Hotel Berry Creative

Playwright

Jacqueline E. Lawton

is a playwright, dramaturg, producer, and racial equity facilitator. Her produced plays include Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful; Edges of Time, The Hampton Years; Intelligence, Mad Breed, and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a production dramaturg for PlayMakers Repertory Company. She is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild of America and is thrilled to be debuting Hotel Berry at Tantrum Theater!

Director

JaMeeka D. Holloway

[she/her/hers] is an award-winning director and independent producer committed to celebrating stories and curating programming that centers on women and Black folks. Holloway has been honored by the African American Heritage Commission and Governor Roy Cooper for her contributions to the arts and culture landscape of North Carolina. An alumnus of The Lark Play Development Center Apprenticeship program, JaMeeka has been an Assistant Director with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Playmakers Repertory and an Associate Director with Duke Performances at Duke University. Her directing work has appeared at Northern Stage, Shakespeare in Detroit, Durham Performing Arts Center, Manbites Dog, The Department of Theatre at Dartmouth, Duke University’s Department of Theatre Studies, the National Black Theatre Festival, and LaMAMA Experimental Theatre Club and Classic Stage in New York. JaMeeka is the 2021-22 ROE GREEN Visiting Director at Kent State University. And is a published contributor in the 2018 Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance.

Scenic Designer

C. David Russell

Associate Professor of Design. Professor Russell’s varied career includes costume and scenic design, costume and property crafts, event design, project management, and fine art installation. He is currently Head of the Scenic Design Program, and formerly served as Head of the Costume Crafts Program and instructor of Costume Design at Ohio University. This is his fourth set design with Tantrum Theater. His other Professional Credits include Scenic and Costume Design with The Resident Ensemble Players in Newark, Delaware, The Enchantment Theater with The Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, The Montreal Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony. Costume Design with The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Theater Works Hartford, and The Pittsburg Public Theatre. In addition, Mr. Russell worked at the Santa Fe Opera for 18 seasons as the Master Craftsman and Props Artisan. Mr. Russell received his BFA from Ohio University and received his MFA from New York University Tisch School for the Arts.

Costume Designer

Sabrina Bianca Guillaume

Sabrina Bianca Guillaume is a freelance costume designer for dance, theatre, film. She received her MFA in Design & Technical Theater at Brooklyn College (2017). Selected works include: Mirrors (NYTW), Black Exhibition (The Bushwick Starr), The Drama League Directorfest 2019 (New Ohio) Design Wing of the Great Plains Theatre Conference (2018), Cute Activist (The Bushwick Starr). www.SabrinaBianca.com

Hair and Makeup Designer

Jerrilynn Lanier Duckworth

is the Founder and Creator of Bridging the Gap: A Look into African American Hair & Makeup for Theatre. She is a freelance Costume, Hair & Makeup Designer. In the Fall of 2020, Jerrilyn was appointed Vice-Chair of Hair and Makeup for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology ( USITT). She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design and Production from The University of Alabama. She also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in general theatre from The University of Southern Mississippi. Jerrilyn’s designs have been on the stages at Ensemble Theatre in Cincinnati, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Indiana University, Illinois State University, and Millbrook Playhouse.

Lighting Designer

Madeleine Hebert

MFA, Lighting Design, Second Year. Ohio University: Hotel Berry (Lighting Designer) Tantrum Theater, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Assistant Lighting Designer) Tantrum Theater, Summer and Smoke (Assistant Lighting Designer). Regionally: Ohio: Hansel and Gretel Opera (Lighting Designer) OU School of Music, Clue (Lighting Designer) OVST, Massachusetts: Pass Over (Lighting Designer) Chester Theater. New York: How We Love/F*ck (Lighting Designer), Worth St. Part 1: Before the Flood (Lighting Designer) Other: Westfield; The Tempest (Lighting Designer), Parasite Drag (Lighting Designer). BA Theatre Design and Technology from Westfield State University.

Sound Designer

Sharath Patel

Sharath is an Oregon based designer who works internationally focusing on experimental, commercial, academic, political and socially conscious theatre. Recent designs: Tantrum, A.C.T., The Alley Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre, Asolo Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Indiana Rep, Artists Rep, Yale Rep, Rep Theatre of St. Louis, American Rep, Seattle Rep, Cal Shakes, Alabama Shakes, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Arena Stage, Geffen Playhouse, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre Row, P.S. 122, Studio 42, Classic Stage, La MaMa Theater, The Mint Theatre, The Tank Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Sydney Harmon Hall, Portland Playhouse, Profile Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Milagro Theatre, & The Contemporary American Theater Festival. Additional work in New York City, San Francisco, L.A., D.C., Boston, Norfolk, Raleigh, Aspen, India, France, England, Germany, Romania, Vietnam. He has previously served as a visiting assistant professor, lead designer, guest artist, instructor, or lecturer at Reed & Whitman Colleges, Yale, Fordham, Columbia, Willamette, Ohio, & Butler Universities. Affiliations: USA829 IATSE, Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, Arts Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, National Respondent for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Resident Artists at Artists Rep. BFA: Ohio University. MFA: Yale School of Drama. sharathpatel.com

Dance Choreographer

Travis D. Gatling

was born and raised in Chesapeake, VA, and holds a BA in English/Liberal Arts from Norfolk State University and an MFA in Dance Performance from Ohio State University. He is currently in his 24th year as a Professor in the School of Dance at Ohio University, where he teaches Modern, Jazz and Ballet techniques, Dance Repertory, and Black Dance Forms. He has performed throughout the US and abroad in choreography by renowned choreographers such as Donald McKayle, Merce Cunningham, Ronald K. Brown, Zelma Badu-Younge, Earl Mosley, and others. One of his career highlights was the premiere of “My Brother’s Keeper,” a solo performance of dances choreographed by African American men. His teaching and choreography credits include Factory Street Studio in Athens, OH, the Avondale High School of Performing Arts, Georgia State University, Emory University, and the Morton Street Dance Center in MD. He has been commissioned to create new works and set existing repertoire for the University of Akron, Cleveland State University, the Cherokee Ballet in GA, Full Circle Dance Co. in MD, and Urban Souls Dance Company in TX. Travis is a member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) and is a Board Member for the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society (MZBCPS) which served as the key gathering place for the Black community of Athens and Southeast Ohio from 1905 until the 1990s.

Music Director

Melissa Brobeck

[she/her] Ohio University: Stupid F*cking Bird. Artist Coach of Musical Theater, Ohio University. Master Teacher (Voice), Athens Community Music School. B.M. in Vocal Performance, Eastman School of Music; M.M. in Vocal Performance, UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance.

Production Stage Manager

Natalie Mathis

[she/they] Previous credits include ASM, American Mariachi at The Alabama Shakespeare Festival. PSM, Elephant and Piggie’s “We are in a Play!”, The Wizard of Oz, Stoo’s Famous Martian-American Gumbo at The Hangar Theatre. ASM, The Wiz at Virginia Repertory Theatre. 1st ASM for La Cenerentola 2nd ASM for La Boheme at the Dayton Opera. ASM for Casper! The Friendly Musical at the Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati.

Technical Director

Luis Silva

MFA, Technical Direction, Second Year. Ohio University: Hotel Berry, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Absentia (Technical Director). Julius Caesar (Dramaturg). Spring 2023: Yerma (Technical Director). Other: Healthy Humor Inc, Florida International University, Milam’s Circus, Miami Dade College. Abroad: PPPPTK Seni dan Budaya, Akeké Circo Teatro, Asociación Cultural Skena.

Props Designer

Duck Bracey

MFA, Props Technology, Third Year, Ohio University. 2022-2023 Prop Shop Manager. Spring 2023: Carrie (Props Designer), EVERYBODY (Props Designer), This is Not What I Expected When I Imagined A Republic (Assistant Props Designer). Prop Artisan: Spring Awakening; Be Head; Summer and Smoke; Absentia; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812; Men on Boats; what the Gods gave me, Doctor Voynich and Her Children; Julius Caesar.

Artistic Director, Tantrum Theater

Michael Lincoln

Michael began teaching at Ohio University in 2003, served as Director of the School of Theater from 2012 to 2020, and is now Professor Emeritus of Theater. Previously Michael taught for New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Southern California. His professional lighting design career numbers over 300 productions in theatre, opera and dance and includes Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, and international venues. Highlights: Copenhagen on Broadway, The Bubbly Black Girl… at Playwrights Horizons in NYC, and A Streetcar Named Desire for the Cleveland Play House and Tantrum Theater’s Next to Normal, Caroline, Or Change and Little Shop of Horrors. Michael’s extensive regional credits include long associations with Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre in Houston, and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC as well as multi-year associations with Los Angeles Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Santa Fe Opera. His multiple Broadway credits as an Associate Designer include hit revivals of Guys and Dolls and Anything Goes and original productions of City of Angels, Six Degrees of Separation, and Lend Me a Tenor. www.michaellincoln.net

Producing Director, Tantrum Theater

Joshua Coy

Josh is an arts administrator, arts advocate, and performer whose most recent administrative roles prior to joining Tantrum Theater include Executive Director of the Wayne Center for the Arts, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Presenters Network, and Director of Artists Programs at the Ohio Arts Council. For the past decade, his primary performance outlet has been as a banjo player across the Ohio valley region, and previous favorite theatrical roles include Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors), Feste (Twelfth Night), Uncle Jack (Dancing at Lughnasa), and Edmund (Long Day’s Journey into Night). He holds an MA in Arts Policy and Administration from The Ohio State University, a BA in Theatre from Westminster College (PA), and an MA in Theater (Dramatic Writing) at Ohio University.

Director of Education, Tantrum Theater

Rebecca VerNooy

Rebecca VerNooy is a movement theater artist, actor, and writer. Her original work has been performed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dance Theatre workshop, Joyce Soho, Dixon Place and PS 122. Both Sides of Crazy, her short memoir was published in 2022. She is the Head of Acting at Ohio University’s School of Theater and the Director of Education for Tantrum Theater. https://www.rebeccavernooy.com/

Production Manager, Tantrum Theater

Roberto Di Donato

Roberto is a Venezuelan-American artist from the colonized territories that were originally home for the Tawakoni and Wichita nations known as Dallas, Texas. His highly collaborative projects have been seen in New York and Austin. Roberto's work was called "An Experimental Masterstroke" by Austin Arts Watch and The Austin Chronicle states it "carries you to the boundaries of what you think you want to watch and tips you over it". Roberto has worked with Tantrum dating back to assistant directing Rhinoceros. Roberto will be performing in NYC 2022, developing new material by Kirk Lynn, and he continues to work with the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab in NYC. MFA and MAA from Ohio University School of Theater. @roberto_di_donato | www.robertodidonato.net

Associate Artistic Director, Tantrum Theater

Ally Poole

A multidisciplinary artist working between the US and the UK, Ally Poole's solo work is a blend of live art, theatre and installation while covering issues of race, politics, and pop culture through her perspective as a Black woman. Ally is a Texas native who received an MFA in Advance Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Ally is also a co-collaborator of the female-led, experimental theatre collective, Hot Cousin. Ally received a BFA in Acting from Stephens College and enjoys her career as an actor across theatre, film, musical theatre, and opera.

Original Creative Team

Production Staff

Dramaturg: Jocelyn Clarke

Scenic Charge Artist: C. David Russell

Guest Scenic Artist: Jacob Brown

Intimacy Coordinator: Devin Franklin

Costume Coordinator: Lisa Grande

Costume Shop Manager: Sofia Perez

Electrics Shop Manager: Madeleine Hebert

Sound Shop Manager: Daniela Chaparro

Prop Shop Manager: Duck Bracey

Lead Carpenters: Jaxon Meadows, Nicole Hankins

Lead Electrician: Quentin Kurtz

Assistant Directors: Devin Franklin, Caitlin Lopez

Assistant Lighting Designer: Gabriel Hrin

Assistant Stage Managers: Aisha Mahon, Connor Gothard

Assistant Technical Director: Nick Wilson

Assistant Props Designer: Grace Easterday

Assistant Lead Electricians: Kharla Landrau, Andre Young

Production Assistant: Ana Christina Grier

Performance Liaison: Dan Dennis

Set Dresser: Keely Heyl

Light Board Programmer: Tobby Tao

Sound Engineer: J. Jumbelic

Sound Mixer: Carla Spearman

Dance Captain: Rhys Carr

Social Media Coordinator: Jules Simons

SCENE SHOP

Scene Shop Foreman: Jaxon Meadows

Practicum Supervisor: Nicole Hankins

Carpenters: Colette Alfonso, Lydia Ball, Chris Burns, Sydney Campbell, Scarlett Fried, Callie Lippencott, Alex Mackeown, Luke May, Simon McFawn, Charley Peck, Amy Pilgrim, Lizzy Shaw, Nick Sklenar, Aiden Timko, Bob Walters, Elliot Wortley

PAINT SHOP

Paint Shop Supervisor: Hannah Carey

Paint Crew: Hannah Carey, Katie Carpenter, Logan Clark, Megan Collina, Kay Collins, Abby Covalin, Caroline Donato, Nicole Downing, Georgia Fried, Julia Gantzer, Reed Hickerson, Adriana Holst, Kekoa Huihui-Andrew, Princess Ibeh, Aidan Kelly, Melissa Levine, Callie Lippencott, Aisha Mahon, Tasha Matthews, Rachel Montemayor, Zach Snow, Carla Spearman, Nick Swope

PROP SHOP

Prop Artisans: Sarah Bear Alvarez, Iz Bawn, Will Bierley, Chloe Borton, Sam Erwin, Nicholas Foster, Lily Franks, Connor Gothard, Brandon Lipsky, Elisabeth O'Neill, Alex Pio, Madison Russell, Eliza Russo, Kaycee Scott, Erin Stone, Bob Walters, Ry Zornak

COSTUME SHOP

Drapers: Liz Haas, Sam Heilhecker

Stitchers: Emma Adkins, Aurora Azbill, Sarah Biernacki, Grace Breslow, Blair Forrester, Abby Golden, Madeline Hammons, Freddie Masselli, Shelby Merchant, Jack Murphy, Addy Plessinger, Anna Richcreek, Kaya Roll, Kaitlyn Smart

CRAFT SHOP

Crafts Head: Micah Patton

Craft Artisans: Destery Gunther, Akira Jackson, Micah Patton

WARDROBE SHOP

Wardrobe Crew: PJ Pavot, Sarah Riley, Liv Speck, Sylvia Witt

ELECTRICS SHOP

Light Board Operator: Ellaina Hess

Lighting Crew: Britney Cox, Ella Decker, Katie Edwards, Holden Evans, Beatrice Feldbush, Julia Germer, Lee Gilbert, Teigue Hardestry, Charlie Herrmann, Gabriel Hrin, Madison Keally, Quentin Kurtz, Katie Mangan, Bella Martin, Alexandra Marusich, Sergio Morales-Blazquez, Joey Negrete, Timothy Oh, Jackson Owens, Anna Proctor, Chloe Robinson, Grayce Roderick, Alejandro Ridolfi, Anna Scott, Jacob Simmons, Andy Veladota, James Walkowski, Lucy Walter, Lillie Wright, Isabella Zallo

SOUND SHOP

Sound Board Operator: Rosemary Burmester

Sound Crew: Erin Abney, Simon Marland, Sid McCarty, Tommy Page, Nathan Phillips, Oliver Runyon, Isabella Scanlan, Derek Smith

PUBLICITY/FRONT OF HOUSE

Crew: Elizabeth Amstutz, Robin Clement, Ben Griffithe, Grace Larger, Katie Maccabee, Miriam Snaveley, Vivian Waye, Zoe Zoller

STREAMING VIDEO CREW

Andie Walla's MDIA 3702 Class: Multicamera Producing and Directing

Crew: Walker Boyle, Jacob Chesnik, Dana Copeland, Jacob Dickey, Alayna Grimm, Korey Hajduk, Charlie Humbert, Owen Loughman, Christopher Manning, Amir Phillips, Matthew Putnam, Mason Russell, Ethan Shatz, Lydia Smith, Doug Spears, Ruthie Stulce, Jack Wesel

BACKSTAGE RUN CREW

Crew: Macy Fletcher, Eli Nisly, Aidan Travis, Ashley Wright

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Director, School of Theater: Merri Biechler

Assistant Directors, School of Theater: Dan Denhart, David Haugen

School of Theater Faculty and Staff

Mt. Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society

Dr. Trevellya Ford-Ahmed and Ada Woodson

Brian Koscho, Invisible Ground

Angela Hall, Athens Middle School

The Andrew Jackson Davidson Club of the Athens Middle School

SE Ohio History Center

Athens Photo Project

Triffin Morris, PlayMakers Repertory Company and UNC Department of Dramatic Art

Jody Daulton of Artistic Sign Languages Services