A.D. 16 - View at Home

Phoenix Best (Mary) is excited to be performing at Olney Theatre Center! Broadway Credits: Dear Evan Hansen (Alana Beck), Tony, Emmy & Grammy winning Revival of The Color Purple (Swing). National Tour: Les Miserables (Eponine). Regional Theatre: Dreamgirls (Deena Jones) TUTS, Macbeth In Stride (Witch) ART. TV/FIlm: Love Life (Ogechi) HBO Max, Estella Scrooge (Mercy & Charity) Broadway On Demand, From Sea To Rising Sea (Lu). @phoenix_best.

Kelli Blackwell (Diana/Ensemble) is thrilled to be back at Olney Theatre Center. Previous OTC credits include: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Armelia). NATIONAL TOURS: Amazing Grace (Nanna); Chicago the Musical (Mama Morton). REGIONAL: Everyman Theatre: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lottie/ Carmen), A Streetcar Named Desire (Vocalist); TriArts Sharon Playhouse: Hairspray (Motormouth Maybelle); Cortland Repertory Theater: Once on this Island (Asaka). DC AREA: Creative Cauldron: Crowns (Mabel), Thunder Knocking… (Good Sister); Theater Alliance: Black Nativity (Ensemble); Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Dreamgirls (Effie), Grease (Miss Lynch/Teen Angel), A Christmas Carol (Christmas Present); ArtsCentric: Next to Normal (Diana); EDUCATION: BFA in Acting (UMBC).

Alex De Bard (Ensemble) is so excited to be making her Olney Theatre Center debut! DC AREA: Signature Theatre: Rent (Swing), Gun & Powder (Swing); NextStop Theatre: First Date (Casey); Museum of the Bible: Amazing Grace (Yema/Tennah); Adventure Theatre: Fairy Tales in the Sun (Stepsister), The Velveteen Rabbit (Rabbit), Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” (Squirrelle), Fancy Nancy’s Splendiferous Christmas (Jojo), Blueberries for Sal (Little Bear); Monumental Theatre Company: 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche (Ginny/Dale U/S). FILM: Bay Star Theatricals: The Condition of Ellen Mitchell (Ellen Mitchell). UPCOMING: Godspell at Great Lakes Center for the Arts/Museum of the Bible. EDUCATION: The Catholic University of America, BM. IG : @alexdebardmusic

Ben Fankhauser (Jesus) is best known for playing Davey in Disney’s Newsies. Co-author of Off-Broadway’s A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet. First National Tours: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; Spring Awakening. Other NY: Mack & Mabel (Encores!); Saturday Night (York Theatre). Regional Theatre: Hartford Stage; Bucks County Playhouse; Music Theater Wichita; Sacramento Music Circus; North Carolina Theatre. Television: FBI: Most Wanted; The Deuce; Indoor Boys; Tony Awards. Hear more on Spotify/ iTunes/YouTube. BFA: Ithaca College. @PlzNfankU

Alan H. Green (Jacob) BROADWAY: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, School of Rock, Sister Act, Play On!. ORIGINAL CAST ALBUMS include his Broadway shows as well as: Broadway Bounty Hunter, Freaky Friday and Carols For A Cure. First National TOURS: 25th Annual...Spelling Bee, Swing!, Smokey Joe’s Cafe. INTERNATIONAL: Miss Saigon (sung in German). TV: Almost Family, Unforgettable, Murphy Brown, 30 Rock, Peter Pan Live!, Law & Order SVU, The Guiding Light and lots of National Commercials. AWARDS: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical (Berkie), Best Performer in a Streamed Musical (BroadwayWorld). BA in Vocal Performance from Rice University. Board Member and Associate Artist at Barrington Stage Company. Deacon at Metro Baptist Church in Hells Kitchen, NYC. But of all his roles his favorite is definitely that of Uncle to his twin nephews Aaron and Alan. IG: @alanhgreen

Sylvern Groomes Jr. (Ensemble/ US: Jacob) is excited to be making is debut at Olney Theatre Center. He was last seen playing Dr. Bird in Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of Three Little Birds and understudied Duck/Mules in the Kennedy Center’s production of Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Band. You can catch him next on the road playing Pigeon in the Kennedy Center’s production of Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus. www.sylvernjr.com

Jade Jones (Jessica) is happy to return to Olney Theatre. Previous OTC credits include: Beauty & the Beast (Belle), Sweeney Todd, Anyone Can Whistle (staged reading). DC Area: Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Amen Corner, Macbeth, Theatre Alliance: The Blackest Battle; Round House Theatre: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, Ford’s Theatre: Into the Woods, The Wiz, 110 in The Shade, 12 Angry Men (Assistant Director), Rep Stage: Sweeney Todd, Creative Cauldron: Once On This Island (Helen Hayes nomination), Keegan Theatre: As You Like It, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hair, Solo Cabarets: Jazzed and Jaded, Killin Em Softly. TV: Chicago PD (Stevie). Training: Ferrum College, BFA. Jade would like to thank their loving family for their continued support. @LittyOfficial. www.JadeTheCreative.com.

Jared Loftin (Nicholas) OFF-BROADWAY/ NEW YORK: Vineyard Theatre: Gigantic, York Theatre: Saturday Night, NYMF: Gary Goldfarb: Master Escapist [Outstanding Individual Performance Award], The Velveteen Rabbit. REGIONAL: Adirondack Theatre Festival: Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat, Artpark: Peter Pan, All Shook Up, Fame, Joseph…Dreamcoat. FILM: Netflix: tick, tick…BOOM!. TV: Apple TV+: Little America, Amazon: Red Oaks.

Calvin McCullough (Matthias) is happy to be back at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER, previous Olney Theatre Center credits include: Elf (Store Manager), South Pacific (Professor), Carmen (Diego), and Godspell (Ensemble). DC AREA: Everyman Theatre: Flying West (Frank Charles), A Raisin in the Sun (George Murchison); Baltimore Center Stage: Miss You Like Hell; Arena Stage: Snow Child (Plow Horse); Shakespeare Theatre: Peter Pan And Wendy (Noodler); Signature Theatre: Freaky Friday, Jesus Christ Superstar; Fords Theatre: A Christmas Carol; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Shrek (Donkey), In the Heights (Graffiti Pete); Imagination Stage: Peter and The Wolf, Freshest Snow Whyte, Roberto Clemente, When She Had Wings.

James Mernin (Swing) is thrilled to be back at Olney Theatre Center! Previous OTC credits include Cabaret (Swing) and Elf The Musical (Swing). DC Credits: Spring Awakening (Ernst) at Round House Theatre; Gypsy (L.A.) at Toby’s Dinner Theatre. Regional credits include West Side Story (Tony) at White Plains Performing Arts Center EDUCATION: BA Musical Theatre at American University. Instagram: @jamesbmernin

Adelina Mitchell (Ruth) is making her Olney Theatre debut! DC CREDITS: Signature Theatre: Rent, Gun & Powder, Devotion; Round House Theatre: Quixote Nuevo; Constellation Theatre Company: The Last Five Years, Little Shop of Horrors; Monumental Theatre Company: Head Over Heels, Desiderium. EDUCATION: George Mason University ‘19. UPCOMING: We Won’t Sleep at Signature Theatre. www.adelinamitchell.com | @adelinamitchell

Christian Montgomery (Bartimaeus) Olney Theatre Center: Elf; Round House Theatre: Spring Awakening; Constellation Theatre Company: Little Shop of Horrors (Helen Hayes Nom.), Melancholy Play,The Wild Party, Urinetown, Avenue Q; Monumental Theatre Company: Be More Chill (Helen Hayes Nom.); Studio Theatre: Carrie the Musical, Wig Out; Keegan Theatre: American Idiot (Helen Hayes Nom.), Next to Normal (Helen Hayes Nom.), HAIR; Signature Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar; Adventure Theatre MTC: Alexander... Very Bad Day; Forum Theatre: Dry Land; Imagination Stage: A Year With Frog and Toad; Toby’s: Hunchback of Notre Dame, Memphis.

Da’Von T. Moody (Simeon) Signature Theatre: Rent, Gun & Powder, Grand Hotel, Ain’t Misbehavin’. NATIONAL TOUR: Amazing Grace (Mr. Tyler). DC AREA: Constellation Theatre: Aida! (Mereb); Ford’s Theatre: The Wiz, Christmas Carol; ArtsCentric: Hair (Berger); Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Dreamgirls (C.C. White).

Rj Pavel (Ensemble) Olney Theatre Center: Annie; Mosaic Theatre Co.: Les Deux Noirs; Riverside Center: Beauty and the Beast; Constellation Theatre Co.: Little Shop of Horrors, Avenue Q; Adventure Theatre Co.: The Snowy Day; Monumental Theatre Co.: Urinetown; The Keegan Theatre: Chicago, The Bridges of Madison County; DC Music Theatre Workshop: Family Portrait; Ritz Theatre Co.: Legally Blonde; Stageworks FL: A Few Good Men; Toby’s: Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, South Pacific, 1776, Mary Poppins. EDUCATION: BFA Musical Theatre, University of the Arts. www.rjpavel.com @richardjohnpavel

Tiffany Lyn Royster (Swing) is elated to be at Olney Theatre for the first time! She has performed in many shows and cabarets at places such as The Kennedy Center, Hamilton Live!, Anacostia Arts Center, and Harmony Hall. www.totiffanlyn.com @talesoftiffanylyn

Candice Shedd-Thompson (Swing) is over the moon the be making her Olney Theatre Center debut! INTERNATIONAL TOUR: Production Vocalist for Celebrity Cruises. REGIONAL: Riverside Center: Mamma Mia, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Esmeralda); Highlands Playhouse: The Spitfire  Grill (Percy); West Virginia Public Theatre: Mary Poppins (Bird Woman); Hersheypark: Wide Open Country; Winnipesaukee Playhouse: Rocky Horror, High Society. DC AREA: MetroStage: Rooms: A Rock Romance (Monica); Monumental Theatre Co.: Head Over Heels (Gynecia); Creative Cauldron: Disenchanted (Snow White) [Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Ensemble], Always...Patsy Cline (Patsy Cline), Beauty and the Beast (Babette). EDUCATION: BA in Musical Theatre from James Madison University

John Sygar (Ensemble) is an actor from Bowie, Maryland. He was last seen at Olney in Beauty and the Beast as Lefou and in Once. He is a proud member of the Only Make Believe Acting Company and he is also in a band called baseball hat. You can listen to their album “send this to your crush” wherever music is streamed. He can’t wait for his grandparents to see the show. Follow him @jsyg @baseballhatmusic

Chris Urquiaga (Swing U/S Jesus, Simeon, Matthias, and Nicholas) aka JChris, is happy to make his debut at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. OFF-BROADWAY: Dig Deep. JCHRIS: Urban Latin music artist with over 2 Million views on YouTube and over 500,000 streams on Spotify. ALBUMS: Complete, I’m Here (2019 Wammie Nomination For Best Pop Album and Best Pop Artist). SIGNATURE THEATRE: A Motown Christmas, British Invasion, Entirely Elvis, Songs In The Key Of Stevie, Judy Garland: A Star Is Born. CREATIVE CAULDRON: All I Want For Christmas Is Cara Linda, Piano Man, ‘Tis the Season. EDUCATION: Strathmore Artist in Residence for the 2016-2017 Season; The Eastman School of Music in 2014, BFA Music Composition. AWARDS: Montgomery County Hispanic Heritage Month Award in 2017. UPCOMING CONCERT: Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA.

Chani Wereley (Esther) is happy to be returning to Olney Theatre Center, after having last appeared as Yitzhak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Previous DC credits include: Round House Theatre: Spring Awakening (Martha); The Kennedy Center: Earthrise (Sophia); Folger Theatre: Love’s Labor’s Lost (Katherine); Constellation Theatre Co: Little Shop of Horrors (Crystal) [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical], Aida (Princess Amneris); Keegan Theatre: American Idiot (Extraordinary Girl), Dogfight (Ensemble); Monumental Theatre Co: Pippin (Catherine), Bonnie and Clyde (Ensemble). Upcoming: We Won’t Sleep at Signature Theatre @chaniwhirly

Kanysha Williams (Ensemble) is so excited to be making her Olney Theatre Center debut! Recent credits include: REGIONAL: The Color Purple, Grumpy Old Men, Sister Act, The Wiz. DC AREA: The Christmas Angel, Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie, After Midnight, Gun and Powder, Ain’t Misbehavin’. EDUCATION: Duke Ellington School of the Arts, BM in Vocal Performance from George Mason University. To God Be The Glory!

Colin K. Bills (he/him/his) (Lighting Designer) returns to Olney, where he has designed numerous productions; his favorites include Beauty & the Beast, Once, The Amateurs, Colossal, Mary Stuart, and Venus. He is a Company Member and Board Member at Woolly Mammoth where he has designed over 50 productions, including the recent streaming production of Hi Are You Single and is a member of the company’s EDI Working Group. He was a founding member of the devised theater troupe dog & pony dc, serving as director, writer, actor, and designer for a dozen new works including A Killing Game and Beertown. Colin is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award and three Helen Hayes Awards. He has taught design at Howard University and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Stephen Brackett (Director) Broadway: The Lightning Thief (Longacre) and Be More Chill (Lyceum). Off-Broadway: A Strange Loop (Playwrights Horizons/Page 73/Wooly Mammoth)[Pulitzer Prize, Obie and Drama Desk Awards], Be More Chill (Signature/Two River/London’s Other Palace & Shaftsbury Theater), The Lightning Thief (Theaterworks USA/National Tour), Buyer & Cellar (Rattlestick/Barrow Street/National Tour/Menier Chocolate Factory), The Mad Ones (Prospect Theater), Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page 73), Carnival Kids (Lesser America), After (Partial Comfort), Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova), and The Tenant (Woodshed Collective). Regional: Fall Springs (Barrington Stage), Significant Other (Geffen Playhouse), I Now Pronounce (Humana Festival), Le Switch (About Face), The Great Pretender (TheatreWorks). Upcoming: To My Girls (Second Stage) and Radiant Baby (Two River).

Bekah hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and currently lives in Los Angeles.

As a TV writer and producer, she has written for Switched at Birth, American Gods, This is Us, and Maid (Netflix, 2021.) She is currently developing pilots with Hulu and FX. She has previously developed content with Bad Robot and Hulu. 

As a playwright, her work has been staged and developed by The O’Neill Playwright’s conference, the Atlantic Theater, Portland Center Stage, The Old Globe, the La Jolla Playhouse, Naked Angels, South Coast Repertory, The Echo theater, and Ojai Playwright’s conference. Her play The Cake has been produced over 80 times worldwide, as ran off Broadway at  Manhattan Theater Club. She is currently working on Commissions for South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theater Club, Barrington Stage, and Playmaker’s Rep. She is currently developing a musical adaptation of The Notebook with Ingrid Michaelson.

She is an alumni of the CTG Writers Group, Primary Stages writes group, Ars Nova Play Group, The Playwright’s Realm, and the Women’s Project Lab, and the Echo Playwright’s Group. 

Karen Currie (Production Stage Manager) OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Mary Stuart, Once, Finian’s Rainbow, In the Heights. NYC: The Last Session; KENNEDY CENTER: Digging Up Dessa, Oliverio, Mockingbird, Orphie and the Book of Heroes; SIGNATURE: Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes, Heisenberg, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Fix, Cabaret, Saturday Night, Sycamore Trees, The Happy Time; VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY: Detroit ’67, A Christmas Carol (2018); THEATER J: Over 20 productions including Trayf, The Christians, Another Way Home, G-D’s Honest Truth, Yentl, Freud’s Last Session, After the Revolution, The Whipping Man, and The Religion Thing; FOLGER THEATER: As You Like It; EDUCATION: M.A. in Arts Management, American University.

Anne Nesmith (Wig Designer) OLNEY THEATRE CENTER: Singin’ In The Rain, Thurgood, Sweeney Todd, Carmen: An Afro-Cuban Jazz Musical, Evita. DC AREA: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Washington Ballet. REGIONAL: Opera Philadelphia, Opera Boston, Wolf Trap Opera, Castleton Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Annapolis Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, Opera Delaware, Baltimore Opera Company (Resident Wig/Makeup Designer). INTERNATIONAL: Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Nishinomiya, Japan, Seiji Ozawa’s Matsumoto Festival. TV: MPT: Francis Scott Key and the Song that Built America; Military Channel: Great Planes; Investigation Discovery: Ice Cold Killers. OTHER: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Cultures in Motion Programs; US Army’s tour Spirit of America.

Cinco Paul is a screenwriter best known for his long resume of blockbuster family films which he co-wrote alongside Ken Daurio. Their films, which combined have made over 4 billion dollars at the box office, include DESPICABLE ME, DESPICABLE ME 2, DESPICABLE ME 3, DR. SEUSS’ HORTON HEARS A WHO, DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX, and THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS, among others. Most recently he co-created and was the showrunner for Apple TV Plus’ SCHMIGADOON!, starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key, for which he also wrote all the songs (garnering him a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media). Other upcoming writing and directing projects include
the stop-motion animation holiday special homage WINTER WONDERLAND from Imagine and Warner Bros., and the horror-comedy THIS SUCKS, with Naomi Despres and Broadway Video attached to produce.

Matt Rowe (Sound Designer) is proud to be back at Olney. Olney Theatre Center: Beauty & the Beast, Miss You Like Hell, Cabaret, Once, In The Heights, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, A Chorus Line; Kennedy Center: Orphie and the Book Of Heroes, First You Dream, Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred!), Nobody’s Perfect. MetroStage: The Last Five Years; Signature Theatre: Miss Saigon, Company, The Last Five Years, Shakespeare’s R&J, Dreamgirls, Dying City, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Xanadu, God of Carnage, Brother Russia, Really Really, Hairspray (Helen Hayes nomination), A Second Chance, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, The Boy Detective Fails, The Hollow, Side by Side by Sondheim, Art, And the Curtain Rises, Sunset Boulevard, Walter Cronkite is Dead, A Fox on the Fairway, Chess, Sycamore Trees, [title of show], Sweeney Todd, Show Boat, First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb, Dirty Blonde, Giant, The Little Dog Laughed, Les Miserables, Anyone Can Whistle in concert, The Visit, The Happy Time, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Glory Days, Merrily We Roll Along, The Witches of Eastwick. Norwegian Cruise Lines: Million Dollar Quartet, Rock Of Ages.

Chair, American Theatre Wing; Broadway: Trouble In Mind, Skeleton Crew, On Your Feet!, Motown:The Musical, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess ( TONY nom. ), Topdog / Underdog. TV: ANNIE LIVE! (NBC), FILM: Red Hook Summer ( Spike Lee Dir.) Recipient of NAACP Theater Awards, Lucille Lortell Award, Drama Desk ( noms. ) USHER: Las Vegas Residency, Blue Man Group Tour, Big Apple Circus, The Rockettes, NY Knicks City Dancers. FASHION: Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Wynton Marsalis. Regional theaters across the Unite States and Abroad. @esosafashion

Walt Spangler (Scenic Designer) is delighted to work with the many great artisans at Olney Theatre Center. BROADWAY: Tuck Everlasting, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Escape to Margaritaville, Desire Under the Elms, Hollywood Arms, and Scandalous. UPCOMING BROADWAY: Pulitzer Prize-winning play Between Riverside and Crazy. Walt has received numerous Helen Hayes Award nominations for his extensive body of work spanning 20 years in the DC area: The Shakespeare Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Signature, and Baltimore Center Stage. Walt is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Katie Spelman (Choreographer) is thrilled to return to Olney Theatre, where she choreographed Cabaret (Helen Hayes Nomination - Best Choreography). Katie was the Associate Choreographer on Moulin Rouge! for the Boston, Broadway, and Australian companies, and the dance supervisor for the West End production. Other Broadway associate credits: Once, American Psycho, and Amelie. As a choreographer, she has collaborated with DCPA, Goodspeed Opera, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Camarata Bern, Paramount Theater, Court Theatre, The Hypocrites, Asolo Repertory, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Timeline Theatre, Sideshow Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Northwestern University, and The Inconvenience. Katie was one of five choreographers awarded the SDCF Agnes de Mille commission, and her new work simone premiered in March 2019. Katie was the Associate Choreographer on Rent Live! on Fox, the Associate Director of Close to You on the West End, and is on this year’s Broadway Women’s Fund “Women to Watch on Broadway” list; upcoming projects include choreographing Ingrid Michaelson and Bekah Brunstetter's adaptation of The Notebook.

Christopher Youstra (Music Director/Associate Artistic Director) As the past resident music director, Mr. Youstra has music directed and conducted over 40 musicals at Olney Theatre Center, including Cabaret, Matilda, Once, On the Town, In the Heights, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Carmen: An Afro-Cuban Jazz Musical, Carousel, Godspell, How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and has also music directed at many of the other local theaters including Ford’s Theatre: Ragtime; Studio Theatre 2nd Stage: Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, Jerry Springer: The Opera, Passing Strange; Studio Theatre: Adding Machine: A Musical; Round House Theatre: Once on This Island, A Murder A Mystery A Marriage, The Summer of ‘42, and The World Goes ‘Round; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Les Misérables, The Color Purple, Titanic, Beauty and the Beast; Imagination Stage; The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences; Arena Stage; Burn Brae Dinner Theatre; Montgomery College; American University; Musical Theatre Center; Signature Theatre; and Columbia Center for the Theatrical Arts. Mr. Youstra has been nominated for twelve Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Music Direction and received the award for Titanic. He is director of music at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Columbia, has worked with both Phoenix Productions and Troika Entertainment national touring company and toured both Europe and Korea with Smokey Joe’s Café. As a composer, Mr. Youstra’s music has been heard throughout the area, including The Dancing Princesses at Imagination Stage, Big Nate: The Musical (with Jason Loewith), the Helen Hayes Awards, the 2014 Summer Hummer, and the opening gala of the ATLAS center.