Annie Fitzpatrick*

Annie is delighted to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park after performing six seasons of A Christmas Carol. Past Playhouse productions include Alias Grace (2019); A Prayer for Owen Meany (2016); To Kill a Mockingbird(2016); Pride and Prejudice (2014); and Hank Williams: Lost Highway (2012). She recently appeared in The Roommate at American Stage and The Wolves at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. She was a founding member of The New Group in New York City and toured nationally and internationally with Murder a la Carte. Regionally, Annie has performed at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Geva Theatre Center, Florida Stage, Florida Studio Theatre, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Porthouse Theatre and The Human Race Theatre Company. Television and film credits include Chicago P.D., Lifetime’s Army Wives, A&E’s Those Who Kill, The Old Man and The Gun, Fun Size, Milk Money, to be, Broken Hearts and the upcoming Dark Waters.

Jennifer Joplin*

Jen is honored to be a part of this beautiful Playhouse project. Originally from St. Louis and a graduate of Wright State, she has called this region her artistic home for almost 30 years. Jen is a proud member of Actor’s Equity and a resident artist at The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton. Regional credits include Erma Bombeck in At Wit’s End, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie and Annette in God of Carnage at Human Race; Aimee in The Humans and Rosemary in Outside Mullingar at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; Twelfth Night and Merry Wives at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Virginie in The Man-Beast at Know Theatre. When not sheltering in place with her awesome husband and son, she tours the country with her original one-woman show, The MILF Also Rises. Thanks to Blake and Annie and to the incredibly powerful theatre community of this region. We will all hug, create, rehearse, perform and connect again soon.

Jordan Trovillion

Jordan is an actor based in Covington, Kentucky; the endpoint of her Southerly drift from her home state of Michigan. Recent theatre credits are Puffs (Susie Bones track) and The Absentee (The Operator) at Know Theatre of Cincinnati; and ZOINKS! (Nolan) at the 2019 Cincinnati Fringe Festival and JALZ (Dylan), both with Queen City Flash. Other favorite shows include Neverwhere (Hunter) with Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Ken Ham’s Journey to the Center of the Earth(Most Women) with Queen City Flash, and Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (Actress) at Falcon Theater. Jordan is a member of SAG/AFTRA and has performed in various films and television shows, including The Old Man and the Gun, My Days of Mercyand Comedy Central’s Detroiters. She is also a freelance illustrator and used to be in a cover band. See more info at www.jordantrovillion.net.

Trey Tatum

Trey is a playwright/composer from Cincinnati, Ohio. Recent credits include ZOINKS!, a Nancy Drew send-up about the opioid epidemic; Alabama Monster, his solo show about mental illness, family ties and creatures that lie just out of sight; and JALZ, a remake of the blockbuster movie JAWS that examines Alzheimer's disease, end-of-life care and family legacy. For the past four seasons, Trey has been composer for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Off the Hill education touring series. Current projects include Have Monster, Will Travel — a new audio-fiction podcast about road trips, monsters and the meaning of family. Trey makes theatre and mischief with his wife, director Bridget Leak. Visit treytatum.com.

Kevin Crowley*

Kevin returned to Cincinnati in 2006 from Los Angeles where he worked primarily in television, including CSI, Reba, Without a Trace, Murphy Brown, Drew Carey, Malcom in the Middle and Boy Meets World. Film credits include Major League I and II, The Fugitive, Backdraft, Suicide Kings, The Package and Goat. He also appeared in Carol and Dark Waters, which were filmed in Cincinnati. Kevin was an actor, director and teacher with the famed Second City in Chicago for many years. He appeared with the Steppenwolf, and Northlight and Victory Gardens theatres in Chicago. Other theatre acting credits include War Music at David Geffen Hall in Los Angeles (2003, Ovation Award), Of Mice and Men at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and St. Louis Repertory Theater (2006, Acclaim Award), and Opus at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (2007, Cincinnati Entertainment Award). Writing credits include disgruntled employees (workshopped at the National Playwrights Conference and subsequently produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Cincinnati), The Monkee’s Paw (London, New York and Cincinnati Fringe Festival), Hitchhikers May Be Inmates, We Did it Girl, Sarge (Critics Pick of the Cincinnati Fringe 2014) and The Vegetables (Audience Pick of Cincinnati Fringe 2019).

Joseph McDonough

Past Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park productions include Travels of Angelica, Stone My Heart and One. He has also collaborated locally with composer/lyricist David Kisor on Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s holiday musicals for 20 seasons. His new play Ordinary Americans (about blacklisted early television pioneers Gertrude Berg and Philip Loeb) recently received its world premiere this winter in a commissioned co-production by Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach and GableStage in Miami. His one-act play Solace was produced last fall in New York as part of the Wet Paint Festival. Upcoming projects include the new play Bardolatry, about the eccentric Shakespeare collector Henry Folger; working with writing team Mark Friedman and Janet Yates Vogt on a new musical about infamous Cincinnati bootlegger George Remus; and collaborating with composer/lyricist Holly Doubet on a new musical, 38 Minutes, about the recent crisis faced in Hawaii from a mistakenly announced emergency missile alert. Joe is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

Ernaisja Curry*

Ernaisja is very excited to bring some hope and joy with this awesome monologue project! Since completing Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Bruce E. Coyle Acting Internship, the Florida native has performed on stages across Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and signed with Heyman Talent Agency. When not on stage or screen, she is teaching, directing and choreographing students as a Teaching Artist. Her favorite recent credits include Skeleton Crew at Ensemble Theatre, Lawbreakers at StageOne Theatre, The Merry Wives of Windsor at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride at The Know Theatre of Cincinnati, and Dreamgirls at The Carnegie Theatre. She is eternally grateful to her family, friends and mentors for their continuous love, faith and support. And, she is beyond thankful to Cincinnati Playhouse for always being a creative home. #EquityStrong. Visit ernaisjacurry.com.

Torie Wiggins

Torie is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with a BFA in Dramatic Performance and has been performing professionally for over 15 years. She has co-adapted and performed a one-woman show, Your Negro Tour Guide, at various venues across the country. Her film work includes A Christmas Melody, The Old Man and the Gun and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Cincinnati theatre credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Pluto and Harry and the Thief (Know Theatre of Cincinnati); The Mountaintop, Violet and His Eye is on The Sparrow (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati); Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 by Anna Deveare Smith (Diogenes Theatre Co); Mame, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Crowns (Human Race Theatre Company); A Raisin in the Sun and Fences (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); and To Kill a Mockingbird with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Her directing credits include We Are Proud to Present… and Good Kids at Miami University Department of Theatre, and Dreamgirls and Proof at The Carnegie Theatre.

Justin Baldwin

Justin is an Ohio native, hailing from the cornfields just outside Springfield. He’s spent the last decade working as an actor, director, run crew, electrics crew, bartender, server and beer rep across the Midwest and East Coast, and is beyond proud to call Cincinnati home once again. Some cool shows he’s performed in include Titus Andronicus (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre); MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, Pericles and Measure for Measure (Kentucky Shakespeare Festival); reasons to be pretty (New Edgecliff); Lion in Winter (Palm Beach Dramaworks); Den of Thieves (Seaside REP); and Quake a Love Story (Cincinnati Fringe Festival/New York International Fringe). Directing favorites include The Diary of Anne Frank(Missouri State University), SubUrbia and The Irish Curse (Level 11 productions Chicago) and Villainy (Cincinnati Fringe Festival). The greatest credits to Justin’s name were given to him by the most caring, forgiving, passionate, mentally unstable, tenaciously loving and awe-inspiring women in his life: They call him Son, Husband and Da-Da. Visit www.justinlbaldwin.com.

Paul Strickland

“An hour spent with master storyteller Paul Strickland is an hour well spent, and one you should not miss.” — The Cincinnati Enquirer. Paul’s heartfelt and hilarious stories and songs have been performed in virtually every imaginable environment, from off-Broadway to elementary and middle schools, corporate events and even two prisons — where he was not an inmate at the time. Paul has won “Best of Fest”honors 13 times at Fringe Theatre Festivals across North America for his collections of stories. He was an Exchange Place Teller at the National Storytelling Festival in 2018 and is a Featured Teller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in 2020.

Caitlin McWethy*

Caitlin is thrilled to be making art during this troubling time and thankful for the opportunity for Playhouse. Her most recent performance as Elizabeth Bennet in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Pride and Prejudice came to an abrupt end in mid-March, but the Bennet family will be making a comeback at the end of CSC’s 20/21 season. Caitlin has been living and making art in Cincinnati for seven years and looks forward to many more with the community of artists she loves. There are hugs coming soon.

Darnell Pierre Benjamin*

Darnell is beyond grateful to be part of a project that is building community through hope. A native of Southern Louisiana, Darnell graduated from University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a BFA before earning his MFA from University of Houston in 2009. He moved to Cincinnati for a resident actor contract with the Know Theatre. That opened the door to working with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, where he’s been a resident actor and teaching artist since 2010 and an Associate Artist since 2017. Darnell is on the boards of Pones and Stop the Stigma Productions, two companies aimed at arts activism. Along with being a proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association, he heads the Diversity subcommittee of the Regional AEA Liaison Committee. Regional credits include Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The Legend of Georgia McBride at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Angels in America at the Know Theatre, Romeo and Juliet at Hope Summer Rep Theatre and Macbeth at Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. When not performing, Darnell works as a director and choreographer, and as an adjunct instructor at University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music and Xavier University.

Barry Mulholland*

Barry is delighted to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having previously appeared here in Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird and Burkie. Elsewhere around town, he’s been seen in August: Osage County, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Diary of Anne Frank, All The Way and Twelfth Night with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; Bloomsday, Tribes and Freud‘s Last Session at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; and The Music Man in Concert with the Cincinnati Pops at Music Hall. Barry was seen off-Broadway in Wild Oats, Ghost Sonata, Danton’s Death and Balloon (Outer Critics Circle Awards nomination, Best New Play) and at the Center Theatre in Los Angeles in Love Streams with Gena Rowlands, directed by John Cassavetes. Regional credits include leading roles at such theatres as Long Wharf Theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Intiman Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Clarence Brown Theatre Company, among others. Recent screen credits include Dark Waters, A Kind of Murder, Surviving Compton and the Ted Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

Brant Russell

Brant is so pleased to be a part of this project. Brant is Associate Professor in the Acting program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He runs the CCM Playwrights Workshop and is Drama Editor at the Cincinnati Review. He has directed frequently at CCM, the Know Theatre of Cincinnati and in New York City with Queens Theatre. Originally from Chicago, he has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Next, Theatre 7 and others. His writing has appeared on stages in Chicago and Cincinnati, and his play Bankers was just a semi-finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Award at American Blues Theatre in Chicago. He lives in Pleasant Ridge with his wife and two sons. He is a graduate of Kenyon College (BA) and Northwestern university (MFA), and is a proud member, AAUP and SDC. Visit www.brantrussell.com.

Burgess Byrd*

Burgess is delighted to be a part of this monologue project at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, she is proud to call Cincinnati her theatre home. Recently, she was seen in Gloria: A Life at Human Race Theatre. Some favorite credits are Skeleton Crew and Detroit '67 (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati ); Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and A Raisin in the Sun (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Guest Artist at University of Texas Austin as Shylock in a contemporary update of The Merchant of Venice; Harry and The Thief and solo shows Pretty Fire and Neat (Know Theatre of Cincinnati); Silence! The Musical (Falcon Theatre); and Avenue Q (Showbiz Players). She is grateful to be a part of and to thrive in this nurturing and supportive community especially at this time.

Paul Shortt

A theatre set designer and professor emeritus: 37 years at CCM with 150+ productions designed, 50+ productions at the Cincinnati Playhouse, 10+ at the Cincinnati Opera, and another 50+ elsewhere, including New York, Philadelphia, and Lucca, Italy; plus architectural, interior, and landscape design and consulting in the U.S., Canada, Australia, England, Germany, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and South Korea. Paul turned to writing poetry, short stories, essays, and plays for stimulation, intense and otherwise, a decade ago. The reasons were many, including his lyrical Welsh heritage making its bid. A member of United Scenic Artists, Dramatists Guild, and the Literary Club of Cincinnati. Paul and his wife Marcia, a graphic designer and watercolorist, divide their time between Cincinnati and California. Their two daughters, spouses, and three grandchildren live in Cincinnati. paulshortt1@hotmail.com; www.paulshorttdesign.com

Candice Handy

Candice is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based actor who received her Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Louisville. She is a resident ensemble member of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Her favorite roles there include Coretta Scott King/Fannie Lou Hamer in All the Way, Malcolm in Macbeth and Bianca in Othello. Candice has been blessed with opportunities to play at theatre companies around the country. Other exciting theatre credits include The Pirates of Penzance at Theatre Monmouth, The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Island Shakespeare Festival, Frankenstein at StageOne Family Theatre, The Tempest at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival and The Cake at the Human Race Theatre Company, where Candice now deems one of her theatre homes. She gives special thanks to Blake Robison, Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (where Candice was an acting intern), for the opportunity to share some hope with her Cincinnati community during this trying time. She thanks God, her family and friends for their unrelenting support.

Sakinah Hofler

Sakinah is thrilled and honored to be a part of this project with the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park! Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Sakinah graduated with a BS and MS from New Jersey Institute of Technology, worked by day as a chemical engineer, and took writing and acting classes at night. She performed with On the Spot Improv Troupe for nearly two years before heading to Florida State University to pursue an MFA in fiction. Her stories have won the Manchester Fiction Prize and the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award, as well as appeared in numerous magazines and journals. Her writing has received support from the Kingsbury Fellowship, the Taft Foundation and the P.E.O. Scholar Award. She’s currently a Ph.D candidate in fiction and an Albert C. Yates Fellow at the University of Cincinnati.

Maggie Lou Rader*

Maggie is honored to help Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park spread such a beautiful message of hope during these dark times. An Oklahoma native, she attended William Jewell College in Kansas City, Oxford University and the Birmingham School of Acting in the U.K. She’s performed with the Human Race Theatre Company, Kentucky Shakespeare, Know Theatre of Cincinnati and StageOne, and she has had the joy of being an ensemble member at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company for nine seasons. Some of her favorite memories on stage have been playing Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, June in the rolling world premiere of Alabaster, and Jo March in Little Women. In addition to being a proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association, she serves as Education Director at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, the PROJECT38 Coordinator at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and writes epic plays about epic women. She sends love to her talented husband Justin, her supporting family and her three adorable fur babies. See what she’s up to these days at www.maggielourader.com!

Caroline Stine

Caroline is touched and honored to be a part of this project with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Though she is originally from Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, Caroline has spent her artistic career as an actor, director and costume designer working in Indianapolis, Indiana; Arezzo, Italy; and Boulder, Colorado, before circling back and returning to Cincinnati to produce and direct devised physical theatre. She obtained her BA in Theatre and English at Butler University and her MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University. She is the artistic director and creator of InBocca Performance, a company that specializes in bleeding edge devised theatre in the heart of Cincinnati. Her work has been performed in all sorts of bizarre places from old lagering tunnels and the Cincinnati Fringe Festival to Boulder Fringe and the museums of Russia. You can learn more about Caroline and the work she does with children and adults at www.inboccaperformance.com. #getdefiant