BroadwayWorld: Review: Douglas Lyons' CHICKEN & BISCUITS at the Asolo Repertory Theatre

The Observer: 'Chicken & Biscuits' dives into comedy, complexities of Black culture

Sarasota Magazine: Asolo Rep’s Chicken & Biscuits Goes for Big Laughs

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Comical funeral earns some laughs and heart in Asolo Rep’s ‘Chicken & Biscuits’

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Asolo Rep digs into Broadway family comedy ‘Chicken & Biscuits’

• Inside Asolo Rep: Thursday, Feb 16, 10:30a
• Tuesday Talkbacks: Feb 21
• IllumiNation: Wednesday, March 8, 7:30p
• OUT@ Asolo Rep: Thursday, March 30
• PlayDate: Saturday, Arpil 1, 2p

LA SHAWN BANKS*, he/him

FIRST SEASON (Reginald Mabry) is thrilled to make his Asolo Rep debut. Credits include Choir Boy, The Wheel (Steppenwolf), Sense and Sensibility directed by Peter Amster, Around the World in 80 Days (Indiana Repertory), Sweat (Mark Taper), Oedipus, Twelfth Night, The Book of Will, The Island, and Edward Albee's Seascape (American Players), among a host of others. Thank you to the Almighty.

 

DREAA KAY BAUDY, she/her

FIRST SEASON (La’Trice Franklin) is a New Orleans native, but currently resides in Sarasota, FL. She graduated from Tulane University with a BA in Philosophy and is currently a MFA candidate for a Master’s in Acting at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Some of her credits include Somebody in Everybody, Ophelia in Hamlet, and Maria in Twelfth Night. Besides her passion for acting, Dreaa Kay loves to travel, is a plant enthusiast, and a cat mom. @baukaydre

 

ERNEST BENTLEY*, he/him

FIRST SEASON (Kenny Mabry) Asolo Rep Debut. Guthrie Theater: A Raisin in the Sun, Appomattox, Burial at Thebes; Goodman Theatre: Ohio State Murders; Court Theatre: Titanic; The Acting Company: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Comedy of Errors. Training: MFA Wayne State University, BFA University of Minnesota

 

TRACEY CONYER LEE*, she/her

FIRST SEASON (Baneatta Mabry) Recent acting: six productions of Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill, US premiere of Serving Elizabeth, NYC workshop of Marian, and recurring as Det. Ross on CBS’s FBI. Tracey has directed off-Broadway, for The Fire This Time festival, and is director and script consultant for two new musicals in development. An award-winning playwright, Tracey’s work has been produced in NYC, Chicago, Nashville, and DC. She is published by Methuen/Bloomsbury. An audiobook narrator and proud member of the Tony-awarded Broadway Inspirational Voices, Tracey is the co-founder of Be Ready, a non-profit building Black and brown leaders of tomorrow. traceyconyerlee.com

 

DEAN LINNARD*, he/him

FIRST SEASON (Logan Leibowitz) Regional credits include Dave Malloy’s Octet (Berkeley Rep), The Winter’s Tale (Cal Shakes), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Thrill Me (Luna Stage), Hand to God (Left Edge Theatre), The Rub (New Orleans Fringe Festival), Groundhog Day: The Musical and Indecent (San Francisco Playhouse), as well as five seasons with Vermont Shakespeare Festival. Dean toured to 25 states with the musical The Lightning Thief. New York credits include performances at the Guggenheim and Met museums, plus the world premiere of Dave Harris’ Tambo & Bones at Playwrights Horizons. BFA from NYU Tisch, Stella Adler Studio, RADA. deanlinnard.com

 

CANDICE McKOY*

FIRST SEASON (Brianna Jenkins) has worked in film, TV, and theatre. She received her MFA from American Conservatory Theater and is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio. Favorite theatre roles are Esther in Intimate Apparel, Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Beverly in Chicken & Biscuits. Audelco Award nomination for Best Ensemble, Love & Marriage & New York City. Her recent short film Wet Grass is an official selection for the Baltimore International Black Film Festival and the Wheaton Film Festival. TV/Film credits include Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The Path, and Man on a Ledge.

 

JASMINE RUSH*, she/her

FIRST SEASON (Beverly Jenkins) is a Milwaukee-bred, Brooklyn-based, B L A C K actress/writer/director. Select credits include Off-Broadway: Joe’s Pub (Public Theater). Regional: Cleveland Play House, Hangar Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, TheatreSquared, New Repertory Theatre. Television: New Amsterdam, Bull, Blue Bloods, The Sinner, Difficult People. Jasmine is a proud company member of Quick Silver Theatre Company (NYC). Training: MFA - STC’s The Academy at The George Washington University, BA - University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. jasminerush.com

 

IMANI LEE WILLIAMS, she/they

FIRST SEASON (Simone Mabry) Raised in the south (Stone Mountain, GA), Imani acknowledges the unique effect Southern artistry has on the world and is proud to represent that. This is Imani’s final year as an FSU/Asolo Conservatory student and first year on the Asolo Rep stage. Imani thanks the educators of her past and present who present her with opportunities for greatness. She thanks her family and loved ones for reminding her of grace, joy, and dedication.

 

JASMYN ACKAH, she/her

FIRST SEASON (u/s Simone Mabry) is an actress, singer, and dancer born and raised in the heart of New York City. She is a recent graduate of Temple University, majoring in the Acting concentration. Jasmyn would like to thank her family and friends for their unwavering support and love, and she would especially like to thank her grandmother Sonia, who always pushed for her to follow her passions and who she knows is cheering her on from above.

 

JOE AYERS, he/him

FIRST SEASON (u/s Logan Leibowitz) has had the pleasure of working on and off stage at companies such as ACT, Asolo Rep, San Francisco Playhouse, Cal Shakes, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley Playhouse, 6th Street Playhouse, and Center REP. He holds three BA degrees from UC Berkeley in Theater and Performance Studies, Dance and Performance Studies, and English. He is currently an MFA Acting candidate at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota, FL.

 

KATHY-ANN HART, she/her

FIRST SEASON (u/s Beverly Jenkins/Baneatta Mabry) is pleased to be making her debut at Asolo Rep. She considers herself a Harvard-trained lawyer and a born actor. Favorite roles include Mrs. Muller in Doubt (Firehouse), Lena/Francine in Clybourne Park (Threshold Stage), and Astrid (Sci Fi Theater). She dedicates this performance to her offspring, the indomitable Trae Wier. kathyannhart.com.

 

ASHLEY McCAULEY MOORE, she/her

FIRST SEASON (u/s La’trice Franklin) is from Durham, NC, and a first-year student at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Some of her prior work includes For Colored Girls and Once in a Wife Time. Ashley spent time in Los Angeles, CA, where she was featured in several television shows produced by Disney and ABC. Upon joining the Conservatory, she was afforded the privilege of an understudy role in The Three Musketeers as Constance and Chicken & Biscuits as La’Trice.

 

NYDIRA McMILLAN

THIRD SEASON (u/s Brianna Jenkins) is a 2022 FSU/Asolo Conservatory graduate, whose most recent theatre credits include: Our Town (Asolo Rep), Much Ado About Nothing (Asolo Rep, Bard Wired Tour), Julius Caesar, and Twilight Los Angeles 1992 (FSU/Asolo Conservatory); and the Historic Asolo Theater’s Work in Progress production, Intermezzo. She currently resides in Sarasota and is thrilled to be working on her final show before she and her husband flee the US to relocate to Portugal this April.

 

IBUKUN J. OMOTOWA, he/him

FIRST SEASON (u/s Kenny Mabry) is a Nigerian American actor who grew up in Idaho Falls and developed a love for acting in Atlanta, GA. An actor with a love for historical fiction, being at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory program is “nothing short of a dream come true.” With a penchant for social justice, Ibukun eagerly awaits the upcoming performances this season.

 

ZARI RICE

FIRST SEASON (u/s Reginald Mabry) is making his debut at Asolo Repertory Theatre. Zari is a native of South Carolina, where he got his first opportunity in theatre in the state's capital. 

 

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

 

DRAYTON ALEXANDER, he/they

FIRST SEASON (Dramaturg) is thrilled to be joining Asolo Rep this year as literary associate, following a decade working in play development in New York, London, and Singapore. Some dramaturgy highlights include world/NYC premieres of Taylor Mac’s The Fre, Kristiana Rae Colón’s good friday, Nsangou Njikam’s Syncing Ink, Idris Goodwin’s Hype Man: a break beat play, Geraldine Elizabeth Inoa’s Scraps, The Q Brothers’ Liz Estrada, and Catya McMullen’s Locked Up Bs. As artistic producer of Serials @ The Flea, he led the Serials Writers Room for two years, and he has developed plays by Amy Ng, Tuyen Do, and Joyce Julie Lee for New Earth Theatre. Drayton has received an Olwen Wymark Award from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and holds an MFA from NYU Tisch Asia. 

 

DEDE AYITE

SECOND SEASON (Costume Design) Broadway: Topdog/Underdog, Ohio State Murders, American Buffalo, How I Learned to Drive, A Soldier’s Play, Slave Play, Chicken & Biscuits, American Son, and Children of a Lesser God. Select off-Broadway: Merry Wives (The Public); The Secret Life of Bees, Marie and Rosetta (Atlantic); By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Signature); School Girls… (MCC). Regionally, Dede’s work has appeared at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf, and more. She has worked in television with Netflix and Comedy Central. Awards: Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, Obie, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, and Jeff Awards; two Tony nominations.

 

ALEXA BURN*, she/her

SECOND SEASON (Assistant Stage Manager) is from Cupertino, CA. She is thrilled to return to Asolo Rep after being a Stage Management Apprentice last season! Her past credits include The Great Leap (ASM), Grand Horizons (ASM), and Hood (ASM) at Asolo Repertory Theatre, A Leg Up (ASM) and Clue (ASM) at Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bristol, PA, The Code (SM) at the American Conservatory Theatre SF, as well as Chess (SM) and A Little Night Music (ASM) at 42nd Street Moon. Alexa also stage managed at the Disneyland Resort for many years, working with the Disneyland Band, Dapper Dans, and more.

 

LINDA DiGABRIELE

FIFTIETH SEASON (Managing Director) has served as Asolo Rep’s managing director since 1989. Prior to that time, she held other positions with Asolo Rep, including director of touring programs and stage manager. During her 12-year tenure with the touring programs, Linda orchestrated 26 regional and national tours for Asolo Rep’s mainstage and educational companies. She has served several terms on the board of directors for the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a national organization of regional not-for-profit professional theatres. Linda has been an advisory panel member for the National Endowment for the Arts and, for five years, the John F. Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences. She is a past president of the Florida Professional Theatre Association and has served the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs as a member of various panels including the Grant Awards Task Force, Theatre Grants, Arts in Educations Grants, and the Cultural Institution Programs review committee. Other boards of directors’ appointments include ASSITEJ/USA, an international theatre organization for young audiences, the Florida Cultural Alliance, and the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County. A graduate of Florida State University, Linda’s professional theatre experience includes acting and directing. She is honored to have been recognized by the Florida Professional Theatre Association’s Richard G. Fallon Award for Excellence in Professional Theatre and the Florida Theatre Conference’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS

EIGHTEENTH SEASON (Producing Artistic Director) has served as producing artistic director of Asolo Rep since 2006. He was previously the associate artistic director of Syracuse Stage and served as artistic director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. A Garland Award and Drama-Logue Award winning director, Michael has directed at Cleveland Play House; Indiana Repertory Theatre; Geva Theatre; Syracuse Stage; The Shakespeare Theatre; San Jose Rep; Opera San Jose; the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; the Old Globe in San Diego; Virginia Stage Company; the Virginia Opera; the State Theatre of South Australia; Opera Australia; Victoria State Opera; and the Metropolitan Opera, where he staged revivals of Aida, The Barber of Seville, Porgy and Bess, and Phillip Glass’ The Voyage. In previous seasons for Asolo Rep, Michael has directed Disgraced; Our Betters; The Grapes of Wrath; Clybourne Park; My Brilliant Divorce; Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; Las Meninas; La Bête; The Last Five Years; The Life of Galileo; Perfect Mendacity; The Winter’s Tale; Equus; A Tale of Two Cities; Darwin in Malibu; Nobody Don’t Like Yogi; Amadeus; The Smell of the Kill and, most recently, The Crucible.

 

ANTONIO TROY FERRON, he/him

FIRST SEASON (Scenic Designer) is a designer for stage and screen based out of Los Angeles and raised in nearby Ocala, FL. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Scenic Design and Architecture. Antonio currently works as assistant art director for the TV series Bel-Air, streaming on NBC Peacock. Additional television credits include Archive 81 (Netflix) and the upcoming horror short film Disco Inferno (Netflix). Theatrical work includes assisting designers for Broadway and regional productions with Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, Geffen Playhouse, and Second Stage Theater, as well as set design for productions including I Hate Hamlet (Ocala Civic Theatre) and The Fantasticks (Jean’s Playhouse).  

 

JARED GOODING, he/him

FIRST SEASON (Lighting Design) is excited to be making his Asolo Rep debut. He is a Chicago based artist. His design credits include designs for Syracuse Stage, Fulton Stage, Florentine Opera Company, Indiana Repertory Theater, Writer's Theater, First Stage Theater, DePaul University, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, Timeline Theater, Bristol Riverside Theater, Madison Children's Theater, University of Illinois Chicago Theatre, Remy Bumpo Theater, Strawdog Theater, The Hypocrites, Definition Theater, Windy City Playhouse, Sideshow Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, First Floor Theater, About Face Theatre, MPAACT, and serving as the lighting assistant for The Wiz Live on NBC, along with associate designing for The OFFICE's touring of Yamandja in Berkeley, CA, and The Kennedy Center in DC. He is an ensemble member with American Blues Theater and MPAACT. His design work is featured at goodingdesigns.com.

 

MICHELLE HART, she/her

TWENTY-FIRST SEASON (Resident Hair/Wig & Make-up Designer) designs for Asolo Repertory Theatre and FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Other credits: Sarasota Ballet, Palm Beach Drama Works, freeFall Theatre, Urbanite Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, Banyan Theatre, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Venice Theatre, Dorset Theatre, Barrington Stage, and Open Stage Theatre. She has also done hair and/or make-up for Joan Rivers, Doris Roberts, Martin Short, Jane Russell, Arlene Dahl, Soledad Villamil, Jane Pauley, Richard Dreyfuss, Castille Langdon, Christopher Higgins, Mary Mara, Heather Robb, Lauren Sweetser, Justin Long, Paul Downs, Douglas Sills, and Nia Hills. Music videos: “Second Chance” by Shinedown, “Reverse Cowgirl” by T-Pain. Film/TV: Lady of the Manor; Paradise, FL; and The Real Stephen Blatt.

 

RASEAN DAVONTÉ JOHNSON

FIRST SEASON (Projection Design) is delighted to be working with Asolo Repertory Theatre. A Chicago-based video artist and theatrical designer, his designs have been seen at many regional institutions, such as New York Philharmonic, The Public Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Olney Theatre Center, The Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Manual Cinema, Yale Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Portland Opera, Toledo Opera, Folks Operetta, and internationally with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland), B-Floor Theatre (Thailand), and the Ningbo Song and Dance Company (China). Additionally, his video and installation work has been seen at the Bay Street Theatre, Yale Art Gallery, and the Logan Center for the Arts. MFA in stage design, Yale University School of Drama. raseandavontejohnson.com.

 

BIANCA LaVERNE JONES

THIRD SEASON (Director) is a multi-hyphenate artist, actress, and director. In 2021, she made her Broadway debut as associate director in Chicken & Biscuits. Asolo Rep audiences will recognize Bianca from her directorial debut with Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector and from acting in 2016’s production of Disgraced by Ayad Aktar. Bianca’s directorial productions have been staged at Syracuse Stages, Baltimore Center Stage, NJPAC, Pittsburgh Public, Classical Theater of Harlem, Teatro Latea, Playwrights Horizon, HERE Arts, Billie Holiday Theater, and Carne Theater. Since the pandemic, Bianca has worked with several theatre companies who kept the flame and directed episodes 108 and 109 of the Emmy nominated The Gaze: No Homo web series. Bianca is the first African American woman to graduate with a master’s degree in directing from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She attended North Carolina School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory, and Yale School of Drama for acting. Bianca is a 2019 BroadwayWorld Best Actress and performed as Sandra in the 2022 west coast premiere of Confederates by Dominique Morriseau at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. 

 

DOUGLAS LYONS

(Playwright) is an actor, writer, director, composer-lyricist, and playwright. He served as a writer and composer on Apple TV’s 2022 series Fraggle Rock. Douglas received a GLAAD nomination for his Broadway playwriting debut, Chicken & Biscuits. His music and lyrics have been featured on BET Plus, CBS's Sunday Morning, Carnegie Hall's Voices of Hope Festival, and Lincoln Center’s Broadway Songbook Series. As an actor he's appeared on Broadway in The Book of Mormon and Beautiful (original cast), as well as the tours of Rent and Dreamgirls. Other theatre writing credits include: Polkadots (Off Broadway Alliance Winner Best Family Show, Atlantic Theater Company), Beau (Adirondack Theatre Festival), and Five Points, currently in development with Hamilton's Andy Blankenbuehler. With musical writing partner Ethan D. Pakchar, Douglas is a 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist. twitter: @douglassings, IG: @chocolatehipster

 

VICTOR MEYRICH

FIFTY-FOURTH SEASON (Director of Production & Operations) is a graduate of Carnegie Tech and worked at New York Shakespeare Festival, Brandeis, University of California Institute of Repertory, APA, American Conservatory Theater, and again in New York. As head of production and technical staffs, he is responsible for the overall technical operation of Asolo Rep and its facilities. He wrote the architecture program for both the Center for the Performing Arts and the Koski II expansion and is the owner’s representative on both projects. He has been a member of the Asolo Rep family since 1969.

 

NICOLE PERRY, she/her

FIRST SEASON (Intimacy Choreographer) is a Silver Palm award-winning intimacy director, as well as intimacy coordinator. Career highlights include intimacy coordination for God Forbid (Hulu) and a Carbonell nomination for the intimacy direction of To Fall in Love (Theatre Lab). She holds an MFA from Goddard College. Nicole apprenticed with Intimacy Directors International and is certified by Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC). TikTok and IG: @intimacychorefl

 

CELINE ROSENTHAL, she/they

SIXTH SEASON (Local Casting; Associate Artistic Director) is a Tony-nominated producer and “Key” member of The Ring Of Keys and New Georges Affiliate Artist. They are in their sixth season at Asolo Rep, having directed Camelot, The Lifespan of a Fact, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and co-directed We Need a Little Christmas with Michael Donald Edwards. Celine has developed new work with NYMF, The New Georges, The Musical Theatre Factory, The Kidoons, Tamasha, and National Queer Theatre, as well as creating Asolo Rep’s premiere new work series, Asolo Rep Ground Floor. Other recent projects: Trayf (New Rep); Drowning in Cairo (N.Q.T); A Doll’s House, Spike Heels (Studio Theatre); Motherf**ker with the Hat (FSU/Asolo Conservatory); the award-winning short film Wildflower. Celine was a member of the 2018/19 MTC Directing Fellowship class and was awarded an SDC Observership and Asolo Rep Directing Fellowship. They are an alumnus of the Commercial Theatre Institute, BMI Lehman Engel Workshop, NYU Tisch (BFA), and The New School for Drama (MFA). celinerosenthal.nyc

 

NIA SCIARRETTA*, she/her

ELEVENTH SEASON (Production Stage Manager) Favorite Asolo Rep credits include stage manager for Knoxville, The Great Leap, The Sound of Music, Into the Breeches, The Music Man, Sweeney Todd, Sweat, Shakespeare in Love, Roe, and the 2020-21 Terrace Stage season, as well as assistant stage manager for Rhinoceros, Guys and Dolls, All the Way, South Pacific, and Hero: The Musical. Previous off-Broadway credits include work on Jesus Hopped the A Train, In the Blood, and The Wayside Motor Inn at the Signature Theatre. Nia has also worked with Creede Repertory Theatre, the Hangar Theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, the Flea Theatre, and Penguin Rep.

 

JACQUELINE SINGLETON*, she/her

FOURTH SEASON (Stage Manager) is so happy to be back at Asolo Rep! Previously: Our Town; The Great Leap; Terrace Season 2020-21; The Crucible; A Doll's House, Part 2; and Noises Off. American Players Theatre (Spring Green, Wisconsin), 21 seasons, including recent projects Love’s Labour’s Lost, Oedipus, and Rough Crossing. Other stage management work includes Animal Farm at Milwaukee Repertory and Baltimore Center Stage; Outside Mullingar at the Clarence Brown Theater (Knoxville, TN); three seasons at Forward Theater (Madison, WI); seven seasons at Madison Repertory Theatre; and numerous Chicago theatres, including the Goodman Theatre, Writers' Theatre, and Next Theatre.

 

DeWANDA SMITH SOEDER, she/her

SECOND SEASON (Cultural Competency Coordinator) is an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) strategist whose cultural competency process is based on her research thesis, “Theatre as a Diversity Intervention.” At Asolo Rep, DeWanda has provided cultural competency coordination for the world premiere of Knoxville and facilitated affinity spaces for Our Town, Eureka Day, and Hood. Other credits include cultural competency coordination for Confederates, Once on This Island, and King John (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). She holds the following credentials: MA in Psychology, BS in Health and Human Services, Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), Prosci Certified Change Practitioner (CCMP), Instructional Design, OD/Human Interaction (NTL), Emotional Intelligence (The Hay Group), and Adjunct Professor of Psychology.

 

UPTOWNWORKS

(Sound Design) UptownWorks sound is a dynamic team of designers that creates for theatre, film, podcasts, music production, and other media. By working together, they aim to bring all the necessary skills and knowledge that the design requires with the unique perspectives and approaches that only a team can provide. Select sound design highlights include the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Berkeley Rep/The Goodman); Complicity Island (Audible); Blues Clues and You! (Round Room Live); Happy Life (The Hearth); Queen (Long Wharf Theater/A.R.T.NY); Choir Boy and Today is my Birthday (Yale Rep); Fires in the Mirror (Baltimore Center Stage/Long Wharf Theatre); already there (The REACH at the Kennedy Center); First Down (59E59); Pleasure Machine (Colt Coeur); Sidewalk Echoes (En Garde Arts); Nightwatch (Dorset Theatre Festival); The Masses are Asses (Wesleyan CFA). This design was led by Bailey Trierweiler (btsounddesign.com) with co-design by Noel Nichols (noelnicholsdesign.com) and Daniela Hart (uptownworksnyc.com). Bailey, Noel, and Daniela received MFAs in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama.

 

BINDER CASTING

(New York Casting) was founded 40 years ago and is now a part of RWS Entertainment Group. The office has cast 150+ Broadway, off-Broadway, and National Touring productions, in addition to countless national and international projects spanning both stage and screen. Binder is a proud 11-time recipient of the Artios Award for Excellence in Casting and is a supporter of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The office holds a deep respect for their legacy, as well as a commitment to growth. To facilitate this growth, Binder has partnered with the Disruptive Equity Education Project (DEEP) to dismantle harmful practices and to carry this work into their organization, client relationships, and audition rooms. They acknowledge that the work is on-going and strive to do better. bindercasting.com

 

CLAIRE SIMON CASTING

(Chicago Casting) Claire and associate Cassidy Price have worked in Chicago and the Midwest for 5½ years. Claire and her team have cast for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Writer’s Theatre, Indiana Repertory, Madison Rep, Milwaukee Rep, St. Louis Rep, Kansas City Rep, The Cleveland Playhouse, Asolo Rep, Syracuse Stage, Million Dollar Quartet in Chicago, and the Clarence Brown Theatre. TV: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Somebody Somewhere, Dark Matter, Proven Innocent, Easy, Empire. Recent films include Candyman. Claire has been nominated four times for Artios awards, winning in 2016 for Excellence in Casting for her work on Empire and in 2006 for Prison Break. A board member of the Illinois Production Alliance, she and her team also started an annual food drive 16 years ago called Meal for Monologues, to collect food for the homeless.

 

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

 

 

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