Search:
|
Gem of the Ocean Artist Bios 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.TERRY HEMPLEMAN TERRY HEMPLEMAN
(Rutherford Selig) has appeared at
Penumbra in Joe Turner's Come and Gone
and at the Guthrie in His Girl Friday and
Lake Hollywood. Recent acting credits
include Huck Finn, Anon(ymous) and
Amber Waves at The Children's Theatre
Company; Last of the Boys, Same Time Next
Year, Orange Flower Water and Fool for Love
at The Jungle Theater; Cyrano, Carousel
and The Ballad of the Sad Café with Ten
Thousand Things; Frozen, Of Mice and Men
and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Park Square Theatre; and Dinner
With Friends at Eye of the Storm. His film work includes Factotum,
Drop Dead Gorgeous, Mallrats and the PBS film A Psychic Mom. Terry
was awarded Best Actor in the Twin Cities by City Pages in 2003.MARVETTE KNIGHT MARVETTE KNIGHT (Aunt
Ester) is a longtime Penumbra Theatre
company member. She is also a fulltime
member of The Children's Theatre
Company. She has performed with the
Guthrie Theater, Park Square and Mixed
Blood. As a choreographer, she has worked
with these same theaters as well as the La
Jolla Playhouse, History Theatre, Zenon
Dance Company, the Sounds of Blackness,
Youth Movement Company, Steppingstone
Theatre and Stages Theatre. Marvette
choreographs and teaches dance for several schools throughout the
area and The Children's Theatre Company's Theatre Arts Training
program. In an international spectacle titled Chatouranga, Marvette
choreographed a cast of over 1,500 dancers and singers for the
production in Fribourg, Switzerland. Select awards include the Critics
Circle Kudos Award and the Katherine Dunham Award.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.T. MYCHAEL RAMBO T. MYCHAEL
RAMBO (Caesar)
is an actor, vocalist and educator. He has
performed at Penumbra Theatre since
1989 and is now a company member. His
most recent Penumbra credits include
The Piano Lesson, Black Nativity: Twenty
Years of Holiday Cheer!, Get Ready and
Ain't Misbehavin'. He has performed with
the Guthrie Theater, Illusion Theater,
Minnesota Opera, Ordway Music Theatre,
Mixed Blood Theatre, Park Square Theatre,
Hey City Theatre, a number of regional
theater companies, at Carnegie Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra
and internationally throughout Canada, Europe, Africa and Brazil.
He has appeared in several local and national television commercials
and in HBO miniseries including Laurel Avenue, Endeavor and I Led
Two Lives. Film credits include The Mighty Ducks, Crossing the Bridge,
Grumpy Old Men, The Cure, Equinox, Wooly Boys and Justice. Rambo
also has to his credit two CDs: Simply and The Gift.ABDUL SALAAM EL RAZZAC ABDUL SALAAM
EL RAZZAC (Eli) is a founding
member of Penumbra Theatre. He has also
performed at the Willamstown Theatre
Festival, Los Angeles Theater Center,
A.C.T., Long Wharf, Mark Taper, the
Guthrie, South Coast Rep, Trinity Rep,
Tiffany Theater, the Nate Holden Theater,
the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Kansas
City Rep and Arizona Theater Company.
He has directed at the Beverly Hills
Playhouse, Zephyr, L.A.T.C. and Glaxa
Theaters, as well as staged readings for the Audrey Skirball-Kenis
Theatre and the Mark Taper's Mentor Reading Series. Awards include
the N.A.A.C.P. Image Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics
Award for performance, and the Los Angeles Dramalog Award
for best director and the N.A.A.C.P. Image Award best director
nomination. Select film and television credits include Star Trek: The
Next Generation, Pretty Woman, Glory, Malcolm X, Terminator II,
Frasier and Conversations with God.AUSTENE VAN 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.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.MARY K. WINCHELL MARY K. WINCHELL (Stage
Manager) is in her 21st season with
Penumbra Theatre. Recent Penumbra
credits include The Piano Lesson, Get
Ready and Black Nativity: Twenty Years
of Holiday Cheer! Other select Penumbra
credits include Fences at Penumbra and the
Guthrie Theater, The Piano Lesson, Seven
Guitars, Jitney, Two Trains Running, King
Hedley II and Dinah Was. Mary has also
stage managed at the Orpheum Theatre,
State Theatre, Pantages Theatre, The
Children's Theatre Company, The Jungle Theater and the Coconut
Grove Playhouse in Miami. She has also served as production stage
manager for Dorothy Hamill's Nutcracker on Ice, and lent her talents
to Macy's Glamorama, the Aveda Corporation including Aveda's 20th
Anniversary Celebration at Radio City Music Hall, and Super Bowl
XXVI Winter Magic.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.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.MALO ADAMS 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.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.FAYE M. PRICE 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.ELIZABETH R. MacNALLY ELIZABETH R. MacNALLY
(Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be
with Penumbra for the first time. She has
most recently stage managed 9 Parts of
Desire at the Guthrie Theater, and some
of her favorite productions include Bug
with Pillsbury House Theatre, Two for the
Seesaw and Last of the Boys with The Jungle
Theater, as well as many other productions.
Elizabeth has also stage managed at Park
Square Theatre, Pillsbury House Theatre,
Mixed Blood Theatre, the History Theatre,
Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Frank Theatre and New American
Theatre. She has her B.F.A. from Rockford College in Rockford, Ill.STEVEN HORSTMANN STEVEN
HORSTMANN
(Properties Master/Scenic
Design Assistant)
works locally as a scenic
designer, performer and
musician with companies
such as Open Eye Figure
Theatre, Four Humors Theater and
Penumbra. He is a performing member
of the Seattle-based traveling vaudeville
troupe The New Old Time Chautauqua.
Most recently, he appeared in Mud at the
Bedlam Theatre. Steven holds a degree in
Theatre Arts and Architecture from the
University of Minnesota.KRISTIN T. ABHALTER KRISTIN T. ABHALTER (Scenic Design Assistant) has worked
as a scenic artist for many Penumbra productions including The Piano
Lesson, REDSHIRTS and Blue. Locally she has been designing and painting
for the Interact Center, Hamline University Theatre and the Walker Art
Center's Momentum Dance Series at The Southern Theatre. She has worked
for a season as a design assistant at Denver Center Theatre and has an
M.F.A. in scenic arts from the University of Minnesota. KATHY MAXWELL KATHY MAXWELL (Lighting Design Assistant) is the Master
Electrician for Penumbra Theatre and has worked on The Piano Lesson,
Black Nativity and REDSHIRTS. She recently did the lighting design
for Lights Up! at the Illusion Theatre and was the assistant lighting
designer for The Rocky Horror Show at the Ordway. |
More Info:
This Season:
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||
|
© 2008 Penumbra Theatre
|