One Act Play Festival Cast

Janna Epstein is thrilled to join the One Act Play Festival at WHATCo for the first time and dive into complex, layered pieces that allow her to stretch herself as an actor. Janna was last seen at WHATCo as the loyal and gentle Desdemona in Othello last fall. Favorite recent roles include the Evil Queen in Show White at the Children's Theater Project at Hudson Theater Works, Daisy in WHATCo's radio play of The Great Gatsby, and Doris in Miracle on 34th Street at Studio Playhouse. She would like to thank her endlessly supportive husband, incredibly loving family, darling cat (and froggy)children, and amazing friends. Shout out to the upcoming Beach Gallery in Keansburg! https://www.beachgallerykeansburg.com/

As always, Chloë is grateful to be sharing the W.H.A.T. Co stage. She previously appeared as Megan Jones in Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, and is proud to be bringing lesser known voices to the stage in another W.H.A.T Co One Act Festival. She looks forward to next season and is excited for what the future holds. Thanks as always to her endlessly supportive husband Dan, her mother, and friends. Chloë can be found streaming on twitch at twitch.tv/unlucky_chlover, taking freelance editing gigs and writing her own scripts and essays.

Kathy is glad to be back on the WHATco stage. Her previous show was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever where she played Mrs. McCarthy. Kathy has been teaching children to read with expression for close to 40 years and she loves performing. She wants to thank her husband for happily reading lines with her for the last three weeks as well as the WHATco family for always being welcoming and supportive.

Don is pleased to be in this original One Act play by Clinton Festa. He most recently performed with WHATCo in the Agatha Christie mystery “And Then There Were None” playing Dr. Armstrong. Before that he was in John Cariani’s beautiful and funny love poem “Almost, Maine”. He’s been part of the West Hudson Arts & Theater Company for 8 years. His other theater credits include that of Clarence Clover, a degenerate gambler in the original Murder Mystery “Unlucky Clovers” and he had big fun playing pompous director Lloyd Dallas in the hilarious “show within a show” British farce “Noises Off”. He also directed the David Auburn play “Proof” in September 2021 for the West Hudson Arts & Theater Company. Don is an avid home cook and volunteers with the Community Food Pantry in Rutherford where he lives with his husband John and their rescue dog Max who both support his artistic endeavors.

Josephine is very excited to be performing in her first production with Whatco. She has performed with other theatre companies, including Y Arts Theatre Company, Rosen Performing Arts Center, Tomfoolery Theatre, Teaneck New Theatre, Studio Playhouse, Old Library Theatre and Apricot Skye Productions. She also performed in productions at Emerson Junior/Senior High School. Her favorite shows she has performed in throughout her theatre career include Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast. She would like to thank everyone for their hard work and is very excited to be performing with the cast.

Richard Dwyer – A late entry to acting, Dwyer started at 50 years old and has performed in over 75 stage and film productions and has been a public address announcer for sporting events and parades for over 40 years. He has played a variety of roles and learned French for one character and a Russian accent for another. He has given life to characters ranging from law enforcement and priests to a mobster; a psychiatric patient and a counselor; at 6’7’ he played Lurch and the Frankenstein Creature and once even an elf (yes, elf), a not so pretty stepsister and several animals (Pig, Dog, Bird and now a Raccoon).Some of his favorite roles are Riff Raff (“The Rocky Horror Show”), the Ghost of Christmas Present (“A Christmas Carol”) and The Mikado (“The Town of Titipu”).

Cara is thrilled to be returning to the stage after a 15 year hiatus with WHATCo. Her previous roles include Poppy in Noises Off and Midge in Canker Sores and Other Distractions. She would like to thank the cast and crew for this opportunity to join the wonderful community theater scene of North Jersey and give this acting thing a shot again. She would also like to thank her boyfriend Corey and her friends and family for their incredible support and coming to see her perform. Break legs to the entire One Act Festival team!

Matt happy to be apart of WHATCO's in person one act festival. On the WHATCO stage Matt has appeared in Noises Off, Unlucky Clover, Almost Maine, Trivia Trivia Murder, The Great Gatsby Radio Play, And Then There Where None and Disaster the Musical. Directing credits include, Neil Simon's Rumor's, Drop Dead, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Virtually the Last Super. For Matt's next project, he will be sitting in the directors chair for WHATCO's production of Twelfth Night.

Roman is excited to bring the character Finn to life in WhatCo's One Act Festival's production on Unclaimed Baggage. He most recently played Scott in Disaster! The Musical, as well as Damien in Deadly Dessert Championship. He works as a cosplay and chainmaille worker and hopes to one day costume shows professionally.

Dylan began working with WhatCo at the start of 2023. His first role was Drools the butler in Drop Dead. Some of his other notable performances were Wayne Hopkins in Puffs, and Professor Ted Scheider in Disaster. Dylan has a penchant for comedy, particularly as extremely exaggerated characters. He hopes he can coerce a giggle or two from your smiling faces.

Allyssa is thrilled to be on the WHATCo stage again! She was previously seen in "Rumors" (Chris) and "The Stinky Cheeseman" (Little Old Lady / Cocky Locky / Wolf). Off stage at WHATCo, Allyssa directed "Puffs" this season and has written and directed the murder mystery dinners "Deadly Dessert Championship", "Trivia Night Murder", "Bridesmaid Murder", "Unlucky Clovers" and the children's show "Monster Princess Tales." Shout outs to her wonderful directors Jessie and Karina!

Michelle Almeida (Grace and Graham) is a Kearny native who has been with WHATCo since 2012. She serves as a creative board member and volunteers as the Social Media Manager for the theater. Michelle is thrilled to return to the stage and doubly excited to bring these local original plays to life. A big THANK YOU to Holly Stefanik for directing this festival, and to all of you for being here and supporting local arts! Follow @whatco_nj for updates on our next creative adventures.

Tara feels incredibly fortunate to return to the WHATCo stage under the direction of the incomparable Beatriz Esteban-Messina, with insights from our amazing playwright Constance Wagner, and playing opposite her very favorite actor and daughter Miranda Madrazo! Most recently, Tara played the money-lending, bone-collecting Marceline in Nutley Little Theatre's production of FIGARO. Much gratitude to the amazing WHATCo team as well as family and friends for their support!

Miranda Madrazo is an actor, singer, and stage manager based in New Jersey. She is currently stage managing “Valeria Radioactiva” at Cranford Dramatic Club. She most recently stage managed “Figaro” at Nutley Little Theatre, “Anna Bella Eema” with Puffy Shirt Productions, and performed in “Puss in Boots” at Studio Players, “The Christmas Caper” at HACPAC, and “Othello” with Teaneck New Theatre. Thank you to Constance & Beatriz for this opportunity!

Frankie is very excited to be onstage with his childhood best friend (Jose Rodriguez) once again after many years ... as two brothers reminiscing on their lives and helping each other find comfort in the uncomfortable. Frankie is ALSO so excited to make his directing debut with a piece so impactful that he cried in the coffee shop he read it in. Oh yeah, it's also about raccoons! He wants to thank Holly Stefanik for her dedication to making this show an unforgettable experience. He couldn't be prouder of her and everyone involved.

Josénrique Rodriguez started out his career in the arts as an actor in his youth. However, as he went to college, he left that art form for that of writing and directing. Continuing that path, he now uses film to tell his stories through independent productions. He has also worked with Netflix and AMC on television shows. He is very grateful that his childhood best friend Frankie Perez convinced him to audition for this show, as a way to explore the art form of acting once more.

Fresh off the plane and onto the stage, Nilanthi makes her US debut with WHATCo! A drama enthusiast since high school, Nilanthi brings experience from university productions like "The Wizard of Oz" (sparkling as Glinda) and "Crazy for You" (charming audiences as Patricia Fodor). Most recently, she honed her skills with diverse ensemble roles with St James's Players in the UK. Nilanthi extends heartfelt thanks to her partner, friends & family for their warm US welcome, and the WhatCo team for this exciting opportunity!

Maisie is very excited to be in her third WhatCo show! Jumping about ten years back into her time at pre-k has been a fun experience and she is happy to share this short silly show with the audience.

Former accountant, incoming Statistics grad student, current rambunctious 5 year old.

Emily is so excited to be apart of her second WHATCo show this year! Her last show was Deadly Dessert Championship where she played Megan. She is so happy to be apart of a show about Pre-K as she is finishing her Master’s Degree in education from Montclair State University and has experienced many similar interactions seen in the show! She thanks her friends and family for never ending support. She also thanks the people at WHATCo for all the hard work put into these shows!