Cast

WALTER PETRYK (Robert Snow): Walter Petryk graduated Brooklyn College in New York City with a BA in Theater. Previous roles include but are not limited to, Hawkeye Pierce in the stage version of M*A*S*H (Riverwalk Theater, Lansing, MI, directed by Justin Brewer), Flynn in Sherlock Holmes and the Case Of the Jersey Lily (Jericho Arts Centre, Vancouver, BC, directed by William B Davis), and The Survivor and the Bum in Camino Real (Whitman Theater, Brooklyn, NY, directed by Laura Tesman). He has performed, written, and stage managed for Gone In Sixty Seconds, the world's only international one-minute play festival for the last four years running. Outside of the theater he has recently and with great care, bushwhacked his way into the world of film, having performed in several independent projects in New York and now Oregon. Due to this production he will miss participating in the Ferret Wrestling Championship for the first time in forever, but he couldn't be happier, since he gets to be a part of this wonderful production and work with so many talented people.

AGATHA OLSON (Haley Snow): Agatha is delighted to be making her Playwrights West debut.  She was most recently seen on stage as The Girl in Six Characters In Search Of an Author (Portland Actors Conservatory).  Agatha played the role of Danielle in The Turn (The Reformers).  Other Portland theater credits include The Big Meal and The Lost Boy (Artists Repertory Theatre); The Pain And The Itch (Third Rail Repertory Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for The Fall Festival of Shakespeare (Portland Playhouse).  She was recently one of six finalists in Young Playwrights for Change, OCT's playwriting contest for middle school students.  Agatha participated in a flash reading of Claire Willett’s original script CARTER HALL in the 2014 Fertile Ground Festival.

CHRIS PORTER (Galileo Galilei): Chris was last seen as the Shepherd in The Winter's Tale with Anon It Moves. His penchant for acting began in the Cub Scouts and has stayed with him the last 50 or so years. Assorted favorites from this motley half-century include Bogey from Play It Again, Sam;  the Chaplain from The Lady's Not For Burning;  Fluellen in Henry V;  Sitting Bull in Annie Get Your Gun;  Dr. Watson in an adaptation of A Scandal In Bohemia;  and about seven out of eight different characters he's played in Hamlet.  Chris also originated the role of Galileo in the 2012 staged reading of Dear Galileo at Artists Repertory Theatre.

KATE MURA (Celeste Galilei): Kate is thrilled to play with Playwrights West for the first time, having collaborated with most Portland theatres wearing one or more of her various hats. Favorite local performances include Helga in Kindertransport and Franzisca in Charlotte Salomon: Life or Theatre? (Jewish Theatre Collaborative), Amiens in As You Like It (Portland Shakespeare Project), Amanda/Sibyl in Private Lives (Integrity Productions) and Akela in Jungle Book (Northwest Children's Theatre). As a founding member and Artistic Ambassador of Fuse Theatre Ensemble, most recently her solo mask show, Suburban Tribe performed on the only English-speaking stage of the Avignon OFF Festival in France. She is an EMC, proud member of I.A.T.S.E. Local 28, represented by Actors in Action and invites you to check out her website, www.katemura.com.

NATHAN DUNKIN (Gabriel Vaughn): Nathan was classically trained at East 15 Acting School in London where he received an M.A. in Acting.  As well as theatre, Nathan is increasingly involved in Portland’s film and television industries, having appeared in the local film Bucksville and TNT’s Leverage.  He is also a proud company member of Theatre Vertigo.  Recent roles include: Frank in The School for Lies, The Fine Gentleman in The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents and Trinculo in The Tempest with Portland Shakespeare Project.

GARY POWELL (Jasper Willows): Gary last appeared in Northwest Classical Theatre's production of Mary Stuart.  He has acted in over 100 professional plays in the Northwest and the East Coast.  He has worked at Artists Repertory Theatre, Lakewood Theatre Company, CoHo, Profile, Theatre Vertigo and many others. He has been a guest artist at Portland Actors' Conservatory, Portland Community College and the Oregon Symphony. As well as stage acting he also is a voice and on camera actor.

NENA SALAZAR (Cassie Willows): Trained in both Classical and Experimental acting styles, Nena has played roles ranging from Shakespeare to Avant­Garde. Her favorite roles include Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Sasha in Chekhov's Ivanov, and most recently from The Metta Theatre in Taos, New Mexico, Allison in Deborah Seidman’s two-person drama The Lilac Minyan. She has performed in varied short films as well as in theatres in California, New York, and New Mexico. She studied Practical Aesthetics at the Atlantic Acting School as well Physically-Based Acting at The Experimental Theatre Wing, both through NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Nena continued her studies at The HB Studio in New York City. She is new to the Portland theatre scene and is excited to make her Pacific Northwest debut in Dear Galileo.

Artistic & Production Team

CLAIRE WILLETT, Playwright: Claire is a proud member of Playwrights West and a founding artist of the Fertile Ground Festival. She was a finalist for the 2015 Jerome Fellowship at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis and was the 2011 Oregon Literary Fellow for Drama. Her other works include: the Scottish folk musical Carter Hall (currently in development with Nashville songwriter Sarah Hart, thanks to a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council); Upon Waking; How the Light Gets In; That Was the River, This Is the Sea (co-written with Gilberto Martin del Campo); the chamber opera The Witch of the Iron Wood (co-written with local composer Evan Lewis); an original adaptation of W.H. Auden’s 1942 poetic oratorio For the Time Being; The Demons Down Under the Sea, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee,” produced in October 2014 as part of Shaking the Tree’s production of The Masque of the Red Death (a collection of Poe shorts by the writers of Playwrights West); and "Office 62-B," a one-act play about Cleopatra in the afterlife written as part of 365 Women a Year, which brings together female-identifying playwrights from all over the world to create new works of theatre about notable women from history.  Claire’s first novel, The Rewind Files, a time travel sci-fi adventure about Watergate, will be released in mid-July 2015 by Retrofit Publishing in Los Angeles.

STEPHANIE MULLIGAN, Director: Stephanie Mulligan is a stage director in both the professional and educational arenas. Her favorite recent shows include The Seven Wonders of Ballyknock, Almost Home, The Outgoing Tide, Jesus Saves, The Guys, Little Women: The Broadway Musical, The Music Man, Nickel and Dimed, The Wizard of Oz, Murder Is My Business, Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Laramie Project, and The Comedy of Errors. Stephanie has worked with (and learned from) such notable American directors as James Edmondson, Penny Metropulos, John Dillon, Aaron Posner, and Nancy Keystone. She has participated in international programming, collaborating with India’s Mahesh Dattani and Lillette Dubey, Vietnam’s Do Doan Chau and Dang Tu Mai, and Australia’s Cate Blanchette, Robyn Nevin, and Andrew Upton.  Ms. Mulligan’s work with many fine local companies includes Portland Center Stage, Lakewood Theatre, triangle productions!, Coho Productions, Artists Rep, Broadway Rose, and Portland Civic Theatre Guild.  Stephanie holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Linfield College.

NICOLE GLADWIN, Stage Manager: Nicole Gladwin is happy to be returning to work with Playwrights West for the fourth time, having stage-managed all three of their previous shows produced at CoHo.  Favorite past shows at CoHo include Faust. Us., The Mark, (Stark Raving Theatre), Hamlet (CoHo/Chris Murray), Kid Simple: a radio play in the flesh (CoHo/call in sick productions), and The Centering.  New plays hold a special place in her heart, and she couldn't ask for a more wonderful cast and production team to work with.  Nicole is a proud three-time recipient of Portland's Spotlight Award for Stage Management.

SARAH KINDLER, Scenic/Properties Designer: Sarah is proud to present her first Portland-area scenic design.  In April, she assisted Kristeen Willis Crosser with the scenic design for Artists Repertory Theatre's production of 4000 Miles. She has worked as ART's full-time scenic artist for the past season and a half, and also had the opportunity to paint for Profile Theatre's Eyes for Consuela, True West, and In The Next Room; Broadway Rose's production of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Third Rail's The Mystery of Irma Vep; and the Portland Revels. Sarah holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she would often sneak away to participate in Brown University theatre.

ASHTON GRACE HULL, Costume Designer: Ashton is fascinated by the art(s) of storytelling.  A hundred trips to Disneyland led her directly (paradoxically?) to the hallowed halls of Carnegie Mellon University and the study of creating complete worlds.  Graduating in 2007 with a BFA; next stop LA.  Los Angeles took her into the worlds of television (Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) and feature film production (My Sister's Keeper).  In 2009 she returned to her rich and verdant Northwest roots and began freelance collaborations with local Portland theatres.  Today her freelance work continues to grow.   Ashton also manages the Costume Shop for the Lewis and Clark College Theatre Department.

J.D. SANDIFER, Lighting Designer: Halfway through his seventh year designing in the Portland area, J.D. has worked on almost 50 productions including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Oregon Children's Theatre), Continuum (Playwrights West & CoHo Productions), The American Pilot (Theatre Vertigo), 13 (Staged!), and Ablaze: an a cappella musical thriller (amateur premiere). He holds a BFA in Theatre from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ANNALISE ALBRIGHT WOODS, Sound Designer: Annalise Albright Woods is delighted to be making her Playwrights West debut.  Other favorite Portland area design credits include: The Masque of the Red Death and Suddently Last Summer (Shaking the Tree); Pool (no water) and The Long Christmas Ride Home (Theatre Vertigo); Crooked (Coho Productions); Locomotion and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Oregon Children's Theatre); Mimesophobia (Sand and Glass Productions); Find Me Beside You, Mutt, and Restroom (Many Hats Collaborations).  Annalise received an MFA in sound design from the California Institute of the Arts and spends her days as a program manager with a local social service agency.