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A FRESH LOOK
Look to FRESH PRODUCE for new works, new looks at old works, and, most importantly, an ever-widening range of voices that speak to the Midwestern experience. "Concert Reading?" What's That?
Using lecterns, a stage-directions narrator, and no technical elements, these readings focus entirely on the story and the actors--literally, the play's voices. |
ALWAYS FREE!
These concert readings, developed by artists from around the Midwest, are just as professional and compelling, but slightly more economical than our major productions. Therefore, in the interest of making live theatre more accessible, these concerts will have NO admission charges. DON'T MISS THESE! |
SynopsisIn Stripped by Colleen O’Doherty, a troubled young woman in Omaha juggles tragedy, personal demons, and her dysfunctional family. She goes to work in a seedy strip club in Omaha in an attempt to help her family financially meet the demands of mounting medical bills.
A dark comic collision of religion, cancer, and a strip club. Previously postponed due the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still committed to bringing the first ever premier of Stripped to our patrons in Season 3.
Standing: Madison Ray, Karen Schaeffer, Princess Winters, Kristin Gredys.
Seated: Bryce Browning, Ashley Schaeffer, Audrey Kaus.
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ONLINE
SAT. October 10 | 7:30pm SUN. October 11 | 2:00pm* *Talk back with cast & company to follow ALWAYS FREE!
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The Company
DIRECTING Theatre Simpson: Fall From Grace ACTING TheatreMidwest: The Friendly Hour. Tallgrass Theatre: The Foreigner, Independence, Barefoot in the Park; Iowa Stage Theatre: A Doll's House, Lion in Winter, Romeo and Juliet; Repertory Theatre of Iowa: Turn of the Screw; Des Moines Playhouse: West Side Story, Rent; Goldfinch Theatre: Macbeth; University of Idaho: Winter's Tale, Three Strikes to First; Simpson College: Learned Ladies, Servant of Two Masters, Henry 5, Antigone. CHOREOGRAPHY Urbandale Community Theatre: Music Man; Des Moines Playhouse (Academy): Fame Jr.; University of Idaho: A Christmas Carol; Lincoln High School: Sound Attraction and Infinity Show Choirs; Southeast Polk High School: IHSSA Musical Theatre;
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Meghan Leckband (Stage Manager)
STAGE MANAGEMENT Stage West The Norwegians; LIGHTING DESIGN TheatreMidwest: Brilliant Traces; Simpson College: The Marriage of Figaro, Betrayal; Des Moines Social Club: Fat Pig. ACTING Winterset Stage: The Quiet Man of Kerry; Simpson College: The Glass Menagerie; Spencer Community Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors. BUSINESS Cadence Academy Preschool. AWARDS 2020 Terri Lynn Lokoff National Childcare Teacher Award Winner. EDUCATION Simpson College: BA Theatre and Communications; Upper Iowa University: BA Early Childhood Education and Special Ed 
Karen Schaeffer (Anna)
THEATRE: Tallgrass Theatre: Other Desert Cities, Calendar Girls, The Odd Couple, Three Changes. Iowa Stage Theatre Co.: Rapture, Blister, Burn. Des Moines Community Playhouse: Steel Magnolias, The Hundred Dresses, Becky’s New Car, Moonlight and Magnolias, Hairspray, Don’t Dress for Dinner. Des Moines Onstage: The Normal Heart. Des Moines Social Club: Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll In the Dark. Iowa Shakespeare Experience: The Christmas Carol. Kate Goldman's Children's Theatre: James and the Giant Peach, Sideway Story for Wayside School, Holes. TELEVISION: The Iowa Filmmakers: Animal Justice League, Marooned. Commercials: One Hour Optical, Fireplace Superstore. FILM: Global View Productions: Sometimes Salvation, KULTUS. Judge Slater Maxwell Productions: The Last Airbander (48HFP 2012). VOICE OVER: Iowa Public Television: The Film Lounge 2019, 2018, 2017. |
Princess Winters (Narrator)
ACTING - 20+ years of stage roles including: Come Back Little Sheba, The Addams Family The Musical. FILM DEFT PRODUCTIONS: Knee High, Domicile. DIRECTING/PRODUCING V-DAY: A Global Movement to End Violence: The Vagina Monologues. 
Kristin Gredys (Jess/Kara)
THEATRE: Ankeny Community Theatre: Dinner At Eight, Dead At Nine. Des Moines Playhouse: The Great Gatsby. Tallgrass Theatre Company: Eating Raoul (musical). FILM/TELEVISION/LIVE EVENT: Adventure Games Improv, Red Sunset Dawn (film), Fiona's Flock (48 Hour Film Project), GTSB "History of Bad Ideas" Commercial, The Experiment (feature film). WARDROBE STYLIST: DSM Magazine March/April Issue "Bling it On" Fashion Editorial, Hy-Vee Oprah's Back Pack Commercial, Diabetic Living Summer 2018 Issue, Des Moines Fashion Week 2016. CO-FOUNDER: Creative Chaos - a pop-up event that showcases local fashion designers, boutique owners, and influencers. 
Audrey Kaus (Maggie)
THEATRE: TheatreMidwest: Hitler's Tasters. Des Moines Playhouse: The Addams Family. Stagewest: Carrie, the Musical. Theatre Simpson: Kiss Me Kate, Tartuffe, These Shining Lives, Waiting for Philip Glass. OTHER: Into the Woods, Thoroughly Modern Millie. |
Ashley Schaeffer (Regan)
DES MOINES THEATRE: Open Door Rep: The Manic Monologues. Iowa Stage: A Doll's House Part 2. Stage West: Carrie The Musical, Next to Normal. CHICAGO THEATRE: MadKap Productions: Rocket City Alabam'. Locked Door Productions: Abduction the Musical. IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY THEATRE: Into The Woods, Fiddler on the Roof, Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol BUSINESS: Talent Management Generalist at Bolton & Menk 
Madison Ray (Seth/Liam/Father Casey)
PERFORMANCE Adore Us! Line by Robert John Ford. Kata Klysmic Productions: Rocky Horror Picture Show. Des Moines Playhouse: Rent. Des Moines Metro Opera. MUSIC Trained by Johnny Contardo of ShaNaNa. Performed with: Aaron Carter, Mya, Belinda Carlisle, Latin Grammy award winner Nestor Torres, Christopher the Conquered, Planet Booty, Dominique Morgan, Ellis Hall of Tower of Power, Martha Wash, Thelma Houston, Thea Austin, American Idol's David Hernandez, Debbie Gibson, Jose Feliciano and Victor Wooten. 
Bryce Browning (Patrick)
THEATRE ACTING: TheatreMidwest: Holy Days. Simpson College: These Shining Lives, Knowing Joan, Noises Off. THEATRE DESIGN: Simpson College: Playhouse Creatures, The Memory of Water. |
The Playwright
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Each playwright in our third season has direct ties to the Midwest. Colleen O'Doherty is a writer from and based out of Omaha, NE. She has her MFA in play and screenwriting from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Her plays have been part of many festivals, including: Bold Dorothy, Retired, as part of Br!nk Briefs at Renaissance Theaterworks, 2017 in Milwaukee, WI and Itinerant Theater’s “The Play’s the Thing” in Lake Charles, LA, May 2019. Elevated and Swipe Right at the Bar as part of Cone Man Running Productions’ Five-Minute Mile 2017 in Houston, TX. Northern Bound as part of Station Hope at Cleveland Public Theater in Cleveland, OH. Meet Puberty won "Festival Favorite" for the Funky Little Theater Company's 2018 Spectrum festival in Denver, CO. Ricky and Ready was in Heartland Theatre Company‘s 10-minute Play Festival, Normal, IL, June 2019 and Secret Theater's Act One: One Act Festival, NYC, February 2020. Sister of Experience was produced at Playwrights’ Round Table Summer Shorts in Orlando, FL, July 2019. MOABIRTHC was in Funhouse IV at the Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle, WA, November 2018 and Omaha's Fringe Festival, July 2019. Her play, Stripped, was a quarterfinalist for ScreenCraft's 2018-19 stage play competition based out of LA and a 2018 Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women Finalist. It is also set to be part of TheatreMidwest's Fresh Produce Concert Reading Series in 2020 in Des Moines, IA. Her newest play, Stories: on the Brink was selected for the 2020 Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, NE. |