CAST

Alysha Arroyo

Alysha Arroyo, bilingual native from Isabela, Puerto Rico, is currently a second-year student at Converse University, pursing her Bachelors in Theatre. Arroyo’s experience on the stage started in high school with the play Ocho Mujeres as ‘Pierrette’, then she appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as ‘Helena’ at USC Upstate. Her passions include film acting, singing, writing, and playing volleyball, believing strongly in teamwork, and is a very upbeat and determined person whose dream it is to spread laughter and emotions through her acting.

Caleb Davidson

Caleb Davidson is a Christian-raised man from Casey, Illinois. Caleb is a trained actor of the Micheal Chekhov technique. Caleb’s interests include technical theatre; some of his credits include Light Board Operator for Cats, Lighting Design for dance capstone project The Lines We Cross, and acting as Player Two/Osric/Ghost in Ophelia. Caleb’s passion is voice-over.

Genesis Medley

Genesis Medley is a Freshman at Converse University majoring in Psychology and Theater. She has performed in the Converse dance show (Released and other works). At her high school she has performed as Althea (Silenced on Barbour Street) and Ms.Fairfax (Jane Eyre). Also in her senior year in high school she was deck (Mamma Mia). They have done a variety of ensemble work in various musicals.

Jordan Smith

Jordan Smith is thrilled to be part of Converse University’s “Metamorphosis”. Jordan is a Musical Theatre and Dance double major. Some of her favorite credits include Converse University’s “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (Mitch), Converse University’s “Hair” (Sheila), Converse University's ““Released and Other Works” (Dancer), Rock Hill Theatre’s “Sweeney Todd” (Tobias), and writing and directing Rock Hill Theatre Camp’s “Sherlock Holmes and the Something of the Baskervilles”. Jordan is actively seeking representation. She would like to thank God for giving her the opportunity to do what she loves with people she loves and her family and friends for their love and support.

Keith Scott

Keith Scott is a freshman here at Converse with a Theatre Major. This is Keith’s first time performing in a college production. Keith has been a part of 4 productions at his former high school (Airport Highschool, West Columbia SC), Which are Bright. Young. Things. (Neil Pullover), Little Women (Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence), Anastasia (Gleb Vagonov), and Romeo and Juliet (Romeo). He would like to thank his former director Caitlin White for giving him the opportunity for being part of all the productions he was part of. He would also like to thank his family and friends for all of the love and support they gave him, with the honorable mention of the theatre department of Converse for allowing him to be a part of something so unique. Keith hopes everyone brought their tissue boxes with them, because everyone’s in for a very emotional ride!

Madison Kiely

Madison Kiely is a Freshman who is majoring in Theatre and still deciding on a minor. She was most recently seen in this season’s musical (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as Olive Ostrovsky. She also worked in tech for Converse University’s Man Made Monsters this past fall. She plans to work as an Actor and Director for stage and film productions! She loves Converse and the time she has spent here so far and cannot wait to make more memories!

Ryan Colvard

Ryan Colvard is a Senior at Converse University studying Theatre. He wants to one day write his own stories for both the stage and the screen. He is very thankful for his time at Converse and for all of the guidance of his professors. He would also like to dedicate this performance to his good friend, Ben.

Serger Jimenez-Sanchez

Serger is a senior at Converse University. He is pursuing a degree in musical theatre and Hispanic studies. He first started in Musical Theatre in his sophomore year of high school and continues to work and improve in acting, performance, and singing. He has so far been in four musicals; 'In the Heights, Hair, Cats, and most recently, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This is Serger’s first time being in a straight play in his college career. Serger is also involved at his school by being the president of the Palmetto Players on campus. He is also of Costa Rican descent and fluent in Spanish, and he has recently studied abroad in Costa Rica last fall semester to learn more about Latin American Theatre. After graduation, he wishes to find a position in Theatre Administration.

Zed Southerlin

Zed Southerlin is a freshman Theatre major at Converse University. This is her first time being on stage at Converse. At Travelers Rest High School, she performed in a myriad of productions such as Miss Scarlet in ‘Clue’, Chris in ‘The Play That Goes Wrong [High school Edition]’, The Narrator in ‘21 Chump Street’, Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet in Harvey, Girl in ‘The Bright Blue Mailbox Suicide Note’, and Floatsam in ‘The Little Mermaid’. She would like to thank her mother, Brandy Harris, family, friends, and her former theatre director, Yesenia Rodreguiz, for supporting her in her goals and always pushing her to achieve them. She looks forward to continuing to give her all on and off stage for theatre at Converse University.

CREW

Olivia Rosman

Olivia Rosman is a junior at Converse pursuing a BA in Theatre with a Minor in Dance and Hispanic Studies. In the Fall she stage managed the Released: and Other Works Dance Concert. She has also stage managed HAIR: the Musical and was the Assistant Stage Manager for the Watch Your Step Dance Concert and CATS: The Musical.

Kat Daniels

Kat Daniels is a senior German Studies and Business Administration major and a Theatre minor at Converse University. They were most recently seen at Converse as the Stage Manager for this season’s musical (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). They have also been seen at Converse as the SBO and A2 (HAIR, CATS), the Projections Operator (Released & Other Works), and the Assistant Stage Manager (Man Made Monsters, HAIR). They also often work as the SBO, A2, or LBO for events in Twichell Auditorium for groups like the Spartanburg Philharmonic, Converse Symphony Orchestra, and Spartanburg Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (Blues dell’arte (SPO), Dreams and Destinies (CSO), SPYO Fall Concert (SPYO)). Outside of Converse, they recently were the SBO for South Carolina Children’s Theatre’s production, Listen. They plan to pursue a career in sound engineering and design in the entertainment industry after graduation, having secured a position as Florida Repertory Theatre’s Sound Intern for the 2025-26 season. They are so very grateful for the opportunities, connections, and friendships they have made in their time at Converse.

Lane Carns

Lane Carns is a freshman here at Converse with a major in Theatre and a minor in Politics. While here at Converse they have worked on shows Released and Other Works as a deckhand and also had the opportunity to be an assistant stage manager for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. They have also been a part of the design class for Metamorphosis which has taught them how a production is built from start to finish. They are from York, South Carolina and at their high school they stage managed for productions of Cinderella and the Candidate, was make-up designer for Wizard of Oz and Anybody for Tea?.

Caleb Davidson

Hayley Benton

Hayley Benton is a Freshman at Converse pursuing a Bachelors in Theatre and Psychology. This is her second official converse production and position as head wardrobe following Released and other Works in the fall. Prior to college she worked as Head Costumer and Head Projections for shows including Les Miserables, Catch Me If You Can, Into The Woods, and Something Rotten. She loves sewing and all things theatre and design. She very much hopes you enjoy the show!

JaPrincess Jones

JaPrincess Jones is a sophomore at Converse University and will receive her BAs in Musical Theatre and Dance in the spring of 2027. She has studied the Michael Chekhov acting technique with Melissa Owens Kaley, and ballet and dance composition with Allison Roux and Carrie Preus. You may have seen her in Converse University’s “Watch Your Step”, “Come and Go”, “Hair”, “Released and other works” “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, and “Nexus”. This is her first time as a House Manager and is very excited.

Joy Cook

Joy is a freshman double major studying Musical Theatre and Dance. She grew up dancing and started doing community theater in 2022 in her hometown, Myrtle Beach. You may have previously seen her in “Nexus”, as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and “Released and Other Works.” This is Joy’s first “behind the scenes” job and she is excited to be switching things up!

Madison Kiely

Bryson McDonald

Bryson is a sophomore Musical Theatre major at Converse University set to graduate in 2027. Roles include Rudolpho in Greenwood Community Theatre’s Matilda Jr, Hubert/Ensemble in Converse University’s Hair, and Scrop in the Petrie School of Music’s Girl on the Train. Bryson performed his dream role as Leaf Coneybear in Converse University’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in March.

Melissa Owens Kaley

Converse University Theatre & Dance department’s Chair and Resident Studio Acting professor, Melissa Owens Kaley teaches multiple Acting courses, as well as Costume Design and Sewing for the Stage; she regularly leads international Study-Travel Theatre courses (past trips include England, Ireland, and Greece). Kaley is an award-winning teacher and director, earning the Converse Cato award for Faculty Excellence, and Kennedy Center awards for Excellence in Directing and Playwriting for her new adaptation of Lady Gregory’s THE DRAGON. Her Directing credits include ALW’s CATS, an all-female 1776, Friel’s DANCING AT LUGHNASA, Beckett’s COME AND GO, and Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. With graduate degrees in both Theatre Performance and Costume Design, she has designed or built costumes for over eighty productions so far, has nearly 40 years’ membership in Actors’ Equity Association, and is a proud alum of Virginia’s Barter Theater resident Acting company. Known for her passion for developing the individual artist’s voice while joyfully collaborating in an inclusive creative ensemble, Kaley embraces the visionary and practical methodology of the Michael Chekhov Acting technique, directing and teaching annually with the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (GLMCC).

Meg Hanna-Tominaga

Meg Hanna-Tominaga spent the Fall of 2023 in Japan, where she trained in traditional Kabuki scenic painting techniques at CSS Sogo Butai, a major production house that serves theaters across Japan; the work she did in-house was seen on several stages, including the National Kabuki Theatre of Tokyo. She also trained in the production side of Kabuki, working backstage on a total of seven different shows across Aichi and Gifu prefectures. She spent the winter months of 2023 & 2024 in Honolulu, where she applied the training she received through CSS Sogo Butai to the design, construction, and painting of the set for the 100th Anniversary of Kabuki in English at the University of Hawaii – Mānoa. She received her MFA from UH – Mānoa in 2014. She has designed for theatres and opera companies in Hawaii and across the mainland, from California to Florida. She has worked for Sony and Nickelodeon Animation Studios as a color stylist on shows such as Spongebob Squarepants, Hey Arnold!, and Invader Zim, and she has worked as production designer on several independent films and webisode series. Some of her award-winning collaborative work has been sponsored by grants from the Hawai’i Board of Tourism, the Int’l Assoc. of Natural Textile, the Asian Theatre Endowment Fund, and the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu. In 2014, Meg won a fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center where she worked directly under Tony Award Winner Rachel Hauck. As a theatre practitioner, each of Meg Hanna-Tominaga’s engagements brings a new field of research, from true crime in the Wild West for her play Knock Off to Japan in the 1930s for the American and English language premiere of Kishida Rio’s Thread Hell (¬for which she won the KC-ACTF National Honorable Mention in Design Excellence, the NaPAT Alternate for Korean Study Exchange and Design Excellence Award, the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas Scholarship in Design. Summer 2025 will see the publication of her chapters in Theatrical Model Making: Creating Effective Digital and Analog Models for Theatrical Designers and Miniaturists (Routledge/Focal Press).

Barry Whitfield

Barry has an MFA-IA from Goddard College and is a scenographer, set, lighting, costume, sound designer and director. He made his debut with Converse Theatre and Dance as sound designer in last season's musical Cats. In 2023, he made his debut with Glow Lyric Theatre as the seasons Production Manager. In the summer 2022, Barry conceived and directed, Death of a Nation, a devised piece, which was USC Upstate Theatre’s entry in FUSE International Festival. Barry recently retired after 28 years as the Theatre Manager and Technical Director for the Performing Arts Center at the University of South Carolina Upstate where he also taught technical theatre classes. Barry has received meritorious design awards from The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for his set and lighting design for the University’s productions of Picnic, Our Country’s Good, Very Still and Hard to See, Let the Right One In and the set design for Nunsense, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Look Homeward Angel and Fuddy Meers, as well as, one for applied theatre technology for The Bluest Eye. Barry also designed the entry archway into the stadium for the Pan American Games for the Visually Impaired and co-designed the entry and lighting for The World Goal Ball Championships!

Kat Daniels

Caleb Davidson

Zed Southerlin

Lane Carns

Joseph Redmon

Madison Kiely

Malachi Hudson

Joe Tomberlin

Mayes Hopkins

Mayes is the Technical Director here at Converse College and has his Associates Degree in Theatre from Gainesville State College. Before coming to the Upstate, Mayes was the Technical Director at The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina in Hilton Head, SC. There he oversaw and built over 30 shows. Some of those shows include Singin’ In The Rain, Gypsy, Mamma Mia, Newsies, Legally Blonde, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Color Purple. In Hilton Head, he also worked with The Lean Ensemble Theatre, Hilton Head Preparatory School, and Hilton Head Christian Academy as one of their scenic designers. Mayes has also worked at Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina as their Assistant Technical Director. During his time at Flat Rock Playhouse, he worked with and mentored college apprentices and Interns and helped them hone their technical skills in the scene shop. Mayes has also designed shows for Gainesville High School in Gainesville, GA. Some of his favorite scenic designs have been In The Heights, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Godspell, and Tea At Five.

GUEST ARTISTS

Courtney E. LeBauer

Steve Graff

Kate Hanna

Ginni Farmer

Kevin Roux

*Special thanks to Eliza Smith DeBevoise