REPERTORY STAFF

• Production Manager
• Neal Goleta
• Associate Costume Designer
  Two Trains Running
• Sharné Van Ryneveld Nel
• Associate Scenic Designer
• Danielle DeLaFuente
• Associate Sound Designer
• Nat Houle
• Assistant Scenic Designer
• Ningning Yang
• Assistant Lighting Designer
• Trey Brazeal
• Assistant Props Designer
• Malena Logan
• Intimacy/Sensitivity Specialist
• Ann James
• Production Assistant
• Kydiana Jeanty
• Costume Shopper
  Two Trains Running
• Alex Rockey
• Key Art Illustration
• Brianna Pippens

TOUR STAFF

• Tour Company Manager
• Holly Adam
• Assoc. Production Manager/Tour Technical Director
• Chris Grainer
• Tour Lighting Supervisor
• Molly Garrison
• Tour Sound Supervisor
• Danny H. Saturne
• Tour Wardrobe Supervisor
• Krista Grevas
• Tour Lighting Drafter
• Jessica Neill
• Tour Crew
• Hannah Sgambellone

THE ACTING COMPANY STAFF

• Artistic Director
• Kent Gash
• Managing Director
• Erik Schroeder
• Producing Director
• Devin Brain
• Director of Development
• Hillary Cohen
• Associate Producer
• B. Rafidi
• Development Associate
• Natalya Ribovich

In 2003, I had the great good fortune to direct August Wilson's KING HEDLEY II for the Alliance Theatre. August Wilson came to Atlanta and continued to revise the script and rehearse with our company. During the opening August signed a poster for me saying "THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES ... ". As always, August was prescient and indeed even now in 2024-25, the struggle continues. Our current political climate in America continues to illustrate the sense of dislocation and exclusion that many African Americans feel. In TWO TRAINS RUNNING August Wilson's characters are on the precipice in American, struggling to stake their claim to a piece of the American Dream. It is a story about questioning your place in the world and amidst the turbulent 1960's these brilliant, witty, wry, and eloquent characters strive to thrive and realize the promise made by this great Country to all of its citizens. 

TWO TRAINS RUNNING challenges our sense of how we identify and define ourselves, as well as how others project their perceived values of us onto our day to-day lives. The play wonders if the tension between these two perspectives can ever be resolved, and if so... HOW? August Wilson doesn't give us concise answers. In TWO TRAINS RUNNING, characters must cultivate their own hope but Wilson believes we are ever resilient and so we endure.  These are but a few of the reasons why August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING is more necessary, essential, and vital than ever before.

Kent Gash
Artistic Director
The Acting Company

The Acting Company develops actors by touring professional theater coast-to-coast.

Founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley with the first graduating class of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, the Company has launched the careers of some 400 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, and Kelley Curran, while bringing sophisticated theater to hundreds of communities across the country.

The Acting Company has performed for over 4 million people in 48 States, 10 foreign countries, on and Off-Broadway, and at leading resident theaters including the Guthrie, the Kennedy Center and New York City Center.

New works commissioned by The Acting Company include plays by William Finn, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, John Guare, Beth Henley, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Meg Miroshnik, Ntozake Shange, Maria Irene Fornés, Marsha Norman, Samm-Art Williams, and Wendy Wasserstein among other notable playwrights. The Company’s education programs bring our award-winning workshop curriculum and in-school residencies to thousands of rural, suburban, and metropolitan schools each year.

Among many accolades, The Acting Company received the 2003 Tony honor for Excellence in the Theater and recently won the 2019 Audelco Award for Best Play for its production of Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son directed by Seret Scott.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Acting Company’s 2025 National Tour is made possible by support from the Hitz Foundation and Play On Shakespeare. This program is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts; Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; the Axe-Houghton Foundation; Bloomberg Philanthropies; Doris Duke Foundation; The Ford Foundation; Goldman Sachs Gives; Holborn Foundation; Howard Gilman Foundation; The Kean Foundation; The Kovner Foundation; Lucille Lortel Foundation; Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund; Nancy Friday Foundation; The Robertson Foundation; Rona Jaffe Foundation; The Shubert Foundation; The Smart Family Foundation of New York; The Strong-Cuevas Foundation; and many generous individual donors to whom we are ever grateful. The Acting Company respectfully acknowledges the indelible memories of Anne L. Bernstein (1948-2021), Louanna O. Carlin (1937-2021), Carol Crowley (1930-2023), Jill Edelson (1933-2020), John N. Gilbert, Jr. (1938-2023), and Edgar Lansbury (1930-2024).

“August Wilson’s Two Trains Running” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

SPECIAL THANKS

Rubicon Theatre Company (Producing Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns; Associate Artistic Director Stephanie Coltrin; Production/Company Manager Julia Donlon; Technical Director Jimmy Callahan; Master Electrician Claire Cleary; Run Crew: Joe Lopez and Gabi Baltzell; Carpenters: Stewart Forgey and Ross Mantor; Prop Artisans: Alex Choate and Alex Johnson; Costume Assistant Tara Vanoni; Wig/Production Assistant Danielle White; Sound Technician Danny Fiandaca)

Theresa Posorske and Concord Theatricals

Sally Cade Holmes, Taylor Bailey, and Play On Shakespeare

Matt Gross and Heart Spade PR

Additional Production Staff: Shira Abarnir, Catherine Copeland, Kyle Daniels, Carly Genovesi, Gabrielle Giacomo, Joy Hanks, Quintin Nel, Tyrus Newell, Hannah Sgambellone, Amanda Stutzman, Ellery Suffridge-Brown, Taylor Suffridge-Brown, Jack Ryan, Hannah Yankowitz

Harkness Center for Dance Injuries

Tour Booking: Alliance Artist Management

Audited Financial Statements: Lutz and Carr, CPAs LLP

Legal Representation: Jason Baruch, Sendroff & Baruch, LLP

Sound and Lighting equipment provided by: Launch AV, Kinetic Lighting, and Hayden Production Services

Tour Transit by: Lamoille Valley Transportation, Inc., Clark Transfer

The Acting Company would like to thank Constanza Romero and the August Wilson estate for their support of this production.

J'Laney Allen (Wolf, Sterling u/s) Extremely grateful to be joining The Acting Company! NYC Theatre: Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem/Audelco Nominee). NYU: Pipeline, Cloud 9, The Tempest. Irene Ryan, Kingsley Colton & Mark Twain Award Recipient (KCACTF). Education: MFA: NYU Grad Acting. BS: North Carolina A&T. Social Media: @jlaneyallen. 

Chuckie Benson Hambone, Wolf u/s) is a Lansing, MI native and holds his BFA in Music Theatre Performance from Western Michigan University. Chuckie comes to The Acting Company from being a proud, Jeff nominated Chicago actor. He is also an alum of Forbidden Broadway's Spamilton, the Chicago cast as well the first National Tour. Having performed in The Three Musketeers presented by The Acting Company at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, it is an honor to reunite and to officially join The Acting Company family. Regional credits include: DreamGirls (McCarter, Goodspeed); RENT, Once on This Island, The Three Musketeers (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Color Purple (Drury Lane); The Wiz (Kokandy); Sophisticated Ladies (Porchlight Theatre); Heartbreak Hotel (Broadway Playhouse); Buddy in The Buddy Holly Story (American Blues Theatre); Hair (Mercury Theatre); Rent (Theo Ubique); Ragtime, Sister Act (Wagon Wheel), Big River, Hairspray (Timber Lake Playhouse). National Tour: Spamilton (1st National Tour). Love you Mom and Dad. IG:@chuckie.benson 

Diana Coates (Risa u/s) is delighted to be telling these marvelous stories with The Acting Company. Originally from DC, she now resides in NYC. Most recently she was seen as Lady Macbeth at The Chenango River Theatre in New York and in productions of Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Minnesota. Other Select Regional: The Nacirema Society (Goodman Theatre); Murder on the Orient Express (Drury Lane); Henry V, The Winters Tale (First Folio); Murder on the Orient Express (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), The House that Will Not Stand (Victory Gardens), Our Town, Into the Breeches (Asolo Repertory Theatre); Measure for Measure, The Tempest, The Rover (Michigan Shakespeare Festival). TV/Film: Chicago Fire (NBC), Chicago Med (NBC), Deli Boys (Hulu), and Emperor of Ocean Park (MGM+). She is represented by DDO Artists Agency and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association. Always for mom.

Brian D. Coats (Holloway) has been in August Wilson's King Hedley II, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Seven Guitars (Two River Theater). New York credits include Broadway's tour of August Wilson's Jitney, (Manhattan Theatre Club) the best we could (A Family Tragedy), (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3) On the Levee, (Working Theater), La Ruta, (Pan Asian Rep),The Brothers Paranormal, (Ensemble Studio Theatre) Travisville, (Classical Theater of Harlem), The Bacchae, The First Noel, (The Public Theater), The Merry Wives of Windsor and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Other Regional/Touring credits include productions at Mark Taper, Old Globe, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Shakespeare and Co, Pittsburgh Public, Huntington, Cincinnati Playhouse, Denver Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre and others. Television credits include: "Queens", "FBI: Most Wanted", "Luke Cage", "Boardwalk Empire", "Law & Order", "Law & Order: Organized Crime", "Law & Order: SVU", "JAG", "Blue Bloods", and "The Sopranos". Mr. Coats is a graduate of the University of North Carolina's School of the Arts.

Robert Cornelius (West, Memphis u/s) hails from Chicago and is pleased to be working with The Acting Company. Most recently Robert has performed regionally in Jitney (Arkansas Rep), as Jean Charles in Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Signature Theatre), Dreamgirls (Goodspeed Opera House and McCarter Theatre Center), Chicken and Biscuits (Front Porch Arts Collective), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre). He has also done Blues for an Alabama Sky (Madison Rep), You Can't Take it With You and The Rivals (Milwaukee Rep), Spunk (St. Louis Black Rep), and Great Expectations (Indiana Rep). In Chicago, he has performed in the World Premieres of Her Honor, Jane Byrne (Lookingglass Theatre), Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre), and Rightlynd (Victory Gardens Theater). Robert has also done Aida (Drury Lane Theatre), Raisin (Court Theatre), Picnic (American Theatre Company), Wit (The Hypocrites), Total Bent (Co-production with About Face and Haven Theatres (Joseph Jefferson Award nomination)), Hamlet (The Gift Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (First Folio Theatre), and Wheatley, Takunda and Spiele 36 (Victory Gardens). A proud member of SAG/AFTRA, Robert can be seen on TV in "The Chi", all three seasons of "South Side," "Chicago PD," "Shameless,' and "Turks". Robert also performs as a singer with the band Poi Dog Pondering and as singer songwriter of his own band, RC7.

James Ricardo Milord (Sterling) is a Boston native Haitian-American actor. He recently won a New England Theatre Critics award for Outstanding Lead Performance as King Hedley in King Hedley II (Actors Shakespeare). He was also nominated for a Norton in his lead performance as Herald Loomis in Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre). Mr. Milord appeared in the riveting premier of K-I-S-S-I-N-G (Huntington Theater). That previous year, he was seen in Common Ground Revisited (Huntington Theatre), while completing productions of Paradise Blue (Gloucester Stage) and the premier of Young Nerds of Color (Central Square Theatre). Prior to the pandemic, Mr. Milord was seen in Pipeline (WAM, Front Porch, & Central Sq. Theatre). Other credits include A Christmas Carol (Underground Railway), The Handmaid's Tale (Boston Lyric Opera), The Agitators, Cyrano (Gloucester Stage), Anna Christie, Barbecue (Lyric Stage), Akeelah & the Bee (Wheelock Family Theatre), The Good Negro, Splendor, and The Brothers Size Trilogy, (Company One). Film credits include Salem's Lot (Warner Bros. Pictures), Honest Thief (Solution Entertainment Group), Proud Mary (Screen Gems), The Brotherhood (Showtime), and a multitude of indies. Mr. Milord dedicates this tour to the late great Johnny Lee Davenport. "Hold a good thought!"

Jeffrey Rashad (West u/s, Holloway u/s, Hambone u/s) Off Broadway: A Christmas Carol in Harlem (Classical Theatre of Harlem). Regional: Passover (Resident Ensemble Players), The Comedy of Errors, Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew (The Old Globe), Treasure Island (MSMT). Film: First Date (JazziDreamer Ent.), Time to Leave (Before the Crown Productions), Generational Curses (Fly in Rice Media/Black Hours). Education: B.F.A. - Howard University, M.F.A. - The Old Globe/USD Shiley Graduate Acting. www.JeffreyRashad.com.  @jeffyjeff_ on Instagram. 

Michael A. Shepperd (Memphis)Directing: Blood at the Root (Open Fist Theatre Company)- Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle nomination for Best Director; The Boy From Oz (Ovation Award, LADCC Award, Best Director); Rotterdam (The Kirk Douglas Theatre (LADCC Award Best Production, Stage Raw: Best Production and Best Director)); West Addams (Skylight Theatre (LA Times Critics Choice)); Laughter on the 23rd Floor (The Garry Marshall Theatre); Sucker Punch (The Couerage Theatre); Too Heavy for Your Pocket (Sacred Fools (LA Times Critics Choice)). Acting: Miss Trunchbull in Matilda (La Mirada), The Producers (Roger; Ovation Award nom.), Fences (Troy; Ovation, LADCC nom.), BootyCandy (LADCC nom. Ovation, Stage Raw Win), Mister in The Color Purple (Ovation Award), Steel (Ovation Award), Master Harold and the Boys (NAACP Theatre Award nom.), Intimate Apparel (NAACP Theatre Award), Choir Boy (NAACP nom.); Athol Fugard's Valley Song (International City Theatre). Broadway/Regional: Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan; Little Shop of Horrors; Caroline, or Change; The Whipping Man.

TV: "NCIS: Origins", "Bosch", "Why Women Kill", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Hot In Cleveland", "Wizards of Waverly Place", "Monk", "Criminal Minds". @shepdawg1122.

DeAnna Supplee (Risa) is a Philadelphia-born, New York City-trained actress.  A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she has also studied at the British American Drama Academy at the University of Oxford and the Actors Studio Drama School (MFA, Acting).  NYC Theater: American Rot (La Mama, dir: Estelle Parsons), The Winter's Tale (NYSX), On Strivers Row (Metropolitan Playhouse), Much Ado About Nothing (NYSX), The Trojan Women (The Flea Theater), Fires in the Mirror, Laundry & Bourbon, Platanos Y Collard Greens, and Romeo & Juliet. Regional Theater: The Garbologists (Shadowland Stages), B.R.O.K.E.N. code B.I.R.D. switching (Berkshire Theatre Group), The Niceties (Mile Square Theatre), Skeleton Crew (TheatreSquared). International Theater: Look/Alive (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). TV: "Elsbeth", "Law and Order: SVU". @deannasupplee

August Wilson (Playwright) [April 27, 1945 - October 2, 2005] authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century. His plays have been produced at regional theaters across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson's works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain's Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson's early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwrighting, the Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States, and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street - The August Wilson Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero.

Lili-Anne Brown (Director), a Chicago South Side native, works as a director, actor and educator, and has performed in, directed and produced many award-winning shows in Chicago and nationally. Recent directing credits include: The Nacirema Society..., School Girls, or The African Mean Girls Play and the world premieres of Ike Holter's I Hate It Here and Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Dreamgirls (McCarter Theater and Goodspeed Musicals), FELA! (Olney Theater), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre), Ain't No Mo' (Woolly Mammoth and Baltimore CenterStage), Rent and The Color Purple (The Muny), Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Acoustic Rooster...(Kennedy Center and National Tour), Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse), Cullud Wattah (Victory Gardens). She is the former Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she focused programming on Chicago-premiere musicals and new play development with resident playwrights.  She has received a Helen Hayes Award, 5 Jeff Awards, 2 BTA awards and an African American Arts Alliance Award for excellence in directing. She is a 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award for Theatre, the 2023 Zelda Fichandler Award Finalist, and an inaugural Platform Award recipient.  She is a member of SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and a graduate of Northwestern University.

Tanya Orellana (Scenic Designer) [she/her] designs performance spaces for theatre and opera. Originally from San Francisco's Mission District, she is a core member of the award-winning ensemble Campo Santo. Previous collaborations with Lisa Peterson include The Kind Ones by Miranda Rose Hall (The Magic), Timon of Athens and Coriolanus (Utah Shakespeare Festival). Recent collaborations include Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2 directed by Jaime Castañeda, Fefu and Her Friends directed by Pam MacKinnon, Oedipus directed by Jenny Koons at The Getty Villa, The Industry's Sweet Land, an immersive opera directed by Yuval Sharon and Cannupa Hanska Luger, and LEAR by Marcus Gardley, co-directed by Eric Ting and Dawn Monique Williams. Tanya received her MFA in Scenic Design from CalArts and is the 2016 recipient of the Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Award. She is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and an organizing member of La Gente: The Latine Production Network. www.tanyaorellana.com.

Samantha C. Jones (Costume Designer) (she/her) is excited to join The Acting Company in their work this season. She is a Costume Designer and educator with previous design credits at Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Court Theatre, Paramount Theatre (Aurora), Drury Lane Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Children's Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, The Muny, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Cleveland Playhouse, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, First Stage Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula Players Theater, and others. Upcoming productions include: Fat Ham (OSF) and Little Shop of Horrors (Denver Center). Her work can be viewed at samanthacjones.com.

Jared Gooding (Lighting Designer) is excited to be designing his first national tour and first design with The Acting Company. Based out of Chicago, his design credits include shows for theaters all over the country. Designs for STAGES Houston, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Goodman Theater, Writers Theater, Court Theater, Chicago Children's Theater, TimeLine Theatre, Madison Children's Theater, MPAACT, Syracuse Stage, Fulton Theater, Bristol Riverside Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Indiana Repertory Theater, First Stage Milwaukee, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Florentine Opera Company, American Blues Theater, Congo Square, and Steep Theater. He was the lighting assistant for The Wiz Live on NBC, and has associate designed at the Kennedy Center in DC. He is an Ensemble Member with American Blues and MPAACT theaters and was named the 2023 emerging artist at the Michael Merritt Awards in Chicago.  His work is featured at goodingdesigns.com.

Lindsay Jones (Original Music and Sound Design) Broadway: Slave Play (Tony nominations for Best Score and Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx Bombers, and A Time to Kill. Off-Broadway: Privacy (The Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), Top Secret (New York Theatre Workshop) and many others. Regional: Guthrie Theater, Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Hartford Stage, Alliance Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre and many others. International: Slave Play (West End, London), Royal Shakespeare Company (England), Stratford Festival (Canada), and many others. Audio dramas: Disney's Star Wars: Tempest Breaker, Marvel's Wastelanders, Audible's A Streetcar Named Desire with Audra McDonald and Carla Gugino, Next Chapter Podcasts' Play On Shakespeare, and Committee For Children's The Imagine Neighborhood. Lindsayhas received two Tony Award nominations, seven Joseph Jefferson Awards (24 nominations), two Ovation Awards (three nominations), an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award, and many others. Film/TV scoring: HBO Films' A Note of Triumph -- The Golden Age Of Norman Corwin (2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject), the newly released Dinosaur Discoveries (now playing the Houston Natural Sciences Museum) and over 30 other films. He is the co-chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA), and teaches Composition For Theatre and Music History at the University Of North Carolina School Of The Arts. www.lindsayjones.com

Anna Dorodnykh (Props Design) is happy to join The Acting Company family again! Off-Broadway credits: The Counter (Props Supervisor), Love + Science (Props Designer), A Sherlock Carol (Deck Props), Romeo & Bernadette (Deck/Props) Regional: [Fiddler on the Roof- Props Designer (The Axelrod Performing Arts Center), Odyssey- Rehearsal Props Lead (The Acting Company National Tour).

Duane Boutté (Voice & Speech) is a New York based actor, director and theater educator. He trained at UCLA and the National Theatre Conservatory and has taught at Illinois State University, Ramapo College, The New School and National Theatre Institute. Boutté was text coach for Woodward Shakespeare Festival's Twelfth Night and Hamlet and was a faculty advisor for voice and text on MFA directed productions at ISU. In his private studio, he has helped prepare actors for roles on Broadway and nationwide. Boutté is an Acting Company alum whose first NY job was touring in the company's '91-'92 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other acting credits include Stonewall (1996 film), Brother to Brother (film), the original Broadway company of Parade and the 1994 TONY winning revival of Carousel.  Among his favorite roles performed are "Mercutio" (OSF), "Bayard Rustin" (Public Theater, Berkeley Rep), "Jeremy" in Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Denver Center), and "Orestes" in an Oresteia inaugurating Berkeley Rep's RODA Theatre.  His directing credits include Neil LaBute's Appomattox (world premiere), Home (Rep Stage), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Worcester Shakespeare), The Winter's Tale, Othello, Fences, Stalag 17, Everybody, Cabaret and more.  Composer credits include Caravaggio Chiaroscuro (LaMama), Lyin' Up a Breeze (Second Space), and Thanks To The Lighthouse (NY Parks).

Ann James (Intimacy Director/Sensitivity Specialist)made her debut as the first Black Intimacy Coordinator on Broadway for Pass Over. Broadway credits include: Sunset Boulevard, A Wonderful World, Eureka Day, Sh*t. Meet. Fan, John Proctor is the Villain, The Outsiders (Tony Award Best Musical 2024), Lempicka, Illinoise, Hamilton, Parade (Tony Award 2023 for Best Revival), Sweeney Todd, Heart of Rock and Roll, Jelly's Last Jam. Off-Broadway: Antiquities, The Great Privation, Velour! A Drag Spectacular!, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, The Hippest Trip, Sunset Baby, Orlando, Jonah, White Girl in Danger, How to Defend Yourself, The Comeuppance, Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, My Broken Language, The Half-God of Rainfall, Here There Are Blueberries, Life and Trust, The Lonely Few. Tour: Hamilton UK. James' company, Intimacy Coordinators of Color awarded a 2024 Special Citation from the OBIE Awards and The American Theatre Wing. 

Tommy Kurzman (Wig & Hair Design) Broadway: Uncle Vanya, I Need That, Gutenberg: The Musical!, The Cottage, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Pictures From Home, The Collaboration, Macbeth, Mrs. Doubtfire, All My Sons, True West, St. Joan, My Fair Lady, Little Foxes, Long Day's Journey, Bright Star, The King and I and Fiddler on the Roof. Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors (Westside Theatre), Titanique, Roundabout, MCC, Atlantic, The New Group, The Public, Manhattan Theatre Club, New World Stages. Regional: The MUNY, Goodspeed, Drury Lane, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Huntington, Geva Theatre, Arena Stage, MSM. Instagram: @TommyKurzmanWigs

Irvin Mason Jr. (Associate Director) is a director, actor, poet, and teaching artist born and raised in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. His work intersects expressive movement, live music, emerging technology, and Afro-Caribbean traditions to breathe new life to physical storytelling. Irvin seeks to direct work that leaves a residue --- unapologetic work that dismantles the traditional foundations of theater and creates space for new voices to tell their own stories. Irvin is the proud, current recipient of the 2024-2026 Drama League Stage Directing Fellowship. He has recently assisted on the new work development of plays and musicals at the Playwrights Center and Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor. His recent directing credits include: Ain't Misbehavin (Gallery-Players), Stuck (Chain Theatre), and Pipeline (Gallery-Players). Assistant Directing: Gospel According to Heather (AMAS, dir. Rachel Klein). In 2023, Irvin served as a directing observer to Schele Williams on the Broadway revival of The Wiz. He was the SDCF directing shadow on Little Shop of Horrors (dir. Maggie Burrows) and Rent (dir. Lili-Anne Brown) at the MUNY. He was also the directing observer on Pup! A Chew Story (NAMT). @iirvinmason | irvinmasonjr.com.

Murnane Casting is a first-class office in New York City. With a passion for developing new works, our team specializes in casting for theatre, film, and television projects nationwide. Our mission is to offer a collaborative, relaxed, and highly creative casting experience for our clients. Learn more at MurnaneCasting.com

Esther Bermann (Stage Manager) is excited to join The Acting Company again after company managing their national tour of Odyssey in 2023. As a freelance stage manager based in NYC, her credits include New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, New York City Center, Soho Rep, NYMF, NYU, and Bushwick Starr. She also tours with Dianne McIntyre Group on the new dance work In the Same Tongue, produced by Octopus Theatricals. Additionally, she has over 20 years of dance and theater performance experience and has worked in the administrative offices of Dance/NYC and Pentacle. She holds a BA in dance and drama from University of California, Irvine.

Imani Ross (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be joining The Acting Company for their 2024-2025 tour. A Purdue Northwest Graduate, she has accumulated years of experience within the different facets of production, education, corporate event planning, and stage management. Based in Chicago, she has worked with many local and national companies including: Drury Lane Theatre, Woman Evolve, Writers Theatre, The Fearless Fund, Lifeline Theatre, ONE Church LA, SJR Engagements and The All Nations Collective. Select theatre credits: A Chorus Line, Mary Poppins, Elf the Musical (Drury Lane Theatre), Twisted Melodies (Congo Square Theatre), Noises Off (Steppenwolf Theatre), Hot Wing King (Writers Theatre).

STAFF FOR REPERTORY

Sharné van Ryneveld Nel (Assistant Costume Designer) South African born and living in New York. Received her MFA from the University of Illinois. Recent credits from assisting, designing and dressing include The Lonely Few with MCC Theatre, Hansel and Gretel with Aspen Opera Festival, La Traviata with The Santa Fe Opera and The Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

Danielle DeLaFuente (Associate Scenic Designer) [she/her] is thrilled to be the Assistant Scenic Designer on these productions! Her recent assistant/associate credits include The Ghost of John McCain (Soho Rep), Henry VI: Parts 1 & 2 (The Old Globe), What Became of Us (Atlantic Stage 2), The White Chip (MCC), The Covenant (Roundabout Theatre), and Mr Parent (Lyric Stage Company). She would like to thank Tanya and the entire team for having her back again! danielledelafuente.com

Natalie "Nat" Margaret Houle (Associate Sound Designer) is an LA-based sound designer, associate designer, composer, and spatial audio advocate born and raised in New York with nearly fifteen years of experience in audio. She recently received her MFA in Sound Design at the University of California, Irvine in 2024 and received her BA in Theatre Design & Technology at The State University of New York at New Paltz in 2021. On the West Coast, she has worked with Arizona Theatre Company, PCPA - Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Western Stage, Geffen Playhouse, REDCAT, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Teenage Drama Workshop at CSUN, and Cal State LA. In between running around doing gigs and making sounds go boom, she enjoys tea ceremonies, meditation, and yoga. natssounddesign.com & nmhspatial.com

Malena Logan (Assistant Props Designer) is a scenic and props designer from Los Angeles, CA and is based in New York City. (She/They) finished her BFA in Theater Design and Technology at Syracuse University. Recent credits include 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, and Dead Air (SheNYC). Assistant credits include dig (Primary Stages). Malena would like to thank her family and friends for supporting her dreams in New York City.

Kydiana Jeanty (Production Assistant) is a new member of The Acting Company. Kydiana graduated from FSU with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. There, she refined her skills in stage management and acting. She has worked on many memorable theater productions during her time at FSU and across many theater companies. Recently, she has been a part of many workshops and presentations of new works with New York Stage and Film. She is very excited to be working with The Acting Company and the stage management team as the production assistant for the productions of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors and August Wilson's Two Trains Running.

Alex Rockey (Shopper) (he/him) is a costume and scenic designer based in NYC. His work has been seen across the country including il barbiere di siviglia (The Santa Fe Opera - Apprentice Scenes) alongside being the Costume Administrative Apprentice for the season, The Phantom Tollbooth (Berkeley Carroll School), Eternal Bonds .2 (UT Austin, Fall For Dance), and many more. He has worked in theatre as He's thrilled to be back in the city after his Grad School hiatus, continuing his work as a designer, maker, and coordinator in both concentrations. Additional credits include Romeo y Juliet (Department of Theatre and Dance, Scenic), Proving Up (Butler School of Opera, Scenic), his self-produced thesis, You Can't Drag Us Down (Department of Theatre and Dance, Scenic & Costume), KHAITE (Spring Summer '25, New York Fashion Week, Project Coordinator), Giorgio Armani (Spring '25, Collection Coordinator), and so much more. Alex endeavors to showcase queer identity and inspiration in his work through transformation, humor, and at times, subtlety.@alexrockeydesign alexrockeydesign.com

Ningning Yang (Scenic Assistant) is a scenic designer for theatre and screens. She is grateful to assist Tanya on these wonderful productions. Recent works include Pippin (Syracuse University), a site-specific production of the Rent (SouthernPlains Productions), A Doll's House adapted by Jasmine Roth (Carnegie Mellon University).

TOUR STAFF

Holly Adam (Tour Company Manager) Excited to be on the road with The Acting Company! Previously---Broadway: Stereophonic. Off-Broadway: Stereophonic, Teeth, In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot (Playwrights Horizons), Show/Boat: A River (Target Margin Theater). Regional: La bohème, Vanessa, Ruinous Gods (Spoleto Festival USA). University of Michigan. Love to Mom. @holly.adam

Molly Garrison (Tour Lighting Supervisor) is a Chicago based freelance lighting designer and stage manager. Select design credits include Urinetown, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Into the Woods. She would like to thank The Acting Company for this opportunity. She also would like to thank her wife for her endless support.

Chris Grainer (Associate Production Manager/Tour Technical Director) is so excited and proud to be the Associate Production Manager and Tour Technical Director for August Wilson's Two Trains Running and Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors! Prior to joining The Acting Company, Chris spent his winter touring the country with Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet. He is looking forward to returning to the Aspen Music Festival this summer as the Meadows Campus Production Manager. Chris is an alumnus of SUNY Purchase College and Collegiate School of Richmond, VA. He would like to thank his friends, family, and peers for their enthusiastic support and kindness. Bravo, everyone!

Krista Grevas (Tour Wardrobe Supervisor) is a theatre creative based in NYC. Her most recent wardrobe and costume credits include wardrobe supervisor for New Light Theater Project's Room 1214 at 59E59 Theaters. She is a Company Member with New Light having served as wardrobe for several productions as well as costume designer of Tracks this past August and September. Recently, she has worked with RWS Global at their New York offices as a stitcher and shop assistant with their wardrobe department. Her other credits include costume associate for Grease and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Bucks County Playhouse as well as wardrobe supervisor on Canned Goods with American Theatre Group. Other production company credits include New York Rep, Trustus Theater, and Pendragon Theater. She holds her BA in Theatre Performance with a minor in Dance from the College of Charleston and her MFA in Actor Performer Training from Rose Bruford College in London, England.

Jessica Neill (Tour Lighting Drafter) is a Chicago-based designer, assistant, and artist. She is excited to be providing support for The Acting Company. Chicago area design credits include Mean Girls Jr, What the Constitution Means to Me, Sweat (Paramount Theatre), The Tragedy of King Christophe (House Theatre), Seven Days at Sea (Light and Sound Productions), Lighthouses in the Desert (Glass Apple Theatre), Bunny's Book Club (Lifeline Theatre), Hans Christian Anderson (Northwestern University), Admissions (Theatre Wit), and Master Class (TimeLine Theatre). Associate and assistant credits include Waitress, Frozen, The Full Monty, Million Dollar Quartet, Beautiful,  Billy Elliot, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, School of Rock, Groundhog Day, Kinky Boots (Paramount), Lucy & Charlie's Honeymoon, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Frankenstein (Lookingglass Theatre), Ghost in Gadsden's Garden (Actor's Gymnasium), graveyard shift (Goodman Theatre), and The Children (Steppenwolf Theatre). JessicaNeill.com

Danny H. Saturne II (Tour Sound Supervisor) has always had a passion for sound. He received his bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts Design and Technology from SUNY New Paltz in 2020 and his Associate's in Theatre Arts Design and Technology in 2018 from SUNY Suffolk. Credits include mixing musicals from 2021-2022 for The John W. Engeman theater and touring with A Charlie Brown Christmas during the 2023 Winter Season. As a professional A1, he has worked with various musical groups, including the Choirs of America at the Kupferberg Center of the Arts in Queens.

THE ACTING COMPANY STAFF

Kent Gash (The Acting Company Artistic Director) brings to The Acting Company professional collaborations with stellar living dramatists Tarell Alvin McCraney, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Robert O'Hara, Dominique Morisseau, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Regina Taylor, among many others. He has also directed dynamic modern reconsiderations of Alexander Dumas, Langston Hughes, Noël Coward, Duke Ellington, Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim, William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and August Wilson. As a director, Kent's productions have been seen at leading U.S. theaters including the Public Theater, Steppenwolf, the Guthrie, Fords Theatre and The Acting Company's newly commissioned production of The Three Musketeers, centering Dumas and the Black origins of the classic swashbuckler at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, playing through October 2023. Upcoming: the world premiere musical Billy Strayhorn: Something To Live For. Kent was Associate Artistic Director of Alliance Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He is the founding director of NYU-Tisch's New Studio on Broadway, he serves on the SDC Foundations' Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency for Black Directors selection committee and the Princess Grace Foundation Arts Advisory Council. Carnegie-Mellon (BFA, Acting) and UCLA (MFA, Directing).

Devin Brain (The Acting Company Producing Director and Director, The Comedy of Errors) has held increasingly significant roles at The Acting Company since starting as Staff Repertory Director during our 2012-2013 season. In his own artistic practice, Devin is a freelance stage director specializing in contemporary productions of classical texts, as well as original work. Select recent productions include: Othello, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, You / Emma by Paz Pardo (an adaptation of Madame Bovary), Exposure by Laura Zlatos (an exploration of the life and work of Francesca Woodman), Bones in the Basket (on original adaptation of Russian Fairy Tales), Middletown by Will Eno, Breath of Kings (his adaptation of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V), Blacktop Sky by Christina Anderson, and The Droll {or, a play about the END of theatre} by Meg Miroshnik. Devin holds an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama where he also served as Artistic Director of the Yale Cabaret.

Erik Schroeder (The Acting Company Managing Director) served as managing director of The House Theatre of Chicago, director of marketing at Lookingglass Theatre, worked at the Manhattan Theatre Club and received the Theatre Communications Group Leadership U Fellowship, funded by The Mellon Foundation. His work on Broadway includes Hadestown (also West End and National Tour), Water for Elephants and Swept Away, among others. Erik was an instructor at Columbia College Chicago, a board member of The Hypocrites, and speaker at UChicago, Loyola, NAMP, League of American Orchestras, and INTIX. He has produced and/or performed at 54 Below, American Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Florida Studio Theatre. Graduate of St. Olaf College and the Commercial Theatre Institute.

Hillary Cohen (The Acting Company Director of Development)'s arts administration work represents experience at Vox Populi co-operative art gallery, Manhattan Theatre Club, Film Forum, Wave Hill public garden and cultural center, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Cherry Lane Theatre, and New York Classical Theatre. She has served as a Creative Space Grant panelist for the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York. Hillary studied Nonprofit Management at NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and is a graduate of Drexel University with a degree in Corporate Communication and a Theatre Production minor. She is a proud IATSE Local One spouse.

B. Rafidi (The Acting Company Associate Producer) comes to The Acting Company after working as a freelancer in stage and production management for 7 years. Select stage management credits include I Wanna Fck Like Romeo and Juliet* (New Light Theater Project), Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (The Acting Company), and The Medora Musical (StageWest Entertainment). Rafidi also worked for three years as the Production Activities Manager for The Juilliard School's Center for Innovation in the Arts after finishing the Juilliard stage management apprenticeship ('18-'19). @rafidi0913

Natalya Ribovich (The Acting Company Development Associate) recently joined The Acting Company after working in development at the Vineyard Theatre. She received her BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch. She has produced, directed, and performed in numerous off and off-off Broadway productions. Recent work includes Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Theatre 71), Ophelia in Hamlet (The West End Theatre), Olivia in Twelfth Night (New Stage Performance Space), Amy in Little Women (Theatre 71) and Mina in Dracula (The NuBox). @natalyaribovich