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CAST LIST & CREATIVE TEAM-

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Cast

Jess Andrews* (River Rayner) is thrilled to be making her SCR debut. Her regional credits include Romeo and Juliet (Juliet, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival), Twelfth Night (Viola/Olivia u/s, KCRep), Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson—Apt. 2B (Watson/Irene u/s, KCRep), Ghost Light (Storyteller, KCRep), Tiny Beautiful Things (Letter Writer, Unicorn Theatre) Dance Nation (Amina, Unicorn Theatre), Cymbeline (Jupiter, Great River Shakespeare Festival), Marina (Angelina, Bellingham TheatreWorks). She earned her MFA in Acting and Directing from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. @jessanndrews

Tessa Auberjonois* (Rachael Kramer-Lafayette) previously appeared at SCR in The Roommate (Best Actress, OC Weekly 2017), Mr. Wolf, Absurd Person Singular, Becky Shaw, Crimes of the Heart, A Wrinkle in Time, Lobby Hero, Hold Please, Everett Beekin and numerous PPF and NewSCRipts readings. Other favorite roles include Eight Nights (Ovation Award for Best Lead Actress), Lady Macbeth (The Antaeus Company); Lydia Languish in The Rivals, title roles in Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Country Wife (Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, D.C.); Myra in Hay Fever (Westport Country Playhouse); Helen in Cripple of Inishmaan (The Wilma Theater); Leah in Bones (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Allison in Trainspotting (off-Broadway); and How to Fight Loneliness for Utah Shakespeare directed by David Ivers. She is currently recurring on “How I Met Your Father” seasons 1 and 2, and is seen and heard on television, in film, radio, audio books, music videos, web series and video games, including “Lucifer,” “Modern Family,” “The Affair,” “Shameless,” “On the Verge,” “The Summer People,” “I’m Dying Up Here,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “ER,” Birth, “OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes,” (2017 BTVA Award Nom), Final Fantasy, Guild Wars and Marvel Ultimate Universe. Auberjonois teaches voice and speech in Los Angeles, is a graduate of London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and Yale School of Drama, a member of Antaeus Theatre Company and a 2017 recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship.

Natalie Bright (Cassidy "Cassie" Kramer-Lafayette) is honored to play Cassidy in South Coast Repertory’s production of Appropriate. She has been a part of the theatre’s educational acting program for eight years—most recently performing as Martha Cratchit in A Christmas Carol. In addition to stage productions, she spent seven years working on screen. Some of her film and television credits include Gardenia Rose in Aidy Bryant’s short film Darby Forever, Melody in Nic Bello’s short film Cute Little Lobster, and John X. Carey’s Minute Maid commercial. Bright is currently a senior in high school and plans to continue her acting studies, both on stage and on screen, into college.

Shannon Cochran* (Antoinette "Toni" Lafayette) last appeared at SCR in the world premiere of A Doll’s House, Part 2. Most recently she appeared as Professors McGonagall and Umbridge in the San Francisco company of Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Other notable theatre includes Cabaret (Roundabout Theatre’s national tour), August: Osage County (first national tour), and Bug (Obie and Drama League Awards). She has appeared at Barrow Street Theatre, Barbican and Gate Theatres (London), Steppenwolf, Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf, The Old Globe, Geffen Playhouse, Writers Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse and others. Her television credits include “Modern Family,” “NCIS: LA,” “Scandal,” “The Office,” “Law & Order: SVU” and several “Star Treks.” Her film works include Captive State, Star Trek: Nemesis, The Ring and The Babe. She recently completed filming on the feature film Hangman.

Lea Coco* (Francois "Franz/Frank" Lafayette) is thrilled to return to SCR. His notable theatre credits include work with The Public Theater (New York), Blue Man Group (as a Blue Man), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Utah Shakespeare Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre (with Shannon Cochran), among many others. His television credits include guest-star and recurring roles on networks such as NBC, CBS, TNT, ABC and FOX. He can be seen in films such as J. Edgar, Sinister 2 and The Hallmark Channel’s The Sweetest Christmas. He recently finished filming on the 18th season of “Grey’s Anatomy” and the final season of Ava Duverney’s “Queen Sugar.” He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

Jamison Jones* (Beauregarde "Bo" Lafayette) returns to SCR, where he previously appeared in Elemeno Pea and Doctor Cerberus. Other theatre credits include The Christians (Chautauqua Theater Company); Angels in America, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Othello and the West Coast premiere of Maple and Vine (American Conservatory Theatre); American Son (Frankfurt, Germany), Macbeth, Therese Raquin (Ensemble Theatre); The Three Musketeers (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), How the Other Half Loves (Pasadena Playhouse); Arsenic and Old Lace, God of Carnage, The Foreigner, The Lion in Winter, All My Sons, Dancing at Lughnasa and The Rainmaker (La Mirada Theatre); Cyrano de Bergerac (A Noise Within); and the European premieres of Tennessee in the Summer and Purple Hearts (Edinburgh Festival, Scotland). His television and film credits include Steven Spielberg’s “The Whispers,” HBO’s “True Detective,” Collusions (with Tom Everett-Scott), The Lodger (with Alfred Molina), Born to Ride (with William Forsyth), He Was a Quiet Man (with Christian Slater and William H. Macy), Dark Blue (with Kurt Russell), Hollywood Homicide (with Harrison Ford), Fourth Grade B (with William Baldwin), “9-1-1,” “The Afterparty,” “Burn Notice,” “Rosewood,” “24,” “Brothers & Sisters,” “Terminator,” “CSI: NY,” “NCIS,” “Crossing Jordan,” “Alias,” “That ’70s Show” and “Will and Grace.” Jones earned his MFA from A.C.T. His latest film, The Wretched, winner of several international film festival awards, is available on Netflix. jamisonjones.com

Isaac Person (Ainsley Kramer-Lafayette) (he/him) is thrilled to be in SCR’s production of Appropriate. Person is 11 years old, in the 5th grade and a member of the Junior Players here at SCR. He was just seen onstage in A Christmas Carol, playing Boy Scrooge. Before that, you might have caught him in the Summer Players production of Peter Pan as Tootles (2021) or last summer in Matilda as Bruce. Currently, he is honing his stand up skills, having recently performed a tight seven-minute set at the Improv in West Hollywood. His other passions include building Legos and playing video games.

Hunter Spangler* (Rhys Thurston) is making his first SCR appearance. He has appeared regionally in Junk (La Jolla Playhouse); You Are Here and A Few Good Men (Centre Stage); and A Little Night Music and Laughter on the 23rd Floor (The Warehouse Theatre). His film credits include AUDIO (Eclectic Youth Films). He earned his MFA at UC San Diego and a BA at Clemson University. He would like to shout out his family, friends and fiancée for their constant support and love! Find more about him at hunterspangler.com and follow him at @huntertspangler.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Creative Team

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Playwright) plays include Girls, Everybody, War, Gloria, Appropriate, An Octoroon and Neighbors. A Residency Five playwright at Signature Theatre and a 2020 Guggenheim fellow, his honors include a USA Artists fellowship, the Charles Wintour Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, the Steinberg Playwriting Award and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild council, he serves on the boards of Soho Rep and the Dramatists Guild Foundation and is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Texas at Austin.

Delicia Turner Sonnenberg (Director) (she/her) is a San Diego-based director. She is a founder and the former Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre, which she helmed for twelve acclaimed seasons. During that time she received the Des McAnuff New Visions Award for “Risk Taking Leadership and Body of Work,” as well as “2015 Director of the Year” from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. In addition to MOXIE, she has directed plays for Utah Shakespeare, Island City Stage (FL), Theatre Squared (AR), the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Cygnet Theatre, New Village Arts and Diversionary Theatre, among others. She has had the pleasure of directing productions and mentoring students at The Old Globe and University of San Diego’s Shiley Graduate Theatre Program, Sonoma State University, University of Redlands, San Diego State, UC San Diego and Palomar College. Sonnenberg has directed workshops and/or staged readings of new plays for National New Play Network, Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, San Diego Repertory and Arena Stage. She was twice a recipient of the Van Lier Directing Fellowship through Second Stage Theatre in New York, and is an alumna of the New York Drama League’s Directors Program, as well as Theatre Communications Group’s New Generations Program. She recently received a 2022 Carbonell Award for Best Direction of a Play. Other honors include NAACP Theatre awards and nominations, a Women’s International Center Living Legacy Award, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle “Craig Noel” Awards, as well as KPBS “Patte” Theatre awards. She is a Resident Artist at the The Old Globe and serves on the Board of La Jolla Playhouse. She is a member of SDC, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Lawrence E. Moten III (Scenic Design) (he/him/his) is excited to be working with SCR for the first time. Recently, his work has been seen in New York on Broadway with Chicken and Biscuits at Circle in the Square Theatre, Off-Broadway with Patience produced by Second Stage and STEW produced by Page 73. He also made his opera debut with Santa Fe Opera’s production of This Little Light of Mine. Regionally his work has been seen at Goodspeed Musicals with the wold premiere of Christmas in Connecticut; at The Wilma Theater with Fairview, The Old Globe with Trouble In Mind, Roundhouse Theater with the world premiere plays it’s not a trip, it’s a journey and We Declare You A Terrorist… as part of the National Capital New Play Festival. He teaches at Princeton University and Queens College and is a proud member or Local United Scenic Artists 829. Motendesigns.com IG:@motendesigns

Dominique Fawn Hill (she/her) is making her SCR design debut. Her design credits include An Untitled New Play by Justin Timberlake, One Night in Miami…, Pipeline (City Theatre Company); Journeys to Justice (Portland Opera); Mlima’s Tale (Profile Theatre); STEW (Soho Rep); Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Rent (Portland Center Stage); Dark Girl Chronicles: CHRONICLE X (The Shed); 125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre); Grace (Ford’s Theatre); Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons/Center Theatre Group); Fat Ham (The Public Theater); and Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club). Website: dominiquefhill.com.

Tom Ontiveros (Lighting Design) returns to SCR, where his credits include Tiger Style!, Last Stop on Market Street, Culture Clash (Still) in America, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Going to a Place where you Already Are, Fast Company, The Motherf**ker with the Hat and The Long Road Today. New York credits include The Exonerated (The Culture Project); Tune in Festival (Park Avenue Armory); and Happy Days (The Flea Theater). Regional credits include Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Off the Rails (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Constant Wife (Denver Center); Native Gardens (Pasadena Playhouse); Underneath the Lintel, Thanksgiving Play (Geffen Playhouse); They Don’t Talk Back, Guards at the Taj (La Jolla Playhouse); Vicuña (Center Theatre Group); and My Old Lady, Visions of Kerouac (Marin Theatre Company). Los Angeles credits include Figaro ¡90210! (LA Opera); Vietgone, Animals Out of Paper (East West Players); and Café Vida, Seed, West Hollywood Musical (Cornerstone Theater Company). Awards include The Exonerated (Lucille Lortel Award), My Barking Dog (Los Angeles Drama Critics), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Ovation! nomination), The House in Scarsdale (nominated, Best Projection Design, LA Drama Critics), Shiv (nominated, Best Projection Design, StageRaw) and Completeness (Ovation! nomination). Ontiveros is an Associate Professor of Design and Theatre Arts Department Chair at the University of La Verne.

Melanie Chen Cole (Sound Design/Original Music) (she/her) is a San Diego-based sound designer. Her previous South Coast Repertory credits include When the Mountain Meets the Moon and Rest (as an Assistant Sound Designer). Her regional work includes designs at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Geffen Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, The Old Globe, PlayMakers Repertory Company and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. She holds a MFA in Theatre and Dance from UC San Diego. melaniesound.com

Nathan Crocker (Dialect Coach) is freelance voice and dialect coach, teacher and actor based out of Los Angeles. Some of his coaching credits include (pre-Broadway) Ain’t Too Proud; regionally at The Old Globe (Familiar), McCarter Theatre (A Christmas Carol, The Gods Of Comedy), Utah Shakespeare Festival (Othello, Henry VI Part 1, Twelfth Night, The Price), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Confederates, Once On This Island), Huntington Theatre Company (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), American Players Theatre (The Brothers Size), Chautauqua Theatre Company (Detroit ’67), Roundabout Theatre Company (Too Heavy For Your Pocket); and film and television, upcoming festival entry An Intent To The Spirit (written/directed by Saheem Ali, The Public Theatre). Currently, he teaches Speech & Accents for UC San Diego and University of San Diego’s MFA Acting programs. Previously, he has taught voice, speech and dialects for Mason Gross School for the Arts/Rutgers University and NYU’s Meisner Studio, Atlantic Theatre Studio and Graduate Acting Programs. He received his MFA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine and BFA in Theatre from UNC-Greensboro. Crocker is a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice® Voicework, and a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork. AEA. nathanccrocker.com

Michael Polak (Fight Choreographer/Intimacy Consultant) is thrilled to be a part of the SCR team. Along with SCR, he has choreographed stage violence for La Mirada Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, 3D-Theatricals, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Cal State Fullerton, Concordia University, UNLV, and Cal State Bakersfield, among others. As an actor, he has worked in New York off-Broadway at the Mint Theatre and taught at the Shakespeare Lab at the Public Theatre. His regional credits include Pioneer Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare, A.C.T., Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Shakespeare Theatre, Playmaker’s Rep, Ensemble Theatre Company and Hartford Stage to name a few. His film and television credits include “Bel-Air,” 86 Melrose Avenue, “The Chronicles of Jessica Wu,” “The 5th Quarter,” “The Young and the Restless,” “All My Children,”  “Guiding Light,-” and most recently Mid-Century. He received his M.F.A. from Penn State University and B.A. from California State University, Fullerton. michaelpolakactorfd.com

Maria Patrice Amon (Dramaturg) is a director, producer, scholar and dramaturg. Directing credits include A Skeptic and a Bruja (Urbanite Theatre), Group! The Musical (Passage Theatre), Hoopla! (La Jolla Playhouse POP Tour), Azul (Diversionary Theatre), Mojada (UCSD), A Zoom of One’s Own (California State University San Marcos), Ich Bin Ein Berliner (Theatre Lab), DREAM HOU$E (CSUSM/TuYo Theatre), Fade and The Madres (Moxie Theatre) and Lydia (Brown Bag Theatre Company). Dramaturg credits include Manifest Destinitis and Beachtown (San Diego Repertory Theatre). Amon was a 2020 National Directing Fellow, and an Associate Artistic Director at San Diego Repertory Theatre. She is currently a LTC Steering Committee member, and a board member for National New Play Network. She is an assistant professor at CSUSM. JD: California Western School of Law. PhD: UC Irvine. mariapatriceamon.com

Sarah Goshman* (Production Stage Manager) (they/them) is thrilled to be working with South Coast Repertory for the first time. Favorite credits include King Lear and Trouble in Mind (Utah Shakespeare Festival), The Hip Hop Nutcracker (National Tour); Another Rose (Virgin Voyages); BUDDY: The Buddy Holly Story (Florida Repertory Theatre); Disaster!, Kinky Boots, and The Addams Family (Weathervane Theatre); A Chorus Line (Reagle Music Theatre); RENT, Other Desert Cities (John W. Engeman Theater); I See London, I See France (New York Musical Theatre Festival); and three seasons at Stamford Theatre Works. Proud member of AEA. sarahgoshman.com. 

Kathryn Davies* (Assistant Stage Manager) previously stage-managed Million Dollar Quartet, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Velveteen Rabbit, Poor Yella Rednecks, Sugar Plum Fairy, Orange, The Roommate, All the Way, Future Thinking, Red, Vietgone, The Whipping Man, Tartuffe, Reunion, Trudy and Max in Love, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, How to Write a New Book for the Bible, Sight Unseen, Topdog/Underdog, In the Next Room or the vibrator play, Doctor Cerberus, Ordinary Days, Our Mother’s Brief Affair and The Injured Party—all at SCR. Her favorite credits include The Wars at the Grand Theatre; Dividing the Estate at Dallas Theater Center; La Bohème at Tulsa Opera; The Mystery of Irma Vep at The Old Globe; Les Contes D’Hoffmann at Hawaii Opera Theatre; Of Mice and Men at Neptune Theatre; The Dresser at Manitoba Theatre Centre; Skylight at Tarragon Theatre; To Kill a Mockingbird at Citadel Theatre; and The Designated Mourner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Davies also worked as head theatre manager at the Toronto International, Dubai International, AFI, TCM and Los Angeles film festivals.

David Ivers (Artistic Director) is responsible for the overall artistic operation of the theatre. The 2019-20 season was the first he programmed for SCR and during that season, he directed She Loves Me. In addition, he directed the 2021 Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of Coleman ’72 by Charlie Oh and the 2022 reading of Spenser Davis’ A Million Tiny Pieces. He opened last season as John in Richard Greenberg’s world premiere of A Shot Rang Out and created the theatre’s Outside SCR program in partnership with Mission San Juan Capistrano. Prior to his appointment as Artistic Director, he directed the SCR-Berkeley Repertory Theatre co-production of One Man, Two Guvnors. Before arriving to SCR in his current capacity, Ivers was artistic director for Arizona Theatre Company and, before that, served more than 20 years as an actor and director at Utah Shakespeare Festival, with the last six as artistic director. He was a resident artist at Denver Center for the Performing Arts for a decade, acting in and/or directing more than 40 plays, and has helmed productions at many of the nation’s leading regional theatres, including the Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and South Coast Repertory. Ivers’ early career included serving as associate artistic director of Portland Repertory Theatre and appearing in productions at some of the nation’s top regional theatres, including Portland Center Stage and the Oregon, Alabama and Idaho Shakespeare festivals. He has taught at the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Southern Utah University and Southern Oregon University. He earned his BA from Southern Oregon University and his MFA from the University of Minnesota.

Paula Tomei (Managing Director) is responsible for the overall administration of SCR. She has been managing director since 1994 and a member of SCR’s staff since 1979. She is a past president of the board of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for theatre. In addition, she served as treasurer of TCG, vice president of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and as a member of the LORT Negotiating Committee for industry-wide union agreements. She represents SCR at national conferences of TCG and LORT and served as a theatre panelist and site visitor for the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council. Her teaching background includes a graduate class in non-profit management at UC Irvine (UCI) and as a guest lecturer in the graduate school of business at Stanford. She was appointed by the chancellor to UCI’s Community Arts Council and serves on the Dean’s Leadership Society Executive Committee for the School of Social Sciences at UCI. She is also on the board of Arts Orange County, the county-wide arts council, and the board of the Nicholas Endowment. She graduated from UCI with a degree in economics and pursued an additional course of study in theatre and dance. In March 2017, she received the Mayor’s Award from the City of Costa Mesa for her contributions to the arts community. In 2018, she received the Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award from Arts Orange County. In 2019, she was awarded UCI’s Distinguished Alumna in the School of Social Sciences at the Lauds & Laurels Celebration.

Martin Benson (Founding Artistic Director), co-founder of SCR, has directed nearly one-fourth of SCR’s productions including the 2020 production of Outside Mullingar. In 2008, he and David Emmes received the Margo Jones Award for their lifetime commitment to theatre excellence and fostering the art and craft of American playwriting. They also accepted SCR’s 1988 Tony Award for Outstanding Resident Professional Theatre and won the 1995 Theatre LA Ovation Award for Lifetime Achievement. Benson has received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Achievement in Directing an unparalleled seven times for George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, Misalliance and Heartbreak House; John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World; Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days; and the world premiere of Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which he also directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre and Houston’s Alley Theatre. He has directed American classics such as A Streetcar Named Desire, and has distinguished himself in staging contemporary work including the critically acclaimed California premiere of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands. He directed revivals of Beth Henley’s Abundance and Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful; and Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale and Rest (world premiere); The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez; and The Roommate by Jen Silverman (West Coast premiere). Benson received his BA in theatre from San Francisco State University.

David Emmes (Founding Artistic Director) is co-founder of South Coast Repertory. He received the Margo Jones Award for his lifetime commitment to theatre excellence and to fostering the art of American playwriting. In addition, he has received numerous awards for productions he has directed during his SCR career. He directed the world premieres of Amy Freed’s Safe in Hell, The Beard of Avon and Freedomland; Thomas Babe’s Great Day in the Morning; Keith Reddin’s Rum and Coke and But Not for Me; and Neal Bell’s Cold Sweat; the American premieres of Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable for Adults; and Joe Penhall’s Dumb Show; and the Southland premiere of Top Girls (at SCR and the Westwood Playhouse). Other productions he has directed include Red, New England, Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, Woman in Mind and You Never Can Tell, which he restaged for the Singapore Festival of Arts. He has served as a theatre panelist and onsite evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a panelist for the California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast College, he received his BA and MA from San Francisco State University and his PhD from USC.

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