LOU BELLAMY (Director) is the founder and artistic director of Penumbra. He has been a member of the University of Minnesota's faculty for 31 years and is currently appointed to the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Recent awards include the 2007 OBIE for Direction and the 2006 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award. Recent directing credits include Two Trains Running at the Signature Theatre in New York, Jitney at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company, and Penumbra's production of Gem of the Ocean presented at the Guthrie Theater. Other recent Penumbra credits include The Piano Lesson and REDSHIRTS.

CHARLES RANDOLPH-WRIGHT (Playwright & Lyricist) is a writer, director, and producer for theatre, television, and film. He is a native of New York, South Carolina, and a graduate of Duke University. He studied acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and dance with the Alvin Ailey School in New York. Charles is an associate artist at Arena Stage and was awarded a grant from the NEA for their production of Blue. Awards include NAACP Image, Backstage Garland, Dean Goodman Choice, Bay Area Critics, Drama-logue, LA Weekly Theatre, Robbie, Helen Hayes, Ovation, Audelco, Creative Spirit Award from the New Professional Theatre, and the S.C. Medal of Honor in the Arts. Future stage productions include Skindiver, a rock cyber musical with Nona Hendryx based on her acclaimed album of the same title, A Waiter, a new play with the Campo Santo Theatre in San Francisco, and Deadlines, a new musical with Kirsten Childs.

NONA HENDRYX (Composer & Lyricist) rose to fame as part of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. She was inducted into The Rhythm & Blues Foundations’ Hall of Fame in l999. Her solo career spans a variety of musical genres including heavy metal (Nona 1977), funk (Female Trouble), and New Age (SkinDiver). Her top ten hits include “Bustin’ Out,” “Keep It Confidential,” “Transformation,” “Why Sould I Cry?,” “I Sweat” (Goin’ Thru the Motions), and “Winds of Change.” She has collaborated with Arthur Baker, Prince, Peter Gabriel, Dan Hartman and The Talking Heads. In addition to writing all of the original music for Blue and co-writing all the lyrics, she has also collaborated with playwright Charles Randolph-Wright on the motion picture On the One. Nona is a Grammy Nominee for “Rock This House” (featuring Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones on guitar) and an Emmy Nominee for her collaboration with Jason Miles on the composition “Children of the World” recorded by Sounds of Blackness for “People,” a Disney animated children’s special.

SANFORD MOORE (Musical Director) has been the musical director for several productions at Penumbra Theatre including Black Nativity: Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer!, Get Ready, Blue, Black Nativity–A Homecoming, and Ain't Misbehavin'. Select musical direction credits also include Crowns, Dream on Monkey Mountain, Triumph of Love, and As You Like It at the Guthrie Theater, and Two Queens, One Castle at Mixed Blood Theatre. Sanford is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota School of Music and Minister of Music for Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

HARRY WATERS, JR. (Assistant Director) is on faculty at Macalester College in the Theater and Dance Department. He obtained his MFA in Directing in 2003 at UW-Madison. As an actor, he has created roles at Arizona Theater Blue 19 The Artists Company, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, TheaterWorks, San Jose Repertory, and The Mark Taper Forum. Most notably, he created the role of Belize in the world premiere of Angels in America at the Eureka Theater prior to Broadway and national acclaim. Harry also appeared in Bill of (W)Rights at Mixed Blood Theater. On film, he’s appeared in Back to the Future as Marvin Berry singing “Earth Angel,” for which he received a Gold Record. Select television credits include What a Country! and Adventures in Wonderland. Most recently, Harry appeared in The Falls at the Guthrie Theatre and directed Proof at Macalester College.

RONALD ALOIS SCHULTZ (Stage Manager) has been working as an actor, stage manager, production assistant, and sound board operator in the Twin Cities since 1992. A company member of Penumbra Theatre, Ron has worked on over 60 productions at Penumbra including Jitney, Stage Directions, and the 2006 production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. He has also worked on productions at Mixed Blood, Illusion, Eye of the Storm, Fitzgerald, Pantages, Frank, and Alchemy theatres. Ron was the company manager of Pillsbury House Theatre’s touring production Breaking Ice in 2003 and 2004 and was the assistant stage manager for the Carlson Honors 2005 Awards for the Carlson Company at the State Theatre. He provided technical support for Roxanne Wallace’s Evolution of a Soul Sista at Patrick’s Cabaret and designed the set for Riff Raff at Pillsbury House (2006). Ron is currently pursuing his B.A. in Social Science and his Secondary Teacher Licensure at Metropolitan State University.

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.

SANDY ADELL (Tillie Clark) is a native of Detroit. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she is a professor of literature in the Department of Afro- American Studies. In 1999 she fell in love with theater and has been pursuing acting ever since. She recently performed as Weedy in the Illinois Theatre Center’s production of The Sty of the Blind Pig, and as Professor Willard in the Madison Repertory Theatre’s production of Our Town.

KEITH BOLDEN (Samuel Clark, III) received his M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, Fresno. Acting credits include A Raisin in the Sun at Hartford Stage, Owed to My First Love at Premiere Stages, Picking Up the Baby in the New York International Fringe Festival, A Midsummer Night’s Dream in The Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Civil War for TheatreWorks/USA, and Ragtime at CentreStage in Pennsylvania. Film credits include More Than a Woman and The Coldest Winter.

CHRISTIANA CLARK (LaTonya Dinkins) is originally from Chicago. She trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood, California. She is the recipient of the Ameriprise Ivey Award for Emerging Artist of 2006. She has recently been onstage in the Twin Cities in Lutefisk Champ & Other Frozen Holiday Tales at the History Theatre, Wait Until Dark at Paul Bunyan Playhouse in Bemidji, Minnesota, and Constant Star at Park Square Theatre.

BLAINE CRAWFORD (Reuben Clark/Youth & Blue Jr.) began his acting career at age nine. His acting debut was in Home on the Mornin’ Train with Youth Performance Company. Other acting credits include Aladdin with Stages Theater Company, March to Freedom with Youth Performance Company, and The Jungle Book at Blake School.

SHAWN HAMILTON (Vernon Saunders) has been seen at Penumbra in Blue, Stage Directions, Seven Guitars, and Black Nativity. Other local theatres he has worked with include Mixed Blood, Guthrie Theater, Illusion Theater, Children’s Theater, The Jungle, 15 Head, Pioneer Place, Ten Thousand Things, and Thirst. He has also worked regionally with Trinity Rep, Yale Rep, and Dallas Theatre Center. He can be seen next in Ten Thousand Things’ Richard the III and The Children’s Theatre production of Bud Not Buddy, directed by Marion McClinton.

NAMIR SMALLWOOD (Rueben Clark/Adult) is a Newark, New Jersey native. He is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program. He was last seen at Penumbra in On the Open Road. Namir has appeared on stage throughout the Twin Cities including the Playwrights’ Center, Pillsbury Theatre, and the Children’s Theatre Company.

DENNIS W. SPEARS (Wining Boy) most recently performed in Penumbra Theatre’s Black Nativity: Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer! Other Penumbra credits include Ain’t Misbehavin’, Black Nativity–A Homecoming, Blue and Get Ready. He has also performed in Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Crowns at the Guthrie Theater and Smokey Joe’s Café at Hey City Theater. An accomplished jazz vocalist, Dennis made his splash with the jazz vocal ensemble Moore By Four. Minnesota Jazz Music Awards named him Best Male Jazz Vocalist. He has performed in jazz festivals nationally and internationally with such legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Joe Williams, Carmen McCrae and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Solo recordings include “I Hear It,” “Why Try to Change Me Now,” and his first national release, “Evening Candlelight.”

AUSTENE VAN (Black Mary/ Choreography) is a Penumbra Theatre company member. She was the director for this season's Black Nativity: Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer! and co-director for Black Nativity - A Homecoming in 2006. Recently, she directed and choreographed Blues in the Night at the Ordway Center. Select credits at Penumbra include Get Ready, Blue, Ain't Misbehavin', Zooman and the Sign, Dinah Was, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Seven Guitars, The Last Minstrel Show and Lost in the Stars, and Penumbra's co-production with the Guthrie of The Darker Face of the Earth. She has also performed at The Children’s Theatre, Pantages, Mixed Blood and the Saint Louis Black Repertory Theatre. Television credits include Happiness, Vernie and The Shake Down. Musical recordings include Van Album, Gift of Love and Kef.

ERIKA K. DIXON-GOSS (American Sign Language Interpreter) has been the ASL Interpreter for Penumbra Theatre for ten years. Erika has had the pleasure of interpreting works by the late August Wilson such as Seven Guitars and King Hedley II. Most recently, she interpreted Alter Boyz at the Pantages Theatre. Erika also interprets for Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Hopkins Stages Theater, Plymouth Playhouse, and Anoka’s Main Street Stage.

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.

MARTIN GWINUP (Sound Designer) is an associate professor in the Theatre Arts and Dance Department at the University of Minnesota. He teaches audio and video technology, design and production. He has also worked in the Twin Cities area as a freelance sound/video designer and technician for 18 years. Martin has worked for the Frank Theatre, History Theatre, Children's Theatre, Cricket Theatre and Eye of the Storm. Recent design credits at Penumbra include REDSHIRTS, Get Ready, Blue, Black Nativity - A Celebration of Family, A Celebration for the Soul…Testify!, and Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers.

CHAD VAN KEKERIX (Set Design) is a freelance designer and scenic artist who has crafted over 80 productions in the Twin Cities. Recent designs include Love, Janis for the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, The Mousetrap for Theatre in the Round and Marat Sade. He is the designer and artist of the quilt murals on the Penumbra Theatre walls. He also created the lobby of Penumbra Theatre Company and cocreated the lobby of Theatre in the Round. In addition, he has worked with Ordway Center, Actor’s Theatre of Minnesota, Northwestern College, Youth Performance Company, and The Bathhouse Theatre in Seattle.

DEIDREA WHITLOCK (Costume Design) received her B.F.A. from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design.  She has designed costumes for several Penumbra Theatre productions including the 1986 production of Ain't Misbehavin’, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Tracers, Black Nativity, A Raisin in the Sun, Fences, Charlie Parker’s Celebrated Colored Minstrel Show, African American Company Presents Richard III, Waiting in Vain, and Talking Bones. Other design projects include T. Mychael Rambo’s “A Christmas With Love,” Laurie Carlos’ Marion’s Terrible Times of Joy, and AGAPE Praise & Worship Dance Ensemble. She has also worked with the Guthrie Theater, History Theatre, Illusion Theater, Walker Art Center, and the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public schools.  In addition, she designs couture and ready to wear fashions for various artists and clients.