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Cast

Creative Team

Meet the Company

Ahdis Beruk

Harriet Jacobs

Ahdis (she/her), who is from Mississippi, is a senior at Howard University with an acting major and playwriting minor. In the Howard theater department, she’s performed in the Chapel Choir, the musical production “Coming Home,” and as Louise in August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars.” This year, Ahdis is the historian/dramaturg for Howard Players’ mainstage productions. Outside of Howard, Ahdis has been a program management intern and undergraduate fellow for Ocean Ana Rising Inc. and a TV development intern for Amazon Studios’ drama department.

Allison McAlister

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Allison (she/her) is an actor based in Washington, and she is delighted to have the opportunity to tell this story with Perisphere. She has had the privilege of performing with a number of companies in the area, including the Endangered Species Theatre Project, Best Medicine Rep, Imagination Stage, Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, and the Rude Mechanicals, among others. When not onstage, you’ll find Allison around the DMV working as a standardized patient and role player.

Joanna Castle Miller

Playwright

Joanna (she/her) is an NY-based playwright, performer, and satirist. Her play EKPHRASIS, commissioned by We the Women Collective, received its first developmental reading in New York in September 2022. Another, SH@MED, was included on Kilroy’s List in 2020 and was a finalist in the Jewish Plays Project in 2021. As the founder and executive producer of Wait Don’t Leave Productions, Joanna focuses on projects related to historical memory.

Amberrain Andrews

Director

Amberrain (they/she) is a graduating senior acting major with a minor in theatre arts administration at Howard University. She has been seen off-Broadway as Stacy in Foreign Bodies and as Lauren in HIT! The Movie. She was the assistant director and producer of the Howard Players 2021 new work 21 Strings: A Rhyme and the assistant director of Howard University’s recent production of Seven Guitars.

Kevin O'Connell

Producer, Dramaturg, Props Designer

Kevin (he/him) was the founding artistic director of Barabbas Theatre Company, which produced highly acclaimed plays in the Capital Fringe Festival. These included H5x7, O’Connell’s faithful adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V; the world premiere of Alexandra Petri’s Never Never; and the D.C. area premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. He holds a M.A. in dramaturgy from the Catholic University of America and an M.A. in history from the State University of New York at Albany. Kevin studied directing with Joy Zinoman at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory and completed the Directing Studio at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. In addition to Barabbas, Kevin has worked with several local companies, including Quotidian Theatre Company, Factory 449, the Washington Rogues, Pallas Theatre Collective, and Lean & Hungry Theater. He has also worked for the federal government in several capacities since 1994.

Abby Dunbar

Stage Manager

Abby (she/her) is a theatre artist, filmmaker, and writer from Southern California. While pursuing her BA in Theatre Arts and Media & Visual Culture Studies at the University of Redlands, she had the opportunity to learn stage management, and loved working on The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Rabbit Hole Theatre Company), Shakespeare Songs and Sonnets (University of Redlands Shakespeare Company), and The New Works Festival (University of Redlands Theatre Department). After completing her undergrad in 2021, she began her career in the theatre and arts industries in a variety of different positions including House Managing for The MAIN and serving as Director of Marketing and a Teaching Artist for LA-based nonprofit Fringe Benefits Theatre. Abbydunbar.com

Jessica Utz

Costume Designer

Jessica (she/her) is a DC based costume designer and technician. She designed the costumes for "Freaky Friday" and "Lucky Stiff" for NextStop Theatre Company and "Rasheeda Speaking," "Welcome to Sis's," and "Dhana and the Rosebuds" for Ally Theatre Company. She is a stitcher for shows at Signature Theatre, Arena Stage, the Washington National Opera, and Synetic Theatre.

Reed Simiele

Lighting Designer

Mykal Bailey

Scenic Designer

Steve Leshin

Set Builder

Mia Richards

Crew

Nathaniel Mitchell

Crew

Adrian Taylor

Crew

Photos

About Perisphere Theater

We are a nonprofit theater company based in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Mission: Perisphere Theater produces plays that examine personal and collective history and the notion of history itself.

Vision: A theater experience that gives audiences a greater appreciation of history and of those who are often left out of its retelling.

Values:

• Artistic excellence: We pursue the highest possible theatrical quality so we can engage our audience intellectually and emotionally.
• Diversity: We make equitable decisions about the plays we choose to produce and the people we choose to hire and elevate.
• Antiracism: We actively seek to provide opportunities for BIPOC theater artists, recognizing the need to not only eliminate racial barriers to participation but also to make amends for historical injustice.
• Respect: We always show the utmost respect for our collaborators and our audience, and we refuse to allow harassment, disparagement, or objectification in connection with our productions or operations.

Our artistic and executive director, who also serves on the board of directors, is Kevin O'Connell. Kia Hunter (President), Lisa A. Hoston (Vice President), Maria Nuñez-Gaylor (Treasurer), Jeff McDermott (Secretary), Erin Finucane (Immediate Past President), Sylvea Hollis, Toni Salvatore, and John McCoskey make up the rest of the board.

www.perispheretheater.com

Thank You

A note on the portrait of Eliza

Our set features a portrait said by our characters to be Harriet Beecher Stowe's friend and Calvin Stowe's first wife, Eliza Tyler Stowe. It is not a painting of Eliza but a portrait on view at the Brooklyn Museum.

Details: Henry Inman (American, 1801-1846). Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1825. Oil on panel, 8 x 6 3/8 in. (20.3 x 16.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Lydia Richardson Babbott Fund, 32.1680 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.1680_transp1098.jpg)