Joanna Murray-Smith is a Melbourne-based playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She has written over 20 plays including, Honour, Rapture, Bombshells, Nightfall, Redemption, Love Child, Flame, and The Female of the Species. Honour has been produced in over two dozen countries, including productions on Broadway and at the National Theatre in London and in the West End. Both Honour and Rapture won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play. Joanna has also published three novels Truce, Judgement Rock, and Sunnyside.

Andra is pleased to make her Northlight debut. She works extensively in Chicago and around the country as a music director, adapter/arranger, pianist, educator, and vocal coach. Regionally, her work has been seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville, A.R.T. in Cambridge, Berkeley Rep, Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYU’s Skirball Center, Olney Theatre Center in Maryland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, and Three Oaks in Michigan. In Chicago, she has had the pleasure of collaborating with Chicago Children’s Theatre, Firebrand Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Hypocrites, Steppenwolf, Theater Wit, Writers Theatre, and dozens of others. She is a Practitioner in Residence at Columbia College Chicago, where she has taught musical theatre performance since 2008. Special thanks as always to Jamie. www.AndraVelisSimon.com

Jeffrey is an award-winning Chicago-based Theatrical Production Designer and Art Director. His designs have been seen at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Lyric Opera, Paramount Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Timeline Theatre, American Players Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Porchlight, Raven Theatre, The Artistic Home, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Heritage Theatre Festival, and The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. He received three consecutive Equity Jeff Awards for his designs on The Little Mermaid at the Paramount Theatre (2017), Deathtrap at Drury Lane Theatre (2016), and Les Miserable at The Paramount Theatre (Co-Design with Kevin Depinet in 2015). Jeffrey received his MFA from the University of Virginia, BA from Illinois State University, and is a member of USA 829.

Credits include designs with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Steppenwolf, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Court Theater, Writers Theatre, Lyric Opera Unlimited, Lookingglass Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Second City, Redmoon, The Hypocrites, Chicago Children’s Theatre, About Face Theatre, Steep Theatre, Theater Wit, Albany Park Theater Project, Manual Cinema, and the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theatre. She won a non-Equity Jeff award in 2020 for First Love is the Revolution at Steep Theatre. She is proud to be a member of USA829. www.miekavanderploeg.com

Broadway: Slave Play, The Nap, Bronx Bombers, and A Time to Kill. Off Broadway: Privacy (The Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Rx (Primary Stages), Top Secret (New York Theatre Workshop), and many others. International: Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Festival, many others. Regional: South Coast Repertory, Arena Stage, Goodman, McCarter, Steppenwolf, Guthrie, Hartford Stage, Chicago Shakespeare, Woolly Mammoth, and others. Film scoring: The Brass Teapot (Magnolia Pictures) and the Academy Award–winning A Note of Triumph (HBO Films). Audio drama work includes A Streetcar Named Desire for Audible, and the award-winning weekly podcast for children The Imagination Neighborhood. Lindsay has received two Tony Award nominations for Best Score and Best Sound Design of a Play, seven Joseph Jefferson Awards and 24 nominations; two Ovation Awards and three nominations; and many others. www.lindsayjones.com.

Rita Vreeland has been a frequent stage manager at Northlight since 2007, with Birthday Candles marking her 42nd production here. Other favorite recent projects include Ernest Shackleton Loves Me at Porchlight Music Theatre, A Christmas Carol at Drury Lane, The Luckiest at Raven Theatre, three years of The Polar Express Train Ride, and productions at Mercury Theatre, Victory Gardens, Route 66 Theatre Company, Theatre at the Center, and The Galway International Arts Festival in Galway, Ireland. She is the proud wife of actor Tom Hickey and mom to ten-year-old Charlie, and this year she celebrated her 22nd anniversary as a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Thank you for supporting live theatre!

Originally from Southern California, Adrian Abel Azevedo is a freelance director, producer, and teaching artist in the Chicagoland area. He is an alumni of Columbia College Chicago. His most recent credits include directing Music Theatre Works’ Richard Rogers Greatest Hits Concert. Upcoming: Production Associate for Porchlight Music Theatre’s ICONS Gala honoring Chita Rivera, followed by directing Music Theatre Works’ 2022 summer musical. He has worked with Chicagoland theatre companies including Goodman Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Steep Theatre, Teatro Vista, and Music Theatre Works. Yando Lopez, I love you. Please get vaccinated and thank you for coming to the show.

Eva is a voice and text coach based in Chicago. Recent Chicago credits include Nell Gwynn (Chicago Shakespeare), Lady In Denmark (Goodman), The Doppelganger (Steppenwolf), Plantation! (Lookingglass), Master Class (Timeline), The Belle of Amherst (Court Theatre). Regional: Four seasons with American Players Theatre; Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, The Who and the What, Always Patsy Cline (Milwaukee Rep); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville); The Woman in Black (US Tour); Around The World In 80 Days (Baltimore Center Stage/Kansas City Repertory) and Mamma Mia! (National Tour/Las Vegas). Television: Empire, Betrayal, The Chicago Code. Eva is an associate artist at TimeLine Theatre Company.