Oddfellows Artists

2007-2008 Season

Jeffery Allen (Anon(ymous))
Artistic Director at the Playhouse, Jeffery was previously Director of Education at Cleveland Public Theatre, Northeast Ohio’s leading alternative theatre. He also spent four seasons with Great Lakes Theater Festival in the nationally recognized education outreach program. Jeffery is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab and Actors’ Equity Association. Previous directing credits at the Playhouse: Much Ado About Nothing, Necessary Targets, Urinetown, Merchant of Venice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gold in the Bones, Macbeth and Prometheus Bound.


Tate R. Burmeister (Technical Director/Scenic & Lighting Designer) is returning to Oddfellows for her third season. Tate studied theater at the University of Minnesota Duluth and then worked as the Resident Lighting Designer and Technical Director at Playhouse Merced in California. In addition to serving as the TD, Tate enjoys designing for the theater. Past OP designs include The Crucible, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Pride & Prejudice, The Tempest and Nuevo California.


Enza Giannone (CA 3, Commedia Tonight!, Chavez Ravine) has just finished a stint as the Grants and Outreach Manger for Hartford Children's Theatre where she was also a leading teaching artist and director of youth theatre productions. Most recently Enza directed a production of To Kill a Mockingbird with Classical Magnet Middle School students in Hartford. Enza has worked to create theater with young people as an actor, educator and director in NYC, Connecticut, and abroad for over 10 years. Enza holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s School of Education as well as a BFA in Theatre from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.


Peggy Gutmann (Resident Lighting Designer) Peggy holds an MFA in Technical Theater from Stanford University and has assisted in the Wesleyan Theater Department. She is resident lighting designer at OP, having designed over 50 shows. Last season Peggy lighted Pride & Prejudice and The Tempest.


Jane Harris (Puppet Theater, CA 2, A Thousand Cranes)
Jane is an actress, theater teaching artist, playwright, and an OP and Children's Circus alum. She trained professionally with the Hartford Ballet and holds a BA in English and Theater from CCSU. Her playwriting was recently recognized at a theater festival sponsored by the Kennedy Center. She has assisted in the teaching and directing of numerous classes and productions at OP and was the director for last year's Stage 2 mini-production, Live From Earth!

Heidi Kirchofer (Physical Repertoire) Heidi is a movement teacher, yogini, percussionist, performance and circus artist with a background in dance and yoga. She has been an artist with the Children’s Circus for several years, was the leader of the Maplewood Terrace Tiny Troupe last season, and has traveled widely, teaching and performing particularly in Mexico and South America.


Bobbye Knoll (Maplewood Senior Troupe, The Family Nobody Wanted)
Bobbye begins her fifth season as Director of Neighborhood Troupes and leader of the Maplewood Terrace Senior Troupe. Her theater background stems from the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and Oddfellows’ productions. As a director, Bobbye co-directed the Maplewood and Chatham Court Senior Troupes’ mainstage productions of Spoon River and Across the River. Bobbye also created and led the Stage 2 class, Behind the Scenes, which designed props and set pieces for last season’s Live from Earth!


Pam Lang (Properties Designer) Pam, a past and present OP parent, began by volunteering to do costume design for for her daughter’s Stage 2 mini-production. From volunteer costumer she moved to properties design. In the past Pam has designed properties for the Junior Rep production of Peter Pan, Summer Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the Teen Rep production of The Tempest, and, in partnership with Cindy Prue, for Gold in the Bones, The Crucible, The Dining Room, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride & Prejudice, Urinetown, and Nuevo California.


Cindy Prue (Properties Designer) Cindy is an Oddfellows parent whose training and experience as an interior designer led her to volunteer to help with Playhouse productions. Years ago her creative props for The Wizard of Oz established her as part of the OP design team. Recent productions Cindy has designed or co-designed include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Dining Room, The Crucible, Gold in the Bones, Prometheus Bound, rEvolution, Pride & Prejudice, Urinetown, and Nuevo California.

Matt Pugliese (The Grapes of Wrath) is an actor, director and playwright. He holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Connecticut and currently works as the Director of Educational Programming at the Ivoryton Playhouse. Matt adapted Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River for the mainstage collaboration between the Maplewood and Chatham Court Senior Troupes and Teen Rep in 2006 and last season directed the Teen Rep production of Nuevo California.


David Schulz (Resident Scenic Designer) Following 10 years as a graphic designer, David has spent the past 25+ years as a freelance illustrator. Since 1987, David has designed over 45 Oddfellows sets including last season’s Urinetown and Nuevo California.

Mariah Sage (CA 2, CA 3)Mariah is an actor, director, educator and acting coach who currently teaches drama at Quinnipiac University and frequently teaches adult acting classes at Hartford Stage. She has taught acting to undergraduates at Brown University and NYU/Tisch and to students grades 1-12 with the nationally recognized education outreach program at Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. Mariah has performed with theaters across the country and in Europe and holds a BFA in Drama from NYU/Tisch and an MFA in Acting from Brown University where she was a Stephen Sondheim Fellow.


Hannah Simms (CA 2) Hannah is an instructor for Hartford Children's Theatre and Performing Arts Programs, having led several outreach and school break programs for young people. She has also been a goat farmer. Hannah served as assistant director of the Playhouse’s mainstage production of To Kill a Mockingbird, co-taught pre-audition workshops for the Teen Rep, and, last season, taught Complete Actor 2.


Dayna Reneé Snell (Martin Luther King) Dayna, a member of the performing ensemble, Nzinga’s Daughters, has a master’s degree in social work and is licensed by the State of CT as a clinical social worker. She developed the Personal Enrichment Program (PEP), a children’s performing arts program that provides education and support for youth and their families based on the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Dayna also directs the Youth and Mass Choir at Redeemer’s A.M.E. Zion Church.
 

Renee Soares (CA 1, Woodrow Wilson) Renee holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts, Speech, and Dance from Brown University and presently resides in Hartford, where she is a visual artist, fine art curator, and visual and performance art educator. She has conducted workshops for the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Connecticut Historical Society, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the City of Hartford’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the Wheeler Clinic, Milford Public Schools, and New London Public Schools.


Missy Waryas (CA 1, Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate, The Laramie Project, Woodrow Wilson) Missy has worked as a teaching artist and youth director in Texas, California, and throughout CT for the past six years. She joined the Oddfellows team two years ago and has contributed to the Playhouse as a teacher, director (Pride & Prejudice, Madam Missy’s Wax Museum), and designer. Before venturing to the East Coast, Missy received her BFA in Theatre and Television from Texas Christian University and her MA in Directing from Texas State University.


Kim West (CA 1, CA 3, The Imagination Factory, Acting Lab, Treasure Island) Kim moved to CT in 2005; since then she has directed for Hartford Children's Theatre, Portland Schools, America Globe Play Fest NYC and several staged readings and short plays for Temple Players, Square Wright, EastBound, and the Stratford Theatre Consortium. She has taught for Hartford Stage and Hartford Children's Theatre and Performing Arts Program. This is her second season at the Playhouse.


Joni Weisfeld (Suzuki) holds a BFA in acting from the University of Connecticut. While there she studied a variety of different acting techniques, including the Suzuki training, created by world renowned theatre artist, Tadashi Suzuki. Currently Joni teaches in the theatre department at the Greater Hartord Academy of the Arts. Joni is a company member of Middletown's ARTfarm theatre company.