Angela Shultz is a MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Award winning singer, actor and teaching artist who has appeared in cabaret clubs across NYC and was part of the 100thAnniversary US/Canada tour of Titanic as Alice Beane. She appeared in NYC productions including Assassins (Sara Jane Moore) This Very Moment (songs of Brett Kristofferson), Making God and Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Midtown Int’l Festival), and A Casual Gathering (Theatre for the New City). She has many regional performing credits including Closer Than Ever (Miss Byrd), Titanic (Alice Beane) and has been in several incarnations of Nunsense! Angela also wrote book and lyrics for the musical In Her Place, partially based on the life of Annie Smith Peck. Directing credits include productions of Steel Magnolias (NYC), Matt & Ben, Emma by Stephen Karam, Working, Fools, Carousel, Babes in Arms, Godspell and others. At SIU, she served as director for She Loves Me, Sondheim Tribute Revue and Philoten and as musical director for Ride the Cyclone and Little Women. She also directed The Bridges of Madison County for McLeod Summer Playhouse. Angela has served on voice and theater faculty at NYC's Professional Performing Arts School and Wingspan Arts as well as Fontbonne University, University of Memphis, Missouri Baptist University and Jefferson College. As a teaching artist, she directed and taught a variety of theatre and music courses for Stages St. Louis, Playhouse on the Square, Theatre Memphis and others. She is the co-founder of Stomping Ground Theatre Company, a professional theatre which began in NYC. At SIU, she serves as head of the BFA in Musical Theater program.She thanks her students who inspire her daily!

Darryl Kent Clark, BA, Columbia College, MFA, SUNY College at Brockport, brings a total of over forty years’ experience as a dancer, actor, choreographer, director and teacher to his position as Associate Professor of Musical Theater Dance at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. His performance credits include stints with Princess Cruises, Sesame Street Live!, Zyngara Performance Troupe and Concert Dance, Inc. He has played roles as diverse as Henry Brown in Race, Jacob in La Cage aux Folles, Mickey in The Normal Heart and Papa Ge in Once on this Island to Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and Caliban in The Tempest. He has also performed as soloist with the Brockport Community Chorus in Brockport, NY and Men’s Chorus of the Ozarks. His choreography runs the gamut from concert work for the New York City-based #TapLife Dance Company, Springfield Dance Alliance and a special invitation to present work in the repertory of the Chicago-based dance company Winifred Haun and Dancers. His work for musicals ranges from shows as intimate as The World Goes ‘Round to large-scale works like The Producers, Gypsy and Hello, Dolly!. He has also created dance entertainment for the Mike Ditka Foundation Benefits produced by Clements, Brady and Associates. Recently, he has extended his creative interests to directions and staged productions of LeRoi Jones’ classic Dutchman, the award-winning musicals Ain’t Misbehavin’!, and Rent and newer scripts like Dragons Love Tacos, Ride The Cyclone, The It Girl and Norman Allen’s one-man piece, Nijinsky’s Last Dance. He has taught many forms of theatrical dance at Missouri State University, Western Carolina University, SUNY College at Brockport and the University of Amsterdam as well as at studios in the USA and the Netherlands.

Ron is as Southern Illinois University Carbondale Professor Emeritus of Theater Design. He received his BA in Theater from Miami University of Ohio, his MFA in Scene Design from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. in Performance Studies and Theater History here at SIUC. A former member of United Scenic Artists 829, Ron’s career included designing scenery, lighting, and costumes for over 250 productions for the various university and professional theatres including SIU, University of Southern Indiana, University of Florida, the Muny Opera, Westport Country Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse Summerfest, Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, Corning Summer Theater, Tulsa Opera, New Harmony Theater, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Vitalist Theater of Chicago, and Retro Theater in NY. Ron is also a mask scholar and designer earning certifications in leather mask making from the Museo Internazionale Della Maschera, and Balinese wooden mask carving from Dell’Arte International. He is the recipient of the After Dark award (Chicago area Theater Award) for his mask designs for the Vitalist Theater production of Passage to India. Ron, along with co-author Brad Carlson, has updated Darwin Reid Payne’s The Scenographic Model textbook which will be published by the SIU Press in 2025. He is a recipient of the Golden Pen award for his article on “The False Faces of W.T. Benda” in Theater Design and Technology. Ron’s designs and essays can be viewed at his website: http://www.ronaldnaversen.com

Brad has over twenty years of professional experience as a theatre designer and has worked at numerous regional and summer theatre companies including The Omaha Theatre Company, The Human Race Theatre, TriArts at the Sharon Playhouse, The Glimmerglass Festival, McLeod Summer Playhouse, Heartland Theatre Festival, The Larry Clark Summer Repertory Theatre, and The New London Barn Playhouse. As an educator Brad has worked as a design faculty at The University of Wisconsin Platteville, The University of Missouri, and currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Truman State University. He holds a BA in Theatre Design/Production from the University of Northern Iowa, and an MFA in Scenic Design from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Brad is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT), the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT), The Puppeteers of America, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Brad served as the chair of KCACTF region 5 from 2021-2024, and as a member of the national executive committee from 2022-2024. He currently serves as the immediate past chair of KCACTF Region 5 and national technology coordinator. His theatre work has received sixteen certificates of commendation from regional KCACTF conferences, and three awards from the national KCACTF conference. Brad received the KCACTF/Association for Theatre in Higher Education award for Innovative Teaching in 2016. Brad is co-author of The Scenographic Model 3rd Edition.

Mitchell Brandon, a Lighting Designer and Stage Manager, is fresh off a Summer working for McLeod Summer Playhouse wearing several hats: Lighting Designer (Dragons Love Tacos), Head Electrician (Dragons Love Tacos, The Prom), Production Stage Manager (Hello, Dolly!). Mitchell is in his senior year working towards a double major with a BA in Music with Vocal Emphasis and a BA in Theater. Interestingly, he has a rich history in performance and music making, performing professionally in choirs, operas, and pit orchestras. This background aids as influence on Mitchell’s design work by allowing him to have a deeper understanding of the music and the mood it set out to create. He is then able to enhance the music/ the story via his Lighting Design. He thanks you for supporting the arts and hopes you enjoy the show!

Wendi Zea is an Associate Professor, and Resident Costume Designer, in the School of Theater and Dance at SIU. As well as designing and mentoring student designers, she teaches classes in costume design, costume history, and costume crafts. Favorite shows at SIU include The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; favorite MSP designs include Jungle Book. She has also designed costumes for numerous professional theatres including Cortland Repertory Theatre, Porthouse Theatre, and Northern Stage, as well as designing the national tour of Noel: the Musical.

Matt is the staff technical director for SIU’s School of Theater and Dance Hailing from Cleveland, OH, Matt was previously a lead carpenter for MadeFirst: Experiential Marketing in Nashville, TN. Over the past year, he has built and erected an array of scenic installations for such events as SuperBowl LVIII, the NBA All-Star Game 2024, McDonald’s Investor’s Day 2024, and the 2024 Gatorade Player of the Year Awards amongst others. Matt formerly served as the technical direction apprentice for the Cleveland Playhouse in Cleveland, OH, a lead theater technician for Cuyahoga Community College, and lead carpenter for McLeod Summer Playhouse in Carbondale, IL. He holds a BA in technical theater and design from Cleveland State University and was an MFA candidate, with an emphasis in technical direction, from 2020-2023 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Emily Wadley is an up-and-coming voice teacher. She received her Bachelors of Science in Music and Minor in Theater at Murray State University. She now has gone on to pursue her Masters of Vocal Performance, here, at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. On her gap year, she spent her time teaching vocal lessons at a local music store in Paducah, Kentucy where she has taught many different styles; Classical, musical theater, pop, rock, and other contemporary styles. She plans to pursue the voice teaching path into the colligate area as a voice professor and wants to specialize in neurodivergent teaching.

Lydia Holterman is a Junior Theatre Major here at SIU and is so excited to be the Production Stage Manager for The Lightning Thief! Last spring, she was the PSM on Criminal Genius, and she recently worked at the McLeod Summer Playhouse as a stitcher and dresser. Lydia has appeared on stage at SIU in The School for Wives (Horace) and in Murphy’s Law of Pretenders (Gia). Later this semester, she will be in A Christmas Carol (Mrs. Fezziwig). Enjoy the show!