"Melancholy Play" is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
"Melancholy Play" was first produced at the Piven Theater Workshop, directed by Jessica Thebus, produced by Joyce Piven.
"Melancholy Play" was first produced at the Piven Theater Workshop, directed by Jessica Thebus, produced by Joyce Piven.
Alexandra Call has been playing the cello since 2009. She is about to complete her bachelor’s in instrumental performance and biology this May. She has participated in many ensembles, including the University of Utah’s Philharmonia, Honors Quartets, as well as the Portland Youth Philharmonic. She has collaborated professionally with multiple ensembles, artists, composers and companies. This is her first collaboration with the Wasatch Theatre Company.
Amona is a recent graduate of the University of Utah’s Actor Training Program where he was in several productions including; She Kills Monsters (Chuck), The Odyssey (Telemachus), and The Book Club Play (Alex). You may also recognize him from Plan B’s Stranded (Poppy) during the Rose Exposed 2021 event. Amona is currently a part of Plan B’s elementary tour and will be for the rest of the school year. Special thanks to Hannah, as well as all his friends and family for all their continuous love and support.
Ariana Broumas Farber is an actress, singer, dancer, playwright, producer, and general all purpose artist and alchemist. She has worked on the professional stage locally and regionally for over 20 years. Most recently she wrote and co-produced, Dreamer’s, with Immigrant’s Daughter Theater and Wasatch Theater Company, which was honored as one of The Utah Review’s Top 10 Moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2022. She serves as Managing Director for Immigrant’s Daughter Theater alongside the illustrious Morag Shepherd, and holds a BFA from the University of Utah’s Actor Training Program (Magna Cum Laude). When she’s not on stage she enjoys cackling wildly, stirring a giant pot of soup, and reading her children the Harry Potter series- in all the voices.
Ashley Wilkinson Neves (she/her) has been acting since she was 8 in her home state of Louisiana. Her SLC credits include Helen in Fun Home- Salt Lake Acting Company, The Singer in Shockheaded Peter and both Wife & Mom in A Brief Waltz in a Little Room- Sackerson, Mother in Carousel- SONDERimmersive, Mother in Let the Right One In- Another Theatre Company, among other projects and work-shopping new works. Other credits include Little Edie/Big Edie in Grey Gardens- Performance Riverside, Golde/Constable in an 8-person production of Fiddler on the Roof- Riverside Rep, Truvy in Steel Magnolias, Bella in Lost in Yonkers, Blanche in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Olive in Odd Couple (Female Version). She has been professionally coaching dialects since 2015. She will be attending Academy of Art in San Francisco this fall to begin her MFA in Acting.
Barrett has performed, trained, and taught internationally in theatre, film, TV, and other media with a multitude of world-renowned artists, and is a graduate of Naropa University's MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Program. He played all roles in his solo stage and film productions of Hamlet, performed Shakespeare in England’s castle ruins, created and performed new work in Sweden/Switzerland, appeared in NYC with various companies to critical acclaim, at Washington DC’s XM Studios in a live broadcast of The War of the Worlds, won Critics’ Choice Award at The Great Salt Lake Fringe for An Oak Tree, and more. He’s directed for Sweden’s ETC, as faculty for UVU, and an all-female Hamlet at Habukai Temple in Boulder, CO.. Further film/TV credits include principal and supporting roles in various indie features, including the multiple award-winning Somewhere West (which he also cowrote), with HBO, CBS, and in various commercials and shorts. Barrett coaches actors and all who seek personal growth through a uniquely holistic approach that also includes his work as a shamanic healer, card reader, Feldenkrais Teacher, and more, He also plays bass with Intra-Venus & the Cosmonauts. He’s glad to finally be directed by his good friend Morag, to share the stage again with his very long-time conspirator Ashley, and to be with this magnificent group of artists.
Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning American playwright, author, essayist, and professor. Her plays include The Oldest Boy, Dear Elizabeth, Stage Kiss, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play); Melancholy Play; Demeter in the City (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); Scenes From Court Life; How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have been produced on Broadway and across the country as well as internationally, and translated into fourteen languages. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a PEN Center Award for mid-career playwrights, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and a Lilly award. She is a member of 13P and New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She teaches at Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family. (Official Headshot by Greg Constanzo)
Morag Shepherd is one of the producers and artistic director of Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre and is thrilled to be working with her favorite people on this strange and funny little farce. Recent directing credits include MOUNTAIN MEADOWS and BODY AWARENESS with Pygmalion Theatre; GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES with Wasatch Theatre Company; A BRIEF WALTZ IN A LITTLE with Sackerson; and ROLE PLAY with Immigrant's Daughter. Special shout out to my partner, Ariana Farber, who is the Tilliest Tilly there ever was. Kiss kiss.
Stephanie Stroud was a founding member of Mortar Theater Company in Chicago, where she also served as Casting Director and Movement Director. As an actor and director, Stephanie has worked with such Chicago companies as Mortar Theater Company, Saltbox Collective, Pegasus Players, Chicago Dramatists, Something Marvelous, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Profiles, and Second City. In Salt Lake Stephanie has directed Medea (Classic Greek Theater Festival), Defying Gravity and Cartoon (Westminster College), and A Small Box with a Revolver (Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival). Stephanie is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Actors' Equity Association, American Theater Movement Educators and Lincoln Center Director's Lab Alum.
Sam Torres (she/her) is thrilled to be sharing the stage as “Frances” in Melancholy Play. Sam is a Salt Lake-based actress from Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Sam recently appeared in Wasatch Theatre Company's production of The Laramie Project and The Final Act. Recent credits include Plan-B Theatre's world premiere of "Aftershock" by Iris Salazar, Radio Show by Tatiana Christian, Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown, and Heather Chandler in Heather's the Musical. Offstage, Sam is a crocheting-consumed cat mom. She would like to thank you for sharing your time and invite you to sit forward and indulge in melancholy. Instagram: @samcattorres
Jacob Watts is thrilled to be working with Wasatch Theater Company and Morag Shepherd to showcase Melancholy Play. He is a recent graduate from Weber State University with a degree in technical theater. He has recently been working in a variety of places since graduating such as New York as an Assistant Stage Manager for Adjusted Realists The Refugees, at Lagoon for their Halloween show HacknSlash and in an internship as a Assistant Production Manager for Compagnie Spektra and their production of Philibert in Nimes, France. Most recently he completed a production with Ogden Musical Theater’s The Secret Garden. Jacob loves creating new, thought provoking, exciting theater and hopes that you will love this show and its whimsical characters just as much as he does. Jacob would like to thank his family, his partner Lily and all of the friends in his life for all of their constant support because without their support he wouldn’t be doing such great theater.