Our production team features a diverse and talented group of women, queer artists, BIPOC artists, and artists with disabilities. Each of these groups is also represented in our cast, which is predominantly female or nonbinary. We hope that relevance, relatability, and representation will attract new audiences and stimulate conversation.
Victoria Bender, costume designer
Victoria (she/her) spends most of her time as a veterinarian for exotic animals, now based in Savannah, GA. She had been involved with Duke University Theater Studies and several triangle theater companies. Local credits include: Little ♀ (actor), The Trojan Women (actor), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (actor), Exit the King (puppeteer, costume construction), Maccountant (assistant costumer), This is Not a Novel (actor, designer), The Changeling (actor, designer), Norway (actor, costumer), Lake Placid (improviser), and 24-hour Theater Festival (director, organizer).
Dustin Britt, director
Dustin (he/him) has been a Triangle-based theatremaker for more than twenty years as an actor, stage manager, designer, music director, playwright, educator, arts journalist, and director with over a dozen theatre companies. He has directed productions for Seed Art Share (The Miracle Worker), Sonorous Road (No Contest, A Teller’s Tale), North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre (Heathers, asst. director), and Bare Theatre (ShakesBeer, ShakesBeer II: The Bard Strikes Back, Timon of Athens, ShakesQueer, and their 2020 production of Marat/Sade). Dustin has completed extensive training with Theatrical Intimacy Education, is certified in Mental Health First Aid, and holds a Master of Arts in Special Education from East Carolina University.
Jill Cromwell, wardrobe supervisor, as Duperret
Jill (they/them) is a Raleigh based makeup artist and performer. They last designed for William Peace University’s Dracula, and WTF’s Freakshow! This has been a truly inspiring project, and they hope to continue contributing to local productions in the future!
Rylee Davis, dance captain, as The Nurse
Rylee (she/her) has been involved with the performing arts ever since she was a child and she develops that passion as frequently as possible. Her favorite roles include Little Red Ridinghood in Into the Woods, Christine in The Strawberry Girl, and Gladys Gutzman in Junie B. Jones the Musical. She hopes the audience enjoys the show and comes away inspired and fulfilled!
Jessica Flemming, assistant musical director, as Kokol & Rossignol
Jessica (she/her) is an actor, singer, stage manager, and theatre educator. She received her BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Michigan-Flint and has 15+ years of professional experience. Over the last year, Jessica has worked with Curious Theatre Collective, Bulldog Theater Ensemble, Bare Theatre, Burning Coal Theatre Company, Blk Girls Luv The Bard, Artist’s Soapbox, The Women’s Theatre Festival, and Brave New Classics.
Maggie Hatfield, choreographer
Maggie (she/her) has been in dance and choreography for over 10 years. She has trained in many dance styles including Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, and Musical Theatre and uses the many influences to guide her in creating dance works. Her choreography show credits include Mary Poppins, Matilda, Pippin, The Tempest, Much Ado, Lion King Kids, and The Trojan Women.
Katie Judge, production manager and production designer, as Cucurucu
Simon (he/him), after working as a professional actor in Australia and Europe for most of the 1980s–with steadily decreasing amounts of employment and fulfillment–took a 25-year hiatus from the theatre. Since dipping his toe back into acting five years ago, he has been busy. He is very happy to be back on a live stage after a weird year.
Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008), lyricist
Mitchell (he/him) was an English poet, novelist, journalist, and playwright. In 1966, he completed a verse adaptation of Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade, based on the English translation by Geoffrey Skelton, for which Richard Peaslee composed an unofficial score at the Royal Shakespeare Company. His writing styles ranged widely and included anarchistic satire, anti-Vietnam demonstration songs, operatic libretti, and children’s poetry.
Naveed Moeed, stage manager & sales manager
Naveed (he/him) is a local critic, writer, actor, photographer and producer. Most recently he was in a production of Antigone. During the pandemic he has spent most of his time building websites, writing, working on antiracism with the local Quaker community and joining with local grassroots movements to increase awareness of racial justice issues
Rachel Pottern Nunn, Health and Safety lead, fight captain, as Simonne Evrard
Rachel (she/her) is a multidisciplinary theatremaker from Raleigh, NC. She earned two B.A. degrees from William Peace University and is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Arts Leadership at Virginia Tech. She has worked extensively with Triangle area theatres as a performer, director, designer, and administrator, including Bare Theatre, Raleigh Little Theatre, Honest Pint, Women’s Theatre Festival, and more.
Benjamin Penninger-Tarlton, fight choreographer
Benjamin (he/him) is excited to return to the world of Marat/Sade. Benjamin has been training with the Society of American Fight Directors for five years under the tutelage of Jeff A.R. Jones, and is a certified Actor Combatant with the SAFD.
al Riggs, composer, musical director, as Polpoch
Al (they/them) is a professional singer-songwriter based in Durham, NC. As well as operating Horse Complex Records, they have performed at large-scale festivals, recorded with popular musicians nation-wide, toured nationally with The Mountain Goats, and appeared on numerous podcasts under both their own name and VAXXERS and Criswell Brushes. Al served as musical director, arranger, and lead guitarist for Seed Art Share’s 2018 production of The Miracle Worker. This is their first full theatrical score.
St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church, producer
St. John’s began as a small group of individuals that came together on the last Sunday in February 1976 to study the Gospel of John. Facilitated by The Rev. Willie White and his partner, Robert Pace, the group continued to meet and by June of 1976, voted to affiliate with the MCC denomination. Elected by the congregation in 2018, the fifth and current pastor, The Rev. Vance Haywood, is leading the church in their charge to Build Relationship and Not Religion by being the Church and putting words into Action in our Communities. St. John’s believes that God’s gifts can be manifest through all, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation or gender identity, or economic standing. They generously hosted a 2019 production of Timon of Athens, directed by Dustin Britt for Bare Theatre.
Heather J. Strickland, intimacy choreographer
Heather (she/her) has worked in the triangle area for over 15 years as a director, actor, and dance/fight/movement/intimacy choreographer. Recent fight/intimacy choreography credits include: North Raleigh Arts & Creative Theatre’s Bonnie and Clyde, Honest Pint’s Metromaniacs, NC State University Theatre’s Ragtime, and Raleigh Little Theatre’s Pippin. Favorite projects include: Director for Bare Theatre’s all-female Titus Andronicus and the regional premiere of EverScape, Director for Raleigh Little Theatre’s What We’re Up Against, Dance Choreographer for The Justice Theater Project’s Oliver, and Movement Director for Raleigh Little Theatre’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Sonorous Road’s The Wolves. Heather works with schools and theatres as a teacher and choreographer, including St. Mary’s High School, NC State University Theatre, The Justice Theater Project, and Panther Creek High School. Heather has a degree in Theatre Arts from Flagler College in Florida and is trained by the Society of American Fight Directors.
Peter Weiss (1916-1982), playwright
Weiss (he/him) was a post-war German writer, surrealist painter, and experimental filmmaker, best known for his plays Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade and The Investigation, as well as his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance. He was a proponent of political, avant-garde, and meticulously descriptive writing. Originally produced for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Peter Brook’s Broadway production of Weiss’s Marat/Sade won the 1966 Tony Award for Best Play.