A Light in Dark Places: 2021 Program
Jamale Abou Hamad
Jessica Moss, Writer
Jessica Moss is a performer, writer, and producer. She is the creator/performer of solo shows Modern Love, and Polly Polly. Her full-length plays include Next to Him, I Will Miss You When You’re Gone, Cam Baby, A Girl Lives Alone and others. Her work has been developed or presented at Great Plains Theatre Conference, Roundabout Theatre, Premiere Stages, Kitchen Dog Theatre, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Canadian Stage Festival of New Ideas and Creation, among others. As an actor, she has appeared in shows with Necessary Angel/Luminato, Tarragon Theatre, SummerWorks, Sudbury Theatre Centre, the NAC, and many times at the Toronto Fringe. She went to Juilliard.
Ali Astin, Lillian
Ali Astin is so grateful to be returning to A Light In Dark Places for the second time. A Los Angeles based actress and graduate of Harvard College (Magna Cum Laude ’19) with studies in Theater, Dance, Media, English, and Archaeology, Ali is finishing up her masters in Dramatic Arts at Harvard this spring.
Screen credits include Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (1999), Ribbit (2015), Bad Kids of Crestview Academy (2016), and Manic (2019) which earned her nominations for Best Actress at Austin After Dark and Oregon Scream Week.
Ali, along with her dad (Actor, Sean Astin) and grandma (Actress, Patty Duke), have been long time advocates for mental health in Hollywood. A proud Stella Adler Academy alum, Ali takes every chance she can to call attention to the incredible community and supportive atmosphere Stella has provided her.
Kelly O’Malley, Izzy
Kelly O’Malley is a Los Angeles based actress from Frisco, Texas. She studied acting at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting & Theatre - Los Angeles after graduating from Southern Methodist University with a double major in Religious Studies and Film & Media Arts. Kelly recently had roles on the stage in the World Premieres of Isaac Babel and the Black Sea by Timothy McNeil (Anything) and Time is Love, written and directed by prominent English playwright Che Walker (Been So Long). Kelly is also the creator of A Light in Dark Places.
Christina Kroell, Waitress
Christina is very excited to be a part of A Light in Dark Places. This project came at the perfect time, and she'd like to thank Kelly and the ALIDP team for the important work they do. Recent credits include Marianne in Sense & Sensibility at Hudson Classical Theater Company in NYC, deviser and ensemble member of the Journalists Theatre Company, and the voice of HANNAH in "Sounds from an Empty City" on Spotify.
Jamale Abou Hamad
Kimberly Shimer, Playwright
One should never show up late to the theatre, but Kimberly Shimer turned 50 before she began pursuing a newly discovered passion for playwriting. Employed as the director of communications for Villanova University’s College of Engineering, to fill the void of an empty nest Kimberly enrolled in a graduate program in Villanova’s theatre department. There, she fell in love with playwriting having learned from professor and accomplished playwright Michael Hollinger.
“A Ghost of a Chance,” Kimberly’s first play, received a July 2020 Zoom production as a finalist in FutureFest at Dayton Playhouse and was selected for Rising Stars 2020 at Southwest Theatre Productions. In July 2021, it received a staged reading as a selection for Cincinnati LAB Theatre’s New Works Festival.
In the past year, Kimberly has written two more full-length plays: “Eden 2.0” and “Dear Elsie: Kafka’s Letters from a Lost Doll,” which received a staged reading in August 2021 as part of Ragged Edge Theatre’s New Works Festival. In June 2021, “Talking Over Tea,” her first 10-minute play, was virtually produced by Arts After Hours (Lynn, MA), winning its 10-Minute Play Contest. It was also selected for “A Light in Dark Places” in Los Angeles and “Unspoken” at Breaking Waves Theatre in Guam, both of which will be performed in September 2021.
The mother of two young adults, Kimberly lives with her husband Rob and two dogs in Media, PA.
Bonnie McNeil, Joan
Bonnie McNeil is a proud graduate of the Stella Adler Academy of Acting Los Angeles where she studied under Joanne Linville. Bonnie was recently seen in Hamlet (directed by Tim McNeil), Isaac Babel and the Black Sea (also directed by Tim McNeil). She was nominated by Drama Critic’s Circle for playing Mabel in Supernova at the Elephant Theater. She was seen at the Adler performing in Timothy McNeil’s The Charm of Making, directed by Milton Justice. She also played Martha, opposite her husband Tim, in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, directed by Mark Ruffalo. As part of Page 93 Theater Company, she played Billye Brown in the world premiere of Margaret, directed by Mr. Ruffalo, at the Hudson Backstage. Other Page 93 credits include Hamlet, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, A Stye in the Eye, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, and Happy Birthday Wanda June. Under Milton Justice’s direction she performed with TheCompany in A Private View, Misalliance, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, and the world premiere of Jack Heifner’s Heartbreak, originating the role of Karen. Other stage credits include The Seagull, Blue Streak, Me and My Friend, Three Sisters, Top Girls, and Mothers and Daughters. Television credits include: Seinfeld, The X-Files, and others. She can be seen in the prize winning Sundance film Sympathy for Delicious, directed by Mark Ruffalo, and written by Christopher Thornton.
She also can be seen in Anything, directed by Timothy McNeil, with Maura Tierney and Matt Bomer. Bonnie was also in Dead Women Walking, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018. She has been a proud member of the faculty at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting Los Angeles, teaching since 2012.
Devon M. Schwartz, Director
Devon M. Schwartz is thrilled to be joining A Light in Dark Places for a fourth time. He directed Janielle Kastner’s “Feed Me” in the festival’s inaugural production and Owen Conway’s “Good Radio” in year three, then acted in 2020’s online reading series. He is excited to see the endeavor return to the Adler after so many years associated with the space.
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,” a corrupt Assistant D.A. on “NCIS:LA” and played opposite Lily Tomlin on “Grace and Frankie.”
Heather Marie Roberts, Jill
Heather is excited to be back on stage after her longest hiatus since the age of 9! Theatre Credits: Disasteroid!,Mr. Burns: a post-electric play, and Deadly, Sacred Fools; Wigfield and Lear/Loman, 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival; Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, All's Well That Ends Well, Love's Labour's Lost, and Richard II, Tennessee Shakespeare Company; The Skin of Our Teeth, The Ghost Sonata, Harry Potter Hamlet, and The Queen Family's Very Special Holiday Special, The Actors' Gang; Twelfth Night, a Noise Within; Dead Man's CellPhone, International City Theatre; Mame, The 5th Avenue Theatre; and All’s Well That Ends Well, Seattle Shakespeare Company. www.heathermarieroberts.com
Jamale Hamad Abou
Jonathan Wickremasinghe-Kuhn, Writer
Jonathan currently works at Idyllwild Arts Academy where he serves as the Director of College Counseling and Director of Arts Enterprise Laboratory. He grew up in Selma, Alabama and attended the University of Southern California, where he received both his BFA in Writing for Screen and Television and his Master of Professional Writing degree. He has performed multiple times at The Moth and for the Two Truths & A Lie podcast. His work has received staged readings and performances through Hollywood Fringe Festival, PlayGround LA, Exposition Review, Fast & Furious Festival, Laughing Pig Theatre’s Monologue Café, Paragon Festival, Crafton Hills College New Works Festival, Magnetic Theatre One Act Play Festival, Carrollwood Players, and Redwood City Co-Exist Festival.
Alina Phelan, Director
Credits: CTG Block Party & Theatre of NOTE: For the Love Of (or the Roller Derby Play). ICT: Dead Man’s Cell Phone, All In The Timing. Chalk Rep: Family Planning, Circle X: Lascivious Something. Open Fist: All Night Long, Love Water. Theatre of NOTE: Rio Hondo, Entropy, Niagara Falls, Hamlet: The First Quarto (Winner-Garland Award) I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Disassembly & Hearts Like Fists. TV: How to Get Away With Murder, Grey’s Anatomy, Shameless, Criminal Minds. Thank you to Kelly and her incredible team for putting this show together, I’m honored to be a part of it.
Jenny Soo, Melanie
Jenny holds a BFA from NYU and an MFA from A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard. She has performed in various theaters all over LA, including Gloria at the Echo Theater Company, for which she won a Stage Raw Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and was mentioned by the LA Times as one of the best of LA theater in 2018. Favorite LA theater credits include: Dry Land, Hot Cat and West Adams. Film/TV: Parks & Rec, LA to Vegas, and Reverie.
Yolanda Snowball, Emily
Yolanda is a graduate of Spelman College and has studied at The Neighborhood Playhouse and The American Conservatory Theater.
Yolanda's theatre credits include work with, The Theatre of Note, The Actor's Gang , Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Lower Depth Ensemble Theatre. Her television credits include, This is Us,
NCIS, Good Trouble, Fresh Off the Boat,
Parks and Rec, American Horror Story ,
and Gray's Anatomy. Yolanda is honored to be apart of this production .
Jamale Abou Hamad
Jazi Davis, Alexus
Jazi is honored to make her debut in the role of Alexus in Sinatra and is thankful to be apart of this incredibly talented and warm group of actors, directors, and support staff. As someone who has been closely affected, she is grateful to 'A Light In Dark Places' annual showcase for destigmatizing the sensitive topic of suicide. Jazi would like to thank everyone for coming out to support and going on this raw journey with open mind and understanding.
John Selby, Caleb
John Selby is an actor originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to Los Angeles in 2015 to study at Loyola Marymount University where he earned his degree in Screenwriting. Since graduating, John trained at the William Esper Studio in New York, and he is now proud to return to LA to pursue his passion for the arts. In his free time, John enjoys reading plays, drinking coffee, and golfing with his friends.
Esther Pidal, Vida
Esther Pidal is an LA native. Her most recent credit, Broken Layers was an official selection, Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes Film Festival 2021. Esther loves playing the piano, teaching Spanish and practicing her improv skills. Esther maintains her inspiration through her family, teacher and friends. B.A UCLA in Spanish with a minor in dance
Ian Stanley, Arnold
Character actor hailing from the Detroit suburb of Taylor, Michigan, Ian has acted in numerous stage, television, and film productions.
A proud member of Towne Street Theatre Company and having studied at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York, Ian’s theatre roles include Paul Hornung in Lombardi, David Moss in Glengarry Glen Ross, Mr. Kraler in Diary of Anne Frank, and Sturdyvant in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
His television credits include “Station 19”, “Colin in Black & White”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, “Sons of Anarchy”, and “Lethal Weapon”.
Ian’s film credits include “The Meanest Man in Texas”, “They Live in the Grey” and “Fatale”.
He is also a lead actor in a Montana Meth anti-drug campaign directed by two-time Academy Award Winner Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Ian is excited to be working with the extremely talented cast and crew of A Light in Dark Places!
He thanks his family and friends for their continued support and dedicates this show to his brother. “This one’s for you, Richard”.
Joe Godfrey, Writer
Joe is a CT-based playwright, whose many published and produced plays have been seen across the US and abroad. His ROMANCE LANGUAGE was produced last fall off-Broadway in NYC at Ars Nova. Other published and plays include WIDOWS, PIG TALE, UNDERSTANDING LEAR, A QUEER CAROL, BED & BREAKFAST, CLAPTRAPP, THE MISSION, MASSAGE THERAPY, CHILD SUPPORT, etc. Member: Dramatists Guild, TOSOS, Emerging Artists Theater, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.
Ale Fips, Director
ALE FIPS is from Guadalajara, México. Ale is an actress, singer and producer that began her career at a very young age in shows for the FIL (International Book Fair) for more than 4 years. At age 15 she starred in the musical: El Principe Rana, performing more than 300 shows as princess Nadia. She moved to Mexico City playing a role on the Spanish version of Disney’s High School Musical. She has also been part of several TV series including Código Paranormal (LATV), La Rosa de Guadalupe, Como dice el Dicho (Univision) making a name for herself in Mexico, United States and other countries. She moved to the States in 2014 and Study at the Stella Adler Academy of acting LA. Her NYC credits include: “Seucy and Boto” “Undefined Fraction”(Loco 7 company); “Judgment on a Gray Beach” (La Mama, experimental theatre).
Zein Khleif, Terri
Zein is an actress, singer-songwriter and producer, and is so grateful to be performing with A Light in Dark Places! Born to Middle Eastern immigrants, Zein is a first generation American and speaks English and Arabic fluently. She grew up between Washington D.C. and the Middle East, then earned her BA in Political Psychology from Brown University. Before moving to LA, she was privileged to perform at some of the Capital’s most iconic venues including the White House, the Kennedy Center, and The Washington National Cathedral.
When she’s not performing, Zein enjoys horseback riding, hiking, and cooking. She plays piano and guitar. And, having grown up with an international family, travel continues to be an important part of her life - even solo! You can follow her on Instagram @Zein_Khleif.
Timothy McNeil, Grandpa
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 Amazon , etc. He will be directing his next film Purplish, which he wrote, soon. He has had over 30 of his plays produced, including the play version of Anything (Best Production of 2008 by LADCC), Isaac Babel And The Black Sea, Machu Picchu, Tx., Supernova, Los Muertos, Crane, Ms., and Margaret, among others. He has also directed over 30 plays including Hamlet, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Isaac Babel And The Black Sea, and many 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.