A Light in Dark Places: Year 3
Julio Javier Vargas
Jamale Abou Hamad
Emily Hageman, Writer
Emily Hageman, theatre and music educator and playwright, was born in California, raised in Colorado, and now lives in Iowa. Emily's one acts, short plays, and monologues have primarily been performed in Northwest Iowa, but have been performed in California, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Washington, and the UK. Her plays have been featured in Heartland Theatre's Ten Minute Play Festival, Spokane Stage Left's Playwrights Playground, Theatre Lawrence's Short Play Festival, the Stillwater Short Play Festival, the UK Gi60 Festival, Heartland Theatre's New Plays from the Heartland Competition, Theatre Evolve's New Works Festival, the Midwest Dramatists Convention, and A Light in Dark Places. Emily's one acts geared towards high schoolers are also being performed throughout the nation during the 2018-2019 school year. Emily's new theatrical pieces are being constantly workshopped by the magnificent high school and middle school actors at Siouxland Christian School.
Emily's passion in life is writing plays for young (and young at heart) actors and actresses. She enjoys challenging them, making them think deeply, and tell stories with truth and beauty. She is a great giver of high-fives, an excellent avoider of hugs, and the loudest laugher that you will ever encounter.
Danté Belardinelli, Director
Danté is making his directorial debut with the premiere of The Orchid, written by the talented Emily Hageman. He is excited and humbled to be involved with ALIDP again. He is an LA based actor who has worked on plays such as Babel and the Black Sea by Tim McNeil, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, and Bug by Tracy Letts. He and his brothers made a full length feature film called SPIT in 2012, in which he played one of the leads named Smitty. Danté is a proud alumni of Stella Adler and grateful for everything the school has taught him.
Andrew Morra, Jake
Andrew Morra is an young actor from New York. He is excited and honored to be a part of this years, A Light in Dark Places. Andrew began his acting training during his junior year at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Upon his graduation from the program, he has continued his studies at Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theater in Los Angeles. He has appeared in theatrical productions, which include, King John by William Shakespeare, A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard, Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman, and Talk Radio by Eric Bogosian.
Benny Wayne Sully, Ryan
Benny Wayne Sully is an LA-based actor and podcaster from Trafalgar, Indiana. You can catch Benny in the upcoming film, Already Lucky. Benny would like to thank Amy Heavilin for encouraging him to pursue a role in the arts, his sister, Chelsea, who was the only person in his family who didn’t say, “Actor? Yeah, but what are you gonna do for money?”, Chris, for being the best friend a guy could ask for, the Clarke family for helping him in various ways and accepting him into their lives, and finally to his girlfriend, Isabelle, for believing in him and loving him unconditionally. You can find Benny on social media @thedoophus. www.bennywaynesully.com
Julio Javier Vargas, Darker than the Sun
Photo Credit: Jamale Abou Hamad
Katie Booth, Playwright
Katie Booth (actor, writer) was raised in Las Vegas, Nev., and has spent the better part of her existence learning to appreciate the desert. As a rebellious youth she studied journalism, political science and environmental issues. These subjects remain close to her heart and are a constant source of inspiration, study and strife. *Also loves her cat, Bo. Acting credits include CBS All Access Strange Angel, Victor Crowley and Tell Me How I Die. Screenwriting credits include two short films, Miss and fluent., currently in consideration at festivals; the last day. marks Katie's first produced play. Most sincere love and thanks to Kelly O'Malley, Rick Peters, her mom and dad and Stella Adler--a constant source of inspiration and community. To the people who inspired and contributed to this story - my forever love to you (special thanks Lauren Paglini). You can connect with Katie on Instagram @boothk2 or Twitter @whatthehellKB
Ryan Rickard, Jon
Ryan is excited to be making his LA Theatre debut outside of school! Originally from Northern Virginia, Ryan has acted in numerous school and community productions. After three semesters of college, he moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at the Stella Adler Academy, where he still studies. Short Film credits include Soundproof (LA Film School) and Separated (LA Film School). Theatre credits include Mike in A Lie of the Mind (dir. Rick Peters), Arther Roeder in Radium Girls (dir. Ed Monk), and Earl Williams in The Front Page (dir. Ed Monk).
JJ Mayes, Director
JJ Mayes is a Member of Sacred Fools theater where he will be Directing the World Premiere of Peter Fluet's Tangerine Sunset this Spring. This past summer he Directed HFF18's Top Solo Show The Word and Top Comedy Nominee Night of the Rootbeer. He directed last year's Hollywood Fringe award winning show Definition of Man which performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. You can find his dog on Instagram @king_renly_the_chug
Jessica Dowdeswell, Young Nikki
Jessica Dowdeswell is honored and excited to be a part of a Light in Dark Places Jessica is currently in rehearsal for the show ‘Year of the Woman’ to be performed at the Stella Adler theatre, and is also a current member of the Neo Ensemble Theatre and recently got to let loose and show of her comedic talents in the ensemble show ‘inappropriate’. Jessica Dowdeswell studied acting at Griffith University, TAFTA and NIDA before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her career, since moving to Los Angeles Jessica has studied at TVI, UCLA and UCB amongst others. Jessica is an avid reader and cross stitch enthusiast. Jessica wishes to thank the entire cast and the whole team surrounding this production
Meg Hyeronimus, Nikki
Meg is an Australian actor who began studying at Stella Adler Los Angeles in June of this year. Meg is also a 2017 graduate from the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television (AFTT) in Sydney, Australia. Shortly following her graduation, she flew to Los Angeles to perform the short play of ‘Arthur and Marilyn’ at the Short+Sweet Festival in Hollywood, originally performed in the Sydney Short+Sweet Festival in January 2017. Meg won the festival’s Best Actress award for her role as Marilyn Monroe, and later reprised this role in the full length production in May 2018 in Sydney’s Blood Moon Theatre.
Meg’s other theatre credits include Jazz in Death Comes for Breakfast (dir. Romney Stanton, Short+Sweet Sydney 2018), Various Roles in Love and Information (AFTT; downstairs Belvoir), Juliet and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (AFTT), Judy in Women of Manhattan (AFTT) and Olga in Three Sisters (AFTT).
Meg’s short film credits include the lead role of Joe in Cry of the Silverback (2017) and Gretta in Fragments (2017).
Meg is extremely passionate about mental health awareness and is honoured to be a member of this cast.
Mitchell Peters, Cody
Rick Peters, Mr. Burnham
Hi my name is Rick Peters, I am a proud Stella Adler alumni and I have been fortunate to work as an actor for the past 26 years. I have worked primarily in television, which has brought me to Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and all over the U.S. I am honored and humbled to be a part of "A Light in Dark Places". Suicide, sadly touches many of our lives, including mine, and it is devastating. I hope our contribution inspires people of all ages, and socio-economic backgrounds to listen and reach out to those of us suffering with depression, It's a dark lonely place, and the light is human compassion. I would like to dedicate my part in this production to Leelah Alcorn, and David Maddocks. I love and miss you Dave, I think about you often, especially when I listen to anything from 10,000 Maniacs, or OMD!
Timothy McNeil, Writer
Timothy McNeil is a writer, director and actor. Tim recently directed his first feature film Anything, starring John Carroll Lynch, Matt Bomer, and Maura Tierney, currently available on-demand. He has had over 30 of his plays produced , including the play version of Anything (Best Production of 2008 by LADCC), Machu Picchu, Tx., Supernova, Los Muertos, Crane, Ms., and Margaret, among others. Tim is also an actor and has done over 50 film and television shows including Forrest Gump, Contact, Starship Troopers, Seinfeld, and others, and over 75 plays. Tim is also a proud member of The Lab Theater and The Elephant Theater Company. He has been on the faculty of the Stella Adler Academy of Acting Los Angeles since 1999.
Alex Aves, Director
Alex Aves is an Alumnus of Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre - Los Angeles. Alex is a local playwright whose works include Herculeneum, The Otherside to Everything, The Goldilocks Effect, Cyclical Conversations to Nowhere, The Last Ditch and The Year of Stolen Light. Directing credits include Titus Andronicus, Small Days, Den of Thieves, Purplish, Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Homebody/Kabul. As an actress credits include 4:48 psychosis (Dir. Tim Mcneil), Homebody/Kabul (Dir. Tim Mcneil), Cabaret (Dir. Stan Harrington), Top Girl (Dir. Bonnie Mcneil), Lost in Yonkers (Dir. Bonnie Mcneil), Raised in Captivity (Dir. Devon Schwartz) and the U.S premieres of Been So Long (Dir. Austin Iredale) and Isaac Babel and the Black Sea (World Premiere).
Bonnie McNeil, Ellen
Bonnie McNeil , a Stella Adler alumna and current faculty member, is thrilled to be part of ALIDP performing in Ellen.
Los Angeles Stage Credits:
Isaac Babel And The Black Sea, The History Boys, Six Degrees Of Separation,Machu Picchu Texas, Supernova ( LADCC Nomination) The Charm Of Making,Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Blue Streak, Happy Birthday Wanda June, The Marriage Of Bette And Boo, Margaret,Hamlet, Me And My Friend, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Heartbreak, Missaliance, Mothers And Daughters, The Seagull, The Three Sisters,Good, Top Girls
Television: Seinfeld, The X-Files, Beverly Hills 90210
Film: I Am Bad( Director David Rackoff), Sympathy For Delicious ( Director Mark Ruffalo) As High As The Sky( Director Nikki Braendlin .Carmel , Soho, Jackson Ms., Sonoma, Film Festivals) Anything( Director Tim McNeil Los Angeles Film Festival, San Diego LGBT Festival winner) and Dead Women Walking(Director Hagar Ben-Asher, Tribeca Film Festival 2018)and currently having it’s European premiere in Venice
Marina Zoreva, Lisa
After getting her degree in International Business in Russia, Marina came to Los Angeles to pursue her passion by taking the two-year program at Stella Adler Academy of Acting & Theatre. Her theatre credits include: Isaac Babel and the Black Sea (Anna Akhmatova) , Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio), Arcadia (Lady Croom), Still Life (Joanne). Her film credits include: “The Cause”, “Hugrakkur (Brave)”, awarded at Action on Film festival, “Meeting Mr. Abbadon”, “Repeat”, “Broken”.
Franky D. Gonzalez, Playwright
Franky D. Gonzalez is a playwright of Colombian descent living in Dallas, TX originally from Queens, NY. He holds a BA in Theatre from the University of North Texas and has had productions and readings with several theatre companies and colleges in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex since 2011. He is also the Dramatists Guild Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Representative and has been a proud member of the Guild since 2016.
Nationally his work has been featured with The Great Plains Theatre Conference, Repertorio Español, The Mid-America Theatre Conference, The Midwest Dramatists Conference, Focal Theatre Lab/reACT Gallery, A Light in Dark Places, Jenny Magazine, PEN America's Inaugural Writer's Resist, and the One-Minute Play Festival. His play Even Flowers Bloom in Hell, Sometimes was a winning script selected for reading as part of the Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition, for development in the PlayLab Series of the Great Plains Theatre Conference, a finalist for San Diego REP Latinx New Play Festival, and a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference.
Carolyn Crotty, Director
Carolyn has been an acting teacher to young adults for 16 years. Presently, she teaches acting at the Young Actor’s Studio in NOHO and at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica. As an actress, Carolyn played Mildred in the Laguna Playhouse production of Eugene O’Neil’s Ah, Wilderness. She has also performed at The Boston Court, The Odyssey Theatre, Classical Theatre Lab, EST LA, and The Celebration Theatre, among others. TV/Film: Carolyn played Mrs. Lance Ito in the Emmy winning TV miniseries The People v O.J. Simpson; American Crime Story, and has co-starred on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder, and in Showtime’s Shameless and Masters of Sex. She has had supporting roles in the feature films Merrily, Shiner, and A little Inside. She was the lead in AFI’s Thesis film The Black Dog. Carolyn has done print ads for Mercedes and Microsoft. She is a graduate of UCLA. www.carolyncrotty.com
Chris Doubek, Vagabond
An earlier incarnation of Chris’ vagabond was featured in Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD. Film Festival favorites include LOVERS OF HATE & COMPUTER CHESS (Sundance Competition), KRISHA (Cannes Critic’s Week), TOWER (SXSW Grand Jury Prize), & HAPPY POET (Traverse City Jury Prize for Emerging Talent). Most recently Chris can be seen as Jay in the Netflix series EASY season 2. Theatre credits include Marc in the Southwest premiere of ART at Zach Scott Theatre in Austin, TX. Chris was a member of the original Off-Broadway Ensemble of Julie Taymor's JUAN DARIEN with Music Theatre Group. Chris studied acting in NYC with Kevin O'Connor & Bill Esper, in Boston with Tom Celli, and in Austin with Stella Adler--courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center! Chris is grateful to be a part of ‘Sunrise’ and to hopefully shine some light where it’s needed most.
Roderick McCarthy, Man
Roderick McCarthy has over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. He studied under a number of well-known acting instructors including, Diana Castle, Estelle Harmon, Aaron Speiser, Uta Hagen and Stella Adler. They gave Mr. McCarthy the edge and insight he needed. The Closer, Bones, Justified, NCIS, The Finder, Awake, The Mentalist, Parks and Recreation, Wilfred, Scandal, The Wedding Band, Workaholics, E.R., Victorious and Firefly, are a few notable acting accomplishments. Mr. McCarthy recently completed a producing project, a TV pilot entitled, Sensitive Men, in which he also co- starred. The pilot, creating an industry buzz, is currently being shopped to numerous television networks. He also just completed directing and producing a TV pilot presentation called, “threesacrowd.”
Owen Conway, Playwright
Owen Conway is honored to have his debut play, “Good Radio” produced right here at the Adler as a part of “A Light In Dark Places.”
He’s been living and working in LA for the last 10 years as an actor and screenwriter. Writing credits include “Krampus: The Reckoning” and “The Covenant(2017).”
He’s very grateful that his first step into the world of playwriting can be a part of spreading awareness for this important cause.
Thanks to Kelly, Devon, Austin, Alex and the entire cast and crew.
Robert Sprayberry, Bill
Robert Sprayberry; a post-graduate in music composition and conducting from The Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, England has worked in Theater, modern dance, Film and TV for years. While overseas he spent time in Paris, France where he studied composition and conducting with the renowned Nadia Boulanger.
In theater Robert's acting credits include: "The Miracle Worker", "Pullman Car Hiawatha", "The Spoon River Anthology", "Romeo & Juliet", "The Apple Tree", "Sweet Charity", "The Tempest", "Night Dreams of Napoleon" by James McLure, "You Can't Take It With You", "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee", "Coriolanus" and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Golden Boy both at Stella Adler.
Robert is so pleased that this will be his 3rd year in the acting company for “A Light In The Dark” and working again with Devon Schwartz.
Devon M. Schwartz, Director
Devon M. Schwartz is thrilled to be joining A Light in Dark Places for a second time. He directed Janielle Kastner’s “Feed Me” in the festival’s inaugural production and is excited to see how the endeavor has grown so much in its reach.
Devon has directed nearly 30 plays over the years, as well as numerous short films and other projects. He relocated to Los Angeles from New York with “Mortal Coil,” an award-winning drama he produced here at the Stella Adler Theater and directed at various venues.
Favorite NYC directing credits are Henry Becque’s "Woman of Paris" for Chain Lightning Theatre, the world premieres of Steven Fechter's “Intimacies” for EST’s OctoberFest, “Night Travel” at the Trilogy Theatre, and “Enter Attendant Disguised or What You Willy” at Expanded Arts and Theatre-Studio Inc.
Since moving to LA, directing highlights include "Who Made Robert DeNiro King of America" by Jason Katims, “The Straight Bozo” by Tim McNeil, "Raised in Captivity" by Nicky Silver, and Julianne Grossman’s critically acclaimed “From Bonkers to Botox,” which was chosen to be part of HBO’s U.S. Comedy Festival in Aspen.
Devon is also a writer and working actor, making guest appearances on numerous TV series such as "House," “Monk,” and "Without a Trace." He is probably best known for his recurring role as Bill on the hit CW show “Gilmore Girls.” More recently he played a smug defense attorney on BET’s “Rebel” and a corrupt Assistant D.A. on “NCIS:LA”.
Mitchell Holden, Seamus
A big thank you from Mitchell to Kelly, Devon, Austin & Owen for making him a part of this very important project. Mitchell is so grateful to be working with Robert Sprayberry, Bruno Oliver & Devon Schwartz on the play Good Radio well authored by Owen Conway.
Mitchell is an alumnus of The Stella Adler Conservatory, where he studied with Joanne Linville and Arthur Mendoza. He has played a broad range of roles on stage from comedy playing Boo in the award-winning play, The Marriage of Bette & Boo, directed by Tim O’Neil; to Shakespeare as the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father, directed by celebrated actor, director and teacher Joanne Linville and in many modern classics, including Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy as Mickey, directed by Rick Peters. Mitchell played Eisenhower in the play The Man Behind the Matter with Owen Conway & James Aguiar written by playwright Nicholas Jaqua at last year’s A Light in Dark Places Plays for Hope. (MitchellHolden.com)
Bruno Oliver, Dick
Bruno Oliver is an award winning actor and producer who has been constantly active in the L.A. small theater scene for 20 years. His artistic home is Sacred Fools Theater where he has performed in numerous productions (including Occupation; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep; Dracula, A Musical Nightmare; Timon of Athens; Crime Scene; Serial Killers and more) and has produced 3 Main Season shows over the last several years (The Art Couple; Rose and the Rime; A Gulag Mouse). Around L.A. he’s also worked with International City Theater, Whitefire, Zoo District and all 3 seasons of the dearly departed SCI-FEST One-Act Play Festival. Outside L.A. he performed in Seattle, Chicago, S.F., Las Vegas, Edinburgh and with the Utah and Wisconsin Shakespeare Festivals. And then of course there's TV and Film appearances you can imdb if so inclined. He's also a teacher, consultant and audition coach. Want more? www.brunooliver.com