2009 Company
Jenny Allen - Writer, Actor
This season: First I Got Sick Then I Got Better
Jenny Allen is a writer and performer. Her profiles, essays and reviews have appeared for years in many magazines, including the New Yorker, The New York Times, New York, Vogue, Esquire, and More. Recent essays appear in "Disquiet, Please!" a new anthology of humor pieces from the New Yorker, and in "Feed Me," a collection of essays about women and food. She is the author of a book of fables for grown-ups called "The Long Chalkboard", illustrated by her husband, Jules Feiffer. She helped originate the '80's comedy group Serious Bizness and has perfromed in productions of Jules' Blues and in readings of Spalding Grey: Stories Left to Tell. She produces and performs stand-up comedy evenings in Manhattan. I Got Sick Then I Got Better was first performed on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 2007; since then James Lapine has been collaborating with Allen and with Darren Katz on shaping and expanding the material, under the aegis of New York Theatre Workshop, which will produce the show this fall in New York. She has two children, Halley, 24, an actress, and Julie, 14, a ninth grader, as well as a stepdaughter, Kate.
Ryan Anderson - Production Stage Manager
This season: The Bald Soprano; Laughing Wild; Speech And Debate
After two summers of interning/apprenticeship, Ryan is thrilled to be back for a third season at WHAT as the Resident Stage Manager of the Harbor Stage. Past WHAT Credits include: Fabuloso, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Pillowman, What the Butler Saw, Ride, Hunter Gatherers, Matt and Ben, Dark Yellow, and Mojo. He was also the Sound Designer for last summer's Short Stack. Boston Area Stage Management credits: The Miracle at Naples (Huntington Theatre Company), Angels in America (Boston Theatre Works, Elliot Norton - Best Production), Miss Margaret LaRue in Millwaukee and Comp (Boston Playwrights' Theatre) and Sound Designer for Uncle Vanya: Finita La Comedia (Boston Art Theatre). Ryan will be entering his senior year at Boston University this fall, where he has worked on productions such as: What the Butler Saw, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lizzie Stranton, and Tartuffe; and has also been the Sound Designer for: Bug, Paper, and Minotaur.
Elizabeth Atkeson - Actor
This season: Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed
New York: La MaMa ETC (Waxing West, Dir. Benjamin Mosse,), Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Inst. (Rosura, Life is a Dream). Member: Circle Rep lab., New York Theatre Workshop, Rapp Theatre Co., Village Theatre Co., Greenwich St. Theatre, Regional: W.H.A.T.; World Premier "Fabuloso" written and directed by John Kolvenbach, Great Lakes Theatre; The Lady from Maxims, Dividing the Estate (with Horton Foote), King Lear (Hal Holbrook), La Ronde. The North Carolina Stevens Center for the Arts, San Jose Stage, Shakespeare Santa Cruz (favorite roles include Juliet/Romeo and Juliet, Portia/ Merchant of Venice, Katherine/ Henry V, Lavinia/ Titus Andronicus, Luciana/ Comedy of Errors), Westport Country Playhouse International: ACT Theatre, Bucharest, Sibiu Int'l Theatre Fest., Drama Labbet, Stockholm (Waxing West) Film: Turn the River (Chris Eigeman dir.), Steelheel. Elizabeth is a member of The Theatre Artists Workshop in Connecticut.
Sarah Beals - Props Designer
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
Sarah Beals returns for a second season designing Props at WHAT. She is uniquely suited to this 'Jill of all trades' position, with a richly varied academic and vocational path. She attended the Program in Artisanry at BU, and the Museum School at Boston's MFA with a concentration in small metal sculpture, and went on to graduate from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in psychology. Along the way she has dabbled in darkroom photography, bonsai, roofing, tai chi, found object assemblage, crisis intervention, therapeutic massage, painting, amateur carpentry & origami. Thanks to the Outer Cape community for generously donating to area
swap shops and to the company at WHAT.
Victoria S Coady - Production Stage Manager
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
This season marks Victoria's third season as Production Stage Manager at WHAT, where she has worked on 9 productions at both the Harbor and the Julie Harris Stages. Boston credits include the world premiere of The Wrestling Patient with SpeakEasy Stage/ Boston Playwrights/ FortyMagnolias Productions, and Uncle Vanya: Finita La Comedia, the first production by Boston Art Theatre. New York credits include American Directors' Project 2008 with Theatre For A New Audience, Beirut with Manhattan Class Company, The Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta, Sore Throats, and All's Well That Ends Well with Theatre For A New Audience, as well as The Merchant of Venice on tour at The Royal Shakespeare Company. Regionally, she has worked at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The Wilma Theater, The Prince Music Theater, The American Repertory Theater and REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Stage Management from California Institute of the Arts, and is a member of Actors' Equity Association.
Amanda Collins - Actor
This season: The Bald Soprano; Speech And Debate
AMANDA COLLINS (Mrs. Martin) – is thrilled to be back at WHAT with the Harbor Company. Previous WHAT shows: Shortstack, What Then, WHAT at Willy's reading series, and with WHAT for Kids, The Three Sillies and Daisy in Daisy Crockett: Frontiersperson. Recent productions include Brecht's The Life of Galileo with Underground Railway Theater/Central Square Theater, Saroyan's The Time of Your Life with Fort Point Theatre Channel, The Woman in Black at Gloucester Stage, Plays on Tap at Centastage. Other theatres: Boston Theatre Works, Our Place Theatre Project, Harwich Junior Theater, and the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans. Amanda is a company member with Theatre Espresso, performing interactive, historical dramas at schools and courthouses across New England, and is part of PERCS at Children's Hospital Boston, a training program to improve the communication skills of medical professionals. She recently recorded the radio drama podcast, Lightsong, about the late musician Josh Clayton-Felt, and regularly voices audio books for children. A native of Brewster, Amanda received a BA in History and Theatre from Regis College.
Winslow Corbett - Actor
This season: Noises Off
Winslow Corbett last appeared at WHAT as Samantha in Fabuloso. Other credits include the national tour of The Graduate; David Copperfield at the Westport Country Playhouse, directed by Joanne Woodward; The Underpants at Playmakers Repertory, directed by Gene Saks; The Importance of Being Earnest at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre; The Learned Ladies, The Mother of Us All at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Arcadia, Grand Magic at ACT; Private Lives at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre; Ah, Wilderness! at Cincinnati Playhouse; Doubt at Capital Repertory Theatre; You Can’t Take It With You at the Rubicon Theatre; Born Yesterday at Santa Barbara’s Garvin Theatre; Pericles at Shakespeare & Company; The Skin Game at the Mint Theatre; Romulus Linney's Lark at Ensemble Studio Theatre; Noises Off at South Coast Repertory. Television credits includes "Change of Heart" for Lifetime, Comedy Central's "Stand Up Nation with Greg Giraldo."
Nicholas Dorr - Set Designer
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off
Among the many productions he has designed, Nicholas Dorr's favorites include "Heartbreak House" and "All My Sons" (Sacramento Theatre Co.), sets and costumes for both Aristophanes' "The Birds" and Sophocles' "Electra" (The Greek Theatre of New York"), "The Three Sisters" and "Little Murders" (The Actor's Conservatory Ensemble, L.A.) and the musical, "The Unified Field" ( The Los Angeles Theatre Center). He is the recipient of numerous awards including several Dramalogue Awards, the L.A. Weekly Award, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and the 2001 Ovation Award for his production of "West Side story" at the Civic Light Opera in Los Angeles. He has served as the resident designer for The Hermosa Beach Playhouse and The West Coast Ensemble, among others. His film credits include, "My girl", Ruby", "Albino Alligator" and "Life as a House" for which he created all the models. On Cape Cod he has designed "My One And Only" and "On Your Toes" (The Cape Playhouse), "An Ideal Husband" (Cotuit Center for the Arts), and "Private Lives", "Six Degrees of Separation" and "Steel Pier" (Cape Rep). Nicholas is also an accomplished actor and director. He is currently living here on Cape Cod with his wife, Mary and their two dogs, Lucy and Opal.
Mike Dorval - Writer, Actor
This season: Death by Chocolate
"One of Boston's Best". In a city famous for great comedians, that's how The Boston Globe described Mike Dorval. After doing comedy for only three months, Mike won the New Hampshire Comedy Festival, beating out some of the most established comics in New England and soon became one of the youngest headliners in Boston history.
Mike has been featured in Comedy Central's Laugh Riots, numerous television commercials, and stars in the upcoming independent film, "Dick Spicketts". Most recently he toured overseas for the USO, entertaining thousands of US military personnel abroad and released his first live comedy album entitled, "We need to talk…".
Mike's takes on his Catholic upbringing, love life, and the insanity of the world around him have entertained audiences at colleges and clubs across the country and prompted The Boston Herald to exclaim, "Michael Dorval is hilarious!"
Jonathan Fielding - Actor
This season: The Bald Soprano; Laughing Wild; Speech And Debate
Jonathan is pleased to have performed in Shortstack, The Mistakes Madeline Made, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago at W.H.A.T. Other credits include the Broadway productions of Pygmalion with Roundabout Theatre Company and The Seagull (u/s) at the Walter Kerr. He last performed for the grand re-opening of the Ford's Theatre in DC in The Heavens are Hung in Black commemorating the 200th aniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Other theaters: Amphibian Stage Productions, Circle Theater, Public Theatre of Maine, The Misa Table, and Milesquare Theatre. TV: Guiding Light. Thanks to Amanda.
Stacy Fischer - Actor
This season: Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
Stacy Fischer's WHAT credits include: Sexual Perversity in Chicago; The Mistakes Madeline Made; Shortstack; Dark Yellow and Public Exposure. A graduate of Emerson College, her other Boston area credits include: My Name is Rachel Corrie (New Repertory Theatre); The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (Nora Theatre Company); Theresa at Home (Village Theatre Project/Boston Playwright's Theatre); Permanent Whole Life (Boston Playwright's Theatre); The Sanctuary Lamp (Sugan Theatre); The Violet Hour (Stoneham Theatre); The Merchant of Venice; Twelfth Night; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Much Ado About Nothing; The Winter's Tale; and Macbeth (Publick Theatre). A Month in the Country (Huntington Theatre); Life x3 (Gloucester Stage); Our Lady of 121st Street and The Shape of Things (Speakeasy Stage Company); Book of Days (Lyric Stage); Romeo & Juliet (North Shore Music Theatre); and Heart of Jade (CentaStage).ÂÂ
Nancy Giles - Actor
This season: Nancy Giles & Friends: A Day and a Night of Political Conversation & Comedy
NANCY GILES is currently a contributor to the Peabody Award winning “CBS News Sunday Morning,†voicing her opinions on everything from politics and race to plus-sizes and Janet Jackson's famed “wardrobe malfunction.†She was also part of the ensemble cast of the Emmy Award winning drama series China Beach and the comedy series Delta (starring Delta Burke), both on ABC; and was the announcer and sometimes co-host of Fox After Breakfast.
Recent film: Joshua, directed by George Ratliff (premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival), Superheroes, directed by Alan Brown, and the documentary Before the Music Dies directed by Andrew Shapter. In the films True Crime, Angie, Working Girl, Big, and Loverboy she worked with such directors as Clint Eastwood (what a mensch), Mike Nichols, Woody Allen, Penny Marshall, and Kevin Bacon. On radio she was Jay Thomas' sidekick on “The Jay Thomas Morning Show†(Jammin' 105, New York City), and co-hosted “Giles and Moriarty†with CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty (WPHT-AM, Philadelphia). That show won back-to-back “Gracies†(from American Women in Radio and Television) for Best Radio Talk Show. She and Erin reunited on radio this year with “The World According to Giles and Moriarty,†co-produced by CBS and Greenstone Media. Nancy's toured with Chicago's Second City, and has written and performed two solo pieces: Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism and Notes of a Negro Neurotic. She's adapting that material, her essays, and other autobiographical and embarrassing stories for a book she's praying people will buy.
Richard Hamburger - Director
This season: The Blue Room
Richard Hamburger was Artistic Director of the Dallas Theater Center from 1992 - 2007. Prior to that he was the Artistic Director of Portland Stage Company ('87-'92). Some of the productions he has directed are, The Illusion by Tony Kushner, Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz, Dreamlandia by Octavio Solis (World Premiere), My Fair Lady by Lerner and Loewe, Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Big Love by Charles L. Mee, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, The Sternheim Project: The Unmentionables and The Snob, two plays by Carl, Sternheim in a contemporary adaptation by Melissa Cooper, Paul Lampert and, Kate Sullivan (World Premiere), The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, An Experiment with an Air Pump by Shelagh Stephenson, Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser, The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein, Tartuffe by Moliere, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Dark Rapture by Eric Overmyer, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, Santos & Santos by Octavio Solis, Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill, Room Service by John Murray and Alan Boretz, Angels in America by Tony Kushner, Parts One and Two, All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare, Sharon and Billy by Alan Bowne (East Coast Premiere), Wolf at the Door by Erik Ehn (World Premiere), The Substance of Fire by Jon Robin Baitz, The Hostage by Brendan Behan, Breaking The Silence by Stephen Poliakoff (American Premiere), Little Egypt by Lynn Siefert (East Coast Premiere), Miss Julie by August Strindberg, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, adapted by Stephen Jeffries, The Mandrake by Niccolo Macchiavelli, adapted by Wallace Shawn and Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (Co-production with Juilliard Theatre, Center),
John Hancock - Director
This season: Noises Off
John Hancock's directorial debut was the hit Off-Broadway production of Brecht's A Man's A Man. This was followed by Robert Lowell's Endicott and the Red Cross at the American Place Theatre, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Theater de Lys with sets by Jim Dine, for which Hancock received the Obie Award.
His success on the New York stage led to his being appointed Artistic Director of the famed San Francisco Actors Workshop and later to directing assignments at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the New Repertory Theatre Company in New York. Hancock has received widespread critical acclaim for his approach to the work of many contemporary and classic playwrights. He worked closely on several occasions with Tennessee Williams, who says in his autobiography that of all the directors he ever worked with, Hancock was "the most gifted for cuts and transpositions."
Hancock's feature film credits include Bang The Drum Slowly (Paramount), California Dreaming (AIP), Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Paramount), Baby Blue Marine (Columbia), Weeds (DEG), and the Christmas classic Prancer (Orion), starring Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Abe Vigoda and Rebecca Harrell, which he shot on his family's fruit farm in LaPorte County, Indiana.
Adam Harrington - Actor
This season: Noises Off
Adam is happy to be back performing at WHAT, where he has appeared in The Pillowman, What The Butler Saw, and Mojo. New York: Righteous Acts Like Filthy Rags (2002 Director's Lab, Lincoln Center). Los Angeles: Tartuffe (Boston Court Theatre/Pasadena,CA), Ivona, Princess of Burgundia (Sacred Fools Theater), Funny Business: The Musical (Coronet Theater), A La Porte (dir:Wendy Goldberg, UCLA Little Theater); All's Well That Ends Well (UCLA Little Theater). Film: Iron Man, Partners, Torque, Speed Dating. TV: Dirt (Guest Star), Kevin Hill (Guest Star), Scrubs (Guest Star), Heroes (Co-Star), The Shield (Co-Star), Enterprise (Co-Star), Felicity (Co-Star).
Brendan Hughes - Director
This season: The Bald Soprano; Laughing Wild; Speech And Debate
I grew up on a commune outside Boston -- on a piece of land originally owned by the inventor of rubber gloves -- where I regularly consorted with a lazy bull named Stanley. At twenty-two, I took over a small theatre space in Boston and built its infrastructure from scratch, producing four seasons of plays before heading off to the Yale School of Drama. Since graduating, I have directed dozens of productions in regional theatres around the country and in New York, as well as educational environments like Yale and Harvard. I have recently turned my attention to film and am now based in Los Angeles. I still maintain my theatrical roots in the summertime, however, serving as 'Impresario of the Harbor Stage' at WHAT(the greatest title, and the only one in Italian, that I have ever held).
In addition to directing films and theatrical productions, I have recently launched a lecture series about what the hell we're going to do, artistically, with this infant of a century.
Darren Katz - Director
This season: I Got Sick Then I Got Better
Darren Katz is director of the current national touring company of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. Other recent directing credits include HAPPY SUNSHINE KUNG FU FLOWER (Zipper Factory); workshops of FALLING by Hyeyoung Kim and Dina Gregory (produced by Michael Park) and A DAY WITH A THOUSAND FACES by Tarik Davis; also, readings of GRAND DELUSION by David Rock (produced by Red Dog Squadron) and WHAT'S REALLY NICE by Halley Feiffer (Second Stage). Along with composer-lyricist Tom Wilson Weinberg and bookwriter Peggy Stafford, Darren is developing a new music-theater piece entitled SUNRISE AT HYDE PARK, which explores the relationship between Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt. He is also directing NYU students at the Strasberg Institute in the creation of an original piece inspired by the life and work of Henry Darger, which had its first workshop in February. Darren recently returned from Los Angeles where he was Associate Director to Kathy Najimy on BACK TO BACHARACH AND DAVID. For James Lapine, he was the Resident Director for the Broadway production of SPELLING BEE, as well as the Associate Director for the San Francisco/Boston and the 1st national touring productions. As Assistant Director he also worked with Michael Blakemore, Scott Ellis, Lois Weaver and Holly Hughes.
Subtractive Media - Actors, Writers, Directors
This season: The Happy Oyster Spectacular Show
Subtractive Media is a comedy troupe led by David Kennedy that produced comedy shorts for the Web and radio bits for PRI's show Marketplace. They have won several awards for comedy and have had sketches air on WGBH/PBS Television. You can see some of their sketches at: http://www.funnyordie.com/subtractive_media
Robert Kropf - Actor
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
Robert Kropf last appeared as Bernie in Sexual Perversity In Chicago. Other WHAT credits include Beane in Love Song, Robert in On An Average Day, Peter in Bug, Lenny in the Homecoming, Bill in Public Exposure, Dan in Closer, Limping Man in Fuddy Meers and Private Eyes-among others. Most recent credits include Astrov in Uncle Vanya (Also directed with Boston Art Theatre), the title role in Cyrano and White People at the New Repertory Theatre & Juan in Anna In The Tropics at the Provincetown Theatre. A graduate of the American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard University, Bob originated the role of John Strasberg in Robert Brustien's Nobody Dies on Friday, as well as Woyceck and Elis in Easter. Other credits include Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, Launce in The Two Gentleman of Verona at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Konstantine in The Seagull in Chicago, Warplay and SLAM! at the Yale Cabaret, as well as Bloody Poetry, Hamlet, Miss Julie & Waiting For Godot with the Ritual Theatre Company, all of which he also directed.
James Lapine - Director
This season: I Got Sick Then I Got Better
JAMES LAPINE Broadway (as book writer and director): Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Passion, Falsettos (with William Finn), Dirty Blonde (by Claudia Shear and conceived with her); as director: Golden Child, The Diary of Anne Frank, Amour, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway: wrote the plays Table Settings; Twelve Dreams; Luck, Pluck and Virtue; The Moment When; and Fran's Bed. Three Tony Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, a Pulitzer Prize with Stephen Sondheim for Sunday in the Park With George.
Nathan Leigh - Sound Designer
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
Nathan Leigh's past designs include Shining City, The Pillowman, Red Light Winter, On An Average Day, Clean House, What Then, and Love Song. As a composer, sound designer, orchestrator, and music director, Nathan has worked with countless theatres across the Northeast including Boston Theatre Works, Speakeasy Stage, The Brown Trinity Consortium, Tufts Theatre, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Gloucester Stage, Harwich Junior Theatre, Providence Black Rep, Centastage, Company One, The Village Theatre Project, Foothills Theatre, Sugan Theatre, The Debate Society, Perishable Theatre, and The Berkshire Theatre Festival. His Design for The Debate Society's The Eaten Heart was The Gothamist's 2007 Sound Design of the year.
Matt Mahurin - Graphic Designer
This season: All Show Images:Julie and Harbor
Over twenty years as an illustrator, photographer, film director and teacher. Political and social illustrations for Time, Newsweek, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Esquire, The London Observer and New York Times Op-Ed pages. Photographic essays on the homeless, people with AIDS, Texas prison system, Abortion clinics, mental hospitals, Nicaragua, Haiti, Belfast, Mexico, Japan and France. Published three books of personal fine-art photographs. Photographs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Directed music videos for Peter Gabriel, U2, REM, Tracy Chapman, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, Ice-T, Metallica, David Byrne, and Joni Mitchell. Wrote and directed the feature film, "Mugshot" which won best film at the 1996 Hamptons Film Festival. Documentary “I Like Killing Flies" chosen 2004 Sundance Film Festival and to be released theatrically in 2005.
Gold and silver medals from The Society of Illustrators; MVPA Lifetime Achievement award for Directing; 40 TIME Magazine covers; Contributed political drawings to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Op-Ed page for 22 years. Continues to teach workshops and lectures on the craft of image making at schools and professional organizations. Lives in New York.
John Malinowski - Lighting Designer
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
John R. Malinowski attended Harvard University as an undergraduate,as well as the American Repertory Theater Institute for Advanced Theatre Training
where he studied design under Robert Brustein (1989-1990). He designed lighting for several productions at the original Hasty Pudding Theater, including: St. Nicholas (ART/Sugan), Jackie: An American Life (pre-Broadway), and In Twilight: Scenes from Chekhov (ART).
Past productions at WHAT (since 1989) include Fabuloso, Pillowman, Buried Child, Cosmologies, Ruby Tuesday, 7 Blowjobs, Simpatico, Oleanna, and The Baltimore Waltz. He has designed over 150 productions throughout the country, many world premieres, since 1985. In Boston, he recently designed Angels in America (Parts I and II), the Boston premieres of Caroline, or Change, Take Me Out, Homebody/Kabul and Not About Nightingales. In 1996, he received an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Lighting. He has received 3 IRNE awards (Boston) and a Tennessean Award for his lighting of Cyrano at Tennessee Rep. He was a NEA/TCG Fellow from 2000 - 2002. He is on the faculty of Suffolk and Northeastern University and is the Guest Artist at Harvard University for Fall 2008.
David Nelson - Actor
This season: Noises Off
David Nelson: NY Theatre includes The Parting Glass (1st Irish Festival, Origin Theatre), Love of a Pig (NY Premiere, The Cardinal Group), Dangerous Corner (Boomerang Theatre), As You Like It (Reduxion Theatre), The Garden Party (Oracle Theatre), There's Always a Band (Samuel French Festival), Breakfast for Dinner (Oracle Theatre), The Great White Hope (Brave New World). Regional Theatre: Roberto Zucco (Cutting Ball), The Merchant of Venice (Women in Time), Twelfth Night (ARTfarm), Love, Sex and the IRS (La Commedia). Film: The Art of Failure (HBO), Open Up! (Major Productions). He currently studies under Michael Howard and is a proud member of Oracle Theatre.
Todd Olson - Director
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep
Todd Olson has been the Producing Artistic Director at American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg, FL for the past four seasons. For American Stage Todd has directed several plays which have been recognized by Weekly Planet "Best of the Bay" Awards for "Top-10 Productions of the Year" and "Best Director," including Stones in His Pockets, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, I Am My Own Wife, Anna in the Tropics, and Dinner With Friends, the highest-attended production in American Stage's history. In 2005 American Stage was cited awarded "Best Theatre Company" in the Tampa Bay-area by both Tampa Bay Magazine and The Weekly Planet.
Before coming to Florida in 2003, Todd spent three seasons as Associate Artistic Director at Tennessee Repertory Theatre where he directed productions of Wit, Cyrano de Bergerac, An Ideal Husband, How I Learned to Drive, Dinner with Friends, The Miracle Worker, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Francis of Guernica, and A Christmas Carol, winning a dozen annual Nashville "Tennie" Awards for "Best Production" and "Best Director."
Todd lives in Seminole, Florida with his wife, Charlotte, and their children Jonas (7), Corinna (5), and May (3).
Dafydd Rees - Actor
This season: Noises Off
DAFYDD REES returns to WHAT after appearing in Shining City last season. Other WHAT credits include Closer, The Homecoming and Private Jokes, Public Places. In Boston, he has worked for the Publick Theatre (Humble Boy, Travesties, The Seagull and Hay Fever), the Lyric Stage (The Importance Of Being Earnest and 1776), the Huntington Theatre Company (The Corn Is Green), the Sugan Theatre Company (Gagarin Way and Talking To Terrorists) and the Stoneham Theatre (The Mousetrap). He has also authored more than two dozen books, his latest - just published - are Dylan and Marley. He is also the co-producer of Gabriel Powell's debut CD, Albany.
Stephen Russell - Writer, Director
This season: Puss in Boots: The astonishing adventures of Ocelot Ugg
Stephen Russell has been the W4K Impresario since the first season in 2002. Other plays for young audiences include Rapunzel, Marion of Sherwood, The Wild Swans, The Colony of the Cats, The Three Sillies, The Very Sad Tale of the Late Mr. Stiltskin, Xenia Hedgehog's Academy of Etiquette for Naughty Boys and Girls and Daisy Crockett, Frontiersperson! He has been a mainstay on the mainstage of WHAT for over 20 years and has also acted with the Huntington Theatre Company, New Repertory Theatre, Stoneham Theatre and the Lyric Theatre. He can be seen in the feature film The Golden Boys, aka Chatham. He lives and works in Wellfleet and is a proud member of Actors' Equity and the Screen Actors Guild.
Dakota Shepard - Actress
This season: The Bald Soprano
Dakota Shepard has a BA in Drama from Vassar College and completed the Two Year Professional Actor Training Program at the Maggie Flanigan Studio in NYC. Dakota has most recently appeared as Bertha in "Wintertime" at the Cape Cod Repertory Theatre and as Cecile in "Is He Dead?" at the Academy Playhouse in Orleans. WHAT credits include Matt in "Matt and Ben," Daisy in "Daisy Crockett, Frontiersperson! (WHAT 4 Kids)," Mrs. Van Buren in "Intimate Apparel," and the readings of "Mrs. Whitney" and "Slasher" this past winter.
Carol Sherry - Costume and Wig Designer
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off; The Little Dog Laughed; The Blue Room
Back for her third season at WHAT, some of her favorites here have been Ride, Fabuloso, Indian Blood, Intimate Apparel, and Hunter Gatherers. Other Cape Cod credits include The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Counter Productions), The Goat, Baltimore Waltz, Camille, Streakin' (Provincetown Theater), School for Wives and Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare on the Cape). In NY she recently re-opened Flamingo Court (New World Stages). Other NY credits Gemini the Musical, The Bubble (NYMF), Orfeo (ARTEK), Daniel and the Lions, Sponsus, The Raising of Lazarus (Early Music New York). Carol has been the wig designer for Forbidden Broadway (NY and tours) for 11 years, assistant wig supervisor for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular for 13 seasons and costume shop manager at The Juilliard School. Carol lives in NY with her son Ben and spends as much time as possible at her family's home in P'town.
Tom Patrick Stephens - Actor
This season: The Mystery of Irma Vep; Noises Off;
Tom is thrilled to be back for his second season with WHAT, after appearing last year as Tupolski in The Pillowman. Theater: Parlour Song (Atlantic Theater Company); Sleuth (Paper Moon Players). (UK): Waiting For Godot; Abigail's Party (both at Attenborough Theater, Leicester). Film: Baby Mama; Appropriate Sex (directed by WHAT filmmaker Shandor Garrison). TV: John Adams; 30 Rock; One Life To Live; As The World Turns. Tom is a busy voiceover actor, and recently played DJ Gary Sheen in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto 4.
Danielle Tolley - Actor
This season: Noises Off;
New York Theatre: People Without History by Richard Maxwell (The Performing Garage), Emergence (The Producers Club), Feisty Pussy (Samuel French Festival). Other Theatre: The Crucible, Stones in His Pockets, Comedy of Errors, As You Like It. TV: Six Degrees, Most Evil. Film: I Am Legend, several shorts. Produced the Off-Broadway World Premiere of A Perfect Couple, by Brooke Berman, with WET (Women's Expressive Theater) and WET’s media literacy series for teenage girls, Risk Takers. Is the Resident Casting Director for Strait 90's Productions and previously worked as a Casting Associate for Mark Summers Casting, UK. Narrated the award-winning documentary, Dying to Get In. BFA in Acting from Elon University.
Daisy Walker - Director
This season: The Little Dog Laughed
Daisy Walker's WHAT directing credits include, Private Eyes, Stonewall Jackson's House, A Day in the Life of Denise Ivanovich and Hazard County. Uncle Vanya and Brian Friel's After Play Hubbard Hall, Cambridge, NY. Calling All by Melanie Marnich & Consumption by Courtney Baron, The Guthrie Lab (Minn). Antonio's Revenge First Look Festival, Classic Stage Company NYC. 24 hour plays, Atlantic Theatre NYC. Guitar by Julia Jordan, music by Duncan Sheik, La Jolla Playhouse. As Thousands Cheer at the Adirondack Theatre Festival Hedda Gabler University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/Guthrie Theater BFA program. She is currently associate director on Jersey Boys for Broadway , 1st National Tour, Chicago and Vegas companies. Assistant Directing credits include, Sinatra, His Music, His World, His Way at Radio City Music Hall, and Twelfth Night in Central Park, The Public Theatre/NYSF. Formerly Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company in NYC. 2005 Recipient of SSDC Sir John Gielgud Fellowship. She has an MFA from UCSD.
Lewis D. Wheeler - Actor
This season: The Bald Soprano
Lewis D. Wheeler is delighted to be back as a theatrical longshoreman hoisting plays on the Wellfleet docks. Previously at WHAT: Last Train to Nibroc, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, What the Butler Saw, What Then. He just completed Brecht's The Life of Galileo at Underground Railway/Central Square Theater in Cambridge and Playboy of the Western World (Christy) at Wellesley Summer Theatre. Other credits: Pinter's No Man's Land (IRNE nominee, Best Supporting Actor) (American Repertory Theatre); Doubt (Gloucester Stage); The Importance of Being Earnest, A Number, The Underpants, The Glass Menagerie (Lyric Stage); Arcadia (IRNE nominee, Best Actor), Comedy of Errors, Troilus and Cressida (Publick Theatre); Silence, Cyrano (New Rep); Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew (Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.); Butley (Huntington Theatre); Julius Caesar, title roles in Hamlet and Macbeth (Shakespeare Now); The Mousetrap (Stoneham); The Weir (TCAN); A Perfect Ganesh (Vineyard Playhouse). Film and television: The Company Men (upcoming) with Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones, Gone Baby Gone, Underdog, Pink Panther 2, Laddie in Louisa May Alcott (PBS), Brotherhood (Showtime). Lewis studied theatre and film at Cornell University and received his MFA from the American Film Institute (AFI).
Brenda Withers - Actor
This season: The Bald Soprano; Laughing Wild; Speech And Debate
Brenda Withers is completely delighted to return to the Harbor where she appeared last season in Short Stack and The Mistakes Madeline Made. Regional and NY credits include The Less We Talk (Ontological), Pride and Prejudice (Denver Center), Tina Landau's Midsummer (McCarter, Paper Mill), Know Dog (Luna Stages), Twelfth Night (Arizona Theatre Company), Me (The Ohio), Almost Maine (Hudson Stage), and pieces at the US Comedy Arts Festival at Aspen and the Texas Shakespeare Festival. She co-wrote and starred in Matt & Ben (PS122), is a co-founder of Lucid Theatre (My Heart Split in Two, The MacGuffin?), and recently completed a playwriting fellowship at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College.