JQA

AARON POSNER

Playwright / Director

AARON POSNER (Playwright / Director) is an award-winning playwright, director, teacher and former artistic director of two LORT theaters. His Helen Hayes Award-winning play, Stupid F**king Bird, was one of the ten most produced plays in the country in 2015. Other plays include Life Sucks and No Sisters (both re-inventions of Chekhov), District Merchants (inspired by The Merchant of Venice), Who Am I This Time? & Other Conundrums of Love (adapted from Kurt Vonnegut), The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev (adapted from Chaim Potok), Sometimes a Great Notion (adapted from Ken Kesey) and several more. He has directed more than 150 productions at major regional theaters across the country, including Arena Stage, and currently lives outside of D.C. with his wife, actress Erin Weaver, and his amazing daughter, Maisie.

MEGHAN RAHAM

Set Designer

MEGHAN RAHAM (Set Designer) is a scenic and costume designer with a strong interest in the development of new work. Design credits include Clay (Off-Broadway/ Lincoln Center LCT3); Master Harold…, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Night Alive and Fool for Love (Round House Theatre); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Ford’s); She the People and Pike St. (Woolly Mammoth); District Merchants, Romeo and Juliet and The Conference of the Birds (Folger); Life Sucks (Theater J); The Aliens and Red Speedo (Studio Theatre); and The Kennedy Center. Chicago credits include You Got Older (Steppenwolf Theatre), Fedra (Lookingglass Theatre) and The Hypocrites’ Frankenstein at the Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as regional credits at Barrington Stage (The Chosen), Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Center Theatre Group (LA). Meghan is an associate professor at American University. 

HELEN HUANG

Costume Designer

HELEN HUANG (Costume Designer)

JESSE BELSKY

Lighting Designer

JESSE BELSKY (Lighting Designer) previously designed The Year of Magical Thinking at Arena Stage. Other collaborations with Mr. Posner include the world-premiere of No Sisters (Studio Theatre), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Ford’s Theatre), The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Folger Theatre) and Everything is Illuminated (Theater J). Other D.C. designs include The Mystery of Love & Sex (Signature Theatre); Sense & Sensibility (Folger Theatre); The Effect, Three Sisters and ANIMAL (Studio Theatre); The Book of Will and Handbagged (Round House); and The Magic Play (Olney). Regional credits include productions at Yale Repertory, Playmakers Repertory, Actor’s Theatre Louisville and Portland Center Stage. Jesse holds a BA from Duke and an MFA from Yale School of Drama, and has taught lighting design at Connecticut College and UNC Greensboro.  www.jessebelsky.com

KARIN GRAYBASH

Sound Designer

KARIN GRAYBASH (Sound Designer) has created numerous sound designs for regional theater and Off-Broadway, including Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Berkeley Repertory, Dallas Theater Center, Yale Repertory, McCarter Theatre Center, Portland Stage, TheatreWorks and the Alliance, among others. Her work has been nominated for a variety of awards and she is a recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for her sound design of Polk County at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Karin was the original live sound consultant for the multi-media production Freedom Rising at the National Constitution Center. Many of her soundscapes can be heard at The Franklin Institute’s exhibit entitled Your Brain. Karin also holds the position of sound supervisor for the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. 

LISA NATHANS

Dialect & Vocal Coach

LISA NATHANS (Dialect and Vocal Coach) is thrilled to be coaching for Arena Stage! Other D.C. area credits include Arena Stage’s Anything Goes, Shakespeare Theatre Company/5th Avenue Theatre’s The Secret Garden (Broadway-bound co-production) and various productions with the Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, Signature Theatre, Theater Alliance, Keegan Theatre and MetroStage. Regional credits include Guthrie Theater, The Road Theatre Company and Theatricum Botanicum. TV credits include National Geographic’s Elemental: Hydrogen vs. Hindenburg. Private coaching/workshop development available; VASTA member. Teaching (USA and UK) engagements include University of Maryland TDPS (assistant professor: Voice, Speech, and Acting), CalArts, Stella Adler Academy, RADA, Royal Welsh, Royal Central, University of Washington (PATP MFA) and University of Minnesota (Guthrie BFA). Training: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, MFA (Voice Studies); Boston University, BFA (Acting); Linklater Voice Designation; and Colaianni Speech Practitioner. Break legs all!

HETHYR (RED) VERHOEF

Stage Manager

HETHYR (RED) VERHOEF (Stage Manager)

EMILY ANN MELLON

Assistant Stage Manager

EMILY ANN MELLON (Assistant Stage Manager) Arena Stage credits include Kleptocracy, Indecent, Dave, Hold These Truths, The Pajama Game, A Raisin in the Sun, Watch on the Rhine, Moby Dick, The Year of Magical Thinking, Born for This, Disgraced, All the Way, Akeelah and the Bee, Destiny of Desire and Dear Evan Hansen. Additional D.C. credits include Girlfriend (Signature); Wig Out! (Studio); The School for Lies (Shakespeare); and very still & hard to see (Rorschach). Other credits include Short North Stage, Evolution Theatre Co., Columbus Children's Theatre and CATCO-Phoenix Inc. in Columbus; Goodman Theatre in Chicago and Good Day New York and Inside Edition in New York. She sends all of her love to her family.