Burgess C. Byrd (she/her/they) is delighted to be back at Ensemble Theatre, where she was last seen as the Tsar in The Frog Princess, as well as Faye Davison in Skeleton Crew, Connie in Red Velvet, Bernadette in This Random World, and Bunny in Detroit ’67. Some of her regional credits include Headmistress Francis in School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Florence Kennedy in Gloria: A Life, Human Race Theatre; Lean Younger in A Raisin in the Sun and Tillie in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Shiloh in Harry and the Thief and Charlayne Woodard in the one-person show Pretty Fire, Know Theatre of Cincinnati. She was also a Guest Artist at the University of Texas Austin as Shylock in Merchant of Venice and can be seen in the films Inconceivable (2017), the upcoming Bones and All (2021), and the recently wrapped Challengers (2022).

Ollie Corchado (he/him) is a New York City-based actor and is overjoyed to be debuting with Ensemble Theatre in this incredible play! His New York credits include King Lear, New York Classical Theatre; A Spider’s Web and My Father’s Heart, Wet Paint New Play Festival; Counting Pedestals, Metropolitan Playhouse; Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare Forum; and Not About Nightingales, Empirical Stage. His regional credits include Romeo and Juliet, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; Indian Head, Luna Stage; Peter and the Starcatcher, Milwaukee Rep. & Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; and A Christmas Carol, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. His TV and film credits include Bull (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), Bound (Paralysis Productions), and Stalked: Someone’s Watching (Investigation Discovery). He is a proud member of the 2022 LAByrinth Theatre Company Summer Intensive Ensemble.

Charlie Cromer (he/him) makes his Ensemble Theatre debut with this production. His regional credits include A Christmas Carol, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Of Mice and Men, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and The Irish Curse, Short North Stage. Additional theatre credits include MilkMilkLemonade at the Impact Theatre Berkeley, as well as The Bomb-itty of Errors and Kitty Kitty Kitty, UGA; and Pesach, 7 Stages Atlanta. He can also be in seen in the TV movie Memphis Belle: Her Final Mission. Charlie received his BA at Kenyon College and his MFA from the University of Georgia. Charlie is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.

Denise Dal Vera (she/her) joins Ensemble Theatre for the first time with this production. After a thirty-year stage hiatus, some of her credits include Belinda in Noises Off at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina and Hallie in Sunrise Coven at Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Her TV and film credits include the mother of the bride in the upcoming film Just For Show, Sandra Tennant in Dark Waters, Lorraine Reed in CBS’s Tell Me A Story, and Dr. Amanda Beal in Who Is Amos Otis. A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Denise met and married Rocco Dal Vera, who vocal coached many ETC shows. She served as AFTRA Tri-State President and SAG-AFTRA National board member and is currently a delegate to The Cincinnati Labor Council AFL-CIO. Her real life role is a proud mom to Kendall.

Mierka “Mookie” Girten is thrilled to be working at Ensemble Theatre for the first time. For the last 20 years, she made Chicago her home as an actress, casting director, and producer, where she is an ensemble member with the award–winning A Red Orchid Theatre. Some of her credits include Sweat, Goodman Theatre; The Walls, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble; her one woman show With or Without Wings, Steppenwolf Theatre; Gloria, McCarter Theatre Center; Simpatico and Mistakes Were Made, off-Broadway; and the national tour of The Secret Garden. Mierka can be seen in the upcoming film Eric La Rue and had the rare opportunity to be seen on the first episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. She has been doing voice over work for regional and national brands for the past 25 years. Mierka is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Allen R. Middleton (he/him) is a BroadwayWorld Award-winning actor and a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. His regional theatre credits include Sweat, Proof, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, The Lion in Winter, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Next Fall. His feature film credits include Lost & Found in Cleveland, Curvature, Alligator Alley, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.  Allen appeared on television for five seasons on the cult SyFy Network series FTL Newsfeed.

Derek J. Snow (he/him) is grateful for this opportunity, having been active in the Cincinnati theater community as an actor, writer, director, and producer for almost four decades. A graduate of Cincinnati’s SCPA, Derek continued his education in NYC before returning after graduation to teach. As a playwright, his work has been produced in Atlanta, New Jersey, London, India, and Sydney, Australia. His short play Wind Kill Factor was read for a sold-out audience at Ensemble Theatre in 2019 as part of their Studio Series. Derek founded his nonprofit, Missing Front Plate Productions, in 2020 to address the lack of BIPOC work in theaters nationwide. He was the inaugural recipient of The Breath Project’s New Play Commission for 2021. Next year his work Silas, The Uninvited will be performed in NYC, Charlottesville, and Detroit, and he will also become one of the first-ever Resident Artists at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Jay Wade (he/him) was last seen at Ensemble Theatre as Chris in Sweat and as Omari in Pipeline. He also appeared as Omari in Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s production of Pipeline. He is from St. Louis, MO, and earned his BFA in Acting from Southeast Missouri State University.

Beasley (they/them) is a multi-hyphenate theatre artist from Friendswood, Texas. They graduated in May 2022 from the University of Oklahoma with a BFA in Drama, where some of their credits include The Wolves (#25), Intimate Apparel (Esther), The Gap (Lee), and Marisol (Angel), as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Starveling/Moon) at OK Shakespeare in the Park. They are a current member of Ensemble Theatre’s Professional Acting Apprentice Program and they are excited to be making their Cincinnati debut on the ETC stage.

Timothy Belton is happy to be back home doing shows with his family again at Ensemble Theatre, where he was last seen in The Dancing Princesses and MLM Is for Murder. He graduated from Northern Kentucky University’s School of the Arts with a BFA in musical theatre. He can do all things through Christ and wouldn’t be here without the love and support from his parents Sean and Julie. All love.

Sara Mackie has had the greatest honors of her life playing Dolly, Helen, and Katherine, and can now retire on a secluded island herding cats—but she loves being in the Cincinnati theatre community too much! Selected credits include Fun Home, Hands on a Hardbody, all three Wonderettes iterations, Mauritius, and Fiona: The Musical, Ensemble Theatre; Rutka: A New Musical, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park;  This is Tom Jones!, An Act of God, Family Ties, Human Race Theatre Compnay; Hello, Dolly! and Pump Boys and Dinettes, The Carnegie; Wrecking Ball, The Taming of the Shrew, and Pride and Prejudice, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, New Edgecliff Theatre. You can also catch her in some of the great feature films shot in Cincinnati, such as The Bikeriders, The Public, and Dark Waters. Thank you for supporting live works!

Caroline Marino (she/her) recently graduated from Xavier University, where she earned a BA in Musical Theatre. She is extremely grateful and excited for this opportunity to grow as an artist at ETC!

Patrick Earl Phillips

is so grateful to be back at Ensemble Theatre, where he most recently hopped into the understudy role of Jason in Sweat. His favorite ETC credits include Luna Gale, Bloomsday, Fly By Night, This Random World, and Violet. Recent regional credits include Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Wrecking Ball with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and This is Tom Jones! and Around the World in 80 Days with The Human Race Theatre Company. In July, Patrick will be in a production of tick, tick… BOOM! at The Carnegie in Covington. He is also an active student with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Emmy Rice (she/her) is excited to be back on stage at Ensemble Theatre! She graduated from Xavier University with degrees in theatre performance and English and is a proud alum of ETC’s Professional Apprenticeship Program during the 2022-2023 Season. Some of her recent credits include Jeanie in Leveling Up, Xavier University; Sienna Ross in MLM Is for Murder (Or, Your Side Hustle Is Killing Us) and Natayla/Young Asa in The Dancing Princesses, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; and various shows in the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

Elexis Selmon is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans where she majored in theatre arts and psychology. Her recent credits include Gidela in The Dancing Princesses, Ensemble Theatre; Maude Lynn in The House That Will Not Stand, Le Petit Theatre; and Mercy in School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, The NOLA Project. Elexis is very excited to be a part of this production!

Lynn Nottage is a playwright and screenwriter. She is the first, and remains the only, woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world.

Most recently, Nottage premiered MJ the Musical featuring the music of Michael Jackson at the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway, Clyde’s at Second Stage Theater on Broadway, and an opera adaptation of her play Intimate Apparel composed by Ricky Ian Gordon, commissioned by The Met/Lincoln Center Theater.

Her other work includes, Floyd’s (retitled- Clyde’s) (Guthrie Theater); the musical adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead (The Atlantic Theater); Mlima’s Tale (Public Theater); By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award, Drama Desk Nomination- Second Stage/Signature Theater); Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award- MTC/Goodman Theater); Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play Center Stage/SCR/ Roundabout Theater); Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award – Playwrights Horizons/Signature Theater); Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers; and POOF!

Her play Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Evening Standard Award, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Tony Nomination, Drama Desk Nomination) moved to Broadway after a sold-out run at The Public Theater. It premiered and was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival American Revolutions History Cycle/Arena Stage. Inspired by her research on Sweat, Nottage developed This is Reading, a performance installation based on two years of interviews, at the Franklin Street, Reading Railroad Station in Reading, PA in July 2017.

Darnell Pierre Benjamin (he/him)i s a creative, educator, and community builder from Southern Louisiana. He earned his MFA from the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program. Darnell’s work lives at the intersection of art and activism, which is apparent in his  film 13^th & Republic, found at 13thandrepublic.com. He was last seen at Ensemble Theatre in The Dancing Princesses and Cinderella. Some of his other recent credits include Wrecking Ball and The Importance of Being Earnest with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Darnell is also a professor in the arts programs at Northern Kentucky University, Xavier University, and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. He is a certified educator and performer in the Michael Chekhov Technique and is also a recipient of Cincinnati’s ArtsWave 2020 and 2021 “Truth & Reconciliation” grants.

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.

Jerrilyn Lanier Duckworth (she/her) is thrilled to costume design her first show at Ensemble Theatre! She is the Founder and Creator of Bridging the Gap: A Look into African American Hair & Makeup for Theatre. She is a freelance costume, hair and makeup designer. In the Fall of 2020, Jerrilyn was appointed Vice-Chair of Hair and Makeup for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). She holds an MFA in costume design and production from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Arts degree in general theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi. Jerrilyn’s designs have been on the stages of the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Indiana University, Illinois State University, and Millbrook Playhouse.

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.

Gina (she/her/hers) is one of the few female certified teachers in the country with the Society of American Fight Directors.  Her regional credits include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Opera Theatre St. Louis, Denver Center Theatre Company, Human Race Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and Nintendo Motion Capture Studios. Gina focuses much of her time on her nationally recognized educational theatre company, Cincinnati Actor’s Studio & Academy.  Her awards include The USA Distinguished Teacher Award, first recipient of the Cincinnati Arts Association Arts Educator Award, and knighted by the order of The Knights of Madoc in honor of her “work in the art of stage combat and in recognition of her fine character and enduring good will.”

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.

Erin Carr is currently working as a professional actor, physical theatre creator & movement coach out of Cincinnati, OH. She has studied physical theatre at NYU-Tisch’s Experimental Theatre Wing, ArtsOasis – International Residency for Performers in Italy, Acrobatics of the Heart in MA, among other programs throughout the states.

She works as a teaching artist, director of educational theatre, and advanced physical theatre practitioner with multiple theatre companies in the tri-state area, along with working as a Body Language Consultant focusing on kinesthetics and non-verbal communication.

Chaslee Schweitzer (she/her) is an accent coach and professor. She holds an MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy from the University of Alberta. She currently teaches vocal production at Oklahoma City University in the BFA Acting program. Prior to moving to Oklahoma, she lived in Cincinnati for 5 years. She accent coached for the film Wrong Turn (2020). She has coached a number of stage productions including Puffs or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and goat sounds for Alabaster. She was recently seen onstage in InBocca’s production Like Demons and the Fringe production The Belle and Boone Helm. She is a new mother, wife, dog mom, and loves a good hike.

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.

Jacob Dowell (he/him) is thrilled to be in his second season at Ensemble Theatre, this time as technical director. Jacob is a graduate of Morehead State University where he received a BA in theatre. Some previous technical direction credits include Kinky Boots, The Who’s Tommy, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Jacob would like to thank his family, friends, and cat (Ronnie) for their continued support

Margot Whitney (she/her) is thrilled to be back at Ensemble Theatre family! Her previous credits include Sweat on Broadway and the first national tours of Clue, 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 I Need That, The Garbologists, Fun Home, and The Wolves. 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.