#WELCOMEHOME
Angel Food Cake
Written by Kelli Lynn Burton
Directed by Erin Gorski
Director's Note
At the heart of this play there is loss and love. Each character strives to fill the familiar void created by unrealized dreams and the too soon departure of those that mean the most to us. Each has a moment of fantastical escape where in Bernie's words "life's a little more bearable." Through it all, they are fighters, ultimately learning that home is not any one place, but rather the people that are willing to "believe along with us".
Working on Kelli Burton's heartwarming words, with this talented cast, and the ever supportive Strange Sun creative team has been a gift. All my thanks to my family and friends, and to those of the cast and crew, whom continue to believe along with all of us. Welcome home.
CAST
in alphabetical order
*appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity
Brandon Burton (Skeet) Brandon is an actor/director from Saint Louis, Missouri. Educated at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Brandon trained formally in 2011 at the William Esper Studio New York City. Brandon has worked as an actor for the last 3 years working with companies like The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and PS 122 as well as with renowned performers like Rick Sordelet and Tim Miller. Brandon co-founded and serves as Artistic Director of the artist collective SSBKLYN, a social justice multimedia company dedicated to bettering the human condition by producing the works of underrepresented people and populations. Brandon co-hosts, curates and edits the company’s first project, “The Anti-Americana Podcast” which is now available on Soundcloud.
Dillon Heape* (Brother Augustine) Dillon is thrilled to be making his Strange Sun debut after several workshops of Angel Food Cake with The Greenhouse Project. New York credits include Reconciling (The Barrington Collective / FringeNYC), Molly Murphy and Neil deGrasse Tyson On Our Last Day On Earth (NYMF), Tartuffe! (Three Day Hangover). Regional credits include productions or workshops with the American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mile Square Theatre, Summer Rep Theatre Festival, PearlDamour, and the Moscow Art Theatre. TV/web: Sublets, Maybe Sunshine, and The Weekend Detectives. BFA: University of Evansville. MFA: American Conservatory Theater. AEA, SAG-AFTRA. www.dillonheape.com
Lisa Kitchens* (Jean) Off Broadway: Everything You Touch (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater/The Cherry Lane). Regional: Radiunt Abundunt (Triad Stage), Napoli!,Major Barbara, A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater), Henry IV, Part II, Man in the Iron Mask (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). Other credits include: Raft (59E59/Edinburgh International Fringe Festival), The House of Bernarda Alba (Moscow Art Theater), Circus Circus (New York International Fringe Festival), White Embers (Sam French OOB Short Play Festival). Lisa holds an MFA from The American Conservatory Theater and a BFA from The University of Evansville.
Geraldine Leer* (Bernie) Geraldine most recently appeared in the new Charles Mee play Our Voices Project directed by Kim Weild at the New Ohio Theater's Ice Factory Festival. She has appeared at the Roundabout Theatre in The Country Girl and Member of the Wedding, and in regional productions at The La Jolla Playhouse, The Dallas Theater Center, Geva, Syracuse Stage, and The Westport Country Playhouse. TV: Feed The Beast, Law & Order,The Lies Boys Tell, Nash Bridges, Empty Nest Film: I Can, I Will I Did, as Hillary Clinton in the indie feature 39 1/2, and many moons ago as Lorna in the iconic film Mystic Pizza. www.GeraldineLeer.com
Barbra Wengerd* (Vera) Selected NY Theater: Off-Broadway: Taming of the Shrew (Duke on 42nd) and A Wilder Christmas (Peccadillo Theater Company); Tamburlaine (Target Margin), All God's Chillun Got Wings (Civic Ensemble); Medea (Jean Cocteau Repertory), Maybe Baby, It's You (Penguin Repertory); Fit for Feet (Vital Theatre Company); Blank Canvas (HERE Arts Center); The Inn at Lake Devine (Tongue in Cheek). Selected Regional: To Kill a Mockingbird, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (Syracuse Stage); Cyrano de Bergerac, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, All's Well That Ends Well (The Old Globe); A The Glass Menagerie (Arizona Theater Company); Leaving Iowa (The Royal George); Panic (International Mystery Writers' Festival); Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet (National Shakespeare Company - National Tour). TV: The Family; I Shudder. Web Series:The Digressions; Honestly, Amelia; #ThatThingFromBefore. MFA, University of San Diego.
Erin Gorski - Director - From a small town in Connecticut, Erin Gorski received her BFA from University of Connecticut and her MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre's Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. She has directed for the Tony Award Winning Infinity Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Wingspan Arts, among others. She has taught acting, movement, playwrighting, and speech in the US and internationally, and is currently a professor at Montclair State University, where her focus is the Suzuki Acting Method. She resides in Manhattan. www.eringorski.com
Kelli Lynn Burton - Playwright - Born and raised in Kentucky, Kelli Lynn Burton received her undergraduate degree from Berea College and her MFA from Murray State. She has written scripts for Emmy Award-winning documentaries for History Channel and PBS. She is employed by a renowned puppet workshop where she works with the Muppets and Sesame Studios. Her short plays have been produced by Grex Group Theater (New York), Fort Point Theatre (Boston), and Fusion Theater Company (Albuquerque). Angel Food Cake, her first full-length play. She lives in Brooklyn.
Kat Gavornik- Production Stage Manager - Kat is a freelance stage manager based in the tristate area. Selected credits include Hot Season (Strange Sun Theater), Pins and Needles (NYU-Steinhardt), College Colors (Crossroads Theatre Company), and three seasons with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Kat has served as the Production Stage Manager/Tour Manager for over 40 productions and in-school residencies with the education program at McCarter Theatre Center. She has also interned at Berkshire Theatre Festival and Blue Man Group. She holds a BFA in theatre production from Rutgers University.
Michelle Tobias - Lighting Designer - is thrilled to be working with Strange Sun Theatre again, having previously designed The Drowning Girls! She is an alum of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Previous design credits include: Pageant Princess: The Musical (Planet Connections); The Crucible, The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, What The Butler Saw (FDU); Royal Fables (Libra Theatre Company); born bad, the displacement project, The Altruists (NYU). Previous associate/assistant credits include: The Nutcracker (Ballet Etudes; Westport, CT); Marcellus Shale, Obskene (Talking Band); The Dance of Death (Red Bull Theatre). She also works as a Master Electrician at FDU and NYU: Tisch, teaches at 2 private schools in NYC, and adjuncts at FDU. Facebook: MTobias Design;mtobiasdesign.com
Jonathan Cottle - Scenic Designer Jonathan Cottle is a theatre artist working in multiple capacities. His lighting and scenic design, and original creative work has been seen at: Theatre Row, the Incubator Arts Project, Abrons Arts Center, The Flea Theater, The Irondale, The Cherry Lane, Dixon Place, New York University, Fordham University, Dean College, HERE, and the Bushwick Starr, as well as many many site specific locations around New York City. He has worked with the companies: Foundry Theatre, Object Collection, Live Source, MaYi and Theatre Reconstruction Ensemble. He enjoys building, creating and rehearsing in backyards in the summer, unheated church lofts in the winter and dusty basements and empty warehouses all year round. He is currently developing a series of pieces for living rooms, a Shakespeare adaptation and an immersive piece. jonathancottle.com
Dalia Sevilla - Run Crew - Dalia Sevilla is thrilled to be involved in her second season with Strange Sun. She is a recent grad of the Vocal Performance program at NYU Steinhardt. She is a performer, director, producer, and lighting designer. She is the founder of the NYU Classical Voice Club through which she produced and directed two operas: Bastien und Bastienne and Hänsel und Gretel. Her Steinhardt performance credits include Malvolio in Twelfth Night, 4@15, First Stages, Pulsing and Shaking and New Student Cabaret. Other credits include Carmina Burana at Charles University in Prague, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Truly Scrumptious) and Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress) She also designed the lights for Players Club's production of A Little Night Music.
