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JOE HOLT (Sam Thomas, he/him/his). New York actor Joe Holt is very excited to return to the stage with real humans in seats for Blues for an Alabama Sky at the Taper. Recent credits include Fred Wilkes on Bel-Air, Dr. Leo Bennett on The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Jesse Raymond on All American: Homecoming, and Detective “Mace” Cunningham on OWN’s Delilah. Regional credits include Love and Information at ACT, Blue/Orange at Hartford TheatreWorks, 12 Angry Men at Merrimack Repertory, and a pandemic interruptedThe Scarlet Letter at South Coast Repertory. He is forever grateful for his amazing family, his supportive friends, and every positive (and negative!) experience that has provided him with the chance to grow. And he thanks you all for supporting live theatre!

NIJA OKORO (Angel Allen, she/her/hers) is a graduate of the Juilliard School where she received a merit-based full scholarship. Since graduating, she has gotten to do stints in the National Broadway tour of Jitney directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom directed by Phylicia Rashad at the Mark Taper Forum, Two Trains Running at The Matrix directed by Michele Shay, Zoey’s Perfect Wedding at Denver Center, 2017 West Coast Premiere of The Legend of Georgia McBride at the Geffen Playhouse. While being on stage, she has made her way to the silver screen, having guest starred on such shows as 9-1-1: Lone Star, Animal Kingdom, The Duece, Start Up, and starring in The Black Emperor of Broadway. She can be seen next in the Disney+ feature film Hollywood Stargirl directed by Julia Hart.

DENNIS PEARSON (Leland Cunningham, he/him/his) is ecstatic to make his Mark Taper Forum debut. Some stage credits include: GOING… GOING... GONE! (The Hudson Theatre), A Christmas Carol (South Coast Repertory), A Soldier’s Play and Julius Caesar (The Studio Theatre), The Coarse Acting Show (Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles), Romeo and Juliet, Dreamgirls, Look Away (Long Beach Playhouse), ALongBridge Over Deep Waters and Euripides Medea (for which he received a Kennedy Center Irene Ryan Award Nomination). He can recently be seen on screen starring in Unlocked streaming on Peacock and Tinderbox (DC Black Film Festival Best Actor Winner 2020). Dennis is a graduate of the SCR Acting Conservatory and has studied with Academy Award Winner Tim Robbins and The Actors Gang, Femi Ogun’s Identity School of Acting, BGB, and Joy Brunson’s The Joy of Acting Studio. dennispearsonacting.com, @_dennispearson.

GREG ALVEREZ REID (Guy Jacobs) is a New York City-based actor most recently appearing in The Bluest Eye at The Huntington Theatre in Boston. He can also be seen in the HBO/HBO Max film Between The World and Me. His theatre credits consist of Off-Broadway: The Fabulous Miss Marie (New Federal Theatre/ Castillo Theatre) Regional: Detroit ‘67 (Signature Theatre), Fences (McCarter Theatre Center/ Long Wharf Theatre), All My Sons (People’s Light Theatre), Broke-ology (Theater Alliance), Gem of The Ocean (Hangar Theatre), Seven Guitars (Studio Theatre) and renowned arts centers like The Apollo Theater and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Locomotion) in his native Washington, D.C. He is a proud graduate of the illustrious Howard University in the newly named Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts and attended the British American Dramatic Academy at Oxford. Greg is excited to be making his L.A. theatre debut.

KIM STEELE (Delia Patterson, she/her/hers) is thrilled to be returning to the Mark Taper Forum, fresh off her run in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Hadestown on Broadway. Other Broadway credits: My Fair Lady (Lincoln Center), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Favorite Off-Broadway/Regional: Motown the Musical (National Tour), JerrySpringerthe Opera (Signature Theatre Center), Kiss Me, Kate (Pasadena Playhouse), Hair (Hollywood Bowl), Carrie (Los Angeles Theatre). Kim is a SoCal native with a B.A. in Theater Arts from UCLA. Big thanks to her agent, Ryan, at Ideal Talent Agency. For writing scraps, book recommendations, and climate change poetry, find her online @heykimsteele.

NATHAN JAMES (u/s Leland Cunningham/Sam Thomas, he/him/his) is a proud native of Pittsburgh where he began his acting career with Kuntu Repertory Theater. He received a BA in Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MFA from Penn State University. His one-man play, Growing Pains, has been produced at The August Wilson Center for African American Culture, The United Solo Theater Festival (Theatre Row NYC), and various theatres and festivals around the United States. Nathan is one of seven playwrights of The New Black Fest’s Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments (Seven ten-minute plays following the shooting of Mike Brown). Hands Up was featured in American Theatre Magazine, and Nathan’s play, SuperiorityFantasy, was chosen as BBC Radio’s Play of the Week. In the spring of 2014, he won first place at Amateur Night at the Apollo with an original poem. Film/ TV credits: Standing Up, Falling Down (Tilted Windmill Productions), Madam Secretary (CBS), Shades of Blue (NBC), Quantico (ABC), The Wire (HBO), Deception (ABC), Blindspot (NBC), Vinyl (HBO), Person of Interest (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), The Path (Hulu), Service to Man (STARZ). Theatre credits: Off-Broadway – Travisville (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Playing with Fire (Gene Frankel Theatre), Black Angels Over Tuskegee (St. Luke’s Theatre). NY – Maid’s Door (Billy Holiday Theatre), Armed (The Amoralists Theater), Growing Pains (Billy Holiday Theatre). Regional - Radio Golf (Two River Theater), Feeding Beatrice (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Julius Caesar (Pennsylvania Centre Stage), WorkSong (Pittsburgh City Theatre).

CHARRELL MACK (u/s Angel Allen/Delia Patterson, she/her/hers) is very excited to be making her Mark Taper Forum debut with Blues for an Alabama Sky. An east coast native, she recently starred in the L.A. premiere of Apartment Living by Boni B. Alvarez (directed by Jon Rivera) at Skylight Theatre. She played Rebel in Ascension by D.G Watson (directed by Ahmed Best) at The Echo Theatre Company. Other credits include Desdemona in William Shakespeare’s Othello (directed by Kate Burton) and Nya in Pipeline (directed by Larry Powell). Charrell studied theatre at USC, where she received an MFA in Acting. She’s looking forward to this amazing opportunity and sends love to her family back home in PA.

DESMOND NEWSON (u/s Guy Jacobs, he/him/his) is a dynamic Broadway performer who has been nominated for an L.A. Ovation Award as well as the recipient of an NAACP Theatre Award. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida Conservatory Theatre, where he obtained his BFA in Musical Theatre, with a minor in Business. Desmond has been seen in the first national tour of Hamilton, Motown: The Musical on Broadway, and the 35th Anniversary of Dreamgirls, with the original Dreamgirls: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Tony Award winner, Jennifer Holliday. Internationally, he has been blessed to perform as Simba in The Lion King for Hong Kong Disney, as well as the South Korean tour of FAME: The Musical. Beyond the stage, Desmond is an exceptional storyteller and playwright. He is using his words in the hopes of creating a more authentic, Black, narrative that will be showcased worldwide. As an adjunct professor and instructor, his goal is to empower the next generation of creative artists to be unapologetic about who they are, on and off the stage.

PEARL CLEAGE (Playwright, she/her/hers) is an Atlanta-based writer who is currently Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Alliance Theatre. She was appointed Atlanta’s first Poet Laureate in 2020, whose plays include Flyin’ West, Blues for an Alabama Sky, and Bourbon at the Border, commissioned and directed by Kenny Leon at The Alliance Theatre. She is also the author of A Song for Coretta, written in 2007 during Cleage’s time as Cosby Professor in Women’s Studies at Spelman College. Her new play, The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at A Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years, was commissioned by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and will premiere in the fall of 2010, in a joint production by The ASF and Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, directed by Susan Booth. Her plays have also been performed at Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Huntington Theatre, The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Long Wharf Theatre, Just Us Theatre, True Colors Theatre, Bushfire Theatre, The Intiman Theatre, St. Louis Black Repertory Company, and Seven Stages. She is also an accomplished performance artist, often working in collaboration with her husband, writer Zaron W. Burnett, Jr. They have performed at The National Black Arts Festival, The National Black Theatre Festival, and colleges and universities across the country. Cleage’s most recent play, Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous, premiered at the Alliance in 2019, directed by Susan Booth, and recently completed a run at Hartford Stage. She has recently been commissioned by Fords Theatre as part of their Lincoln Legacy Project to create Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard. Cleage is also an accomplished novelist. Her novels include What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day, a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah Book Club selection, I Wish I Had A Red Dress, Some Things I Never Thought I’d Do, Babylon Sisters, Baby Brother’s Blues, and Seen It All and Done the Rest. She also has written Till You Hear From Me (Ballantine/One World). She is also the author of Mad at Miles: A Blackwoman’s Guide to Truth, a groundbreaking work of race and gender, and We Speak Your Names, a praise poem commissioned by Oprah Winfrey for her 2005 celebration of legendary African American women and written in collaboration with Zaron Burnett. Cleage has also written for magazines, including Essence, Vibe, Rap Pages, and Ms. In addition to her work as the founding editor of Catalyst Magazine, a literary journal, she was a regular columnist for The Atlanta Tribune for ten years, winning many awards for her thought-provoking columns. She has also written for TheDefendersOnLine.com. Cleage has been awarded grants in support of her work from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Fulton County Arts Council, The Georgia Council on the Arts, The Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs and The Coca-Cola Foundation. Her work has earned her many awards and honors, including an NAACP Image Award for fiction in 2008. Pearl Cleage is represented by Ron Gwiazda at A3 Artists Agency in New York City. pearlcleage.net.

PHYLICIA RASHAD (Director, she/her/hers) directed Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Paul Oakley Stovall’s Immediate Family at the Mark Taper Forum and Goodman Theatre, Our Lady of 121st Street at the Signature Theatre, Fences at the Long Wharf Theatre and McCarter Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun at Ebony Repertory Theatre, Kirk Douglas Theatre, and Westport Country Playhouse, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Four Little Girls at the Kennedy Center. As an actress—Broadway: Skeleton Crew, August: Osage County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cymbeline (Lincoln Center Theater), August Wilson’s GemoftheOcean (Tony nomination), A Raisin in the Sun (Tony and Drama Desk Awards), Into the Woods, Dreamgirls, The Wiz. Off-Broadway: Richard II, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Head of Passes (Lucille Lortel Award), The Story, Helen, Everybody’s Ruby, Blue, Bernarda Alba. Regional: EveryTongueConfess, BluesforanAlabama Sky, Medea. Film: Tick Tick Boom, Jingle Jangle, Pixar’s Soul, A Fall From Grace, Black Box, Creed II, Creed, Good Deeds, For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, Frankie and Alice, Just Wright, Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored, Loving Jezebel, and The Visit. Television: This Is Us (Emmy nominations), Empire, A Raisin in the Sun (NAACP Image Award, Emmy and SAG nominations), The Old Settler, Free of Eden, Cosby, and The Cosby Show.

JOHN IACOVELLI (Scenic Designer, he/him/his) first designed on the Taper stage 33 years ago for Temptation by Vaclav Havel. This is his ninth collaboration with director Phylicia Rashad, four of them plays by August Wilson: including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone here at the Taper. He was Production Designer on the PBS film The Old Settler starring Ms. Rashad and directed by Debbie Allen. He has designed extensively in television garnering an Emmy Award for the broadcast of Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan. Other TV credits include Babylon 5 and Resurrection Blvd. Other notable productions include Valley of the Heart, Waiting for Godot here and Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He has designed at many theatres locally including South Coast Rep and The Pasadena Playhouse. He designed the recent premiere of David Mamet’s play The Christopher Boy’s Communion, directed by Mr. Mamet. www.iacovelli.com is his website.

WENDELL C. CARMICHAEL (Costume, Wig, and HairDesigner). Theatre credits: Three Sisters, Yellowman, Spring Awakening, Miss Julie Freedom Summer, Paradise Blue, Cyrano De Bergerac, Macbeth, A Winter’s Tale, Sweeney Todd, Waiting for Godot, Salvage, Ragtime, Scraps, The Mountaintop, Our Town, The Wizard of Oz, WINK, Fool for Love, In the Heights, Happy Ending, American Saga: Gunshot Medley, Jews, Christians and Screwing Stalin, Vol. 1: A Post Racial America, Violet, Her Portmeanu, Native Son, A Walk in the Woods, Cabaret, West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Desdemona: Play about a Handkerchief, The Crucible, An Octoroon, Br’er Cotton, Ball Yards, Waiting for the Parade, The Good War Greenwood 1964. 2018 Stage Raw winner – Costume Design, three-time L.A. Ovation Award nominee, 2017 Orange County’s Best Costume Designs, 2015 NAACP Theatre Award winner. Member of Local 768, the Theatrical Wardrobe Union/LA Opera.

ELIZABETH HARPER (Lighting Designer, she/her/hers) is thrilled to return to the Taper after Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Immediate Family. Additional credits include: Between Two Knees (Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Rep); Indecent and Rattle snake Kate (Denver Center for the Performing Arts) Office Hour starring Sandra Oh (South Coast Repertory Theatre); The Cake (La Jolla Playhouse); Play Dead directed by Teller, Rock of Ages (5th Avenue Theatre). World premieres include works by Academy Award winner Lucy Alibar, Kemp Powers, Julia Cho, and Michael Mitnick. Elizabeth is the assistant professor of lighting design at the University of Southern California.

JEFF GARDNER (Sound Designer, he/him/his) Jeff is an Ovation Award-winning sound designer and foley artist born and raised in Los Angeles. Jeff has designed and performed throughout the country including the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Wallis Annenberg Center, Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within, The Echo Theater Company, Circle X Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre, IAMA Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and is a member of The Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale. Jeff can be seen at L.A. Theatre Works, where he regularly performs live sound effects. jeffthomasgardner.net

DONTAE WINSLOW (Original Music, he/him/his) is one the rising stars in the music industry. He is known as this generation’s innovative film composer, arranger, music producer, and trumpeter. In five years he attained a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Classical Music Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the John’s Hopkins University. He also completed studies at USC. Dontae scored opening music for HBO’s The Slow Hustle and scored the documentary Baltimore Rising about the death of unarmed Black male Freddie Grey. He composed music for BET’s the New Edition Story and Robert Townsend’s In The Hive. Dontae toured/performed/recorded with Justin Timberlake, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Beyonce, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, Jay-Z, Queen Latifah, Garth Brooks, Kamasi Washington, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Jill Scott, Common, Neyo, D’Angelo, Christina Aguilera, Lauryn Hill, and Snoop Dogg. He created the design of the Adams Brass horn with the famous Red Bell. He arranged horns and performed for three Super Bowl Halftime shows: J.Lo and Shakira, and Justin Timberlake, and Dr. Dre in 2022. Dontae also arranged the score for Eminem’s 92nd Oscar Awards performance of “Lose Yourself,” and conducted and arranged “Moonlight Sonata” at Kobe Bryant’s memorial with Alicia Keys on piano. Dontae arranged string orchestra for “Grey” by Pop Band WHY DON’T WE and conducted and scored music for The Oscars in 2022. dontaewinslow.com

KIM COLEMAN, CSA (Casting, she/her/hers) is a Los Angeles- based casting director known for her work in film and television. She has received two Emmy nominations for her casting work on the acclaimed Emmy-nominated television shows Lovecraft Country (HBO) and American Crime (ABC). Some of her past television credits are DearWhitePeople, She’sGottaHave It! (Netflix), Snowfall (F/X) pilot, The Good Doctor (ABC) pilot and season 1, Greenleaf (OWN), The Haves and the Have Nots, Survivor’s Remorse (Starz), and If Loving You Is Wrong (OWN). Her latest television work includes series Wu-Tang: an American Saga (Hulu), The Good Lord Bird (Showtime), Genius: Aretha (Nat/Geo) The Upshaws, Madam C.J. Walker, Family Reunion (Netflix), Heels (Starz), and Woke (Hulu). She has received three Artios Awards from the Casting Society of America for excellence in casting for her work on Dope, DearWhitePeople, Spike Lee’s Oscar-winning film BlacKkKlansman, and most recently Zola. Her most recent feature films include Cheaper By The Dozen (20th), Nanny (Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize), Emergency (Amazon), Da5Bloods (Netflix), Space Jam 2 (Warner Bros.), Fatherhood (Sony), Harriet (Focus Features), Little (Universal), and Night School (Universal). She also casts all television and feature films for the prolific writer, producer, director Tyler Perry. Kim is a CSA member and is a Governor for the Casting Director branches of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and the Television Academy.

MICHELLE BLAIR (Production Stage Manager, she/her/hers) has enjoyed a long history of stage managing in Los Angeles and has worked extensively with Center Theatre Group on over thirty productions at their three theatres. Other favorites include A Christmas Carol First National Tour, ThePee-wee Herman Show at Club Nokia, A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters with Cornerstone Theater Company, Henry IV with Shakespeare Center Los Angeles, Jersey Boys in Las Vegas, and Eurydice and La Traviata with the Los Angeles Opera. Graduate of the University of Southern California and the University of Amsterdam. Mom to 13-year-old Liam and 10-year-old Imogen. For Bones Malone.

CAMELLA COOPER (Stage Manager, she/her/hers) has been working in the theatre and education industry for over 10 years. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and Antioch University, Seattle. Shows like Two Trains Running by August Wilson with Sophina Brown, Ruined by Lynn Nottage with the African American Theater Arts Troupe, and Brain Problems by Malcolm Barrett with Ammunition Theatre Company are a few shows she has stage-managed or assistant stage-managed and just completed working on Slave Play by Jeremy O’Harris with CTG. She is also the Co-founder and Director of Operations for Black Stage Everything, a networking and education platform for BIPOC theater practitioners, and the Co-Artistic Director of Ammunition Theatre Company.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP

MEGHAN PRESSMAN (Managing Director/CEO, she/her/hers) joined Center Theatre Group as Managing Director in 2019. Previously, she served as Managing Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (D.C.), Director of Development for Signature Theatre (N.Y.), and Associate Managing Director of Berkeley Rep, in addition to working at numerous other theatre and arts organizations across the country. She is the Vice-Chair of the National Board for the Theatre Communications Group (TCG).

DOUGLAS C. BAKER (Producing Director, he/him/ his) is now in his 30th season at Center Theatre Group. He is an active member of the Broadway League, the Independent Presenters Network, and is a proud member of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers. In May 2013, Doug received the Broadway League’s prestigious Outstanding Achievement in Presenter Management Award.

TYRONE DAVIS (Associate Artistic Director, he/him/his) is a director, actor, producer, educator, and member of Center Theatre Group’s artistic staff, he previously served as its Audience Engagement Director. Selected producing credits include: Crowndation, Black Nourishment, The Salvi Chronicles, The Duat, WET: A DACAmented Journey, and the upcoming production King James. He is passionate about commissioning and developing new works with artists and audiences both locally and nationally. Tyrone is an L.A. native, a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) School of Theater M.F.A. acting program and holds a B.A. in theatre from California State University, Northridge.