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Deimoni Brewington is thrilled and grateful to now add èßäAVTheater for Young Audiences to his credits. Regional Theater: A Not So Quiet Nocturne; Private Jones; Passing Strange; A Year with Frog & Toad (Helen Hayes Award Nomination - Outstanding Lead Performer); You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Sweat; A Commedia Romeo & Juliet; Missed Connections; Squeakers and Mr. Gumdrop; Once On This Island; Toni Stone; Sleep Deprivation Chamber; Blood at the Root (Helen Hayes Award - Outstanding Ensemble in a Play); Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet; The Adventures of Pericles; EDUCATION: Howard University: BFA in Musical Theatre. @creatlas  

Jamie Goodson is ecstatic to help tell the story of Finn! DC theater: Hair, Beaches (Signature Theatre), The Music Man (Arena Stage), A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theatre), Ragtime (The Kennedy Center). Select regional: Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde (Summer Repertory Theater), Footloose (Dutch Apple/Broadway Palm) Ghost (Arizona Broadway Theater). Education: CCM. Love to all my friends and family who allow me to sparkle and shine! Instagram: @jamie_goodies

Ben Ribler (he/him/his) returns to KCTYA after appearing in the 2022 touring production of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical!). Regional Theater: The Great Society (Arena Stage), The Lion in Winter (Everyman Theatre), Candida (Washington Stage Guild), The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (Imagination Stage), Something Rotten! [Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical] (Toby's Dinner Theatre), Lucky Stiff, Nunsense A-Men! (NextStop Theatre Company), The Master and Margarita (Constellation Theatre Company), Chicks in Heaven (Creative Cauldron), Sing Down the Moon: Appalachian Wonder Tales, Make Way for Ducklings (Adventure Theatre MTC), Be More Chill (Monumental Theatre Company). Film: Tapawingo. www.benribler.com

Kalen Robinson is excited to return to èßäAVTheater for Young Audiences! Originally from Atlanta, GA, she received her BFA in Musical Theatre at Howard University in 2020. DC AREA: Olney Theatre: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; Woolly Mammoth: The Sensational Sea-Minkettes; Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses; Theater Alliance/ Kennedy Center TYA: Look Both Ways; Imagination Stage: Nate the Great, The Hula Hoopin’ Queen; Signature Theatre: Passing Strange; Constellation Theatre: Once on This Island; Round House Theatre: Spring Awakening (Thea). REGIONAL: Fulton Theatre: Cinderella, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. INSTAGRAM: @k_nicole143

Dylan Toms is so excited to be returning for his second production with Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences! Credits include: KCTYA: The Mortification of Fovea Munson (World Premiere); DC AREA: Signature Theatre: Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, She Loves Me, Assassins; Olney Theatre Center: Meredith Willson’s The Music Man (ASL) (Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical); Adventure Theatre MTC: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Helen Hayes Nomination), Junie B. Jones: The Musical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; REGIONAL: Virginia Children's Theatre: The Secret Garden, The Addams Family; Showtimers Theatre: Cabaret; Renaissance Theatre: Sordid Lives. EDUCATION: B.M. George Mason University 2018. @dylan_toms

Kara-Tameika Watkins is thrilled to make her Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences debut. Credits include Capital Repertory Theatre: The Honkey Tonk Angels; Arts Center of Coastal Carolina: Rock of Ages; Olney Theatre: Carmen: An Afro-Cuban Musical, Peter Pan, Miss You Like Hell; Signature Theatre: Ragtime, Passing Strange, Daphne’s Dive, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, A Funny Thing…Forum, Light Years; Arena Stage: Crowns, Smokey Joe’s Café, The Pajama Game; Ford’s Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors, Children of Eden; Studio Theatre: Caroline or Change; Round House Theatre: Once on This Island, Caroline or Change; Totem Pole Playhouse: Barnum, Leader of the Pack; Barter Theatre: Ain’t Misbehavin’; Hairspray at PCLO, Northshore Music Theatre and the Nevada productions of Hairspray and Smokey Joe’s Café. Proud AEA member

Caelyn D. Williams (she/her) is a theatre artist and singer based in the DMV and is ecstatic to make her debut with èßäAVTheater for Young Audiences! She was last seen in Imagination Stage’s Nate the Great as Harry. Local credits include: Mimi Marquez (RENT, ArtsCentric), Marty (Grease, Toby’s Dinner Theatre), Mench (The New Kid, Imagination Stage), Emmie Thibodeaux (Caroline, or Change, Elden Street Players), Eve/MamaNoah (Children of Eden, 2nd Star), Sarah’s Friend (Ragtime, HCC Arts Collective). Caelyn would like to thank her amazing wife, Ashley, and their daughter, Zora, who both teach her how to be playful and explorative as a child. @lady_cae

Jordan Essex is very excited to be joining èßäAVTheater for Young Audiences for this world premiere! Regional Theater: Junie B. Jones, Sing Down The Moon at Adventure Theatre, Fat Ham at Studio Theatre, The Honey Trap at Solas Nua, The Very Hungry Caterpillar at Imagination Stage, Passing Strange at Signature Theatre, The Tempest at Round House Theatre, Once on This Island at Constellation Theatre Company, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Folger Theatre, Love Like Tuesday at Faction of Fools, The Toxic Avenger at Rorschach Theatre, and Little Shop of Horrors at ArtsCentric. He also toured with Olney Theatre Center’s National Players 72nd tour, performing A Raisin in the Sun and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has a B.M. from Catholic University. On social media @jc.essex (Instagram)

Caroline Graham DC AREA: Signature Theatre: Hair; NextStop: Little Women (Helen Hayes Nominated- Outstanding Supporting Performer); Adventure Theatre MTC: Junie B. Jones, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Olney Theatre Center: Fiddler on the Roof; Keegan Theatre: Suessical; Monumental Theatre Co.: Tick…Tick…Boom! REGIONAL: Great Lakes Center for the Arts: Godspell. EDUCATION: The Catholic University of America, BM.

DC AREA: Olney Theatre: Beautiful, The Carol King Musical (Shirelle/Uptown Singer), Fela! (Adejoonwo) [Helen Hayes winner for Best Ensemble], Studio Theatre: Good Bones (Aisha u.s.) [World Premiere], Signature Theatre: Into The Woods (Rapunzel) [Helen Hayes nominated for Best Ensemble] Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Rocky (Linda McKenna), The Bodyguard (Rachel Marron u.s., ensemble); Keegan Theatre: Good People (Kate), Women on Fire Festival; Unexpected Stage Company: Nothing to Lose; Adventure Theatre Center: Snowy Day (Female Player u.s.); Opus Concert Theatre: Carmen (Frasquita); HCC Theatre: Heathers, The Musical (Heather Chandler); Kensington Arts Theatre: Sweeney Todd (Johanna). REGIONAL: Charlottesville Opera: The Sound of Music (Sister Margaretta, Maria u.s.), The Merry Widow (Joujou), La Boheme (Chorus), Opera in The Park, Broadway at Belfield; Chicago Summer Opera: Die Zauberflöte. EDUCATION: Xavier University of Louisiana: BM, Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins: MM. www.simonebrownsoprano.com @simoneami @blackprincessdmv

Chris Nee is the creator and executive producer of Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins (Peabody Award) & Vampirina (Emmy Nominated). Under her own company banner, Laughing Wild, she created and executive produced Ridley Jones (GLAAD Award) at Netflix and in partnership with the Obamas she created and produced We the People (Emmy Award) & the adaptation of Ada Twist, Scientist (Emmy Award). She’s had an amazing ride in film and television working on series as that range from Sesame Street to The Deadliest Catch. But right now, she’s thrilled to be back in a room making theater. Website: laughingwildprod.com

Adrienne Campbell-Holt is an award-winning NYC-based director and choreographer and the Founding Artistic Director of Colt Coeur. Recent world premieres: Still (Colt Coeur at DR2, NYC & Dorset Theatre Festival, VT), Dodi & Diana by Kareem Fahmy (Colt Coeur at HERE), Afterwords, by Emily Kaczmarek, music & lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, choreographed by Ebony Williams (5^th Avenue Theater, Heileman & Haver Award for Best New Musical), NY premiere of Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (Colt Coeur), Other World, by Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen & Ann McNamee, choreography by Karla Puno Garcia (Delaware Theatre Company, BroadwayWorld Award for Best New Musical), We Are Among Us by Stephen Belber (City Theater), Hatef**k, by Rehana Lew Mirza (WP/Colt Coeur), Downstairs by Theresa Rebeck starring Tyne and Tim Daly (Primary Stages).  Associate Director of Dear Evan Hansen (OBC). Lucille Lortel Visionary Director Award. AdrienneCampbellHolt.com.

Billy Bustamante is DC native and thrilled to be back at the Kennedy Center!  Billy most recently Associate Choreographed Here We Are off Broadway and assistant directed the Broadway production of Here Lies Love.  Other credits: Notes From Now (Prospect), Whisper House (Civilians), Gold Mountain (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Into The Woods (Arden Theatre), Virginia Stage Company, Goodspeed, Lincoln Center, and NAAP. Broadway performing credits: Miss Saigon (Engineer alt.), The King and I (Lun Tha u/s). Off-Broadway/Regional: Soft Power and Here Lies Love at the Public Theater, Center Theatre Group, Arena Stage, Old Globe and Paper Mill Playhouse. Billy’s co-founder of Broadway Barkada and on faculty at Jen Waldman Studio and Circle in the Square Theatre School. Billy is passionately committed to the development of new artists and building a more equitable world. www.BillyBustamante.com Insta: @BillyBCreative

August Eriksmoen Broadway (orchestrations): Water For Elephants (co-orchestrator), Come From Away (Olivier Award, Grammy nomination), Bright Star (Tony nom.), Prince Of Egypt (London West End), Gigi, First Date, Hugh Jackman Back On Broadway (additional orchestrations); The Addams Family (dance arrangements, additional orchestrations), Memphis (dance arrangements), Million Dollar Quartet (assoc. music supervisor), Ring of Fire (assoc. MD), All Shook Up (MD), Rent (assoc. conductor). Off-Broadway: Bare, Romantic Poetry, Walmartopia, Imperfect Chemistry. Other: Only Murders In The Building (season 3 songs), A Christmas Story Live (Fox), Once Upon A Time (ABC), Disney’s Descendants (Andrew Lippa’s “Evil Like Me”), 2011 Billboard Music Awards, I Am Harvey Milk, Bull Durham, James and the Giant Peach.

Nathan Beary Loughstein is a performer, teacher, and scholar. He has served as a music director at Adventure Theatre MTC (Sing Down the Moon), Keegan Theatre (Merrily We Roll Along; Seussical—Helen Hayes nomination, outstanding music direction), Montgomery College SDT, and American University DPA. He is delighted to return to KCTYA after being on the music team for Through the Sunken Lands. His writing can be found in Studies of Musical Theatre, The Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and Here for The Hearing—as well as in his dissertation, which focuses on reprise in Sondheim musicals. His public scholarship can be found on TikTok @rhapsodyinblu. Ph.D., Music Theory: Indiana University. nathanbearyloughstein.com

You-Shin Chen is thrilled to return to KCTYA as part of the design team for Finn. She is a USA-based Taiwanese scenic designer. As a theatre collaborator, she is committed to diversity and humanity through visual storytelling in three-dimensional space. Her works have been seen across the continental US and Europe. Recent credits include: How To Defend Yourself (NYTW); Wolf Play (SohoRep & MCC, Lortel Awards); Red Velvet (STC, DC); The Re-Emancipation of Social Dance (Raja Feather Kelly + Yolanda Wisher, Intercultural Journeys); Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (ArsNova, Lortel Awards); Troy Anthony’s The Revival: It Is Our Duty (The Shed, NYC); A View From the Bridge (Long Wharf Theatre, CCC Awards); Walden (TheaterWorks Hartford, CCC Awards). Assistant professor at Muhlenberg College. USA829. www.youshinchen.com

Ann Closs-Farley The Pee-Wee Herman Show (Broadway), Toy Story The Musical (Disney), What About Dick? (Netflix), The Bourne Stuntacular (Universal Studios), A Christmas Karen (Renaissance Entertainment), St. Valentine Massacre (National Geographic), Pirates of the Caribbean: Eye of The Storm (Shanghai Disneyland), Sail Away (Carnival Cruise Lines), TWA @JFK (Connie Cocktail Bar), Twelfth Night (Guthrie Theater), Zoot Suit (Mark Taper Forum) Hopscotch: A Mobile Opera (The Industry), Cunning Little Vixens Opera (Industry and Cleveland Orchestra), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Utah Shakespeare) and many more.  Ann is an Assistant Costume Design Professor at USC, produces the Live From The Lounge Podcast, and is currently a costume designer for Tokyo Disneyland and Royal Caribbean projects. Visit annclossfarley.com for updates.

E-hui is delighted to be sinking her teeth into this 'Finn'tastic new project with this KCTYA team since assisting on The Dragon King’s Daughter last year! A proud company member of Arts on the Horizon, E-hui is passionate about collaborating with like-minded folks to create works with social impact, such as theatre for young audiences, and projects that amplify minority and marginalized stories. Previous local lighting design credits include Arts on the Horizon: Sailing on String, Off the Page, Outside the Lines; Constellation Theatre Company: Desperate Measures; Nu Sass Productions: A Bright Room Called Day, Marx in Soho; Mosaic Theater Company: The Real Americans, Draw the Circle; Pointless Theatre Company: .d0t :: a RotoPlastic Ballet; Theatre Prometheus: 14, and Annalisa Dias’s One Word More. Portfolio: E-hui.info

Justin Schmitz is flipping his fins to be with this KCTYA production! Previous credits: Through the Sunken Lands, Darius and Twig, Me, Jane... The Dreams and Adventures of Young Jane Goodall, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!  Associate: How to Catch a Star, Elephant and Piggie’s We Are in A Play! and Flowers Stink. Millennium Stage: Move! The Works of Isadora Duncan Page to Stage Festivals, and other performances. Kenan Fellowship 2015-2016.  Additional credits include various productions at: The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Imagination Stage, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, amongst many others. He has collaborated Off-Broadway with 59E59 Theaters and Round House Theatre, and Dixon Place Theatre. www.justinschmitztheatre.com 

Patrick W. Lord is thrilled to be back at èßäAVTheater for Young Audiences where he previously designed The Dragon King’s Daughter, Earthrise, Voyagers, Digging Up Dessa, and Where Words Once Were. Other select credits include National Tours: On Your Feet, Hairspray. DC Area: Hair, Private Jones (Signature Theatre); Hamlet, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Theatre Company); The World Goes ‘Round, Dinner and Cake (Everyman Theatre); Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Christmas Carol (Olney Theatre Center); On Your Feet (Helen Hayes Award), Fame (GALA Hispanic Theatre); Mnemonic (Theater Alliance); Fitting In, Outside the Lines (Arts on the Horizon). Regional: Thurgood (People’s Light); Girl on the Train, Cinderella, West Side Story, South Pacific (Flatrock Playhouse). MFA, The University of Texas at Austin. www.patrickwlord.com @pwlord

Luke Hartwood (he/him) is a queer and disabled Asian-American multimedia designer and artist working on unceded Nacotchtank land "Washington, D.C.". He specializes in designing original props, puppets, graphics, and videos. Recent credits include Through the Sunken Lands and The Dragon King's Daughter (The Kennedy Center); Is God Is (Constellation Theatre Company); Problems Between Sisters (Studio Theatre); Off the Page (Arts on the Horizon), Las Hermanas Palacios, Baño de Luna, and Kumanana! at GALA Hispanic Theater; The Mountaintop (Round House Theatre), The Chosen (1st Stage); and Psychogeographies and Angel Number Nine (Rorschach Theatre). lukehartwood.com. On social media at @lukehartwood (Instagram).

Marina Zurita is a theater director born in São Paulo, Brazil, and based in New York City. Marina is a former resident artist at the Target Margin Theater (NYC) and Lab at A.P.E (MA), as well as a directing fellow at Et Alia Theater (NYC) and Kenan Fellow at the Kennedy Center (DC). Marina’s theater directing credits include Saudades (JACK theater); Riven (NYC Women's Fund and Brooklyn Arts Council grantee); For The Time Being (Dixon Place); Fanny Unpacked ( 2023 ESTIA Festival); Ocean tides (Ocracoke Alive Festival);  Nurse/Juliet by Beth Hyland and The Vulgar Title That Deals With Race by Brandon Bautista (both readings produced by Kennedy Center)

Jorge Acevedo (he/him) SIGNATURE: Casting Director & Manager of Artistic Programs: RENT, Daphne’s Dive, She Loves Me, The Upstairs Department, The Color Purple, No Place to Go, Into the Woods, Which Way to the Stage, Selling Kabul, Pacific Overtures, Passing Strange, Sweeney Todd, The Bridges of Madison County, King of the Yees, Ragtime; Casting & Executive Coordinator: Simply Sondheim, Daniel J. Watts’ The Jam: Only Child, Midnight at The Never Get, After Midnight, Detroit 67. DC AREA: The Kennedy Center: The Mortification of Fovea Munson; Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Amen Corner; Working In DC: Working: A Musical. OTHER: Casting Directive – Broadway for Racial Justice: Inaugural Class. TEDxBroadway: Young Professionals Program, 2018. EDUCATION: Wagner College. @TheeJorgeAvocado.  

Becky Reed is thrilled to be back with the Kennedy Center. Previous KCTYA credits include the national tour of Elephant and Piggie’s We Are In A Play! and The Cerulean Time Capsule at the US Botanic Garden. DC AREA: Arena Stage: Sanctuary City; Folger Theatre: Macbeth, King John; Imagination Stage: P.Nokio; Olney Theatre Center: Marjorie Prime, I And You,  Ain't Misbehavin'; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Comedy of Erorrs; Signature Theatre: Penelope, Ain't Misbehavin', Simply Sondheim. Studio Theatre: Clyde's, P.Y.G., The Effect, No Sisters; Theater J: How To Be A Korean Woman, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Everything Is Illuminated, Copenhagen, and others; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion. REGIONAL: The Resident Ensemble Players: August: Osage County, Murder on the Orient Express, The Crucible. EDUCATION: Auburn University.

Maria Mills is delighted to return to KCTYA, which she now considers her second home. Recent theater credits with KCTYA include: The Dragon King’s Daughter, The Day You Begin. Regional theater credits include Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Lehman Trilogy, Romeo and Juliet (Summer Rep); Constellation Theatre Company: Is God Is, The School For Lies; and Chautauqua Theatre Company: Indecent, Through the Eyes of Holly Germaine. Maria also works in event stage management, including shows with the Kennedy Center: The Night Before: Mark Twain Award for American Humor, Black Girls Rock! Fest, Downtown at the KC Cabaret. Finally, she works in modern dance and ballet, most recently with The Peabody Institute: Peabody Dance Ensemble and The Washington Ballet: Swan Lake, Giselle. Maria has a BA in political science from American University.

Isabella Tapia (she/her) is a Kenan Fellow for the Kennedy Center and is very excited to be a part of the Theater for Young Audiences team. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Stage Management and was a part of their community outreach program ArtistCorps that provides arts instruction and integration to local schools. Some highlights of her career so far have been collaborating with The Royal Ballet, stage managing at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and working at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Sarah Beth Hall (scenic designer) is a freelance scenic designer based in the greater DC area. Select local credits include: Orlando (Constellation Theatre), Winnie the Pooh, A Year with Frog and Toad (Imagination Stage), Sleeping Giant, Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea (Rorschach Theatre), Quilters (1st Stage), Frankenstein (NextStop Theatre), Make Way for Ducklings (Adventure Theatre). Select regional credits include: The Book of Will, The Rose Tattoo, The Caretaker (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), God of Carnage (The Cape Playhouse), The Hobbit (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Little Women (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company), Neverwhere, Listen for the Light, SuperTrue, The Fisherman’s Wife (Know Theatre), Metamorphoses (University of Rochester), Bonnie & Clyde, Pippin, Mamma Mia! (Summer Rep Theatre Festival). sarahbethhalldesign.com

Alexa Cassandra Duimstra (she/they) is a DC-area costume designer and illustrator. Previous work includes, La Valentina at GALA Hispanc Theatre, Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea at Rorschach Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Little Women at NextStop Theatre, Golden Fish, The Madness of Poe and The Snow Queen at Synetic Theater, Off the Page, Birds of a Feather and Jingle Journey at  Arts on the Horizon, and Coriolanus at AvantBard/Longacre Lea.

Liv Jin is a freelance lighting designer and electrician. Liv designed for various theatre, opera, and dance companies in Knoxville, TN for several years before recently relocating to the DC area. This is their first show with èßäAVTheatre for Young Audiences, and they are grateful to be here with E-Hui and the rest of the team. Liv recently designed John Proctor is the Villain (Loyola University Maryland) and From the Source of Our Power (Full Circle Dance), and their next project is The Nutcracker with Morton Street Dance.

Leo Chavolla Barrera is a technician and artist specialized in sound engineering and design. His latest work includes audio engineer and sound designer at the Ohio Light Opera, audio and lighting engineer at Interstate Sound, and trombonist for the La Crosse Jazz Orchestra. Leo's sound design for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's production of  Dr. Faustus  earned the national award at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre National Festival in 2024. Leo would like to thank Justin Schmitz, Christopher Plummer, Jing Zhao, Brad Berridge, and Jeff Sherwood for their support and mentorship.

Clara Ashe-Moore is a projection designer based in Washington D.C. Recent credits include Projection Designer for Because (KCPYA at Kennedy Center Concert Hall); Associate Projection Designer for The Shawshank Redemption (Flat Rock Playhouse), Hair (Signature Theatre), Private Jones (Signature Theatre), On Your Feet! (National Tour), The Girl on the Train (Flat Rock Playhouse), The World Goes Round (Olney Theatre Center and Everyman Theatre), Peace on Your Wings (Ohana Arts), Bayard Rustin Inside Ashland (People’s Light Theatre), and Freedom Rider (Crossroads Theatre Company and Alabama Shakespeare Festival); and Assistant Projection Designer for: Nancy (Mosaic Theatre), Dinner and Cake (Everyman Theatre), West Side Story (Flat Rock Playhouse),  On Your Feet! (GALA Hispanic Theatre), The Phlebotomist (1st Stage), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Olney Theatre Center).