As a producing company, Riverside Theatre hires a new company of professionals to present each play. Read on to find out more about the actors, directors, designers and technicians who create the magic of live theatre.

| A - C | D - F | G - K | L - S | T - Z |

Kristen Behrendt [back to top]
(Cathy in The Last Five Years) has appeared at Riverside Theatre in Ruthless! The Musical and last season's Walking The Wire. This past summer Kristen appeared in Rough Crossing and The Real Thing at Iowa Summer Rep. Other credits include Broadway: Les Miserables, Sunset Boulevard and the original companies of King David and Side Show. National Tour Les Miserables (Fantine) and many productions in Chicago including The Ballad of Little Jo at Steppenwolf Theatre and Violet in Side Show at Northlight Theatre that earned her a Jeff Award Nomination. Her television credits include Sex and The City and various commercials. Kristen holds a B.F.A in Musical Theatre from The University of Michigan. Kristen is very excited to be teaching "Musical Theatre Performance" for 9-12th graders this winter here at Riverside. Thanks to her husband, Jordan, and their 2 children and to her entire family for their support and babysitting help!

Mary Bryant [back to top]
(Sibyl in Private Lives) is appearing at Riverside Theatre for the first time. She is absolutely delighted to be working with this great and fun company and is having a wonderful time. Mary has recently appeared in a number of University of Iowa productions including The Secret of Blue, Uncontrollable Mystery, A Man’s a Man, and A Yellow Fever. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and Biological Sciences from the University of Iowa. Mary thanks her family for their constant love and support.
Tim Budd (Elyot in Private Lives) was last seen at Riverside as Laurence the nurse in Emma’s Child back in 1998. Since then, he was accepted into the University if Iowa’s graduate acting program and completed the three years of study toward an MFA in May of this year. Tim acted in a variety of plays at UI Theatres. His most recent work there was in Iowa Summer Rep’s Tom Stoppard series, appearing as Ivor Fish in Rough Crossing and Bennett the tap-dancing butler in Travesties. He is currently employed at Prairie Lights Books.

Edie Campbell [back to top]
(Edie in Emily Dickinson & I and Cloning Mary Shelley) last appeared at Riverside Theatre in Emily Dickinson & I in 2002. Favorite roles at Riverside include Maid/Prince Hal/Henry V, The Wooden O; Celimene, The Misanthrope; Elsa, Road to Mecca; Rosie, Dancing at Lughnasa. Bess, Abundance; Me, Him; Dabby Bryant, Our Country's Good; The Kentucky Cycle; Slavs!; The Illusion; Maud Gonne, Son of a Gonne, all at University Theatres. Emily Stilson, Wings; Susan, Bed Among the Lentils for Liar's Theatre, Cedar Rapids; Arms and the Man; Twelfth Night; A Christmas Carol for The Old Creamery Theatre. Edie trained at The Guildford School of Acting, UK.

Ron Clark [back to top]
(Artistic Director/Resident Artist; Ross in The Goat, Director of Much Ado About Nothing) is a founder of Riverside Theatre. In addition to calling Riverside Theatre home, Ron has worked in theatres around the Midwest and Seattle. He recently premiered his new one-man play, Grocery Stories, and this spring he will direct Rebecca Gilman's play Blue Surge for Cornell College, where he is an Artist-in-Residence. This past summer he was seen in the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival as Banquo and Siward in Macbeth and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other favorite roles include Robert in Proof, Dennis Shepard and others in The Laramie Project, Ziggy in Side Man, and Marc in Art. Ron's recent directing credits include Fuddy Meers for Riverside Theatre and The Comedy of Errors for RTSF. Ron holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Iowa where he has been honored in the Iowa Gallery of Theatre Arts Professionals.

David Q. Combs [back to top]
(Martin in The Goat) has most recently appeared as Duncan, Doctor, and Old Man in Macbeth and Egeus and Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the 2003 Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival. Other RTSF roles include Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Jacques in As You Like It, Father Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Aegeon in The Comedy of Errors. David has also performed in Equus on Broadway with Richard Burton, Off-Broadway as Dracula in The Passion of Dracula, Richard in Lion in Winter in a national tour for the Long Wharf Theatre, plus many more New York City and regional credits. He is currently on television as the Ace Hardware spokesman and Frankenstein in Osteo Bi-Flex commercials.

Jackson Doran [back to top]
(Billy in The Goat) has appeared in numerous Riverside productions over the years. His favorites have been Ray Dooley in The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Buddy in Holiday Memories. He has most recently been seen as Malcom in Macbeth and Lysander in A Midsummer Nights Dream during last summer’s Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival. Jackson will finish his B.A. in theater arts this spring at the University of Iowa. He wishes to thank his many amazing educators over the years.

Kristin Horton [back to top]
(Director for Grocery Stories and Measure for Measure) recently directed Uncontrollable Mystery at the University of Iowa. Horton began her theater career in 1995 as a member of Arena Stage's groundbreaking social change theater Living Stage Theatre Company. While in DC, she was the Artistic Director of Full Contact Improvisation Company whose piece Journey debuted at The Studio Theatre Secondstage. She has also produced numerous education programs for the Kennedy Center. Her collaboration with writer/actors Tanisha Brady-Christie and Lisa Biggs, Memory is a Body of Water, appeared at the National Black Theatre Festival this summer. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa's MFA Directing Program and attended the 2003 Sundance Theatre Lab as a Director Grantee.

Jody Hovland [back to top]
(Artistic Director/Resident Artist; Stevie in The Goat) has been part of the leadership as well as a working artist with Riverside Theatre since its founding in 1981. Recent performances include Louise in Private Lives, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Witch 1 in Macbeth. Other performance credits include the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Vivian Bearing in Wit, Sarah Daniels in Spinning into Butter, and the one-woman plays The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, The Median Strip and Shirley Valentine. Favorite directing projects include The Laramie Project, Tartuffe, A. . . My Name Will Always Be Alice and Of Mice and Men. Jody holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Iowa, where she is included in the Iowa Gallery of Theatre Arts Professionals. She is also an Artist-in-Residence at Cornell College, where she directs and teaches acting.

Mark Hunter [back to top]
(Director of The Goat) is an Artistic Associate at Riverside Theatre. For the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival, he has directed Twelfth Night or What You Will, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. At Riverside Theatre’s Gilbert Street theatre, Mark has directed Proof, Wit, How I Learned to Drive, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Harry’s Way, and many others. In addition to his work at RT, he has more than twenty years experience as a director including productions such as Noises Off, Polaroid Stories and Betty’s Summer Vacation at Cornell College, Bricks and Lyrics at the University of Texas New Works Festival, and One Flea Spare at Off Center in Austin. Mark holds an M.F.A. in directing from the University of Iowa, and is a professor in the Department of Theatre and Communications at Cornell College.

Katherine A. Kluseman [back to top]
(Stage Manager for Private Lives) is pleased to be working with Riverside Theatre for the first time. Katherine is currently a Technical Director at Dreamwell Theatre and Graffiti Theatre. Recent shows include Dearmwell’s Raised in Captivity and Graffiti’s V-Zone and Uncolor. Katherine has also stage managed True West at Sledge Hammer Theatre and Missing Footage at the Old Globe, both in San Diego, CA. Katherine is a graduate of Clark College in Dubuque, IA with a BA in Business Administration and Drama/Speech.

Dan Knight [back to top]
(Sound Designer for Grocery Stories and Composer for Much Ado About Nothing) was the composer of this summer’s score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as last year’s The Comedy of Errors at the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival. Dan is a Steinway Artist who has also composed music for Riverside Theatre’s productions of Fuddy Meers and Small Miracles. An internationally known composer and jazz pianist, his concert schedule this year will include performances in Edinburgh, London, Paris and New York City.

Jack Lynch [back to top]
(Director of Emily Dickinson & I and Cloning Mary Shelley) Training: BA and MFA degrees in Theatre, with an emphasis in movement and performance, from The Naropa Institute, Boulder, Colorado, and the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, respectively. Jack is a free-lance tutor, director, and movement/acting coach, and has directed, performed, and collaborated in several devised works, (none of which you would have seen) in Iowa, Colorado, New York, and London, and has acted in several productions at the University of Iowa, Riverside Theatre, and Community Theatre in Iowa City. He has been guest lecturer in movement, improvisation and acting at Central School of Speech and Drama (ATP Course and Summer Courses), Circus Space, Arts Ed London, and is currently teaching at The Conservatoire of Acting and Musical Theatre at Guildford, and at Guildford College, Surrey, England.

Mollie Mook [back to top]
(Amanda Prynne in Private Lives) is making her debut performance at Riverside Theatre. Mollie received her BA in Acting the University of Colorado and has just completed her MFA in acting at the University of Iowa. She just finished playing Annie in The Real Thing and Gwen in Travesties at Iowa Summer Rep’s Tom Stoppard series. Favorite roles include Sylvia in Sylvia and Lisa in Collected Stories.

John Montague [back to top]
(Original Lighting Designer for Cloning Mary Shelley) trained at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland (the Samuel Beckett Centre). John has worked in the West End, Provincial Theatre, Glyndebourne Opera and freelance lighting. In 2002 John set up Design Evolution that operates across all production and performance fields – working on events such as the launch party for the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ through to theatre with dance and drama companies for specific shows and tours.
Michael O'Connell (Lighting Designer for Private Lives, Scenic and Lighting Designer for Grocery Stories and The Last Five Years) has designed lighting for Cloud 9, A Tale We Told the Queen..., The Learned Ladies and other productions at the University of Iowa. He was most recently a design instructor for Riverside Theatre’s Young People’s Company production of Twelfth Night Or What You Will. He is currently completing graduate studies in lighting design at the University of Iowa.

Jennifer Eve Schuchert [back to top]
(Stage Manager for The Goat) was most recently stage manager for Beat- Dance Gala 2003, and The Merry Widow at the University of Iowa. Jen has been stage managing at Riverside since 1998. Favorite RT stage management credits include Macbeth, Proof, Ruthless! The Musical and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. She was the violinist in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the violist in the RTSF production of Twelfth Night and appeared as Wilma in RT’s production of The 7 Dwarfs. Other stage management credits include work for Brandeis University, Stoneham Theatre, and New Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts. Jen studied with the Marymount College London Drama Program and graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in theatre arts.

Christina Smith [back to top]
(Stage Manager for Grocery Stories) is excited to begin her fourth season at Riverside Theatre. Recent Riverside credits include Assistant Stage Manager for Ruthless! The Musical, Fuddy Meers and Proof, as well as House Manager for the past three years of the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival including As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth. Christina received her BS in Clinical Laboratory Science at the University of Iowa and currently works for the University of Iowa Gene Discovery Program.

Michael Sokoloff [back to top]
(Fight Choreographer for Private Lives, Director of The Last Five Years) is an Artistic Associate at Riverside Theatre where he recently directed Ruthless! The Musical, and has coordinated Walking the Wire: Monologues at Riverside the past four seasons as well as a new late-night theatre lab, Cannonball, this past season. Other Riverside productions Michael has directed include Ruthless! The Musical, Side Man, The Memory of Water, Equus, A…My Name Will Always Be Alice and Emma’s Child. Michael has also directed for the University of Iowa Summer Repertory Theatre and premiered four plays in Chicago including his most recent, Bend in the Road, which won the Northwest Regional New Play Conference Competition. He was also the fight director for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Tony winning production of The Grapes of Wrath.

Lindsay Stang [back to top]
(Costume and Scenic Designer for Private Lives,The Last Five Years, Much Ado About Nothing and Measure For Measure) has recently designed costumes for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It for Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival. She has also designed costumes for other productions at Riverside Theatre, including Ruthless and The Memory of Water, as well as working with the designers for last summer’s Young People’s Company production of Two Gentlemen of Verona and this summer’s Twelfth Night. Other credits include costume design for the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, the Pittsburgh Opera Theatre, Stargazer Film Productions and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She received her MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University and her BA in Theatre and Art from Cornell College.

Matthew Vire [back to top]
(Victor in Private Lives, Jamie in The Last Five Years) has appeared previously in Riverside Theatre productions of Side Man, The Comedy of Errors, and Romeo and Juliet. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Iowa, where he acted in many productions including The Seagull, Marat/Sade, Uncontrollable Mystery, and O Pioneers! among others. Recently, he appeared in Rough Crossing, Travesties, and The Real Thing with Iowa Summer Rep.

Edward Matthew Walter [back to top]
(Scenic Designer for The Goat) is happy to return to Riverside again for another production, after having designed last season’s Fuddy Meers. He is now in his third year of the M.F.A. Scenic and Lighting program at the University of Iowa and will graduate in May. Some of Matthew’s scenic designs include the UI Mainstage productions of The Flea in Her Ear and Life is a Dream and Travesties for the UI Summer Rep. He has also worked as Technical Director for Riverside’s Young Peoples Company’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, and volunteered as an electrician for several RT productions. His next project will be designing set for the UI Partnership in the Arts’ production of The Seven, an adaptation by Will Power of The Seven Against Thebes. As always, Matthew sends his love and thanks to his partner Brian.

Sebastian Williams [back to top]
(Lighting Designer for Emily Dickinson & I) received a B.A. in Theatre Design at Central School of Speech and Drama. He currently works as a lighting designer in the live events market for Essential Lighting Group. Recent events have included MTV2 5th Birthday Party, VH1 Bands Reunited, England Rugby Team World Cup Celebration Dinner. Seb hopes to win the lottery and get back into theatre lighting ASAP.

Bryon Winn [back to top]
(Lighting Designer for The Goat) designed the lights for the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival productions of Twelfth Night, or What You Will, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other work at Riverside Theatre includes Spinning Into Butter, Wit, Accidental Death of An Anarchist, Keely and Du, Harry’s Way, and the Young People’s Company productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing, among many others. Bryon’s other regional credits include work at Trinity Rep, Portland Stage Company, Breadloaf, Axis Theatre, and Utah Musical Theatre. Bryon is a member of the theatre faculty at the University of Iowa.

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