LeeAnne Hutchison

LeeAnne Hutchison is so glad to join Mile Square for this workshop of LIBERAL ARTS! Previously with director Lily Wolff, LeeAnne played Mary Todd Lincoln in the Edinburgh production of MRS. PRESIDENT, hailed as “…a beautiful piece of theatre on all fronts,” by Broadway World. This Fall, LeeAnne heads to Broadway in the new play LIBERATION, by Bess Wohl. LeeAnne’s Off-Broadway credits include: Tennessee Williams’ A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur; Ellen McLaughlin’s Septimus and Clarissa; God in God Shows Up; Our Brother’s Son (Signature Theatre); Alternating Currents (Working Theater); and Liberation at Roundabout/Laura Pels. Regional favorites: Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire (WV Public); August: Osage County and Clybourne Park (Arkansas Rep); Sweat (CapRep); Eureka Day (Syracuse Stage); Sex With Strangers (The Kitchen Theatre and Geva); Flint (by Jeff Daniels, at Shadowland Stages); Frankie and Johnny; The Cake; The Victorian Ladies Detective Collective; Incognito; Over the Tavern and Side Effects (all at Shaker Bridge Theater, VT). Selected Off-Off-Broadway: The Third Policeman (La Mama/Nomad Theatrical); Eurydice in Orpheus (at HERE, with Taylor Mac); and Innocents, directed by Rachel Dickstein. Film: Trivia About You (Nomad Theatrical); A New York Story (Robert Sisters Pictures); One Fall (Paladin Films). Television: Law & Order: SVU; Jessica Jones; The Other F Word; The White House Plumbers. www.leeannehutchison.com

Patrick Eckland

Patrick Eckland is a New York based actor originally from Plymouth, Massachusetts. He holds a BA in Acting and continued studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute post grad to further his craft. Since moving to New York, Patrick has performed in a handful of theatre productions such as Free Radicals at the New York theatre festival, A Seagull in the Hamptons, Falklands Law, and Little Women.

Mick Hilgers

Mick Hilgers has appeared at Mile Square Theatre as both an actor (Tiny Beautiful Things) and a playwright (Midnight Baseball as part of the Seventh Inning Stretch Festival). Other recent acting work includes Flora, the Red Menace with the Forager Theatre Company; The Money Tree at AMT; the film The Courtroom (which premiered in the Tribeca Festival), having originated his role Off-Broadway; the Emmy-Nominated The Accidental Wolf with Waterwell Films. Other theater work includes projects at La MaMa, Joe’s Pub, Luna Stage, the Frigid Festival, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Peculiar Works, Northern Stage, Mill Mountain Theater. Selected TV and Film: Everwood, The Mel & El Show. Mick’s work as a playwright received a 2025 Finalist Award from the New Jersey State Arts Council Fellowship program. Proud member AEA, Dramatists Guild. www.mickhilgers.com

Anina Baker

Anina Baker is a bicoastal actor based in New York and Los Angeles. She is a recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine’s MFA Acting program, where she trained for three years under the mentorship of Annie Loui, Andrew Borba, Cynthia Bassham, and Phil Thompson. Originally from the Bay Area, Anina holds dual degrees in Sociology and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. She began her acting journey at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she first discovered her passion for the stage. Anina’s recent performances include The Execution of Justice, written and directed by Emily Mann at the Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC) as well as Best for Baby by Sharyn Rothstein also at CTC. Other credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Marin Shakespeare Company), La Belle et la Bête, Gloria, The Brothers Paranormal, The Bald Soprano, and King Lear (UC Irvine). A former competitive gymnast, Anina is known for her love of gymnastics. She’s also an animal lover (especially cats), dill pickle enthusiast, and connoisseur of dry humor. She is deeply grateful to her family, friends, and teachers for their unwavering support.

Grant Neale

Grant Neale is an NYC based actor and theater maker. He is proud to have been a member of both the Jean Cocteau Rep, and the legendary Ridiculous Theatrical Co. Founding Artistic Director of Nomad Theatrical Co now in its 33rd year. Grant recently returned from playing Hemingway in The Marriage Of Alice B. Toklas at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. NYC--Is Life Worth Living at The Mint, Misalliance (Gunner), Mary Stewart (Mortimer), Julius Caesar (Casca) Jean Cocteau Rep, Brother Truckers (Lech), Midsummer (Puck) Ridiculous Theatrical, Conquest Of The Universe (Tamburlaine) La MaMa, Polanski Polanski (Roman Polanski) PS122, (Scapin) in Scapin, Comedy Of Errors (The Dromios) New York Classical. Tours-- Brother Truckers London/Edinburgh, Christmas Carol Germany, Waxing West (Ceausescu) Romania/Sweden, The Fools Lear (Fool) U.S. Regional-- Antigone (Creon) Baltimore Center Stage, Winter’s Tale (Leontes) Milwaukee Shakes, (John D’Agata) Lifespan Of A Fact, (Norman) Living Together Shaker Bridge Theatre, The Underpants White Heron Theater, The Tempest (Gonzalo) Saratoga Shakespeare, August:Osage County (Sheriff Gilbeau) Arkansas Rep. Opera--Die Fledermaus (Frosch) San Fran-Seattle-Dallas-Yale, Countess Maritza (Penizek) & Carmen (Lillas Pastia) Santa Fe Opera, La Perichole (Marquis de Santarem) Opera Philadelphia.TV Voice Over-- Ed, Nurse Jackie, Damages, Boardwalk Empire, Good Cop, Rubicon, Gypsy, The Sinner. Film–Bless Me (Father Joe), Ruined It (Winner-Best of the Fest-Fort Myers Film Festival, The Mix (Prof Clive Mason Jr.), A Very Italian Looking Guy (Ben's Mother, Sophi Kemelman), Memory Foam (Grant), Trivia About You (Bernard) by Amy Berryman. Up Next: Acting in three short plays by Peter Mark for Theatre Breaking Through Barriers (NYC), Directing Lady Day At Emmerson's Bar And Grill (Nomad Theatrical for Phoenix Festival in Nyack), reprising the role of The Detective in Porgy And Bess at The Metropolitan Opera (Grammy Winner).

Tais Fontanez

TAIS FONTANEZ is a multifaceted Puerto Rican artist from Jersey City. She is a graduate of Montclair State University with a BA in Theatre Studies. She would like to give a special thank you to her mom and friends who have encouraged her along.

Lily Wolff

Lily Wolff (director) is a British-American theatre director and new play nerd. She is the New Works Associate at Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC) and former Literary Manager at Alley Theatre, where she worked passionately on the Alley All New initiative from 2018-2022. Most recently, Lily directed the second production of Danny Tejera’s Toros and the NNPN Rolling World Premiere of Gabriel Jason Dean’s Rift: or White Lies in which the actors swapped roles each performance, before stewarding 4 new play processes over the summer at CTC by writers Sharyn Rothstein, James Anthony Tyler, Vichet Chum, and CA Johnson. Next she’ll be in Austin directing a Fusebox/Texas Performing Arts co-production of Katie Bender’s Instructions for a Séance. Regional: Zero Hour by Tea Alagíc (reading: Alley Theater), falcon girls by Hilary Bettis (workshop: CTC), Instructions for a Séance by Katie Bender (world premiere: Amphibian Stage; workshop: Alley Theatre), Wolf Play, Hurricane Diane (Rec Room Arts), The Oresteia (University of Houston), From White Plains (Thunderclap Productions), The Madres (NNPN Rolling World Premiere: Shrewd Productions), A Bright Room Called Day (Southwestern University), Cry It Out (Theatre en Bloc), The Effect (Capital T Theatre), Lungs(Hyde Park Theatre, Austin Critics Table “Best Direction”), Gidion’s Knot (Capital T Theatre). Internationally, Lily directed the world premiere of John Ransom Phillips’ Mrs President at the Edinburgh Fringe, Nel Bosque(an Italian new play) at Theatre503, as well as at Battersea Mess & Music Hall, a hilltop on a Scottish island, and on several boats on the river Thames in London. Lily is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and Pandemic Parenthood.

Chris Cragin-Day

Chris Cragin-Day is a Weehawken based playwright, librettist, and director who grew up in Hong Kong, China, and Oklahoma but has lived and worked in the NYC area for 20 years. She is an alumna of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writer’s Group and the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference. Her plays and musicals have been produced in NYC and around the country. In New Jersey, her play, Foster Mom, partly based on her own experience as a foster parent, won the New Play Award at Premiere Stages and received a production there. Most recently, her play Tornado played at the Actor’s Coop in Hollywood and her newest play, Liberal Arts, was part of Amphibian Theater’s Sparkfest. Also recently, Chris’s musical, The Burn Vote, about the mother and son duo who pushed the 19th amendment into ratification giving women the vote, had its World Premiere at River and Rail Theater in Knoxville. Chris has received commissions from The Director’s Company NYC, Pacific Theater, John McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute, Fellowship of the Performing Arts, and River and Rail Theatre. She’s currently working on a play commission about one of the NY Times’s greatest journalists, John McCandlish Phillips. Chris served as the former Artistic Director of the NYC based Firebone Theatre. www.chriscragin-day.com