Labour of Love

Julia Coffey (Jean) Julia is delighted to be making her Olney Theatre Center debut. OFF-BROADWAY: Perfect Arrangement; London Wall [Drama Desk Nomination]; The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd [Drama League Nomination]. REGIONAL: Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival: Richard II (Richard II); Studio Theater: Hedda Gabler (Hedda); Shakespeare Theater DC: Merchant of Venice (Portia) and Beaux Stratagem; Baltimore Center Stage: As You Like It (Rosalind); Barrington Stage: This and Absurd Person Singular; ACT: Arcadia, Maple & Vine and Once in a Lifetime; Guthrie: Tales from Hollywood; Chicago Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (Juliet).

Emily Kester (Margot Midler) is happy to be making her Olney Theatre Center debut in Labour of Love. REGIONAL: Everyman Theatre: The Revolutionists, Noises Off;  Triad Stage: A Christmas Carol;  Bright Star Touring Theatre: The Ugly Duckling. DC AREA: Studio Theatre: The Hard Problem, Edgar and Annabel;  Theater J: The Last Schwartz;  Constellation Theatre: Equus;  Rorschach Theatre: She Kills Monsters;  NextStop Theatre: Eurydice;  Imagination Stage: The BFG (Helen Hayes Award Winner: Outstanding Production, Theatre for Young Audiences 2015,) 101 Dalmatians, Double Trouble, The Little Mermaid. EDUCATION: BFA in Acting, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Brian Kim (Mr. Shen) is excited to make his Olney Theatre Center debut. OFF-BROADWAY: NYTW: Dinner with Georgette. INTERNATIONAL TOUR: Joseph… Dreamcoat. REGIONAL: Theatre Mu: The Korean Drama Addict’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity (World Premiere); Children’s Theatre Company: Mulan Jr.; Chanhassen Dinner Theatre: Les Miserables, 42nd Street, The Producers. FILM: The Struggle [AAIFL 2018 Best Actor/Director], The Beach House. TV: We Be Nurses, Pokemon, Regal Academy. EDUCATION: BA in Psychology/Pre-Med/Statistics from St. Olaf College.

Tessa Klein (Elizabeth) makes her Olney Theatre Center debut with Labour of Love. BROADWAY: War Horse. OFF BROADWAY: The Weir; Philadelphia, Here I Come (Irish Repertory Theatre) A Touch of the Poet (14th St Theatre) Regional and Local credits include: Chimerica; The Hard Problem (Studio Theatre, Helen Hayes Award Nomination, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play), An Ideal Husband (Shakespeare Theatre),  Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika (Shakespeare Theatre/McCarter/Berkeley Rep), The Call; The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall; A Seagull on 16th St (Theater J), Promise (WHAT, directed by John Tillinger) The Trojan Women (Alabama Shakespeare Festival),  Hamlet; She Stoops to Conquer and Aristocrats (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre). Film/TV include ‘The Whitest Kids U Know’, “Disappearances” and “Peter and John”. She studied at the Moscow Art Theatre and holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Marcus Kyd (Len) appeared in the world premiere of Fickle at Olney Theatre Center. Other credits include Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, The Folger Theatre, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Baltimore Symphony, Round House Theatre, Happenstance Theater, Anti-Social Music/WPAS, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Theater J, and Metro Stage. Mr. Kyd is a founding company member of Taffety Punk Theatre Company and has directed several of their dance-theatre-concerts including suicide.chat.room, Shakespeare's epic poem The Rape of Lucrece, and Enter Ophelia, distracted with fellow company member Kimberly Gilbert.

M. Scott McLean (David) Most recently played ‘Roland’ in Constellations (Theater Works Hartford, CT). Connecticut Critics Circle Award Nominee for ‘Bob’ in Midsummer: A Play With Songs. Other regional credits: 'Happy', Death of a Salesman (Denver Center Theatre Company),  'Willoughby', Sense and Sensibility (TheatreWorks Palo Alto).  Off- Broadway:  'Angelo', Measure For Measure, ‘Macduff’, Macbeth (New York Classical Theatre).  Graduate: American Academy of Dramatic Arts (1998) and the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver (2010).

Leora Morris (Director) is making her debut at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. REGIONAL: Alliance Theatre: Crossing Delancey, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Dancing Granny. TORONTO: Orphans, He Left Quietly (SummerWorks Best Production), Engaged, Galileo, Antigone Dead People, The Mistress Project, Horse. YALE: Amy and the Orphans, Women Beware Women, King John, Riverbank: A Noh Play for Northerly Americans, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, love holds a lamp in this little room. Leora was co-artistic director of Yale Cabaret (2015-2016), Toronto’s Ken MacDougall Award Winner for Emerging Directors (2012), and is an O’Neill/NNPN National Directing Fellow. EDUCATION: MFA Directing, Yale School of Drama.

Daniel Ettinger (Scenic Designer) returns to Olney Theatre where his credits include, Annie, Bakersfield Mist, The Piano Lesson, and Mary Poppins. He is the resident scenic designer at Everyman Theatre Company in Baltimore, MD. Past season productions include The Revolutionists, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and The Book of Joseph. Regionally he has worked for Woolly Mammoth, Imagination Stage, Rep Stage, and The Barter Theatre Company, among others. Recent NY credits include The Patterns at Pendarvisat HERE Theatre Center. Daniel is a member of the design faculty at Towson University, and United Scenic Artists, local 829.

Sarah Cubbage (Costume Designer) Olney Theatre: The Crucible; Studio Theatre: The Wolves, The Hard Problem; Baltimore Center Stage: That Face; Everyman Theatre: The Roommate; Rep Stage: Sweeny Todd, Dorian’s Closet; Syracuse Stage: In The Next Room (SALT award nom), Disgraced; American Repertory Theatre: The Lily’s Revenge (IRNE award nom), The Shape She Makes; Hangar Theatre: Gypsy; The Juilliard School: The Triumph of Love, Hippolyte et Aricie; Manhattan Concert Productions/David Geffen Hall: Crazy For You; Brooklyn Academy of Music: Dark Lark (Kate Weare Company), Eternal Now (Young Soon Kim); The Joyce Theatre: The Radio Show (AIM, Bessie Award); DCL Disney Cruise Line: Beauty & The Beast; Broadway Associate/Assistant: Fish In The Dark, A Delicate Balance, It’s Only A Play, This Is Our Youth, Bullets Over Broadway, Big Fish. MFA: NYU. Member USA 829.

Jesse Belsky (Lighting Designer) previously designed The Magic Play and The Invisible Hand at Olney Theatre Center. Other D.C. designs include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Ford’s, The Year of Magical Thinking at Arena, The Mystery of Love & Sex at Signature Theatre, The Winter’s Tale, Sense & Sensibility and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Folger, The Remains, The Effect, Three Sisters, and No Sisters at Studio, The Book of Will and Handbagged at Round House Theatre and Everything Is Illuminated at Theater J.  Regional credits include productions at Yale Repertory Theater, Playmakers, Actor’s Theater Louisville, Syracuse Stage and Portland Center Stage. Mr. Belsky holds a BA from Duke, an MFA from Yale School of Drama and has taught lighting design at Connecticut College and UNC Greensboro. www.jessebelsky.com

Sarah O’Halloran (Composer/Sound Designer)  is happy to return to Olney Theatre Center after working on Our Town in 2017. Regional: 1st Stage: Swimming with Whales, Trevor, and When the Rain Stops Falling. Mosaic Theatre Company: The Return. Rep Stage: The Heidi Chronicles. Forum Theatre: Turner in Jerusalem, What Every Girl Should Know, and Dry Land. Chesapeake Shakespeare: Anne of the Thousand Days. Nu Sass: The Veils. American University: JQA: A Theatrical Inquiry. Imagination Stage Acting Conservatory: Twelfth Night. Education: Ph.D. in Composition and Computer Technology from the University of Virginia.

Rasean Davonte Johnson (Projection Designer) is delighted to be working with Olney Theatre Center. A Chicago-based video artist and theatrical designer, he has had the opportunity to work regionally with institutions such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Berkshire Theatre Group, McCarter Theatre Center, Alliance Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Court Theatre, The Hypocrites, The Kitchen Theatre, Writers Theatre, Manual Cinema, and internationally with the Ningbo Song and Dance Company. Additionally his video and installation work has been seen at the Yale Art Gallery, The Bridgeport Film Festival, the Logan Center for the Arts, and the Columbus International Film Festival. MFA Yale School of Drama. Raseandavontejohnson.com.

Ali Pohanka (Wig Designer) is delighted to return to Olney Theatre Center. Previous Olney Theatre Center credits: My Fair Lady, Annie, On the Town. REGIONAL: Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma: Big Fish; Annapolis Opera: Faust, South Pacific, Little Women; Round House Theatre: Caroline, or Change; Atlanta Opera: Sweeney Todd(Associate). EDUCATION: B.A. in Art History from Oberlin College.

Zach Campion (Dialect Coach) is a freelance voice, speech and dialect coach from San Antonio, TX. Recent credits at Olney Theatre Center include coaching dialects for On the Town, The Invisible Hand, Annie, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd, Angels in America (Parts 1 & 2), Dial ‘M’ for Murder, and coaching voice for National Players Tour 68, 69, and the currently touring 70. Other DC credits include coaching dialect for Vietgone, Hand to God* [Nominated for 6 Helen Hayes awards] and Terminus* at Studio Theatre, Sovereignty,The Price and Smart People at Arena Stage, The Wiz at Ford's Theatre and the world premiere of The Gulf* at Signature Theatre. Upcoming projects include Heisenberg at Signature Theatre and Indecent at Arena Stage.  Zach is a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and is a member of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory faculty. EDUCATION: MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA in Performance and Production from Texas State University.  Voicecoachdc.com *denotes Helen Hayes nominated productions.

Ben Walsh (Production Stage Manager) Previous Olney Theatre Credits: Every Brilliant Thing, THURGOOD, FICKLE: A Fancy French Farce, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Christmas Carol (2013 & 2015), Forever Plaid, Cinderella, Spring Awakening, Little Shop of Horrors, The Submission, Over the Tavern.  DC AREA: Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical Acting: Hamlet, Women Beware Women, The Winter’s Tale, The Duchess of Malfi; Rep Stage: I Am My Own Wife. REGIONAL: The Gateway Playhouse: Cabaret; Montana Shakespeare in the Parks: You Never Can Tell; Riverside Center for the Performing Arts: The Buddy Holly Story, Oklahoma!, Sister Act, 9 to 5, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber,Monty Python’s SPAMALOT; Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Christmas Town. EDUCATION: University of Kentucky, Howard Community College, James W. Rouse Scholars. Ben is an alumnus of Olney Theatre Center's Apprentice Training Program.