DIGITAL PROGRAM
CAST AND TEAM
Victor Shopov (Turner) is very pleased to once again be taking part in Eyes Shut. Door Open following its initial run with Wax Wings productions. Other local credits include The Boys in the Band, The Submission, Bent (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Actor; IRNE Award, Best Actor & Best Play), The Normal Heart (Boston My Theatre Award, Best Actor; IRNE Award, Best Play), Punk Rock (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Production), Enron (IRNE Award, Best Actor), and Farragut North, all with Zeitgeist Stage Company; Bad Jews (SpeakEasy Stage); Death of a Salesman, 33 Variations, and The Temperamentals (Lyric Stage Company). When not on the stage,he can be found in his sound booth recording voice overs or appearing in the occasional TV/film/industrial project. He holds degrees from Emerson College and Northeastern University.
Michael Underhill (Palmer) is psyched to be bring ESDO back to the stage! He has been proudly working on the fringe with imaginary beasts as an Artistic Associate since 2009. He has also served on the Artistic Board of Happy Medium Theater since 2012. Recent credits include: School for Scandal (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Back the Night (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Winter Panto 2016: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (imaginary beasts) Midsummer Night’s Dream & Much Ado About Nothing (Magnificent Bastards) & Dying City (Happy Medium Theatre). Other local credits include: SpeakEasy Stage Company, Heart and Dagger, Stoneham Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Whistler in the Dark, Shakespeare NOW! and Theatre on Fire. Coming up next: Brendan (Happy Medium Theatre). Michael spends his days as a Programs and Services Manager with Associated Grant Makers. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Brian, Meghan, the Samkos and especially his wife, Kiki! www.michaeljamesunderhill.com
Melissa deJesus (Johanna) is honored to be returning to the role of Johanna. In 2013 she debuted Seinuk’s Playing Checkers, a finalist for the Kennedy Center’s National Ten Minute Play Award, and has enjoyed the privilege of continuing working with such a gifted writer. In recent years, she has collaborated with many of Boston’s local playwrights through Boston Public Works, Interim Writers, and Fresh Ink Theatre. Her acting credits include Princess Evelyn in Citizens of the Empire, Elizabeth in New Exhibition Room’s Smile!, Eurydice in Polaroid Stories, and a few rowdy years acting with and managing the Independent Drama Society. Melissa works in book publishing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her deepest thanks go to every member of this dedicated and talented production team. It is a (recurring) dream to work with such great people.
Lauren Annese (Properties Designer) was the Prop Designer for the August 2015 Eyes Shut. Door Open. and is excited to reprise her role for the remount. Lauren is primarily a stage manager but enjoys all the aspects of theatre. She is graduating from the University of Massachusetts Boston this May with her B.A. in Theatre. This summer she will be an Assistant Stage Management intern at the Boston Conservatory and then will be moving out to California to be an ASM intern at PCPA for their 2016-2017 season. She looks forward to a career in theatre.
Kyle Blanchette (Scenic Designer, Wax Wings Producer) is thrilled to have ESDO remounted in beautiful Union Sq. As the Artistic Director of Wax Wings Production he couldn’t be more proud of the work that’s gone into its development. Kyle would like to thank the ESDO team for making this remount happen and Warehouse XI for letting us create here. He would also like to thank his fiance Keagan for her constant love and support. Kyle has a BFA from the University of Rhode Island and also performs in elementary schools around Massachusetts as an educational teaching artist.
Chris Bocchiaro (Lighting Designer) is excited to be designing Eyes Shut, Door Open for a second time! Chris’ work can be seen throughout the greater Boston Area, recently at: Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston Opera Collaborative, The Lyric Stage Company, Speakeasy Stage, Boston Public Works, Apollinaire Theatre, Theatre on Fire, Fresh Ink Theatre, Flat Earth Theatre, The Longwood Players, Opera Brittenica, Fort Point Theatre Channel,The Company Theatre, Gloucester Stage,Emerson Stage, and imaginary beasts where he is an Artistic Associate. Chris was the recipient of the 2013 IRNE award for Best Lighting Design. He holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from Emerson College. www.chrisbocchiaro.com
Stephanie K. Brownell (Costume Designer) is an interdisciplinary playwright, costume designer, and teaching artist who balances her art between Boston and France. Stephanie is the recipient of the 2015 National Partners of the American Theatre Excellence in Playwriting Award and runner up for WomenWorks 2015 with her full-length play She Eats Apples. Stephanie was also a 2014 finalist for the National 10-Minute Play Award with Eskimo Pie. She currently teaches English and theatre in France. Selected costume design: Radium Girls (Flat Earth); Julius Caesar (Bridge Rep); Restricted and Sickle (Boston Playwrights Theatre); From the Deep and Turtles (Boston Public Works); Amahl and the Night Visitors (Milwaukee Opera Theatre); Juliet (Carroll University). Assistant design: Hello Again (Bridge Rep); Twelfth Night and Bride*Widow*Hag (ART). BA: Carroll University. MFA: Boston University. Skbrownell.com
Patrick Greene (Sound Designer, Composer) Recent engagements include performances by Boston Musica Viva, the Atlanta Chamber Players, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, loadbang ensemble, and many others. Recent design projects include the Boston premiere of Eyes Shut. Door Open. (Wax Wings Productions) and D.W. Gregory’s Radium Girls (Flat Earth Theatre). Patrick’s abstract EXTRACTION won the 2010 Rapido! New England Competition (and took the Audience Prize at National Finals in 2011). In 2014, he was Guest Composer at the inaugural Birmingham New Music Festival, and, in 2015, his My Dearest Friend earned a C7Prize as a “Recommended Work.” Most recently, the St. Botolph Club Foundation selected Patrick for the 2015 Emerging Artist Award. Patrick has his MM degree in Composition from The Boston Conservatory, and a BA in Music from Trinity College. He is a member of the Society for Music Theory, American Composers’ Forum, CompositionToday.com, and the Society of Composers, Inc. He is also a founder of the Fifth Floor Collective and the Equilibrium Concert Series.
Katie Hoolsema (Master Electrician) quiation prae mo elenis experis es et occabo. Nam voles corrum voleniae possunt pa veror maxim ex evel et adipsan tempos maion es saperite necerio nsequam fuga. Et aut ommolor repellautem fuga. Cor a nobisquae. Itatus, sum sum fugit alitatet il invereri totae cus reressed quid magnam, atatemquis
Samantha Layco (Production Stage Manager) is excited to be part of the Eyes Shut. Door Open remount. Her Boston credits include Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASM): Measure for Measure, Henry VI Part 2, Othello, Winter’s Tale, and School for Scandal, CompanyOne: The Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy-Shiv (ASM), Colossal (Production Stage Manager), Boston Public Works (ASM): From the Deep. She studied theatre management at the University of Portland, Portland, OR.
Tori A. Moline (Associate Costume Designer) is a costume designer and hair and makeup designer working in the Boston area. She is new to the ESDO team and she couldn’t be more excited! She is a junior at UMASS Boston studying theatre. Her recent credits include costume assistant and hair and makeup artist for Sweeney Todd (Lyric Stage Company), costume assistant and hair & makeup designer for You Can’t Take It With You (UMB), costume design for Argyles (UMB), costume assistant for Edith Can Shoot Things And Hit Them (Company One), hair and makeup design for Museum (UMB), hair and makeup design for Polaroid Stories (UMB), costume assistant for Wild Williams (Beau Jest Moving Theatre), and costume assistant for upcoming Company (Lyric Stage Company).
Christopher Randolph (Director) is pleased to be back for round two of Eyes Shut. Door Open. after directing the world premiere production last summer at The Sanctuary. Also last summer he directed Origin Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway remount of The International at the Peter Jay Sharp theatre at Playwright’s Horizons in New York, having previously directed the world premiere production of that play at the cell in 2013. His other New York directing credits include: Cassie Seinuk’s award winning Occupy Hallmark for the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival; Dinner and Grave Rolling for Project Y; Plant and Her, Sit Down, Daisy, Even as I Go, Just Like Tetraphobia, Saving Lives, and Sexual Perversity in Connecticut, all for Nylon Fusion Collective; and The Trestle At Pope Lick Creek, for the Stella Adler Conservatory. He also has a long career as an actor, his New York credits including: King Lear on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theatre (with Christopher Plummer); The Merchant Of Venice for Theatre For A New Audience (national tour; with F. Murray Abraham); Dash at MCC; Hollywood Scheherazade at Primary Stages; Clocks and Whistles for Origin; and The Survival of The Species at EST and The Beckett. His regional theatre appearances include productions at The Hartford Stage, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, St. Louis Rep, GeVa, LA’s Odyssey Theatre, The Hudson; Chautauqua; and many others. Film: The Shells; Convention; Pumpkin Hell; In Your Eyes; and Sonnet 48 for The Sonnet Project. TV: roles on Will & Grace, Mad About You, Newsradio, and in various soaps. He also voices the characters Otacon and Huey in the best selling Metal Gear Solid series of games for Playstation, Xbox, and other platforms. He holds an MFA in acting from UCSD.
Cassie M. Seinuk (Playwright, Producer) is a playwright, AEA stage manager, visual artist and educator in Boston, now turned producer! “ESDO” was a recipient of the Bob Jolly Charitable Fund grant, was a 2013 Inkwell Finalist, and six of it’s monologues will be published by Smith & Kraus. ESDO was nominated for Best New Play and Best Sound Design by ArtsImpulse. Her play From the Deep has won awards including The Pestalozzi New Play Prize, the Latinidad Playwrights Award at the Kennedy Center, and was a recipient of the Boston University Jewish Culture Endowment. From the Deep’s Boston Public Works production received IRNE Award Nominations for Best Sound Design and Best Actor. Short play Occupy Hallmark won the 2015 National Gary Garrison Ten Minute Play Award at the Kennedy Center, it has been produced in four states, and will be published by Smith & Kraus. Her play Dream House is currently under development with New Rep, where she is a Next Voices Fellow. Her short film Playing Checkers is in pre-production to be shot this Summer. She is a member of Boston Public Works, The Dramatist Guild, and AEA. www.cassiemseinuk.com
Lissette Velez-Cross (Asst. Stage Manager)
is a BA Theatre Studies: Stage and Production Management major ‘18 at Emerson College. Most recently, she has worked on Antígona with Raíz Latinoamericana (Stage Manager), monthly Ghostlight Series with Poets’ Theatre (Stage/Production Manager), and Richard II with Actors’ Shakespeare Project (SM Intern). She is excited to join the remount and would like to thank the whole team for welcoming her!
Michael Underhill (Palmer) is psyched to be bring ESDO back to the stage! He has been proudly working on the fringe with imaginary beasts as an Artistic Associate since 2009. He has also served on the Artistic Board of Happy Medium Theater since 2012. Recent credits include: School for Scandal (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Back the Night (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Winter Panto 2016: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (imaginary beasts) Midsummer Night’s Dream & Much Ado About Nothing (Magnificent Bastards) & Dying City (Happy Medium Theatre). Other local credits include: SpeakEasy Stage Company, Heart and Dagger, Stoneham Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Whistler in the Dark, Shakespeare NOW! and Theatre on Fire. Coming up next: Brendan (Happy Medium Theatre). Michael spends his days as a Programs and Services Manager with Associated Grant Makers. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Brian, Meghan, the Samkos and especially his wife, Kiki! www.michaeljamesunderhill.com
Melissa deJesus (Johanna) is honored to be returning to the role of Johanna. In 2013 she debuted Seinuk’s Playing Checkers, a finalist for the Kennedy Center’s National Ten Minute Play Award, and has enjoyed the privilege of continuing working with such a gifted writer. In recent years, she has collaborated with many of Boston’s local playwrights through Boston Public Works, Interim Writers, and Fresh Ink Theatre. Her acting credits include Princess Evelyn in Citizens of the Empire, Elizabeth in New Exhibition Room’s Smile!, Eurydice in Polaroid Stories, and a few rowdy years acting with and managing the Independent Drama Society. Melissa works in book publishing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her deepest thanks go to every member of this dedicated and talented production team. It is a (recurring) dream to work with such great people.
Lauren Annese (Properties Designer) was the Prop Designer for the August 2015 Eyes Shut. Door Open. and is excited to reprise her role for the remount. Lauren is primarily a stage manager but enjoys all the aspects of theatre. She is graduating from the University of Massachusetts Boston this May with her B.A. in Theatre. This summer she will be an Assistant Stage Management intern at the Boston Conservatory and then will be moving out to California to be an ASM intern at PCPA for their 2016-2017 season. She looks forward to a career in theatre.
Kyle Blanchette (Scenic Designer, Wax Wings Producer) is thrilled to have ESDO remounted in beautiful Union Sq. As the Artistic Director of Wax Wings Production he couldn’t be more proud of the work that’s gone into its development. Kyle would like to thank the ESDO team for making this remount happen and Warehouse XI for letting us create here. He would also like to thank his fiance Keagan for her constant love and support. Kyle has a BFA from the University of Rhode Island and also performs in elementary schools around Massachusetts as an educational teaching artist.
Chris Bocchiaro (Lighting Designer) is excited to be designing Eyes Shut, Door Open for a second time! Chris’ work can be seen throughout the greater Boston Area, recently at: Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston Opera Collaborative, The Lyric Stage Company, Speakeasy Stage, Boston Public Works, Apollinaire Theatre, Theatre on Fire, Fresh Ink Theatre, Flat Earth Theatre, The Longwood Players, Opera Brittenica, Fort Point Theatre Channel,The Company Theatre, Gloucester Stage,Emerson Stage, and imaginary beasts where he is an Artistic Associate. Chris was the recipient of the 2013 IRNE award for Best Lighting Design. He holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from Emerson College. www.chrisbocchiaro.com
Stephanie K. Brownell (Costume Designer) is an interdisciplinary playwright, costume designer, and teaching artist who balances her art between Boston and France. Stephanie is the recipient of the 2015 National Partners of the American Theatre Excellence in Playwriting Award and runner up for WomenWorks 2015 with her full-length play She Eats Apples. Stephanie was also a 2014 finalist for the National 10-Minute Play Award with Eskimo Pie. She currently teaches English and theatre in France. Selected costume design: Radium Girls (Flat Earth); Julius Caesar (Bridge Rep); Restricted and Sickle (Boston Playwrights Theatre); From the Deep and Turtles (Boston Public Works); Amahl and the Night Visitors (Milwaukee Opera Theatre); Juliet (Carroll University). Assistant design: Hello Again (Bridge Rep); Twelfth Night and Bride*Widow*Hag (ART). BA: Carroll University. MFA: Boston University. Skbrownell.com
Patrick Greene (Sound Designer, Composer) Recent engagements include performances by Boston Musica Viva, the Atlanta Chamber Players, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, loadbang ensemble, and many others. Recent design projects include the Boston premiere of Eyes Shut. Door Open. (Wax Wings Productions) and D.W. Gregory’s Radium Girls (Flat Earth Theatre). Patrick’s abstract EXTRACTION won the 2010 Rapido! New England Competition (and took the Audience Prize at National Finals in 2011). In 2014, he was Guest Composer at the inaugural Birmingham New Music Festival, and, in 2015, his My Dearest Friend earned a C7Prize as a “Recommended Work.” Most recently, the St. Botolph Club Foundation selected Patrick for the 2015 Emerging Artist Award. Patrick has his MM degree in Composition from The Boston Conservatory, and a BA in Music from Trinity College. He is a member of the Society for Music Theory, American Composers’ Forum, CompositionToday.com, and the Society of Composers, Inc. He is also a founder of the Fifth Floor Collective and the Equilibrium Concert Series.
Katie Hoolsema (Master Electrician) quiation prae mo elenis experis es et occabo. Nam voles corrum voleniae possunt pa veror maxim ex evel et adipsan tempos maion es saperite necerio nsequam fuga. Et aut ommolor repellautem fuga. Cor a nobisquae. Itatus, sum sum fugit alitatet il invereri totae cus reressed quid magnam, atatemquis
Samantha Layco (Production Stage Manager) is excited to be part of the Eyes Shut. Door Open remount. Her Boston credits include Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASM): Measure for Measure, Henry VI Part 2, Othello, Winter’s Tale, and School for Scandal, CompanyOne: The Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy-Shiv (ASM), Colossal (Production Stage Manager), Boston Public Works (ASM): From the Deep. She studied theatre management at the University of Portland, Portland, OR.
Tori A. Moline (Associate Costume Designer) is a costume designer and hair and makeup designer working in the Boston area. She is new to the ESDO team and she couldn’t be more excited! She is a junior at UMASS Boston studying theatre. Her recent credits include costume assistant and hair and makeup artist for Sweeney Todd (Lyric Stage Company), costume assistant and hair & makeup designer for You Can’t Take It With You (UMB), costume design for Argyles (UMB), costume assistant for Edith Can Shoot Things And Hit Them (Company One), hair and makeup design for Museum (UMB), hair and makeup design for Polaroid Stories (UMB), costume assistant for Wild Williams (Beau Jest Moving Theatre), and costume assistant for upcoming Company (Lyric Stage Company).
Christopher Randolph (Director) is pleased to be back for round two of Eyes Shut. Door Open. after directing the world premiere production last summer at The Sanctuary. Also last summer he directed Origin Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway remount of The International at the Peter Jay Sharp theatre at Playwright’s Horizons in New York, having previously directed the world premiere production of that play at the cell in 2013. His other New York directing credits include: Cassie Seinuk’s award winning Occupy Hallmark for the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival; Dinner and Grave Rolling for Project Y; Plant and Her, Sit Down, Daisy, Even as I Go, Just Like Tetraphobia, Saving Lives, and Sexual Perversity in Connecticut, all for Nylon Fusion Collective; and The Trestle At Pope Lick Creek, for the Stella Adler Conservatory. He also has a long career as an actor, his New York credits including: King Lear on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theatre (with Christopher Plummer); The Merchant Of Venice for Theatre For A New Audience (national tour; with F. Murray Abraham); Dash at MCC; Hollywood Scheherazade at Primary Stages; Clocks and Whistles for Origin; and The Survival of The Species at EST and The Beckett. His regional theatre appearances include productions at The Hartford Stage, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, St. Louis Rep, GeVa, LA’s Odyssey Theatre, The Hudson; Chautauqua; and many others. Film: The Shells; Convention; Pumpkin Hell; In Your Eyes; and Sonnet 48 for The Sonnet Project. TV: roles on Will & Grace, Mad About You, Newsradio, and in various soaps. He also voices the characters Otacon and Huey in the best selling Metal Gear Solid series of games for Playstation, Xbox, and other platforms. He holds an MFA in acting from UCSD.
Cassie M. Seinuk (Playwright, Producer) is a playwright, AEA stage manager, visual artist and educator in Boston, now turned producer! “ESDO” was a recipient of the Bob Jolly Charitable Fund grant, was a 2013 Inkwell Finalist, and six of it’s monologues will be published by Smith & Kraus. ESDO was nominated for Best New Play and Best Sound Design by ArtsImpulse. Her play From the Deep has won awards including The Pestalozzi New Play Prize, the Latinidad Playwrights Award at the Kennedy Center, and was a recipient of the Boston University Jewish Culture Endowment. From the Deep’s Boston Public Works production received IRNE Award Nominations for Best Sound Design and Best Actor. Short play Occupy Hallmark won the 2015 National Gary Garrison Ten Minute Play Award at the Kennedy Center, it has been produced in four states, and will be published by Smith & Kraus. Her play Dream House is currently under development with New Rep, where she is a Next Voices Fellow. Her short film Playing Checkers is in pre-production to be shot this Summer. She is a member of Boston Public Works, The Dramatist Guild, and AEA. www.cassiemseinuk.com
Lissette Velez-Cross (Asst. Stage Manager)
is a BA Theatre Studies: Stage and Production Management major ‘18 at Emerson College. Most recently, she has worked on Antígona with Raíz Latinoamericana (Stage Manager), monthly Ghostlight Series with Poets’ Theatre (Stage/Production Manager), and Richard II with Actors’ Shakespeare Project (SM Intern). She is excited to join the remount and would like to thank the whole team for welcoming her!