JESSICA BAKER (Lighting Designer) is the Arts Technician at UW-Parkside and has been designing lights for Parkside since 2018. Recently she was the lighting associate for Fireside Dinner Theatre’s performance of Titanic the Musical. In the summer of 2023, she worked at First Stage Children’s Theatre as the assistant teacher for playwriting/design class and was the lighting designer for the company class. In the summer of 2022, she worked at The Santa Fe Opera as a lighting apprentice working on the operas Carmen, The Barber of Seville, Tristan und Isolde, and Falstaff. 

MISTI BRADFORD (Costume Designer) is a professional Costume Designer and an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Selected regional design credits include: Spring Awakening, Skylight Music Theatre (upcoming, March 2024); Boswell, MHK Productions- Off Broadway, 59E59 Theatres, 2022 and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2019; Happy Days, and Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven (world premiere) Renaissance Theatre Works (Milwaukee, WI), The Nerd, Murder for Two, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; Pride and Prejudice, Illinois Shakespeare Festival; Murder for Two, Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Much a Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors, Door Shakespeare; two seasons of A Christmas Carol, Children’s Theatre of Madison; Goosebumps the Musical (world premiere) First Stage Children’s Theatre; The Thanksgiving Play, Bus Stop, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, The Flying Dutchman, Les Misérables, Man of Lamancha, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre. Misti produced five seasons as Resident Costume Designer and three seasons as Costume Crafts Supervisor and Wig Stylist with PCPA Theaterfest, (Santa Maria, CA) and has worked several seasons as a Costume Crafts Artisan for the American Player’s Theatre. Misti has designed over 25 productions at UW-Parkside and served as the Department Chair for the past five years. Misti has currently moved into the role of Production Manager for the department and will also serve as the interim Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Humanities in the Spring semester of 2024. Misti is a proud member of the United Scenic Artists, Local 829. 

JEFF BRAIN (Scene Shop Supervisor) is a graduate of UW-Parkside (2020) with focuses on performance, carpentry, and props design. At Parkside, his performance credits included Romeo and Juliet (Friar Lawrence), Love's Labour's Lost (Longaville), and War of the Worlds (Announcer #2). He also designed props for Silent Sky and served as Lead Carpenter for Curious Incident... Jeff has also worked as a carpenter and props artisan for theatres including The Alley Theatre (Houston, TX), American Players Theatre (Spring Green, WI), and Fireside Dinner Theatre (Fort Atkinson, WI). He is an ensemble member of Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, where he continues to expand his portfolio of performance, carpentry, and props design.   

FABRICE CONTE-WILLIAMSON (Director) is a director, actor, and theatre educator, teaching courses in directing, theatre history, dramatic literature, and dramatic criticism at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Fabrice received a Master of Performing Arts from the University of Nice, France, as well as an MFA in Directing and an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma Helmerich School of Drama. His primary research focuses on post-modern French dramatic literature and performance theory, the role of literary myth in dramatic literature, and the development of multilingual and cross-cultural theatre movements. From 2007 to 2013 Fabrice was Chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at St. Gregory's University. He also taught acting and voice and movement at the University of Oklahoma where he became actively involved with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VI, serving as State Chair for Oklahoma and coordinator for the Arts Management and Administration Initiative (ASPIRE). Recent projects include directing Always a Bridesmaid for Waukesha Civic Theatre and The Aliens and She Kills Monsters for UW-Parkside.  Fabrice currently serves as the Theatre Arts Department chair. 

KENNEDY FRICK (Wardrobe Supervisor) is a sophomore Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Design & Technology. Kennedy transferred here from Allen Hancock College in CA, where their credits include Costume Designer for No Exit and Calabasas Street. Additional professional credits include Costume Designer for The Music Man and Evita at Saint Joseph High School, and Emma (Asst. Costume Design), The Sound of Music, Into the Woods, Cinderella, River Bride, and Bright Star (Stitcher), and Native Gardens (Wardrobe Crew) at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. 

KEVIN GRAY (Sound Designer) is UW-Parkside’s Sound Manager and Instructor, working with both the Theatre Arts and Music departments to produce art and events on campus. Kevin received a BA in Sound Design with a minor in Music Composition from Michigan Technological University. Design credits include The Aliens, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Cinderella, and Stupid F##king Bird, for which he received a national award. 

OCTAVIO HERNANDEZ (Assistant Director) is a junior Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Directing. Octavio transferred from the College of Lake County, where his credits include The Story Club (Charlie), Eurydice (Big Stone), I Have a Story to Tell (self), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Doug), Into the Woods (Assistant Director / Cinderella’s Father), School House Rock Live! (Tom), Lions in Illyria (Asst. Director), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [Abridged] (Asst. Director), and The Squirrels (Director). 

TAYLOR IRELAND (Stage Manager) is a senior Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Stage Management. Recent UW-Parkside credits include Spring Awakening (Spotlight Operator), The Aliens (Stage Manager), As You Like It (Assistant Stage Manager) and The Wolves (Assistant Stage Manager). Taylor was also the Stage Manager for The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fair(l)y (Stoopid) Tales at Cyclopedic Ensemble, and most recently was Assistant Stage Manager for The Old Man and The Old Moon and As You Like It at Door Shakespeare. 

ZYM JACKSON (Assistant Production Electrician) is a first year Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Design & Technology. 

J LOFTY (Dramaturg) is a junior Theatre Arts major with a minor in International Studies. Previous acting credits include Hir (Isaac). Additional credits include As You Like It (Assistant Props Head) and She Kills Monsters (Assistant Props Head) at UW-Parkside, as well as You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at STEPS Performing Arts (Props Head) and Brighton Beach Memoirs (Assistant Stage Manager) at Lakeside Players. 

MYKAH MELONE (Props Lead) is a junior with a double major in Theatre Arts and English. They recently came to us from Carthage College where they were Props Designer for Legally Blonde, and Assistant Stage Manager for Betrayal. They served as the Assistant Fight Director for Shakespeare in Love at Harper College, and their acting credits include Puppet Corps (Silas Cybin) at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, Hair (Paul / Woof) at Carthage College, She Kills Monsters (Farrah the Faerie) at Elgin Community College, Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Ensemble) at Lake Zurich Players, and Macbeth (u/s Angus & Witch) at Theatre Lab. 

JODY SEKAS (Scenic Designer) is a production/scenic designer for theatre and film, whose recent designs include the Off-Broadway debut of Boswell, and the upcoming feature film What Happened to Dorothy Bell. In 2021 he won the KCACTF National Scene Design Award for his design of Stupid F##king Bird. He has worked for such venues as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, First Stage Children’s Theatre, Door Shakespeare, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, Dell’Arte International, Rochester Civic Theatre, Omaha Theatre Company for Young People, The Western Stage, and on the films The Music Inside, Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes, FLEA, and The Wine of Summer. He taught Scenography for Theatre, Film, & Dance at Humboldt State University in northern California; Scenic/Lighting Design & Technology at UW-Eau Claire and was the resident scenic & lighting designer for the Sioux Falls Playhouse in South Dakota. He is now in his eleventh year at UW-Parkside as Associate Professor of Scenic Design & Technology and is a core professor in the Digital Design & Fabrication program. See examples of his work at www.d4production.com. 

JENNA SPEER (Assistant Stage Manager) is a senior Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Musical Theatre and a transfer student from State Fair Community College (Sedalia, MO). Recent credits include The Aliens (Assistant Stage Manager), The Wolves (#2) and Indecent (U/S The Ingenue) at UW-Parkside. Additional credits include Racine Theatre Guild’s The Little Mermaid (Arista), Cyclopedic Ensemble's Stinky Cheese Man (And Other Fair(L)y Stoopid Tales), Summit Theatre Group’s Mamma Mia! (Ali), SFCC’s First Date (Lauren), James and the Giant Peach (Aunt Spiker), and Coffeyville Community College’s regional premiere of The Humans (Brigid). 

RACHAEL SWARTZ (Dialect Coach) teaches musical theatre, voice, movement, and on-camera acting at UW-Parkside and during the summer serves on the Acting and Musical Theatre faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Rachael is a proud union member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Some of her recent regional performance credits include: The 39 Steps (Annabella/Pamela/Margaret), The Sound of Music (Mother Abbess), and Romeo and Juliet (Nurse). Recent on-camera credits include work with the Travel Channel, ID, Oxygen and TV One. She holds an undergraduate degree from Baldwin Wallace University and her MFA in Theatre Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi. 

LESLIE VAGLICA (Costume Shop Supervisor) is a costumer whose foundation in fashion and art has enriched her focus in theatrical costuming. She has worked as a costume technician for Off-Broadway productions of Trevor, The Musical and Boswell, as well as for professional companies, including American Players Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Florentine Opera Company, Skylight Music Theatre, and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Professional regional design credits include The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Sugar Creek Opera, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Florentine Opera Company, Luminous Theatre, UW-Milwaukee Dance and Musical Theatre, Peter Stathas Dance, and Renaissance Theaterworks. She has also served as Costume Shop Manager at Hope Summer Repertory Theater in Holland, MI. Leslie is a graduate of UW-Eau Claire and holds a certificate in Apparel Product Design and Development from Mt. Mary University.   

PETR WILLIAM (Assistant Lighting Designer / Production Electrician) is a junior Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Design and Technology. Past credits include Spring Awakening (Ensemble / Moritz cover / Head Electrician), Hir (Stage Manager), The Wolves (Assistant Lighting Designer), She Kills Monsters (Head Electrician), Circle Mirror Transformation (Lighting Designer), and The Mad Ones (Adam U/S). Recently, Petr directed Anne of Green Gables and a Playwriting Showcase at Racine Lutheran High School.