Gregg Markowski, stage manager and lighting designer:

Gregg began his current position as the finance director of Kansas City Ballet in 1993 and completed his M.S. in Accounting from UMKC’s Bloch school in 1995. Mr. Markowski had a long and adventurous career as a stage manager and lighting designer for many performing arts companies including Kansas City Ballet, Creede Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Missouri Repertory Theatre and the Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts before joining the administrative staff at Kansas City Ballet. Mr. Markowski received a M.F.A. from Yale (1988) and a B.A. in theatre from UMKC (1982).

Melinda McCrary, actor and director:

Melinda has been involved with KCAT since its inception, and recently directed David Mamet’s Boston Marriage.  Her acting roles with KCAT include June in Fifth of July, Netta in Talley & Son, Amanda in Private Lives and Beth in Dinner With Friends. She most recently portrayed Lisa Kron in Well at the Unicorn Theatre, where she’s also appeared in Orson’s Shadow, Omnium Gatherum, Fuddy Meers and Unidentified Human Remains. Other local roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Calpurnia in Julius Caesar, Ariel in The Tempest and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Mother in A Christmas Story at the Heartland, Alma Rose in Playing for Time at The Coterie and in Steel Magnolias and Noises Off at the New Theatre. She’s also performed with Ground Zero Productions, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Rep, Boston Shakespeare Company, Arizona Theatre Company and in over 30 productions at The Rep. Melinda is the Director of Education and Community Programs at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and teaches at UMKC. Her adaptation of Carvings, a trio of short stories by Raymond Carver, was produced by Princess Squid Productions in collaboration with the Urban Culture Project. She was a faculty member at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp in Colorado for 7 years and managed their year-round theatre program. She’s also served as Education Director for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and taught for the Coterie Theatre, the KCYA Community School for the Arts and Actor’s Lab in Phoenix, AZ.

James F. Mitchell, production manager and stage manager:

Jim has over 20 years experience in stage management, principally with Missouri Repertory Theatre and other theatre companies in the KC area.  He has served as Production Manager for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Dartmouth Summer Repertory Theatre and Creede Repertory Theatre, as well as  the Kansas City Points of Light Celebration and Arts Fest at Crown Center.  Stage management credits include King Lear, The Tempest, The Glass Menagerie, Oleanna, Romeo and Juliet, M Butterfly, Our Town, The Misanthrope, The Seagull, True West, Richard III, Three Tall Women, Hay Fever, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Inherit the Wind, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Translations, A Lesson from Aloes, and A Christmas Carol.

Carla Noack, actor:

Carla is an assistant professor of acting in the Master of Fine Arts program at UMKC Theatre and for ten years was co-artistic director of the Commonweal Theatre Company in Lanesboro, MN, where her favorite roles included Josie in A Moon for the Misbegotten, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, and Lena Szczepanowska in Misalliance. She is also a four-year company member of the Great River Shakespeare Festival acting company, where she’s been seen as Rosalind in As You Like It, Katherine in Taming of the Shrew and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. This summer she’s also been banging the bass drum as Josie Horgan in Boom! An International Lost and Found Family Marching Band.

John Rensenhouse, actor and director:

John was born and bred a Kansas Citian and returned to make his permanent residence here in ’97.  He has traveled the country over working at many of the most prestigious theaters including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Arena Stage in Washington D.C., Hartford Stage, the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, San Jose Rep, Milwaukee Rep and the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City.  He performed in the national Broadway tours of The Lion King and Noises Off and once upon a time was a loveable bad guy on a soap opera called The Edge of Night.

Mark Robbins, actor and director:

Mark has been an Equity Actor for the past 28 years, with more that 125 professional roles to his credit, performing in Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Tucson, St. Louis and Kansas City. He has performed leading roles as Macbeth, Oedipus, and Richard III, and has worked as a leading actor for every major professional theatre in Kansas City. He is a director of note in Kansas City, having directed for the Unicorn Theatre (where he received a Best of Kansas City award for Best Director), the American Heartland Theatre, UMKC’s Graduate Training Program, and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.