Artist Biographies

TARAH FLANAGAN (EMERY HARRIS)

Tarah is delighted to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where she last appeared in Witness for the Prosecution. New York theatre credits include The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, The Mint Theater Company and off-Broadway in the titular role of The Little Prince, directed by Kim Martin- Cotten, at the Pearl Theatre. Regional theatre credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House (Every Brilliant Thing and An Iliad), Clarence Brown Theatre, Crossroads Theatre Company, Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Fulton Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Public Theatre in Maine, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Shea’s 710 Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (titular role in St. Joan). Film and television credits include Mother’s Book (directed by Keith Josef Atkins), FutureStates on PBS, As the World Turns and Darwin: The Series (directed by Carrie Preston). During the pandemic, Tarah has helped create video content for Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare Festival and the award-winning The Yellow Wallpaper for Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has been a proud company member of the Great River Shakespeare Festival since 2007 where she serves as co-Artistic Associate Artistic Director and Program Director for Shakespeare for Young Actors.

EMILY KRATTER (LUANNE)

Emily is overjoyed and honored to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park after originating the role of Luanne in the 2018 premiere production of Be Here Now by Deborah Zoe Laufer. She has performed and developed new works at Williamstown Theatre Festival, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, New Dramatists, Portland Stage Company, LAByrinth Theater Company, New Georges, The Playwright’s Realm, The Lark, terraNOVA Collective, Axis Theatre Company and more. Emily recently starred opposite Karen Allen and William Sadler in the independent film, A Stage of Twilight, expected to be released in 2023. Other film/television appearances include Unforgettable (CBS), Half Brother and the upcoming Life After You. Visit emilykratter.com and at Instagram @emkratter for more.

TASHA LAWRENCE (HAZEL)

Broadway credits include Wilder, Wilder, Wilder; Good People; and Proof (national tour). Off-Broadway credits include Sam Hunter’s The Whale (Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk Award nomination), The Few (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) and A Great Wilderness (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theater); Steven Levenson’s If I Forget (Roundabout Theater Company); Lucy Thurber’s Asheville (Cherry Lane Theatre); and Daisy Foote’s Bhutan (Cherry Lane Theatre). Regional theatre credits include Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Theatreworks, Hartford); Jen Silverman’s The Roommate (Actors Theatre of Louisville and Long Wharf Theatre); Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates (City Theatre); Keith Reddin’s Human Error (City Theatre); Dangerous Liasons (Huntington Theatre Company); and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (Northern Stage). Film and television credits include FBI Most Wanted, High Maintenance, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Law & Order (Classic, Criminal Intent and SVU), Third Watch, Deadline, Kevin Hill, The Line (ACTRA Gemini Award nomination), John Turturro’s Romance and Cigarettes, Pooka, Hangnail and Sanctioning Evil.

DEBORAH ZOE LAUFER (PLAYWRIGHT)

Rooted marks Deb’s third premiere at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, following Be Here Now and Leveling Up. Her plays have also appeared at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Geva Theatre Center, The Humana Festival of New American Plays, Everyman Theatre, Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre and hundreds of other theatres around the world. Other plays include End Days, Informed Consent, Out of Sterno, The Last Schwartz, Sirens, Meta, The Three Sisters of Weehawken and Fortune; and the musicals Window Treatment and By Any Other Name, written with composer Daniel Green. Deb is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Lilly Award, The ATCA Steinberg citation and grants and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Edgerton Foundation, The National New Play Network and the Lincoln Center Foundation. She is a graduate of Juilliard, an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop and a Dramatists Guild council member. Visit deborahzoelaufer.com.

NOAH HIMMELSTEIN (DIRECTOR)

In 2020/2021, Noah directed Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth and Heather McDonald’s An Almost Holy Picture (both at Everyman Theatre), as well as Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods throughout Symphony Woods in Maryland with 54 students in the middle of the pandemic. Additional credits include Chelsea Marcantel’s Everything is Wonderful (Philadelphia Theatre Company); Andrew Lippa’s I Am Anne Hutchinson/I Am Harvey Milk (Lincoln Center, Strathmore, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, LA & Denver); Daniel Zaitchik’s Inner Voices: The Costume (off-Broadway); Karen Hartman’s The Book of Joseph and Michael John LaChiusa and Ellen Fitzhugh’s Los Otros (Everyman Theatre); Jonathan Tolins’s The Forgotten Woman (Bay Street Theater); Bleeding Love (Frederica Theater in Denmark); Loving Leo (Weston Playhouse); The Harlem Renaissance (New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts); and Lincoln Center’s American Songbook. Assistant Director credits include Golden Boy (Lincoln Center Theater). Noah is Associate Artistic Director of Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre and a teaching artist for Broadway Dreams Foundation. He is a graduate of Emerson College. Upcoming productions in 2022 include Karen Hartman’s The Lucky Star and LaChiusa/Fitzhugh’s Los Otros (both off-Broadway) as well as the premiere of his debut film ShirtTugger created with Noah Zachary.

SE HYUN OH (SET DESIGNER) Se is a set designer from Seoul, South Korea. He is based in New York City, often working as an associate designer for shows on Broadway while designing sets for regional theatres. Selected regional credits include Man of God and Underneath the Lintel (Geffen Playhouse); Hold These Truths (People’s Light); Cambodian Rock Band, Yoga Play, Office Hour and A Doll’s House, Part 2 (South Coast Repertory); and Silent Sky (Perseverance Theatre). Broadway associate credits include Dana H. and Is This A Room (Lyceum Theatre), Clyde’s (Helen Hayes Theater) and Cost Of Living (Manhattan Theatre Club). Off-Broadway associate credits include For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf and Office Hour (The Public Theater), Cambodian Rock Band (Signature Theatre) and The Great Leap (Atlantic Theater Company). He holds a B.A. from California State University, Long Beach and an M.F.A. from Northwestern University. Visit www.sehyunoh.com.

GORDON DeVINNEY (COSTUME DESIGNER) As Costume Shop Manager at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Gordon has designed numerous Playhouse productions including The Last Wide Open (2019), Be Here Now (2018), Disgraced (2016), Mothers and Sons (2016), Low Down Dirty Blues (2015), Circle Mirror Transformation (2015), Chapatti (2015), The North Pool (2014), The Book Club Play (2013), Hank Williams: Lost Highway (2012), Always ... Patsy Cline (2011, League of Cincinnati Theatres Award), The Pavilion (2011), The Piano Teacher (2011), The Understudy (2010), Victoria Musica (2009), Marry Me a Little (2009), Love Song (2008), Murderers (2007), Reckless (2007), This Wonderful Life (2006), The Clean House (2006), A Picasso (2004), Sing Hallelujah! (2004), Hiding Behind Comets (2004), Proof (2003), God’s Man in Texas (2001), Shakespeare’s R&J (2000), Wit (2000), The Woman in Black (1998), Coyote on a Fence (1998), Nixon’s Nixon (1997) and The Turn of the Screw (1997). His design for Nixon’s Nixon appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Toronto and on London’s West End. His Playhouse designs for God of Carnage, Sleuth, God’s Man in Texas, Doubt, The Woman in Black and Nixon’s Nixon appeared at numerous regional theatres across the country. Recently Gordon designed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later for Xavier University.

DAVID LANDER (LIGHTING DESIGNER) David is delighted to be back at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Previous Playhouse credits include The Clean House (2005), Hiding Behind Comets (2004) and Closer (2001). Broadway credits include The Lightning Thief, Torch Song with Michael Urie, The Heiress with Jessica Chastain, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams, 33 Variations with Jane Fonda and I Am My Own Wife, among others. Off-Broadway credits include King Lear with Kevin Klein, Macbeth with Liev Schreiber and Jennifer Ehle, The Tempest with Sam Waterson, Cymbeline with Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe and Fran’s Bed with Mia Farrow, among many others. International credits include Raunaq & Jassi, a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in Punjab province in 1950 and produced in Mumbai; as well as theatre and opera credits in Tokyo, Dublin, London, Leeds, Caracas and Singapore, among others. David’s architectural lighting designs can be seen in theme parks in California and Florida and in public art installations in New York, Denver, Houston, Providence and Pittsburgh. Awards include two Tony Award nominations and five Drama Desk Award nominations with one win, and other awards.

MEGUMI KATAYAMA (SOUND DESIGNER AND COMPOSER) Megumi is a sound designer, sound artist and composer based in New York. Her recent theatrical sound design credits include 72 Miles to Go… (Alley Theatre), Generation Rise (Ping Chong and Company, New Victory Theater), The Skin of Our Teeth and An Almost Holy Picture (Everyman Theatre), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow Is Enuf (The Public Theater), El Huracán (Yale Rep/The Sol Project, Connecticut Critics Circle Award nomination), Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theater), Mary’s Wedding (KC Rep), Pass Over (Studio Theater), Queen of the Night and Laughing Wild (Dorset Theater Festival). In addition to theatre, she has worked on art installations, audio plays, theme parks, events, film, and television productions. Originally from Japan, Megumi holds a BFA from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from Yale School of Drama. Member of IATSE USA 829.

BETSY ROSEN (PUPPETRY CONSULTANT) Betsy (she/her) is an international actress, puppeteer and teacher based in New York City. Her most recent credits include 9000 Paper Balloons (Puppeteer), the pilot series The Smack Dab in the Middle of the Day Show (Puppet Director/Designer/Puppeteer) and the puppetry series Beautiful, Evil, Lost (Puppeteer). Just before the pandemic, Betsy toured Australia with Dead Puppet Society’s Laser Beak Man, which culminated in a run at the Sydney Opera House. Her New York credits include Lincoln Center Theater, La Mama, The Drama League, HERE Arts Center and St. Ann’s Warehouse. Regional credits include Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Studio Theatre, Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Taffety Punk Theatre Company and Imagination Stage (Helen Hayes Award), among others. In addition to performing, Betsy directs and choreographs puppetry for the stage, as well as collaborates on the development of new plays. It has been an honor to return to the Playhouse, where Betsy previously consulted on Peter and the Starcatcher and A Prayer for Owen Meany and was a Bruce E. Coyle Acting intern in the 2012-13 season.

STEPHANIE KLAPPER, CSA (CASTING DIRECTOR)

See bio on page 15.

ANDREA L. SHELL (STAGE MANAGER)

Andrea is excited to be celebrating her 21st season with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having worked on more than 90 productions, including 20 world premieres. This season, she takes the reins of the department, succeeding Jenifer Morrow as the Production Stage Manager. A highlight of every season for her is stage managing A Christmas Carol. Favorite Playhouse credits include Alias Grace; The Last Wide Open; The Roommate; Treasure Island; Be Here Now; Mr. Joy; Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End; Jane Eyre; Disgraced; Bad Dates; The Revolutionists; I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti; The North Pool; 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.

TENLEY PITONZO (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) New York credits include Sleep No More. Regional credits include Frankenstein: A Ghost Story; for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; Unreliable; School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play; Last Days of Summer; and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); A Spectacular Christmas Show (Musical Theatre Heritage); Constellations (Studio Theatre); Three Little Birds, Caps for Sale (Adventure Theatre MTC); The Great Gatsby, Waiting for Godot, Little Women, The Birds, Taming of the Shrew, Henry V and The Comedy of Errors (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); and Twelfth Night, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Wild With Happy (Baltimore Center Stage). AEA Member.