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REDSHIRTS The Artists LOU BELLAMY LOU BELLAMY
(Director) is the
founder and artistic director of Penumbra
Theatre. 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 of Wilson's
plays include the staged reading of Ma
Rainey's Black Bottom at the Kennedy
Center, The Piano Lesson at Penumbra, Two Trains Running at the
Signature Theatre in New York and Jitney at Kansas City Repertory
Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company. Other recent directing
credits at Penumbra include REDSHIRTS, Get Ready, Grandchildren
of the Buffalo Soldiers, Zooman and the Sign and Black Nativity - A
Homecoming.DOMINIC TAYLOR DOMINIC
TAYLOR (Associate Artistic Director)
has been a practicing
theatre artist for the past
20 years, recently
relocating from New York
to Saint Paul. He has
directed a variety of
theatre projects and musicals including
the new opera Fresh Faust at the Institute
of Contemporary Art in Boston and the
cantata The Negro Burial Ground at
The Kitchen in New York City. He has
worked with Goodman Theatre,
Steppenwolf Theatre, The Public Theatre,
New York Theatre Workshop, Crossroads
Theater, Rites and Reasons Theatre,
Playwrights Horizons, and Ensemble
Studio Theatre among others. He holds
both a Bachelors and a Master of Fine Arts
from Brown University. He has been
appointed Assistant Professor in Directing
at the University of Minnesota.DANA YEATON DANA YEATON
(Playwright) is the
recipient of the
“New Voice in
American Theatre”
award from the
William Inge
Theatre Festival.
His short play Helen
At Risk won the
Heideman Award from the Actor’s
Theatre of Louisville and his full-length
drama Mad River Rising received the
Moss Hart Award. For ten years he was
playwright-in-residence at Vermont
Stage Company, which produced his
original plays JUMP CUT, Mad River
Rising and The Big Random. They also
premiered his adaptation of Midwives,
Chris Bohjalian’s New York Times
best-selling novel. Midwives has been
produced in North Carolina, Arizona,
Tennessee, New Hampshire, and, most
recently, at Round House Theatre in
Bethesda, MD. He was founding
director of Vermont Young Playwrights
Project, and of the Addison Repertory
Theatre, a full-day, vocational theatre
program for high school students. Dana
lives with his wife, Frankie, in Vermont
and teaches at Middlebury College.RONALD ALOIS SCHULTZ 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.JAMES T. ALFRED JAMES T. ALFRED
(Dante Green) is
proud to make his
Penumbra debut.
His most recent
appearances include
the Kansas City
Repertory Theatre/
Arizona Theatre
Company co-production
of August Wilson’s Jitney, directed by
Lou Bellamy; Romeo and Juliet, and Three
Sisters at the American Repertory Theatre.
Film and television credits include the
critically acclaimed independent film One
Week, and Twentieth Century Fox’s smash
hit television drama Prison Break. James is
a graduate of the Institute for Advanced
Theatre Training at Harvard University.JAMES CRAVEN JAMES CRAVEN
(Solly Two Kings)
is a longtime Penumbra Theatre company
member. Recent Penumbra credits include
The Piano Lesson, REDSHIRTS, Get Ready,
Zooman and the Sign and Grandchildren
of the Buffalo Soldiers, produced in
collaboration with Trinity Repertory
Theatre. He also recently performed at
Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Arizona
Theatre Company in their joint production
of Jitney. James is a 2005 recipient of the
Spenser Cherashore Fund. He used this
grant to research Native American culture and the experiences of the
Buffalo Soldiers ca. 1880, in the greater Southwestern United States.
This research provided invaluable knowledge that James applied to
the creation of his role of Craig Robe in Grandchildren of the Buffalo
Soldiers.KIMBERLY GILBERT KIMBERLY
GILBERT
(Tori) hails from
Washington, D.C.,
and this performance
marks her Twin
Cities debut. In
D.C., she has
performed in
Nutshell in the
Capital Fringe Festival, Cardenio Found
with Taffety Punk Theatre Company, and
Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis with
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
She received the 2007 Helen Hayes Lead
Actress Nomination for her role as
“Brenda-Marie” in Martha, Josie and the
Chinese Elvis. Kimberly is a company
member with Woolly Mammoth Theatre
Company. She is also a company member
with Taffety Punk Theatre Company.
She received an MFA at the Academy
For Classical Acting with the
Shakespeare Theatre Company at George
Washington University.CEDRIC MAYS CEDRIC MAYS
(Citizen Barlow)
recently performed in Penumbra's
production of REDSHIRTS. Other
credits include starring in Blue/Orange as
Christopher, directed by Jeremy Skidmore,
and Insurrection: Holding History as T.J.,
directed by Timothy Douglas, both at
Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C.WILL SALLEE WILL SALLEE
(Dale Mayo) is
making his
Penumbra Theatre
Company debut in
REDSHIRTS. A
graduate from
Hamline University
in St. Paul, he
performed in several
main stage productions there including
The Duchess of Malfi, Into the Woods, and
Until Someone Wakes Up.KIMBERLY SCHRAF KIMBERLY
SCHRAF
(Dr. Audrey Yantz)
welcomes this
opportunity to
collaborate with
Penumbra Theatre
and take in St. Paul
at the same time.
At home, in
Washington, D.C., she has been a proud
member of that vibrant theatre community
for over twenty years. Her most
recent productions have been Going to St.
Ives at Everyman Theatre, Baltimore; A
Prayer for Owen Meany at Round House
Theatre, Bethesda; and productions of
Frozen and Crestfall at The Studio
Theatre. In addition, she has worked at
Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Arena Stage,
Ford’s Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and
at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Television appearances include Homicide:
Life on the Streets. She narrates books on
tape and is a graduate of St. John’s
College, Annapolis.REGINA MARIE WILLIAMS REGINA MARIE
WILLIAMS
(Dr. Charlene
Bigelow) most
recently performed
in Lady Day at
Emerson’s Bar and
Grill at The
Milwaukee Rep’s
Stackner. She has
performed at the Guthrie in The Falls,
The People’s Temple, She Loves Me, Oedipus,
Crowns and Yellowman, a Guthrie/Mixed
Blood Theater co-production, directed by
Marion McClinton. Productions at Mixed
Blood include Two Queens One Castle and
The Dance on Widow’s Row. As a company
member of Penumbra Theatre, she has
been seen in Seven Guitars, Two Trains
Running, Love Song for Ms Lydia, Louie and
Ophelia and more. Her performance as
Dinah in Penumbra’s Dinah Was prompted
her to record “Regina is…the songs of
Dinah Washington,” produced by
Sanford Moore of Moore by Four. Her
most recent CD, “Feel the Spirit,” was
co-produced with Gary Hines of the
Grammy Award-winning Sounds of
Blackness of which she is a former
member. Regina is a McKnight Theater
Artist of the Year 2006-2007.AHANTI YOUNG 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.C. LANCE BROCKMAN C. LANCE
BROCKMAN
(Scenic Design) is a
professor of theatre
design at the
University of
Minnesota where he
has been on the
faculty of the
Department of
Theatre Arts and Dance for 34 years.
His research interest is in the historic
methods of scenic art used to create
illusionary background for opera houses,
vaudeville, circuses, and fraternal
initiations. His efforts led to the
discovery and subsequent exhibits titled:
The Twin City Scenic Collection: Popular
Entertainment 1895-1929 and Theatre of
the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space of
the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 1896-1929.
Both exhibits and national tours were
supported by grants from the National
Endowment of the Humanities. In
addition, Lance nationally provides
master classes and workshops on
historical painting techniques and
maintains an active design career.
Brockman is a member of the United
States Institute for Theatre
Technology—a professional organization
that represents 3500 designers and
technicians from North America.MARTIN GWINUP MARTIN
GWINUP
(Sound & Video Design) is an associate
professor in the Theatre Arts and Dance Department at the University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities. 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 the past 18 years. He has worked for companies such as the Frank
Theatre, History Theatre, Children’s Theatre, Cricket Theatre, and Eye of the
Storm, to name a few. Recent design credits at Penumbra include REDSHIRTS, Get Ready, Blue, Black Nativity—A Celebration of Family, A
Celebration for the Soul…Testify!, Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A., and Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers.MICHELLE HABECK MICHELLE
HABECK (Lighting
Design) recently designed the lighting
for The Piano Lesson and REDSHIRTS at
Penumbra Theatre. Other collaborations
with Lou Bellamy include A Raisin in
the Sun, Two Trains Running and Jitney at
Kansas City Rep. Recent national credits
include Love Song at Steppenwolf Theatre,
Carter's Way at Kansas City Rep, Things of
Dry Hours and Elimina's Kitchen at Center
Stage, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at
Alliance Theatre Company, and Lobby
Hero at the Goodman Theatre. She has worked as associate lighting
designer with Tony Award-winning designer Donald Holder on Gem
of the Ocean, King Hedley II, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, among
others. Michelle is a National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Grant
winner for 2003-2004.MATHEW J. LEFEBVRE MATHEW J.
LEFEBVRE
(Scenic
and Costume Design) has designed several
productions for Penumbra including
Get Ready, Grandchildren of the Buffalo
Soldiers, On the Open Road, Black Eagles,
Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Jitney.
Off-Broadway designs include Two Trains
Running at Signature Theatre and Bach at
Leipzig at New York Theatre Workshop. Set
design includes Shapiro and Smith Dance,
Anytown and Notes from a Séance at the
Joy. He has designed the costumes for 15
productions at the Guthrie Theater including She Loves Me, Pride
and Prejudice, Wintertime, Merrily We Roll Along and The School for
Scandal. Other regional credits include Tartuffe, A Flea in Her Ear,
Bach at Leipzig at Milwaukee Rep, Jitney, A Raisin in the Sun and
Two Trains Running at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. He has also
designed for Arizona Theatre Company, Trinity Rep, Theatre de la
Jeune Lune, Geffen Playhouse and American Players Theatre.KALERE PAYTON KALERE PAYTON
(Assistant Costume
Design) assisted
Mathew J. Lefebvre,
Costume Designer
for Two Trains
Running at the
Signature Theatre
Company in New
York and Get Ready
at Penumbra. Her design credits include
Uri Sands’ dance piece Happy, and
The Arabian Nights both for the
University of Minnesota Department of
Theatre Arts and Dance. She is working
towards a Master of Fine Arts Costume
Design/Technology, to be completed in
the Spring of 2009.JULIANA PETERSON JULIANA
PETERSON
(Assistant Scene
Design) graduated
from the University
of Minnesota in May
2007. Recently, she
worked as scene
design assistant for
Sherlock’s Last Case on
the Minnesota Centennial Showboat. This
summer, she also directed a play in the
Bedlam Theatre’s Ten-Minute Play
Festival and stage managed Come and Get
It at the Open Eye Figure Theatre. She
works as a stage manager and backstage
hand at the Ted Mann Concert Hall, and
as a freelance theatre artist.STEPHANIE LEIN WALSETH STEPHANIE LEIN
WALSETH
(Dramaturg) is an
M.A./Ph.D. candidate in Theatre Historiography at the University
of Minnesota and is pleased to be the August Wilson Fellow for
Penumbra's 2007-08 season. Previously she served as the managing
director of the Minneapolis-based Asian American theater and taiko
company Mu Performing Arts. She has worked professionally as a
theater administrator, actor, director, dramaturg and stage manager
throughout the Twin Cities with companies such as Mu, Mixed Blood
Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, The Playwrights' Center, Frank Theatre,
Theatre in the Round, Starting Gate Productions, Theatre Unbound,
Chaos Theories, CLIMB Theatre and in Maine at the Portland Stage
Company. Her writing has appeared in the Baylor Journal of Theatre
and Performance, and she is currently serving as the co-artistic director
of the University's Xperimental Theatre.ERIKA K. DIXON-GOSS 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. |
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© 2008 Penumbra Theatre
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