Mary Stuart

Megan Anderson (Elizabeth) is excited to be back at OTC! Previous Olney Theatre Center Credits include: Aubergine, Our Town, Grounded, Rabbit Hole [Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Ensemble]; Everyman Theatre (Resident Company Member): Dinner With Friends, Sweat, Dancing at Lughnasa, Book of Joseph, Noises Off, (Poppy), Dot (Jackie) Wait Until Dark (Susan), Death of a Salesman (Miss Forsyth), A Streetcar Named Desire (Stella), Under the Skin (Raina), Blithe Spirit (Ruth), Grounded (The Pilot), Tribes (Sylvia), The Dresser (Madge), Crimes of the Heart (Meg), The Beaux’ Stratagem (Kate Sullen), God of Carnage (Annette), You Can’t Take It With You (Essie), Fifty Words (Jan), All My Sons (Sue), Blackbird (Una), The Exonerated (Ensemble), Rabbit Hole (Izzie), The Cherry Orchard (Varya), Filthy Rich (Susan Scott), Turn of the Screw (The Woman), Much Ado About Nothing (Hero), And a Nightingale Sang (Joyce), The School for Scandal (Lady Teazle), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Helen), Proof (Catherine), Taking Sides (Emmi Straub), My Children! My Africa (Isabel), The Crucible (Abigail), The 5th of July (Shirley), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Sunny). Regional: Theater J: After the Revolution (Emma); Rep Stage: American Hero (Jamie), The Whale (Liz), The Violet Hour (Rosamund), The Seagull (Nina) [Helen Hayes Nomination]; Round House Theatre: Heartbreak House, The Cherry Orchard, Our Town, Problem Child; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Faculty Room; Totem Pole Playhouse: Proposals, Crimes of the Heart, Proof; Northern Stage: Grounded; LA Theatreworks/Voice of America: Bus Stop. TV/Film: 3 seasons on The Wire (Jennifer Carcetti); Hit and Run (Jane) (Lionsgate/MGM). Teaching: Everyman Theatre, Page to Stage for Young Actors and the Summer Intensive, Acting I and Auditioning. Directing: Staged readings of The Heidi Chronicles, The Ruby Sunrise, Dead and Breathing for the Everyman Theatre Women’s Voices Salon Series. Other: Audition coach.

Eleasha Gamble (Mary Stuart) Olney Theatre Center: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, West Side Story. OFF-BROADWAY: Under The Bridge. NATIONAL TOUR: The Lion King, Fiasco Theater's Production of Into The Woods (Baker’s Wife). REGIONAL: Arena Stage: Oklahoma! (Laurey), Oliver! (Nancy); Shakespeare Theatre Company: Comedy of Errors; Signature Theatre: Chess, Into The Woods; Ford's Theatre: The Civil War, Little Shop of Horrors; Round House Theatre: Once on this Island; Lyric Theatre: Big Fish; TELEVISION: The Night Of (HBO), Sneaky Pete (Amazon). AWARDS: Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding supporting Actress in a musical for The Civil War. EDUCATION: BM in Musical Theatre from Catholic University.

Chris Genebach (Leicester) is excited to be returning to OTC where he has been seen in Oil, The Crucible, My Fair Lady, Carousel and Awake & Sing!. DC credits include: Signature Theatre: Billy Elliot; Mosaic Theatre Company: A Human Being Died that Night, Ulysses on Bottles; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, Measure for Measure, Two Gentleman of Verona, Julius Caesar (FFA), Cymbeline, King Lear, Titus Andronicus; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play; Folger Theatre: Davenant's Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Twelfth Night, Henry V, Othello, Cyrano, Orestes: A Tragic Romp; The Studio Theatre: The Big Meal, Superior Donuts, Shining City. NEW YORK: BROADWAY: Manhattan Theatre Club: Shining City; OFF-BROADWAY: The Duke: Rose Rage: Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, MTC: The Other Side. REGIONAL: Everyman Theatre: Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, An Inspector Calls; Goodman Theatre: King Lear; Chicago Shakespeare Theater: Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, Rose Rage: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, King John, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Short Shakespeare! Romeo & Juliet.

Mitchell Hébert (Shrewsbury/Melville) At Olney Theatre Center Mitchell has appeared in Peter Pan, Amadeus, and Equus and directed Rabbit Hole. He has worked as an actor and a director at many of the area’s theatres including: Ford’s, Mosaic Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Rep Stage, Everyman, The Shakespeare Theatre, Theatre J, and Round House. He has received two Helen Hayes Awards; one for acting, one for directing, along with several more nominations. On TV he has appeared in House of Cards, Killing Kennedy, and Homicide. He is on the faculty of The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland.

Jake Ryan Lozano (Mortimer) is a Brooklyn-based artist originally from San Antonio, TX. Recent productions include: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, In the Palm of a Giant, Sweat, Blood Wedding, Titus Andronicus. Recipient of the 2014 Kennedy Center National Irene Ryan Acting Award. MFA: Yale School of Drama. Television: When They See Us, New Amsterdam.

Paul Morella (Burleigh) Regional credits include leading roles at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Round House Theatre, MetroStage, Potomac Theatre Project, Theater J, Everyman Theatre, Rep Stage, Mosaic Theater, Olney Theatre Center, The Delaware Theatre Company, Two River Theatre, Asolo State Theater and The Kennedy Center. An M.F.A. (Acting) graduate of Catholic University of America, Mr. Morella has also appeared in the LA Theatre Works productions of All My Sons (George Deever), with Julie Harris and James Farentino, and The Best Man (Joe Cantwell), with Fred Thompson and Marsha Mason. www.clarencedarrow.org

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was a German playwright, dramatist, and poet who is best remembered for his dramas, including Die Räuber (The Robbers, 1781), Maria Stuart (1801), and Wilhelm Tell (1804). Many consider Schiller to be Germany’s most influential classical playwright. His writings often tackled themes around the use and abuse of power, as well as physical and spiritual freedom, and the psychology of humans during times of crisis. He was interested in the inherent creative capabilities of humans. His works were rebellious and provocative, and in some cases, had to be revised in order to receive productions. Schiller made major contributions to new dramatic forms including the melodrama and the bourgeois tragedy. His work Don Carlos helped to establish blank verse as a standard structure for German dramas. Schiller’s poem Ode to Joy was used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony. He also wrote several acclaimed treatises on aesthetics and was a respected scholar, editor, translator, and professor of history at the University of Jena in Jena, Germany.

Jason Loewith (Director/Adaptor/Scenic Designer) grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, and on weekends he took the train to New York with his family to see shows. His dad was the comptroller of a Formica manufacturing company, and his mom was the first woman in the state to be president of a conservative synagogue. After her parents became ill, she took over their dress shop in a now sadly derelict part of Bridgeport. Jason particularly enjoyed hiding in the poufy dresses on the rack, and selling costume jewelry during the store’s annual sidewalk sale. He inherited his father’s love of numbers, working part-time as a bank teller, and leading Math Team in high school and as a bookkeeper for various nonprofit organizations as an adult. From his mother he inherited a dedication to Jewish causes, joining the international Board of United Synagogue Youth and working at the Jewish Home for the Aged during high school, and serving as chair of Brown University’s Committee for Soviet Jewry as an undergraduate. Jason seriously considered studying to become a rabbi, but the theater intervened, taking him to Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and finally the Washington, DC region, where he’s been for eight years. Jason has directed some 30 plays, written a handful (one of which, Adding Machine: A Musical, won a lot of awards in Chicago and New York), managed or produced hundreds, and done just about every other job there is to do in a theater-- all of which has helped him learn the value of a dollar, the importance of honesty, and the fact that you do not put a silk suit in either the washing machine or the dryer. On days off, Jason loves to cook (ask him how he learned to make bouillabaisse), hang out with his twelve nieces and nephews, play Civilization, bike and jog (just don’t ask the last time he did either), vacation in faraway places, and listen to music written between 1950 and 1986. He volunteers for local and national arts organizations, serves on the Board of TheatreWashington, and has entered his second year mentoring a fantastic teenager in Anacostia for BestKids. He lives on Capitol Hill with his partner Ned and their dog Mortimer in a teeny but charming Victorian row house that is majority-owned by Citibank. Jason has been the Artistic Director of Olney Theatre Center since 2013.

Richard Ouellette (Scenic Designer) Recent design credits include P.Y.G or The Misedumacation of Dorian Belle at Studio Theatre, Hand to God at Watertower Theater, Erminia for Opera Lafayette, The Freshest Snow Whyte for Imagination Stage, Orfeo ed Euridice at the Maryland Opera Studio, Elemeno Pea at the ART Institute, and Clove at UMD. Upcoming design at Cape Repertory Theater this summer, upcoming associate design credit for Grease at Merry Go Round Playhouse, and Dietrich! at Theatre Row; Off-Broadway. Past associate credit: Jelly’s Last Jam at Signature Theatre. Studio assistant for David Korins for Beetlejuice D.C. He holds a MFA in Design from the University of Maryland. www.richardjouellette.com

Ivania Stack (Costume Designer) is delighted to return to Olney Theatre Center. Previous Olney Theatre Center credits include: South Pacific, The Invisible Hand, Aubergine, Evita, Marjorie Prime, Bad Dog, Godspell, Colossal, I and You, Rancho Mirage, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Farragut North. Regional: Center Stage: Stones in His Pockets; Contemporary American Theatre Festival: Lidless and Breadcrumbs; Berkshire Theatre Festival: Way Out West. DC Area credits include: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Company Member), Round House Theatre, Studio Theatre, Studio Theatre 2nd Stage, Everyman Theatre, Theater J, Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Synetic Theater, MetroStage, and Forum Theatre. She is a Ring Leader (Artistic Director) for dog & pony dc. Education: MFA in Design Program, University of Maryland.

Colin K. Bills (Lighting Designer) is an Olney Artistic Associate, where he has previously designed Sweeney Todd, Evita, Guys & Dolls, Marjorie Prime, Colossal, Once, and Oil among others. He is a Company Member at Woolly Mammoth where he has designed over fifty productions, including An Octoroon, Gloria, Clybourne Park and The Convert. As a Conspirator with the devising company dog & pony dc, he has collaborated in the writing, direction and design of A Killing Game and Beertown. His designs have been seen at Arena Stage, The Berkshire Theater Festival, CENTERSTAGE, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Court Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Everyman Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, 59E59, Forum Theatre, Imagination Stage, Intiman Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Marin Theatre Company, Metro Stage, Mosaic Theater, Opera Lafayette, Opéra Royal Versailles, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Smithsonian, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Synetic Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Theater J, The Washington Revels, The Wilma Theater, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.  Colin has won three Helen Hayes Awards and is a recipient of a Princess Grace Fellowship in Theater.  He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Matthew M. Nielson (Composer/Sound Designer) Mr. Nielson made his Olney Theatre Center debut in 2005 with Lend Me a Tenor and is happy to be back after designing and composing I and You, The Magic Play, and The Diary of Anne Frank. Off-Broadway credits include The Public Theater’s New York Shakespeare Festival, 59E59 Theaters, The Lincoln Center. Regional credits include Arena Stage, Ford’s Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Portland Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Delaware Theatre Company, Actors Theater of Louisville, Barrington Stage Company, Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, The John F Kennedy Center fore the Performing Arts, Round House Theatre, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Signature Theatre, Theater Alliance. Film & TV Credits include EPIX Drive-In, Facebook, UFC on FOX, NBC Sports, Death in Time, Elbow Grease, Blue. Mr. Nielson has won several awards for his work composing and designing in theatre, film and television. He is a founding member of audio theatre company The Audible Group and creator of the series Troublesome Gap. He is currently running Sound Lab Studios, a recording studio and post-production house and The Curious Music Co, a production music library. Samples can be heard online at www.CuriousMusic.com.

Casey Kaleba (Fight Choreographer) OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors, Sweeney Todd, Dial ‘M’ for Murder, Bakersfield Mist, Neville’s Island, Spring Awakening, Camelot, Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors; REGIONAL: Guthrie Theatre: King Lear; DC AREA: Folger Theatre: Julius Caesar, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet; Keegan Theatre: Mack, Beth, The Lonesome West [Helen Hayes nomination for Fight Direction]; Signature Theatre: Billy Elliot, The Gulf, West Side Story; Round House Theatre: Angels in America Parts I & II, Father Comes Home From The Wars, Stage Kiss; Ford’s Theatre: Born Yesterday, Death of a Salesman, Ragtime; Wolf Trap Opera: Romeo et Juliette; Rorschach Theatre: 410 [Gone], She Kills Monsters, Neverwhere; Constellation Theatre Company: Lieutenant of Inishmore [Helen Hayes nomination for Fight Direction], Gilgamesh, Zorro. Certified Teacher and Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors; audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live.

Lisa Nathans (Dialect Coach) is thrilled to join Olney Theatre Center! She’s previously coached for Kennedy Center TYA, Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Theater Alliance, Keegan Theatre, and MetroStage. REGIONAL: Guthrie Theater, Road Theatre, Theatricum Botanicum. TV CREDITS: National Geographic’s Elemental: Hydrogen vs. Hindenburg. Private coaching/workshop development available; VASTA member. TEACHING (USA and UK): University of Maryland TDPS (Assistant Professor), CalArts, Stella Adler, RADA, Royal Welsh, Royal Central, University of Washington, University of Minnesota. TRAINING: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, MFA (Voice Studies); Boston University, BFA (Acting); Linklater Voice Designation; Colaianni Speech Practitioner. Break legs all!

Karen Currie (Production Stage Manager) OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Once, In the Heights. NYC: The Last Session; KENNEDY CENTER: Digging Up Dessa, Oliverio, Mockingbird, Orphie and the Book of Heroes; SIGNATURE: Heisenberg, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Fix, Cabaret, Saturday Night, Sycamore Trees, The Happy Time; THEATER J:  Trayf, Roz and Ray, The Christians, The Last Schwartz, Another Way Home, Sons of the Prophet, G-D’s Honest Truth, Yentl, Freud’s Last Session, After the Revolution, The Whipping Man, The Religion Thing, Imagining Madoff, The Odd Couple, The Four of Us, Lost in Yonkers, The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, Honey Brown Eyes, Speed the Plow; FOLGER THEATER: As You Like It; EDUCATION: M.A. in Arts Management, American University.