Nick Cearley (he/him) is absolutely thrilled to return to Ensemble Theatre after last appearing in Buyer & Cellar, as well as The Great American Trailer Park Musical, 25 The Musical, and Next to Normal. He is the co-creator of the critically acclaimed “Undie-Rock” duo The Skivvies (www.theskivviesnyc.com and Instagram: @theskivviesnyc). He appeared in Broadway’s first national tour of All Shook Up and off-Broadway in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pageant: The Musical (Drama Desk Nominated Off-Broadway Original Revival Cast/Cast Album on Jay Records), Sex Tips for Straight Women From a Gay Man, and Cupid and Psyche. Select credits include An Act of God, B Street Theatre; Twelfth Night, Bay Street Theatre; The Rocky Horror Show (directed by Hunter Foster), Bucks County Playhouse; Little Shop of Horrors, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Portland Center Stage, and Saugatuck Center for the Arts; and nine regional premiere productions all across America of the one-person play Buyer & Cellar. Nick also co-conceived and starred in the new revival of the actor-musician You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which premiered at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Dan Davidson (he/she/they) is so very honored to appear with this hysterical cast! He was last seen at Ensemble Theatre as Roscoe (& Others) in Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens. Other regional credits include Sir Isaac Newton in Calculus: The Musical, Gaines in Bro’kin River, Tim in Noises Off, Freddy in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and Hanna in La Cage aux Folles, among others. Dan plays Sparkle in “StoryTime with Sparkle” for TreeHouse Cincinnati, Inc., a combined LGBTQ+ and ally resource office he co-founded.

Deb G. Girdler began her career on the Showboat Majestic, attended UC’s College-Conservatory of Music, and has worked off-Broadway, in regional theatre, and in summer stock for over fifty years. Some of her favorite productions at Ensemble Theatre include Good People, Three Viewings, Three Tall Women, and The Last Session; her favorite roles also include playing the villainess in many ETC holiday productions. Deb is listed in the official scripts of several shows as a cast member of the premiere productions, including the stage version of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Hoodwinked!  The Musical, and It Runs in the Family. She can be seen in the films Carol with Cate Blanchett and First Kill with Bruce Willis.

Dale Hodges returns to Ensemble Theatre, having last appeared in Sex and Education and Ripcord. She has performed on and off-Broadway and was recently seen in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park production of Murder on the Orient Express. She is delighted to be working again with her old acting pal Joneal Joplin, having played his stage wife three times before in Copenhagen at ETC, On Golden Pond at The Human Race Theatre Company, and Long Day’s Journey into Night at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. She has been Jop’s dying patient in Wit, his wise Fool in King Lear, his ghostly conscience in A Christmas Carol, and climbed out of a trunk with him in The Fantasticks.

Jared Joplin is revved up to return to the Ensemble Theatre stage after appearing with his sister Jen Joplin in The Match Game. As a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, he has worked locally and regionally in New York and Canada. His favorite musical roles include The Sound of Music, The Carnegie; Don’t Cross the Streams, Falcon Theatre; Booty: A Pirate Musical, Cincinnati Fringe Festival; Smoke on the Mountain, The New Theatre STL; and Another Brick in the Wall, Cincinnati Opera, as well as the numerous roles he has performed in his car during his commute on I-75 from Dayton.

Joneal “Jop” Joplin, like so many of his theatre mates, has been facing “Covidus Interruptus.” He was last seen onstage in All the Way in February of 2020 at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Jop was last seen at Ensemble Theatre in Outside Mullingar with his daughter, Jennifer, and Dale Hodges, so it is only fitting that he should be appearing now with his son, Jared, and Dale Hodges. He has performed in over 300 productions in his 55 year career with 30 plus of them in the Cincinnati area, most memorably as Ebenezer Scrooge for eight years at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Jop and Dale are appearing together again for the 13th time.

Shonita Joshi (she/her) is excited to be back with her Ensemble Theatre family after performing in The Dancing Princesses and Queen. She has a degree in Banking, Finance, & Journalism and graduated in 2019 from Stella Adler School of Acting in New York. Some of her credits include Antony & Cleopatra, Pericles, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night with Hip to Hip Theater’s “Shakespeare in the Park” in NYC and A Christmas Carol, Stuart Little, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Christopher Guthrie (he/him) moved to Cincinnati to join the first Young Company at the then-called Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival in 2001. Locally, he has appeared in over 100 productions across the stages of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Opera, and New Edgecliff Theatre. Appearing on the Ensemble Theatre stage and collaborating with this creative team fulfills a huge creative goal.

Brian Robertson (he/him) came to Cincinnati from Los Angeles and has spent the past 30 years working in film and television in the areas of cinematography, fight choreography, directing, and stage management in theatre and opera. Brian is a faculty member for Norther Kentucky University’s School of the Arts for Theatre and Dance where he oversees the playwriting, directing, and stage management programs. He also works as a guest director and instructor at University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. He has worked for Opera Southwest, Reduced Shakespeare Company, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Sarasota Opera, Bay View Music Festival, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Pones Laboratory of Movement, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, University of Kentucky, Carnegie Arts Center, Opera Project Columbus, Opera North, and Des Moines Metro Opera, among others.

Brian c. Mehring (he/him) has designed more than 100 productions at Ensemble Theatre. His favorite productions include Thom Pain (based on nothing), Next to Normal, 33 Variations, Freud’s Last Session, and I Am My Own Wife. Mr. Mehring’s regional favorites for set design include The Last 5 Years and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Henry IV, Part 1, The Georgia Shakespeare Festival; and I Am My Own Wife, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Peterborough Players, and Florida Studio Theatre.

Niki Hernandez-Adams (she/her) is a costume designer for theatre and dance. Her recent theatre designs include Queen, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; The House on Mango Street, Bless Me Ultima, and Blood Wedding, Cara Mía Theatre Company; WET: A DACAmented Journey, Cara Mía Theatre & Ignite/Arts Dallas; Deferred Action, Dallas Theatre Center/Cara Mía Theatre; Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue, Water Tower Theatre; Seven Spots on the Sun, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Rosmersholm, Pearl Theatre Company; The Glass Menagerie and Mere Mortals, Two River Theatre. Her past assisting credits include The Little Mermaid on Broadway, Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, and Jack Goes Boating at The Public Theatre. Her dance design credits include several years of collaborative work with Peter Kyle Dance, as well as projects with Theatre Lila.

Matt Callahan (he/him) was the Resident Sound Designer for Actors Theatre of Louisville for seven seasons. Some of his most recent designs for Ensemble Theatre include Queen, Pipeline, Fortune, Fun Home, and Ripcord. He was also a co-creator/designer of Rock n’ Roll: The Reunion Tour. He spent two seasons as the Resident Sound Designer at The Eugene O’Neil Center for their National Playwrights Conference. He was formerly the sound engineer for Steppenwolf Theatre, the Assistant Engineer for Blue Man Chicago, and a member of the disbanded Defiant Theatre. He received a Jeff Citation for Red Dragon, a nomination for Fortinbras, and a Kevin Kline nomination for Sherlock Holmes.

Shannon Rae Lutz  (she/her) earned her Master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music in 1996 and became Properties Master at Ensemble Theatre. Trained as a performer, she first appeared on ETC’s stage during the 1988-1989 New Works Festival. In 1991, she was granted an ETC internship. Now the Director of Apprentice Programming, she is honored to guide ETC’s essential ensemble: The Professional Acting Apprentice Company. Shannon would like to thank D. Lynn Meyers, Ruth Sawyer, and the Cincinnati theatre community and patrons for their generous, supportive, and tenacious spirit.

Jack Murphy (he/him) grew up in the Cincinnati area and studied technical theatre at Hanover College. While there, he spent his summers at several different summer stock theatres including Georgia Shakespeare Company and the Brevard Music Center’s Janiec Opera Company as a carpenter. After graduation, he moved to Bellport, NY to work for The Gateway Playhouse as a carpenter and rigger, and he went on to work for Norwegian Cruise Line. After another summer at the Janiec Opera Company, he came full circle and returned home to Cincinnati. Jack is eager to continue to do the cutting edge work ETC is known for and has enjoyed working on such productions as An Iliad, Grounded, and The Humans.

Margot Whitney (she/her) is thrilled to be a part of the Ensemble Theatre family! Her previous credits include Sweat on Broadway and the first national tours of Mean Girls, Come From Away, Bright Star, The King & I, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and War Horse. She has worked with The Public Theatre, Signature Theatre Company, New York Stage and Film, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, La Jolla Playhouse, Virginia Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati during the 2012-2013 Season, and Cincinnati Ballet. Margot received her BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.

Lexi Muller (she/her) is delighted to be back at Ensemble Theatre, where some of her credits include include Fun Home, The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, and Fly by Night. Other regional credits include Sex with Strangers, The House, Legendale, and 26 Pebbles with the Human Race Theatre. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and a graduate of Wright State University, where she received her BFA in Stage Management.