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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. 
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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. |
ONLINE
SAT. November 21 | 7:30pm* SAT. November 28 | 3:00pm *Talk back with cast & company to follow ALWAYS FREE! |
Synopsis
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, The Thanksgiving Play. A troupe of terminally "woke" teaching artists scramble to create a Thanksgiving Day pageant that brings to light ways in which indigenous people and their history have been and continue to be inaccurately portrayed in American society, while making the same mistakes they set out to avoid. Can they somehow manage to create a pageant that celebrates both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month?
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The Company
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CAST
Logan --- Jennifer Allton Jaxton --- Jonathan Delima Caden --- Brandon Herring Alicia --- Michelle Vaudrin Narrator --- Ashley Schaeffer PRODUCTION CREW Director --- Tom Woldt Stage Manager --- Eliz Tomaras Music Director --- Anna Lackaff Dramaturg --- Jacklin Stonewall Interim TMW Production Manager --- Katie Buchholz Interim TMW Business Manager --- Eliz Tomaras |
DIRECTING TheatreMidwest: Brilliant Traces, The Friendly Hour; Repertory Theatre of Iowa: The Diary of Anne Frank, That Championship Season; Des Moines Playhouse: A Streetcar Named Desire; Duluth Playhouse: Singin' In the Rain; Yellow Tree (MN): Expecting Isabel; Williamston (MI): Five-Course Love; Guthrie Theatre (Studio): Hopscotch; Other Professional: Seven Year Itch, Jesus Christ Superstar, I Do! I Do!, Noises Off, Lysistrata the Bluegrass Musical!, Mother Courage, Night at the Carlton With Ray Charles; Guest Residencies; The 39 Steps, One Man-Two Guvnors, On The Razzle, As You Like It, Antigone; Simpson College: Peer Gynt, Learned Ladies, Henry 5, Into the Woods, Trojan Women, Godspell, Quilters, The Woman in Black, Twelfth Night; Other Academic: Machinal, The Winter's Tale, The Marriage of Figaro, The Bacchae; ACTING Goldfinch Theatre: Macbeth; Stagewest: Time Stands Still; Other: Taming of the Shrew, The Glass Menagerie, Brigadoon, Carousel, My Fair Lady, Equus, A Flea In Her Ear.
Homepage tomwoldt.com |
Jennifer Allton (Logan)
ACTING - The Phipps Center for the Arts: 84 Charing Cross Road, Population 485, Savannah Sipping Society. YellowTree Theater: Expecting Isabel, Steel Magnolias. THEATRE SERVICE - The Phipps Drama Council and Play Selection Committee. STAGE COMBAT CHOREOGRAPHY and TRAINING - St Catherine / St Thomas Universities: Richard III, Good Morning Juliet, Good Night Desdemona, Antigone. Sandbox Theatre: Zelda Wonderland. Red Performance Lab: Ravenous. Zanzibar Productions Full Frontal: Love and Lobotomies. Simpson College Theater: Henry 5, Noises Off, Kiss Me Kate, several workshops. EDUCATION - University of Missouri – Columbia: BA Theater Arts. University of Nebraska – Lincoln: MFA Theater Performance. Actors Center Chicago: 4 semesters Meisner Technique under Victor D’Altorio and Eileen Vorbach; Society of American Fight Directors: Actor Combatant, Proficiency in Hand to Hand, Rapier + Dagger, and Quarterstaff, ongoing training in Found Object, Knife, Short Sword, and Broadsword. 
Brandon Herring (Caden)
ACTING - Hampstead Stage Company: Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel. Okoboji Summer Theatre: Happily Ever After: A Wedding Comedy. North Dakota Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, Unrehearsed Shakespeare: Macbeth. Prairie Repertory Theatre: The Little Mermaid, The Fox on the Fairway. Starry Night Repertory Theatre: All in the Timing. Western Illinois University: Richard II, Arcadia, Stupid F***ing Bird, Unreharsed Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, Proof, The Drowsy Chaperone, One Man, Two Guvnors, Sense and Sensibility, November. BUSINESS: Assistant Drama Director - Hoover High School. EDUCATION: MFA Acting - Western Illinois University. BA Theatre Arts - Simpson College. |
Jonathan Delima (Jaxton)
ACTING - Iowa Stage Theatre Company: Adore Us! Line, Disgraced, The Christians, Company. Repertory Theater of Iowa/Stagewest: August: Osage County. Stagewest: Hand to God, Outside Mullingar, Next to Normal, Good People. Repertory Theatre of Iowa: The Diary of Anne Frank, That Championship Season. Des Moines Playhouse: Into the Woods. Des Moines Young Artists’ Theatre: Little Women. Des Moines Social Club: Bash. Previously: Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, All in the Timing, among others. 
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 
Jacklin Stonewall (Dramaturg)
THEATRE - STAGE MANAGEMENT: Theatre Midwest: Hitler's Tasters . -COSTUME DESIGN: East Marshall Performing Arts: Sister Act. - ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE: Martha Ellen Tye Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar, Company, Nunsense. EDUCATION: Iowa State University Aerospace Engineering (BS), Industrial Engineering (MS) |
Michelle Vaudrin (Alicia)
THEATRE - Carousel Theatre Co., IA: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Eurydice. The Plaza Theatre Company, TX: West Side Story, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Theatre Arlington, TX: Legally Blonde: The Musical. OTHER: Heathers: The Musical, Smokey Joe's Cafe. EDUCATION - UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA: BFA Musical Theatre 
Anna Lackaff (Music Director)
*Tours nationally as keyboardist of MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER. MUSIC DIRECTOR/CONDUCTOR New Rep. Theatre, MA: San Jose Rep Theatre, CA. Encore Theatre, MI. Boston Center for the Arts, MA. Carousel Theatre, ME. Des Moines Young Artists. Des Moines Playhouse. Noce. COMPOSER - A Christmas Carol (nationwide, annually 2005-present), Thank You for Being a Friend (OFF-BROADWAY, others). EDUCATOR - MN State Univ. Mankato (voice faculty). Walnut Hill School for the Arts, MA (voice instructor/music dir.). Drake Univ. (adjunct). Simpson College (guest artist). VISUAL ARTIST - Pieces by Virginia Tufte (illustrator). Journal of the Amer. Veterinary Medical Assoc. (cover artist). EDUCATION - NE Wesleyan Univ. / Vocal Performance major, 2003 
Eliz Tomaras (Stage Manager)
STAGE MANAGEMENT - Theatre Simpson: A Year With Frog and Toad, The Servant of Two Masters, Fall From Grace (Festival of Short Plays 2011) DESIGN - - Theatre Simpson: Back Story, Betrayal, Women Beware Women, Festival of Short Plays 2012. ACTING - - Theatre Simpson: Henry 5, Peer Gynt |
The Playwright
Larissa FastHorse received the MacArthur (Genius) Grant in 2020 for “creating space for Indigenous artists, stories and experiences in mainstream theater and countering misrepresentation of Native American perspectives in broader society.”.
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Larissa FastHorse is an award winning playwright, director, and choreographer of Native American heritage. She grew up in South Dakota and is now based in San Francisco. She was awarded the NEA Distinguished New Play Development Grant, Joe Dowling Annamaghkerrig Fellowship, AATE Distinguished Play Award, Inge Residency, Sundance/Ford Foundation Fellowship, Aurand Harris Fellowship, and numerous Ford and NEA Grants.
Larissa's produced plays include Urban Rez, Landless, Average Family, Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: a Class Presentation, and Cherokee Family Reunion. She has written commissions for Cornerstone Theatre Company, Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, AlterTheater, Kennedy Center TYA, Native Voices at the Autry, Artist’s Rep and Mountainside Theatre. She developed plays with Kansas City Rep, Artist’s Rep in Portland, Arizona Theater Company, the Center Theatre Group Writer’s Workshop and Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor. She is is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sicangu Lakota Nation. |
SynopsisMiddle-aged, middle-class Barbara goes undercover to experience life as a low-wage service worker. She attempts living in different cities working as a waitress, motel maid, house cleaner, and more. What she learns is that it is even harder than she anticipated and one job alone won’t pay the bills. Nickel and Dimed by Joan Holden is a comedic take on the award-winning book of the same title by political activist Barbara Ehrenreich.
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ONLINE
SAT. January 30 | 7:30pm SUN. January 31 | 2:00pm* *Talk back with cast & company to follow ALWAYS FREE! |
The Company
DIRECTING Simpson College: Silent Sky, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, These Shining Lives, Noises Off. ACTING Stage West: Vanya, Sonya, Masha, and Spike and Dancing at Lughnasa. Des Moines Playhouse: Little Woman, Sabrina Fair. DIALECT/VOICE COACH TheatreMidwest: The Friendly Hour. Des Moines Playhouse: A Streetcar Named Desire, Metamorphosis and Dinner with Friends. Stage West: Cock. VOICEOVER Hummel's Nissan, Well Fargo, John Deere, EMC, Mediacom, GMAC, Dupont. PROFESSIONAL Simpson College: Assistant Professor of Theatre, Head of Theatre Department Recruitment and Educational Outreach Program. EDUCATION University of Nebraska-Lincoln: MFA - Acting.
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CAST
Barbara --- Nadine Schmidt Narrator --- Erin Tracy Ensemble Actor --- Siobhan Bremer Ensemble Actor --- Brandon Herring Ensemble Actor --- Meghan Leckband Ensemble Actor --- Princess Winters Ensemble Actor --- Andrea Leguizamon Ensemble Actor --- Gillian Randall PRODUCTION CREW Director --- Ann Woldt Stage Manager --- Katie Buchholz Dramaturg --- Eliz Tomaras Interim TMW Production Manager --- Katie Buchholz Interim TMW Business Manager --- Eliz Tomaras Vertical Divider
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Nadine Purvis Schmidt (Barbara)
THEATRE: TheatreSquared: Superior Donuts. Bare Bodkins Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, All’s Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest. Cleveland Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It, Henry IV. Land Stewardship Project: Look Who’s Knockin’. BUSINESS Southwest Minnesota State University: Professor of Theatre, Director, Producer, Theatre Program Coordinator. EDUCATION: MFA in Acting, University of Arkansas 
Brandon Herring (Ensemble Actor)
(George, Boyfriend, Pete, Ted, Howard, Man +) ACTING - Hampstead Stage Company: Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel. Okoboji Summer Theatre: Happily Ever After: A Wedding Comedy. North Dakota Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, Unrehearsed Shakespeare: Macbeth. Prairie Repertory Theatre: The Little Mermaid, The Fox on the Fairway. Starry Night Repertory Theatre: All in the Timing. Western Illinois University: Richard II, Arcadia, Stupid F***ing Bird, Unreharsed Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, Proof, The Drowsy Chaperone, One Man, Two Guvnors, Sense and Sensibility, November. BUSINESS: Assistant Drama Director - Hoover High School. EDUCATION: MFA Acting - Western Illinois University. BA Theatre Arts - Simpson College. 
Gillian Randall (Ensemble Actor)
(Joan, Holly, Teen, Server 2 +) THEATRE: Twin Cities - WAR Theatre (Company Member): Beat. (Minnesota Fringe Festival). Lakeshore Players: One Man, Two Guvnors. Shakespeare and Company: Henry IV pt I, Much Ado About Nothing. House of Mercy Podcast Series - in production. Chicago - Oak Park Festival Theatre: Taming of the Shrew. Iowa - Theatre Simpson: Noises Off, Pericles, Memory of Water, Lysistrata Jones the Musical. Des Moines Young Artist: Stop Kiss. Ingersol Dinner Theatre. 
Eliz Tomaras (Dramaturg)
STAGE MANAGEMENT - Theatre Simpson: A Year With Frog and Toad, The Servant of Two Masters, Fall From Grace (Festival of Short Plays 2011) DESIGN - - Theatre Simpson: Back Story, Betrayal, Women Beware Women, Festival of Short Plays 2012. ACTING - - Theatre Simpson: Henry 5, Peer Gynt |
Siobhan Bremer (Ensemble Actor)
(Gail, Winn Dixie Manager, Social Worker, Marge +) ACTING - Black Hills Playhouse: Steel Magnolias, The Best Man, Shrek the Musical. (SD) South Dakota Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (SD). Paul Bunyan Playhouse: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Leaving Iowa (MN). Commonweal Theatre: John Gabriel Borkman (MN). Guthrie Theater: The Sunshine Boys (MN). Steel Beam Theatre: Don’t Drink the Water (IL). Old Log Theatre: Jack and the Beanstalk (MN). Festival Theatre: Little Women (WI). Northern Lights Playhouse: The Mousetrap, Oklahoma! (MN), Theatre in the Round: Appointment with Death (MN). ONLINE CONCERT READINGS - Beyond Boundaries: Wind in the Willows (UK). BUSINESS-Associate Professor of Theatre, University of Minnesota Morris. EDUCATION- Minnesota State University, Mankato, MFA Acting. DIRECTING: ACADEMIC University of Minnesota Morris: Alone, Together (ONLINE), Hunting and Gathering, Eleemosynary, Step on a Crack, A Midnight Dreary, Twelfth Night, God of Carnage, Anything Goes, Sophie and the Adventures of Ice Island, Of Mice and Men, A Lie of the Mind, Crimes of the Heart, The Dark Castle, Blithe Spirit, The Hobbit, Sylvia, Medea. Winona State University: Love Song. 
Princess Winters (Ensemble Actor)
(Carlie, Nita, Phil, Nanny, Melissa +) 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. 
Erin Tracy (Narrator)
AUDIENCE SERVICES TheatreMidwest: The Friendly Hour; Simpson College: Box Office Manager, House Manager, Audience Services (Undergraduate Assistant.) THEATRE DESIGN Theatre Simpson: Eurydice, Festival of Short Plays, A Year With Frog and Toad; ACTING/DIRECTING Theatre Simpson: Spring Awakening, Necessary Targets, Henry 5, The American Dream, Pride and Prejudice; Carroll Community Theatre: Steel Magnolias, Wizard of Oz, Annie, Peter Pan (Director); Kuemper Catholic High School: Speech Coach, Assistant Musical Director. GRAPHIC/AD DESIGNER The Graphic Edge, Carroll Daily Times Herald, Kingman Row Entertainment, Carroll Library, Donna Reed Foundation, |
Andrea Leguizamon (Ensemble Actor)
(Hector, Maddy, Woman +) ACTING: Aguijon Theater: Exquisita Agonía . Colectivo el pozo: The Building, The Bell tower. Repertorio Latino: The maids, The balcony. FILM: Sin máscaras, Accident pimp, Camazotz. SCHOOL: Attending Stella Adler Conservatory. 
Meghan Leckband (Ensemble Actor)
(Editor, Kim, Cashier, Rich Woman, Customer +) 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 
Katie Buchholz (Stage Manager)
THEATRE PERFORMANCE Theatre Simpson: University, Festival of Short Plays 2011, The Learned Ladies. THEATRE MANAGEMENT Des Moines Performing Arts: Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King (Merchandiser); Theatre Simpson: Festival of Short Plays 2013 & 2012 (Box Office Manager), Alice’s Trip, The Glass Menagerie (House Manager). MULTIMEDIA Iowa Watch: Multimedia Director (Senior Project); Simpson Student Media: Director of Digital Content; Iowa Momentum: Communications Intern. BRAND AMBASSADOR/OTHER Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival: 2020 Bacon Queen; ACTION Talent Group. BUSINESS Businessolver - Interim Supervisor Member Services. EDUCATION BA Multimedia Journalism |
The Playwright
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Joan Holden was principal playwright for the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe from 1967 to 2000 - creating, as author or head writer, a satire a year for the Troupe’s annual summer season in the parks. A select list includes: L’AMANT MILITAIRE; THE INDEPENDENT FEMALE, OR A MAN HAS HIS PRIDE; THE DRAGON LADY’S REVENGE; FALSE PROMISES; THE HOTEL UNIVERSE; the FACTWINO trilogy; 1985; THE MOZAMGOLA CAPER; AMERICANS, OR LAST TANGO IN HUAHUATENANGO; STEELTOWN; RIPPED VAN WINKLE; SEEING DOUBLE; BACK TO NORMAL; SOCIAL WORK; OFFSHORE; and CITY FOR SALE. NICKEL AND DIMED, Holden’s stage adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich’s best-selling book, was commissioned by the Intiman Theatre in 2002 and has also been produced by a dozen theaters, including the Mark Taper Forum, Trinity Repertory Co., and the Guthrie Theatre, and by the Uppsala Staateater (Sweden). Since the 1980s, Holden has enjoyed a parallel career as a translator and adaptor of comedies, notably THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST for the Eureka Theater, THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO and THE POPE AND THE WITCH for the American Conservatory Theater, and VOLPONE and THE ALCHEMIST for the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. With director Dan Chumley, she has created shows in collaboration with artists in Israel, the Philippines, Nepal, and Hong Kong. In 1998 she led a team of Jews and Arabs—Israeli, American, and Palestinian—writing the Troupe’s Obie-winning SEEING DOUBLE, an argument for a two-state solution in the form of a mistaken-identity farce. Holden has served on peer panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council, and wrote the final report for the 1994 San Francisco Cultural Affairs Task Force, which created the city's Cultural Equity Endowment. She has been honored with Bay Area Critics’ Circle, Dramalogue, Los Angeles Critics’ Circle awards; playwriting grants from the Rockefeller and Gerbode Foundations; the San Francisco Working Women’s Festival Working Woman of the Year award; and, with the Troupe, the San Francisco Media Alliance Golden Gadfly Award.
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Nickel & Dimed was based on the book of the same name by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Barbara Ehrenreich is an American author and political activist who describes herself as "a myth buster by trade" and has been called "a veteran muckraker" by The New Yorker. During the 1980s and early 1990s she was a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She is a widely read and award-winning columnist and essayist, and author of 21 books. Ehrenreich is perhaps best known for her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. A memoir of Ehrenreich's three-month experiment surviving on minimum wage as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart clerk, it was described by Newsweek magazine as "jarring" and "full of riveting grit," and by The New Yorker as an "exposé" putting "human flesh on the bones of such abstractions as 'living wage' and 'affordable housing'." She has served as visiting professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia and at Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois. She was also a writer-in-residence at the Ohio State University. |
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ONLINE
SAT. March 6 | 7:30pm SUN. March 7 | 2:00pm* *Talk back with cast & company to follow ALWAYS FREE!
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Synopsis
Three years after dying of lung cancer, Josie’s mother telephones from a bus station in North Dakota. Josie begins to face their history and navigate her grief, demonstrating the complexity of mother-daughter relationships and highlighting the disparity between expectation and reality when grieving the loss of a loved one. Laura Eason’s When the Messenger Is Hot, adapted from the book of short stories by Elizabeth Crane, is a comic study of love and letting go.
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The Company
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CAST
Mom --- Joan Korte Josie #1 --- Katie Braden Josie #2 --- Claire Boston Josie #3 --- Jessica Pulte Man (all) --- John Drea Narrator --- Emily Davis PRODUCTION CREW Director --- Deidra Mohr Stage Manager --- Jacklin Stonewall Dramaturg --- Jordan Stangeland |
THEATRE TheatreMidwest: The Friendly Hour. Director - Hitler's Tasters. Kata Klysmic Productions: The Rocky Horror Show, Vagina Monologues; California Theatres: Young Frankenstein, Burning Opera LA, Ragtime in Concert, Company, Not Your Mama's Broadway, The Nitch, Stepping Out, Marat/Sade, Mousetrap, Laramie Project; FILM/TV My Friend Max, That Night, Lost Soulmates, Antique America.
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Joan Korte - Mom
ACTING - Fair Assembly, Dallas TX: Romeo and Juliet. Texas Shakespeare Festival: King John, Tartuffe, 110 in the Shade. Wesleyan Theatre Company: August: Osage County, The Lion in Winter, The Glass Menagerie. BUSINESS - Professor of Theatre, Nebraska Wesleyan University. DIRECTING: ACADEMIC Nebraska Wesleyan University: A Doll’s House Part 2, The Book of Will, A Christmas Carol, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Bridges of Madison County, 12th Night, Nell Gwynn, Mamma Mia, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Noises Off, The Importance of Being Ernest, The Learned Ladies, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Clean House. 
Jessica Pulte - Josie #3
ACTING – Elkhorn Community Theatre: Suessical, Wizard of Oz, Rock n Roll Review, The Wedding Reception, South Pacific. Brownville Villlage Theatre: Tale of Two Masters, Ring Around the Moon. Doane University: Baby, Midsummer Night's Dream, Cabaret. DIRECTING: St. Patrick's School- Disney's High School Musical Jr, Disney's Lion King Jr, WIzard of Oz, Annie. Elkhorn Community Theatre: Nonies, Aesop's Fables, Wizard of Oz. BUSINESS:St. Patrick's School- Drama Coach/Director VOLUNTEER:- Elkhorn Community Theatre. Board Member EDUCATION: BA-Theatre Arts- Doane University. Jacklin Stonewall - Stage Manager
*THEATRE* STAGE MANAGEMENT: Theatre Midwest: Hitler's Tasters. COSTUME DESIGN: East Marshall Performing Arts: Sister Act. ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE: Martha Ellen Tye Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar, Company, Nunsense. EDUCATION: Iowa State University Aerospace Engineering (BS), Industrial Engineering (MS) |
Katie Braden - Josie #1
ACTING - Ivy Theatre Company (NYC) Co-Founder: A Real Boy (59E59), Reach, Mill Fire, Outside/Inside, The Perfect Wife, Like Poetry (LaMaMa), Incongruence, Black Ice. The Secret Theatre (NYC): The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Romeo and Juliet, Edward II, The Spanish Tragedie. Shakespeare Forum (NYC): The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet. Workshop Theater (NYC): Acting: Full Frontal. Directing: Turtles & Bulldogs, After, Vowed & Wowed, Food for Thought. FILM - Wherever You Go Pictures (NYC): Unpacking. EDUCATION- Gregory Abels Training Ensemble, NYC, Certificate. Simpson College, Iowa, BA Theatre Arts. 
Emily Davis - Narrator
ACTING: Des Moines Playhouse: Singing in the Rain, A Chorus Line, Young Frankenstein, You Can't Take It With You. Iowa Stage: A Doll's House. Open Door Rep: Closer, The Manic Monologues. Tallgrass: Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy, Oleanna. KataKlysmic Productions: The Rocky Horror Show, Reefer Madness. DIRECTING: KataKlysmic Productions: The Rocky Horror Show, The Vagina Monologues, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. CO-DIRECTOR: Iowa Stage: AdoreUs Line. 
Jordan Stangeland - Dramaturgy
ACTING: Southwest Minnesota State University: The Awesome 80’s Prom, Young Frankenstein, Trenchcoat in Common, Miss Electricity, Sense and Sensibility. COSTUME DESIGN: Southwest Minnesota State University Drama Club: You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANT: Southwest Minnesota State University: Young Frankenstein, Sense and Sensibility, Hi Ho Robin Hood. PROP DESIGN: Southwest Minnesota State University: Sense and Sensibility. |
Claire Boston - Josie #2
ACTING - Giving Tree Theater: Silent Sky, Pride and Prejudice, Puffs, The Tin Woman. Theatre Cedar Rapids: Dracula, Underground Play Festival. Dreamwell Theatre: Visages. London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art: Twelfth Night, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. REPRESENTATIVE ROLES - Mirrorbox Theatre: Rolling. Dreamwell Theatre: The Humiliation Play. 50/50-An Arts Production Co.: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Dracula, All the Natalie Portmans. DIRECTING- Theatre Cedar Rapids: A Walking Shadow. EDUCATION - Buena Vista University: BA Theatre. London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art: Classical Acting Diploma. 
John Drea - Man (All)
ACTING - Lifeline Theatre: Whose Body?, Loki. The Arc Theatre: Julius Caesar. Pegasus Theatre Chicago: Containment, These Glass Lives. Goodly Creatures Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing. Victory Gardens Theater: Fresh Air. Loyola University Chicago: Fun Home, Cabaret, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Mr. Burns, Plan B, Life on Shuffle, Alpha, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. REPRESENTATION: Big Mouth Talent, Inc. EDUCATION: BA Theatre - Loyola University Chicago. London Dramatic Academy - Fordham University. Summer 2022 - The School at Steppenwolf. |
The Playwright
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LAURA EASON is a Brooklyn-based playwright, screenwriter and producer best know for the play Sex with Strangers (over 100 productions in the US and around the world) and four seasons as a writer/producer on the Netflix drama House of Cards (Emmy Nomination Drama Series; WGA nomination Drama Series.) Her feature film debut, Here and Now (formerly Blue Night) staring Sarah Jessica Parker premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is available on demand. Laura is an Ensemble Member and the former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago (2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award) where she worked as a writer, director and actor. Her many Lookingglass writing credits include an adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days which went on to more than 20 productions in London and the UK and transferred to the New Victory Theatre in NYC. lauraeason.com
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When the Messenger is Hot is based on a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Crane.
Elizabeth Crane is the author of four collections of short stories, Turf, When the Messenger is Hot, All this Heavenly Glory, and You Must Be This Happy to Enter as well as two novels, We Only Know So Much and The History of Great Things. Her work has been translated into several languages and has been featured in numerous publications including Other Voices, Nerve, Ecotone, Swink, Guernica, Coachella Review, Mississippi Review, Florida Review, Bat City Review, fivechapters, The Collagist, Make, Hobart, Rookie, Fairy Tale Review, failbetter, The Huffington Post, Eating Well, Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Reader and The Believer, and anthologies including Altared, The Show I’ll Never Forget, The Best Underground Fiction, Who Can Save Us Now?, Brute Neighbors and Dzanc’s Best of the Web 2008 and 2010. Her stories have been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Crane is a recipient of the Chicago Public Library 21st Century Award, and her work has been adapted for the stage by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater company, and also been adapted for film. She teaches in the UCR-Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. A film adaptation of We Only Know So Much premiered at the Nantucket Film Festival in June 2018. |
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Don't Miss ItAfter these free Fresh Produce events, don't forget about our fully-staged finale of Season 3, Atlas of Mud.
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