Sheltered

Actor's Express
Recommended for ages 12+ due to some adult situations.
Kendeda Winner World Premiere
by
Alix Sobler
Directed by
Kimberly Senior

It is 1939, and Nazi Germany has introduced harsh race laws targeting Jews while taking over large swaths of Central Europe. Fearing the worst, a Jewish couple makes an extraordinary decision; to arrange for 50 European children to be given up by their parents and taken to safety in the United States. Each child must have an American family to house them when they arrive, but willing fosters are hard to find. As a last desperate measure, the couple endures a tense dinner party with estranged friends from a violent household in the hopes of finding a home for one more child. A suspenseful story that will leave audiences on the edge of their seats. Winner of the 2018 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwright Competition.

Actor's Express

Actor's Express, exterior photo

887 West Marietta Street NW Suite J-107 Atlanta, GA 30318 Directions

Located in the King Plow Arts Center on Atlanta’s West side, Actor's Express is a theater that challenges and reflects contemporary human experiences in an inclusive environment. It seeks to jumpstart individual transformations through the shared adventure of live performances.

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“Everyone at Actor’s Express is excited to welcome the Alliance to our home for Sheltered, next season’s Alliance/Kendeda Competition winner. It’s especially meaningful to me, as the Alliance Theatre is where I cut my teeth professionally. I was present at the beginning of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, so to host the latest winner at my current artistic home is an absolute delight. AE has produced the premieres of two Alliance/Kendeda finalist plays (Love Jerry and Fair Use), and has commissioned Alliance/Kendeda alumni playwrights Mike Lew and Christina Quintana for special projects, so our relationship to the competition is very special to us.”
Freddie Ashley, Artistic Director, Actor's Express

Director

New York credits: Disgraced (Broadway), Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (Judd Apatow presents), The Who and The What; Disgraced (Lincoln Center Theater 3), Engagements (2ST Uptown), Discord (Primary Stages). Regional credits: Disgraced (Mark Taper Forum, Berkley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre), Support Group for Men; Disgraced; Rapture, Blister, Burn (Goodman Theatre), The Who and The What (La Jolla Playhouse), The Niceties (CATF), Other Than Honorable (Geva), Sex with Strangers (The Geffen Playhouse), The SceneMarjorie PrimeDiary of Anne FrankHedda Gabler; The Letters (Writers Theatre), Discord4000 Miles; The Whipping Man (Northlight Theatre), Want; The North Plan (Steppenwolf) among others. TV: Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (HBO). Awards: TCG Schneider Award (2016). SDCF Joe A. Callaway Award (2013 Finalist). She is also the recipient of the 2016 Special Non-Equity Jeff Award for her Chicago career achievements as a trailblazer, champion and role model for emerging artists.

Kimberly Senior
Kimberly Senior
Director

New York credits: Disgraced (Broadway), Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (Judd Apatow presents), The Who and The What; Disgraced (Lincoln Center Theater 3), Engagements (2ST Uptown), Discord (Primary Stages). Regional credits: Disgraced (Mark Taper Forum, Berkley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre), Support Group for Men; Disgraced; Rapture, Blister, Burn (Goodman Theatre), The Who and The What (La Jolla Playhouse), The Niceties (CATF), Other Than Honorable (Geva), Sex with Strangers (The Geffen Playhouse), The SceneMarjorie PrimeDiary of Anne FrankHedda Gabler; The Letters (Writers Theatre), Discord4000 Miles; The Whipping Man (Northlight Theatre), Want; The North Plan (Steppenwolf) among others. TV: Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (HBO). Awards: TCG Schneider Award (2016). SDCF Joe A. Callaway Award (2013 Finalist). She is also the recipient of the 2016 Special Non-Equity Jeff Award for her Chicago career achievements as a trailblazer, champion and role model for emerging artists.

Cast

Alliance debut. Chicago credits: Venus in Fur, Ah Wilderness, Continuity, Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre), Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf), King Charles III (Chicago Shakespeare), By the Water, White Guy on the Bus, Funnyman (Northlight), Last Train to Nibroc (Haven Theatre-Jeff Award, Best Actress), Dutchman (American Blues), Pygmalion (Oak Park Festival), Great Expectations (Strawdog),  hamlet is dead. no gravity; The Skriker; Pullman, WA (Red Tape Theatre) and twenty shows with The Back Room Shakespeare Project, as a Stakeholder. TV: "Chicago Med," "Bobby & Iza." Film: The View From Tall.  B.F.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Represented by Gray Talent Group.

Amanda Drinkall
Amanda Drinkall
Evelyn Kirsch

Alliance debut. Chicago credits: Venus in Fur, Ah Wilderness, Continuity, Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre), Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf), King Charles III (Chicago Shakespeare), By the Water, White Guy on the Bus, Funnyman (Northlight), Last Train to Nibroc (Haven Theatre-Jeff Award, Best Actress), Dutchman (American Blues), Pygmalion (Oak Park Festival), Great Expectations (Strawdog),  hamlet is dead. no gravity; The Skriker; Pullman, WA (Red Tape Theatre) and twenty shows with The Back Room Shakespeare Project, as a Stakeholder. TV: "Chicago Med," "Bobby & Iza." Film: The View From Tall.  B.F.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Represented by Gray Talent Group.

Recent: Midnight Pillow at Theater Emory (directorial debut), performed Beckett in Germany and Norway, translated plays and taught a Beckett master class at Exeter. National: Lincoln Center, Hartford Stage, About Face, Chicago Dramatists; associate artist of North Carolina Shakespeare, Georgia Shakespeare and Out of Hand. Producing Artistic Director of Théâtre du Rêve, the only francophone theater in the US. Education: Emory University (BA Theater and French), National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Paris.  Proud member of AEA. Uncannily, this play dives into her grandmother's Jewish community in Philly in 1939. Thank you for supporting live theater.

Park Krausen
Park Krausen
Roberta Bloom

Recent: Midnight Pillow at Theater Emory (directorial debut), performed Beckett in Germany and Norway, translated plays and taught a Beckett master class at Exeter. National: Lincoln Center, Hartford Stage, About Face, Chicago Dramatists; associate artist of North Carolina Shakespeare, Georgia Shakespeare and Out of Hand. Producing Artistic Director of Théâtre du Rêve, the only francophone theater in the US. Education: Emory University (BA Theater and French), National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Paris.  Proud member of AEA. Uncannily, this play dives into her grandmother's Jewish community in Philly in 1939. Thank you for supporting live theater.

Lauren is thrilled to be back at the Alliance. Other Alliance credits include Tall Girls, Courage, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Alice Between. Other favorite theater credits include Singles in Agriculture (Aurora Theatre), Evr’y Tongue Confess (Horizon Theatre), and On the Verge (New School for Drama). TV/Film: "Hindsight,” “Gone,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Powers,” Office Christmas Party and American Made. M.F.A. in Acting from the New School for Drama. Love and thanks to my parents and my late husband Michael Isaac Lane.

Lauren Boyd Lane
Lauren Boyd Lane
Hani Mueller

Lauren is thrilled to be back at the Alliance. Other Alliance credits include Tall Girls, Courage, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Alice Between. Other favorite theater credits include Singles in Agriculture (Aurora Theatre), Evr’y Tongue Confess (Horizon Theatre), and On the Verge (New School for Drama). TV/Film: "Hindsight,” “Gone,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Powers,” Office Christmas Party and American Made. M.F.A. in Acting from the New School for Drama. Love and thanks to my parents and my late husband Michael Isaac Lane.

Lee is grateful to be back at the Alliance. Previous Alliance credits: Ugly Lies the Bone, The Temple Bombing. Other Atlanta credits: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Theatrical Outfit), Abigail/1702 (Aurora), Cabaret, Macbeth (Serenbe), Significant Other (Actors Express), Romeo and Juliet (The Shakespeare Tavern). He has also worked in New York, Seattle, St Louis and Providence. Lee is a graduate of Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. and a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

Lee Osorio
Lee Osorio
Martin Bloom

Lee is grateful to be back at the Alliance. Previous Alliance credits: Ugly Lies the Bone, The Temple Bombing. Other Atlanta credits: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Theatrical Outfit), Abigail/1702 (Aurora), Cabaret, Macbeth (Serenbe), Significant Other (Actors Express), Romeo and Juliet (The Shakespeare Tavern). He has also worked in New York, Seattle, St Louis and Providence. Lee is a graduate of Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. and a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

John is delighted to make his Alliance debut. New York: Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern…, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors and Desire (The Acting Company), The Changeling (Red Bull Theatre). Regional credits: Petrol Station (Kennedy Center), The Glass Menagerie (Denver Center), The Foreigner (Cape Playhouse), Art and And a Nightingale Sang (Westport Country Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), An Inspector Calls (Pioneer Theatre), and productions at the Guthrie Theater including Macbeth and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.  TV/Film: “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary,” Into Temptation. B.F.A., University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater.

John Skelley
John Skelley
Leonard Kirsch

John is delighted to make his Alliance debut. New York: Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern…, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors and Desire (The Acting Company), The Changeling (Red Bull Theatre). Regional credits: Petrol Station (Kennedy Center), The Glass Menagerie (Denver Center), The Foreigner (Cape Playhouse), Art and And a Nightingale Sang (Westport Country Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), An Inspector Calls (Pioneer Theatre), and productions at the Guthrie Theater including Macbeth and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.  TV/Film: “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary,” Into Temptation. B.F.A., University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater.

Creative

Bret is honored to be working with the cast and creative team of Sheltered at Actor’s Express. Previous credits at the Alliance include Native Guard, Hand to God, Shakespeare in Love, The Magic Negro, Troubadour, Courtenay’s Cabaret, Born for This, Disgraced, A Steady Rain, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Blues For An Alabama Sky. As a regional theatre stage manager for more than 25 years, he has worked all over the country, but is now enjoying exploring Atlanta. While Seattle-based, he was a guest faculty member at the University of Washington for five years.

Bret is honored to be working with the cast and creative team of Sheltered at Actor’s Express. Previous credits at the Alliance include Native Guard, Hand to God, Shakespeare in Love, The Magic Negro, Troubadour, Courtenay’s Cabaret, Born for This, Disgraced, A Steady Rain, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Blues For An Alabama Sky. As a regional theatre stage manager for more than 25 years, he has worked all over the country, but is now enjoying exploring Atlanta. While Seattle-based, he was a guest faculty member at the University of Washington for five years.

Off-Broadway: The Mint; New Dramatists. Alliance: 40 productions including The Temple Bombing, Harmony, Good People, Arcadia, Medea; Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis): 30 productions include Disgraced, Major Barbara, M. Butterfly, Intimate Apparel, Tiny Kushner, Romeo & Juliet; Georgia Shakespeare (Associate Artist); Oregon Shakespeare; American Players Theatre; many others. Film coaching: Baby Driver; Selma; Southside with You; Coat of Many Colors; The Good Lie; Sweet Land. Directing: Assistant Director for Shakespeare in Love (Alliance), world premiere of Moxie (Alliance Reiser Artists Lab/Theatrical Outfit); The Guys (Theatrical Outfit); Orestes (Guthrie Theater B.F.A.); Love’s Labor’s Lost (Theater Emory) and multiple productions for the Gainesville Theatre Alliance. Acting: Alliance, Guthrie, The Shakespeare Theater, Georgia Shakespeare, Actor's Express.

Elisa Carlson
Elisa Carlson
Dialect Coach

Off-Broadway: The Mint; New Dramatists. Alliance: 40 productions including The Temple Bombing, Harmony, Good People, Arcadia, Medea; Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis): 30 productions include Disgraced, Major Barbara, M. Butterfly, Intimate Apparel, Tiny Kushner, Romeo & Juliet; Georgia Shakespeare (Associate Artist); Oregon Shakespeare; American Players Theatre; many others. Film coaching: Baby Driver; Selma; Southside with You; Coat of Many Colors; The Good Lie; Sweet Land. Directing: Assistant Director for Shakespeare in Love (Alliance), world premiere of Moxie (Alliance Reiser Artists Lab/Theatrical Outfit); The Guys (Theatrical Outfit); Orestes (Guthrie Theater B.F.A.); Love’s Labor’s Lost (Theater Emory) and multiple productions for the Gainesville Theatre Alliance. Acting: Alliance, Guthrie, The Shakespeare Theater, Georgia Shakespeare, Actor's Express.

Liz Lee
Liz Lee
Lighting Designer

Alliance: I Just Stopped By To See The Man, Broke. Recent Chicago and regional design: world premieres of The Agitators, Other Than Honorable (Geva Theatre), Fences (Kansas City Rep), A Flea In Her Ear (American Players Theatre), The Flick (Steppenwolf Theatre), The Who and The What (Lincoln Center Theatre-LCT3, La Jolla Playhouse), The Bridges of Madison County (Peninsula Players), Gem of the Ocean (Court Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Writers’ Theatre), South Pacific (Clarence Brown Theatre), Man of La Mancha, The Mousetrap (Milwaukee Repertory).  Eleven Jeff Award nominations include designs for East Texas Hot Links (Writers’ Theatre) and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Court Theatre). Upcoming projects: world premiere of Support Group For Men (Goodman Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Kansas City Rep). Jack lives in Chicago and teaches design at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Jack Magaw
Jack Magaw
Set Designer

Alliance: I Just Stopped By To See The Man, Broke. Recent Chicago and regional design: world premieres of The Agitators, Other Than Honorable (Geva Theatre), Fences (Kansas City Rep), A Flea In Her Ear (American Players Theatre), The Flick (Steppenwolf Theatre), The Who and The What (Lincoln Center Theatre-LCT3, La Jolla Playhouse), The Bridges of Madison County (Peninsula Players), Gem of the Ocean (Court Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Writers’ Theatre), South Pacific (Clarence Brown Theatre), Man of La Mancha, The Mousetrap (Milwaukee Repertory).  Eleven Jeff Award nominations include designs for East Texas Hot Links (Writers’ Theatre) and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Court Theatre). Upcoming projects: world premiere of Support Group For Men (Goodman Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Kansas City Rep). Jack lives in Chicago and teaches design at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Kendall Simpson
Kendall Simpson
Sound Designer

Alix is a playwright and performer who is honored to have won the 2018 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, resulting in this production. Her play The Great Divide won the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, and other plays have  been finalists for the O’Neill New Play Conference, the Henley Rose Playwriting Competition and the Jane Chambers Award. She has had work read, workshopped or produced at theaters across North America, including the Roundabout Theater Company (New York, NY), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg, MB), the Finborough (London, UK), The Segal Centre (Montreal, QC), Brown Trinity Playwright’s Rep (Providence, RI), and others. She has a BA from Brown University, and recently graduated with her MFA from Columbia University. In addition to theater, she is passionate about crafting and animals.

Alix Sobler
Alix Sobler
Playwright

Alix is a playwright and performer who is honored to have won the 2018 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, resulting in this production. Her play The Great Divide won the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, and other plays have  been finalists for the O’Neill New Play Conference, the Henley Rose Playwriting Competition and the Jane Chambers Award. She has had work read, workshopped or produced at theaters across North America, including the Roundabout Theater Company (New York, NY), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg, MB), the Finborough (London, UK), The Segal Centre (Montreal, QC), Brown Trinity Playwright’s Rep (Providence, RI), and others. She has a BA from Brown University, and recently graduated with her MFA from Columbia University. In addition to theater, she is passionate about crafting and animals.

Nan Zabriskie
Nan Zabriskie
Costume Designer

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