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Alley All New Festival Who's Who

African Moms' Book Club

Gloria Majule is a storyteller from Dodoma, Tanzania. She seeks to tell stories that bring multiple black voices together from across the world, and are accessible to black audiences no matter where they are. She writes for and about Africans and the African diaspora.

Gloria has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell and Artist Trust; commissions from Audible, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, and Princeton University/The Civilians; and residencies at Yaddo, Art Omi, The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The New Harmony Project, and New York Stage and Film. A four-time O’Neill Finalist and six-time Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee, Gloria’s work includes Uhuru (Upcoming World Premiere at the Alley Theatre), Mala Aria (Upcoming New Play Production at Premiere Stages), My Father Was Shot In The Back Of The Head (Relentless Award Finalist), Possessed (Or, “The Crazy African Girl Play) (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Selection), Culture Shock (Leah Ryan Prize Winner), and FIFTEEN HUNDRED (Blue Ink Award Finalist). Her work has been developed at New York Theatre Workshop, Union Arts Center, The American Playwriting Foundation, Abingdon Theatre Company, The Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration, Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater, American Blues Theater, The New Group, The Alliance Theatre, and Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others. Gloria graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a BA in Performing & Media Arts and Spanish, and was the first African woman to receive an MFA in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama.

Awoye Timpo Recent credits: Windfall by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Steppenwolf), The Swamp Dwellers by Wole Soyinka (Theatre for a New Audience), The Wash by Kelundra Smith (New Federal Theater), Leroy & Lucy by Ngozi Anyanwu (Steppenwolf), Syncing Ink by NSangou Njikam (Apollo Theater), Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater), Wedding Band by Alice Childress (Theatre for a New Audience). Awoye is a Creative Arts Consultant for the African American Policy Forum and a Founding Member of Classix, a collective created to explode the classical canon through an exploration of dramatic works by Black writers and Black performance history, theclassix.org.

Estée Burks is thrilled to return to the Alley All New Festival! She was last seen in Alley All New Festival’s(2019) reading of Amerikin. Credits include Murder on the Orient Express (Alley Theatre); The Bluest Eye (The Ensemble Theatre); The Royale (Rec Room); and Passing Strange (Obsidian Theatre). Estée is a native Houstonian.

Michelle Elaine Headshot

Michelle Elaine is a Resident Acting Company Member. She originated the role of Miss Scarlet in the First National Tour of Clue: A New Comedy. Favorite Alley Theatre credits: Romeo & Juliet, Fences, The Girl on the Train, Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, Primary Trust, Noises Off, A Christmas Carol, Clue, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Sense and Sensibility, Sweat, and Quack. Michelle was awarded the Houston Press Theater Award for Best Actress for her performance as Rose in August Wilson’s Fences at Alley Theatre. Follow @michelleelaineofficial on Instagram

Patrice Johnson (Zawadi)

LaKeisha Rochelle Randle (Sylvia)

Fahnlohnee Reeves is an actor, singer, playwright, and director who is thrilled to make her Alley Theatre debut as Nuru in African Moms’ Book Club. Her film credits include The Great Debaters, Ray, and The Skeleton Key. Regional theatre credits include Once on This Island, Nollywood Dreams, For Colored Girls, and Measure for Measure.

Claire Metusalem is an actor and teaching artist from Houston. She was most recently seen in Alley Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. Other credits include A.D. Players: The Play That Goes Wrong, Nebraska Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Garden Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Claire is an MFA Acting candidate at the University of Houston.

Debs Ramser Previous Alley Theatre productions include Baskerville, December: a love years in the making, The Janeiad, Dial M for Murder, Pictures from Home, The Servant of Two Masters, What-A-Christmas!, and several Alley All New Festival works. Debs has stage managed professional theater, musical theater, opera, dance, and concerts for over 25 years, working with Theatre Under The Stars, Main Street Theater, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Prague Shakespeare Company, and Houston Grand Opera, among many others. She is a graduate of Rice University and a proud member of Equity.

Family Weekend

Jake Brasch (he/they) is a writer, performer, composer, clown, and recent graduate of The Juilliard School. His play The Reservoir has been produced by Atlantic Theater Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and Berkeley Rep. With Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, Jake is one half of American Sing-Song, a duo that writes and performs filthy comedic musicals, including HOLE!, which will be presented this year at Playwrights Horizons and Soho Theatre in London. His play Trip Around the Sun will premiere at Two River Theater in the spring. Jake is the proud recipient of both national awards named for his hero Paula Vogel, from the Kennedy Center and Vineyard Theatre. He has three brothers, 26 pairs of glasses, and lives in Brooklyn with his sourdough starter, Marvin, and his sweetie pie husband, Tyler.

Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Director)

Elizabeth Bunch is the Karen and Arthur Rogers Resident Company Artist. She has appeared in over 100 productions at Alley Theatre. Favorites include Misery, Seared, Noises Off, Little Comedies, Servant of Two Masters, Clue, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, 1984, Constellations, As You Like It, Grounded, Othello, The 39 Steps, Hand to God, Pygmalion, August: Osage County, Clybourne Park, Lieutenant of Inishmore, Doubt, Proof, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. NYC and Regional: Playwrights Horizons, Guthrie, Denver Center, Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble, Keen Company, and The Flea. @Its_Elizabeth_Bunch

Johanna Day Broadway: Call Me Izzy, How I Learned to Drive, The Nap, Sweat (Tony Nomination), You Can’t Take It With You, August: Osage County, Lombardi, Proof (Tony Nomination). Theatre: Scene Partners (Vineyard), Des Moines (TFANA), Middletown (Vineyard), Floyd’s (Guthrie), Peace for Mary Francis (New Group), Peter and Jerry (Second Stage – Drama Desk Nomination) Appropriate (Signature – Obie Award, The Lilly Award), Poor Behavior (Mark Taper), Realistic Joneses (Yale Rep), Choice (Huntington), The Rainmaker (Arena Stage – Helen Hayes Award). Television: Bull, The Good Fight, Madam Secretary, For Life, New Amsterdam, The Blacklist, Escape at Dannemora, The Knick, The Americans, Masters of Sex. Film: Worth, The Post, Great Gilley Hopkins, How Far She Went, The Breatharian

Chris Hutchison

Chris Hutchinson is in his 21st year as a member of the Resident Acting Company. Recent credits incluide: Romeo and Juliet, The Girl on the Train, Misery, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Da Vinci Code, Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d. A 30-year career has taken him from Los Angeles to NYC to Houston and many points between. BA Lafayette College, MFA University of Washington. Proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA.

Bryan Jahnke is a member of the UH MFA Apprentice Acting Company. Recent credits include: Romeo & Juliet (Male Understudy) Alley Theatre, Restoration Comedy (Lord Foppington) University of Houston, Frankenstein (Victor Frankenstein) University of Houston. Thanks and love to Mom, Dad, Bren, and Allysia.

Antonio Lasanta is excited to make his Alley Theatre Debut! Antonio is an actor, writer, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary-artist from Houston, Texas. Stage credits: Stages: that drive thru monterey (Timoteo); Rec Room Arts: King James (Shawn); Horse Head Theater Co.: The Flick (Avery). Film credits: Burning Alive, Hero Hero Hero, Encore. Instagram: @antoniolasanta

Courtney Markowitz Alley Theatre debut! Broadway/National Tours: Jekyll & Hyde, Spring Awakening. Houston favorites: Ragtime (Mother), White Christmas (Betty Haynes), Sweeney Todd (Beggar Woman), Cinderella (Stepmother), Mary Poppins (Mrs. Banks) at TUTS.  Stages: Come From Away (Diane), …Spelling Bee (Rona), Miracle on 34th Street (Doris). Vocalist with the Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony. @courtcarts

Alyssa Gabrielle Rodriguez is grateful to be making her debut at Alley Theatre with Family Weekend. She’s happy to be home in Houston after working 12 years in Los Angeles. She’s performed readings at STAGES, guest starred on 17 network TV shows and has two upcoming feature films. 

Micah Weese is an actor and musician originally from Oklahoma. Recent appearances include Houston Shakespeare Festival, Winnipesaukee Playhouse, and Florida Repertory Theatre. He has a BFA in Acting from the University of Oklahoma and is currently a third-year MFA candidate at the University of Houston/Alley Theatre.

Juliette De Andrade is a Venezuela-raised, Houston-based theatre and film creative and is elated to be joining this year’s Alley All New Festival. She graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in Media Production. Stage Manager credits- Happy Hour Readings: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Women Beware The Devil (Stage Reading). Rec Room Arts: Amadeus; Toros; Winter Solstice; Spring Awakening (Assistant Stage Manager).

Hippolytus/Phedra

Luis Quintero is a Houston-based Actor, Playwright, and Composer, and he is thrilled to return to the Alley once again! Alley credits: The Body Snatcher, The Glass Menagerie, American Mariachi, A Christmas Carol, Sweat, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Select Regional credits: Octet, Mr. Burns, Into the Woods, Romeo and Juliet. Plays: Medea: Re-Versed, (Lucille Lortel Award Nominated Best Musical, Drama Desk Nominations; Best Adaptation and Best Lyrics). He has two more installations in his Greek Grunge Trilogy. The Minotaur, commissioned by Hudson Valley Shakespeare with developmental support from The O’Neill, The Guggenheim and Under the Radar. And Hippolytus/Phedra commissioned by Red Bull Theater and developed by The Alley Theater and UNCSA and the Kenan institute for the arts. Luis would like to thank the Alley, his Friends and Family and you the reader of this bio for supporting Live Theater!

Nathan Winkelstein serves as the Producing Director at Red Bull theater where he has been for 11 years.  Recent directing credits include Medea: Re-Versed (Red Bull Theater, Bedlam, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), Love and Information and As You Like It (NYU grad), Seascape (The Alley), Midsummer Night’s Dream (American Shakespeare Center), Romeo and Juliet (Lincoln Center, WHAT, White Heron), The Importance of Being Earnest (Monmouth). Upcoming credits include Bill Cain’s God’s Spies at 59e59th and Red Bull Theater and Hippolytus/Phaedra at UNCSA. Nathan has also appeared as an actor in productions at Red Bull Theater, Lincoln Center, The Folger, and Shakespeare Theater company among many others. Dubbed ‘The Pied Piper of Shakespeare’ has taught for Red Bull, STC, LCT, TGS and Maggie Flanagan Studio. Nathan received his BA in Theater from the University at Buffalo and his MFA in Classical Acting from The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK. Nathan is a member of Actors’ Equity and SDC.

David Rainey

David Rainey is in his 26th season as a Resident Acting Company Member and performed over 100 productions for the Alley. He’s also performed on Broadway with The National Actors Theatre, and nationally with the Guthrie Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkeley Rep, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, among others. He received the Juilliard Drama Division’s highest honor, the Michel and Suria Saint-Denis Prize, and he also owns Studio for Actors Houston.

Raven Justine Troup is excited to be participating in another production with the Alley Theatre! Previous Alley credits include: Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium (Laurencia); Seascape (Sarah); Amerikin (Chris); A Christmas Carol (Belle/Mrs. Fred), Sophia (Xerxes, Alley All New Festival 2019), and Skeleton Crew (Assistant Director). Other credits: Sanctuary City (4th Wall Theatre Co); Beautiful, Rent, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Sister Act, Elf the Musical, Spring Awakening, Seussical the Musical, Mamma Mia, The Wiz (TUTS); Little Shop Of Horrors (Stages); For Colored Girls… (Obsidian); and Funny Girl (Art Factory).

Teresa Zimmermann Alley Theatre: Dial M for Murder (Margot Wendice), Amerikin (Michelle). TUTS: Beautiful (Cynthia Weil), Rent (Maureen), Million Dollar Quartet (U/S Dyanne), Frozen (Ens, U/S Elsa), Rock of Ages (Regina), Jerome Robbins Broadway, Sweeney Todd (Ens, U/S Lovett). Live at the Founders Club (Self). Queensbury Theatre: Mean Girls (Janis). Cincinnati Playhouse: Dial M for Murder. Stages: Roe (Norma McCorvey/Jane Roe), Veronica’s Room (Girl). All my love to Will, the kitties, the fam & the fram. TeresaZ.net @tereereeree

Woody Minshew is a 3rd year MFA graduate candidate with the Alley Theater/University of Houston. A New York based actor who has performed regionally and on national tours. He wants to thank his friends, family, The Bards, and Sarah for their love and support. @woodman1129 or @Bardsofnewyork

Rachel R. Bush (Stage Manager)

Lunacy
Or,
The Emperor and Empress of the Moon

Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth had its UK premiere in 2025 with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End, directed by RSC co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans and starring Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel.

Born With Teeth had its world premiere at the Alley Theater in 2022, a production that won Houston Press Awards’ Best Play/Production and Best New Play, and that moved to the Guthrie Theatre, Asolo Rep, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It was an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award recipient and a Steinberg-ATCA New Play Award Finalist.

Adams’ neo-Restoration comedy Or, premiered Off Broadway at WP Theater and has been produced more than 80 times since, including at the Magic Theater, Seattle Rep, and Roundhouse Theatre. Other plays include Dear Alien (Alley Theater premiere in 2026); Dog Act (Will Glickman Award for Best New Play), and Witch Hunt or, A Discourse On the Wonders of the Invisible World (Contemporary American Theater Festival).

A New Dramatists alumna, Adams has also received a Women of Achievement Award, Lillian Hellman Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Weston Playhouse Music-Theater Award, and Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship. Publications include Or, in Smith & Kraus’ “Best Plays Of 2010;” Dog Act in “Geek Theater: Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy Plays,” Underwords Press 2014; Poodle With Guitar And Dark Glasses in Applause’s “Best American Short Plays 2000-2001;” and Born With Teeth in a UK trade edition from Nick Hern Books.

Rob Melrose

Rob Melrose is the Artistic Director of Alley Theatre where he has directed productions of Romeo and Juliet, The Glass Menagerie, The Janeiad, Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium, Pictures from Home, The Servant of Two Masters, Born with Teeth, Sweat, The Winter’s Tale, 1984, and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and adapted and directed A Christmas Carol. He was formerly the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Cutting Ball Theater. He has directed at The Public Theater, The Guthrie Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theatre, The Old Globe, PlayMakers Rep, Black Box Theatre, as well as Actors’ Collective, The Gamm Theatre, and Crowded Fire, among others. He has taught at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, USF, the University of Rhode Island, and Marin Academy. He has a BA in English and Theater from Princeton University and an MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama. Rob directed Strindberg’s Svarta Handsken (The Black Glove) in Stockholm, Sweden at Strindberg’s Intimate Theater. His translations of Woyzeck, Ubu Roi, and Pelleas & Melisande have been published by EXIT Press. He has written a number of plays including: Helen of Troy, The Flat Earth, Divorsosaurus, When Human Voices Wake Us, Asylum, and Serpentyne and has written a rock musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s Ozma of Oz.

Dylan Godwin is a Resident Acting Company Member and recently appeared in Alley Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio), The Girl on the Train (Scott Hipwell), Dear Alien, The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon Moncrieff), Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (Actor 2), The Glass Menagerie (Tom). National Tour: Fiddler on the Roof. Regional: Born with Teeth (Guthrie Theatre and Asolo Rep); Miller, Mississippi (Dallas Theatre Center).

Callee Miles made her Alley debu in Romeo and Juliet. Off Broadway/NYC: Hamlet, Million Dollar Quartet. Regional: Merchant of Venice, Antony & Cleopatra, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evil Dead, Hotter Than Egypt, Les Misérables. UH: The Moors, Frankenstein. She’s also an advanced actor combatant and martial artist. Thanks to friends, mentors, and my sun and Skye. 4:13.

Melissa Molano

Melissa Molano is a Resident Acting Company Member. Past Alley shows include Romeo and Juliet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Noel Coward’s Private Lives, The Glass Menagerie, Jane Eyre, The Da Vinci Code, Noises Off, Clue, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and the world premieres of Dear Alien, Richard Nelson’s Little Comedies, and Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.  Outside of Alley she’s a voice/film actor with projects featured on streaming platforms HiDive, Netflix and Prime. Instagram/X: @melissacmolano. 

Allison Pistorius is returning to the Alley after the 2025 AANF and has worked at Prague Shakespeare Company, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center Theater Company, Houston Shakespeare Festival, and others. Recent on camera appearances include Dutton Ranch, the independent feature film Tempest (Official Selection – Dances With Films Los Angeles), and “Mom” in a handful of national commercials. She was a two-time Jeopardy! contestant and is the Head of BFA Acting at the University of Houston.  MFA in Acting, National Theatre Conservatory.

Essence Renae (Mopsophil/Artemis)

Andrea San Miguel (Harlequin/Science Officer Quin)

David Sinaiko played Hercule Poirot at the Alley in Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Favorite Bay Area credits: King Lear, “Art”, The Antipodes, The Tempest, Endgame, Taming of the Shrew, The Bald Soprano, The Chairs, and Tenderloin. Favorite Chicago credits: Heart of a Dog, The Balcony, Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Film: The Grifters, Bob Roberts, and others. Big love to Annie, Eli, Maia, and Asher.

Forrest Stringfellow is a 3rd-Year in the University of Houston’s MFA Acting Program. He was last seen in Houston as Dromio of Syracuse in Comedy of Errors and Sebastian in Tempest at the Houston Shakespeare Festival. Love and special thanks to his wife, Shayna, for her unwavering support.

Mason Dowd is originally from Pittsburgh, and has been seen performing with various regional theatres, such as West Virginia Public Theatre, Lincoln Park PAC, City Theatre Company, PICT, New Hazlett Theatre, and Pittsburgh Opera. BFA Acting: Point Park University, current MFA Acting candidate at the Alley Theatre/University of Houston.

Allysia Peine is an actor, and teaching artist from Utah. Most recently she was seen in Cats, Guys and Dolls, and Anything Goes (UFOMT) She is also a proud recipient of a Distinguished Performance Award from The Kennedy Center. BA. Idaho State University, MFA Acting Candidate: University of Houston/Alley Theatre.

Laura Pilar Gutierrez is honored to be working with Alley Theatre again! Thank you to my friends and family for always supporting me. Love y’all and enjoy the show! Past credits: ASM: Girl from the North Country Tour; Torera, Pictures From Home, The World is Not Silent, Dial M for Murder (Alley Theatre); Shrek the Musical (Slow Burn Theatre Company).