5-Minute Fringe: wRESTling Creative

Director
Sean SassamanSean Sassaman is a 2016 graduate of Albright College (Arts Administration/Theater) and native of Reading, PA. He has worked with Reading Theater Project as a stage manager, director, and infrequent actor since 2017. Along with Reading Theater Project, he has worked with Market Road Films and LAByrinth Theater on their 2017 project, This Is Reading, as well as the Yocum Institute for Arts Education.

Stage Manager
Jewell BrownJewell is musician, sound designer, and stage manager, who was born and raised in Reading,
PA. After graduating from Governor Mifflin Senior High School in 2010, Jewell went on to
continue her education at Reading Area Community College and Temple University where she
studied Media Studies and Production, with a concentration in music recording arts and
emergent media. Outside of the theater, Jewell enjoys
professional wrestling, Star Trek, and video games.

Artistic Director
Vicki Haller GraffVicki Haller Graff is an actor, writer and director. In addition to RTP, she has worked at the Berks Opera Company and Yocum Institute in Reading, TheatreWorks in the Silicon Valley, Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, studied at the Patravadi Theatre in Bangkok, and graduated from the University of Evansville with a BFA in Theater Performance.

Playwright, Tangier
Jimmy DamoreJimmy Damore is an educator and theatermaker. With RTP, Jimmy directed "The Mockingbird's Nest" and "Adaptations," as well as the piece "Skepseis" for their 2021 Fringe Festival, which he also wrote. Jimmy is also a teacher and music director at the Yocum Institute. He holds a B.A. in Performance Studies from Brown University and a teaching certification in Language Arts from Point Park University.

Playwright, The Candle
Erick GoldsmithErick is a voice/actor, videographer, and writer with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and Spanish from Albright College in 2020. His vocation is to broadcast, encourage, and demonstrate through storytelling that open communication and understanding are the keys to everything and that everyone is capable and deserving of them. Erick derives the greatest joy from meeting and getting to know a person.

Playwright, The House at 323 North Fifth Street
David NiceDavid Nice’s plays have been produced by Creative Works of Lancaster, Reading Theater Project, Gamut Theatre Group, Winters Theatre Company (CA) and Playwright’s Round Table (PRT) in Orlando, Florida.
Staged readings of David’s works have been presented by York College, Maryland Ensemble Theater (METLab), Fulton Theatre, Theater of the Seventh Sister, Reading Theater Project/Albright College, Lancaster Dramatists’ Platform, and Creative Works of Lancaster.

Playwright, The Grappler
Félix (Poncho) PeñaTex-Mex born and raised, Catholic-school escapee, high school dropout, U.S. Army Vietnam War Veteran, cultural anthropologist/folklorist, journalist, writing tutor, guitar strummer, full-time spouse and grandfather, occasional playwright, Félix (Poncho) Peña has lived in Berks County since 1980. He began writing plays in the early 1980s as a creative way to put off writing a book (It works!) and won a couple of awards for early works. He is particularly grateful to Chuck Gallagher, George Hatza, Joel Gori, and Vicki Haller for nudging him along on his creative journey.

Playwright, Past Perfect
Adam RichterAdam Richter is a playwright from Berks County. His works have been produced by Reading Theater Project and Barley Sheaf Players. His play "Eye Contact" won the 2020 Philips Mill Emerging Playwrights competition.

Choreographer/Dancer, A Moment of Introspection
Arielle RidleyArielle Ridley found her passion for dance at the age of thirteen in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen, Arielle began exploring her own choreographic skills and found a passion for teaching and performing. She earned her BFA in Dance Theatre from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she attended both the NY and LA campuses. She was featured in several different dance shows, including a dance film called Between the River and the Trees. Arielle currently resides in the Philadelphia area where she is pursuing a career in dance, choreographing, teaching, and acting.

Sound Design
Megan RoseMegan Rose is an actor, writer, and artist. In addition to RTP she has worked with Cirque du Soleil, NYC Fringe, FringeArts, and most recently with Allen's Lane Theatre and People's Light. She holds a BFA in Acting from Lindenwood University as well as a MA in Theatre from Villanova University.

Playwright, Torpor
Stormy Corrin RussellStormy Corrin Russell is a Reading-based novelist, poet, and essayist who is stretching her creative muscles in writing drama. She is the author of The Separation Trilogy and Divine. She found her way from northeastern Pa to Reading by attending Albright College, where she graduated in 2014. She later obtained her MA in Creative Writing and Literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University. When she is not writing, she is teaching, hiking, traveling the world, or hanging out with her cats, Teddy and Maya.

Writer/Performer, Sargasso Sea
Elaine SoltisThis is a time of adaptation and survival. Our love continues to heal as our thoughts and words reverberate through the world. The first words we think can change the coarse of action. To hold a thought of healing, will help not only ourselves but our outreach to distances we can’t even imagine. It takes less energy to hold this truth, than it does to be lost in the confusion of the disruptive. Sometimes, introspection brings balance.

Choreographer, Dominos
Jessica Warchal-KingJCWK Dance Lab is Jessica Warchal-King’s ongoing research project combining education, physical dance practice, and performance. Using dance as its medium, JCWK Dance Lab investigates the ways that dance can be a vehicle for non-violent, positive social change by creating Joy, Connection, and Wellness through Kinesthetic stories. JCWK Dance Lab has performed locally, regionally, and nationally. Outreach programs include classes, workshops, and The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange - a digital resource for individuals interested in dance in Berks County. www.jcwkdancelab.org

Wrestling One’s (Sleep Paralysis) Demons
Rob WeidmanRob Weidman is an academic librarian and avid member of his local
community theater group, the Talisman Players of Kutztown. He has participated
in their productions primarily as an actor, but also in a number of
other roles including, most recently, as playwright.

Writer/Performer, Evenings with Isaac: Scene 4: The British Visit Waynesborough: was a deal made?
Eric WilliamsEric Williams: Son, Brother, Husband, Father. St Cloud State University (BES) and St Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (MDiv). Linguist. Government Employee. Education Director at a Historic House Museum. Occasional actor. Inveterate reader, writer and explorer.