LOU BELLAMY (Director) is the founder and artistic director of Penumbra Theatre. During his 32-year tenure, Penumbra has evolved into one of Americas premiere theaters dedicated to dramatic exploration of the African American experience. 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. 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 31 years and is currently appointed to the rank of associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Recent directing credits include Penumbra's production of Gem of the Ocean presented at the Guthrie Theater, Fences and The Piano Lesson at Penumbra, 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.

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 worked on several Penumbra productions including Black Nativity-Hear Again the Christmas Story!, The Piano Lesson, Get Ready, Blue, and Ain't Misbehavin'. Other select credits 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 (Ensemble) has performed at Penumbra in Blue and On the Open Road. He is a Newark, NJ native and a 2006 graduate of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie B.F.A. Actor Training Program. He has performed with the Children's Theatre Company in Five Fingers of Funk!, Bud, Not Buddy, Lost Boys of Sudan, Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, and Reeling, at Pillsbury House Theatre in Phoenix Fabrik, and at the Guthrie Theater in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

DENNIS W. SPEARS (Ensemble) recently performed in Penumbra's The Piano Lesson. Other Penumbra credits include Black Nativity: Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer!, 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. Dennis is a member of Moore By Four and has been named by Minnesota Jazz Music Awards as Best Male Jazz Vocalist. He has performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, 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 (Director & Ensemble Choreographer) directs Penumbra's Black Nativity for the second year. She recently performed in Penumbra's production of Gem of the Ocean, staged at the Guthrie. Other select Penumbra credits include Blue, Dinah Was, The Trial, and Blues for an Alabama Sky. She has also performed at The Children's Theatre, Mixed Blood, Guthrie Theater, Pantages, and The Saint Louis Repertory Theatre. Television credits include Vernie and The Shakedown. Musical endeavors include singing on tour with Karyn White, and writing and co-producing her own album.

ERIKA K. DIXON GOSS (American Sign Language Interpreter) has been the ASL Interpreter for Penumbra Theater for 11 years. Erika has had the pleasure of interpreting works by the late August Wilson including Seven Guitars and King Hedley II, The Piano Lesson and Gem of the Ocean. Erika also interprets for Hopkin's Stages Theater, Plymouth Playhouse, Anoka's Main Street Stage, and The State and Pantages Theatres.

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 Black Nativity - Hear Again the Christmas Story!, Fences, REDSHIRTS, Get Ready, Blue, 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.