A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Tom Story (The D’Ysquith Family) is thrilled to return to Olney Theatre Center where he appeared as Ms Trunchbull in Matilda and Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret. He has appeared in over 80 plays in New York, DC and cities throughout the country and has directed ten productions. He recently won a Helen Hayes Award for Best Director of a play for The Inheritance at Roundhouse Theatre. He is a graduate of Duke University and The Juilliard School and has been nominated for ten Helen Hayes Awards

JACOB TISCHLER (Monty Navarro) went through a pandemic and grad school before returning to OLNEY THEATRE CENTER! Previous credits: Singin’ in the Rain (Cosmo)[Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical]. REGIONAL: Walnut Street Theatre: Saturday Night Fever (Tony Manero), Comedy of Tenors (Carlo); Northern Stage: Peter and Wendy (Captain Hook), Waitress (Ogie). WRITER/PRODUCER: Business Business Business (Circus Academy New York), LIQUID: A Punk Rock Circus (New York Circus Project), Ventriculus (Chelsea Film Fest, Lake Placid Film Fest). EDUCATION: BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University, MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California. Instagram: @yaycub.tischler

DONNA MIGLIACCIO (Miss Shingle) is delighted to be back at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. Previous Olney Theatre credits include Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Lend Me A Soprano, Cabaret, On The Town, Bakersfield Mist, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Sound of Music. BROADWAY: War Paint, Ragtime (2009 revival). NATIONAL TOUR: Guys and Dolls. REGIONAL: Kennedy Center: Sunday in the Park with George, Oliverio: A Brazilian Twist. Signature Theatre: The Threepenny Opera, Gypsy, Beaches, Assassins, Sweeney Todd. Arena Stage, The Music Man. Ford’s Theatre: Liberty Smith, Sabrina Fair. Alabama Shakespeare Festival: The Little Mermaid. Arden Theatre: The Dinosaur Musical. Two-time Helen Hayes Award winner, twelve additional nominations

SUMIÉ YOTSUKURA (Sibella) is elated to return to OLNEY THEATRE CENTER! Olney Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof, Beauty & the Beast. DC AREA: Arena Stage: Death on the Nile, Unknown Soldier; Signature Theatre: Soft Power, King of the Yees; Keegan Theatre: Merrily We Roll Along; Ford’s Theatre: 1776, Sister Act; Imagination Stage: Dory Fantasmagory, The Snowman & the Snowdog; The Kennedy Center: The Mortification of Fovea Munson; Creative Cauldron: Sondheim Tribute Revue; Round House Theatre: Jennifer, Who Is Leaving. REGIONAL: Transcendence Theatre Company: The Full Monty. EDUCATION: BA in Theatre and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies from William & Mary. For my family & for Steven—thank you for everything. IG: @sumie.yotsukura

SADIE KOOPMAN (Phoebe) is thrilled to be making her OLNEY THEATRE CENTER debut. DC AREA: NextStop Theatre Company: DreamHou$e (Ensemble/Tessa u/s); Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy: 
The Rover (Lucetta/Band Member), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet). REGIONAL: Quintessence Theatre Group: The Pirates of Penzance (Edith/Pirate/Mabel u/s), Rare Accidents: Henry IV pts 1 & 2 Abridged (Lady Percy/Doll Tearsheet/others). Sadie wouldn’t be where she is today without her family of music makers and storytellers. She dedicates this performance (and every performance) to them, and to every kid who learned early on that growing up can be tough, but stories and music can be their own kind of home. EDUCATION: MFA in Classical Acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy; BMs in Musical Theatre and Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University. Instagram: 
@sadie.koopman Website: sadiekoopman.com

SIMONE BALLINGER-BROWN (Ensemble, U/S Phoebe) DC AREA: OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Beautiful, The Carol King Musical (Shirelle/Uptown Singer), Fela! (Adejoonwo) [Helen Hayes winner for Best Ensemble], Ford’s: A First Look, Elysian Fields, Sister Act (Michelle/Nun Chorus) [Helen Hayes nominated for Best Ensemble], Studio Theatre: Good Bones (Aisha u.s.) [World Premiere], Signature Theatre: Into The Woods (Rapunzel) [Helen Hayes nominated for  Best Ensemble] Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Rocky (Linda McKenna), The Bodyguard (Rachel Marron u.s., ensemble); Keegan Theatre: Good People (Kate), Women on Fire Festival; Unexpected Stage Company: Nothing to Lose; Adventure Theatre Center: Snowy Day (Female Player u.s.); Opus Concert Theatre: Carmen (Frasquita); HCC Theatre: Heathers, The Musical (Heather Chandler); Kensington Arts Theatre: Sweeney Todd (Johanna). REGIONAL: Charlottesville Opera: The Sound of Music (Sister Margaretta, Maria u.s.), The Merry Widow (Joujou), La Boheme (Chorus), Opera in The Park, Broadway at Belfield; Chicago Summer Opera: Die Zauberflöte.

EDUCATION: Xavier University of Louisiana: BM, Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins: MM. 

www.simonebrownsoprano.com @simoneami 

@blackprincessdmv

ANNA MARIA C. FERRARI (Ensemble, U/S Sibella, Dance Captain) DC AREA: OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Hello, Dolly! (Ermengarde, U/S Irene Molloy), Little Miss Perfect (Swing); The Keegan Theatre: Seussical (Swing, Dance Captain) [2024 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble and Production], Legally Blonde (Chutney, Ensemble); NextStop Theatre: Footloose (Wendy Jo, US Ariel); Adventure Theatre: Huck Finn’s Big River (Mary Jane). Boston Conservatory: Candide in Concert (Dance Ensemble), Horse Girls (Robin). Tisch New Theatre Workshop: This Old Haunt (Penelope). EDUCATION: BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch. Instagram: @annamariacferrari Website: annamariacferrari.com

BENJAMIN LURYE (Ensemble, U/S Monty) is so happy to return to his hometown theater. Also at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Forever Plaid, South Pacific in concert. DC AREA: Signature Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Toby’s Dinner Theatre, ATMTC, many more. REGIONAL: Gulfshore Playhouse: Sweet Charity (Charlie/Vittorio/Oscar); North Shore Music Theatre: Titanic (Charles Clarke) [Elliot Norton Award-Outstanding Ensemble]; Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival: The Last Five Years; TUTS: Frozen (Weselton), Sweeney Todd (Pirelli) [Houston Theatre Awards-Best Musical]; Opera in The Heights: The Light in the Piazza (Fabrizio); Riverside Theatre (FL): Gentleman’s Guide. TV: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Online: benlurye.com; IG/TT: @ben_lurye_sings_high

CANTER IRENE O’MAY (Ensemble/US The D’Ysquith Family) (she/they) is thrilled to be making her OLNEY THEATRE CENTER debut!! DC area credits include: Brass Jar Productions: Drunk Shakespeare; Iron Crow Theatre: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Yitzhak), The Rocky Horror Show (Eddie/Dr.Scott), Hurricane Diane. REGIONAL: Virginia Repertory Theatre: 9 to 5 (Roz); Mountain Theatre Company: The Rocky Horror Show (Eddie/Dr. Scott); Significant Productions: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Barfee), Urinetown (Barrel); Waterfront Playhouse: Something Rotten (Nostradamus), All is Calm (The Christmas Truce of 1914). EDUCATION: Foundational Degree in Musical Theatre from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Instagram: @canter_oma

DECARLO J. RASPBERRY (Ensemble) (he/him) is making his OLNEY THEATRE CENTER debut. NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL: Disney On Classic 2025: Harmony Japan (Scar); Disney Treasure: (Original Sage), Disney Fantasy: Aladdin, (Genie), Frozen, (Grand Pabbie). DC AREA: The Kennedy Center: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Pigeon/Businessman u/s); Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Kinky Boots (Lola), Dreamgirls (Curtis Taylor Jr.), The Little Mermaid (Sebastian) [Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical], The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Clopin), SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical (Patrick Star); Monumental Theatre Company: Pippin (King Charles) [Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble], Brooklyn the Musical (Streetsinger) [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical]. EDUCATION: B.M. Vocal Performance/Opera from The Boston Conservatory. Instagram: @decarloj.raspberry TikTok: @decarloraspberry

KAREN VINCENT (Ensemble, U/S Miss Shingle) is happy to be back at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER after appearing in The World Goes Round and Hello Dolly! Other DC regional credits include Chéz Joey (Arena Stage); Sister Act, Into the Woods, Ragtime (Ford’s Theatre); Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play (Adventure Theatre); A Year with Frog and Toad, (Imagination Stage). She is the singer for The Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, The Melting Pot Big Band, and is an active member of the Grace Episcopal Church Chancel Choir. Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music

WYNTER NICOLE COOK (Swing) is thrilled to be back at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. Hailing from Detroit, MI she specializes in acting, singing and movement. Previous Olney Theatre credits include: Waitress (Ensemble/ U/S Nurse Norma) and Senior Class (Tiny). REGIONAL: Shakespeare Theatre Company: Staged Reading of Brown Girl, Brown Stones (Narrator); Woolly Mammoth: The Sensational Sea Mink-etts (U/S Keira/Aleyse Perf.); Theatre Alliance: Hot House New Works Block Party (Serne/Narrator/Ester/Jill) DC AREA: The Kennedy Center: Developmental workshops of Operation Sisterhood (Lil/Lee); Davis Performing Arts Center: Ybor City Workshop (Irina). Howard University: Black Nativity (Soloist/Ensemble); CONCERT: Wolf Trap & Signature Theatre: Broadway in the Park (Ensemble Vocalist); Green Room 42: In Their Key (Featured Vocalist). FILM: One-Shot; Secret Admirer. EDUCATION: BFA Musical Theatre from Howard University. Instagram/TikTok: @thewynter.nicole Website: wynternicolecook.com

MICHAEL E. MCGOVERN (Swing) is thrilled to be making his debut at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. DC AREA: The Keegan Theatre: Everything Is Wonderful (Jacob), The Minutes (Mr. Carp), Workhouse Arts Center: Into the Woods (Baker), Hunchback of Notre Dame (Claude Frollo), Creative Cauldron: Little Women (Mr. Laurence), Silhouette Stages: Fun Home (Bruce Bechdel), The Little Theatre of Alexandria: Jekyll & Hyde (Jekyll/Hyde), Annie (Daddy Warbucks), Much Ado About Nothing (Don Pedro). EDUCATION: BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan

Robert L. Freedman (Book and Lyrics)  won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Book of a Musical for the Tony-winning Best Musical of 2014, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. He was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Score, with composer and co-lyricist Steven Lutvak, with whom he shared the 2014 Drama Desk Award for Best Lyrics. Among his television career highlights, Robert won the Writers Guild Award for HBO’s A Deadly Secret, and was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Writers Guild award for the miniseries Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Other teleplays include Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, for which he received a third Writers Guild nomination; What Makes A Family, which received a GLAAD Award and for which Robert was a Humanitas finalist; What Love Sees, winner of the Silver Plaque at the Chicago International Television Festival; as well as the highly-rated true crime dramas Murder In The Hamptons, The Pastor’s Wife, Honor Thy Mother, and Bitter Blood. In 2006, Freedman and Lutvak received both the Fred Ebb Award for songwriting and the Kleban Award for lyric writing for their work on the musicals A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Campaign of the Century. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Robert has B.A. in Theatre from UCLA and an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing and Musical Theatre from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Robert is currently at work on a film for HBO and Sundance Films. He is married to actress Jean Kauffman, and they are the proud parents of Max Freedman, a writer and community activist living in Brooklyn

STEVEN LUTVAK (Music & Lyrics) Tony Award winning MTI author Steven Lutvak, co-author of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, passed away on October 9, 2023. He was 64 years old. Steven Lutvak made his Broadway debut with his score to A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, for which he supplied the music, and co-wrote the lyrics with Robert L. Freedman. A Gentleman’s Guide won the Drama League, the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama Desk and the Tony Awards for Best Musical of 2014. Since its successful run of over two years on Broadway, there have been two National Tours, and productions mounted in Sweden, Japan, and China. As a singer/songwriter, Mr. Lutvak performed his songs across the country, including at such prestigious New York venues as Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, The Oak Room at the Algonquin Hall, Rainbow and Stars, and The Russian Tea Room. Among the multitude of awards won for his achievements in musical theatre, Mr. Lutvak received the Johnny Mercer Emerging American Songwriting Award, the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Awards, and is the only two-time recipient of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grant

ELEANOR HOLDRIDGE (Director) Off-Broadway productions include world premieres of Selma ’65 (LaMaMa), Steve & Idi (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), and Cycling Past The Matterhorn (Clurman Theatre). Regional world premieres include Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Soprano, David Grimm’s adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists (Cincinnati Playhouse), NNPN Rolling World Premieres of Lauren Gunderson’s Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley and I and You, Meg Maroshnik’s Fickle: A Fancy French Farce, and Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ Queens Girl in the World (Theatre J). She has directed twenty-four of Shakespeare’s plays, some of them multiple times. Recently she has directed the Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Upcoming directing projects include a reading of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Cenci at The Red Bull Theatre and a production of Ken Ludwig’s Death on the Nile at the Alley Theatre next Spring. She is currently Professor and Chair of the Drama Department of Syracuse University and she holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama

ASHLEIGH KING (Choreographer) is thrilled to return to OLNEY THEATRE CENTER, where previous credits include Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She is a five time Helen Hayes Award winner. Some favorite credits are: DC AREA: Signature Theatre: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hair, Ragtime; Woolly Mammoth: Fairview, Teenage Dick, Sensational Sea-Minkettes; Ford’s Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Merry Wives; Studio Theater: Octet, Fun Home; Spooky Action: Tambo & Bones; Keegan Theater: Legally Blonde, Seussical; Imagination Stage: A Year With Frog and Toad; Adventure Theatre MTC: The Lightning Thief, She Persisted. REGIONAL: Northern Stage: Waitress, Spring Awakening, Spamalot; Red Mountain: Summer

CHRISTOPHER YOUSTRA (Music Director/Director of Music Theater) As resident music director, Mr. Youstra has music directed and conducted over 50 musicals at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER, including Hello, Dolly!, Waitress, Frozen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Soprano, Fiddler on the Roof, Kinky Boots, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, A.D. 16, Cabaret, Matilda, Once, On the Town, In the Heights, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Carmen: An Afro-Cuban Jazz Musical, Carousel, Godspell, and has also music directed at many of the other local theaters including Ford’s Theatre: Ragtime, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Studio Theatre 2nd Stage: Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, Jerry Springer: The Opera, Passing Strange; Studio Theatre: Adding Machine: A Musical; Round House Theatre: Next to Normal, Once on This Island, A Murder A Mystery A Marriage, The Summer of ‘42, and The World Goes ‘Round; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Les Misérables, The Color Purple, Titanic, Beauty and the Beast; Imagination Stage; The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences; Arena Stage; Burn Brae Dinner Theatre; Montgomery College; American University; Musical Theatre Center; Signature Theatre; and Columbia Center for the Theatrical Arts. He has also played for many theaters, including Guys and Dolls with the Kennedy Center Broadway Series.  Mr. Youstra has been nominated for thirteen Helen Hayes Awards and received the award for Titanic. He was director of music at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Columbia for 29 years, has worked with both Phoenix Productions and Troika Entertainment national touring companies and toured both Europe and Korea with Smokey Joe’s Café. As a composer, Mr. Youstra’s music has been heard throughout the area, including The Dancing Princesses at Imagination Stage, Big Nate: The Musical (with Jason Loewith), the Helen Hayes Awards, the 2014 Summer Hummer, and the opening gala of the ATLAS center

JOHN COYNE (Scenic Designer) has designed stage sets for numerous companies across the U.S. including Hayfever for The Olney Theatre Center; Jane Eyre and Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery at The Alley Theater; Hamlet and Macbeth for The Shakespeare Theatre Company; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for Alliance Theatre; Romeo & Juliet, Colossal, Les Miserables, Henry IV, Of Mice and Men and Tartuffe for Dallas Theater Center; Charly’s Aunt for Guthrie Theater; Rough Crossing for The Old Globe; and Hamlet for The Public Theater. Mr. Coyne’s design work has been seen at Goodspeed Musicals, Yale Repertory Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Triad Stage, Ford’s Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Center Stage, Geva Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage, The Julliard School and Chautauqua Theater Company, among others. Opera credits include Die Meistersingers von Nurnburg, The Ballad of Baby Doe and L’Elisir D’Amore at San Francisco Opera; Simon Boccenegra, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at San Diego Opera; and Die Fledermaus at Washington National Opera; as well as designs for New York City Opera, Fletcher Opera Theater, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center. John is the Director of Scenic Design at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and has an MFA in Scenic Design from Yale University

SARAH CUBBAGE (Costume Designer) (she/her/hers) Previously at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Waitress, The Crucible, Labour of Love; Off-Broadway: Orpheum Theatre, The Big Gay Jamboree (Obie Nomination), David Geffen Hall, Crazy for You (directed by Susan Stroman). DMV: Arena Stage: Exclusion; Round House Theatre: The Tempest, The Heal (co-produced with The Getty Villa), Spring Awakening; Signature Theatre: A Chorus Line; Baltimore Center Stage: Holes, That Face; Folger Theatre: The Winter’s Tale, King John; Studio Theatre: Fun Home, Kings,The Wolves, The Hard Problem; Mosaic: Unseen; Theater J: Compulsion or the House Behind, Actually; Other Regional: Alley Theatre: Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville; American Repertory Theatre: The Lily’s Revenge, The Shape She Makes; The REV Theatre Company: Loch Ness; Syracuse Stage: Disgraced, In The Next Room; Hangar Theatre: Gypsy. Disney Creative Entertainment/Disney Cruise Lines: The Tale Of Moana, Beauty & The Beast. Dance: Brooklyn Academy of Music: Kate Weare Company, Dark Lark; National Tour: Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, The Radio Show (Bessie Award). Film: A Clerk’s Tale, (director, James Franco) So Over You (director Karen Odyniec). Member USA 829. www.sarahcubbage.com

MINJOO KIM (Lighting Designer) is happy to return to OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. Previous Olney Theatre credits include: Waitress, Kim’s Convenience, and The Brothers Paranormal Off-Broadway credit: Did You Eat? ( 嫣 ‘歷棲?) at Public Theater, Demon at The Bushwick Starr. DC credits: Heart Sellers, English, Fat Ham at Studio Theatre, King of the Yees at Signature Theatre, The Comeuppance, The Sensational Sea-Minketets at Woolly Mammoth, Ink, The Great Leap at Round House. Regional credits: The Comeuppance at Wilma Theatre, American Fast at City Theatre, The Chief at Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Royale, Christmas Carol at Kansas City Rep, and Cambodian Rock Band at TheatreSquared. International credits: South Korea; The Two (Space Owul), Crimson Girl (Dongsoong Art Center), Die or Not (Seoul Art Space Mullae), China; Mask on/off (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre). Education: MFA in Theatrical Lighting Design from UC San Diego. BA in Theatrical Design from ChungAng University.  Website: minjoo-design.com

MATTHEW ROWE (Sound Designer) is proud to be back at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. Olney Theatre Center: Hello, Dolly!, Waitress, Frozen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Soprano, Fiddler on the Roof, The World Goes ‘Round, Kinky Boots, The Music Man, Headwig and the Angry Inch, A.D. 16, Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, Miss You Like Hell, Cabaret, Once, In The Heights, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, A Chorus Line; Kennedy Center: Orphie and the Book Of Heroes, First You Dream, Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred!), Nobody’s Perfect. MetroStage: The Last Five Years; Signature Theatre: No Place to Go, Miss Saigon, Company, The Last Five Years, Shakespeare’s R&J, Dreamgirls, Dying City, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Xanadu, God of Carnage, Brother Russia, Really Really, Hairspray [Helen Hayes nomination], A Second Chance, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, The Boy Detective Fails, The Hollow, Side by Side by Sondheim, Art, And the Curtain Rises, Sunset Boulevard, Walter Cronkite is Dead, A Fox on the Fairway, Chess, Sycamore Trees, [title of show], Sweeney Todd, Show Boat, First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb, Dirty Blonde, Giant, The Little Dog Laughed, Les Miserables, Anyone Can Whistle in Concert, The Visit, The Happy Time, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Glory Days, Merrily We Roll Along, The Witches of Eastwick. Norwegian Cruise Lines: Million Dollar Quartet, Rock Of Ages.

ZAVIER AUGUSTUS LEE TAYLOR (Projections Designer) OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Sleepova; OFF-BROADWAY: Bowl EP, Malvolio, Mulaqat, The Blues and Its People, Packages O’ The Things We Deliver. TOUR: The Talk by Sonny Kelly; DC AREA: The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful and her Dog! [Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding Media Design], The Wilting Point [Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding Media Design], The Mountaintop, The Art of Care, Winnie The Pooh, Problems Between Sisters, Push The Button, Dream Hou$e, FRANKENSTEIN. Zavier has a BA in Dramatic Art from UNC-Chapel Hill & an MFA in Media Design from UMD-College Park. #ZALTPRODUCTIONS zavier.myportfolio.com

BEN WALSH (Production Stage Manager) Previous OLNEY THEATRE CENTER credits: Little Miss Perfect, Hello, Dolly!, Senior Class, Waitress, Disney’s FROZEN, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Soprano, The Brothers Paranormal, The World Goes ‘Round, Kinky Boots, A Christmas Carol, The Music Man, The Amateurs, Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors, Labour of Love, Every Brilliant Thing, Thurgood, Fickle: A Fancy French Farce, The Diary of Anne Frank, Forever Plaid, Cinderella, Spring Awakening, Little Shop of Horrors, The Submission, Over the Tavern. MD/DC AREA: Everyman Theatre: The World Goes ‘Round, The Lion in Winter; Signature Theatre: Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity; Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical Acting (2 Seasons); Maryland Lyric Opera; Peabody Opera; Urban Arias. REGIONAL: The REV; Gateway Playhouse; Montana Shakespeare in the Parks; Riverside Center for the Performing Arts (Resident PSM, 2 Seasons); Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Christmas Town (3 Seasons). Ben is an alumnus of Olney Theatre Center’s Apprentice Training Program, and the company’s Resident Stage Manager.

REBECCA TALISMAN (Stage Manager) (she/they) OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Fiddler on the Roof, Frozen, Little Miss Perfect; DC AREA: The Second City: The Revolution Will Be Improvised!; 1st Stage: columbinus, Hero’s Welcome, How the Light Gets In; Adventure Theatre MTC: Blueberries for Sal; Kennedy Center: Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie Starring Indigo Blume (tour), Look Both Ways (tour), Super Cello!; Mosaic Theater: The Vagrant Trilogy, Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, Paper Dolls, Queens Girl in Africa; Round House Theatre: King James; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Leopoldstadt; Signature Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof; Theater J: Becoming Dr. Ruth, Hester Street, The Jewish Queen Lear, Love Sick, Occupant, Talley’s Folly, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, The Wanderers; UrbanArias: Glory Denied, The Juliet Letters, Why I Live at the P.O.; Washington National Opera: Il Trovatore. REGIONAL: Williamstown Theatre Festival: Paris, ACTORS! (dir. Jack O’Brien), The Pillowman (dir. Lila Neugebauer), Three Sisters.

SARA GEHL (Assistant Stage Manager) is happy to be back at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. Previous Olney Theatre Center credits include: Little Miss Perfect, Senior Class, The Music Man, A.D. 16, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Thanksgiving Play, and A Christmas Carol. DC AREA: Arena Stage: Damn Yankees, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Cambodian Rock Band. Signature Theatre: Private Jones. Ford’s Theatre: Shout Sister Shout!. Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, The Matchbox Magic Flute. Theater J: Your Name Means Dream, The Chameleon.

DEBBIE ELLINGHAUS (Executive Director, Olney Theatre Center) is in her twelfth season at Olney Theatre Center where she partners with Artistic Director Jason Loewith to lead initiatives that advance Olney Theatre’s artistic, educational and community-centered mission and expand its local, regional, and national impact. Prior to Olney, she held positions at the University of Maryland, College of Arts and Humanities; Yale Repertory Theatre/Yale School of Drama; Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre; The Guggenheim Museum (New York); and the global sports and entertainment agency, International Management Group (IMG). Debbie briefly worked as an actress after training with the incomparable master teachers George Morrison, Mike Nichols and Paul Sills in NYC. She is a founding board member, past chair and secretary, and current emeritus member of Merriweather Arts and Culture Center; vice-chair of the board for Medstar Montgomery Medical Center; and a member of the board for Kol Nefesh. She also serves as an ex-officio member of the board of directors for Olney Theatre. Debbie is a 2019 graduate of Leadership Montgomery and a 2022 graduate of Leadership Howard. In 2018, Debbie was recognized with the “Emerging Arts Leader Award” from then Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett. Debbie received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a professional certificate from the New Actors Workshop. Born in Washington, DC, and raised in Columbia, MD, she resides in Laurel, MD, with her husband, Andrew, their two “nearly grown” children and two large, adorable dogs. In addition to enjoying her family and all of their passions, Debbie spends her free time on the running and hiking trails, and dreaming of new places to explore

Jason Loewith (Artistic Director, Olney Theatre Center) has directed several dozen plays and musicals, written a handful, managed hundreds, and done just about every other job there is to do in a theater across the country... all of which taught him the value of a dollar, the importance of honesty, and the fact that you do not put a silk suit in the washing machine OR the dryer. He was appointed Artistic Director of the Olney Theatre Center in 2013, and since then has directed more than a dozen shows for the company, including the world premiere of The Joy That Carries You, his own adaptation of Schiller’s Mary Stuart, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America Part I, Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime, Duncan MacMillan’s Every Brilliant Thing, James Graham’s Ink, as well as the musicals Kinky Boots, How to Succeed..., On the Town, Sweeney Todd, Carousel, and Avenue Q. As a playwright, Jason won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, and Jeff Awards for Best New Musical for Adding Machine: A Musical, which he co-wrote with composer Joshua Schmidt (off-Broadway, 2008–09). His theater career has taken him from Los Angeles (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble) to New York (Classic Stage Company) to Chicago (Court and Next Theatre Companies), and finally, the DMV. On days off, Jason loves to cook, hang out with his twelve nieces and nephews and their families, hit tennis balls, vacation in faraway places, and listen to music written between 1930 and 1990. After four years as Chair of the Board of TheatreWashington, Jason has just returned to chairing the Taking Care Committee. Jason lives in Carderock Springs with his husband Ned and their dogs Eliza and Luigi.