Can’t Talk Right Now

 

Directed by Katie McKellar

February 23 – March 9, 2016
At 12th Ave Arts

Amanda is the host of a late night radio show, Signal Loss – a love letter to the analog era. In her search for a new story, Amanda finds a twenty-year-old answering machine in a thrift shop, and is captivated by the cryptic and anxious messages on the device. She sets out to unravel the mystery of the voicemails, searching for the woman who left them and the woman who never heard them – and discovering the unlikely impact they had on each other’s lives. Can’t Talk Right Now is a new play from Scotto Moore (A Mouse Who Knows Me, Balconies, H.P. Lovecraft: Stand-up Comedian!) about empowerment, connection, and the nature of support.

Produced by Theatre22 and featuring Anastasia Higham, Amy Escobar, Jordi Montes, and Jen Moon. This one-act will run as an off-night companion to the spring mainstage production, Annapurna, at 12th Ave Arts.

The cast:

 

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Amy Escobar – Beth/Eve

Amy is stoked to play these characters and share this story. Her other endeavors include working as a Thistle Theatre puppeteer, where she is currently rehearsing/developing a brand new show, The Funny Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling (playing the titular Funny Woman). Other Thistle productions include: Merry Chris Mouse and Little Red Riding Hood in which she played the title characters (and other adorable woodland critters). She also participated as a playwright/director for the Zig Zag Festival (Annex Theatre) where her play, Scary Mary and the Nightmares Nine, was presented. Recent stage appearances include Theater Anonymous: It’s a Wonderful Life (14/48 Projects), BrechtFest: The Horse in Motion, Quickies Vol. 16 (Live Girls! Theater), Journey of the Bell (14/48 Projects) and Bunnies (Annex Theatre).

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Jordi Montes – Natalie

Jordi is thrilled to be working on this beautiful show with Theatre22! Recent stage credits include:The Illuminated Adventures of Flora and Ulyssesand The Secret Garden with Book-It Repertory Theatre’s Arts and Education program, andZapoi and the Zig Zag Festival with Annex Theatre. Thanks to KM, AB, CM, and AS for this opportunity and love to my rock TT.

 

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Anastasia Highman – Amanda

Anastasia is so excited about this script and about making her Theatre22 debut. Previous work includes: Strawberry Theatre Workshop’s Our Town, Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Circle Mirror Transformation, Wooden O’s The Tempest, Annex Theatre’s Horse Girls, Taproot Theatre’s Dracula, ACT Lab’s As You Like It, Island Stage Left’sCymbeline, and Romeo and Juliet, Othello,Macbeth, and Julius Caesar with Seattle Shakespeare Company’s educational tour. Look for her this spring on Seattle Shakespeare Company’s main stage in Romeo and Juliet.

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Jen Moon – Jean

Jen is delighted to be working with Theatre22 for the first time. Jen has acted and directed with several theatre troupes in the Seattle area and has long been associated with Annex Theatre. She directed the critically acclaimed Natural, The Luxuria Cycle, and will be directing the world premiere of Unexpected Wilderness in the fall. She has directed several one-acts in productions with 14/48, Seattle Theatre Works, Seattle Playwrights Collective and most recently, Tall Tales of the Unnatural Frontier with Pacific Play Company. Jen Moon holds a B.S. in Public Health and Theatre. As always, she sends much love to Scotto.

 

AnnaPurna

Directed by Julie Beckman

February 19 – March 12, 2016
At 12th Ave Arts

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm
Tuesday March 8 at 8pm
Matinees on Sunday February 28 and Sunday March 6 at 2pm

Off the grid and barely hanging on, Ulysses unexpectantly finds his wife, Emma, at his trailer door. It’s been twenty years since their marriage was torn apart by an event that Ulysses can’t remember and Emma can’t forget. In the spirit of some of the greatest American dramas, Annapurna is built upon the hopefulness of reconciliation. Passionate, funny, fierce—it is the impossibility of scaling a mountain of strife that makes the climb so seductive.

Described as a “visceral, profound, and sometimes funny meditation on love and loss”,Annapurna is a moving and emotional play created using the most refined form of theatre: two people in a room.

The cast

 

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Teri Lazzara – Emma

Teri is a big fan of Theatre22 and is pleased to be working with them for the first time. She has acted with many local companies including Annex Theatre, Book-it Repertory Theater, Theatre Babylon—and in two plays directed by Julie Beckman: Our American Theater Co.’sAngel’s Fall and Sound Theatre Company’s A Small Fire. Teri has participated in many festivals of 14/48: the world’s quickest theater festival, serves on their board, and is the proud recipient of their Mazen Award. Teri proudly served as Managing Director of Theater Schmeater from November 2006 through November 2012. She types fast and lives happily with a hot boyfriend named Alexander and an evil kitty named Stewie. Big love and thanks to Alber. This one’s for Dad.

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John Q. Smith – Ulysses

Making his Theatre22 debut, John is honored to be working with such an amazing team onAnnapurna. John is a Northwest native and received his BFA in Acting from Cornish college of the Arts. From running his own theater company to performing on stages all over the Northwest, John has been active in the Seattle Theater scene for over twenty years. Recent favorite roles include: Charlie in The Bells at Strawshop; Eddie in Torsoat Printers Devil Theatre; Brian in These Streets at ACT/Central Heating Lab; and Uncle Charlie in August: Osage County at Balagan—for which he was awarded The Gregory Award and The Gypsy Rose Lee Award. John would like to give special thanks to his fiance, Kate, for letting him go crazy during this process and letting him dodge some wedding planning bullets! You’re the best!

The Construction Zone

 

Produced by Corey McDaniel
Directed by Julie Beckman

September 14 – October 5, 2016
At ACT Theatre, Bullitt Cabaret

A series of new plays presented as a Festival (one reading per week for one month), The Construction Zone provides playwrights with opportunities to develop and share new work, while providing audiences with an intimate and meaningful exposure to the process.

Curated by Theatre22 and Artistic Associate Julie Beckman with support from ACT’s Artistic Director John Langs, four plays will be chosen for the series and each will be of the moment and feature gifted playwrights from around the country.

Performed by local professional artists, each reading will be followed by post-show discussions. Of the four staged readings, one of these new and exciting scripts from 2016 will come to life on the stage in ACTLab and Theatre22’s 2017 seasons.

All events will take place at 7:00pm in ACT’s Bullitt Cabaret.

Mark your calendars

Get your tickets through ACT! Theater

Purchase tickets

The plays:

 

LATE IN THE GAME

by Y YORK
September 14, 7:00pm
A New York comedy of middle-aged romance and marriage and crime.

Melissa is reckless because she’s going to die anyway. Flo is worried that husband Tim is going to find out about her numerous transgressions, but Tim just wants to lose ten pounds and get a good night’s sleep. Harvey thinks that all women are interchangeable until he meets the one who isn’t. Dying is no excuse for not living in this New York comedy of middle-aged romance and marriage and crime.

THE ANSEL INTIMACY

by VINCENT DELANEY
September 21, 7:00pm
How far will we go to stay human?

On his 16th birthday, Tate receives a gift he never asked for: Ansel, who was grown to provide him with replacement parts. But as they grow up together, Tate discovers that some gifts aren’t so easy to accept. Set in a dystopia only a heartbeat from today, The Ansel Intimacy asks how far we’ll go to stay human.

 

NAMING TRUE

by NATALIE SYMONS
September 28, 7:00pm
A stirring tale of survival, redemption, and the deep human desire to share our stories.

Two lives unexpectedly collide when Amy, a transgender teenage girl shows up unannounced in a Florida motel room to visit Nell, a dying woman who’s lived much of her life on the streets of Detroit and wishes to self-publish her childhood memoir. Over the next 24 hours Amy and Nell are forced to confront the difficult truths that have brought them together while Amy races to upload Nell’s manuscript before time runs out. Naming True explores questions of faith, identity, and how we attempt to reconcile guilt and loss. This tragicomedy, involving a stolen laptop, an old manuscript and a peculiar cat, asks what significance hope plays in our spiritual lives. Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Naming True is A stirring, often heartbreaking tale of survival, redemption, and the deep human desire to share our stories.

DOWNSTAIRS

by THERESA REBECK
October 5, 7:00pm
Two quirky siblings explore the nature of family, of memory, and of sanity.

What happens when a brilliant, quirky, lost soul comes to stay in his sister’s basement and refuses to leave? And if the menacing brother-in-law doesn’t approve?  In a dog-eat-dog world, these eccentric siblings find a haven of sorts in an unfinished basement as they attempt to make sense of the past and negotiate how to move forward into the future.  Unusual relationships, power plays, and surprising humor abound in Theresa Rebeck’s compelling new play which explores the nature of family, of memory, and of sanity.



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Vincent Delaney – THE ANSEL INTIMACY

Vincent Delaney’s plays have been produced, commissioned and developed at the Guthrie, Humana Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, InterAct, the Magic, New Century, Woolly Mammoth, Source Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh Public, New Harmony, PlayLabs, the Lark, and LAByrinth, among others.  Awards include McKnight and Bush fellowships, a Jerome Commission, the Heideman, and Core Membership at the Playwrights Center.  He’s a proud alum of the Seattle Rep Writers Group.

Ampersand won the Reva Shiner Award from the Bloomington Playwrights Project.  The Sequence, commissioned by the Guthrie, has been produced around the country and in the UK, Canada and Japan.  99 Layoffs premiered at Radial Theatre Project and ACT Theatre, and was produced at Orange Tea Theatre in Amsterdam.  The script was a nominee for the Steinberg Award.  Foreclosure was developed at Seattle Rep, Shakespeare and Company, and Florida Studio Theatre.  Vincent is published by Applause Books, Smith and Kraus, Samuel French, Heineman, Dramatics Magazine, Theatre Forum, and Playscripts.com.

Upcoming:  Las Cruces opens this fall at Premiere Stages, and  Fire Station 7 will have its world premiere at Seattle Children’s Theatre next spring.

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Natalie Symons – NAMING TRUE

Natalie Symons’ plays include Lark Eden (Aurora Theatre, FreeFall Theatre, American Stage, New American Theatre, Theater Schmeater, Florida Studio Theatre, Bridge Street Theatre) and The Buffalo Kings (freeFall Theatre, world premiere). Her plays have been developed at Amas Musical Theatre, New Century Theatre’s Pipeline Series, Theater Schmeater and freeFall Theatre. Awards/recognitions: Lark Eden: Suzi Bass nomination, Creative Loafing Readers’ Choice ‘Best Playwright.’ The Buffalo Kings: Hillsborough County Individual Artist Grant, Best of the Bay Critics’ Choice Award ‘Best Playwright,’ 8 Theatre Tampa Bay Award nominations including ‘Outstanding Play,’ 2 TTB Awards including ‘Outstanding Ensemble’, 3 BroadwayWorld Awards including ‘Best Play’. Naming True: ACTLab and Theatre22 2016 The Construction Zone New Works Festival, 2016 Ashland New Play Festival finalist, Palm Beach Dramaworks’ Dramaworkshop Prize, Hope and Optimism (University of Notre Dame and Cornell University) finalist. Natalie is the author of the upcoming novel, Call Her Frank, a literary mystery set in a forgotten steel town in Pennsylvania. She studied acting at Boston University and has a BS in human services and drama therapy from State University of New York, Empire State College. Recent regional acting credits include: Reborning (Urbanite Theatre), Last Of The Red Hot Lovers (Stageworks), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, An Empty Plate In The Café De Grande Boeuf, Becky Shaw, The Comedy of Errors, (freeFall Theatre), The Foreigner (American Stage).

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Theresa Rebeck – DOWNSTAIRS

Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. New York productions of her work include Dead Accounts at the Music Box Theatre; Seminar at the Golden Theatre; Mauritius at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club Production; The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels at Second Stage; Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House at Playwrights Horizons; The Understudy at the Laura Pels Theater in a Roundabout Theatre Company production; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. Her newest work, Poor Behavior premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2011. Dead Accounts, commissioned by the Cincinnati Playhouse, premiered January 2012. Seminar continues to run on Broadway.

All of Ms. Rebeck’s past produced plays are published by Smith and Kraus as Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes I, II III, and IVand in acting editions available from Samuel French or Playscripts. Ms. Rebeck’s other publications are Free Fire Zone, a book of comedic essays about writing and show business. She has written for American Theatre Magazine and has had excerpts of her plays published in the Harvard Review. Ms. Rebeck’s first novel, Three Girls and Their Brother, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in April 2008. Her second novel, Twelve Rooms With A View, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in May of 2010. Both novels are available online and at booksellers everywhere.

In television, Ms. Rebeck has written for Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch. She was the creator of the NBC drama Smash.  She has been a writer/producer for Canterbury’s Law, Smith, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent features Sunday on the Rocks and Seducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene. Awards include the Mystery Writer’s of America’s Edgar Award, the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on NYPD Blue. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award (for The Family of Mann), and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for The Bells. Mauritius was originally produced at Boston’s Huntington Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well as the Eliot Norton Award.  Other awards include the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, the Athena Film Festival Award, an Alex Award, a Lilly Award and in 2011 she was named one of the 150 Fearless Women in the World by Newsweek.

Ms. Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati and holds an MFA in Playwriting and a PhD. in Victorian Melodrama, both from Brandeis University. She is a proud board member of the Dramatists Guild, a Contributing Editor to the Harvard Review, an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre Company, a Playwright Adviser and Board Member of the LARK and and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

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Y York – LATE IN THE GAME

Y is the recipient of the National New Play Network’s Smith Prize for …and LA is Burning; Houston’s Buzzy Award Best New Play for Woof; the Berrilla Kerr Award for the Secret wife; the Hawai`i Award for Literature for Nothing is the Same; five separate  AATE Distinguished Play Awards; and the Charlotte Chorpenning Award for her body of work for children and their families. Y is currently at work on two new musicals with northwest composer Amanda Jacobs. Plays have been supported by the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, ATT OnStage, USA Artists, and many local arts organizations; productions in Seattle at Annex, SCT and the Seattle Group Theatre, readings almost everywhere else.  Y is an alumna of New Dramatists and a member of The Dramatists’ Guild.  She still lives with Mark Lutwak to whom many things are still dedicated. Mark and Y recently returned home after some global wanderings.  They are grateful for the swell welcome and don’t intend to leave again.

The Pride

Directed by Corey McDaniel

October 28 – November 19, 2016

Performed at 12th Ave Arts
1620 12th Avenue, Seattle 98122

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm
Tuesday November 15 at 8pm
Matinees on Sunday November 6 and Sunday November 13 at 2pm

Run Time:

Act 1 ~ 1hr 15mins  Act 2 ~ 40 mins

This production contains adult content.

Shatteringly good…” Seattle Gay News

 

Recipient of the 2016 Seattle Times Footlight Awards for “Best in Show” and “Standout Lead.”

Read the full article here:

2016 Seattle Times Footlight Awards

The powerful debut play from Alexi Kaye Campbell, winner of an Olivier Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the John Whiting Award for Best New Play.

Two explosive love stories in alternating eras explore betrayal, forgiveness, and fate. The Pride examines changing attitudes to sexuality over a period of fifty years, looking at intimacy, identity, and the courage it takes to be who you really are. Some things may change, but the complexities of the human heart remain eternal.

Contains scenes with strong sexual content. Age guidance: 16+

“This is a searching, moving, thoroughly grown-up play, and a remarkable debut from a writer from whom I am impatient to hear more.”
—Daily Telegraph (UK)

Mark your calendars

Get your tickets here!

Buy tickets

The cast and crew

 Photo Credit:  MR Toomey Photography

 

The Cast

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Andre Nelson – Philip

Andre Nelson is ecstatic to work on this gritty, meaningful play with such a fantastic group of artists! Recent acting credits include: Cafe Nordo, Mount Baker Rep, Annex Theatre, Book-It Repertory, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Engaged Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. Andre is also a local puppeteer, sound designer and teaches acting at Freehold Theatre.

Angela DiMarco – Sylvia

Angela DiMarco has been performing on stage and screen for over 20 years. She is thrilled to have The Pride as her Theatre22 debut. Angela is a three-time Gregory Award nominee. Angela was Isa in the haunting world premiere of Knocking Bird, made possible by The Umbrella Project. Some of her favorite shows: Boeing Boeing at Seattle Repertory, The Foreigner at Village Theatre, andAngels in America at ReAct Theatre. Angela has appeared on NBC’s GRIMM and SyFy’s Znation. Her company, Mighty Tripod Productions, just had their feature film, Paralytic, in SIFF 2016. When not performing, Angela loves teaching with her husband at their studio, giving northwest artists a place to BE MIGHTY.

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Trevor Young Marston – Oliver

Trevor Marston is blessed to be working on such a powerful and intimate play with such wonderful people and friends. A Seattle-based actor and producer, he most recently appeared in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and Titus Andronicus for Seattle Shakespeare Company and performed two years with the company’s statewide touring productions. He has performed locally with Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle Public Theater, Playing in Progress, Island Stage Left, SOAPfest, ReAct Theatre, and the 14/48 Projects. As a producer, Trevor has helped bring to the stage the world premieres of For Christmas by Nick Edwards, A Cure for Pain by Stephanie Timm, Boots by Libby Matthews, and Barbarians, a devised piece with SITI Company associate Jeffrey Fracé. He earned his MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.

 

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Doug Fahl – The Doctor, The Man, Peter

Doug Fahl makes his Theatre22 debut with this show. Doug has performed with several Seattle-area theaters over the past twenty-five years, including: Village Theatre (Billy Elliot, Beauty and the Beast, Hello Dolly, South Pacific); Seattle Musical Theatre (Sweet Charity, 9 to 5,Cabaret); SecondStory Rep (Little Shop, Chess,Little Night Music); Seattle Rep (Great Gatsby); ArtsWest (Shipwrecked); Stage Right (Boys Next Door and the Gregory Award Winning production of Into the Woods); and Annex (Yellow Kid,For Lorne, Cat Like Tread). Doug also stars in the 2009 comedy-horror film Zombies of Mass Destruction, released as part of Lionsgate’s After Dark series. He has featured roles in several other independent films including PUNCH, Dead Men, and Junk!. He’s also leant his voice to various film and commercial projects. Doug continues to divide his performance time between stage and film, but has also started focusing on the emerging medium of virtual reality gaming and experiences. Doug would like to thank Corey for the opportunity to dig into some exciting character roles amongst a brilliant cast of actors.

 

Margaret Toomey

(Scenic Designer)

Originally from Seattle, Margaret Toomey has trained and worked nationally as a scenic and costume designer. Her most recent Seattle-area design will be costumes for Sound Theatre’s The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Other Seattle credits include South Pacific at Seattle Musical Theatre and Hair at Bainbridge Performing Arts. Prior to returning to Seattle, Margaret was honored with three (of five) nominations for excellence in costume design at the inaugural Theatre Bay Area Awards in 2014 for her designs of The Color Purple at Hillbarn Theatre, and Dreamgirls and In the Heights at Broadway by the Bay. Margaret’s work has also been seen at Triad Stage (North Carolina), WaterTower Theatre (Texas), and Portland Stage (Maine). Margaret received her MFA in Scenography from UNC Greensboro and her BA in Theatre from Grinnell College in Iowa.

 

Ahren Buhmann (Lighting Designer)

An alum of Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado, Ahren hails from the wide state of Wyoming. He has been designing sets, lights, and projections for various companies around Seattle for the last eight years. Previous shows include Bernie’s Apartment, The Other PlaceAnnapurnaErnest Shackleton Love Me, Wizzer Pizzer, Dogfight,Urinetown, Jerry Springer: The Opera, Les Miserables, and August: Osage County. He also dips his toes into the local film scene—both behind and in front of the camera—appearing in ZOE’s, JourneyQuest 2, The Gamers: Hands of Fate, Scotto Moore’s The Coffee Table, and co-creating the web-series &@. Ribbet.

Robin Macartney (Props Designer)

Robin is a freelance set and props designer who has been working in the Puget Sound region for over ten years. The Pride will mark her fourth show with Theatre22. Professional credits include: technical work with Seattle Shakespeare Co, Cafe Nordo, Youth Theatre NW, The Satori Group, Bainbridge Performing Arts, Annex Theatre, Live Girls! Theatre, Freehold Theatre, and Ese Teatro. She is the Scene Shop Supervisor at the University of Puget Sound, as well as FOH manager/Resident Set Designer at the Theatre Off Jackson.

Stephen Kelsey (Set Builder)

Stephen is new to Seattle. He has made sets for: The American Stage Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, M.I.T., University of South Carolina, and his own small theater companies: Vest Pocket Traveling Theater, Imperfect Theater Company, and 73 Seat Theater. To see a sample of his work visit: part-time-setmaker.com

Paul Lewis (Composer)

Paul is a Seattle-based playwright and composer whose recent projects include The Crossing, A Musical (Theater Schmeater); a musical adaptation of the children’s literature classic Caps for Sale (Boston Children’s Theatre); Oblivion (Driftwood Players, following staged readings at Atlantic Stage, Raven Players, and HRC Showcase Theatre); and The Hours of Life, A Musical (Theatre22). His drama The Names was recently chosen for a staged reading by Equity Library Theatre Chicago. Paul’s one-act pieces have been staged at play festivals across the country, winning Best of Festival awards at a number of these. He is a member of BMI and The Dramatists Guild of America. Website: paullewis.work

 

Marianna de Fazio (Dialect Coach)

Marianna works locally as an actor across all media as well as a coach for dialect, presentations and accent modification. Recent coaching credits include Joyful Noise at Taproot, and The Brothers K at Book-it Rep. MFA: UW. Love to AK.  www.mariannadefazio.com

Phil Lacey (Assistant Director)

Phil is thrilled to be telling this story with Theatre22. Selected previous production credits include Camelot (Drury Lane Oakbrook), South Pacific (SMT), ecstasy (Florida State University), and Into the Woods and Godspell [2012] (Leavenworth Summer Theater). Many thanks to Corey for inviting me into the family! www.philip-lacey.com

Erick Johnson (Sound Designer)

Erick was born and raised in Ashland, OR where he developed his love of theatre and sound. He has worked as an audio engineer for Blackstone Audiobooks based in Ashland, and the audio production crew at the Britt Fest in neighboring Jacksonville. He holds a Bachelor’s in Sound Arts from Ex’pression College of Emeryville, CA. Most recently he was the sound designer for Island Shakespeare Festival’s productions of Julius Caesar, As You Like It and Jane Eyre. He is super excited to be working with the wonderful people of Theatre22.