Artist Biographies

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

ANDREW MAY (HERCULE POIROT) Andrew is very happy to be back at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where he was last seen in Circle Mirror Transformation. Other credits include the Broadway national tour of War Horse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Pearl Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater (six seasons), Great Lakes Theatre (nine seasons), Utah Shakespeare Festival (three seasons), Idaho Shakespeare Festival (five seasons), Studio Theatre DC, Barrington Stage Company, Goodman Theatre, Cleveland Play House (six seasons), City Theater Company (four seasons); and many more. Film and television credits include Striking Distance, Big Love, 227, Duet, Babe Ruth and What She Doesn’t Know. He would like to dedicate his performance to Dr. Lezlie Cross whose love and support means everything to him. XOX!

KATIE BRADLEY (COUNTESS ANDRENYI) Katie is excited to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Select theatre credits include Guys and Dolls, A Christmas Carol from 2016 to 2019 and South Pacific (Guthrie Theater); The Cocoanuts and Into the Woods (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Mulan in Disney’s Mulan Jr. (Children’s Theatre Company); Into the Woods (Pacific Conservatory Theatre); The Comedy of Errors (Ten Thousand Things Theater) and Murder on the Orient Express (Indiana Repertory Theatre). She is also a long-time artist with Theater Mu, the premier Asian American theatre company in the Midwest. Some of her Mu credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ching Chong Chinaman, Flower Drum Song and, born out of the pandemic, the live virtual production of Today Is My Birthday. Thank you so much for supporting the arts!

CHINA BRICKEY (MARY DEBENHAM) China is delighted to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Currently based in Minneapolis, Minn., her recent regional credits include Meg in the Midwestern premiere of Brittany K. Allen’s Redwood (Jungle Theater); A Christmas Carol (Guthrie Theater); Susan Soon He Stanton’s Today Is My Birthday (Theater Mu); Lizzie in Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice and Juliet in Romeo & Juliet (Park Square Theater); Smokey Joe’s Café (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts); and Ms. Honey in Matilda the Musical at the Children’s Theater Company. In 2020 China was named City Pages’ “Best Actor in the Twin Cities.” She has appeared in various regional and national commercials. Visit chinabrickey.com and follow her on Instagram @China.Brickey.

HARRY DAVIS (HECTOR MACQUEEN) Harry is excited to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Recent credits include Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sonoma Shakespeare Festival), Harold in April Fools (Great Star Theater) and Damis in Tartuffe (The University of California Santa Barbara). Harry earned his BFA in acting from the University of California Santa Barbara. While not on stage, he is a playwright whose work has been featured at the Yale Cabaret and UC Santa Barbara’s New Works Lab. He is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He can be contacted at harrydavisacting.com.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

DALE HODGES (PRINCESS DRAGOMIROFF) Dale is delighted to return to a live stage, reprising the role of Princess Dragomiroff for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which she first played at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in 2020. After joining the Actors’ Equity Association in 1974, she lived for 16 years in New York appearing both on and off-Broadway and in regional theatres around the country. Now a resident of Cincinnati, Dale has worked regularly at all the local performing spaces, as well as with The Human Race Theatre in Dayton, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Peterborough Players. Her favorite roles include Vivian Bearing in Wit, Big Edie in Grey Gardens, Abby in Ripcord, Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Fool in King Lear, Dotty in Noises Off and 23 years of A Christmas Carol. For the Cincinnati Opera, Dale played the Duchess of Krakenthorp in La Fille Du Regiment (in French)! On screen, she can be seen as Athena in Emilio Estevez’s recent movie The Public, as well as in Y. York’s monodrama The Lady Who Pretends, which she recorded virtually during the pandemic for Y’s Lady Who series. The series can be accessed on the Snowflake Avalanche website.

ROB JOHANSEN (HEAD WAITER/MICHEL THE CONDUCTOR/ FIGHT DIRECTOR) After 25 years performing at the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT), Rob is so happy to finally get the chance to perform in Cincinnati! Rob has appeared in 50 IRT productions. His latest: taking on the role of Scrooge. Rob is also a fight choreographer and has choreographed the fights for 25 Romeo & Juliet productions! Rob loves physical comedy. Some of his favorite IRT romps include The 39 Steps, The Mystery of Irma Vep and The Game’s Afoot! Rob is an avid volunteer at IndyHumane and would like to remind everyone that shelter dogs and cats are the most grateful pets you could ever adopt! Rob makes his home in Indianapolis with his awesome wife, Jen, and their fur babies Puddin’, Olive and Tibbs.

JENNIFER JOPLIN (HELEN HUBBARD)

Jen is thrilled to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Originally from St. Louis and a graduate of Wright State University, she has called this region her artistic home for almost 30 years. Some of her favorite roles include Aimee in The Humans and Rosemary in Outside Mullingar at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; Amanda in The Glass Menagerie and Annette in God of Carnage at The Human Race Theatre Company; Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Grendel’s Mother in FEAST and Virginie in The Man-Beast at Know Theatre. She has written, produced and performed two one-woman shows and is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association. Her thanks and love go out to Jop and Janie for everything!

LENNE KLINGAMAN (GRETA OHLSSON)

Lenne is thrilled to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse debut! Her Broadway credits include Waitress, as Dawn, a role which she also originated in the show’s first national tour. Off-Broadway, she appeared in the premiere of Will Eno’s The Underlying Chris at Second Stage Theater. Regionally, Lenne has played leading roles including the role of Hamlet at Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Other theatres include American Repertory Theater, New York Stage and Film, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Shakespeare Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, South Coast Repertory, Santa Cruz Shakespeare and Jungle Theater. On television, she has appeared in FBI: Most Wanted, Chicago Med and Cold Case. She starred in the acclaimed web series Welcome to Sanditon and you may have heard her voice in commercials and scripted narrative podcasts. She received her MFA in acting from the University of Washington. Her album “The Heart is the Hunter” is on Spotify and Apple Music. Lenne is currently working on her second album with her husband and writing a new play. Love and forever thanks to Risa and Mark. You can follow her on Instagram @lenneklingaman.

TAHA MANDVIWALA (MONSIEUR BOUC)

Taha is delighted to hop on board Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s team for Murder on the Orient Express! He is a BA theatre graduate from the University of Kentucky, and he was a member of the 2016-17 Bruce E. Coyle Acting Intern Company at the Playhouse. Recent regional credits include Tiny Beautiful Things at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; The Taming of the Shrew and Witness for the Prosecution at Great Lakes Theater and Idaho Shakespeare Festival; Romeo & Juliet and Love’s Labour’s Lost at Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival; Shakespeare in Love, Treasure Island and multiple seasons of A Christmas Carol here at the Playhouse. Taha also enjoys his time as a parkour instructor and personal trainer at Swift Movement Studio and is actively involved in bringing parkour and movement health into the arts community. Be sure to follow him on Instagram @manlykoala, or visit tahamandviwala.com for more!

NICK VANNOY (COLONEL ARBUTHNOT/SAMUEL RATCHETT) Nick is excited to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park! Performances at the Playhouse include Shakespeare in Love and The Three Musketeers, and Peter and the Starcatcher at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and The Repertory Theatre of St Louis. Other regional credits include Peter and the Starcatcher at Woodford Theatre, Marie Antoinette at Project SEE and Dracula at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He was an Acting Apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville in 2012 and attended Northern Kentucky University where he studied theatre. Nick is also a voice over artist and can be reached at www.nickvannoyvoice.com.

LIZ COMSTOCK (ENSEMBLE)

Liz is happy to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Prior Playhouse productions include Steel Magnolias as the understudy for both Ouiser Boudreaux and Clairee Belcher, and as Betty Andrews in Inspecting Carol directed by the late, great Ed Stern. Other recent credits include Margot in Bury the Rest (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati); and Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz and Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins, Jr. (The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati). Liz has performed regionally at The Human Race Theatre, Victoria Theatre, Commonwealth Theatre Company, Cincinnati Landmark Productions and The Carnegie Theatre. She also performs in the band Liz and the Perfectly Adequate Trio with her husband, Michael. Liz teaches yoga at The Yoga Bar in Newport, Ky. and with the non-profit agency, Project Yoga. She is the proud mama of Frannie and Clark. Follow her on Instagram @lizcomstock and check out the band at lizandthepefectlyadequatetrio.com.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

AARON SCHILLING (ENSEMBLE)

Aaron is thrilled to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Originally from Northern Kentucky, he has spent the last few years performing in the Atlanta area. Regional credits include Titanic, Ragtime, The Seagull, Shenandoah and Sleepy Hollow (Serenbe Playhouse); Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Journey’s End (Atlanta Shakespeare Company); The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Theatrical Outfit); and La Cage aux Folles (Out Front Theatre Company). Aaron received his BFA in performing arts at Western Kentucky University and spent a year touring with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. He is incredibly grateful for this opportunity and to everyone who supports live theatre.

KEN LUDWIG (PLAYWRIGHT) Ken Ludwig has had six shows on Broadway, seven in London’s West End, and many of his works have become a standard part of the American repertoire. His 28 plays and musicals have been performed in over 30 countries in more than 20 languages and are produced throughout the United States every night of the year. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards and was called “one of the classic comedies of the 20th century by The Washington Post. Crazy For You was on Broadway for five years and won the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. In addition, he has won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, and the Edwin Forrest Award for Contributions to the American Theater. His plays have starred, among others, Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Tony Shaloub, Joan Collins and Hal Holbrook. His stage version of Murder on the Orient Express was written expressly at the request of the Agatha Christie Estate, and his latest play, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, won the 2020 Charles MacArthur Award for Best New Play of the Year and is optioned for Broadway. His book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, published by Penguin Random House, won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of the Year, and his essays are published in the Yale Review. He is a graduate of Harvard and Cambridge and is a frequent guest speaker for groups as varied as The Oxford-Cambridge Society, The Jane Austen Society of North America, The Folger Shakespeare Library, and The Baker Street Irregulars. For more information, see his website at www.kenludwig.com.

RISA BRAININ (DIRECTOR)

Risa is delighted to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. She served as artistic director for Shakespeare Santa Cruz; associate artistic director for Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Indiana Repertory Theatre; and resident director and associate company director for the Guthrie Theater. Other directorial credits include plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Players Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Clarence Brown Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Great Lakes Theater, History Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Mixed Blood Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Playmakers Repertory Company, Portland Stage Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Syracuse Stage and more. She is the professor of theater and artistic director of LAUNCH PAD, a new play development program housed in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California Santa Barbara, which she founded in 2005. She is a past president of the National Theatre Conference and was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in 2020. Risa is a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University Drama program. You can visit her website risabrainin.com Thank you, dear audience members, for coming back to the live theatre!

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

ROBERT KOHARCHIK (SET DESIGNER)

Robert is a designer living in Indianapolis, where he has designed productions for the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Phoenix Theatre and the Lilly Theatre at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. He has also designed productions for Gulfshore Playhouse (Naples, Fla.), The Walnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia), The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (St. Louis), Cleveland Play House (Cleveland), Geva Theatre (Rochester, N.Y.), The Weston Theater Company (Weston, Vt.), Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Cincinnati) and American Players Theatre (Spring Green, Wis.). In 1999 and 2011, Rob received a Lilly Endowment Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Rob is a professor in theatre design at Butler University.

DEVON PAINTER (COSTUME DESIGNER) Regional theatre credits feature designs for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Guthrie Theater, Repertory Theatre of St Louis, Indiana Repertory Theater, Geva Theatre Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, Anchorage Opera, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Contemporary American Theater Festival and 20 seasons at the American Players Theatre in Wisconsin. Her most special associate design work was with the late great Desmond Heeley for The Importance of Being Earnest in 2011, for which he won a Tony Award. Devon’s own design work was exhibited in Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designing for Live Performance. Currently, she is teaching at Binghamton University in New York. She is a member of United Scenic Artists. You can visit her website devonpainter.com.

MICHAEL KLAERS (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Michael is thrilled to make his first visit to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. His regional theatre credits include Seattle Children’s Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Pacific Conservatory Theatre and Ensemble Theater Company. Michael was the lighting designer for Triple Espresso – A Highly Caffeinated Comedy, which played in 50 cities in the U.S. and Europe. He also designs the lighting for Santa Barbara Dance Theater, a modern dance company in his adopted hometown of Santa Barbara, Calif.

MICHAEL KECK (COMPOSER)

Michael’s music has accompanied productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, TheatreWorks - Silicon Valley, Syracuse Stage, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Playhouse and many others. His international credits include The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa; Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb; the Barbican Theatre Center; and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His acting credits include the McCarter Theatre Center,

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre and various stages in New York, where he currently resides. Excerpts from his solo play, Voices in the Rain, are published by Temple University Press and Alta Mira Press. Michael received three Barrymore Award nominations for his work in Philadelphia. He is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, ASCAP, PEN and the Dramatists Guild.

ANDREA L. SHELL (STAGE MANAGER)

Andrea is excited to be celebrating her 22nd season with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having worked on more than 100 productions, including 22 world premieres. Last season, she also stepped into the role of Production Stage Manager. A highlight of every season for her has been stage managing A Christmas Carol. Favorite Playhouse credits include School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play; Rooted; Alias Grace; The Last Wide Open; Treasure Island; Mr. Joy; Jane Eyre; Bad Dates; The Revolutionists; I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti; Merrily We Roll Along; As You Like It; Behind the Eye; The Understudy; Blackbird; Durango; Around the World in 80 Days; Altar Boyz; Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming; Reckless; Ace; The Clean House; A Picasso; One; Abracadabra (2002-2007); The Bible … (abridged); and Dark Paradise. She has also stage managed at Dallas Theater Center, The Old Globe, Cincinnati Ballet, Alliance Theatre, The Second City and Ingenuity Festival of Cleveland. In 2014, Andrea joined the adjunct faculty of Xavier University’s Theatre Program, and in 2018, she became a contributor for Dramatics.org, writing backstage articles for their online content. Andrea is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. She would like to thank her family, friends, Dylan and Scott for their unending support.

BROOKE REDLER (SECOND STAGE MANAGER) Brooke is pleased to return for her sixth season with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Her off-Broadway credits include Breathing Time, The Faire and From White Plains (production stage manager, Fault Line Theatre). Regional theatre credits include Destiny of Desire, Once on This Island, In The Heights, Million Dollar Quartet, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Summerland and Native Gardens (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Hair: Retrospection, Stillwater, The Whipping Man, August: Osage County, Cabaret and five seasons of A Christmas Carol (production stage manager, Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher and Richard II (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Center Stage in Baltimore); The Drowsy Chaperone, Is He Dead? and Harry the Great (Creede Repertory Theatre). Assistant stage management credits include Our Town, A Flea in Her Ear, Clay, Jitney and Love, Janis (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); and work at Starlight Theatre, Stages St. Louis and Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Brooke also has worked in opera, with credits including Moscow, Cherry Town and Medea (PSM, Opera Long Beach); and Castor & Patience, La Boheme, Ariadne auf Naxos, Frida, Die Fledermaus and Tosca (ASM, Cincinnati Opera). She also spent two seasons at The Santa Fe Opera.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

BRANDON T. HOLMES (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) Brandon is thrilled to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for a fourth season. Playhouse credits include the world premiere of The West End, A Christmas Carol and Steel Magnolias. For eight seasons, he was the Production Stage Manager for Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati where he managed over 40 productions. Highlights with ETC include Fun Home, The Mountaintop, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Iliad, Grounded, Violet, Pipeline, The Humans, Skeleton Crew and Hands on a Hardbody. During the summer, he is the Production Stage Manager for The Lexington Theatre Company where he has stage managed productions of Chicago, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Legally Blonde, West Side Story and Newsies. Other regional credits include productions of Hello, Dolly!, The Drowsy Chaperone and Side By Side by Sondheim (LOOK Musical Theatre); Red, White & Broadway, Golden: MTWichita at 50 (Music Theatre Wichita); and workshops with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and Cleveland Play House. Brandon is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Thank you to his family and his husband, A.J, for their continued love and support.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION STAFF

Voice Over

Assistant Director Dialect Coach

Fight Director Intimacy Coordinator Casting Director for selected roles Scenic Carpenters Scenic Artists

Props Artisan Props Assistant Cutter/Draper Claire VanderMolen Angel Villalobos D’Arcy Smith Rob Johansen Torie Wiggins Claire Simon, CSA Raymond Beacom, Chris Brusman, Mike Hannon Taylor Helms, Ruth Wartman Scott Hubert Jen Lampson Kristina Sneshkoff

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

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Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express