Cast & Creatives | A Black-billed Cuckoo

Jamie Henkin (Understudy: Ruth/Marje/Tessa)
is proud to make her stage debut at La Jolla Playhouse. Originally from Chicago, she moved to San Diego as a child, and in 8th grade her mother enrolled her in Junior Theater, where the acting bug took hold for good. Since then, she's grown from playing Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz to portraying quick-witted, genuine women determined to conquer everything before them. She's proudest of Instant Justice and Phase, which won Best Picture at the San Diego "Her" Film Festival and Oceanside Film Festival, respectively. Her dream: walking her parents down the Emmy red carpet as a nominated series regular. She believes it's never too late for a new beginning. 

Jennifer Naimo (Tessa)
is thrilled to be returning to La Jolla Playhouse after originating the role of Mary Delgado in Jersey Boys! Broadway: Jersey Boys, Les Miserables, Grease!. National Tours: The Full Monty, Les Miserables, Grease!, Big River. Off-Broadway: To Whom It May Concern, Bunny Bunny (standby; Lucille Lortel). Regional: Cabaret (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Suds (Actors Theater of Louisville); Fiddler on the Roof (Muny). TV: Scrubs, Nip/Tuck, Speechless, The Closer, Maggie’s Market, Annie Claus Is Coming to Town (Hallmark). Education: NYU Grad Acting Program. Enormous gratitude to Shelley, Mat, God, Tim and Harrison and my family. Dad, this one’s for you! 

Sophia Oberg she/her (Understudy: Sadie, Tessa)
La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Other credits include: Murder on the Orient Express, The Age of Innocence (The Old Globe), Scapin (North Coast Rep), Hereville (JFEST), Six Characters Looking for an Author (British American Drama Academy). Education: B.A. in Theatre from UC San Diego. @sophiaiceberg

Jeanine Serralles (Ruth)
La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. She has appeared on stage at MTC, Lincoln Center, The Atlantic, BAM, The Vineyard, Williamstown, The Goodman, Red Bull, Playwrights Horizons, and New York Theater Workshop, among others, earning multiple nominations for the Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award, and the Lucille Lortel Award for her work. Leading roles on television include: Vampire Lestat (AMC), Apples Never Fall (Peacock), Hightown (Starz), Utopia (Amazon), and on film opposite Timothée Chalamet in Hot Summer Nights, Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman in The Woman in the Window, and recently Lemonade Blessing which premiered last year at Tribeca Film Festival. Education: M.F.A. Yale School of Drama. 

Samuel Stricklen he/him (Ed)
La Jolla Playhouse: Current Nobody. Broadway: Superior Donuts u/s. Regional: Six Degrees of Separation (The Old Globe); Primary Trust (TheaterWorks Hartford; Connecticut Critics Circle Award - Outstanding Featured Actor); Emma (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Ensemble Theater Cincinnati). He is an Emeritus Artist of SITI Company. Select SITI Company credits: The Bacchae (Guthrie Theater/ Brooklyn Academy of Music); bobrauschenbergamerica (Dublin Theatre Festival); Under Construction (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Film: The Visit. TV: The Good Wife, Marlon, Bosch, Law & Order. Education: B.F.A. in Drama from CCM; M.F.A. in Acting from UC San Diego. 

Jared Van Heel he/him (Understudy: Ed)
is delighted to return to La Jolla Playhouse following Your Local Theater Presents.... He's been fortunate to perform off-Broadway, tour North America and abroad, and work with some fine theatres, including The Old Globe, Laguna Playhouse, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Montana Repertory Theatre, and Texas Shakespeare Festival. Thanks to his family, friends, and this company for making theatre worth coming back to — and especially to Ashleigh, for graciously accepting that he apparently no longer lives at home. 

Sally Wingert she/her (Marje)
La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway/West End: La Bête. Regional: over 90 productions at Guthrie Theater since 1985, most recently The Importance of Being Earnest; The Unfriend (Asolo Repertory Theater); The Glass Menagerie, The Emporium (Alley Theater); Native Gardens (Dorset Festival Theater, Arena Stage); Tartuffe (Yale Rep, McCarter Theatre); Paradise Lost (ART); Sweeney Todd, My Antonia, Underneath the Lintel (Theater Latte Da); Doubt, Twelfth Night, Vasa Lisa (Ten Thousand Things). Many others, 44-year member Actors' Equity. 

Mat Smart (Playwright)
has written 27 full-length plays that have been produced around the United States. He is currently writing an original screenplay for Taylor Sheridan. A new musical version of his play Kill Local – with music and lyrics by indie rock sensation Liza Anne and directed by Jaime Castañeda – will premiere at Dallas Theater Center in Spring 2027. The play Kill Local originally premiered at La Jolla Playhouse. Select productions include: The Agitators (premiered at Geva; more than 20 productions since), The Royal Society of Antarctica (Gift Theatre; recipient of the Jeff Award for Best New Work in Chicago), Eden Prairie, 1971 (National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere; Riverside Theatre, New Jersey Rep, BETC), Samuel J. and K. (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Steppenwolf), Tinker to Evers to Chance (Geva, Merrimack Rep), The 13th of Paris (City Theatre), and The Hopper Collection (Huntington, Magic). His newest play The Last Nun at Lake Leaf Monastery received workshops at the O’Neill / National Playwrights Conference and Ojai Playwrights Conference this summer. An avid traveler and baseball fan, Mat has been to all of the states, all of the continents, and all of the current MLB stadiums. M.F.A.: UC San Diego. 

Shelley Butler (Director)
has worked extensively with writers on new plays and musicals at theaters across the country. Notable productions include the world premieres of Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 at South Coast Repertory, Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir in a Denver Center, Alliance Theater and Geffen Playhouse co-production, along with The Reservoir's off-Broadway premiere in an Atlantic Theater/E.S.T. co-production, Kate Hamill’s The Scarlet Letter for Two River Theater and Liz Duffy Adams’ Dear Alien at the Alley Theater. She has directed and developed over two dozen new works for theaters including: Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater, MCC Theater, Primary Stages, E.S.T., WP Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Alley Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Asolo Repertory, Hartford Stage, South Coast Repertory, Denver Center, The Old Globe, Yale Repertory Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre Company, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Geva, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, New York Stage and Film, PlayPenn, Ma-Yi, New Georges, The Playwrights' Center, The Playwrights Realm, Keen Company, New Dramatists and the Lark. She currently serves as Artistic Director for the newly created South Carolina New Play Festival. 

Wilson Chin (Scenic Design)
Broadway and National Tour: Cost of Living, Pass Over (Drama Desk, Lortel, Henry Hewes Award nominations), Next Fall, Annie (starring Whoopi Goldberg). World premieres: The Family Album and The...Hunter S. Thompson Musical (La Jolla Playhouse), Anne of Green Gables and Summer Stock (Goodspeed), Billie Jean (Chicago Shakespeare), SUMO (La Jolla/Ma-Yi/Public), Freak the Mighty (Cleveland Play House/Seattle Rep), All Nighter and Space Dogs (MCC; Lortel Award nomination), The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons), Chinese Republicans and Jonah (Roundabout). Opera: Turandot (Washington National Opera, Opera de Montreal and Dallas Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago). @wilsonchindesign 

David I. Reynoso (Costume Design)
is an internationally-acclaimed scenic/costume designer and the creator of La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls productions of La Lucha (2023), Optika Piñata (2021), Portaleza (2020), Las Quinceañeras (2019) and Waking La Llorona (2017), created via his company, Optika Moderna. Other Playhouse designs include: to the yellow house, Queens, At the Old Place, Tiger Style!, Healing Wars, The Darrell Hammond Project and Kingdom City. The Obie Award-winning, Tony-nominated costume designer of The Rocky Horror Show, Water for Elephants (Broadway) and Sleep No More (New York and Shanghai), Mr. Reynoso’s other selected work includes designs for theaters such as: ACT, ART, Arena Stage, Finnish National Ballet, Portland Center Stage, WP, Seattle Rep, among others. Other work: Teatro Piñata (New Children's Museum). Exhibit designs: Hostile Terrain 94, PostSecret and Living with Animals (SD Museum of Us). Honors: Obie Award, Creative Catalyst Grant recipient. davidreynoso.com. Instagram: @designreynoso. 

Philip Rosenberg (Lighting Design)
Broadway and West End: Boop!, Mrs. Doubtfire, Pretty Woman, The Elephant Man, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and It’s Only a Play. Regional: Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, The Old Globe, Asolo, TheatreWorks, Hartford Stage, Alliance, Huntington Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Dallas Theatre Center, Denver Center Theatre, The Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, The McCarter Theatre, Manhattan School of Music, Portland Stage Company, TACT, Barrington Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, Bay Street Theatre, Goodspeed Opera, Two River Theatre Company, George Street Playhouse, and Westport Country Playhouse. 

Bobby McElver (Sound Design)
is a sound designer, composer, and spatial audio artist working in theatre, dance, and installation art. A former company member of The Wooster Group, he has toured internationally for over a decade and presented works in many major cities. La Jolla Playhouse: Here There Are Blueberries. Other credits: Lunar Retreat (Philadelphia FringeArts), NOWISWHENWEARE (BAM), The Other Shore (On the Boards), Here There Are Blueberries (Stratford East, NYTW, Berkeley Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Co), AFTER (The Public Theater). Nominated for a 2024 Helen Hayes Award for Here There Are Blueberries. Professor at UC San Diego Theatre & Dance. www.bobbymcelver.com 

Animal Cracker Conspiracy (Puppet Designer)
La Jolla Playhouse: Gnomesense, When It Comes, TransMythical, SPECTRUM, ODDISEA and Adult Puppet Cabaret (Without Walls Festival). For Coldplay: Music of the Spheres World Tour. Diversionary Theatre: Manifest P*ssy. La Jolla Playhouse and Signature Theatre: The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical. Iain Gunn has designed and fabricated puppets for theatre, music, and large-scale performances for over 25 years. Education: B.F.A., University of British Columbia.

Gabriel Greene (Dramaturg)
joined La Jolla Playhouse’s artistic staff in 2007 and has shepherded the development of more than 40 world premieres for the Playhouse, including A Black-billed Cuckoo, The Last Tiger in Haiti, Wild Goose Dreams, The Squirrels, and a bunch of others without animals in the title. Goosebumps Alive, his immersive adaptation of R.L. Stine’s best-selling novels (co-written by Tom Salamon) premiered at The Vaults (London). With Alex Levy, he co-wrote Safe at Home, which premiered at Mixed Blood Theatre (Ivey Award) and has since been produced at Arizona State University, Kitchen Dog Theatre and University of Houston. B.A.: University of Michigan. M.Phil: Trinity College Dublin. B.F.F.: Mia Fiorella. www.gabrielgreene.com. 

Stephanie Yankwitt & Company Casting (Casting)
La Jolla Playhouse: Purpose, All the Men Who’ve Frightened Me, Primary Trust, Velour: A Drag Spectacular, Derecho, Babbitt, to the yellow house, Here There Are Blueberries and The Coast Starlight, as well as many readings and workshops. Select credits, theatre: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Broadway), Fairview (2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Soho Rep, TFANA, Berkeley Rep), Here There Are Blueberries (Shakespeare Theatre Company, NYTW and the upcoming National Tour) and Public Obscenities (Soho Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, TFANA). Stephanie Yankwitt & Company Casting cast the award-winning film In the Summers, written/directed by Alessandra Lacorazza, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection of Tribeca, Cartagena, LA Liff Film Festivals. 

Heather M. Brose she/her (Stage Manager)
Recent SM credits include: Purpose, All the Men Who've Frightened Me, Jin vs. the Beach, Alice Chan (La Jolla Playhouse); Sister Act, Water by the Spoonful and It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center); DRACULA: A Comedy of Terrors, Globe For All – Shakespeare Call & Response (The Old Globe – ASM); The Little Prince (European Tour); Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); 13 seasons at SD Rep, including In the Heights; Million Dollar Quartet, Noises Off, West Side Story (Lamb’s Players Theatre); Somewhere Over the Border, The Little Fellow, The Great Leap, Pageant, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret (Cygnet Theatre); Salome and The Father, directed by Estelle Parsons for The Actors' Studio starring Al Pacino and Dianne Wiest; and Stephen Sondheim’s 70th Birthday Bash at the Hollywood Bowl. Proud member of Actor’s Equity Association where she serves members as a Western At-Large Councilor. 

Lisa Toudic (Assistant Stage Manager)
La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional credits: Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous, The Reservoir, Noises Off (Geffen Playhouse); a modern adaptation of A Doll’s House by Justin Emeka (Two River Theater); Eureka Day (Pasadena Playhouse). Education: Master’s in Education, B.A. in Stage Management from the University of Southern California. www.lisatoudic.com 

Amanda Salmons she/her (Stage Management Swing)
La Jolla Playhouse: The Heart, Blueprints to Freedom. Regional credits include: Fiasco Theater’s Bartleby, Ride, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Come Fall in Love, Bob Fosse's Dancin', The Heart of Rock and Roll, October Sky, The White Snake (The Old Globe); Kiss Me Kate (Hartford Stage). Education: UC San Diego.