BEAU WILLIMON writes for theatre, television and film.  Full length plays include: Baby Blue, Nobody’s Child, Farragut North and Breathing Time, as well as numerous one-acts.  His plays have been developed or performed at MCC Theater, the Cherry Lane Theatre, HERE Arts Center, New Dramatists, Daryl Roth 2 Theatre, Arthur Seelen Theatre (all in New York), the Dayton Playhouse in Ohio and the Battersea Arts Center in London.  Willimon is a recipient of the Seymour Brick Memorial Playwriting Prize, the Yale/Norfolk Arts Fellowship, the Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship, the Eesti Fellowship and winner of the 2005 Dayton Playhouse FutureFest.  He has been a finalist for the Julliard Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship, the Humana Festival National Ten-Minute Play Contest and the Hangar Theatre Lab New Play Festival.  Besides his work in theatre, Willimon has also worked extensively in the world of politics, having served on the staff of campaigns for Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bill Bradley and most recently, Governor Howard Dean.  He was recently hired by cable network AMC as the co-creator of an original dramatic series.   Beau graduated with a B.A. from Columbia University in 1999 and an M.F.A. in playwriting from Columbia’s Graduate School of the Arts in 2003.   He lives in Brooklyn.

 

JOHN RENSENHOUSE (DIRECTOR) is honored to get the chance to work at the Unicorn as a director.  His only other appearance here was as an actor in the 2001 production of Art.  His directing credits include, most recently, Glengarry Glen Ross this last summer at KC Actors Theatre, where he also directed Desdemona, a play about a handkerchief.  For the universities in town, he has directed Noises Off for UMKC and Barefoot in the Park for Avila.  While based in Kansas City, John has spent the last many years traveling the country working as an actor in projects ranging from the Broadway tour of The Lion King to summer stock at the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre.  He just finished a production of Sleuth out there in mid-Missouri and also performed here in KC this summer as Master Ford in the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s Merry Wives of Windsor.  He has worked extensively at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Hartford Stage, the Pioneer Theatre, McCarter Theatre, the Milwaukee Rep and, of course, the hometown KC Rep.

MARK THOMAS (STEPHEN BELLAMY) is working on his first show with the Unicorn and he feels honored to be a part of it.  He is currently studying for his masters in acting at UMKC and recently performed there as Chris in Killer Joe and as Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations. This summer Mark worked with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival playing Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor.  Favorite roles elsewhere include Howard in Fat Men in Skirts, Stomil in Tango, and Orestes in Children of the Sun.  Mark would like to thank his parents, his teachers, and of course, Dina.

 

 

 

BRUCE ROACH (PAUL ZARA) is happy to return to the Unicorn stage where he previously appeared in Orson’s Shadow, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Faith Healer. Other recent appearances include Othello and The Merry Wives of Windsor for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival; Winesburg, Ohio and A Christmas Carol at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and most recently in Tell-Tale Electric Poe at the Coterie. His local directing credits include The Little Dog Laughed here at the Unicorn and A Lesson from Aloes for the Actors Theatre of Kansas City. Bruce's work as an actor, director and educator has taken him across the U.S. and abroad.

 

 

MANON HALLIBURTON’s (IDA HOROWICZ) last time on the Unicorn stage was...  "a long time ago" in All In The Timing. This marks her second appearance here and she couldn’t be happier to be working in K.C.  She has worked Off-Broadway and Regionally at Altered Stages, The Century Center, Riverside Theatre, Greenwich Street, The Triangle Theatre, HBO Theatre, Missouri Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Rep, Coterie Theatre and most recently at The Chester Theatre Company playing Molly in John Kolvenbach's, Love Song.  Television credits include Law and Order and a recurring role on HBO's The Sopranos.  She wishes to dedicate her performance to the memory of Rolan Gorham and Zydeco, her beloved black lab who traveled with her for 14 years.  Manon is also an artist and head-shot photographer, check out her stuff at www.stippledcritters.com or www.manonsphotos.com.

 

ROBERT ELLIOTT (TOM DUFFY) returns to the Unicorn after a long absence.  His acting life, which spans some forty years, began at the Missouri Repertory Theatre, under the direction of the great Patricia McIlrath, where he was a company member from 1968 to 1978.  His career has taken him to The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival and a few more along the road, but Kansas City has always been "home".  He's glad to be back home.  Thanks Cynthia.

 

 

KAT ENDSLEY (MOLLY) is thrilled to be appearing in her first show at the Unicorn.  She is in her second year pursuing an MFA in acting from UMKC and received a BA in Theater from the University of Arkansas in 2008.  Some of her favorite roles include Anita in West Side Story, Ariel in The Tempest, Dottie in Killer Joe, Estella in Great Expectations, Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest, Rapunzel in Into the Woods and Liesl in The Sound of Music.  Kat would like to thank to her amazing mother Susan Turner for all her support!!!

 

 

SAM CORDES (BEN) is ecstatic to be returning to the Unicorn stage after having been seen here last in Mineola Twins back in 2003.  Sam is back in Kansas City after just graduating from Stephens College for Women with a B.F.A. in theatre. Sam has been seen in town at The Coterie Theatre where he was in 101 Dalmatians, The Stinky Cheese Man, Animal Fair, Little House on the Prairie, Everyday Heroes, and The Dinosaur Musical.  He has also appeared at The Kansas City Rep in A Christmas Carol and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  Sam has also been seen in the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s productions of Julius Caesar and Henry V.  You can look forward to seeing Sam at the Coterie next summer in Lucky Duck: The Musical!

 

HERBERT MOORE (FRANK/WAITER) is excited to be making his second appearance in Kansas City on the Unicorn stage. He is a Graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, MO and a veteran of the Okoboji Summer Theatre in Okoboji, Iowa. Some of his favorite roles include Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew, Banjo in The Man Who Came to Dinner and Duncan in Leading Ladies. He would like to thank the Unicorn staff for giving him this tremendous opportunity.  Enjoy the show!

 

 

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