Leora is originally from Toronto, Canada and is currently the Yale Directing Fellow at the Alliance Theatre. Select directing credits include: Orphans (Coal Mine Theatre, Toronto), He Left Quietly (2014 SummerWorks Best Production Award, Toronto), Amy and the Orphans, Women Beware Women, The Troublesome Reign of King John, Riverbank: A Noh Play for Northerly Americans (Yale School of Drama), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, love holds a lamp in this little room, He Left Quietly (Yale Cabaret). Leora was the recipient of Toronto’s 2012 Ken MacDougall Award for Emerging Directors, served as co-artistic director for Yale Cabaret’s 48^th season and was co-awarded the Julian Milton Kaufman Prize in Directing upon graduating with her M.F.A. in Directing from Yale School of Drama. She was recently shortlisted for the O’Neill Institute’s National Directors Fellowship. Upcoming: Crossing Delancey, Alliance Theatre.

Chani is so excited to make her Alliance Family Series debut! She is a proud Vocal Performance/Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business alumna of Kennesaw State University. She was recently seen as Nina 2 in Simply Simone (Theatrical Outfit), In The Heights (Aurora Theatre/Theatrical Outfit) and Morales in A Chorus Line (Atlanta Lyric Theatre). This summer and fall you will see Chani as Florika/US Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Aurora Theatre/Theatrical Outfit). When Chani is not performing, she works as a vocal coach by day and teaches dance by night.

Originally from Orlando, Breanna is a recent graduate from the University of Florida. During her years in Gainesville she has performed both on campus and throughout the city. Each fall, she participates in UF’s Agbedidi, performing a series of traditional West African pieces under the direction of Mohamed DeCosta and guest artists. While choreographing various pieces around campus she has performed in a local production of The Color Purple and performed various events around town. She is excited to work with the Alliance Theatre and showcase a bit of her West African teachings!

Eugene, a proud Atlanta native and Tennessee State University alumnus, excitedly returns to the Alliance having previously appeared in What I Learned in Paris, Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL and Cuttin’ Up. Other regional credits: Memphis the Musical (Aurora Theatre/Theatrical Outfit); Once on This Island (Aurora Theatre); Illyria and Much Ado About Nothing (Georgia Shakespeare); Our Town and Tambourines to Glory (True Colors Theatre Company); and Before It Hits Home with St. Louis Black Rep, for which he received the prestigious Woodie King Jr. Award. Film/TV credits include Under the Dome and the soon-to-be-released feature films A Sunday Horse and Offer & Compromise.

Benjamin is excited to be making his Alliance debut! Recent credits in Atlanta include Strait of Gibraltar, One and Only Ivan (Synchronicity Theatre), In the Heights, Into the Woods (Aurora Theatre). B.A. Musical Theatre from Young Harris College. Benjamin is ecstatic and grateful for so many opportunities to do what he loves the most and would like to thank family and friends (given and chosen) for their support.

Amanda is excited to be in her first Alliance Theatre production! Her most recent shows include West Side Story, Shrek and A Chorus Line (Atlanta Lyric Theatre). She is also a freelance contemporary dancer working with the Emily Cargill and Dancers Company and resident artist of The Work Room, Bella Dorado. Amanda teaches jazz, contemporary, Broadway and hip-hop dance at the Covington Regional Ballet, and choreographs for the Newton County Arts Association’s Oxford Youth Singers and Oxford Acting Company. Amanda received her B.F.A in Dance Performance as well as an Education Minor from Brenau University.

Kalah started her dance training at the age of 4 and although dance is Kalah’s first love, she also has a deep passion for the sciences. She pursued this passion at the illustrious Tuskegee University and obtained a B.S. in Animal, Poultry and Veterinary Sciences in 2012. Kalah also dedicates her time as mentor and choreographer to The Essence Dance Team, a youth based dance team that promotes self-esteem, character building and performance. In 2015 Kalah became a certified ASA fitness instructor. Kalah began her apprenticeship with Giwayen Mata, an all-female drum and dance company, in September 2015. 

Otis is pleased to return to the Alliance Stage. He has previously performed in Once on This Island, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sophisticated Ladies and The Women of Brewster Place on the Alliance Stage. Otis has toured internationally with the European tour of Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2011-2013). He has toured cities in the United States with Crowns. He recently completed a performance of Simply Simone at Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit. Otis has toured and recorded with The Chi-Lites. He has also recorded with The Dells, The Impressions and other Chicago artists. He has also performed with The Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble of Atlanta.

Christian is excited make his debut at the Alliance Theatre! Regional credits: James and the Giant Peach (Georgia Ensemble Theatre), Ravished (Theater Emory), Christmas Canteen (Aurora Theatre), In the Heights (Aurora Theatre/Theatrical Outfit), Dreamgirls, The Mousetrap and A Christmas Carol (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). This summer, his new musical Mother of God (co-created with Christian Albright) will premiere at the Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival. B.F.A. in Performing Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design, 2016. To God be the glory. 

Clay has been the Resident Sound Designer at the Alliance Theatre for 16 years and has designed more than 90 productions including 26 world premieres, 30 musicals and 23 Theater for Young Audiences productions. Recent works include Disgraced; Pancakes, Pancakes!; Edward Foote; and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Other design work has included Georgia Shakespeare, Atlanta Ballet, Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Theatrical Outfit, Geva Theatre and Synchronicity Theatre. Awards: Six Suzi Bass awards for outstanding sound design, with 14 nominations. He is a graduate of Presbyterian College (BA), North Carolina School of the Arts (MFA), and a member of IATSE/USA829. 

Ashley grew up to the sound of his mother singing from morning to night, and he has shared the joy of song with children ever since. He studied art at Cooper Union in New York and earned a degree in philosophy at Columbia University. A beloved illustrator, he was recently named a Newbery Honoree for his picture book Freedom Over Me. He has also been a recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award; the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; has been a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer; a Coretta Scott King Award winner; and the recipient of countless other awards and recognitions. His books include Freedom Over Me; Sail Away; Beautiful Blackbird; Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum; Let it Shine; Ashley Bryan's Book of Puppets; and What a Wonderful World. He lives in Islesford, one of the Cranberry Isles off the Coast of Maine.

Recent Alliance credits include: Cinderella and Fella; A Christmas Carol; Ugly Lies the Bone; Pancakes, Pancakes!; Tiger Style!; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical; James and the Giant Peach; Shrek; Charlotte’s Web and The Wizard of Oz. Local credits include Million Dollar Quartet, Dreamgirls, Peter Pan, Monty Python's Spamalot, Ragtime and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Atlanta Lyric Theatre); Dividing the Estate, It’s a Wonderful Life, Confederacy of Dunces and Big River (Theatrical Outfit). She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from Niagara University. Member of Actors’ Equity Association. Love to Ali and Maggie.

Jeff most recently designed Courtenay's Cabaret at the Alliance. Before moving to Atlanta, Jeff spent 16 seasons as Portland Center Stage’s resident costume designer, working on more than 75 productions (50 of those in PCS’ first eight seasons at the Armory). Favorite PCS productions include West Side Story, Cabaret, Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Sometimes a Great Notion, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Imaginary Invalid, Black Pearl Sings!, Venus in Fur and Clybourne Park. Jeff received Drammy awards for his costume designs for Dirty Blonde, Act a Lady and Shakespeare’s Amazing Cymbeline.

Carole is a puppeteer and fabricator for TV, film and stage. She is the Puppet Shop Manager at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. Previous work: The Jim Henson Creature Shop NYC, Puppet Heap and The Huntington Theater Company. Selected puppet builder credits: Film and TV: Muppets: Most Wanted, “Sesame Street,” “Crank Yankers,” “Greg the Bunny.” Broadway: Avenue Q, Pippin, Shrek The Musical. Off Broadway: ImaginOcean (Drama Desk Nominated), 1001 Nights, Arias With a Twist, The Little Prince. Alliance Theatre puppet design work includes Play the Play with Cat the Cat and The Dancing Granny. Her original pieces The Hoarding Show and Helix of Fire have been featured at festivals and puppet slams nationally.

Jiréh is honored to return to the Alliance Theatre where his play Too Heavy for Your Pocket was the winner of the 2016/17 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. Mr. Holder currently serves as the Playwriting Fellow of the Department of Theater and Creative Writing Program at Emory University. He has been the recipient of the TCG Edgerton Foundation New Play Award as well as the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award. His plays have been developed at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, the Kennedy Center and the Old Globe Theatre. After graduating from Morehouse College, he received his M.F.A. in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama where his plays The Rules, 50:13 and Some Bodies Travel (co-written with Tori Sampson) received productions. He is also a co-founder of Pyramid Theatre Company in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Ameenah began her career as a performer with the original American cast of Stomp. She has since worked as an actor on stage, television and film, including recurring roles on “The Office” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” She is a drum coach for Blue Man Group and has played with everyone from Rihanna and Macy Gray to Adam Lambert and Alisan Porter. She’s a multi-award winning choreographer of more than two-dozen shows, specializing in high impact physical theater and rhythm. Ameenah is so proud to be a part of this production and dedicates her performance to Rosemary Newcott.

Recent work includes the world premieres of peerless (Yale Rep), Midsummer (Tiltyard), The Zero Scenario, Love Holds a Lamp in This Little Room and The Untitled Project (Yale Cabaret). Other recent projects include the North American premiere of He Left Quietly which traveled to the Toronto SummerWorks Festival in 2015 where it won Best Production, Diary of One Who Disappeared (Cantata Profana), The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Macbeth and The Master & Margarita. Assisting credits include Southern Comfort (The Public), The Rockettes New York Spectacular, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Scenes From Court Life (Yale Rep), assistant art direction for “The Blacklist” Season 4 (NBC), “Red Oaks” Season 2 (Amazon), The Wizard of Lies (HBO) and Girls Season 5 (HBO). He holds an M.F.A. in design from the Yale School of Drama and is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

Ken is the Resident Lighting Designer for Sarasota Opera, Lighting Designer for Atlanta Opera, and Lighting Director of FIO Americas, Brazil. Alliance credits: Native Guard; The Geller Girls; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Good People; What I Learned In Paris; Into The Woods; August: Osage County; Avenue X; Ms. Warren’s Profession; Aladdin; The Underpants; The Miracle Worker. National credits: Florida Grand Opera, Utah Shakespeare, Bermuda Arts Festival, McCarter Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Utah Opera. Atlanta Awards: Suzi award for The Geller Girls and Avenue X with 4 other nominations; Abbey Artist of the Year nomination; also featured as Creative Loafing’s Best of Atlanta.