LOU BELLAMY (DIRECTOR & PRODUCER) is the founder and artistic director of Penumbra Theatre. Under his leadership, Penumbra has produced 23 world premieres, including August Wilson's first professional production, and is proud to have produced more of Mr. Wilson's plays than any theater in the world. Mr. Bellamy is an OBIE Award-winning director, an accomplished actor, and sought-after scholar. He has been a member of the University of Minnesota's faculty for 32 years and is currently appointed to the rank of associate professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.  Recent directing credits include Black Pearl Sings!, Radio Golf, Fences and The Piano Lesson at Penumbra, A Raisin in the Sun and Gem of the Ocean, Penumbra productions staged at the Guthrie, Two Trains Running at the Signature Theatre in New York, Jitney at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company, and the staged reading of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Kennedy Center.

MARY K. WINCHELL (STAGE MANAGER) is a longtime Penumbra Theatre company member. Most recently, she stage managed Penumbra's Black Pearl Sings!, Black Nativity: A Season for Change, Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean. Other Penumbra credits include The Piano Lesson, Get Ready, Black Nativity: Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer!, Seven Guitars, Jitney, Two Trains Running, King Hedley II and Dinah Was. She has stage managed at the Orpheum Theatre, State Theatre, Pantages Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Jungle Theater and the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. She has lent her talents to Macy's Glamorama and served as production stage manager for Dorothy Hamill’s Nutcracker on Ice, Aveda's 20th Anniversary Celebration at Radio City Music Hall, and Super Bowl xxvi Winter Magic.

JAMES CRAVEN (ABE) is a long-time Penumbra Theatre company member. Select credits at Penumbra include Fences, The Piano Lesson, Penumbra's production of Gem of the Ocean presented at the Guthrie Theater, Get Ready, Zooman and the Sign, Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers and REDSHIRTS, co-produced with Round House Theatre. He also performed at Kansas City Repertory Theater and Arizona Theater Company in their joint production of Jitney. James is a 2005 recipient of the Spenser Cherashore Fund and was awarded a 2007 McKnight Fellowship.

TISCH JONES (Grace Georges) is a professional director and educator whose work has been nationally recognized.  Most recently in the Twin Cities she directed Las Meninas at the University of Minnesota and Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A. at Penumbra.  Acting is something that she loves, but rarely has the opportunity to do.  Her most recent work as an actress is her autobiographical one-woman production of Crone, at the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, and Rosa in Pearl Cleages’ Bourbon on theBorder at Iowa Summer Repertory.

NATHANIEL NDOSI (Russell Adams) This is Nate’s debut on the professional stage. He has previously performed in several Breck School theatre productions, including Oklahoma, The Taming of the Shrew, Into The Woods, and Twelfth Night.

FAYE M. PRICE (Transliteration Artist) is a longtime Penumbra Theatre company member. She originated the role of Rachel in the 1982-83 production of Zooman and the Sign, and returned to that role in the 2006 production. Other Penumbra credits include the company's inaugural production Eden in 1977, The African American Company Presents Richard III in 1987-88 and Jar the Floor in 1997-98. Recent credits include Tracey Scott Wilson's The Story, Daniel Alexander Jones' Bel Canto and Athol Fugard's Boesman and Lena at Pillsbury House Theatre, where she also serves as co-artistic producing director. Other credits include The Women's Theater Project and Productions, Hudson Guild Theater, Circle In The Square, Guthrie Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mixed Blood and Eye of the Storm. A production dramaturg for more than a dozen productions at the Guthrie, Penumbra and the History Theatre, Faye was awarded the August Wilson Fellowship for Dramaturgy and Literary Criticism, and received her graduate degree from the University of Minnesota.

T. MYCHAEL RAMBO (CO-CONCEIVER & SON) is a Penumbra company member. Select Penumbra credits include Gem of the Ocean, The Piano Lesson, Get Ready, Ain't Misbehavin' and several productions of Black Nativity. He has performed locally with the Guthrie Theater, Illusion Theater, Minnesota Opera, Ordway Music Theatre, and Mixed Blood Theatre. He has also performed at Carnegie Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra and throughout Canada, Europe, Africa and Brazil. Television credits include Endeavor, I Led Two Lives and the HBO mini-series Laurel Avenue. Film credits include Mighty Ducks, Crossing the Bridge, Grumpy Old Men, The Cure, Equinox, Wooly Boys and Justice. Recent honors include singing the National Anthem for President Obama during his recent Twin Cities visit, and receiving a 2008 regional Emmy Award.

EVAN SALONE (Victor Tate) This is Evan’s first show at Penumbra Theatre.  He has previously participated in summer programs at the Children’s Theatre Company and performed in their productions of Mississippi Panorama and The Beggars’ Strike.  Evan has also performed in the  Breck School theatre productions of Oklahoma and The Three Penny Opera.

AUSTENE VAN (MAME WILKS) recently performed in Penumbra's production of Gem of the Ocean, staged at the Guthrie Theater. Other select Penumbra credits include performances in Zooman and the Sign, Dinah Was, The Trial of One Short Sighted Black Woman vs. Mammy Louise & Safreeta Mae and Blues for an Alabama Sky, and she directed Black Nativity-Hear Again the Christmas Story! and Black Nativity: Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer! She has performed at Children's Theatre Company, Mixed Blood Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Ordway Center, Pantages and the Saint Louis Repertory Theatre. Television credits include Vernie and The Shakedown. Musical endeavors include writing and co-producing her own album.

KEVIN D. WEST (ROOSEVELT HICKS) is a Penumbra company member. Penumbra credits include Fences, Zooman and the Sign, Two Trains Running, Some Place Soft to Fall, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Seven Guitars, A Raisin in the Sun and Freefall. Kevin has also performed with Children's Theatre Company, Jungle Theater, Mixed Blood Theatre, Pillsbury House Theatre, Alchemy Theater, History Theatre, Theater Latté Da, Minnesota Jewish Theater, the Guthrie Theater and the Phoenix Theater. Film and television credits include The Death of Tommy Grime, Sweet Caroline, Kingdom Hospital, Bill's Gun Shop and Justice. Kevin serves as Artistic Associate with the Capri Theater where he teaches acting to high school students.

AHANTI YOUNG (Curtis Combs) is an actor, percussionist, and spoken word artist. His professional theater experiences date back to the early 1990s, where he made his debut on the Penumbra Theatre stage in the production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Ahanti has been seen in several Penumbra productions since, including The Day The Bronx Died, Geneva Cottrell - Waiting for the Dog to Die, Jitney, Black Eagles, Darker Face of The Earth, Two Trains Running and most recently Zooman and the Sign. Other venues include Alchemy Theater, African American Heritage Ensemble (international), Ten Thousand Things Theater, The Great American History Theatre, Sirius B Artist Collective and the Guthrie Theater. More recent ventures have led Ahanti to Musical/Theatrical/ Poetic artist collective, Edupoetic Enterbrainment (EPE) and Critical Interdisciplinary Collaborative, In The Belly. Ahanti is also a freelance instructor and has several affiliations with schools, programs and community centers throughout Minnesota.

MARK DOUGHERTY (Light Design) has been the lighting designer for Penumbra Theatre's Black Nativity for the past three years. He is currently the Master Studio Technician at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

VERNIS R. FOWLER (Costume Design) has worked with Penumbra Theatre Company on a number of productions as costume designer. Her credits include Stage Directions, Reflections of Black Nativity, A Love Song for Miss Lydia, Indigo Blues, Freefall, Flyin' West, Spunk and two productions of Jar the Floor. Other costuming credits include Dennis Spears' Sentimental Reasons at Hey City Stage; J.D. Steele's and Pop Staples' Something New for the Holidays, The Steele Family's This Must Be Christmas and the Minneapolis Gospel Sound's Bloom into Spring at the Cricket Theater. Ms. Fowler also assisted in the production of Mahalia at the Old Log Theater.

MALO ADAMS (Sound Design) has designed several Penumbra productions including The Piano Lesson, Zooman and the Sign, Sex Diary of an Infidel, Dinah Was, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars and King Hedley II. Other design credits include Mighty Real, A Slow Ride on the Big Muddy and Straight as a Line at the Hennepin Center for Performing Arts. In addition to design work, Malo is the creative force behind the critically acclaimed group Tribe of Millions. Malo has also played with Me'Shell Ndegeocello, The Black Crowes, Soul Asylum, Chaka Khan, and has worked with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. He has also scored films including Street Guns and The Visionary, and commercials for Target Market, Target, Marshall Field's, Mervyn's, African American Adoption Agency and Dunwoody Institute.

VICKI M. SMITH (SCENIC DESIGNER) has designed several productions at Penumbra including A Raisin in the Sun and Zooman and the Sign. She has also designed for The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Seattle Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Geva Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Dallas Theatre Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Children's Theatre Company, Minnesota Opera, Anchorage Opera, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, ACT Seattle, Alley Theatre and Berkeley Rep. Pierre, one of her recent designs for The Denver Center Theatre Company, was selected for the Prague Quadrennial Design Exposition 2007.

MAY MAHALA (Dramaturge) is a PhD candidate in Theatre Arts at the University of Minnesota. Her writing has appeared in The Blue Earth Review, California Quarterly, Colere, NYU’s Women and Performance Journal, Theatre Journal, and Xcp: Cross Cultural Poetics. She has worked with The Illusion Theatre, New World Theatre, The Pillsbury House Theatre, The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Theatre Unbound, and Works/Plays. Her fellowships and awards include The August Wilson Fellowship at Penumbra Theatre, two Many Voices residencies from the Playwrights’ Center, and first place in Garrison Keillor’s Festival of Romantic Writing.