Artist Biographies

BARBARA CHISHOLM (THERESA “TERRI” CARMICHAEL) Barbara is so delighted to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for the third time, following appearances in the solo show Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End and as Annie Wilkes in Misery. She hails from Austin, Texas, and her recent credits include the world premiere of the Audible play Daddies and the world premiere of Un Año; Sugar in Tiny Beautiful Things; and in the U.S. premiere of hang. Other regional credits include ¾ Inches of Sky at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis; Keep Your Forks at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins at ZACH Theatre; The Women at San Diego Repertory Theatre; and Fixing King John with the Rude Mechs. Film and television credits include Fault Line, Mr. Roosevelt, Fast Food Nation and a supporting role in the Academy Award-nominated Best Film Boyhood. She has thrice been voted Best Actor in the Austin Chronicle’s annual Best of Austin Readers Poll and is the recipient of multiple B. Iden Payne Theatre Awards, Austin Critics Table Awards and Drama Logue awards for acting. As Producing Director of Red Then Productions, Barbara starred in When Something Wonderful Ends and produced three highly successful runs of a one-man adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. She teaches acting at the University of Texas at Austin.

ERIN NOEL GRENNAN (JOSEPHINE “JO” O’SHEA) Erin is thrilled to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where she previously appeared as Pooty in Craig Lucas’ Reckless. Additional regional theatre credits include The Outsider (world premiere) at Paper Mill Playhouse; A Christmas Carol at Geva Theatre; Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; A Moon for the Misbegotten, Blithe Spirit and The Taming of the Shrew at First Folio Theatre; A Flea in Her Ear, The Foreigner and The Man Who Came To Dinner at Drury Lane Theatre; Noises Off at Totem Pole Playhouse; Unnecessary Farce (world premiere), Wit and Inherit the Wind at BoarsHead Theater; and seven seasons with Peninsula Players Theatre, including Making God Laugh (world premiere), The Tin Woman (world premiere), The Importance of Being Earnest, Sunday in the Park With George, The Game’s Afoot and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. In addition to her U.S. credits, Erin spent a year doing five productions with The Gaiety Theatre in Ireland. Television credits include The Other Two, Dr. Death, Bull, Law & Order: SVU and both Chicago Med and Chicago Fire, as well as countless commercials and voiceovers. Website: erinnoelgrennan.com. For Mom.

ELLI MADDOCK (BECKY O’SHEA) Elli is ecstatic to be performing in her first Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park show! Elli is a freshman at Ursuline Academy, and she loves theatre and art. She has been in several local shows with Encore Youth Theatre and Rise Up Performing Arts, with some of her favorites being the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz Jr., Young Anna in Frozen Jr. and Matilda Wormwood in Matilda the Musical. Most recently, Elli performed in The Children’s Theatre production of Elf the Musical Jr. at the Taft Theater. She wants to thank her parents and her friends for always believing in her and give a special shout-out to Rodney and Angie Neal for teaching her the love of theatre. Elli also wants to give a big thank you to Blake Robison for this amazing opportunity, and she hopes you enjoy the show!

JOHN PLUMPIS (MIKE O’SHEA/FATHER LOVETT/ BETTY HECKENBACH) John is grateful to finally return to the stage after more than two years. He previously appeared at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park as Fennyman in Shakespeare in Love. National company credits include Timon in The Lion King, Barrymore starring Christopher Plummer (also the 2011 film) and Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor. He has appeared in multiple off-Broadway productions and in a wide variety of comedies, dramas, musicals and Shakespeare at many of North America’s leading theatres, from the Denver Center to Yale Repertory Theatre to Baltimore Center Stage to the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC, among many others. With New York’s The Actors Company Theatre, he was part of 31 productions as actor or director. His recent television appearances include Apple TV’s Little America, Half Life and HBO’s The Deuce. He is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities, conducting master classes at over 50 institutions, and has taught multiple semesters at Montclair State University. Some of his thoughts on theatre have been published. In the spring of 2022, he will direct After Happily Ever After, a new musical, in New York City.

ELISE RUCKER (LINDA O’SHEA) Elise is incredibly grateful to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! She was most recently seen in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s touring productions of Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena/Titania) and Romeo & Juliet (Friar Laurence). Elise received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Acting with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from West Virginia University and has studied at The American Conservatory Theater and The Stratford Academy at the Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. While theatres were shut down, Elise discovered a passion for the creation of art through milk as a barista for breakfast enthusiasts. Other select credits include Cloud 9 (Maud/Betty), Three Sisters (Olga), It’s a Wonderful Life (Ruth Dakin), Bug (Agnes White), Spring Awakening (Adult Women), A Christmas Carol Live Radio Show (Belle), How I Learned to Drive (Mother) and Dog Sees God (Tricia). All of the love to her mom, dad and brother for their unwavering support. Visit eliserucker.com or follow her on Instagram @elisetrucker.

KATIE FORGETTE (PLAYWRIGHT)

Katie spent most of her professional life as an actor. At the Seattle Repertory Theatre, she was privileged to work with such directors and playwrights as Doug Hughes, Bill Irwin, Mark O’Donnell, Dan Sullivan, John Patrick Shanley, Liviu Ciulei, Lillian Garrett-Groag and Jon Robin Baitz. Her plays include Linda Loman is Leaving, A Facility for Living, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, The O’Conner Girls, Everybody’s A Critic, It Went Like This, The Body Snatcher and Welcome to Vital Vista Village. Her scripts have been produced at The Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, CAP21, People’s Light, Park Square Theatre, Barter Theatre, Austin Playhouse, Cortland Repertory Theatre, Dorset Theatre Festival, Vertigo Theatre, Taproot Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Bristol Valley Theater, Chenango River Theatre and Theatre 40. She lives in a tiny, brick house in Seattle with her favorite husband, actor R. Hamilton Wright, and a giant, judgmental, gray cat named Eddie.

BLAKE ROBISON (DIRECTOR)

Blake is Producing Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Now in his 10th season, he has diversified the Playhouse’s programming, embraced its tradition of new work, deepened the theatre’s community engagement and ushered in a new era with the ground-breaking of our new $49.9 million theatre complex. For the Playhouse, he commissioned and directed the world premiere of Karen Zacarías’ hugely popular comedy Native Gardens and then took it to the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and Arena Stage in Washington DC. Other Playhouse directing credits include Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, Stephen King’s Misery, Shakespeare in Love, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Peter and the Starcatcher, Pride and Prejudice, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, The Last Wide Open, 4000 Miles, The Book Club Play, Abigail/1702 and Mad River Rising. Other regional directing credits include productions at Baltimore Center Stage, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Utah Shakespeare Festival, PlayMaker’s Repertory Company, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Round House Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, National Shakespeare Company and Vermont Stage. Internationally, he directed the Tennessee Williams classic Summer and Smoke at English Theatre Berlin and has worked several times at the renowned Avignon Festival in France. Previously, he was producing artistic director of Round House Theatre from 2005-2012, artistic director of Clarence Brown Theatre from 2000-2005 and founding artistic director of Vermont Stage from 1994-2000. Blake served on the Board of the Theatre Communications Group for six years. He was named a finalist for the 2019 Zelda Fichandler Award from the SDC Foundation honoring extraordinary work in the regional theatre.

JO WINIARSKI (SET DESIGNER) Previous Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park credits include The Last Wide Open and Alias Grace. Jo’s off-Broadway credits include The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; and Accidentally Brave. Regional design credits include the Guthrie Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Utah Shakespeare Festival (over 40 shows), Pioneer Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center and Geva Theatre Center. Additional credits include Wishes for Disney Cruise Line. Jo was the art director on Late Night with Seth Meyers for the first five seasons and received an Emmy nomination for art direction for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All.

KATHLEEN GELDARD (COSTUME DESIGNER) Kathleen previously designed Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Alias Grace; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Misery; Shakespeare in Love; All the Roads Home; Little Shop of Horrors; and Mad River Rising. Other recent regional credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Circle Mirror Transformation, Peter and the Starcatcher and Humana Festivals 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018; Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Macbeth; Arena Stage’s The Year of Magical Thinking; and Portland Center Stage’s Little Shop of Horrors. She has other regional credits at Huntington Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Arena Stage, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Studio Theatre, Round House Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Imagination Stage, Flashpoint Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Studio Arena Theater, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and Dance Exchange. Kathleen’s awards include a 2012 Bay Area Critics Circle nomination for Ruined at

The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, a 2012 IRNE Award nomination for Ruined at Huntington Theatre Company and a 2009 Helen Hayes nomination for The Neverending Story at Imagination Stage. She is an artistic associate for Signature Theatre.

XAVIER PIERCE (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Professional credits include the Public Theater (New York City), Steppenwolf Theatre (Chicago), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, Oregon), Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis), McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, New Jersey), Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, Connecticut ), The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage (Washington DC), California Shakespeare Theater (Orinda, California), Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Indiana Repertory Theatre (Indianapolis), Arden Theatre Company (Philadelphia), PlayMakers Repertory Company (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), Westport Country Playhouse (Westport, Connecticut), George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, New Jersey), Syracuse Stage, Two River Theater (Red Bank, New Jersey), Olney Theatre Center (Olney, Maryland), Intiman Theatre (Seattle), Arizona Theatre Company (Phoenix), Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota), Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Triad Stage (Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina), Charlotte Children’s Theatre (Charlotte, North Carolina) and Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Xavier is a graduate of Florida A&M University and New York University Tisch School of the Arts with an M.F.A. in Design Stage and Film. Xavier is on faculty at Florida A&M University and a member of USA829.

MATTHEW M. NIELSON (SOUND DESIGNER AND COMPOSER) Matthew made his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut in 2012 with The Three Musketeers and has since returned for Abigail/1702, The Book Club Play, 4000 Miles, Sherlock Holmes, Peter and the Starcatcher, Sex with Strangers, Mad River Rising, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Summerland, Treasure Island, Misery, The Last Wide Open and Two Trains Running. Off-Broadway credits include The Public Theater/NYSF, Lincoln Center Theater and 59E59 Theaters. Regional credits include Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Barrington Stage, Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Theater Alliance, Olney Theatre and Contemporary American Theater Festival. Film and television credits include Death in Time, Elbow Grease, Blue, Epix Drive-In, From Hell to Here and Too Like the Lightning. Matthew is the creator of audio drama series Troublesome Gap. He has won several awards for his work in the DC area, regionally and in film. He is currently enrolled in the Songwriting and Music Production program with the Berklee College of Music Online. Samples can be heard online at CuriousMusic.com.

STEPHANIE KLAPPER, CSA (CASTING DIRECTOR)

Stephanie is thrilled to continue her 10th season of collaboration with Blake Robison and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Select shows she has cast for the Playhouse are Need Your Love; The West End; Destiny of Desire; Once on This Island; Alias Grace; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; The Thanksgiving Play; Two Trains Running and Cincinnati King. Her award-winning work is frequently seen on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally, on film, television and streaming

media. She is dedicated to continuing to expand and champion diversity, equity and inclusion in the business. Connecting creative, caring people to each other to make extraordinary things happen is amongst Stephanie’s greatest joys. She is passionate about arts education and working with creative teams to develop new work and expand the scope of established work. She is a member of the Board of the Casting Society of America, Casting Society Cares and New York Women in Film.

BROOKE REDLER (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 Ariadne Auf Naxos, The Coronation of Poppea, Frida, Die Fledermaus and Tosca (ASM, Cincinnati Opera). She also spent two seasons at The Santa Fe Opera.

ANDREA L. SHELL (SECOND STAGE MANAGER) See bio on page 25.

BRANDON T. HOLMES (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) Brandon is excited to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having worked as a stage management intern during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. Playhouse credits this season include the world premiere of The West End and A Christmas Carol, as well as past credits of Merrily We Roll Along, Thunder Knocking on the Door and The Understudy. For the past 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 summers, he works with The Lexington Theatre Company where he has stage managed productions of A Chorus Line, The Music Man, Legally Blonde, West Side Story and Newsies. He has stage managed other regional productions including Hello, Dolly!, The Drowsy Chaperone and Side By Side by Sondheim (LOOK Musical Theatre); Red, White & Broadway and 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. He would like to thank his family, friends and A.J. for their continued love and support.