Be Here Now

Eva Kaminsky

Eva is very pleased to back at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where prior credits include God of Carnage, 1:23 and A Christmas Carol (when she was young enough to play Belle). She has worked on Broadway in The Lyons and has travelled the country on the national tour of The Syringa Tree. Off-Broadway she was most recently seen in The Rape of the Sabine Women, By Grace B. Matthias (The Playwright’s Realm), as well as in The Language Archive (Roundabout Theatre Company), Made in Poland (The Play Company), Nami’ (Partial Comfort) and The Groundling (Axis Theatre Company). Regionally she has worked at Long Wharf Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Portland Stage Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Alley Theatre, ACT Theatre (Seattle), the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Syracuse Stage, Cleveland Play House, McCarter Theatre, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwright’s Conference and many others. Recurring and guest spots on television include Chicago Med, Madoff, Younger, Madam Secretary, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Billions and all the Law & Order series, and you can spy her in the feature films The Dark Tower and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Eva has also narrated over 150 audiobooks. She is grateful for her own personal “Mike,” who is named Brian.

Torsten Hillhouse

Torsten is thrilled to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse debut and to be working with this great team. New York City credits include The Polish Play (off-Broadway); The Odyssey (off-Broadway); Tender (Thirteenth Night Theatre); As You Like It and The Recruiting Officer (New York Classical Theatre); and WTC View (59E59 Theaters). Regional credits include Doubt and Other Desert Cities (Capital Repertory Theatre); A Few Good Men (Pioneer Theatre Company); Harvey (Arvada Center); In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Perseverance Theatre); The 39 Steps and the world premieres of Love/Sick and Out of Sterno (Portland Stage Company); Ripcord (The Public Theatre); Pericles and Is He Dead? (Theater at Monmouth); Snow in June and A Midsummer Night's Dream (American Repertory Theater); Life is a Dream and the world premiere of Billy Hell (Creede Repertory Theatre); Around the World in 80 Days (Cape Fear Regional Theater); Much Ado About Nothing and Elizabeth Rex (Stonington Opera House); The Lion in Winter (Commonwealth Theatre Company); Three Sisters (Moscow Art Theater School); and Cinzano (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Film credits include Adam and Where God Left His Shoes. Television credits include Bull, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU and As the World Turns. Torsten received his MFA from ART/M.X.A.T. at Harvard University. Visit torstenhillhouse.com

Emily Kratter

Emily is thrilled to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! Select New York and regional credits include Dead End, The Groundling and Evening 1910 (Axis Theatre Company), The Physicists (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Holy Ghostly (Williamstown Theatre Festival workshop), Death For Sydney Black (terraNOVA Collective), Confederates (LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark workshop), Be More Chill (Two River Theater workshop), Progress In Flying (The New Group/New Works), Five Second Chances (The Playwrights Realm/INK'D Festival), The Austerity of Hope (The Barrow Group), Greenwood The Musical (New York Musical Theatre Festival) and The Children's Hour (Astoria Performing Arts Center). On television, she has appeared on Unforgettable. Film credits include Half Brother, Adelaide and The Night Before She Walked Down the Aisle. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Please visit www.emilykratter.com. @emkratter

Michele Ragusa

Michele is pleased to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! Broadway credits include Young Frankenstein, Urinetown, Ragtime, Titanic, A Class Act and Cyrano. Off-Broadway credits include Adrift in Macao (Primary Stages – Lortel/Drama League nomination/Barrymore Award), Titanic 20^th Anniversary Concert (Lincoln Center) and Craving For Travel (Playwrights Horizon). Regional credits include Annie (Ordway Performing Arts Center); The Cottage (Aspen Theatre Company); Gypsy, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Lend Me a Tenor and Boeing, Boeing (John W. Engeman Theater); Bullets Over Broadway (Ogunquit Playhouse); Cake Off (Bucks County Playhouse); Mame and Hello, Dolly (Riverside Theatre); A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Geva Theatre); The King and I (Maltz Jupiter Theatre); Spamalot and Singing in the Rain (MUNY); Bad Dates and Noises Off (Studio Arena); Sweeney Todd (Portland Center Stage); Into The Woods (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Kiss Me Kate (Paper Mill Playhouse); The Drowsy Chaperone (Cape Playhouse); Mary Poppins (Kansas City Starlight); Guys and Dolls (Dallas Theatre Center); and The Full Monty (Paper Mill Playhouse/Aspen Theatre Company). Film and television credits include Happyish (Showtime), Heart of Spider (NYU/IFC) and Law and Order: SVU (NBC). She also headlines with symphonies across the country. Visit www.micheleragusa.com. @MRagusaNYC

Deborah Zoe Laufer

Deb is so delighted to be back at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where her play Leveling Up premiered in 2013. Her plays have also appeared at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Geva Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage and Humana Festival of New American Plays. Informed Consent, an Alfred P. Sloan/EST commission, appeared at The Duke on 42^nd Street in New York City in 2015, a co-production of Primary Stages and Ensemble Theatre Company (EST). It was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Her play End Days won The Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) citation and has received over 60 productions around the country and in Germany, Russia and Australia. Other plays include Out of Sterno, The Last Schwartz, Sirens, Meta, The Gulf of Westchester, Miniatures, Fortune and Much Ado About Boys. She directed her play The Three Sisters of Weehawken at Florida Atlantic University Theatre Lab and directed Informed Consent at GableStage at the Biltmore. Deb is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Lilly Award and grants and commissions from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Edgerton Foundation, NNPN, the NEA and the Lincoln Center Foundation. She is a graduate of Juilliard, an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a member of The Dramatists Guild. Visit DEBORAHZOELAUFER.com.

Portia Krieger

Portia is a New York-based theatre director who mostly works on new plays and musicals. Recent productions include Olivia Dufault’s The Tomb of King Tot (Clubbed Thumb); Sofia Alvarez’s Friend Art (2econd Stage Theater); Susan Bernfield's Tania in the Getaway Van (The Pool); Caroline V. McGraw's The Bachelors (Lesser America); Gabrielle Reisman's Storm, Still (Brooklyn Yard); Peggy Stafford’s 16 Words Or Less (Clubbed Thumb); Clare Barron's Baby Screams Miracle (Clubbed Thumb); and Eager to Lose, a burlesque farce Portia co-created with writer Matthew-Lee Erlbach, director Wes Grantom and burlesque starlet Tansy (Ars Nova). Portia has workshopped new plays with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Horizons, 2econd Stage Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Stage and Film, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Page 73, Ars Nova and many others. She is an inaugural O'Neill/National New Play Network National Director's Fellow, a former New Georges Audrey Resident, an alumna of the Drama League Directors Project and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, a former Ars Nova Director-in-Residence, a Clubbed Thumb Affiliated Artist and a co-founder of the New Georges Jam. Portia is the Associate Director of Fun Home on Broadway, on tour and at the New Vic. She holds a BA in Theater from Smith College. Visit www.portiakrieger.com

Daniel Zimmerman

Daniel is pleased to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Recent off-Broadway credits include Fashions for Men (Drama Desk nomination; Mint Theater Company); After the Blast and Kill Floor (Lincoln Center Theater); Friend Art (The Second Stage); Suicide, Incorporated (Roundabout Theatre Company); You Got Older (Page 73); I Call My Brothers (The Play Company); Henry IV, Part 1 (The Pearl Theatre Company); and Be a Good Little Widow (Ars Nova). Other New York credits include work with Clubbed Thumb, Cherry Lane Theatre, Colt Coeur, Lesser America and Slant Theatre Project. Regional credits include Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival of New American Plays, Center Stage, Trinity Repertory Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Portland Stage Company, People’s Light and Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference. Daniel currently teaches scenic design at Ithaca College.

Gordon DeVinney

As Costume Shop Manager at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Gordon has designed numerous Playhouse productions including Disgraced (2016), Mothers and Sons (2016), Low Down Dirty Blues (2015), Circle Mirror Transformation (2015), Chapatti (2015), The North Pool (2014), The Book Club Play (2013), Hank Williams: Lost Highway (2012), Always ... Patsy Cline (2011, League of Cincinnati Theatres Award), The Pavilion (2011), The Piano Teacher (2011), The Understudy (2010), Victoria Musica (2009), Marry Me a Little (2009), Love Song (2008), Murderers (2007), Reckless (2007), This Wonderful Life (2006), The Clean House (2006), A Picasso (2004), Sing Hallelujah! (2004), Hiding Behind Comets (2004), Proof (2003), God's Man in Texas (2001), Shakespeare's R&J (2000), Wit (2000), The Woman in Black (1998), Coyote on a Fence (1998), Nixon's Nixon (1997) and The Turn of the Screw (1997). His design for Nixon's Nixon appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Toronto and on London's West End. His Playhouse designs for God of Carnage, Sleuth, God's Man in Texas, Doubt, The Woman in Black and Nixon’s Nixon appeared at numerous regional theatres across the country. Recently Gordon designed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later for Xavier University.

Thomas C. Hase

Thomas is delighted to be back working at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for his 21^st production. His designs in the United States include productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Alliance Theatre Company, Center Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Atlanta Opera and Los Angeles Opera. In New York, his work has been seen in Company on both Broadway and off-Broadway, as well as New York City Opera and BAM Next Wave Festival. Internationally, his designs include Deutsche Opera am Rhein; Theater Erfurt; Bayerische Staatsoper; The Helikon Opera in Moscow; The Barbican and Sadler’s Wells in London; Opera North in the UK; The Abbey Theater and Riverdreams in Dublin; Malmö Opera in Sweden; The Dutch, Finnish and Columbian National Operas; Stage Entertainment and National Reisopera in Holland; Opéra de Marseille; Strasbourg Music; UNESCO Headquarters in France; Canadian Opera Company and The Luminato Festival in Toronto; Singapore Arts Festival; and Tokyo Metro Arts Center. Thomas is also the head of lighting and lighting design for Cincinnati Opera Association. More information is available at Haseltd.com.

Pornchanok (Nok) Kanchanabanca

Nok is a Thai artist and sound designer/composer based in New York and Chicago. She graduated from the sound design program at Yale School of Drama. Credits include Cymbeline (original music, Yale Repertory Theatre), Alligator (New Georges + The Sol Project), The Humans (TheatreSquared), The Square Root of Three Sisters (The International Festival of Arts & Ideas Festival, Yale School of Drama), Eurydice (original music, University of Connecticut), Just Not That Woman (Vancouver Fringe Festival), Red Demon in Likay (Tokyo Metropolitan, Singapore Arts Fest), Ain't She Brave (FringeNYC), Ain't Gonna Make It (ANT Fest), Oxygen (undergroundzero festival) and Elevada (associate sound design, Yale Repertory Theatre). Assisted design credits include A Streetcar Named Desire and Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Repertory Theatre) and Servant of Two Masters (Theatre for a New Audience). She also has collaborated on the design with theatre companies in Thailand including B-floor, Babymine, Crescent Moon, Makharmpom and Democrazy since 2008. She holds her BFA in Performing Art from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She is a member of The Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, US. wishnok-music.com

Stephanie Klapper

Stephanie is thrilled to continue her collaboration with Blake Robison and the Playhouse, having cast A Prayer for Owen Meany, Disgraced, A Christmas Carol, Jane Eyre, All the Roads Home and Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery last season, and Shakespeare in Love and Mr. Joy this season. Previously for the Playhouse, she cast The Secret Garden, Sex with Strangers, Mad River Rising, Native Gardens, The Revolutionists, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mothers and Sons, Bad Dates, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Safe House, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Circle Mirror Transformation, Peter and the Starcatcher, Buzzer, Fly, Seven Spots on the Sun, Clybourne Park, 4000 Miles, Pride and Prejudice and A Delicate Ship, as well as Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Book Club Play, Leveling Up, Abigail/1702, A Christmas Carol, The Three Musketeers and The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead. Her work is frequently seen on Broadway, off-Broadway and regionally, as well as on film, television and the internet. She has many exciting projects running and upcoming both in New York City and regionally, as well as on film, the web and television. Stephanie is a member of the Casting Society of America.

Andrea L. Shell

Andrea is excited to be celebrating her 18th season with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having worked on more than 85 productions. A highlight of every season for her is A Christmas Carol. Favorite Playhouse credits include Mr. Joy; Erma Bombeck; Jane Eyre; Disgraced; Bad Dates; The Revolutionists; Peter and the Starcatcher; I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti; The North Pool; Pride and Prejudice; The Trip to Bountiful; Merrily We Roll Along; As You Like It; Behind the Eye; The Understudy; Blackbird; Durango; Around the World in 80 Days; Altar Boyz; Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming; Reckless; Ace; The Clean House; A Picasso; One; Abracadabra (2002-2007); The Bible … (abridged); and Dark Paradise. Regionally, she stage managed The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (Dallas Theater Center), Ace (The Old Globe), Lost Prospect (Ingenuity Festival of Cleveland), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Nutcracker (Cincinnati Ballet) and Snow White and Beauty and the Beast (Cincinnati Ballet’s Otto M. Budig Academy). She also served as the production stage manager for the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre. Andrea received her BA from East Tennessee State University. She would like to thank her family, friends, Dylan and Scott for their unending support.