Cynthia Meier (Director) is the Managing and Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre and holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. She is co-founder of Bloodhut Productions, a company performing original monologues and comedy improvisation, which toured throughout the western United States. At The Rogue Theatre, Cynthia has adapted and directed James Joyce’s The Dead, directed Shipwrecked!, New-Found-Land, Old Times, The Tempest, Nāga Mandala, The Four of Us, Othello, Animal Farm, Orlando, Happy Days, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Fever and The Cherry Orchard. She also directed The Seagull (featuring Ken Ruta) for Tucson Art Theatre, and she directed Talia Shire in Sister Mendelssohn and Edward Herrmann in Beloved Brahms for Chamber Music Plus Southwest. Cynthia has also performed in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Arizona Repertory Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Arizona Theatre Company), Blithe Spirit and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Michigan Repertory Theatre), Romeo & Juliet and Chicago Milagro (Borderlands Theatre), A Namib Spring (1999 National Play Award winner), and Smirnova’s Birthday, The Midnight Caller, and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (Tucson Art Theatre) and has been nominated for five Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star. Cynthia has performed in many Rogue Theatre productions, and in 2008, she received the Mac Award for Best Actress for her performance of Stevie in Edward Albee's The Goat at The Rogue Theatre.

Cast

Philip G. Bennett (Antigonus) has appeared with The Rogue Theatre as Doc Peabody in As I Lay Dying and Alonso in The Tempest. He is a graduate of the American Stanislavski Theatre, and served as Assistant Artistic Director, actor/instructor under the Russian émigré teacher, Sonia Moore. He made his professional debut on the New York stage in 1970 as Lopakhin in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, and played such roles as: Cabot in O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms, Constantine in The Seagull, and Bird in Peter Brook’s Royal Shakespeare production of Convocation of the Birds.  Most recently he has appeared with Borderlands Theatre Company as Shipkovin in Agnes Under the Big Top. In 1976 he founded the San Francisco Theatre Academy and Company. Phil is a recipient of the prestigious Hollywood DramaLogue Award for Best Production and Direction. Philip coaches and conducts professional actor training classes in Tucson. www.TheatreLabConservatory.com

James Cockrell (Mamillius) is an eighth-grader at Orange Grove Middle School. He has been an active member with the Tucson Diving Team at the UA Aquatic Center and sings in the St. Philip’s St. Nicholas and Schola Choirs. Recently James played the role of John Henry in The Member of the Wedding for Arizona Onstage Productions. Before that he sang the role of Harry in the UA School of Music’s production of Britten’s opera Albert Herring. James has been a frequent actor at the UA School of Theatre Arts where he played the roles of Winthrop in The Music Man, Tommy (age 5) in Tommy and performed in The Miracle Worker and Carousel. The role of Mamillius is his tenth on stage, beginning with his Arizona Opera debut in Madama Butterfly at age of 3½. James attended the Interlochen Arts Camp for five summers in northern Michigan, where in addition to singing, acting, dancing and playing the violin, he enjoyed riding his bike, swimming, fishing and cookouts.

Patty Gallagher (Autolycus) is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at University of California Santa Cruz where she teaches movement, mask, Balinese dance, and clown traditions. With The Rogue, she has performed the roles of Shen Te in The Good Woman of Setzuan, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Winnie in Happy Days (most recently for The Rogue’s tour to Bangalore, India), Sonnerie and Scarron in Red Noses, Orlando in Orlando, the Player in Act Without Words, Emilia in Othello, Rani in Naga Mandala, Ariel in The Tempest, Alibech in The Decameron, and Player 1 in Shipwrecked! She has worked with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, The New Pickle Circus, Ripe Time Theatre, Two River Theatre, Teatro Cronopio and Grupo Malayerba. She has performed, choreographed and directed workshops in Asia, South America, Europe, and the U.S. In 2006 she was Fulbright Scholar in Quito, Ecuador. She holds a doctorate in Theatre from University of Wisconsin–Madison, and she is Director in Residence for the Clown Conservatory, San Francisco Circus Center.

Marissa Garcia (Dorcas) performed with The Rogue Theatre in the ensemble and as a musician in As I Lay Dying and as Barbara Undershaft in Major Barbara. She is a Tucson native and received her BFA in Acting/Directing from the University of Arizona. Since graduating, Marissa has performed and directed with companies throughout Arizona, Colorado and California. She was seen on Los Angeles stages in premieres of Bernardo Solano’s Lost and Evangeline Ordaz’s Visitors’ Guide to Arivaca, a show she was also involved in here with Borderlands Theater. Other credits include: Ana in Living Out (2005 Mac Award Nominee–Best Actress), Julia in School of the Americas (Borderlands Theater), Thomasina in Arcadia, Cordelia in King Lear (Arizona Repertory Theatre), and Evelyn in Close Ties (Catalina Players).

David Greenwood (Shepherd) was a member of the cast of The Rogue Theatre’s first production, The Balcony, and has recently appeared in The Decameron, The Real Inspector Hound, Major Barbara and As I Lay Dying. He has appeared locally in Shining City and The Birthday Party at Beowulf Alley Theatre and The One-Armed Man, The Disposal and The Glass Menagerie at Tucson Art Theatre.

Christopher Johnson (Rogero) is currently in his fifth season as the Artistic Director of Etcetera at Live Theatre Workshop, where acting credits include Thom Pain (based on nothing), Jailbait, Dying City, Kimberly Akimbo, The Santaland Diaries, Say You Love Satan, The Eating Disorder Talent Show (which he wrote), Mr. Marmalade, Cloud 9, The Rocky Horror Show, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lemon Sky (Mac Award Nomination, Best Actor), The Penis Monologues, Hedwig & The Angry Inch (Mac Award Nomination, Best Actor), Savage In Limbo, Dog Sees God, Bug, Sweet Eros, Fat Pig, Tape, Corpus Christi, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Titus Andronicus. He has performed elsewhere with Winding Road Theater Ensemble (United, Fifth of July, The Lion in Winter, Armor), Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre (Camino Real, Antony & Cleopatra), Invisible Theatre (Swimming in the Shallows), Brachiate Theatre Project (Macbeth), 1984 Theatre (Waiting for Godot) and Tucson’s Shakespeare Under The Stars (Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado about Nothing). This is Christopher’s second appearance at The Rogue, having played Jewel Bundren in As I Lay Dying earlier this season.

Avis Judd (Hermione) is performing in her tenth Rogue production with The Winter’s Tale! She was previously seen in Naga Mandala, Animal Farm, The Good Woman of Setzuan, as Dunyasha in The Cherry Orchard, Sasha in Orlando, Beatrice in Immortal Longings, Julia in A Delicate Balance, Desdemona in Othello and as Kate in Old Times. She received her theatre degree from Northwestern University. Other favorite roles include Olga in The Three Sisters, Faith in Invisible Theatre’s production of Kindertransport, Emilia in Othello, and the title role in a one woman show, which she adapted and directed, about Bahá’í heroine Martha Root. She most recently appeared as Hermia in ChickenLipps production of Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone.

Kathryn Kellner (Paulina) performed with The Rogue Theatre last fall as Mrs. Baines in Major Barbara. Her professional acting career has included work in the areas of television, film, industrial film and training, voiceover, and musical theatre, as well as regional theatre and off- Broadway. Locally, Kathryn was recently seen at Invisible Theatre as Roseanne in Brilliant Traces and Christa McAuliffe in Defying Gravity. Kathryn has a BFA from the University of Arizona and continuing studies with the Royal National Theatre Studio, London. Kathryn runs the Kellner Studio, a multidisciplinary consulting and coaching practice that provides consultation and theatre based training in presentation skills and communication strategies. She has lectured and taught in the U.S. and Canada in the fields of higher education, law, science, and politics.

Chris Koval (Dion) received his B.A in theater at Kent State University. He continued his conservatory training in San Francisco at The Bennett Theatre Lab, and is currently Assistant Instructor to Philip Bennett here in Tucson, as well as the drama teacher at Catalina High School. Some of his San Francisco credits include, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret, Dinner With Friends, Bobby Gould in Hell, Fall Out on Turk Street, and It’s a ‘Miserable’ Life. As a member of California Desert Regional Theatre, he performed John Brown’s Body and Lone Star. New to the area, he has recently performed with C.A.S.T (Clean and Sober Theater), a youth outreach program of Cope Mental Health Clinic, as well as Tucson Theatrical Mime Troup. This is Chris’ first production at The Rogue.

Julian Martinez (Florizel) performed with The Rogue Theatre as Vernon Tull in As I Lay Dying. He was recently seen in Borderlands Theater’s White Tie Ball as Edward Moreno. He trained at the School at Steppenwolf, the Second City Conservatory, received his BFA from Columbia College Chicago and attended PCPA Theaterfest’s conservatory program. In Chicago, he has performed with Urban Theatre, Steppenwolf, The Second City, Writers’ Theater, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Art Institute’s Voices program and numerous Chicago storefronts. He co-produced a webisodic series called Comanche (www.ComancheTheSeries.com) which he’s in the process of turning into a novel trilogy.

Joseph McGrath (Leontes) is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama and is the Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre for which he has performed in many of its plays.  Joe was most recently seen as Patsy in The New Electric Ballroom, in the ensemble of Shipwrecked!, as Andrew Undershaft in Major Barbara, Bernard in New-Found-Land, Deeley in Old Times, Caliban in The Tempest, and Pastor Manders in Ghosts. In 2009 Joe won the Arizona Daily Star Mac Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Tobias in A Delicate Balance. Joe also authored and directed Immortal Longings for The Rogue and has directed The Balcony, Endymion, The Maids (winner of the Arizona Daily Star 2007 Mac Award for Best Play), Red Noses, Our Town, The Decameron, The Real Inspector Hound (winner of the Arizona Daily Star 2011 Mac Award for Best Comedy and Best Director) and As I Lay Dying. He has toured with John Houseman’s Acting Company, performed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, and he is a frequent performer with Ballet Tucson appearing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dracula and The Nutcracker. He has also performed with Arizona Theatre Company, Arizona Opera, Tucson Art Theatre, and Arizona OnStage. Joe owns, with his wife Regina Gagliano, Sonora Theatre Works, which produces theatrical scenery and draperies.

Steve McKee (Camillo) has worked with many local theatre companies and been featured in independent and student films. Favorite roles include Harpagon in The Miser, Halder in Good, Terrence in Breaking Legs, A.C. in Beowulf Alley Theatre's Death of Zukasky and Panch in Arizona OnStage Productions' 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Ensemble work includes Sweeney Todd and The Full Monty with Arizona Onstage Productions. Steve has also appeared locally with Live Theatre Workshop and Borderlands Theatre.

David Morden (Polixenes) has appeared with The Rogue Theatre as Louis de Rougemont in Shipwrecked!, Rinieri in The Decameron, Stephano in The Tempest, Brabantio and Montano in Othello, Editor Webb in Our Town, in the ensembles of Animal Farm and Orlando, as Madame Pace in Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Pope in Red Noses, Yephikhov in The Cherry Orchard, The Man in the Silver Dress in the preshow to The Maids and Glaucus in Endymion. He has acted locally with Arizona Opera (The Pirates of Penzance, The Threepenny Opera), Arizona Onstage Productions (Assassins), Actors Theatre (The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)) and Green Thursday Theatre Project (Anger Box, Rain), of which he was a co-founder. David has also directed The Rogue’s productions of Major Barbara, Ghosts, A Delicate Balance, The Goat (2008 Arizona Daily Star Mac Award), Six Characters in Search of an Author and Krapp’s Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words. David has also directed productions with Green Thursday, Oasis Chamber Opera, DreamerGirl Productions, and Arts for All.

Dylan Page (Mopsa) is currently a Studio Art and Anthropology student at the University of Arizona. She has performed with The Rogue Theatre as Dewey Dell in As I Lay Dying, Jenny Hill in Major Barbara and Felicity Cunningham in  The Real Inspector Hound.  Her other recent credits include Flaminia in Commedia dell’Arte Day with the Illegitimate Theatre Ensemble, Janice in Member of the Wedding (Arizona Onstage Productions), and Evelyn in The Shape of Things (Arizona Repertory Theatre).

Lee Rayment (Archidamus) is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado. Lee has recently returned from a brief stint abroad. He has performed in the ensemble of As I Lay Dying, and as Stephen Undershaft in Major Barbara for The Rogue Theatre, Katurian in The Pillowman for The Now Theatre (for which he received the 2011 Mac Award for Best Actor from the Arizona Daily Star), Salieri in Amadeus, Pantalone in The Servant of Two Masters, and Mr. Cladwell in Urinetown.

Dallas Thomas (Perdita) has previously appeared at The Rogue as Miranda in The Tempest and Juliet in Immortal Longings. Dallas has appeared locally with Beowulf Alley Theatre (Wait Until Dark), The Invisible Theatre (Natives, Don’t Talk to the Actors, Premiere) and Live Theatre Workshop (Prelude to a Kiss), among others. Dallas is the Production Manager for Stories that Soar! She holds a BFA in Acting from Oklahoma State University.

Daniel Thomson (Cleomenes) is a Theatre, Film and Television student currently studying at the U of A. He has appeared at The Rogue Theatre as Charles Lomax in Major Barbara. With The Now Theatre he has appeared in This Property is Condemned, A Night of Three Short Plays, The Bald Soprano, and G.B. Shaw’s Overruled, which he directed. Dan is a member of The Charles Darwin Experience, the University of Arizona’s only all-improv comedy group.

Matt Walley (Clown) has performed with The Rogue Theatre as a musician in Shipwrecked!, as Cash Bundren in As I Lay Dying and Bill Walker in Major Barbara. He graduated from Dell’Arte International in 2009 with an MFA in Physical Ensemble Theatre. Since then he has performed with The Pinnacle Peak Pistoleros and their Wild West Stunt Shows, as well as with Stories that Soar! Matt has been seen at Live Theatre Workshop here in Tucson and has acted in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. He is teaching acting this year at The University of Arizona.

Musicians

Paul Amiel (Music Director, Bohemia) is a multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusician focusing on Medieval, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and ancient music. He founded and performs with the Summer Thunder Chinese Music Ensemble, the traditional Japanese music duo Muso, and various Turkish/ Middle Eastern/Mediterranean ensembles such as Seyyah and Zambuka. Paul has performed on gothic harp, kaval, saz, ney, banjo, shakuhachi, and accordéon for groups such as Musica Sonora, Arizona Early Music Society and Illegitimate Theater, as well as in many Rogue productions, including The Decameron, The Tempest, Our Town, Othello, Immortal Longings, Orlando, Endymion, The Dead and on the recent Rogue Album CD. Paul was Music Director for this season’s As I Lay Dying at The Rogue.

Dawn C. Sellers (Music Director, Sicilia) performed in The Rogue’s production of Shipwrecked! and Our Town, was Assistant Director for Naga Mandala, Assistant Director and pianist for Ghosts, and Music Director for The Tempest, Old Times, Major Barbara, Shipwrecked! and The New Electric Ballroom. Dawn was a pianist, composer and educator prior to receiving an MFA in dramatic writing from Carnegie Mellon University. She has composed music for Off-Broadway and is published by Hal Leonard, Alfred and Kjos Music Publishers. In Tucson, her plays have been produced by This Side Up Productions, Beowulf Alley Theatre Company, Live Theatre Workshop, and Live Theatre Workshop’s Etcetera series, as well as The Arizona Women’s Theatre. She is also listed on nytheatre.com, which features emerging women playwrights.

Anton Shekerjiev (Musician, Bohemia). Born and raised in Bulgaria, Anton traveled extensively in Eastern and Western Europe playing music from the Balkans, and lived for several years in Spain performing with masters of Bulgarian music. In 2001 he moved to the USA, and in Tucson formed the bands Balkan Spirit, Trite Muzikante, MoroMore and others, performing Mediterranean, Flamenco, Moroccan, Asian and other types of world music. Anton currently performs with the bands Gsol, Tarraf de Tucson, Mzekala and others playing tamboura, djura, guitar, and kaba gaida (bagpipe). He has recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Designers

Production Staff

John Gardner (Choreography) has distinguished himself in two major dance companies, American Ballet Theatre and White Oak Dance Project. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1978, and was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1984. Mr. Gardner’s diverse repertoire included many soloist and principal roles, which represented an extensive range of styles, and afforded him the opportunity to work with many of the master choreographers of the twentieth century. Mr. Gardner is currently a repetiteur for the Antony Tudor Trust, and together with his wife Amanda McKerrow stages many of the Antony Tudor ballets around the world. During the course of his career, Mr. Gardner has achieved an excellent reputation as a master teacher and coach for ballet on both the professional and student levels, and has choreographed and staged numerous ballets for companies and schools around the world.

Amanda McKerrow (Choreography) has the honor of being the first American to receive a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1981. Since then she has been a recipient of numerous other awards, including the Princess Grace Dance Fellowship. Ms. Mckerrow joined American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1982, was appointed to the rank of soloist in 1983, and became a principal dancer in 1987. She danced leading roles in the major classics, and had numerous works created for her by many of the great choreographers of the twentieth century. She has also appeared as a guest artist throughout the world. Ms. McKerrow is a trustee for the Antony Tudor Trust, and together with her husband John Gardner stages many of the Antony Tudor ballets around the world. Ms. McKerrow is also in demand as a master teacher for both students and professional dancers.

Clint Bryson (Lighting Designer) has designed lights for nearly every Rogue Theatre production. Other lighting design credits include As Bees in Honey Drown and Golf Game for Borderlands, Woman in Black for Beowulf Alley, and The Seagull for Tucson Art Theatre. Clint is currently the Shop Foreman, Production Technical Director and Marketing Director for Catalina Foothills Theatre Department where he designs and coordinates the construction of all scenery. He is also a member of Rhino Staging Services, and a regular participant in Arizona Theatre Company’s Summer on Stage program where he designs and builds the scenery as well as teaches production classes.

Leah Taylor (Stage Manager) was Stage Manager for The Rogue Theatre’s Major Barbara, As I Lay Dying, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment and The New Electric Ballroom, and Assistant to the Stage Manager for The Decameron. She was Stage Manager for The Now Theatre’s The Pillowman, The Bald Soprano and Overruled. Other work includes shows with Winding Road Theatre Ensemble and Sacred Chicken Productions. Leah graduated from the University of Arizona in May 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Anthropology.

Susan Collinet (House Manager) earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Arizona in 2008. Decades before returning to college as a non-traditional student, Susan spent twenty years in amateur theater, mostly on the East coast, as well as in Brussels, Belgium in the American Theater of Brussels, and the Theatre de Chenois in Waterloo. She has worked in such positions as a volunteer bi-lingual guide in the Children’s Museum of Brussels, the Bursor of a Naturopathic Medical school in Tempe, Arizona, an entrepreneur with two “Susan’s of Scottsdale” hotel gift shops in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as the volunteer assistant Director of Development of the Arizona Aids Project in Phoenix. Susan continues to work on collections of poetry and non-fiction. Her writing has won awards from Sandscript Magazine, the John Hearst Poetry Contest, the Salem College for Women’s Center for Writing, and was published in a Norton Anthology of Student’s Writing. In addition to being House Manager, Susan acts as Volunteer Coordinator for the Rogue.

Our Thanks