Emily Duncan graduated from JSU in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts English. While working at the Utah Shakespeare Festival from 2019-2020, Emily also received her masters in Arts Administration from Southern Utah University in 2021. Emily has previously served on the CAST Board of Directors and co-founded the College of Arts & Humanities’ Shakespeare Project. Emily currently serves on the Knox Board of Directors. Emily has participated in several regional productions, including CharACTers‘ Mary Poppins and Something Rotten, CAST’s Annie, Willy Wonka, Jr., Lion King Jr. and Hello, Dolly!, and JOT’s Peter Pan, as a scenic charge, actor, props master, and director. Emily currently works at Jacksonville State University and is so “delighted” to direct this talented team in Little Women.

Alison is honored to be helping with another Jacksonville Opera Theater Production. Little Women is a favorite novel of hers and she is so proud of the cast and their hard work on their dance routines. Alison can be found around JSU campus working with Encore! JSU’s Show Choir as well as teaching dance classes in the Drama Department. She loves getting pulled into other projects for choreography like her work with JOT’s Phantom of the Opera and The Mikado as well as the Drama Department’s Once Upon a Mattress and Into the Woods. When not at JSU Alison can be found teaching dance at her studio, Crazy About Dance, in Alexandria, or hanging at home with her family.

Chaney Billips has been working as a costume designer for JOT since 2006. Such shows include Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Mikado, Peter Pan, Phantom of the Opera and more. In addition, she has worked on wardrobe with the Knox Concert Series and occasional stints with local school theater departments. Chaney resides in the Atlanta area with her family where she is a full time art teacher for Harvester Christian Academy in Douglasville and working artist for the Douglas Cultural Arts Center.

Kelby King is a costumer that graduated from Jacksonville State in 2020 since then she had work for Valleyfaire an amusement park in Minnesota, and is currently working for the local Shakespeare Project as their costume designer for there next project (Romeo and Juliet). She has helped the JSU Drama Department with many of their productions and she happy to be a small help to one of the Music Departments own productions.

Ashlee Cheyenne Oliver is ecstatic to be back as Stage Manager for Jacksonville Opera Theater. He has a BA in Theater Production from JSU where he concentrated in Stage and Production Management. Credits include Twelfth night with North Dakota Shakespeare, Julius Caesar and Midsummer Night’s Dream with The Shakespeare Project, Peter Pan for JOT, and shows at Highlands Playhouse in North Carolina. He just recently worked on the management team for the national tours of Waitress, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Fiddler on the Roof. Cheyenne is a freelance production technician who has worked on many shows in several capacities. He is a member of SMA and is working to obtain his IATSE card. He teaches theater to the next generation of artists and wants to remind them to shoot for the stars in all their endeavors.

Grayson is thankful to be working as the Assistant Stage Manager for Jacksonville Opera Theatre's Little Women. She is a sophomore at Jacksonville State University pursuing a degree in Theatre Production. She has previously been the Stage Manager for the JSU Theatre and Film Department's Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonightas well as the ASM for The Importance of Being Earnest.

Dr. Benson is a professor in the music department where he conducts the JOT productions, teaches flute studies, and graduate music history. He was a 1st Prize winner at the 2011 Alexander & Buono International solo competition at Carnegie Hall. He enjoys traveling around the USA performing solo concerts and conducting orchestras for musical productions. Recently, he was appointed as a conductor for the Southern Opera Theatre Company. He is the Music Director and organist at 1st Presbyterian Church Anniston, and his other community involvement includes conducting the Theatre of Gadsden’s most recent production of South Pacific. He studied at JSU, Florida State University, Rutgers University, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors & Musicians.

Nathan Wight, Professor of Music, is a baritone and rancher from Kermit, Texas. Dr. Wight received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance from Arizona State University, his Master of Music from Rice University, and his Bachelor degrees in Voice and Biology from Abilene Christian University. He joined the music faculty at JSU in 2003. Formerly, Dr. Wight was a member of the faculty at Grand Canyon University where he served as the Director of Vocal Activities. Dr. Wight is the founder and director of Jacksonville Opera Theatre, which has grown to a company that presents two to three major productions a year in the Oxford Performing Arts Center. Since 2004, JOT has produced 31 shows including: Romeo et Juliette, Cosi Fan Tutte, Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, Hansel and Gretel, Phantom of the Opera, and Die Fledermaus. Most notable are the National Opera Association Award Winning productions of St. George and the Dragon, Carousel, and In A Garden. Dr. Wight has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, including a production of Four Saints in Three Acts for the 50th International Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Wight participated in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program for Singers. He has also performed with Opera-To-Go, an education outreach program of the Houston Grand Opera, with Ars Nova in Huntsville, and the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society. He has also performed in productions at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England, and with the Lyric Opera Theatre in Tempe. He has also performed solos for many major choral works, including works by Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Handel, Orff, Vaughn Williams, and Mozart.