Samantha Russell returns to Ensemble Theatre, where she was last seen in The Dancing Princesses as Gidela. She was a member of the 2016-2017 Professional Acting Apprenticeship Program at ETC, where she was seen in Cinderella: After Ever After as Socrates and ANTIGONE (born against.) as Antigone. Some of her other favorite theatre credits include Coretta Scott King and the Fight for Freedom, Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati; The Color Purple, Cincinnati Black Theatre Company; and Marian: Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Samantha holds a Master’s in Acting from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England, where she currently resides. Samantha is the Co-founder of Last Looks Beauty, a multinational organization that addresses the need to hire hair stylists that are skilled in correct hair care practices for Black/Ethnic talent on film and television production sets.

Torie Wiggins is a multi-hyphenate artist whose Cincinnati theatre credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Harry and the Thief, Know Theatre of Cincinnati; Mame, Crowns, and The Revolutionists, Human Race Theatre Company; To Kill a Mockingbird, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; To Kill a Mockingbird, Oliver Twist, A Raisin in the Sun, and Fences, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 by Anna Deveare Smith, Diogenes Theatre Company. Her Ensemble Theatre credits include The Mountaintop, Violet, Alice in Wonderland, Around the World in 80 Days, Cinderella, Cinderella: After Ever After, and His Eye is on The Sparrow. Torie’s directing credits include We Are Proud to Present… and Good Kids, Miami University’s Department of Theatre; Dreamgirls and Proof, The Carnegie Theater; and Blues for an Alabama Sky, Falcon Theatre.

Isaiah Reaves is a young playwright on the rise. His autobiographical plays explore Blackness and Queerness, while spanning multiple genres. Isaiah is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Hip-Hop Theatre Creator Award, a two-time semifinalist of the Ucross and The Blank Theatre Future of Playwriting Prize, a semifinalist of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, a finalist of the Jackie Demaline Regional Collegiate Playwriting Competition, and an Iowa Arts Fellow. He is currently in pursuit of an MFA at the historic University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop. He would like to thank God and his loved ones for making everything possible.

Torie Wiggins is a multi-hyphenate artist whose Cincinnati theatre credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Harry and the Thief, Know Theatre of Cincinnati; Mame, Crowns, and The Revolutionists, Human Race Theatre Company; To Kill a Mockingbird, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; To Kill a Mockingbird, Oliver Twist, A Raisin in the Sun, and Fences, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 by Anna Deveare Smith, Diogenes Theatre Company. Her Ensemble Theatre credits include The Mountaintop, Violet, Alice in Wonderland, Around the World in 80 Days, Cinderella, Cinderella: After Ever After, and His Eye is on The Sparrow. Torie’s directing credits include We Are Proud to Present… and Good Kids, Miami University’s Department of Theatre; Dreamgirls and Proof, The Carnegie Theater; and Blues for an Alabama Sky, Falcon Theatre.

Kathy Y. Wilson is a multi-hyphenated nerd:  a writer-teacher-closet-poet-community-worker-playwright and sometimes, for the right audience, she will bust a rhyme.

Known mostly as the author of the incendiary column Your Negro Tour Guide, and the book of the same title, listeners nationwide know her for her National Public Radio commentaries on All Things Considered. Still more audiences know Wilson for the eponymous stage play adapted from her book.

Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Wilson has observed white people for 53 years. She’s won accolades from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, the Cleveland Press Club, the Associated Press Society of Ohio, was twice a Fellow at the Knight Center for Professional Journalists and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for her profile of 700 WLW’s Bill Cunningham.

She sometimes works on her next book The Dialysis Diaries: How Hattie McDaniel Taught Me to Pee Again. In September 2014, the Library Foundation of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County named her its first-ever Writer-In-Residence; in March 2016 by secret committee Wilson was awarded the Sachs Fund Prize for “adding to community discourse through her published works.” In December 2017, the Walnut Hills apartment of Wilson and her partner was recreated as an installation for the Weston Gallery’s exhibit “Kathy Y. Wilson: Living In a Colored Museum.” In March 2018 she was inducted into the University of Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame.

She lives in downtown East Walnut Hills with her partner and a cornucopia of black Barbie dolls.

Jeff Griffin is in his third season as the Executive Producer of Astoria Performing Arts Center in Astoria, Queens, New York where he recently staged American Arcana by Cyndi Williams and Theater of the Film Noir by George F. Walker. His other credits include References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot by Jose Rivera, Big Love by Charles Mee, Last Words by Lannie Hill, Orange by Ron Berry, and The Flu Season by Will Eno.

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.

Daryl is a veteran of theatre throughout North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. He received the Cincinnati League of Theatres Award for Outstanding Costumes for Northern Kentucky University’s production of Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind, as well as multiple awards for his costume designs with The St. Louis Black Repertory Company, Theatre Tuscaloosa, and Tuscaloosa Community Dancers productions including Mame, The King & I, and Nutcracker. His costumes have been displayed at Canada’s Royal British Columbia Museum. Daryl has an MFA, a PhD, and is a Full Professor in NKU’s School of the Arts Theatre and Dance Program, where he designs, acts, directs, and teaches “Race, Gender, and Theatre” courses. He regularly presents costume-related papers at national and international conferences. He embraces each costume design experience as sustained communion with the Master Creator.

Derek A. Graham is a sound designer, composer, and audio engineer based in North Carolina. His recent work includes sound design for Kill Move Paradise at Dobama Theatre, and music composition for The Chinese Lady at Artists Repertory Theatre, and Toni Stone, a co-production with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and Alliance Theatre. Alongside his wife, Jessica, he is a co-founder of Life by Design Media & Production, a small business that specializes in multi-media production, namely podcasting, videography and photography. He received his MFA in Sound Design from Ohio University and BA in Music from Elizabeth City State University.

Becca Schall is excited to be part of the Ensemble team to help bring these beautiful plays to the stage! She is a freelance videographer and editor in the Cincinnati area and has called Ensemble Theatre her home base since 2013. Becca works with ETC’s marketing team as the Creative Media Producer to create video content for each season. Alongside the incomparable D. Lynn Meyers, she also has the pleasure of casting for the various movies that film in Cincinnati and surrounding regions. She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, but a native Cincinnatian who is just lucky enough to live in a city where the arts are always thriving!

Nigel C. Mask is a hair stylist and entrepreneur that has offered award-winning services for over 15 years. A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Nigel is the owner of Nigel’s Gifted Hands, LLC, based here in Cincinnati. He earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati and his MS in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change from Northern Kentucky University. Nigel is a public speaker and consultant who seeks to spread his knowledge of hair education and his philosophy on the relationship between hair care and personal wellness to the world. He has partnered with community based organizations and institutions of higher learning to bring enlightenment on various topics related to the beauty industry. His professional work has been featured in Southern Bride Magazine and Cincinnati Magazine and can be seen reoccurring on Netflix and ABC Network.

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.