THE COMPANY
 | Jess Barbagallo, Dennis/Silvius La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. International Tour: Fiabe Italiane, The Other Here, Seagull (Thinking of you), Endgame. Off-Broadway: Oresteia, House/Divided, Help. Regional: Man in a Case (Hartford Stage). TV: Law & Order: SVU. Education: M.F.A. from Brooklyn College. |
 | Rachel Crowl, Duke Frederick/Corin La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: Between Two Knees (Yale Repertory Theater); The Swindlers (Baltimore Center Stage); Between Two Knees, As You Like It, Henry V, Love's Labour's Lost (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Film: And Then There Was Eve, Smiley Face Killers. TV: New Amsterdam (NBC). Voiceover: Marvel's Wastelanders: Wolverine (Red Skull), A Simple Herstory (Susan B. Anthony). She moonlights as a photographer and makes music to keep sane.
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 | Esteban Andres Cruz, Le Beau/Hymen (they/them) was born in Berwyn and raised in Cicero, IL and they are delighted to make their LJP debut with this incredible group of humans. Esteban was last seen in San Diego at Cygnet Theatre in Motherf**ker with the Hat. Off-Broadway, world premiere by Stephen Adly Guirgis: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Drama Desk Award nomination: Best Featured Actor). Cruz will make their Off-Broadway Musical debut in January in Cornelia Street at the Atlantic Theatre. Chicago: Steppenwolf, A Red Orchid Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago and many others. Cruz has worked at many regional theaters and will appear with St Louis Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, Summer 2023. Cruz is a 2018 TCG National Fox Acting Fellow Award winner, Joseph Jefferson Award winner: Best Lead Actor (Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train) and After Dark Award for Best Choreography. Film: Spa Night (Cassavetti Best Feature), Valley of Bones, The Thin Line, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and Rattled. TV: Chicago Fire, Awkward, Easy, Idiot Sitter, The Bridge, You're the Worst and South Side. |
 | Alanna Darby, Lord/Amiens/Phoebe (she/her) is an actor, singer and writer whose work centers dramedy, Queerness and a touch of magic. Her TikTok has over one hundred thousand followers. Love to my family and manager, Tam! La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: Dracula (Actors Theater of Louisville); Arms and the Man, A Christmas Carol: On Air, Thanksgiving Play (A.C.T.); Imaginary Cuckold (Moliere in the Park); Treasure Island, Macbeth (Berkeley Rep); Stage Kiss (SF Playhouse). TV: Seasoned (Showtime). Education: B.A. from USC, M.F.A. from American Conservatory Theater. @alannastarby www.alannadarby.com |
 | Scout Davis, Understudy, Associate Director (they/them) is a queer non-binary director of new experimental works from Los Angeles, California. Their recent solo work, Fever Dream: A Return Performance Ritual toured NYC, Northern France and Sibiu, Romania. Recent directing credits include Cinzano by Ludmila Petrushevskaya (Carnegie Mellon University), My H8 Letter 2 The G8 American Theatre by Diana Oh (Studio of Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University), Many Loves by William Carlos Williams (Atlantic Stage II-Atlantic Conservatory), BARS by Pravin Wilkins (Digital Reading), Extra Ultra by Kate Conde Hamilton (Hamburg Studio-City Theatre). Scout is an alumnus of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab and Directors Lab West. Scout is an alumni of the inaugural class of the International Performance Ensemble program at Pace School of Performing Arts. Upcoming productions include Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Seton Hill University) and Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl (Pace School of Performing Arts). Graduate of The John Wells MFA Directing Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. https://scoutfdavis.com |
 | David Greenspan, Adam/Duke Senior La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Has appeared Off-Broadway in his own plays, most notably Dead Mother, She Stoops to Comedy, Go Back to Where You Are, I’m Looking for Helen Twelvetrees, and his solo plays The Argument and The Myopia; performed solo renditions of Barry Conners’ The Patsy, Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude, Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts and Stein’s lectures Plays, Composition as Explanation and What Are Masterpieces; worked with many contemporary playwrights; is associated with New York theaters including Playwrights Horizons, Target Margin Theater and Transport Group; awards include six OBIES. |
 | Allison Husko, William/Understudy La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Steel Magnolias, The Rover, The Crucible, The Sword in the Stone, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Three Penny Opera, Measure for Measure. Los Angeles: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatricum Botanicum); Much Ado About Nothing (Unlikely Shakespeare Co.); Love’s Labour’s Lost (DTLA Shakespeare Festival). Washington, DC: Macbeth, As You Like It, Henry 60, Twelfth Night (The Shakespeare Theatre Co.). M.F.A. from The Shakespeare Theatre Company, DC. Proud member of SAG. She sends her love to her partners and Queer family, who have always encouraged her love of the Bard. |
 | Esco Jouléy, Orlando is an actor, singer, dancer, clown, movement artist and creator. Recent credits include Sundance’s State of the Union, Starz’s Blindspotting, HBO's High Maintenance, Netflix’s Inventing Anna, Hulu's Monsterland and Bravo's In a Man’s World, where they appeared as a movement coach. Esco's theatre credits include: Interstate, Runaways, Galatea, The Demise (Magic Theater Player), Beowulf. Esco was a resident actor at the historic Barter Theater for three and a half years and is an alum of the ABC Discovers Showcase. More information about Esco and their work can be found at escojouley.com, @escojouley, onezlife.com, and @onezlife. |
 | Tairekca L.A., Oliver La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: FLEX (Hero Theater); Mud Row, House of Joy (San Diego Rep); Black Pegasus (The Old Globe); It’s Christmas, Carol-Workshop, Macbeth: the Unsex Me Project (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Crowns (Hattiloo Theater). Virtual/Zoom: Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet (Blk Girls Luv The Bard). Education: M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, B.A. from Alabama State University. |
 | Rami Margron, Jacques La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: Angry Young Man (Urban Stages); Love’s Labour's Lost (Shake and Bake). Regional: Hurricane Diane (The Old Globe, Huntington Theater); Angels in America (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theatre); Pericles, Macbeth (Berkeley Repertory Theater); Three Sisters (Two River Theater); The Tempest (Pittsburgh Public Theatre); The Lily’s Revenge (Magic Theater); Lady Windermere’s Fan, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (California Shakespeare Theater). TV: Manifest, New Amsterdam, For Life, FBI, Bull, High Maintenance, Ray Donovan, That Damn Michael Che, Extrapolations, Law & Order, Wedding Season and Bedlam the Series. |
 | Jen Richards, Celia La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Television credits include The Mayfair Witches (AMC), Disclosure, Tales of the City (Netflix), Mrs. Fletcher (HBO), Better Things (FX), Blindspot (NBC), Clarice (CBS) and Her Story (YouTube). Film credits include: Framing Agnes, Gossamer Folds, In Hollywoodland, There You Are and Easy Living. |
 | T. Carlis Roberts, Music Director/Arranger, Musician is an artist and scholar who engages sound as a tool for transformation and liberation. His professional work straddles theatre, film, television, and music. As a composer and sound designer, T has worked at theatres including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theater, California Shakespeare Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As a songwriter and performer, T appeared on the Grammy-nominated album The Love by Alphabet Rockers, wrote music for the Starz series Vida, and toured A Queer Story of the Boy Band, a theatrical concert he co-created with QT/POC boy band The Singing Bois. tcarlisroberts.com
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 | Kai Justice Rosales, Understudy La Jolla Playhouse: Debut! Yay! Regional: Witnesses (California Center for the Arts, Escondido) originating the role of Moshe Flinker, Showcase’d (Feinstein’s/54 Below); Witnesses Staged Reading (California Center for the Arts, Escondido); Something Rotten! (Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts). Other choice credits include Emcee in Cabaret and 1,2 Many. Education: B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from California State University, Fullerton. Kai sends his love to his friends, family, his darlin and the Kruvi family. @KaiJusticeRosales |
 | Cody Sloan, Touchstone La Jolla Playhouse: Pick Me Last (POP Tour). Off-Broadway: Seven Deadly Sins (dir Moisés Kaufman, Tectonic Theater Project, 2022 Drama Desk Award). Selected Regional: Trainers (Diversionary Theatre), Tales of the Transcestors (Celebration Theatre), Men on Boats (SpeakEasy Stage Co.), Mozart in Amadeus (Moonbox Productions), Nurse Play (Exiled Theatre, IRNE Award nomination, Best Actor). Film: Selah and the Spades (2019 Sundance Film Festival). M.F.A. from UC San Diego. Thank you to Ursula, Marco, Adrian and Caroline. @codydsloan |
 | Peter Smith, Rosalind La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Macbeth. Regional: I Am My Own Wife (Out Front Theatre); Peter Pan (Bard Summerscape). Off-Broadway: Katdashians! Notable on-camera credits include Aidy Bryant’s Shrill (Hulu), Alternatino (Comedy Central), Three Busy Debras (HBOMax/Adult Swim), Girls5eva (Peacock) and Fire Island (Searchlight/Hulu). As a comedian, Peter performs in clubs around the country, sketches on the Internet, was a Comedy Central UpNext Select in 2018 and has written for Vice and Playboy. @ptrsmth online. |
 | Taiwo Sokan, Charles/Audrey/Understudy is a third-year M.F.A. candidate and proud Naija gyal. She is excited to be making her La Jolla Playhouse debut! Regional: Marry, Marry, Quite Contrary (Paper Dolls Ensemble); Operation Wawa Road Trip, Fly Eagles Fly (Tribe of Fools); The Bluest Eye (u/s, Arden Theatre Company); All’s Well That Ends Well (UPenn); No Exit (Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble). UC San Diego credits: Limp Wrist on the Lever, In the Red and Brown Water, Twelfth Night, Farside (audio play), Town Hall (virtual). |
 | Regina Victor, Court Lord/Second Brother/Understudy, Dramaturg (they/them/pharaoh) is a dramaturg, director, cultural designer and critic, named one of Newcity’s “Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago” in 2019, 2020 and 2022. Regina’s recent directing credits: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf Theatre and TimeLine Theatre. As a dramaturg, Pharaoh has collaborated with Qui Nguyen (OSF), Beaufield Berry (DCPA), Monty Cole (St. Louis Rep), Mallory Raven-Ellen Backstrom, Emma Durbin and more. In 2017 they founded Rescripted, an online arts journalism platform, and have also written for American Theatre, Playbill and Howlround. Pharaoh’s service includes the National Advisory Council for Howlround Theatre Commons, Bard at the Gate, and the 2021-2022 Artistic Caucus for Long Wharf, Baltimore Center Stage, St. Louis Rep and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. |
Christopher Ashley, Co-Director Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley has served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director since 2007. During his tenure, he directed the world premieres of Come From Away, Diana: The Musical, Memphis, Escape to Margaritaville, The Squirrels, A Dram of Drummhicit, Restoration and Chasing the Song, as well as His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Freaky Friday and Xanadu. He also spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls (WOW) initiative, the DNA New Work Series and the Resident Theatre program. Mr. Ashley recently directed Come From Away for AppleTV+ and Diana: The Musical for Netflix. Other screen credits include the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley’s Broadway credits include Come From Away (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Diana: The Musical, Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis (Tony Award nomination), Xanadu, Leap of Faith (Drama Desk Award nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). He also helmed productions of Come From Away in London (Olivier Award nomination), Toronto, Australia and on national tour. Other national tours include Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis, Xanadu, All Shook Up and Seussical: The Musical. Additional New York stage credits include Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla (Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship. |
Will Davis, Co-Director is a transgender director and choreographer focused on physically adventurous work for the stage. Off-Broadway credits include: Road Show (Encores! Off-Center); India Pale Ale (MTC); Bobbie Clearly (Roundabout Underground); Charm (MCC); Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons; Lucille Lortel nomination for best direction); and Duat (Soho Rep). Regional credits include: The Swindlers (Baltimore Center Stage); Everybody (Shakespeare Theatre Company); A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Long Wharf Theatre); The Carpenter (The Alley Theatre); Colossal (Olney Theatre Center, Mixed Blood Theater; Helen Hayes Award for best direction); Evita (Olney Theatre Center; Helen Hayes Award nomination); and multiple productions for ATC in Chicago, where Davis also served as Artistic Director. He is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, the NYTW 2050 Directing Fellowship, the Brooklyn Art Exchange’s Artist in Residence program, and the Princeton Arts Fellowship. |
Emmie Finckel, Scenic Design is a queer, Asian-American scenic designer. Emmie is excited by work rooted in community and collaboration that prioritizes inclusivity and challenges traditional uses of theatrical space. La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Recent credits include 53% Of (2nd Stage), Heart Strings (Atlantic Theater Company), In the Southern Breeze (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre), Manning (Yale School of Drama), In the Penal Colony (NYTW Next Door), Athena (JACK) and Riot Antigone (La MaMa). Assistant/associate design credits include productions with David Korins (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen) and Gabriel Evansohn (KPOP (Broadway), Empire Travel Agency) as a member of Woodshed Collective. www.efinckel.com |
Mel Ng 黄敏萍, Costume Design (she/her) is a queer artist, costume designer and poet who splits her time between New York and Honolulu. Outside of the theatre, you can find her swimming, giving tarot readings, writing poetry and practicing reiki. She believes in the transformative and healing power of ritual, and that sensitivity nourishes her work in creative spaces. melissaavang.com
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Cha See, Lighting Design La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: You Will Get Sick (Roundabout Theatre), Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Underground), One in Two (The New Group), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (Playwrights Horizons), Soft (MCC) and The Fever (Audible Theatre), to name a few. Upcoming: Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons), (pray) (Ars Nova), You Do You (Audible Theatre) and The Seagull, Woodstock NY (The New Group). Training: M.F.A., NYU Tisch. www.seelightingdesign.com; @seethruuu
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ien DeNio, Sound Design is a two-time Drama Desk nominated enby who always leaves their umbrella at home. This makes their mother make that exasperated noise…the one you hear in your head when she's gone. That one. Bet you heard it in your head. Sound Designed. They have designed many shows in many places, and shan't play favorites by listing only a few. But all were magnificently sonorous. And teched in the rain. Without an umbrella. www.iendenio.com [Neverbugs... little ones.]
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Alberto "Albee" Alvarado, Wig and Makeup Design La Jolla Playhouse design credits: Bhangin’ It, to the yellow house, Last Tiger in Haiti. Supervisor credits: Fly, Diana the Musical, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Kiss My Aztec, Cambodian Rock Band and Side Show. He has also worked for SD Opera (Wig/Makeup Supervisor, Design), The Old Globe, Cygnet, SD Rep and SD Junior Theatre (Design). Swing for 1st National tours of Mean Girls and Dear Evan Hansen. When he is not in the theatre, Albee enjoys creative activities, spending time with his husband, pup and friends/family. Here to amplify underrepresented voices. Representation matters. You matter. |
Chelsea Pace, Intimacy Staging and Fight Choreography (she/her) La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: A Strange Loop, Leopoldstadt, KPOP. Off-Broadway: Help, Bundle of Sticks. Select Regional: The Tattooed Lady (Philadelphia Theatre Co.); Into the Woods, The Color Purple, Daphne’s Dive, RENT, Detroit ‘67 (Signature Theatre); John Proctor Is the Villian, White Noise (Studio Theatre); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Folger); A Strange Loop (Woolly Mammoth). Select Film/TV: A League of Their Own, Harlem, RAMY, Mashed, The Best Man, Wu-Tang, Tender Bar. Author of Staging Sex: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Theatrical Intimacy. Founder of Theatrical Intimacy Education. Education: M.F.A. from Arizona State Unversity. www.chelseapace.com @professorpace |
Ursula Meyer, Voice and Text Coach has been coaching voice and text for over 35 years. Her credits include The Old Globe, South Coast Rep, Guthrie Theatre, Seattle Rep, American Player’s Theatre, Yale Rep and The Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC, among others. She is in her 27th year at UC San Diego, where she currently heads the MFA acting program. Ursula graduated with distinction from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and is a designated Linklater teacher. She is Chair of the Mentorship Initiative for the Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association and a recipient of UCSD’s Senate Award as “Distinguished Teacher of the Year.” She is deeply honored to be part of this exciting production. |
Caparelliotis Casting, David Caparelliotis/Joe Gery/Elena Sgouros La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Upcoming/Select Broadway: Ohio State Murders, Cost of Living, The Minutes, Macbeth, Skeleton Crew, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, King Lear, Hillary and Clinton, Ink, The Waverly Gallery, Boys in the Band, Three Tall Women, Meteor Shower, A Doll’s House Part 2, Jitney, The Glass Menagerie, The Front Page, Blackbird, Disgraced. Additional Theatre: MTC, Signature, Vineyard, Atlantic, Old Globe, Center Theatre Group, Goodman. Current TV: "New Amsterdam” (series casting, NBC). |
Charles Means, Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Junk, His Girl Friday. Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Waverly Gallery, Junk, The Real Thing, Seminar, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Pitmen Painters, Next Fall, Oleanna, You’re Welcome America — A Final Night with George W. Bush, Mauritius, Doubt and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?. Other credits include The Jungle (Curran Theatre) as well as productions at The Old Globe, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company and New York Theatre Workshop. Former Faculty and Department Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego. |
Matthew Bantock, Assistant Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Lempicka, WOW Festival (‘22, ‘19), Bhangin’ It, Hoopla!, Escape to Margaritaville, #SuperShinySara, Miss You Like Hell, Tiger Style!. Regional Credits: Cabaret, La Cage aux Folles, Marie and Rosetta, Spamalot, A Little Night Music, A Christmas Carol (Cygnet Theatre); Young Frankenstein, Miracle On 34th Street (‘17, ‘16), Pump Up the Volume (SDMT); An Octoroon (The Wilma); Estuary: an artist/mother story (Kimmel Center). Matthew is a proud AEA member and graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
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Diversionary Theatre is the nation’s third-oldest LGTBQ+ theatre dedicated to amplifying queer voices through the performing arts in a dynamic, inclusive, and provocative environment that celebrates and preserves their unique culture, while contributing to an environment of diversity and inclusion throughout the broader community. Since Diversionary’s founding in 1986, it has continually provided an inspiring and thought-provoking theatrical platform to explore complex and diverse stories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning communities in the form of live entertainment that can be enjoyed by all. |