BIOS CAST
EMILIE WHELAN (she/ her—Kitty Bennet) moved to California in 2019 after a career in the bayous of New Orleans where she was a major force in arts and development post-Katrina. There she oversaw the development of NHP Foundation’s arts programming, Cripple Creek Theater Company, The Fringe Theater Festival New Orleans, and The DISTILLERY Artist Residency at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans for mid-career performing artists. She is an Associate Artist with Oakland Theater Project and credits with them have included Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet; Streetcar Named Desire; Mother Courage and her Children; Hamlet; Waiting for Lefty; GROUNDED; The Radicalization of Bradley Manning; Othello. She is the Director of Advancement with West Edge Opera, supporting new opera development. She is also a professor at Contra Costa College having received her BFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and an MFA from UC San Diego. She’s a big fan of laughter, impromptu dance parties, and adding more butter to...everything.
LAUREN SPENCER* (she/her—Georgiana Darcy) is thrilled to return to the gorgeous world of Pemberley after playing Jane Bennet in MTC’s 2016 production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Lauren has performed with Campo Santo, Crowded Fire, American Conservatory Theater, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, San Francisco Playhouse, and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, among others. As a director, she is passionate about developing new work that champions the joys and complexities of BIPOC women and femmes. Recent credits include: Darren Canady’s Black Butterflies (American Conservatory Theatre/Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Lisa Marie Rollins’ and Susan Ito’s Untold (Brava Theater for Women in the Arts); Noelle Viñas’s Derecho (Playwrights Foundation); and Jordan Remirez Puckett’s To Saints and Stars (Creede Repertory Theatre). She is a company member with the awardwinning ensemble Campo Santo, a founding member of The Coalition of Bay Area Black Women Theater Artists, a “Reimagining Political Power” Fellow with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a recipient of CalShakes Luminary Learn Award for her work applying theater arts in the classroom, and an inaugural member of the Calshakes Artist Circle. Deepest gratitude to Alex Lenarsky, John Francis, and Eric Ting for their extraordinary support.
LAURA ODEH* (she/ her—Elizabeth Darcy) has appeared on Broadway in The Rivals (Lincoln Center Theatre). Favorite OffBroadway credits include The Aristocrats (Irish Repertory Theatre), A Body of Water (Primary Stages), Gaslight (Irish Repertory Theatre), King Lear (The Public Theater), and Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Irish Repertory Theatre).
Member of Actors’ Equity Association.
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