The Cast

Janelle Grace

Janelle Grace (Cee), is thrilled to be making her Black Rep debut!! She's a St. Louis-born, Boston-based artist excited to be back home. Her credits include: the world premiere of The Grove (Huntington Theatre Company), the regional premiere of STEW (Gloucester Stage Company), Primary Trust (SpeakEasy Stage) Kufre n’ Quay (BAA/ Wheelock Family Theatre) Crowns (Moonbox Productions), The Moors, Yerma, Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., and the Ain Gordon Project (Boston University). She was awarded the School of Theatre Prize from Boston University for displaying excellence and talent in acting. She’s a lover of cats, long walks, therapy, MUNA and spending time with her loves. Shoutout the dawgs at the crib. STL 5ever @j_gracej

Cee

Ricki Franklin

Ricki Franklin (Dee Dee), (she/her) is thrilled to be fulfilling a childhood dream of working with The Black Rep!  She was seen most recently as Mikey in the SATE production of Classic Adventure Movie.   She has been seen previously in her award winning runs as Touchstone in As You Like It and Dame Toby in Twelfth Night, both with the St Louis Shakespeare Festival and  as Juliet in the world premiere of Romeo and Zooliet at the St Louis Zoo..  Other theater companies she has worked with include Metro Theater Company, Contraband theater, Bread and Roses, MustardSeed Theater, and St Louis Shakespeare Company.  She’s a St Louis, Missouri native who was trained at Baylor University.   This performance is for her mother and grandmother who introduced her to the beauty of Black theatre.  She loves Jesus, her family, and pasta. IG: pretty_ricki20

Dee Dee

VELMA AUSTIN (Dr. Beatrice "Bea" Free), is honored and excited to be returning to The Black Rep in this production of The Dance On Widow’s Row. Velma last appeared on The Black Rep stage last season in Radio Golf and The Wash. Velma has appeared on stage at Congo Square in Hobo King and Brother’s of the Dust, The Seattle Repertory Theatre as Birdie in the production of Birdie Blue and multiple Chicago Theatre’s including, The Goodman, Victory Garden’s Bio Theater and The Steppenwolf. Velma’s TV credits include Chicago Fire and Empire. She made her film debut in Losing Isaiah followed by Light It Up. Velma’s awards include a Circle Award for Outstanding Supportive Performance in a Drama for Death of Salesman; a Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Revue of The Color Museum; A Woodie Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in Screened in Porch; Black Theatre Alliance award for Best Actress in Intimate Apparel Giving thanks to God, Velma feels blessed for the untiring support of her husband, Jeffery and son JP.

Dr. Beatrice "Bea" Free

Velma Austin

The Creative Team

Kathryn Ervin (Director), is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University San Bernardino. She has directed dramas, comedies, and musicals. Her work at CSUSB includes: Pippin, Rowing to America, In the Heights, Urinetown, and Once On This Island and Invisible, a play based on The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and HG Wells. As guest artist she has directed The Tap Dance Kid (Houston Ensemble Theatre), Clyde’s (Northern Arizona U), Black Superhero Magic Mama (Ophelias Jump Theatre), Intimate Apparel (UC Riverside), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ( Illinois State U) and How I Learned to Drive (UC Riverside). She is the author with Ethel Pitts Walker of An African American Scenebook. She is a past president and is currently serving as a consultant for the Black Theatre Network, the national organization for artists, scholars, and individuals with an interest in celebrating the beauty and complexity of black life onstage.

Director

Kathryn Ervin

Lisa B. Thompson (Playwirght) Her satirical comedies and poignant dramas explode stereotypes about Black life in the US, particularly the experiences of the Black middle class. Her plays include Single Black Female, Underground, Monroe, The Mamalogues, The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, and African Stew. Thompson’s work has been produced off-Broadway, throughout the US and internationally by Crossroads Theatre, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, New Professional Theatre, the Vortex, Ground Floor Theatre, Soul Rep Theatre Company, Black Spectrum Theatre, Austin Playhouse, Ensemble Theatre, Chiswick Playhouse, and The National Black Theatre Festival among others. Her work has been recognized with a Austin Critics Circle David Mark Cohen New Play Award, a Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work, Irma P. Hall Black Theatre Best Play Award, the University of Texas at Austin’s University Research Excellence Creative Endeavor Award, and Honorable Mention for the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Thompson has held artist residencies at Hedgebrook, the Millay Colony for the Arts, Harvard University’s W. E. B. DuBois Research Institute, and MacDowell. The artist/scholar is also author of Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class and articles that appear in Theatre Journal, Journal of American Drama, Theatre Survey and The Washington Post among others. Thompson co-hosts and co-produces the NPR podcast Black Austin Matters along with Richard J. Reddick and is the Bobby and Sherri Patton Endowed Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Academic Affairs of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.

Playwright

Lisa B. Thompson

Dr. Guthrie P. Ramsey

Guthrie P. Ramsey (Composer), is a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. is a music historian, pianist, composer, and Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.  He’s the author of Who Hears Here: On Black Music Pasts and Present, The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and the Challenge of Bebop, and Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop and Soundproof: Black Music’s American Journey from the Civil War to Civil Rights (forthcoming).  Ramsey has released six recording projects, including A Spiritual Vibe, vol. 1 and Race Music 21: etudes/grooves/interludes. He has performed at The Blue Note, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Harlem Stage. Ramsey has presented many multi-media performance events tied to his scholarship throughout the country. He scored the 2019 prize -winning documentary Making Sweet Tea and the choreopoem, The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body in 2024. He composed the commission Beat Chick: Tunes for Hettie Jones for String Quartet, Jazz Vocalist, and Digital Beats for the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. Ramsey co-curated the exhibition Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment and was a consultant for the 2020 Emmy Award-winning documentary Apollo: The Soul of American Culture.

 

Composer

WAYV WILSON

Wayv Wilson (Composer), is a multi-modal artist whose practice centers on contemporary storytelling through film, word, and sound. Based in Philadelphia, Wayv (or “V”) is a singer, songwriter, arranger, rapper, multi-instrumentalist, poet, producer, educator, filmmaker and engineer. A profound and well-developed musicianship links all of these practices into an impactful artistry that is legendary and sought-after among V’s peers and collaborators.

Composer

The Design Team

  • Christina Yancy

    Associate Producer

    Christina Yancy (Associate Producer), is originally from Alabama. She received her B.F.A. Acting Degree from the University of Montevallo. During the day, Christina works at the St. Louis Black Repertory Company, serving as the company’s Development Associate. Christina has been featured in numerous Black Rep productions including The Wash, Wedding Band, Behind the Sheet, Home, Spell #7, Sweat (u/s), Freedom Songs, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, and Stamping, Shouting, Singing Home. Her other credits include the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival's 2021 production of King Lear, the 2022 touring production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She has worked as a guest artist in Washington University in St. Louis’ 2019 production of For Colored Girls …, and the 2021 virtual streaming production of Remember… That Time Before The Last Time. Christina performed as a member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ 2022-2023 Imaginary Theatre Company. Most recently, she returned to the Shakespeare Festival in the TourCo. Production of Merry Wives. Instagram: chris_tina_yancy

  • Heather Beal

    Choreographer

    Heather Beal (Choreographer), is a dancer, choreographer, actress and director who received her B.A. in dance from Columbia College Chicago and her MFA in dance from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a certified Dunham Technique Instructor. She has toured around the United States and France teaching and performing Dunham Technique. She has performed in many productions at The Black Rep and several productions at the St. Louis MUNY. She has choreographed The Color Purple, Ragtime, The Musical (American Stage), Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea (Nebraska Rep) Feeding Beatrice (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), First Date (University of Southern Indiana), Eubie,Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Me Nobody Knows, Rivers of Women, LeFreak C’est Chic, Purlie, and Dreamgirls (The Black Rep). She is best known for her work #triggerwarning and Black AF, a dance critique of police brutality against Black folk in America.

  • Reiko Huffman

    Scenic Designer

    Reiko Huffman (She/Her/Hers) (Scenic Designer), is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a freelance Scenic Designer who designs across the nation. She's happy to have collaborated on this production with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. Upcoming regional credits include Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress (The Rose Children’s Theatre), Cancer Voices (New Work) at UIUC by Azlan Guttenberg-Smith, and Carrie the Musical and High School Musical with Oceanside Theatre Company in Oceanside, CA. 

  • Marissa Perry

    Costume Designer

    Marissa Perry (Costume Designer), is a St. Louis based costume designer and small business owner. She began her career in fashion design and currently owns Free Region, llc, a company creating custom design work for local and distant clients. She holds a BFA in fashion design and an MFA in media design. Marissa is absolutely thrilled to be a part of this production as the work really spoke to her inner woman. Enjoy 

  • Denisse Chavez

    Lighting Designer

    Denisse Chavez (Lighting Designer), is happy to be working with The Black Rep for the first time! She received her BA in Theatre Arts from The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX and her lighting design MFA from Purdue University. Her design work has been recognized by the United States  Institute of Theatre Technology with the Jonathan Resnick Lighting Design Award. Her credits include Cabaret with The J, Hamlet and As You Like It with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, and Mojada with the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company. 

  • Ahsa-Ti Nu

    Sound Designer‍ ‍

    AhSa-Ti Nu (Sound Designer), is very excited to be a part of The Wash with The Black ‍ Rep. AhSa-Ti Nu has worked with A Raisin in the Sun with the University of St. Louis, ‍Eddie & Vinnie with Metro Theater Company, Feminine Energy with Mustard Seed ‍Theatre, Kaleidoscope Crown, Butterfly Room and Billy Elliot with Center of Creative‍ Arts, St. Louis, Peter Pan Jr. with Ignite Theater, St. Louis, Seed Folks with Metro ‍Theater, St. Louis, and Son Jarocho Festival, Black Art Salon and Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical with Brava Theater Center, San Francisco. She also recently ‍composed, produced, and directed the film Overlooked Giants: A Parable of Queer Women of Color in the Arts. AhSa-Ti Nu holds a Bachelor of Science in sound arts from ‍Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, Emeryville, CA. AhSa-Ti is a member of the ‍Recording Academy and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Learn more about AhSa-Ti Nu ‍at www.ahsatinu.com

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  • Taijha Silas

    Props Designer

    Taijha Silas (Assistant Stage Manager), (They/She) is a STL transplant from Southern Louisiana and received their bachelor's in Directing and Musical Theatre from Northwestern State University. After college, Taijha moved to St. Louis to start working with the Saint Louis Black Repertory Company as an Acting and Marketing Fellow. During their time in Saint Louis, Taijha has performed with companies such as The Black Rep, New Jewish Theatre, & Jest Murder Mystery Company, and now Comtraband Theatre! When Taijha is not performing, they have been able to work with companies such as The Metro Theatre Company, First Run Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, The Fabulous Fox, St.Louis Shakespeare Festival, and The Muny using their proficiencies in tech theatre & Directing! During Taijha's time at The Black Rep, they designed props for shows such as Fireflies, Jitney, African Company Presents Richard III, Death of a Salesman, and The Light. Taijha also works at The Repertory Theatre of Saint as the Production Associate. Taijha is beyond blessed and thankful to everyone who supports them in their career and can’t wait for you to enjoy their work! A big thank you to the team at The Black Rep for their continuous support and for bringing them into this process!

Stage Management

  • Courtnee Rouse

    Stage Manager

    Courtnee M. Rouse (Stage Manager), is a recent graduate of Webster University’s Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts, where she earned her BFA in Stage Management. Her St. Louis credits include Cinderella, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, and Our Town at Webster University, and Clyde’s at St. Louis Repertory Theatre. This production marks her debut with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company, and she is honored to be joining The Black Rep family.

  • Norah Barry

    Assistant Stage Manager

    Norah Barry is an Austin, Texas born and raised artist dedicated to empowering communities through telling truthful and authentic stories. Norah is a current Senior at Webster University’s Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts studying Acting. Recent Credits include: Our Town (Mrs.Gibbs) at Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia/Titania/Snout) at St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.