Play Penn
Amy Boehly is an actor/teaching artist who resides in South Jersey and has been working in Philly theatre since earning a B.A. in acting. Past credits: Power Street Theatre, SCTC, Theatre Exile, Philly Young Playwrights, and more. Love to Mom and Kevin.
Amanda Schoonover is best known as the sassy eavesdropping Waitress on the GLAAD nominated Dispatches From Elsewhere on AMC where she co-starred opposite Jason Segel, Sally Field, and Andre (3000) Benjamin. She is a two-time Barrymore Award recipient and nine-time nominee, as well as being a Jilline Ringle Solo Performance Program Artist in Residence at 1812 Productions and an F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Finalist. Television: HBO’s Perry Mason; NBC’s Do No Harm opposite Phylicia Rashad; We Need to Talk with James Maslow. Regional Theatre: Arden Theatre Company; Theatre Exile; Pig Iron; Lantern Theater. Follow her on Instagram @amandabethschoonover
Shamus McCarty (he/him/his) is a Philly-made Theatre Maker finishing up his MFA in Directing at Boston University. Local collabs: Die-Cast, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Temple, Shakespeare in Clark Park, LoveDrunkLife, Limelight, Arden, Kimmel & others. His original musical, Close Your Legs, Honey, co-created w/Hannah Parke, premiered at PHIT Comedy and toured to Bootless Stageworks. Recent: National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and Tennessee Williams Festival. Next up: Sam French OOB Festival and Directing Eat Your Young by J.C. Pankratz; Alligator-A-Phobia in 3D! by Jay Eddy, for Boston Playwrights Theatre. Shamus is the Associate Director for two new musicals this season, Driving in Circles premiering in NYC and Make Way for Ducklings at Wheelock Family Theatre in Boston.
C. Ryanne Domingues is the Artistic Director of Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ. Prior to her time at Passage, she worked at a variety of theaters on both coasts, with much of her work being for Simpatico Theatre (which she co-founded in 2004) and the Wilma Theater. She received her MFA in Directing from the University of California, Irvine, and has been an adjunct professor at Rider University since 2018. Next up, she will be directing the world premiere of the musical Clean Slate as a co-production between Passage and Rider University.
Kathryn MacMillan (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based theater director and the Producing Artistic Director of Tiny Dynamite. KC has directed more than 50 productions in our region and beyond. Recent and favorite shows include Unraveled (off-Broadway: Theatre Row); The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged (Tiny Dynamite; also co-writer); Grounded and The Niceties (InterAct); Betrayal, Arcadia, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Lantern Theater Company, where she was the Associate Artistic Director for eight seasons); and Athena and The Revolutionists (Theatre Horizon, where she served as Guest Artistic Director for the 2017/18 season). KC is a five-time Barrymore nominee for Outstanding Direction and in 2015, she was named one of Billy Penn’s Who’s Next: 16 Young Philadelphians Shaping the Arts Scene.
Edward Sobel (Director) – At PlayPenn: Appetite, Slip/Shot, Heartland, Bobby James, Dimenticar. Other directing credits: world premieres of Moon Man Walk (Orbiter 3), The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Flashpoint) and Nimisha Ladva’s Uninvited (First Person Arts and tour); productions of Endgame, Clybourne Park, Superior Donuts, Women in Jep and At the Old Place (all at Arden); The Chosen, Huck Finn, and A Lesson Before Dying (all at Steppenwolf). Credits as dramaturg include Broadway productions of The Minutes (Pulitzer Finalist and Tony nomination) Linda Vista, Superior Donuts, and August: Osage County (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award). Recipient of the Elliot Hayes Award from Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas for outstanding contribution to the field. Current Associate Professor at Villanova University.
Cat Ramirez (they/he/she) is an award-winning Philly-based theatre director and performance producer. They love giant logistical puzzles, sharing meals, and bisexual lighting. Recent collaborations include Villanova University, Temple University, Asian Arts Initiative, Philly Young Playwrights, Lxs Primxs, Theatre Exile, and Hedgerow Theatre Company. Cat currently serves as the Creative Director for Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA), the Staff Producer for the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and a board member for the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation. He is an alumni of the National New Play Network’s Producer-In-Residence Program and her work has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. catramirez.com
Amy Kaissar is the Co-Producing Director of Bristol Riverside Theatre. BRT Directing Credits: Comedy of Tenors, Driving Miss Daisy, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and the upcoming World Premiere of A Leg Up – a sex farce for the 21st century by Ken Kaissar. Producing Credits: The Heidi Chronicles (Bway); Shake and Bake: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Drama Desk Nom); Midsummer: A Banquet (Drama Desk Nom); and the Obie winning Telephone. She was also part of the financing teams for Fun Home (Tony, Best Musical), Shuffle Along (10 Tony Noms), and the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof. BFA (Directing) Carnegie Mellon University, MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University.
Walter Bilderback (they/he) has dramaturged theatrical performance of all sorts for 40 years. From 2004-2020, they were Dramaturg and Literary Manager at the Wilma Theater. Prior to that, they held staff positions at Dallas Theater Center, Atlanta’s Alliance Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, and the American Ibsen Theater, and was guest dramaturg at theaters including Seven Stages and the Center for Puppetry Arts. Walter has read scripts for numerous organizations, most recently the Playwrights Center, Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival, and Playwrights Realm (for which they have also been a professional respondent in the Script Share program). These days, most of Walter’s attention has gone to electoral and climate work with Reclaim Philadelphia and Philly DSA.
Kirsten Bowen is a freelance dramaturg and arts writer. Prior to moving to Philadelphia in 2019 she was the Literary Director at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC and the Literary Associate at Signature Theatre Company in New York. She has also served as a dramaturg at the Kennedy Center’s MFA Playwrights Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Columbia Stages. Her writing has been published in Broad Street Review, 3Views, HowlRound, Breaking Character, and Playwrights Canada Press. Kirsten holds a BA in English and Theatre from Smith College and an MFA in Dramaturgy from the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at American Repertory Theater/ Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard University.