Cast & Artistic Staff Bios

CAST

Leo Finnie (Prof D) is a veteran actor who has performed at most of the nation’s prestigious regional theatres, OffBroadway theatres, and London’s Royal National Theatre. He originated the role of Philmore in August Wilson’s Jitney, for which he won the 2000 Drama Desk and Obie Awards. Although he’s most at home on the stage, Mr. Finnie has played multiple characters roles on all the Law & Orders, was Chief Saunder way back on All My Children, and he plays the recurring role of Grandpa Don on Hulu’s Life and Beth with Amy Schumer. Like most working actors, he’s appeared in numerous TV commercials and print advertisements. The loves of his life are his two daughters and one grandson. Mr. Finnie wants it to be known that Syracuse Stage has always been at the top of his bucket list, and is honored and excited to finally be here in this wonderful play by Kyle Bass, directed by the esteemed Gilbert McCauley; all under the fantastic creative staff of Robert Hupp, Jill Anderson, and Michael McCurdy. Finally, Mr. Finnie sends out a very special personal shout-out to his first acting coach Janet Schreiner and her encouraging words, “We’re going to make it happen!”–love you, Janet!

Rand Foerster (Fish) is thrilled to welcome back live theatre and make his Syracuse Stage debut in the premiere of salt/city/blues. After more than a decade in New York City as the artistic director and co-founder of the West Bank Downstairs Theatre Bar where he produced, directed, and performed original one acts, Rand settled in Western Massachusetts. There he has worked as an educator while continuing his work as an actor and director. Rand’s recent regional acting credits include Alabama Story (Majestic Theater), The Foreigner and The Sunset Limited (New Century Theatre) and Endgame (Serious Play Theatre). Rand has directed well over seventy-five productions and is a resident director for the Majestic Theater in West Springfield where he most recently directed the musical 9 to 5. Some other directing favorites include The House of Blue Leaves, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Harvey, Painting Churches, The Boys Next Door, Johnny Got His Gun, and Lewis Black’s One Slight Hitch. Rand holds an M.F.A. in acting and directing from the Yale School of Drama. JanaZekeToshMiles…One Love!

Chantal Jean-Pierre

(Yolonda Mourning) is thrilled to make her Syracuse Stage debut. She has graced the stages of several reputable regional theatres around the country performing classics as well as contemporary works such as the title role in both Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and Orlando Shakespeare Theater productions of Antony and Cleopatra, Hostess Quickly and Alice in Henry V at Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. She performed

CAST

in the West Coast premiere of Fairview at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, critically acclaimed Haitian-Cuban production of Our Town at Miami New Drama, Disgraced at Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Repairing a Nation at Crossroads Theatre Company’s, Intimate Apparel at Dorset Theater Festival Trouble in Mind at Triad Stage, Doubt at Flat Rock Playhouse, A Raisin in the Sun at Crossroads Theatre Company, Sheila’s Day at Hartford Stage, King Lear at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. with Andre De Shields in the title role. She has guest starred on a number of television shows such as: FBI, Blue Bloods, New Amsterdam, The Good Fight, and Law & Order: SVU. Chantal is ever so grateful for her husband’s undying support. Find out more at: https://www.chantaljean-pierre.com

Jeremiah Packer (Malcolm) is a New York based actor, singer, and dancer who hails from Fayetteville, N.C. where he earned his B.A. in theatre at Fayetteville State University. He is also a proud alum of the University of Alabama where he recently graduated with his M.F.A. in acting (2021). Regional credits: Porgy & Bess, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Wiz, Fly, Pathway to Freedom, Oliver!, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Henry V. Film and TV: Circle Circle, Dot Dot, Recycled Threads, Running in Circles. University credits: A Raisin in the Sun, Intimate Apparel, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Antigone, Seven Guitars, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shooting Star: The Billy Griffin Musical. Jeremiah is elated to be making his Syracuse Stage debut in this world premiere play! He sends gratitude to God for such a wonderful opportunity, his family and friends for all their support and love, and this cast for sticking through it all! www.jeremiahpacker.com

Joey Parsons (Carrie Simmons). Off Broadway: Vanity Fair (The Pearl Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Pearl Theatre/ Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival - Drama League Nomination); Stupid F**king Bird, The Rivals, Figaro, The Misanthrope, Wittenberg (The Pearl); A Little Journey (The Mint Theater); Theatre: Pride and Prejudice (Syracuse Stage, SALT Award: Best Supporting Actress); An Enemy of the People (Yale Rep.); The House On The Hill, Memoirs Of A Forgotten Man, Not Medea, Gidion’s Knot, Dear Sara Jane, Fifty Words (Contemporary American Theater Festival); God of Carnage (Arizona Theatre Co./San Jose Rep - San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle Award: Outstanding Principal Actress); Blithe Spirit (Syracuse Stage); Rabbit Hole (Pittsburgh Public/Hartford TheatreWorks); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Hartford TheatreWorks); The Shape of Things (St. Louis Rep.); The Tempest, As You Like It, Richard III, The Winter’s Tale, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentlemen of Verona (HVSF); Comedy of Errors, Measure

CAST

for Measure (Yale Rep.). Television: FBI, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Blindspot, Divorce, Madam Secretary, The Mysteries of Laura, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Third Watch, Deadline. Film: Before/ During/After, Lightning Jack. Recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship. M.F.A.: Yale School of Drama. Thank you to my family, blood and chosen. www.joeyparsons.com Instagram: @joeyparsons13

Christine Albright (U/S Carrie Simmons) is thrilled to be working with Syracuse Stage. For the last 20 years, Christine has worked as an actor, director, and educator across the country. Favorite roles include: Judith in Equivocation at Oregon Shakespeare Festival/Arena Stage/ Seattle Rep, Mother in Sarah Ruhl’s Oldest Boy (Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Actress) at Marin Theatre Company; Sylvia in Tribes at Berkeley Rep. She has been a company member at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) since 2006, where she played such roles as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Celia in As You Like It, and Lady Percy in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. She is currently an assistant professor of acting at Syracuse University. M.F.A.: University of CaliforniaSan Diego. Special love to John and Henry, Mom and Dad, and all her wonderful students at the Syracuse University Department of Drama!

Michael Breese Barbour

(U/S Fish) is delighted to return to Syracuse Stage after his recent turn as Maurice in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Kappellemeister Bonno in Amadeus. NYC credits include Eddie Marx in The Inn at Lake Devine and Narrator in Lovers. Regional credits include Lear in King Lear, Andy in Lovers, Mike in Rounding Third, Jeffrey in A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Falstaff in Henry 5 by 7, Orson Wells in Orson Wells/Shylock, Baron Van Swieten in Amadeus, Captain William Farnsworth Cook (Grandfather) in Fever 1793, Hosiah Ward in Mother Hicks, Utterson in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Van Helsing in Dracula. Favorite roles as an Equity Guest Artist include Prospero in The Tempest, Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Hugh in Translations, John Graunt in The Living, Leonato in Much Ado about Nothing, and Charles Darwin in Darwin in Malibu. Some favorite summer stock credits include Henry Albertson in The Fantastiks, Marcus Lycus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Captain Brackett in South Pacific. Television and film include Sherriff Dell in The Mental State, Mr. Briggs in Neon Lights (HBO), Merlin in The Ill-Made Knight, Robert Morrison in Unsolved Mysteries, and Father Time. Michael earned his M.F.A. at The Catholic University of America and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

CAST

Dylan Castro (U/S Malcolm), born and raised in Bronx, NY, is a recent graduate of UMass Amherst with a degree in Theatre and Economics. He started out doing theatre in high school and the passion he found in performing led him to pursue acting. He has been in various shows such as The Outsiders, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Billy Elliot, All The Way. Then transitioning to UMass Amherst Theatre, he starred in Wild Thing, Baltimore, Mr.Burns as well as staged readings of Interrobangers, Come My Beloved, and various student written plays. He will be continuing his classical Shakespearean training at the British American Drama Academy this summer. He would like to thank his friends, family, and especially his mother for the unconditional support.

David A. Shakes (U/S Prof D), born in Philadelphia, PA, was raised in Brooklyn, NY, where his interest in dramatic arts was nurtured as a young student. David continued his work as a young adult during the Black Arts Movement of the late 60s and early 70s and became one of the founding members of the Spirit House Movers and Players, a prominent theatre company that presented dramatic and poetic works around the country, under the direction of Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones). During that time, he worked and studied with many dramatists and authors including Haki Mhadabuti, Woodie King, Jr., and Yusef Iman; he also studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Mr. Shakes is a long-time resident of Rochester and has worked with numerous theatres in the Rochester community as an actor, director, guest artist, and producer in performances and productions that have received critical as well as public acclaim. At Geva Theatre, he acted in, as well as consulted in the mounting of August Wilson’s Century Cycle. He also was a contributing artist at the JCC Centerstage, Shipping Dock, Blackfriars, RAPA, Downstairs Cabaret Theatre and Rochester Community Players. In addition, Mr. Shakes founded the Village theatre where he showcased many budding local actors. Currently, he is artistic director of the North Star Players. Mr. Shakes is an actor in local films and advertising campaigns and is a historical interpreter of such persons as Langston Hughes, William Wells Brown, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Frederick Douglass. Douglass’ words are particularly inspiring and relevant and his message of dignity, justice, and freedom rings throughout the ages. The study, coaching, and presentation of the works of Frederick Douglass are especially important and ongoing work for him. Mr. Shakes is a graduate of Empire State College and Syracuse University’s School of Social Work. He is a retired Rochester City School District social worker.

CAST

Esther Winter (U/S Yolonda Mourning). West End: Show Boat; Regional: La Cage aux Folles, Church and State, My Mother›s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, Dreamgirls, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Wizard of Oz, The Music Man, Pirates of Penzance, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Working. Artist educator, Geva Theatre Center; creative producer for Recognition Radio, Geva Theatre Center. Thanks to Mark Cuddy, John, and kids.

ARTISTIC STAFF

William Bloodgood (Scenic Design). William Bloodgood’s work was seen here in the 2017 production of Deathtrap. Among his many previous designs for Syracuse Stage are productions of The Piano Lesson, Other Desert Cities, The Whipping Man, The Glass Menagerie, An Iliad, Radio Golf, To Kill a Mockingbird, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Red, Caroline, or Change, and The Underpants. In addition to work in the UK and China, he is well known in American regional theatres. He has worked in many, including Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Arizona Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre in Houston, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theater, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre in Seattle, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he designed the scenery for 150 productions. In 2011 he was honored to design the United States national exhibit for the Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Space Design. He is the recipient of many awards for his designs, including two SALT Awards. Devario D. Simmons He/Him/His (Costume Design) Broadway: Thoughts of a Colored Man; Off-Broadway: TUMACHO, Between the Bars, EMERGENCY! and P.S. Additionally, Simmons has had the pleasure of working regionally at: Asolo Repertory Theatre, The Long Wharf Theatre, Jean’s Playhouse, and Baltimore Center Stage. Other credits include Rustin (Netflix), three seasons of AMC’s television show Turn, the 2nd National Touring production of In the Heights, and two seasons of PBS television series Mercy Street. Website: devariosimmons.com IG: @devariosimmons Member of United Scenic Artist 829.

Kathy A. Perkins (Lighting Design) has designed lighting for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatres such as American Conservatory Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Seattle Repertory, St. Louis Black Repertory, Alliance, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Baltimore Center Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, New Federal Theatre, Mark Taper, Yale Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Two Rivers Theatre, Writers Theatre, People’s Light, and Playmak-

ARTISTIC STAFF

ers Repertory. As a scholar, she is the editor of seven anthologies focusing on women both nationally and internationally. She is a senior editor of the Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance. Kathy has traveled to over forty countries as both designer and lecturer and is the recipient of numerous research and design awards, including Ford Foundation, Fulbright, United States Information Agency (USIA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and an NAACP Image Award. She received the 2021 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Distinguished Achievement Award for both Education and Lighting Design. In 1995, Kathy co-curated ONSTAGE: A Century of African American Stage Design at New York’s Lincoln Center. In 2016 she served as theatre consultant for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture inaugural exhibition Taking the Stage. In 2007, she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. She received her B.F.A. from Howard University and her M.F.A. from the University of Michigan. Kathy is faculty Emerita at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gregory Robinson (Sound Design), a United Scenic Artists Local USA 829, IATSE Member, is “An Artist That Paints With Sound.” His sound effects, sound design, music, production sound recording, post- production mixing, and recordings have been featured in local, regional, and national radio and television advertising; short films; documentaries; corporate video; and theatre. His work has been featured in an Emmy award winning documentary, and he has been recognized by the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle, with a sound design Excellence in Theatre Award for Water By The Spoonful and a nomination for Proof. Gregory recently designed for the Marin Theatre Company’s production of JAZZ and salt/city/blues for Syracuse Stage (New York). Theatre sound design productions include: Calligraphy, Proof, Water By The Spoonful, The Mountaintop, The Pitmen Painters, Snow Falling On Cedars, Living Out, You Can’t Take It With You, An American Daughter, Be Aggressive, and Present Laughter. Partial Client/Project List: Academy Of Art University; AC Transit Amazing People Audio Series, London Bank of America; California Lottery Carlos Santana; Chevron; From The Heart Films HBO; Ivory Coast Pictures; KRON TV Museum Of The African Diaspora (MoAD); Organized Confuzion Films; TheatreWorks; The United Way; and Wells Fargo.

Olivia Lacie Andrews (Choreographer) is honored to be a part of this production! Born and raised in Bucks County, PA, she is a rising senior musical theater major at Syracuse University. Choreography credits in the Department of Drama include The Matchmaker (choreographer), As You Like It (assistant choreographer), and Working the Musical (assistant choreographer). Recent

ARTISTIC STAFF

performance credits include: Matilda the Musical (Syracuse Stage/Department of Drama co-production) and Chicago and Rock of Ages (Theater Aspen). Special thank you to Andrea Leigh-Smith for always believing in me. Love to my family and friends who give me strength! @livdrews

James Gordon Williams (Composer) is a composer, pianist, improviser, and cultural theorist. He has worked with artists Crystal Z. Campbell, Cauleen Smith, Suné Woods, and poet and MacArthur Fellow Fred Moten. As pianist and improviser, he has performed with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Anthony Davis, Miles Griffith and Gregory Porter, MacArthur Fellow George E. Lewis, Mark Dresser, Greg Osby, and Charli Persips’ Supersound big band. He has played music in such storied places as Birdland, Village Vanguard, and music festivals around the world. He has been commissioned by Syracuse Stage to write music for playwright Kyle Bass’s salt/city/blues. As a scholar, he writes on how African American composers and improvisers express political thought through creative practices that connect contemporary U.S. social movements. He is author of Crossing Bar Lines: The Politics and Practices of Black Musical Space (2021). His peer reviewed articles have appeared in Ethnomusicology Review, Jazz & Culture, Jazz Research Journal, Journal of African American Studies, Liquid Blackness, and Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture. James is assistant professor of composition in the Department of Music at University of California, Santa Cruz. Prior to his position, he was professor in the Syracuse University Department of African American Studies from 2014-2022. He is a member of the Society of American Music and the American Musicological Society. James holds a Ph.D. in music, from University of California, San Diego.

Alec Barbour (Fight Director) is a Rochester, NY, based actor, intimacy director, fight choreographer, and playwright. He has been studying stage combat since 2005 and is a certified teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. He relishes the opportunity to create visceral, authentic moments of violence and intimacy that are thrilling for audiences while being safe and fun for actors. He received his M.F.A. in acting at the Hilberry Repertory Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit, where his roles included Iago in Othello, Carson in Gross Indecency, and Charles Lomax in Major Barbara. Regional acting credits include Sir Castor (and fight captain) in Camelot at Drury Lane Theatre and Horner in The Country Wife at Franklin Stage. Intimacy Direction: Amadeus (Syracuse Stage). Romeo and Juliet, Everybody, Wild Party (Syracuse University Department of Drama). Bard Bending: Fight Club Edition, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Wallbyrd Theatre Co.). Dracula (Utica College). Fight Di-

ARTISTIC STAFF

rection: Amadeus, Suzette who Set to Sea, Deathtrap, Disgraced (Syracuse Stage). Wild Party, Kiss Me, Kate (Syracuse University Department of Drama). Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., with J. David Brimmer (University of Rochester). Spring Awakening, Hayfever, Vinegar Tom (Nazareth College). She Kills Monsters, Macbeth in Concert, Romeo & Juliet in Concert, The Liar (Le Moyne College). The Cripple of Inishmaan, Macbeth, The Mousetrap, Moon Over Buffalo (Hilberry Repertory Theatre). Arabian Nights, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, SubUrbia (Wayne State University). Two Gentlemen of Verona, Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Dracula (Wallbyrd Theatre Co). He is an apprentice with Intimacy Directors International and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG/AFTRA.

Stuart Plymesser (Production Stage Manager) is in his 25th season at Syracuse Stage where he has stage managed over 100 plays, musicals, and special events, working with such talents as Jason Alexander, Olympia Dukakis, Frank Langella, Elizabeth Franz, and Phylicia Rashad. Stuart has worked at numerous regional theatres around the country and in Cape Town, South Africa, and has toured nationally. Locally, he has also stage managed events for Syracuse Fashion Week. In addition, Stuart is adjunct faculty for Syracuse University’s Department of Drama and has been a guest speaker/lecturer for Ithaca College, Wells College, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Fredonia, and the Zabalaza Festival in Cape Town. Outside of theatre, Stuart has trained at Aikido of Central New York for over a decade and holds the rank of Nidan (second degree black belt.) Stuart is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers.

Bass/Valle Casting (Casting), formerly Harriet Bass Casting, is a leading NYC boutique casting office. To know more about their upcoming projects and casting philosophy please visit www.bassvallecasting. com. Harriet Bass has cast for ABC/ TV, Fox Television Studios, The Public Theatre: NEW WORK NOW, The Minetta Lane Theatre, The Women’s Project, La MaMa E.T.C., New York Women in Film and Television, and The Jewish Repertory Theatre. She has cast the last three of the late August Wilson’s ten part play series: the original Radio Golf, Broadway Gem of the Ocean, and OffBroadway Jitney. Harriet is also a leading educator in audition technique, side and monologue coaching, and the business of acting. She has taught at the nation’s top universities and professional training programs. Gama Valle is a director, playwright, screenwriter, children’s book author, and casting director. His casting credits include: The American Tradition, The Great Novel, Split Second, I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo and Juliet, among others. He is a proud member of New Light Theatre Ensemble and the recipient of the Van Lier Directing Fellowship at Reper-

ARTISTIC STAFF

torio Español. Gama received the First Prize in playwriting from Puerto Rico’s Institute of Culture for his play Queishd&Dilit. Their regional casting credits include: Mark Taper Forum, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, Trinity Rep, San Jose Rep, GeVa, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public, Merrimack Rep, Longwharf Theatre, Alliance Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Kansas City Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Virginia Stage Company, Dallas Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep, Portland Center Stage, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Feature films credits include: Pushing Hands directed by Ang Lee, Underheat, starring Lee Grant, First We Take Manhattan, produced by Golden Harvest Inc., and Graves End, directed by Sal Stabile.

PLAYWRIGHT/RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHT

Kyle Bass is the author of Possessing Harriet, commissioned by the Onondaga Historical Association, which premiered at Syracuse Stage in 2018, was subsequently produced at Franklin Stage Company, and will be produced at the East Lynne Theater Company later this year. Possessing Harriet will be published this month by Standing Stone Books. Citizen James, or The Young Man Without a Country, is a one-man show on James Baldwin, commissioned by Syracuse Stage, which streamed nationally in 2021. His libretto for Libba Cotten: Here This Day, a new opera based on the life of American folk music legend Libba Cotten, was commissioned by The Society for New Music and premiered in 2021. Through a NYSCA Individual Artist Grant, Kyle is currently under commission by Franklin Stage company for a new play titled Wakeman & Toliver. His drama Tender Rain (selected by Edward Albee for the Great Plains Theater Conference) will receive its world premiere in Syracuse Stage’s 22/23 season. His other full-length plays include Bleecker Street, Baldwin vs. Buckley: The Faith of Our Fathers, which has been presented at Cornell University, Colgate University, the University of Delaware, and at Syracuse University, and Separated, a documentary theatre piece about the student military veterans at Syracuse University, which was presented at Syracuse Stage and the Paley Center in New York City. With National Medal of Arts recipient Ping Chong, Kyle is the co-author of Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo, which premiered at Syracuse Stage and was subsequently produced at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York City. He has also written for Noh theatre under commission by Theatre Nohgaku. He is the coauthor of the original screenplay for the film Day of Days (Broad Green Pictures, 2017), which stars awardwinning veteran actor Tom Skerritt. Kyle was the script consultant

PLAYWRIGHT/RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHT

on Thoughts of a Colored Man, which premiered at Syracuse Stage in 2019 and opened on Broadway in 2021. He worked as dramaturg with acclaimed visual artist and MacArthur Fellow Carrie Mae Weems on her theatre piece Grace Notes: Reflections for Now, which premiered at the 2016 Spoleto Festival USA. Other plays, screenplays, and writings have appeared in the journals Callaloo and Stone Canoe, among others, and in the essay anthology Alchemy of the Word: Writers Talk about Writing. Kyle was the founding curator of Syracuse Stage’s annual Cold Read Festival of New Plays. After five seasons as associate artistic director at Syracuse Stage, in 2021, Kyle was announced as the theatre’s first-ever resident playwright. He is currently assistant professor in the Department of Theater at Colgate University, where he previously served as the Burke Endowed Chair for Regional Studies. Previously, Kyle was faculty in the M.F.A. Creative Writing program at Goddard College, taught playwriting in Syracuse University’s Department of Drama and at Hobart & William Smith Colleges and was the 2019/20 Susan P. Stroman Visiting Playwright at the University of Delaware. A two-time recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship (for fiction in 1998, for playwriting in 2010), a finalist for the Princess Grace Playwriting Award, and Pushcart Prize nominee, Kyle holds an M.F.A. in playwriting from Goddard College, is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America and is represented by The Barbara Hogenson Agency.

DIRECTOR

Gilbert McCauley is a full professor in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has served as the producing artistic director of Oakland Ensemble Theatre, resident director at Brown University’s Rites and Reason Theatre, as an acting company member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and he is an alum of the New York Drama League’s Directors Project. He has also been a lecturer at Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, California State University, Dominguez Hills, University of California, Berkeley and a visiting professor at Laney College and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Mr. McCauley has directed Off-Broadway and at regional theatres around the country including Arena Stage, Arkansas Repertory Theater, Goodman Theatre, New Century Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and the National Theatre of Ghana. His directing credits include, Athol Fugard›s “Master Harold”... and the Boys, Lynn Nottage’s Sweat, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We are Proud to Present..., Tanya Barfield’s The Call, Cheryl

DIRECTOR

L. West’s Jar the Floor, Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man, Elyzabeth Gregory-Wilder’s Gees Bend, Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, Peter Morgan’s Frost/Nixon, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Fences, Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play, and Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Robert Hupp is in his sixth season as artistic director of Syracuse Stage. He recently directed The Play That Goes Wrong, Eureka Day, Annapurna, Talley’s Folly, Amadeus, Noises Off, Next to Normal, and The Three Musketeers for Stage. Prior to coming to central New York, Robert spent seventeen seasons as the producing artistic director of Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock. He directed over 30 productions for Arkansas Rep ranging from Hamlet to Les Miserables to The Grapes of Wrath. In New York City, Robert directed the American premieres of Glyn Maxwell’s The Lifeblood and Wolfpit for the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble. He also served for nine seasons as the artistic director of the Obie Award-winning Jean Cocteau Repertory. At the Cocteau, Robert’s directing credits include works by Buchner, Wilder, Cocteau, Shaw, Wedekind and the premieres of the Bentley/Milhaud version of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy, and Eduardo de Filippo’s Napoli Millionaria. He has held faculty positions at Pennsylvania’s Dickinson College and, in Arkansas, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Hendrix College. Robert served as vice president of the Board of Directors of the Theatre Communications Group and has served on funding panels for the New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, the Theatre Communications Group, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. While in Arkansas, Robert was named both Non-Profit Executive of the Year by the Arkansas Business Publishing Group, and Individual Artist of the Year by the Arkansas Arts Council. He and his wife Clea ride herd over a blended family of five children, one dog, and two cats.

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Jill A. Anderson has served as managing director of Syracuse Stage since 2016. Jill is responsible for Stage’s $7.5 million operating budget and has oversight of fundraising, marketing, and operational matters within the organization. Prior to joining Stage, Jill spent a decade as general manager at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. During her tenure, the O’Neill completed a $7 million capital campaign and campus expansion, doubled its operating budget, and was honored with a 2015 National Medal of Arts and the 2010 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Under the O’Neill’s aegis, Jill also developed the Baltic Playwrights Conference, an annual international new play development retreat held in Hiiumaa, Estonia. Previously, Jill spent five years in the production office at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage, after working as a stage manager in Minnesota, New Mexico, and Massachusetts. In addition to her work at Stage, Jill is an instructor in the Theater Management program of the Syracuse University Department of Drama, building on her work with high school and college students elsewhere, including at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Jill was recognized as part of the Central New York Business Journal’s “40 Under Forty” awards in 2017 and has served on numerous municipal and non-profit boards. Jill is delighted to call Central New York home, but will always be a proud cheesehead, originally hailing from Marshfield, Wisconsin.

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Melissa Crespo is a director of new plays, musicals, and opera. Upcoming: Sheepdog by Kevin Artigue at The Contemporary American Theatre Festival. She looks forward to directing next season’s Clean/ Espejos by Christine Quintana, coproduced with Hartford Stage. As a playwright, her play Egress, co-written with Sarah Saltwick, received the Roe Green Award at Cleveland Playhouse and has since been produced by Amphibian Stage, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Theatreworks Hartford. Fellowships and residencies include: Time Warner Fellow (WP Theatre), Usual Suspect (NYTW), The Director’s Project (Drama League), Van Lier Directing Fellow (Second Stage Theatre), and the Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow (Arena Stage). Melissa received her M.F.A. in directing from The New School for Drama. She is a founding editor of 3Views on Theater and was featured in the 2020 Broadway Women’s Fund “Women to Watch on Broadway”.