VENUS is the fourth in a series of ecologically-inspired Planet Plays currently being created by Superhero Clubhouse, a NYC-based green theater collective. Others in the series include URANUS (a play about waste)*, NEPTUNE (a play about water), MERCURY (a play about poison), SATURN (a play about food), MARS (a play about mining), JUPITER (a play about power) and PLUTO (a half-play about death). Find out more at www.superheroclubhouse.org!
| Director/Playwright | Jeremy Pickard |
| Assistant Director/Props/Costume & Set Design | Matt Riggs |
| Stage Manager | Meghan Gunderson |
| Lighting Design | Julia Carlis |
| Sound Design and Musical Supervisor | Jason Bucklin |
Jeremy Pickard (Director)
Credits: Captain of Superhero Clubhouse (NYC), Upright Egg Company Member
Playwright/Director of URANUS - Upright Egg
Peter Quince - A Midsummer Night's Dream 2: The Wedding - Upright Egg
The Boy - NEPTUNE - Superhero Clubhouse (NYC)
Angel - Dead Man's Cell Phone - Playwrights Horizons (NYC)
Education: Ithaca College ('05)
O'Neill National Theater Institute (Fall '03)
SITI Company (2006-ongoing)
Pancake Preference: Aunt Nini's silver dollars smothered in Mrs. Buttersworth and love.
Energy is… the eggs.
Matt Riggs (Assistant Director/Props/Costume & Set Design)
Credits: Upright Egg Company Member
Magic maker
Yoyo expert
Sometimes director
Sometimes actor
Education: B.A. in theatre, Hamline University
Pancake Preference: Vegan pancakes made with love.
Energy is… PLAY!!!
Meghan Gunderson (Stage Manager)
Credits: MN Fringe Festival 2010 - War of the Posers - Asst. Director
College of Saint Benedict - Don't Abandon Me - Director
College of Saint Benedict - Macbeth - Asst. Director
College of Saint Benedict - The Vagina Monologues - Director
College of Saint Benedict - Death and the Maiden - Stage Manager
College of Saint Benedict - The Imaginary Invalid - Asst. Stage Manager
Education: B.A. in Theatre and English from the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
Pancake Preference: With peanut butter and syrup
Energy is… power.
Julia Carlis (Lighting Design)
Credits: The Taming of the Shrew - Theatre Pro Rata - Lighting Design
The Spanish Tragedy - Theatre Pro Rata - Lighting Design
For Sports' Sake - Eclectic Edge Ensemble - Lighting Design
String - Yellow Tree Theatre - Lighting Design
Ten Virgins - Theatre Unbound (November) - Lighting Design
Education: BA in Theatre Arts, University of Minnesota, MS in Library and Information Science, University of North Texas
Pancake Preference: With real maple syrup, wrapped around a piece of bacon.
Energy is… a substance that comes in many forms.
Jason Bucklin (Sound Design and Musical Supervisor)
Credits: Upright Egg Company Member
Sound Designer - ReCollect, Uranus, The Dreaming Project and 6 other productions - Upright Egg
Co-currator - Queertopia and Trans Day of Remembrance, two annual GLBTQA celebrations - Outward Spiral
Co-creator - Empowered Epressions, a GLBTQA youth theatre troupe - Outward Spiral/District 202
Education: Hamline University, 2004 Bachelor of Arts in Theatre
Pancake Preference: My dad used to make pancakes that looked like fish
Energy is… something that can come from the depths of your core and pour out in a radiant light or manifest itself amongst a group of people. Regardless, hopefully the energy is used for good.
| Mark | Avi Aharoni |
| Olivia | Kelsey Cramer |
| Katia | Kelsey McMahon |
| The Girl | Larissa Shea |
| Maria | Danielle Siver |
| Colin | Vogen |
| Daniel | Brian Watson-Jones |
| Caroline Herschel | Anne Zager |
| Violin | Kate Greenwood Gunther |
| Composer/Piano | David Mercer |
| Cook | Brian O'Neal |
| Guitar | Peter Schultz |
Avi Aharoni (Mark)
Credits: Demetrius in Upright Egg's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Max in Theater Or's Chaplin
Stephen McGee in Stages Theater Co.'s How I Became A Pirate (performed in Bath, England)
Devon in The Directors Studio's film The New Girl
Member of the Stage II Players with Stevie Rays Improv Co.
Education: Theatrical Clown Training with Jon Ferguson and Physical Theater with the Jeune Lune, ,
Improvisation training through Stevie Rays and Comedy Sportz
Shakespeare training including Barbara Berlovitz, Diane Mountford, and Mike Kelley, among others.
Pancake Preference: On my back. With the syrup drizzling down my chin onto my shirtless chest. While watching Full House.
Energy is… ...energy? Can that be my answer?
Kelsey Cramer (Olivia)
Credits: Snout in A Midsummer Night's Dream - Upright Egg
Gianni in After Juliet - 20% Theatre Co.
Butler in Tiny Alice
Claire in The Maids
Directing Anna Deavere Smith's House Arrest at St. Olaf College
Education: St. Olaf College
Perpich Arts High School
YouTubing "How to Play the Ukulele."
Pancake Preference: Lots and lots of butter.
Energy is… that thing you can feel between us.
Kate Greenwood Gunter (Violin)
Credits: GTC Dramatic Dialogues educational theatre performer
Table for Two - 2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival
Tis Pity She's a Whore - Classical Actor's Ensemble (upcoming)
Education: B.A. - Theatre/Visual Art - University of MN
Pancake Preference: My favorite are the chocolate chip ones I ate as a child at horseback riding camp, though I have recently expanded to pancakes involving things such as walnuts and bananas, and of course I love the taste of any pancakes that are made special just for me with love.
Energy is… delightful.
Kelsey McMahon (Katia)
Credits: The Wizard of Oz - Wicked Witch of the West - Masquers Theatre
The Importance of Being Earnest - Gwendolen Fairfax - VLP Productions
Cabaret - Sally Bowles - South High Theater
Twelfth Night - Viola - South High Theater
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Helena - South High Theater
Education: The University of the Arts
Stage Elements U of M Summer Theater Intensive
Workshops with the Guthrie Theatre and Theatre de la Jeune Lune
Pancake Preference: I would like all of the pancakes, please. With just butter.
Energy is… resonance.
David Mercer (Composer/Piano)
Credits: Playing music
Talking about new board game ideas
Other stuff, too
Education: B.A. - Music - University of MN
North Dakota State University - 1 yr. spent failing all courses, including "Skills for Success"
Pancake Preference: Soy-milk pancake with soy-milk butter.
Energy is… the driving life-force that guides everyone's souls and auras, like how a gravitron dissolver guides bork-troids through anti-matter worm-holes, or like the joy one feels from hearing a newborn baby's bloodcurdling screams echo through the universe. Energy, in a nutshell, is a circular spectrum that unites the inherent benevolence and altruism in all of nature's creatures, including us, the creature that is humanity.
Brian O'Neal (Cook)
Credits: Upright Egg Company Member
Willy Ironbar / the Devil in Firebugs - nimbus theatre
Mortimer, the Man who Dies in The Fantasticks
Tom, the corn-fed country boy in Night of the Living Dead
The Skin Horse in The Velveteen Rabbit - Upstage! Musical Theatre
Education: B.A. in theatre, Hamline University
Pancake Preference: I eat pancakes like you for breakfast.
Energy is… the most important part.
Peter Schultz (Guitar)
Credits: European trapeze artist
1988 Vice Presidential Candidate
Professional Tony Danza impersonator
Occasional guitarist
Education: Associate's Degree - The School of Hard Knocks
Pancake Preference: Medium-sized, stacked 3-high, with maple syrup.
Energy is… neat.
Larissa Shea (The Girl)
Credits: Upright Egg Company Member
Puck: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Upright Egg)
Strophe: Phaedra's Love (Red Letter Theatre)
Mom: Magnitude of a Freckle (Upright Egg)
Giza Von Goldenheim: Paradise Hotel (George McConnell and the bRiNk)
the Avatar (always)
Education: BA from Concordia College - Moorhead, MN
Pancake Preference: Off someone else's plate when they aren't looking...sometimes when they are
Energy is… my super power.
Danielle Siver (Marie)
Credits: Upright Egg Company Member
Celeste & Starla Save Todd & Win Back the Day - Celeste - 20% Theatre Co. (Also a Company Member)
Afterlife Project - Girl - Upright Egg
Love Project - Woman - Upright Egg
Chuck Mee Project - Mrs. Mee - Upright Egg
Present Project (2007, 2008, & 2009) - Reindeer, Pirate, Holly Fruitcake - Upright Egg
Education: B.A. – Theatre Arts – University of WI-Parkside;
Various classes with Jon Ferguson, Dominique Serrand, Nathan Keepers, and Barbra Berlovitz.
Pancake Preference: My favorite way to eat pancakes is at Victor’s 1959 Café. Giant, delicious pancakes made with mangoes and magic.
Energy is… “Life begets life. Energy begets energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.” – Sarah Bernhardt
Josh Vogen (Colin)
Credits: Snug in A Midsummer Night's Dream - Upright Egg
Wore a unitard as The Violent Handyman in Celeste and Starla Save Todd and Win Back the Day- 20% Theatre Co.
Member of Swandive Theatre Company
Asst. Technical Director for Northern Lights/Southern Cross - Interact Center
Eddie in Fool for Love - St. Olaf College
Recurring vocal artist... in my shower
Education: St. Olaf College
Clowning Workshop with Jon Ferguson
Improv Training with Damon Runnals
Pancake Preference: I like blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and topped with sliced strawberries.
Energy is… strongest within us.
Brian Watson-Jones (Daniel)
Credits: Upright Egg Company Member
Aeneas in Troilus and Cressida (Cromulent Shakespeare Co.)
Marvin in Bard Fiction (Tedious Brief Productions)
Jimmy (the Rebel) in The Chuck Mee Project (Upright Egg)
La Bret in Cyrano de Bergerac (Cromulent Shakespeare Co.)
Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest (Hodge-Podge Theatre Co.)
Education: B.A. (concentration in theatre) from Sarah Lawrence College, NY
British American Drama Academy, London
Pancake Preference: Anything with chunks of fruit, with real maple syrup.
Energy is… the flow of the river.
Anne Zager (Caroline Herschel)
Credits: Various male characters in spandex in Celeste and Starla Save Todd and Win Back the Day - 20% Theatre Company.
Third wench from the left in Merchant of Venice - Guthrie Theater
Blonde Bimbo in Chuck Mee Project - Upright Egg
Smart-ish Swe-Germ-Irish lady posing as "Blonde Bimbo" - in real life
Education: BA in Theatre Truman State University, Brave New Institute, Studio 206
Pancake Preference: Les crepes, bien sur! Giant and hot, filled with sliced bananas and Nutella from a streetside stand in Paris.
Energy is… movement or the moment just before.
The Egg offers endless gratitude to the following generous people and entities,
who helped bring VENUS (a play about energy) to life:"
The Firefighters Hall & Museum
Mike Hord
The Tilsner Artist Co-Op
Ron Schmit
The Carleton Artist Lofts
Sean Healy
The Perpich Center for Arts Education
James Ramsey
Trader Joe's
Talitha Goldammer
Youth Performance Company
Kaleah Goldammer
TC Maker
Jordan Anderson
30 Days of Biking
Ben Kutschied
Minnesota Astronomical Society
Bryan Grosso
Hamline University
Leah Adcock-Starr
Steve Skaar
Mandy Kutschied
Diane Riggs
Matthew Hodge
Lynn Riggs
The January 2010 Staged Reading Cast of VENUS
Michael Grosso
The NYC Fringe Cast of VENUS
The Upright Egg 2009 Workshop Cast of VENUS
Upright Egg also thanks all of the generous financial supporters and everyone in the Egg family, past and present, including YOU, our audience.
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