Dana Anger

Dana is entering her high school senior year. She began theatre in Alaska and recently worked with Panther Creek’s “The Addams Family”. Prior to that, she appeared in their productions of “Medea” and “Murder’s in the Heir”, as well as acting and writing during their 24-hour Play Festival. Last summer, she enjoyed playing Miranda in Burning Coal’s STC “The Tempest”. She also participates in wrestling and track at PCHS.

Emma Butler

Emma is a rising 9th grade at Knightdale high school. She enjoys art, roleplaying, being outside, and acting. She is currently involved in a non paid photo shoot as an elf with cloud steel. Previously, she has participated in several theatrical productions, including your a good man charily brown and smaller school plays. She would like to pursue acting and if that does not work out she will go to therapy. Now, she is excited for this production of Spoon river Anthology!

Lydia Elder

Lydia Elder recently graduated Rolesville High School. She has been involved in theatre since her freshman year of high school, playing roles such as Betty Parris in The Crucible, Lavinia in Titus Andronicus, and Fairy May in The Curious Savage. She has also done several musicals. Along with doing theatre, she also plays trombone, and she will be joining the Pride of the Niner Nation Marching Band at UNCC. She’s excited for Spoon River Anthology!

Kaitlyn LePage

Kaitlyn LePage will be entering Wakefield High School as a freshman. A favorite color of hers is orange. As a hobby, she enjoys playing volleyball. She also loves acting, which is a major passion of hers. At the moment, Spoon River Anthology is the first play she has been cast in. However, she looks forward to more opportunities to stand out in the future. It is very exciting for her to be a part of Spoon River Anthology

Sasha McGinley

Sasha McGinley is so excited to be involved in this program and production, her first since moving here from Pennsylvania last summer. She is a rising sophomore at Apex High School where she served as dramaturg for the Peak Players productions of "The Liar" and "Curtains". Sasha ran cross country and track and field as a freshman as well as participating in Science Olympiad. In her spare time she enjoys writing, reading, playing video games, and spending time with her dogs.

Grace Niesel

Grace Niesel (they/them) is an actor and aspiring environmental journalist. They acted (and wrote) previously for North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre’s original devised musical Perspectives, acted in North Wake Theatre’s High School Musical 2 and Shrek the Musical, and Rolesville High School’s The Curious Savage and Chicago. Their writing was also featured as a part of Burning Coal’s 2021 KidsWrite Festival, and they’re excited to work with Burning Coal again.

Jeremy Squires, Jr.

Jeremy Squires, Jr., a rising senior at Rolesville High School was born and raised in Raleigh, NC. He is currently a virtual student and has managed to successfully participate in this modality of learning since the onset of the pandemic. He was recently crowned prom prince for the Jr./Sr. prom. He has participated in band (trumpet) and is currently teaching himself how to play the keyboard. He spends his free time writing scripts for his movie ideas. Jeremy aspires to become a writer and/or actor.

Anna Jett Winter

Anna Jett is excited for her 2nd Burning Coal production, where last year she played the role of Ariel in The Tempest. She has also done numerous other school productions, including playing Juror 2 in 12 Angry Women, Snow White in Princess Party Smackdown, and being in the nun's choir in Sound of Music. Outside of scool and acting, she also loves doing aerial performance, singing, and music theory and composition.

Graham Wood

Graham Wood is certainly a man that exists. He has done productions for Burning Coal in the past, and loved doing it. He's also been a part of their KidsWrite program, writing a one act play from scratch.

Elliott Gittelsohn

Elliott Gittelsohn is thrilled to return to directing for the Burning Coal stage. Elliott resolved to join the circus at age 12. His training includes an apprenticeship at Circus Smirkus Academy, a degree in clowning from The Clown Conservatory, and training under award-winning Mongolian contortionist, Serchmaa Byamba. Elliott has performed around the world with companies including Capacitor, Sister Magic Productions, MOTH Poetic Circus, Vau de Vire Society, Celebrity Cruises, Kinetic Arts Productions, and Sir Cupcake’s Queer Circus. He has coached circus skills for Time Flies Circus, Circadium, Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, Levity Circus Collective, Kinetic Arts Center, Circo Caribe, Circus Center, Acrosports, Circus Moves, and Hampshire College. Elliott received a Bachelors in Performing Arts from the LEAP Program and conducted research on the psychological stress-recovery response of circus performers in training versus performance. Elliott was the co-director of Oregon Fringe Festival for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, was a junior fashion designer with Joe Dunbar Designs, and co-directed a circus adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest at Burning Coal Theatre Company in 2021. A recent resident of Philadelphia, Elliott enjoys fiber arts, exploring the outdoors with his dog, Toby, and long drives across the country.

Ayal Prouser

Ayal Prouser has been a professional circus artist and coach for over 10 years. He is co-founder of Time Flies Circus, a mobile circus school. He has performed and taught across the United States as well as in Asia, Europe and Africa. Ayal has received funding from the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, the Jerome Foundation, Clark University and Columbia University for circus research and creation. His graduate work at Columbia University was on the intersection of queer theory and film theory, and circus studies. He now has multiple publications on the subject.