Experiments 17: Omen Road to Starrville

ERIK CHAMPNEY is an award-winning dramatist with works developed, commissioned, and produced in such cities as New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Singapore. Selected plays: DEAD BRAINS (Winner, The National AIDS Fund/CFDA-Vogue Initiative Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center), SAITAMA (Winner, 8th Biennial Playwriting Contest, Theatre in the Raw, BC), PANGAEA (Commendation for Excellence, The Kennedy Center), and OMEN ROAD TO STARRVILLE (O’Neill Semi-finalist; Top Ten, The Stanley Drama Award, Wagner College). Most recently, Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC) presented a concert reading of Erik’s play, CRAB ON ITS BACK (Semi-finalist, Sundance Theatre Lab; Top Ten, The Stanley Drama Award, Wagner College), and his anthology of one-acts, BLANKETS AND BEDTIME: 3 RESTLESS PLAYS, was honored as the Outstanding Overall Production of an Evening of One-Acts by the 2016 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. Erik received a B.A. in both Theatre and English from Centenary College of Louisiana followed by an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch.

GLORY KADIGAN (Director): Ms. Kadigan founded Planet Connections Theatre Festivity and served as the Producing Artistic Director for six seasons. Among her directing credits: World Premieres of Regina Taylor’s Biting the Bullet and John Patrick Shanley’s Doublecross at the Playwrights for a Cause benefit at the Atlantic Theater, St. Anne’s Soup (Israel Horovitz, World Premiere), Breaking Philip Glass (Israel Horovitz, World Premiere), Her Speech(Erik Ehn, World Premiere), Over the River and Through the Woods (Neil LaBute, World Premiere), Two Minute Warning (Neil LaBute, World Premiere). Most recently, she directed Penny Jackson’s Safe at the 14th Street Y. This December, directing the World Premiere of Erik Ehn’s Clover at La MaMa. Also upcoming, directing the World Premiere of Israel Horovitz’s The Day Before Yesterday in February 2017.

MICHAEL GNAT (Travis) is an inaugural IT Award nominee and 2009 NYTheatre.com Person of the Year. Last season he played Fletcher in Scott Sickles’s IT-winning Composure, Murphy in The Savannah Disputation, and Jolley in Bill Rogers’s Caldwell’s Bomb (“Best Actor” nom., V&A). Other NYC: Eddie Antar’s Drama Desk–nominated The Navigator; John Dirrigl’s The Bauer Sisters (multiple MITF awards); John McKinney’s The Chekhov Dreams (as Chekhov); Michael Niederman’s The Riverside Symphony (“Outstanding Actor,” Planet Connections). Features: Off Jackson Avenue (Wall Street Jimmy); Bobby G. Can’t Swim (Tim). Web: ONN’s News from the Year 2137. Thanxoxox, Linda! [AEA, SAG–AFTRA]

ELIZABETH INGHRAM (Sarah): NYC highlights include The Great Divide (Obie Award-winning Metropolitan Playhouse), After the Ball (Irish Repertory Theatre), Busker Alley (York Theatre, starring Glenn Close), Macbeth, Twelfth Night, award winning Hot and Sweet (NYMF, starring Lea Michele), and shows at the Fringe Fest and Planet Connections (2016 Best Supporting Actor Nominee).  TV & film: The Black List, Person of Interest, Royal Pains, Gossip Girl, Girl Most Likely (opposite Kristen Wiig), I Love You, But I Lied, Guiding Light, etc. Regional favorites: Goodspeed Opera House, Gateway Playhouse, Virginia Stage Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina & four National Tours. www.elizabethinghram.com @einghram

MAUREEN O’BOYLE (Ellen) is an actor and voiceover artist living in NYC. Recent NY theater includes Macbeth, The Rimers of Eldritch (Snapped Productions), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Original Binding Productions), Allie’s Appendix (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity; Outstanding Supporting Actress nomination), The Picture of Dorian Gray, Good Lonely People, The Oath (MTWorks), Antigone/Progeny (Extant Arts) and Strangers (Dixon Place). All-time favorites include Pentecost (Burning Coal Theatre Company) and The Castle (The Somnambulist Project).  

MISHA OSHEROVICH (Kendle): Previous credits include Marin Shakespeare Festival: Twelfth Night; Virginia Shakespeare Festival: Antony & Cleopatra, All’s Well That Ends Well; Cape May Stage: Moon Over Buffalo, Streetlight Woodpecker; Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse: Henry IV. Film: The Prey. TV: SyFy Channel, Discovery Channel. Web Series: History, Rocky Times.

VANNA RICHARDSON (Stage Manager): Originally from Shreveport, LA, Vanna received her training at Centenary College of Louisiana.  After leaving Centenary, she spent the next several years as the production stage manager for River City Repertory Theatre. In her two years in New York she has had the pleasure of working with several amazing artists, including this great cast, across the five boroughs. She’s incredibly thankful to Glory and Erik for this opportunity to work at La MaMa.

SAWYER SPIELBERG (Jeffrey) started acting in theater at the Edgmar Center for the arts in Venice Beach, California playing Herman in a production of Hello Herman before entering the Atlantic Theater Conservatory in New York City. Sawyer has spent the last couple of years performing in various productions in Long Island, including Bay Street Theater’s The Diary of Anne Frank (Peter Van Daan) Bay Street Theater’s production Of Mice and Men (Whit) and Guild Hall of East Hampton’s production of Hamlet, playing Guildenstern. Sawyer has just finished completing his second off Broadway production, Safe, playing Phillip Godwin aka Lester Goodrich.

ALISON WALTER (Stage Directions): Originally from NYC, she spent five years in Los Angeles. Highlights include Alison in Trainspotting at The Elephant Theatre, Catherine in David Mamet’s Boston Marriage, and actor/producer for short film WORLDS WE CREATED (3 Awards, 25 Film Festivals) Upon returning to NYC, she co-founded an artist development group called Community Room.

‍