Payne Banister (Production Assistant) is a first-year graduate student in theatre and performance studies from Bloomington, IN.

Frieda Curtis (Costume Shop Manager) is a recent graduate of Washington University ‘19 and has worked in the costume shop since 2016. She has designed for Washington University Dance Theater and student theater productions. 

Emily Frei* (Props Designer/Charge Artist) is a scenic artist and prop master for many of the theaters in and around St. Louis, including the Muny and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. 

Dominique Rhea Green (Costume Designer) This is Dominique (Nikki)’s third year as part of the PAD faculty at WashU, teaching courses in costume design and technology. Nikki’s costume design work has appeared at Metro Theater Company (StL), The Black Rep (StL), American Players Theatre (Chicago), Baylor University (faculty, 2 years), Truman State University (faculty, 4 years), Cincinnati Opera, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Harlaxton Manor Theatre (UK), Hope Repertory Theatre (Holland, MI), and Walt Disney World.

J. Myles Hesse (Production Assistant) is a second-year graduate student in theatre and performance studies from  Madison, IN.

Benjamin Lewis (Sound Designer/Production Manager/Master Electrician) is currently active in the St. Louis theatre community as a designer, director, and stage manager. His recent work has been seen on the stages of Equally Represented Arts, Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Tragically Employable.

Michael Loui* (Technical Designer/Scene Shop Foreman) builds sets for the Performing Arts Department. He is also a set designer and holds an MFA from Yale. He is a United Scenic Arts 829 union set designer and scenic artist.

Joshua Sarris (Stage Manager) is a senior from St. Louis, MO, majoring in Architecture.

Sean M. Savoie* (Projections Designer/Production Manager) is a member of the design/tech faculty and the resident lighting designer, production manager and design coordinator.  Sean is also an active freelance designer in the St. Louis theater community.  Recipient of the 2009 USITT Rising Star Award, and proud member USA 829.

Shaun Sheley (Movement Coach)- Shaun is a teaching artist at Grand Center Arts Academy. An Actor, Director, and Movement and Fight Choreographer, Shaun has worked and taught with several theatre companies and Educational Institutions throughout the St. Louis region including SLU High School, Washington University, St. Louis University, Webster University, UMSL, Lindenwood University and Fontbonne. Shaun’s work as an actor and a fight director has been seen at Stages St. Louis, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Theatre St. Louis, The MUNY, Mustard Seed Theatre, St. Louis Actor’s Studio, and New Jewish Theatre.  

Amy Soll (Stage Management Supervisor) is a St. Louis native and Washington University alum ‘05.  She continues to stage manage locally for Saint Louis Ballet, while farthest flung productions include a season with Anchorage Opera, and productions at the Teatro Signorelli in Cortona, Italy and the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman.

George F. Walker (Playwright) is one of Canada’s most prolific and popular playwrights. Since beginning his theatre career in the early 1970s, Walker has written more than 30 plays and has created screenplays for several award-winning Canadian television series. Part Kafka, part Lewis Carroll, Walker’s distinctive, gritty, fast-paced tragicomedies illuminate and satirize the selfishness, greed, and aggression of contemporary urban culture. Among his best known plays are Filthy Rich (1979); Zastrozzi (1977); Theatre of the Film Noir (1980); Criminals in Love (1984); Better Living (1986); Nothing Sacred (1988); Love and Anger (1989); Escape from Happiness (1991); Tough! (1993); Suburban Motel (1997); Heaven (2000); And So It Goes (2010); and Dead Metaphor (2013). Since the early 1980s he has directed most of the premieres of his own plays. Walker’s plays have been presented in more than 700 productions across Canada, the United States, and around the world; they have been translated into French, German, Hebrew, Turkish, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, and Japanese. During a ten-year absence from theatre, he wrote mainly for television including the series This is Wonderland, The Line, and Living in Your Car. Awards and honors include The Order of Canada, two Governor General’s awards, five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, nine Chalmers Canadian Play Awards, and the Governor General’s lifetime achievement award.

William Whitaker (Director) is currently Professor of Practice in Performing Arts where he teaches directing and acting. Whitaker holds an MA in dramatic literature from The Catholic University of America and an MFA in theatre from Florida Atlantic University where he was the Joshua Logan Fellow. He teaches acting, directing, public speaking and regularly teaches at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London as part of Washington University’s summer program. He directed The Rocky Horror Show in the Edison Theatre in 2018. And in 2017 he directed Guillermo Calderon’s Kiss in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Special Thanks

Andrea Urice
Sara Ryu
The Covid Management Team