In This Program

• Show Program
• Invisible Stitches: The Creation of Paranormal Activity
• Paranormal Acts
• Do You Believe in Spirits?
• Who's Who
• Print Edition
• More about A.C.T.

The Cast

Lou
Cher Álvarez

Carolanne
Shannon Cochran

Etheline Cotgrave
Kate Fry

James
Travis A. Knight

Understudies

Carolanne / Etheline Cotgrave
Caron Buinis

Lou
Caroline Hendricks

James
Michael Holding

Stage Management

Production Stage Manager (through March 8)
Melanie J. Lisby

Assistant Stage Manager (through March 8) /
Stage Manager (starting March 10)
Julie Jachym

Assistant Stage Manager (starting March 10)
Dick Daley

A.C.T. Producing Team

Scenic & Costume Designer
Fly Davis

Lighting Designer
Anna Watson

Sound Designer
Gareth Fry

Video Designer
Luke Halls

Illusions Designer
Chris Fisher

Casting
Bob Mason

Co-Production Technical Supervisor
what iF we Productions

A.C.T. Producing Team

Artistic Producing Director
Andy Chan Donald

Director of General Management & Operations
Louisa Liska

General Manager
Amy Dalba

Director of Production
Martin Barron

Setting

Present day, London

This production is made possible by

Executive Producers

Kirke and Nancy Sawyer Hasson
Anupam and Radhika Singh

Additional Support Provided by

Official Hotel Partner

Invisible Stitches

The Creation of Paranormal Activity

ABOVE: Cher Álvarez. Photo by Kyle Flubacker.

As the tour of Paranormal Activity made its way from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, and eventually to San Francisco, A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon sat down with playwright Levi Holloway and illusion designer Chris Fisher to discuss the process of creating such a unique show.

Pam MacKinnon: Thanks for doing this, Chris and Levi, from multiple time zones around the world. I would love to start just talking about the genre. Working in genre as theater artists, what excites you about that?

Levi Holloway: I don’t know that we ever approached this specifically as a genre piece. It’s baked into the title that it’s a scary movie, scary play, but I think we approached it as more of a human story that had elements of genre. But mostly we’ve set up to tell a story about a marriage and the cracks therein.

In terms of deploying horror into the show, I think it’s hard to take a populist approach because it’s not like one thing scares everybody. So we had to ask ourselves straight away what scared us and have faith in that. And we just started talking about our nightmares and great books we’ve read or films we’ve seen or plays we’ve seen. And the whole design team and Chris and [director] Felix [Barrett] and I, we all shared the same sense of mischief and just started playing and spent most of our time just laughing as we conjured up these nightmares on stage.

Chris Fisher: Paranormal Activity is not necessarily one specific thing. I think what was exciting was for us to talk through our films, what did scare us, what different things were, why did they scare us as well? And also film is one thing, but what scares you on film is not always going to scare you on stage, and in fact, often won’t scare you on stage.

We often talked about the Jaws effect where what you are not seeing is sometimes as scary as what you can see. And seeing the fin and hearing the music is scarier than seeing the mechanical mouth of the shark come out. It’s like, fuck, what’s going to happen?

Where Levi’s an absolute genius, is just you want to feel everything’s natural. The dialogue is natural. We’ve created this amazingly beautiful, naturalistic set with [lighting designer] Anna Watson’s lights as if passing by. You feel at home. The scariest things happen when you relax into something and then it hits you.

Pam: So when you got this assignment, then did it turn into collaborative conversation? Can you take me through a little bit from assignment, to here’s a play? 

Levi: When it landed on my desk, I was a little scared of it, ironically, because the movie is so well known and the IP has a lot of baked-in expectations. I was skeptical that you could translate a movie that is found footage horror film into a stage show.

Pam: Right, exactly. It’s the found footage part of it instead of having that cinematic POV, how does that translate?

Levi: Felix and I, we met and just fell into a mutual adoration. We had the same palette and tastes, and we knew that we didn’t want to go the route of deploying screens or using a multimedia setup because maybe that’d be a little expected. It was tonal, if anything. Can this be about a couple beset by something? So we knew that to achieve the spectacle we wanted and to make it emotional, we needed to bring in someone.

Chris is not only this brilliant engineer, he also has a pretty fucked up imagination. I see him partly as a music conductor, and he really understands the music of horror. We knew as we built the show that we had to create a wide shot, that we had to have this open face sandwich of a set. It’s voyeurism, and that’s what the film is. The film said this is real and you shouldn’t be seeing it. So we wanted to achieve that too, but in a really an honest way where you have to hide your mischief in plain sight.

We right away got entrenched in research surrounding the spiritualist movement and mediums in the Victorian era in London and London’s relationship with ghosts, particularly as attached to World War I and mesmerists and stuff like that. And I just became really fascinated in that and really, really turned on by it. And Chris has a really deep wealth of knowledge of that stuff.

Pam: Oh, that’s great. Chris, why is that an interest of yours?

Chris: The sort of 19th century magician, spiritualist, clairvoyant, there were different labels, and ultimately a lot of them used similar techniques, and you can go back and study these things. I love the way a lot of modern day tricks will pull from the way things were done in those days. I love studying these old books and the little hand-drawn drawings and things like that.

The play originally was going to start very, very differently to how it does now. It was going to start effectively with a kind of spiritualist character taking members of the audience and mind reading. We heavily explored into that. And in fact, workshopped some illusions around that.

There is still an element of that. When you’re in a seance or whatever it is and odd things start to happen, and you’re like, did I see that move? Did that happen? It’s a way to build up suspense. And that’s the way those kind of mediums would work. So that was a great place to start.

Very early on, we went into a big workshop space. I had some stuff built and we just workshopped these four, five, six tricks with crude bits and pieces. And then we finished being able to work out four or five sequences, which we were excited about. And off the back of that, we were able to then sit back at the table and go, okay, what might our house be, bearing in mind that we need this to be here, we need that to be there.

Because the important thing about putting any kind of illusion into a show is it has to serve the narrative, it has to be embedded into it, which is why I was so excited to be part of a project where I’m literally right there at the very start. Sometimes, when a consultant comes in later in the process, you can see the trick coming a mile off and it just feels misplaced. Whereas I’d like to think that everything within this show is part of the narrative. It’s all being carefully woven into Levi’s text, into the direction. And just like I say, it feels part of it.

Pam: Let’s talk a little bit more about actors. Are there actors who are better suited to work with illusions? What do you look for in an actor for this kind of work?

Chris: I go in and I do a talk at the beginning, actually. I do a little semi-introduction to magic and I say, “This is what misdirection is. This is what sleight of hand is.” And we do a couple of tricks and we explain how we are going to apply this to this show. And explain that you’re going to be doing any of these techniques within the show and it’s going to feel clunky and contrived and difficult and weird and you’re going to feel very exposed and you’re going to think everyone’s going to see.

We’ve been very blessed with the actors that we’ve had on this show that they have totally risen. They are doing magic. They are doing on that set, in a different way, what magicians are doing on stage in Vegas. So for me, it’s finding actors that can be flexible in terms of taking on a new skill that they would never have done before and working with that and going along for the journey with it as well.

Pam: There’s an accumulation of a new skillset, and they don’t forego what they’ve entered the room with, but they keep on.

Chris: It’s hard because sometimes, they’ve been living in the script, and then I come along and say, “You’ve got to do this, this, and this.” And everything sort of falls apart a little bit in the middle while they have to try and do that and then that and then that. And I always say, “Don’t worry, it all comes out in the mix.” And at the end it clicks.

Pam: Right, right. Because as they’re stitching together this marriage play, at times they might need to choreographically do something that isn’t inherently natural.

Chris: And there’ll be invisible stitches.

Pam: Invisible stitches—I like it. It sounds like a band I would want to go to.

So it’s also interesting to me because it’s such a domestic play, and yet it also delivers on that level of event. I mean, Chris, you have worked on some very big shows that deliver on big performance, big story, like Stranger Things and Harry Potter. Whereas I feel like Paranormal is a slightly different thing. It feels domestic. I fear I’m asking you to categorize something that is unique. But is this event theater or is this a marriage play? Is this closer to Virginia Woolf or is this closer to Stranger Things?

Chris: Well, I feel it’s a play. Stranger Things is set in a world of monsters and Harry Potter is set in a world of witches and wizards and time travel. But this is real and it’s a play. It’s ultimately a play.

Levi: Yeah, I agree. In rehearsal, I would often say the movie is, as Felix puts it, a masterclass in restraint. That first movie hides its teeth. And I think that we do the same thing. We strive to restrain ourselves. As Chris put it earlier, the bigger you go, you give space for comedy, you give space for things you don’t intend. So everything’s very specific. In rehearsal, I don’t want to see the writing. I want to hide the writer. So I’ll see a pass at a speech that I’ve written and say, “Oh, I see the writer in that. I have to hide him.” And the same thing goes for the acting or the sound. Gareth Fry’s wonderful sound design, sometimes you don’t even know that you’re hearing something atonal that’s underneath, something very menacing that is subliminal.

So I think it’s a marriage play, but it’s a marriage of the mundane and something more spectacle driven. We weaponize the mundane. And in giving the audience something that’s very familiar to them, this peek inside of a marriage, you do settle them into a place of not comfort exactly, but ease for a second because they see something they recognize. And then you get to introduce the uncanny…if you do it at the right time and in the most honest way possible.

And Chris and Anna and [scenic & costume designer] Fly [Davis] and Gareth and Felix and myself and the actors and the crew, we’re all on that stage all the time. If anything, we are the ghosts in the show. So when you see a headlight pass over the characters, that’s Anna. Or when you see a door creak open upstairs, there’s Chris. And that’s the enjoyment I get out of it. In addition to watching the audience watch the show, because we all just love doing that, my favorite part is watching all my friends be invisible on stage.

Paranormal Activity, a new story live on stage, offers the thrilling opportunity for A.C.T. Education and Community Programs to act upon our commitment to engage local artists that make A.C.T. truly San Francisco’s theater. In the spirit of Paranormal Activity, A.C.T. has commissioned three exceptional Bay Area playwrights to write their creepy, spooky, and chilling ghost stories that have been recorded by three equally talented artists. We are excited to share these stories with you during the run of this production.

And the spooks continue! We are also excited to share that we have hosted a ghost story writing contest for local high school students. These brilliant and imaginative young minds have submitted their short ghost stories. Just as with our commissioned writers, our winner Benjamin Fan had their story, “Feeding the Dog,” recorded by actor and A.C.T. teaching artist Adam Mendez Jr., and we are thrilled to share it alongside the other professional artists.

With these stories we hope to surprise you, perhaps send a shiver down your spine, or bring about that same nervous laughter that something unexpected is around the corner, to extend your Paranormal theatrical experience. We can’t wait to hear you scream out loud! 

Featured Local Artists: Ida Cuttler and Brenda Arellano, Carlos Aguirre and Michael Asberry, Aidaa Peerzada and Michelle Talgarow.

About the Playwrights

Carlos Aguirre has been performing and educating in the Bay Area for over 25 years.  He is also currently producing his original rap and beatbox adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart,” as well as recording and releasing new music. Aguirre shares his experience by teaching at various schools and at-risk environments throughout the Bay Area.

“The best spooky stories force your imagination to do the heavy lifting. For me, there’s something innate…something primal about your mind trying to wrestle with and control that fear.”

Ida Cuttler is a theater artist from San Francisco and graduate of Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. Ida was a company member of The Chicago Neo-Futurists. Ida received her MFA in playwriting from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She is a 2025-2026 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award Finalist and 2025 winner of the Chesley/Bumbalo Award.

“Good ghost stories are like good jokes in that they play with our expectations, manipulate our anticipation, systematically reveal themselves to us detail by detail; leading us down that twisted forest path at night, through the dark hallway in the forbidden mansion, right up to the door where we hear a knock and must ask: ‘Who’s there?’  and are answered by a wonderful and undeniable whole-body feeling of surprise.”

Aidaa Peerzada is a Black and Pakistani American multi-disciplinary theatre maker based in the Bay Area. Her plays include Children of the Wise (46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Playwrights Foundation), Lenora II (Matchbox Reading Series, Crowded Fire Theatre), and One Google and One (SFBATCO).

“Ghost stories explore how intimately connected we are to the past. It’s a genre that can hold how it feels to live on stolen land, as a descendant of stolen people.”

Do You Believe in Spirits?

By Karina Patel, Literary Associate, Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Does the name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sound familiar? You might recognize him as the famous author of the beloved Sherlock Holmes series, but did you know he also holds a prominent place in the history of the spiritualist movement? The Spiritualist movement emerged in the 19th century as a belief that—through mediums, seances, and Ouija boards—living humans could speak with the dead. After the death of his wife, son, and nephew, Doyle became obsessed with finding ways to communicate with the dead. He dedicated fourteen years of his life to researching and attending spiritualist conferences around the world, and even thought that it was “the most important thing in the world.” Before he died, he proclaimed that he would prove the existence of spirits by ringing a bell at his own funeral. On July 13, 1930, around six thousand people filled London’s Royal Albert Hall to attend Doyle’s funeral with one burning question: would his spirit appear? Although the bell did not ring, Doyle’s biggest impact on the world of spiritualism was ultimately his staunch belief in it.

CHER ÁLVAREZ (Lou) Television: Sugar (Apple TV); Leverage: Redemption (Amazon); NCIS Hawai’i (CBS); Chicago Med, Chicago PD (NBC); Station 1 (ABC); Shameless (Netflix). Education: BFA in Musical Theatre, Webster Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Chicago: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Drury Lane. Regional: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre.

SHANNON COCHRAN (Carolanne) Off-Broadway: Bug-American premiere (Barrow Street Theatre, Obie Award winner). Tour: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, August: Osage County, Cabaret. Regional: Steppenwolf Theatre, The Christians, Man from Nebraska; Mark Taper Forum, Space; Geffen Playhouse, POTUS; Long Wharf, Private Lives; The Old Globe,The Last Goodbye; South Coast Repertory, A Doll’s House: Part 2 (world premiere); Writers Theatre, Buried Child, The Importance of Being Earnest; Goodman; Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Victory Gardens; Cincinnati Playhouse. International: Bug world premiere (Gate Theatre); The Man Who Came to Dinner (Steppenwolf Theatre/Royal Shakespeare Company). Film: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The Twin, The Ring, Star Trek: Nemesis, The Babe, Captive State. Television: Ballard, Scandal, The Office, Law And Order: SVU, Modern Family, NCIS, Star Trek: DS9, The Next Generation, etc. Awards: Obie, Theatre World Award, Joseph Jefferson Awards, Golden Earbud.

KATE FRY (Etheline Cotgrave) Off-Broadway: A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre). Regional: McCarter Theatre Center, Center Theatre Group, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Chicago: Henry V, As You Like It, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Merchant of Venice, The Molière Comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The Cherry Orchard; A Winter’s Tale; Ah Wilderness!; A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre); Birthday Candles; Mother of the Maid; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Outside Mullingar (Northlight Theatre); Wife of a Salesman; Marjorie Prime; Hedda Gabler; Oh Coward! (Writers Theatre); Mousetrap; The Belle of Amherst; Electra; Arcadia; Twelfth Night; Piano; The Romance Cycle; An Ideal Husband; Caroline, or Change (Court Theatre); In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Victory Gardens Theatre). Awards: Four Joseph Jefferson Awards, Sarah Siddons Award, Court Theatre’s Nicholas Rudall Award, Chicago Tribune actress of the year.

TRAVIS A. KNIGHT (James) REGIONAL: A Red Orchid Theatre: Turret (Jeff Award nomination), Revolution (director), The Malignant Ampersands, Grey House, Small Mouth Sounds; Steppenwolf Theatre Company: The Crucible; Goodman Theatre: Toni Stone, Ah, Wilderness!, A Christmas Carol, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Measure for Measure, Camino Real; American Players Theatre: The Tempest, The Glass Menagerie, Richard III, Troilus and Cressida, Two Gentlemen of Verona; Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; Northlight Theatre; Drury Lane Theatre. FILM: Rabbit, Rabbit, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, Survivor, Soldier, Sinner, Savior, Runner. TV: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Mind Games. OTHER: Motion capture performer for NetherRealm Studios and Raven Software (Mortal Kombat 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7), named one of Newcity Stage’s Players 50 (2025). Associate Artistic Director and ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre. Love to Susan and Daschel. travisaknight.com. (he/him)

CARON BUINIS (U/S Carolanne, Etheline Cotgrave) has performed in theatres throughout the Chicago area including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Paramount Theatre Aurora, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Congo Square Theatre/Steppenwolf 1700, TimeLine Theatre, Windy City Playhouse, Porchlight Music Theatre, Kokandy Productions, Fox Valley Repertory, Piven Theatre Workshop, Theatre at the Center, and others. Regional theatres include Asolo Repertory Theatre, Penobscot Theatre, Forward Theatre, George Street Playhouse and Nebraska Repertory Theatre. Television performances include roles on Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. (NBC). Caron has also sung in various cabaret venues in New York City and Chicago.

CAROLINE HENDRICKS (U/S Lou) Film: Room Six. Television: Chicago Fire (NBC). Chicago Shakespeare: Debut. Chicago: Infernal (Proboscis Theatre Company); Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies (First Floor Theater, Joseph Jefferson Award Nominated Ensemble); The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience (Netflix/Shondaland/Fever); Chicago Comedy Hour (The Second City’s de Maat Studio Theater); Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook (Merle Reskin Theatre); Liquidation Sale! (Judy’s Beat Lounge); Graduate Showcase: TenneSHE William’s The Glass Ceiling Menagerie (e.t.c. Theater at The Second City); It’s a Wonderful Laugh (Bughouse Theater). Education: BFA in Acting and Minor in Digital Cinema, The Theatre School at DePaul University, The Second City Conservatory Graduate at The Second City Training Center Chicago. @carolinehen_ | caroline-hendricks.com

MICHAEL HOLDING (U/S James) Regional: TheatreSquared, Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre. Film: Reversed, Vampirus, Finn and the Sea of Noise. Television: Deli Boys (Hulu), Chicago Med (NBC), South Side (Comedy Central). Chicago Shakespeare: Debut. Chicago: Translations (Writers Theatre); Rutherford and Sons (Timeline Theatre), We are Proud to Present… (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Koalas (16th Street Theatre), Posh (Steep Theatre), Truth and Reconciliation (Sideshow Theatre), Shining City (Irish Theatre of Chicago), The Diviners (Organic Theater), The Madness of Edgar Allen Poe, The Merchant of Venice (First Folio Theatre). Education: BFA in acting, Illinois Wesleyan University.

LEVI HOLLOWAY (Written and Restaged by) Broadway: Grey House. Chicago: Pinocchio (Chicago Children’s Theatre) Haven Place, Grey House, Turret (A Red Orchid Theatre). (Director) Chicago: Pinocchio (Chicago Children’s Theatre), Turret (A Red Orchid Theatre) Co-founder: The Neverbird Project, Jeff Award Best New Work 2020 (Grey House), Best Production 2024 (Turret).

FELIX BARRETT (Director) Off-Broadway: Viola’s Room (The Shed), Sleep No More (The McKittrick Hotel), Luna Luna (The Shed).Regional: Sleep No More (Boston). International: Sleep No More (Seoul), Paranormal Activity (Leeds Playhouse), Viola’s Room (London), The Burnt City (London), Sleep No More (Shanghai), The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable (London), The Crash of the Elysium (Manchester International Festival), The Duchess of Malfi (London), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (National Theatre UK), It Felt Like a Kiss (Manchester International Festival), The Masque of the Red Death (London), Faust (London), The Firebird Ball (London). Television: The Third Day (HBO). Music: Shakira’s Sun Comes Out global tour, Mumford & Son’s Delta tour. Education: Degree in Drama and Honorary Doctorate from the University of Exeter. Awards: MBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours, BAFTA nomination for The Third Day, Special Citation Obie Award for Sleep No More, Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement Sleep No More, Shanghai.

FLY DAVIS (Scenic & Costume Designer) Theatre credits include: Caroline, Or Change (West End/ Broadway New York, Olivier and Tony nominated Best Costume Design); The Enormous Crocodile The Musical (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre UK and USA Tour); Tao of Glass with Philip Glass (NYU North Carolina and International Tour). International: Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre, nominated for What’s On Stage Best Set Design Award), Groan Ups (West End/UK Tour), The Human Body, Henry V, Appropriate (Donmar Warehouse, nominated for Evening Standard Award Best Set Design Award), Beginning, Middle, Pericles, I Want My Hat Back (National Theatre, Olivier Award-nominated for Outstanding Achievement), 50 First Dates The Musical (The Other Palace), Macbeth (RSC and The Barbican), Second Best (Riverside Studios), The Winter’s Tale, The Hour That we Knew Nothing of Each Other (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), Othello (Shakespeare’s Globe, Sam Wanamaker), A Streetcar Named Desire, Scuttlers (Royal Exchange Theatre), I’d Rather Goya Robbed Me of My Sleep Than Some Other Arsehole, Image of an Unknown Young Woman (Gate, Winner Off West End Award for Best Set Design), How Do You Lycett? (UK Tour and Channel 4), The Best and Worst of Mr Swallow, Show Pony, A Christmas Carol-ish The Musical (Soho Place, West End). Music: McFly music video for “Love is Easy”. Opera: La Boheme (Gothenburg Opera House Sweden), Opera for the Unknown Woman (Welsh Millenium Centre). As Costume Designer: The Odyssey (National Theatre), Unreachable (Royal Court), Shipwrecked (Almeida). Training: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Motley Set Design Institute.

ANNA WATSON (Lighting Designer) International Theatre: Giant (West End/Royal Court), Anna Karenina (Chichester Festival Theatre), Otherland (Almeida Theatre), The Unseen (Riverside Studios), Imposter 22, Hope has a Happy Meal, That is not who I am, Poet in da Corner (UK tour), All of it, Pity, You for Me for You, Plaques & Tangles, A Time to Reap (Royal Court Theatre), Paranormal Activity (Leeds Playhouse), The Band’s Visit, Appropriate, Becoming: Part One, Salt Root & Roe (Donmar Warehouse), All of Us (National Theatre), Three Sisters, Othello, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, Henry VI, Richard III (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Gaslight (Watford Palace), Christmas Carol (Bristol Old Vic), Leave to Remain, The Seagull, Shopping & Fucking (Lyric Hammersmith), The Fantastic Follies of Mrs. Rich, Snow in Midsummer, The Roaring Girl (Royal Shakespeare Company), Box of Delights (Wilton’s Music Hall), King Lear (Globe Theatre), Dutchman, The Secret Agent, Fireface, Disco Pigs, Sus (Young Vic), Bank on it (Theatre-Rites/Barbican), Paradise, Salt (Ruhr Triennale, Germany). Dance: Merlin (Northern Ballet), Mothers, Soul Play (The Place), Refugees of a Septic Heart (The Garage), View from the Shore, Animule Dance (Clore ROH). Opera: Don Carlo (Grange Park), Orlando (WNO/Scottish Opera/San Francisco), Cendrillon (Gyndebourne), Ruddigore (Barbican/Opera North/UK Tour), Critical Mass (Almeida), Songs from a Hotel Bedroom, Tongue Tied (Linbury ROH), The Bartered Bride (Royal College of Music), Against Oblivion (Toynbee Hall).

GARETH FRY (Sound Designer) Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Encounter. Off-Broadway: Blackwatch (St Anns Warehouse), Shun-kin (Lincoln Centre). Regional: Let The Right One In (Berkeley Rep). International: Viola’s Room (Punchdrunk), Hamlet Hail To The Thief (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Land of the Living (National Theatre), Macbeth (Donmar Warehouse/Harold Pinter Theatre). Education: Theatre Design, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Awards: two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, three Olivier Awards, two Helpmann Awards, one WhatsOnStage award and an Evening Standard award. Books: He is the author of Sound Design for the Stage.

LUKE HALLS (Video Designer) Broadway: West Side Story. International: Aida (Circustheater); The Starry Messenger, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, The Moderate Soprano, Frozen, 2071, The Nether and The Lehman Trilogy (West End); Shipwreck and Oil (Almeida); Linda and Girls & Boys (Royal Court); Miss Saigon (Austria, Japan, New York and UK tour); Antony and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Ugly Lies the Bone, and The Great Wave (National Theatre); The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, Talking Heads, A Christmas Carol, Alys, Always, and My Name is Lucy Barton (Bridge Theatre); Local Hero (Royal Lyceum Theatre); Desire Under the Elms (Crucible Theatre); Elegy for Young Lovers (Theater an der Wien); Half a Sixpence (Chichester Festival Theatre); Mary Poppins (Touring); Hamlet and The Master and Margarita (Barbican), I Can’t Sing (The London Palladium), The Little Big Things (Soho Place). Opera: Boris Godunov (Teatro alla Scala); Lucia di Lammermoor and Otello (Metropolitan Opera); The Merry Widow (Bergen National Opera); Atlas (LA Philharmonic); Don Giovanni and Król Roger (Royal Opera House); The Hobbit, The Cunning Little Vixen, Don Giovanni, and Der Freischütz (Danish Royal Opera); Zeitgeist (Coliseum); Das Liebesverbot (Teatro Real); Tristan und Isolde (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), The Flying Dutchman (Finland National Opera), West Side Story (Malmö Opera); Don Giovanni (Barcelona Opera and Houston Opera); Marco Polo (Guangzhou Opera House); Madame Butterfly and Carmen (Bregenzer Festspiele); Porgy and Bess (National Opera, Amsterdam, and Met Opera). Dance: Like Water for Chocolate (Royal Opera House, Costa Mesa, and Metropolitan Opera), Malgorzata Dzierzon (Ballet Rambert), Connectome (Royal Ballet). Television: The Cube (ITV). Awards: BAFTA for The Cube (2012), Knight of Illumination Award for Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House (2014), Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Projection Design on West Side Story on Broadway (2020), Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Video / Projection Design on The Lehman Trilogy (2021/22), Telly Awards for Use of 360, Animation, and Interactivity on Frameless Immersive Art Gallery London (2023). Additional professional industry credits include Paris Fashion Week, Olympic and Paralympic 2012 closing ceremonies, FIFA World Cup Opening ceremony 2022. Halls has designed visuals for performing artists such as Adele, Rolling Stones, Genesis, Rihanna, Elton John, U2, and Dua Lipa.

CHRIS FISHER (Illusions Designer) Broadway: Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Marquis Theater), Back to the Future: The Musical (Wintergarden Theater), Company (Bernard B. Jacobs Theater), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Lyric Theater), Angels in America (Neil Simon Theater). London West End: Dr Strangelove (Nöel Coward); Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix); Back to the Future: The Musical (Adelphi); The Prince of Egypt (Dominion); Ballet Shoes, The Witches, Peter Gynt, Julie, Treasure Island (National Theatre); 2:22 A Ghost Story (Nöel Coward); Company (Gielgud); The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Gillian Lynne); Big The Musical (Dominion). UK Regional: Paranormal Activity and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Leeds Playhouse), Merlin (Northern Ballet). International: The Illusionist (Tokyo), The Ghost and the Lady (Tokyo), Wicked (Germany). Awards: Special Tony Award 2025 for Illusions and Technical Effects for Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

BOB MASON (CST Artistic Associate/Casting Director) Off-Broadway: Rose Rage: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, directed by Artistic Director Edward Hall (The Duke on 42nd Street), Marionette Macbeth (New Victory), Ride the Cyclone (MCC), Broadway: SIX (Tony nomination—Best Musical), The Notebook. International: The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale (CST, Auckland, NZ), Pacific Overtures (CST, Donmar Warehouse–Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical), Henry IV, Parts One and Two (RSC). Chicago Shakespeare: 150 plus productions over 24 years, including 35 plays in Shakespeare’s canon and eight Stephen Sondheim musicals. Chicago: Bounce (Goodman Theatre). Regional: SIX (CST, American Repertory Theater–Artios Award, Ordway Center, The Citadel), Ride the Cyclone (CST, Fifth Avenue Theatre/A Contemporary Theater, Alliance Theatre). Prior to casting, Mason enjoyed a career as an actor and singer and has been a visiting educator at Northwestern University and multiple college programs across the country.

WHAT IF WE PRODUCTIONS (Co-Production Technical Supervisor) delivers production management and technical direction for theatre, live experiences, and special events worldwide. Recent projects include Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests the Muppets, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, Heathers the Musical, Ava: The Secret Conversations, The Secret Garden, and Message In a Bottle. Learn more at whatifweproductions.com.

OREN PELI (Original Filmmaker) is a filmmaker best known for creating the blockbuster horror franchise Paranormal Activity and producing the Insidious films.

MELTING POT (Commercial Producer) is an independent theatre and film production company. We develop, produce and manage all of our own productions, which have won Academy Awards, Tony Awards, BAFTAs, and Olivier Awards. Simon Friend founded the company in 2015 (as Simon Friend Entertainment Ltd) and has been named in The Stage 100 most influential people in British theatre, and was joined by Hanna Osmolska in 2017. West End and London credits include: Paranormal Activity (Ambassadors), Ghost Stories (Peacock), Second Best (Riverside Studios), The Real Thing (The Old Vic), The Crown Jewels (Garrick Theatre), Life of Pi (Wyndham’s Theatre), Bad Jews (Arts Theatre), The Girl on the Train (Duke of York’s Theatre), The Starry Messenger (Wyndham’s Theatre), Admissions (Trafalgar Studios), The Height of the Storm (Wyndham’s Theatre), The Philanthropist (Trafalgar Studios), Million Dollar Quartet (Royal Festival Hall), The Father (Wyndham’s Theatre and Duke of York’s Theatre), Bad Jews (Arts Theatre, again!), Speed-the-Plow (Playhouse Theatre), Relative Values (Harold Pinter Theatre) and Fences (Duchess Theatre). UK tour and regional credits include: One Day-The Musical, The Battle, Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts, The Girl on the Train, Ghost Stories, Paranormal Activity, Here You Come Again, Drop the Dead Donkey, Life of Pi, Minority Report, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Da Vinci Code, Dial M for Murder, Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Entertainer, The Girl on the Train, The Messiah, Titanic the Musical, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Wipers Times. US credits include: Paranormal Activity (Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Center Theatre Group, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and American Conservatory Theater), Life of Pi (Broadway, Schoenfeld Theatre, Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre and US Tour), The Height of the Storm (Broadway, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre), The Closet (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and Around the World in 80 Days (US tour). International credits include: Here You Come Again (Australian Tour), Life of Pi (Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, China & Taiwan Tour, South Korea), Million Dollar Quartet (New Zealand and India) and Titanic the Musical (Germany). Film & Television: The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman (winner of 2 Academy Awards & 2 BAFTAs), and The Grinch Musical (NBC & Sky).

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER (CST) is the nation’s largest year-round theatre dedicated to the works of Shakespeare. Led by Artistic Director Edward Hall and Executive Director Kimberly Motes, the Regional Tony Award recipient is committed to creating vivid, entertaining theatrical experiences that invigorate and engage people of all ages and identities by illuminating the complexity, ambiguity, and wonder of our world. With Shakespeare at the heart of the artistic work, CST also produces compelling, contemporary stories through North American and world premieres. CST annually welcomes more than 20,000 students and teachers to performances and programs, serving more than any theatre in the city. Free programs like Shakes in the City bring performances to parks and community spaces across Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. Shared humanity and unforgettable stories—now THIS is Chicago Shakespeare. chicagoshakes.com

CENTER THEATRE GROUP, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading not-for-profit theatre company, which, under the leadership of the Brindell & Milton Gottlieb Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director/CEO Meghan Pressman, and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, programs the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. CTG is one of the country’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstances to serve Los Angeles. Founded in 1967, CTG has produced more than 700 productions across its stages, including such iconic shows as Zoot Suit; Angels in America; The Kentucky Cycle; Biloxi Blues; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Children of a Lesser God; Curtains; The Drowsy Chaperone; 9 to 5: The Musical; and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. CenterTheatreGroup.org

SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY For nearly 40 years, the Tony Award–winning Shakespeare Theatre Company has been recognized as the nation’s premier classical theatre. Classical plays are realized best not by originalism but by walking the path Shakespeare himself followed, creating works that spoke to his own contemporary audience. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Simon Godwin and Executive Director Angela Lee Gieras, STC tells vital stories in audacious forms, stories that are Shakespearean in the deepest sense, even if (and especially when) they are not written by Shakespeare. By focusing on works with profound themes and complex characters, STC’s artistic mission is unique among regional theatres: to bring to vibrant life groundbreaking, thought-provoking, and eminently accessible theatre. shakespearetheatre.org

MELANIE J. LISBY (Production Stage Manager) A.C.T.: Debut. BROADWAY: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Tina–The Tina Turner Musical, Grand Horizons, On the Twentieth Century. OFF-BROADWAY (select): Dark Disabled Stories, american (tele)visions, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Hurricane Diane, Wild Goose Dreams, Jersey Boys, Pacific Overtures, Dead Poets Society, Mobile Unit’s Hamlet, Once Upon a Mattress. REGIONAL (select): Shakespeare Theatre Company, Center Theater Group, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Two River Theatre, Pig Iron Theatre Company, The Barnstormers Theatre, Crossroads Repertory Theatre. Lisby has worked on numerous high-profile events and now makes her living as a Travel Advisor. Proud Indiana State University alumna. For Dad. @choosejoyadventures (she/her)

JULIE JACHYM (Assistant Stage Manager, Stage Manager) A.C.T.: Debut, Paranormal Activity - US Regional Tour (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Center Theatre Group, Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Chicago: Sunny Afternoon, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Henry V, The Lord of the Rings A Musical Tale (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Prayer for the French Republic, 2 Pianos 4 Hands, Selling Kabul, Dial M For Murder (Northlight Theatre); Frida... A Self Portrait, Every Brilliant Thing, Hot Wing King, Athena, Wife of a Salesman, Dishwasher Dreams (Writers Theatre); Another Marriage, Chlorine Sky, Bald Sisters, The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, Choir Boy, Seagull (Steppenwolf Theatre); How I Learned What I Learned, Welcome to Matteson (Congo Square Theatre); Judy’s Life’s Work, Fairview, ALAIYO, WHITE (Definition Theatre); Memorabilia, La Havana Madrid, Bernarda!, The Dream King, Enough to Let the Light In, Somewhere Over the Border (Teatro Vista Productions); A Christmas Carol 2019 (Goodman Theatre). Julie is a Definition Theatre Ensemble Member and a proud member of Actors Equity. juliejachym.com

DICK DALEY (Assistant Stage Manager) continues to work with Marin County Public Health after being the Vaccine & Logistics Coordinator manage in vaccination sites and clinics during the pandemic. Other than being a stage management sub on A.C.T. productions, he has stage managed many shows including The Great Leap, Top Girls, Satchmo at the Waldorf, Between Riverside and Crazy, A Little Night Music, Indian Ink, The Orphan of Zhao, 1776, Gem of the Ocean, Happy End, Travesties, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Waiting for Godot, A Christmas Carol, and the world premiere of After the War. Other positions at A.C.T. include Associate Production Manager and Conservatory Producer.

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