Production Assistant: Little Shop of Horrors, Great Immensity (world premiere). Local: Romeo & Juliet (Production Stage Manager, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Morning’s at Seven (Production Stage Manager, Kansas City Actors Theatre); High School Musical, The Wedding Singer, The Wizard of Oz (Assistant Lighting Designer, Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park). Education: BS in Theatre Design and Technology, Northwest Missouri State University. AEA Member

JORDAN CANON-KRUIS (Assistant Stage Manager) KCRep: The Royale, What Would Crazy Horse Do?, Fire in Dreamland, A Christmas Carol, Constellations, The Invisible Hand. Regional: Noir, Describe the Night,1984, Quixote Nuevo, Quack, Skeleton Crew, Murder on the Orient Express, Satchmo at the Waldorf, A Christmas Carol (Alley Theatre, Houston); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Legally Blonde (Lees-McRay Summer Theatre); Hairspray, Smokey Joe’s Café (Hope Summer Repertory Theatre). Education: BA in Theatre Arts, New Mexico State University; MFA in Theatre Design and Technology – Stage Management, UMKC. AEA Member

STUART CARDEN (Artistic Director) is in his third season as Artistic Director of KCRep. An arts leader, director, deviser, producer, educator and new play specialist, Stuart has worked across the United States building new plays, ensemble generated projects, reimagined classics, multidisciplinary performance, and actor-musician driven theatrical storytelling. Including creating theatrical experiences with The Old Globe, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Second City, New Victory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Silk Road Rising, Victory Gardens, People’s Light, Northlight Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, ArtsEmerson, The Wallis Annenberg Center, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Virgin Voyages and PigPen Theatre Co. He is a member of the Society for Stage Directors and Choreographers and represented by Beth Blickers and the Agency for Performing Arts. Stuart is married to public art curator Neysa Page-Lieberman and dad to ten-year-old twins, Dashiell and Griffin.

ANGELA LEE GIERAS (Executive Director) is in her ninth season leading KCRep’s business operations. She co-leads with the artistic director to fulfill the company’s artistic vision and mission. She is a performing arts leader, executive coach, strategist, and fundraiser. During her career, she has overseen the production of over 50 plays including twelve world premieres with three artistic directors. A former commercial banker, Gieras began her career in theatre administration at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina, and went on to serve as the associate managing director of the Dallas Theater Center, where she led finance and operations and oversaw the acquisition of a new production facility. Just prior to joining KCRep, she served as director of development at Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, where she executed fundraising strategies that nearly doubled annual giving in three years. Gieras earned an MBA and MA in arts administration from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas and a BS in finance with a minor in theatre from the University of Florida. She has guest lectured at the University of Florida, Southern Methodist University and at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Ms. Gieras actively serves the national theatre field. She is frequent guest and speaker on podcasts and webinars about theatre, leadership, and change management. She serves on the board of directors for the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), is the Treasurer of the board for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and is a past co-chair of the LORT Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and the Nominating Committees. She has served as a panelist for the NEA, and the Alumni Board for SMU’s Cox School of Business. She is a founding board member for Theatre Alliance of Kansas City (TAKC) and a past member of the Executive Women’s Leadership Council at the KC Chamber. Angela is married to mortgage banker, John Gieras, and is mom to daughter Brett Lee Gieras, who is a junior in high school.