HOLLY BARRON (Claire) Broadway: Six Degrees of Separation, Design for Living. Off-Broadway: Tamara, Mecca, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, Cracks.  Regional Theatre: Founding member of and eight seasons at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Magic Theatre in S.F.; Hartford Stage, Center Stage, McCarter Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Alley Theatre, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Westport Country Playhouse, Montclair Theatrefest. Film & TV: If I Didn’t Care, The Sun and the Moon, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, Loving, Streets of San Francisco, Before and After (Discovery Channel). Ms. Barron has done over 200 voice-overs for TV and radio. This performance is for Zee, Tom, and Regina.

STEPHEN BRADBURY (Tobias) is especially fond of doing new plays and has created roles in original productions by Aaron Sorkin, Romulus Linney and Richard Dresser. He was on Broadway in A Few Good Men and My Fat Friend, and has toured with many stars including Myrna Loy, Marsha Mason, Tammy Grimes, Bernard Hughes, Kathy Bates and Bill Pullman. He starred in the sitcom Hi Honey, I’m Home, and appeared on Law and Order, The Story Behind the Story, Kate and Allie and The Adams Chronicles. Favorite roles include Iago in Othello, The Stage Manager in Our Town and Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. He just finished playing in The Right Kind of People by Charles Grodin at Primary Stages in New York.

MARY DONAHOE (Edna) is thrilled to be acting at The Human Race where she was last seen as E.M. Ashford in Wit. Other credits include Winter Roses at the Old Globe, Josie in Moon for the Misbegotten, Gertrude in Hamlet, Elinor in Lion in Winter, guest artist for the San Antonio New Playwrights Festival, and a west-coast tour of her one-woman show, The Soul of a Caesar.  She was Artistic Director of Women Who Laugh Theatre in Oregon before becoming a teacher of acting and movement at Wright State University. Directing credits include her translation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, and A Piece of My Heart, produced at the Region III Kennedy Center/ACT Festival.

HERB DUVAL (Harry) moved to Ohio last April and was just recently seen on The Loft stage in The Tempest. He has written and performed a segment in a film, Freedom, which premiered at the Aronoff Center in January, and taken over the Directorship of the Rising Phoenix Theatre in Middletown. No stranger to the area, he has played Cincinnati several times, appearing in national companies of Equus, Children of a Lesser God and Much Ado About Nothing. As a director, he has staged productions of Playboy of the Western World, A Doll’s House and his own work, Sister Carrie, a musical based on the Dreiser novel. Herb lives in Wyoming with wife, Donna, and son, Alex. 

ROBIN LEWIS-BEDZ (Julia) This is Robin’s first performance with The Human Race Theatre. She holds an MFA from Ohio University’s Professional Actor Training Program and a BFA from the University of Detroit Mercy. Her favorite roles include Maxine in Tongue of a Bird, Chris in Dancing at Lughnasa, and Sarah Harding in Ice Glen. Robin is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors’ Guild.

SUSAN TABOR (Agnes) Broadway: John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence with Nicol Williamson, California Suite. National tours: Mary, Mary and Seidman & Son, with Sam Levene. Off-Broadway: Most happily in What Every Woman Knows, The Constant Wife, The Seagull, The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, A Woman of No Importance, Candida, An Ideal Husband, and Outward Bound. Recent summer stock: Perfect Wedding and Quilters, Wayside Theatre, VA. Film: Six Degrees of Separation. TV: Dozens of commercials, Law & Order C.I. The most delightful run was a ten week summer tour of The Sound of Music in which Susan played “Elsa” while her daughters, Jessica & Gwendolyn, played “Brigitta” and “Marta” respectively.

EDWARD ALBEE (Playwright) was born on March 12, 1928, and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays include The Zoo Story (1958); The Death of Bessie Smith (1959); The Sandbox (1959); The American Dream (1960); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62, Tony Award); Tiny Alice (1964); A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award); All Over (1971); Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize); Listening (1975); Counting the Ways (1975); The Lady From Dubuque (1977-78); The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981); Finding the Sun (1982); Marriage Play (1986-87); Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize); Fragments (1993); The Play About the Baby (1997); The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award); Occupant (2001); and Peter and Jerry: (Act 1, Homelife. Act 2, The Zoo Story.) (2004). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and president of the Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980. In 1996 he received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. In 2005 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.

RICHARD E. HESS (Director) is associate professor of drama and the A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen chair in drama at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. Favorite directing credits at The Human Race Theatre Company, where he has been working since 1993, include The Drawer Boy, Proof and A Little Night Music. Other credits include work at the Chautauqua Institute, the Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles, where his production of The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity is currently enjoying a sold out run. He is extremely proud of his former students who are working from New York to Los Angeles in theatre, television and film. He is an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

MARK HALPIN (Scenic Designer) is happy to be returning to HRTC, where he previously designed shows including: Steel Magnolias, Dirty Blonde, Proof, Was, The Drawer Boy and Seussical. Mark has designed scenery for Williamstown Theatre Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Stages St. Louis, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, for which he has designed nearly thirty shows and served on the Scene Design faculty. In addition, Mark has created designs on five continents for corporate clients, museums, cruise ships and theme parks, including Universal Studios, Florida (a permanent lair for Barney the Dinosaur and a water-play area for Curious George) among many other venues.

REBECCA SENSKE (Costume Designer) is enjoying her first show at The Human Race Theatre. Ms. Senske spent the 1980s as a resident designer at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with numerous productions to her credit. She is currently the associate costume designer with University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she worked on Crazy For You, On the Town, Candide and My One and Only. Ms. Senske is also the resident costume designer with Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati where she has worked on Side Man; Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine; James and Annie; Copenhagen and Cinderella. One of her favorite gigs was Bugs Bunny’s 50th anniversary float for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

JOHN RENSEL (Lighting Designer) is the president and co-founder of The Light Fantastic. John has designed productions for Victoria Theatre Association, Dayton Playhouse, Dayton Theatre Guild, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, The Muse Machine, Fraze Pavilion and Northeast Regional Ballet Festivals. He is also the resident lighting designer for The Human Race, as well as Kettering Children’s Theatre and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Pops.

ELIZABETH GRUNENWALD (Production Stage Manager) is happy to be joining the Human Race for her first full season, her previous Human Race Credits include: The Tempest, Seussical, Copenhagen, The Nerd, The Retreat from Moscow, Green Gables and The Underpants. New York credits include: Blues for an Alabama Sky and Top Girls with NYU Tisch School for the Arts. Other Credits: Cabaret, Plaza Suite and Peter Pan with Tri-arts at the Sharon Playhouse; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with the Alabama Ballet; Romeo and Juliet and Electra with the Cincinnati Opera.