February 27 – March 2, 2025
by Savannah Reich
Directed by AZ Espinoza
Production Design by Taj Rauch
Costume Design by Asaki Kuruma
Props Design by JBean Schwab
Lighting and Sound Designs by Shannon Zura
CAST
Yadi Padilla
PRODUCTION STAFF
Technical Director & Production Manager………………Meghan Jones
Master Electrician…..……………………………………Steven Maurer
Assistant Director………………………………...…..Sofia Wiedemann
Stage Manager………………………………………...……Sophia Bush
Assistant Stage Manager………………………………..Danica Guydish
Assistant Sound & Lighting Designer……………………...Sadie Walker
Rehearsal Photography………………………….……….Gianna Daiuto
Production Photography…………………………………..Mark Garvin
PRODUCTION CREW
Light Board Operator…………………………….......Nathaniel Nerone
Sound Board Operator…………………………….........Amelia Reaume
Wardrobe Crew………………………...…Maggie Diaz, Emma Voegele
Deck Crew……………………………………………...Wilder Kapolka
PRODUCTION CREW
Production Assistants………..…Evan Chartock, Nate Ginet, Jael Hicks, Wilder Kapolka, Tovah Tolub, Spencer Toth, Sadie Walker, Sofia Wiedemann
Production Technicians…….…Eric Bennett, Sophia Bush, Kiran Drew, Nick Marelli, Caitlin Shanahan, Annie Zulick
ASL-INTERPRETATION (March 2)
ASL Interpreters…………Kathryn MacKavanagh, Elizabeth Wheeler
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Theater and Dance Coordinator………………………Nicolette Adams
Communications Graphic Designers………...Lexi Macht, Steve Thomas
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Calista Baechtold is a junior double majoring in Theater and Media & Communications studies. In the past at Ursinus, she has been a part of Afternoon At The Seaside, Captain Darling, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Execution of Justice, and student run productions such as The Pragmatists and a shadow cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She is so excited to be a part of an entirely new show and to be originating a role for the second time. She hopes you enjoy this new experience and come back to Ursinus to see more shows in the future!
Kat Carey is a sophomore double majoring in Media and Communication Studies & Theater with a minor in Politics. Their Ursinus College acting credits include Evil in Everybody and A Mother in Afternoon at the Seaside. They were Assistant Stage Manager for Everybody, Dancing Stories: Weaving Time and Home is Here/Hear. They would like to thank the cast, crew, and director for their outstanding and beautiful work, their family and friends for supporting their passion for theater, and the audience for coming to see the show!
Tre Dunlap is a Senior majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Theater. Tre has been in actor in Sweat, 365, Pride and Prejudice at Pemberley College, The complete history of Ursinus College (Abridged)(Condensed), Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Two Gentleman of Verona, and Girl in the Mirror. He has also worked as the stage manager for the latest two UCDC shows. Tre is excited to be acting once again and hopes that you enjoy the show.
Kaya Eller is a senior majoring in Theater with a double minor in Education and Gender and Women’s Sexuality Studies. Previous Ursinus theater credits include Pride and Prejudice (assistant stage manager), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Lucetta), Everybody (A, Friendship, and Beauty), and Afternoon at the Seaside (Mrs. Crum). She has also appeared in Breakaway Student Productions’ Rocky Horror Picture Show (Lips and Ensemble) and Mircalla (Carmilla). She had her directing debut in the fall where she premiered A Girl in the Mirror with Breakaway Student Productions. She also was able to help do sound mixing for last spring semester's UCDC concert. Kaya would like to thank her family for supporting her throughout her whole life, her fiancé for always being there and helping accomplish her dreams, the cast and crew for being
the best people ever, and AZ for giving her the chance to step out of her comfort zone and be able to work with them.
Yadi Padilla is a passionate and driven individual with a double dream: to build a successful career as an actor and a designer in theater. She recently transferred to Ursinus, where she had the fantastic opportunity to participate in their production of Agatha Christie's Afternoon at the Seaside. Always eager to learn and grow, Yadi is now excited to take on a new challenge with A Series of Meetings, seeking to gain further acting experience. Her goal is to achieve a fulfilling acting career and, someday, establish her own successful property design business.
Spencer Toth is a current Senior double major in Art and Theater. This is their seventh performance at Ursinus. They were on crew for Sweat, Working, and Captain Darling, Ensemble in Rocky Horror Picture Show, and were featured as Jan in Small Mouth Sounds, Cletus Jones in Trail to Oregon, Milk's Friend and Coroner Stephens in Execution of Justice, The Detective in Victims of Duty, Death in Everybody, Ellsworth in Into The Breeches, and finally Tom (et al.) in A Series of Meetings! They are extremely excited to cap off their Ursinus career with this new show! Spencer has also dabbled in directing, having done directing work for the directing class final (2022), the Ursinus Fringe Festival (2023), the Capstone class for Theater (2024), and an upcoming performance for Advanced Directing Studies! Additionally, Spencer recently provided sound design for Breakaway Student Production’s 2024 radio play, Mircalla. Their favorite past roles would have to include Milk's Friend, Cletus Jones, Jan, King Triton in The Little Mermaid, The Detective in Victims of Duty, Ellsworth Snow in Into the Breeches, and Death in Everybody. They plan to continue doing theater into their adult years with community opportunities. One thing they would like to offer as their final message before they graduate is as follows: Stay Weird.
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES
Sophia Bush Stage Manager
Sophia is a junior at Ursinus College majoring in Theater and Environmental Studies. Previous Ursinus Theater credits include Execution of Justice, Small Mouth Sounds, Two Gentlemen of Verona, as well as parts in Breakaway Student Production’s 365. Favorite past roles have included Peter Pan in Captain Darling, and Celeste in Into the
Breeches! After several other credits in crew and design, Sophia is excited to step into the tech booth and stage manage the world premiere of A Series of Meetings.
AZ Espinoza Director
AZ Espinoza (they/he) is an afro-futurist-trans-masculine-feminist making magic through theatre. As a playwright, director, mover and maker their praxis is grounded in community building, embodiments of queer joy, and decolonial ritual practice. AZ’s work as a playwright includes the world premiere of his play All My Mothers Dream in Spanish with Azuka Theatre y Teatro del Sol in 2023 and one-act and full-length plays in conversation with The Bakkhai, Pericles, The Odyssey, and King Lear where adaptation serves as a tool for revolution. As director: Benjamin Benne's Alma (Passage Theatre) William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (DelShakes); Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness (PAC and BlackBestFriend). Recent performance work has been supported by the SubCircle Residency and Leah Stein Dance Company. AZ is a 2025 Queer Art Fellow and a theater educator for all ages, most recently at Temple University and Haverford College.
Danica Guydish Assistant Stage Manager
Danica is a freshman majoring in PVDT and German with a teaching certification track. Previously, Danica was an assistant stage manager for the Agatha Christie Double Bill last semester. Danica wants to thank her stage manager ,Sophia for everything she has done, and her friends in and out of the theater department for their support. She would also like to thank her parents for their continuous love and encouragement; she could not have done this without them.
Asaki Kuruma Costume Designer
Asaki Kuruma is excited to be back at Ursinus! Originally from Japan, she is a multi-disciplinary artist who worked professionally in Philadelphia for over a decade. Selected costume design credits: This is the Week That Is: the Election Special (1812 Production Co.), Siluetas, Las Mujeres (Power Street Theatre Company), the Lehman Trilogy, Backing Track (Arden Theatre Co.), Tick, Tick...Boom! (Theatre Horizon), Spanish Tragedy, House of Desires (Villanova Theatre), Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, The Lightning Thief (Drexel Theatre), Death of a Driver, 72 Miles to Go..., Man of God (InterAct Theatre Company), Winter's Tale, Cymbeline (Delaware Shakespeare Co.), The Taming!, Pericles (Shakespeare in Clark Park),
Boycott Esther (Azuka Theatre), Tiger Style! (Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists). MA -Villanova University. Next up: Rent at Arden Theatre Co.
Taj Rauch Production Designer
Taj Rauch is an immersive storyteller with an appetite for learning anything he can get his hands on. With a background in playwriting, cinematography, installation, and projection design, he’s convinced himself that world building is best done by exploring every element. Presently, you can find him 3D scanning environments and turning them into Augmented Reality experiences. His work has been featured in Fringe Festival, PAFA Museum, IceBox Project Space, Vox Populi Gallery, and on The Today Show.
Savannah Reich Playwright
Savannah Reich is a playwright and screenwriter based in West Philadelphia. With her small theater company, Eternal Cult, she has created, produced, and toured original work across the country since 2008. Her plays have been produced at theaters and universities across the country; commissioned by Walking Shadow Theater Company, the University of Minnesota, SuperGroup, and the Lucille Lortel Theater; developed by the Playwrights Center, The Flea, and Seven Devils New Play Foundry; and supported by residencies at Tofte Lake Art Center, MassMoCA, and Millay Arts. Her feature-length screenplay “Beebe and Barton” was the winner of the national Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize in 2015, and her short film “Men Among Men” was the winner of the Bill Murray Comedy Award at the Twin Cities Film Festival (judged by Bill Murray himself!). She was a 2020/21 McKnight Fellow at the Playwrights Center, and her play “Oedipus in Seattle” was the winner of the audience choice award at the 2022 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. She holds an MFA from Carnegie Mellon, and as of September 2024 is a new Assistant Professor of Playwriting & Screenwriting at Drexel University.
JBean Schwab Props Designer
JBean Schwab is a multi-hyphenate theatre maker, performer and arts educator living in West Philadelphia. Their work lives in the intersections between prop and scenic design, immersive art, puppetry, and object-play performance. J. Bean has been a teaching artist for many years and is currently the Education Coordinator at Philadelphia Scenic Works. J.Bean has worked in community with organizations such as
SpiralQ, Delaware Shakespeare, Theatre Exile, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Interact Theatre, Inis Nua Theatre, and Philadelphia Artists Collective. Bean holds a B.F.A in Acting from Arcadia University, and an M.A in Theatre from Villanova University.
Sadie Walker Assistant Sound and Lighting Designer
Sadie is a senior graduating with a degree in Theatre and Performing Visual Arts Design & Technology. After working on sound design for previous Ursinus productions, including Everybody, Small Mouth Sounds, and The Agatha Christie Double Bill, Sadie is excited to put her design skills to the test in this brand-new production! When she’s not searching for sound effects and preshow music, Sadie can be seen on stage in Fun Home this spring and is also a member of B’Nats, the a cappella group on campus. She would like to thank her professors, friends, and family, and she is proud of everyone involved in the show! Break a leg, everyone!
Sofia Wiedemann Assistant Director
Sofia Wiedemann is a freshman at Ursinus College with a growing interest in theater production. As a recently declared double major in Art and PVDT, Sofia finds her role as Assistant Director in A Series of Meetings a wonderful opportunity to explore the intricacies within the different branches of theater. At Ursinus, she filled the position of Production Stage Manager in Into the Breeches and was lighting designer for Breakaway Student Productions’ The Girl in the Mirror, both in Fall 2024. Sofia’s acting credits include many entertaining one-act plays, such as Swift (Words, Words, Words), Sasha et. all (Reassembling Sasha), and Mrs. Havisham (From the Mouths of Babes). Sofia loves the range of opportunities available for experience both on-stage and behind-thescenes and cannot wait to continue her exploration of theater here at Ursinus College and beyond!
Shannon Zura Lighting and Sound Designer
Shannon Zura is Associate Professor of Design and Technology in Theater and Dance as well as a professional lighting, sound, and scenic designer. Credits include designs for InterAct Theatre Co., Arden Theatre Co., 1812 Productions, Lantern Theater Co., Azuka Theatre, Portland Stage Co., Opera Maine, Delaware Theatre Co., and Stonington Opera House Arts among others. She collaborated with Christensen Lighting on an award-winning lighting design for the Weiss Energy Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Shannon holds
an M.F.A. from Temple University, was Associate Professor and Chair of Theatre at the University of Southern Maine, and was Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Franklin and Marshall College.
Join us for the rest of our 2024-2025 Season!
Fun Home by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron directed by Domenick Scudera, music directed by Dr. Holly Hubbs choreographed by Dr. Karen Clemente
April 3-6
UCDC presents When I Think of Home produced by Dr. Karen Clemente
April 24-26
Why Ursinus College Theater, Dance, & Performing and Visual Arts Design and Technology?
Our rigorous liberal arts degrees in Theater, Dance, and Performing and Visual Arts Design and Technology (PVDT) give students a competitive edge in their pursuit of professional work and graduate education in both the arts and other fields.
Come and chat with us about what you can do with a degree in Theater, Dance, or PVDT. For more information, please email Theater and Dance Coordinator Nicolette Adams (nadams@ursinus.edu).
