ZACHARY BOYD (JoJo Understudy) is 12 years old. He is a seventh grader at West Carrollton Middle School. Zachary’s previous performances include riding his unicycle for the school’s Talent Show and performing in his church’s talent show. Zachary had the role of “JoJo” in West Carrollton High School’s production of Seussical last spring. Zachary received the sixth grade chorus’ Outstanding Student Award last May. Zachary lives with his Mom, Dad, older brother, Chris, younger sister, Maria and younger brother, Jacob. Zachary’s hobbies are riding his unicycle, juggling, top spinning, singing with the school chorus and drawing. This is Zachary’s first time on the professional stage.

MARK CHMIEL (The Cat in the Hat) Broadway: Anything Goes starring Patti LuPone; Smokey in Damn Yankees starring Bebe Neuwirth and Victor Garber. National Tour/London’s West End: Smokey in Damn Yankees starring Jerry Lewis. Regional: Billy Buck in My One and Only, Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, Lucky in Dames at Sea, Lesh in the world premiere of Barry Manilow’s Harmony and five roles in the Krieger and Russell musical, Everything’s Ducky!. In addition, he has written and performed two solo theatre pieces, appeared on “soaps” and in numerous commercials, and can be seen in the upcoming movie version of The Producers.

DEB COLVIN-TENER (Mrs. Mayor) recently played Gertrude Deuter in the Contemporary American Theatre Company’s production of The Underpants, and was named Best Actress in the 2004 Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle Poll for her portrayal of Jo/Mae West in CATCO’s Dirty Blonde. Human Race credits: Dirty Blonde, Beehive, The Good Times Are Killing Me, Quilters, Romance/Romance and Weird Romance. Regional credits: Actors’ Theatre, The Arden Shakespeare Company (founding member), Fireside Playhouse, Huron Playhouse, Metro Music Theatre, Players Theatre Columbus and Theatre at Lime Kiln. Deb is a North Carolina School of the Arts alum and associate director of Shakespeare-in-a-Box, a GCAC artist-in-schools program (www.shakespeare-in-a-box.com).

KELLY CORKEN (Mr. Mayor) marks his debut with The Human Race by celebrating Seussical. He played Ito to Dixie Carter’s Mame (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera), Munchkin Mayor to Jo Anne Worley’s Witch (Kansas City Starlight) and Victoria Clark’s father in Chocolate Soldier (Goodspeed Opera House). Other credits include: The Muny, Westbury Music Fair, Jones Beach, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and The Claridge in Atlantic City. A 1981 BFA graduate of Wright State University, his favorite role was Ko Ko in The Mikado. He understudied Oscar to Georgia Engel’s Charity (Birmingham Theater) performing choreography by Susan Stroman. He shares being a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon with Dr. Seuss. Thanks MOM!

CHRISTIAN DELCROIX (Wickersham Brother) , a native of Pittsburgh, is excited to spend his holiday season in Dayton. He received his BFA in Music Theatre from Florida State University and has since worked for the Goodspeed Opera House, Trinity Repertory Company and Pittsburgh Music Theatre. Happy holidays!

JANET DICKINSON (Mayzie La Bird) Off-Broadway: Secrets Every Traveler Should Know. Regional Theatres: Florida Studio Theatre, City Theatre, Pittsburgh, The Mountain Playhouse, Struther’s Library Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cumberland Playhouse, New Embassy Theatre, Center Repertory Co., Gem Theatre (Detroit), Marcus Center (Milwaukee). Favorite Shows: Forbidden Broadway, Crazy For You (Irene), Joseph...Dreamcoat (Narrator), Anything Goes ( Reno), Noises Off (Belinda), Great Expectations (Miss Havisham), Communicating Doors (Poopay), Sentimental Journey (Rosemary Clooney).

JAROD GAREL (JoJo) is a big Dr. Seuss fan and an even bigger HRTC fan so putting the two together makes for one incredible experience. He says, “Though rehearsals are downtown I will get there anyhow/If my day’s not going great, I’m running late or an a date/I would hate if you should wait so I’ll be there at any rate/If the rain makes it a pain or if a train has blocked the lane/I’ll use a crane or fly a plane - somehow I will get to Main/If the snow makes traffic flow seem to go extra slow/I will look high and low to find a way to be JoJo/I’ll take a hike or ride a bike, walk or jog, float on a log/Use a plow or ride a cow, I’ve made a vow to be there now/So I will get there…..anyhow!”

ABEKU BOMANI HAYES (Wickersham Brother) is pleased to be making his Loft debut in Seussical. Abeku graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ohio Northern University and a British Certificate of completion from Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh Scotland in Acting. Some of Abeku’s favorite roles include Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus in Phedre, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and many others. Abeku thanks God for another chance to be on stage and his wife, Calista for all of her love.

ALAN BOMAR JONES (General Gengus Khan Schmitz) is a resident artist with The Human Race Theatre Company. He returns to the musical stage excited to lend his bass voice to Seussical. His past musical experience with the Race include Little Shop of Horrors and Children of Eden. He has also appeared in dozens of comedies and dramas and welcomes the newcomers to The Loft stage. Finally, he would like to acknowledge his loving wife, Becky who has been a strong support in his acting and directing career.

MISCHA KISCHKUM (Vlad Vladikoff/The Grinch/Judge Yertle the Turtle) has been a member of the non-profit theatre company Common Ground Stage & Film, the for-profit comedy troupe Planet Q, and served on the board of directors for Theatre America. Writer highlights include Culture Dish, Gilgamesh and The Vicar’s Wife (named “Best Musical That Nobody Saw” by Playbill). Actor highlights include Malvolio, Don Quixote, Daphne/Jerry (Some Like It Hot), Gabelle (Two Cities), and plays at The Goodspeed, Woolly Mammoth and the John Houseman Theatre. Television: Fred Moynihan, Law & Order: SVU (NBC); Walter Yetnikov, Big Deals (History Channel); Dr. Diaz, Upright Citizens Brigade (Comedy Central). Film: Price, Tornado States, Russell Sweetwater, Blood Money ( Cannes Film Festival).

MEEGAN MIDKIFF (Bird Girl) is thrilled to be back in Dayton for Seussical. A native Southerner, Wright State graduate and New York City transplant, Meegan’s performed professionally in such shows as Evita (Evita), Footloose (Rusty), Arms and the Man (Raina), Chicago (Liz), Sound of Music (Maria), Cabaret (Kost), Oklahoma (Ado Annie), Godspell (Robin) and a handful of NYC shows and readings. Her last Dayton performance was in the national tour of The Music Man at the Victoria Theatre. Love to family, friends and the Lord above. Thanks to Luedtke. Happy Holidays and enjoy!  www.meeganmidkiff.com

KATIE PEES (Gertrude McFuzz) most recently appeared as Aimee Semple McPherson in the Musical Theatre Workshop production of Vanishing Point at The Human Race. Other credits at “The Race” include: The Spitfire Grill; Moby Dick, the Musical and Was. New York and regional credits include: Beauty and the Beast; Off-Broadway: Boobs, the Musical; her one woman show, Katie Pees All Over You; Moby Dick, the Musical; Guys and Dolls; Annie and Footloose. Thanks to family and friends for welcoming her back to her hometown!

SARAH STAIR (Bird Girl) is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee and is a recent graduate of Wright State University with a BFA in Acting/Musical Theatre. Favorite credits from WSU and beyond include: Grease, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Cabaret, Uncle Vanya, We Tell the Story: The Songs of Ahrens and Flaherty, Nine, States of Independence (with Ricky Ian Gordon and Tina Landau) and Young Abe Lincoln. Many, many thanks to a whimsical cast and crew, and much, much love to family and to Josh.

SCOTT STONEY (Horton) “My name is Scott Stoney and it’s pretty clear/I’ve done lots of shows for The Human Race here/In Dayton ‘cause this is my home, sure enough,/So here is a short list of some of that stuff./There’s wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen./Too many lines for this old noggin./Last season’s Green Gables, next door at the Vic,/Was fun till I died, now that was a trick./Retreat from Moscow and Every Good Boy…/Were two other presents, such pride and such joy./And I’m so, so grateful to the powers that be/For continued renewal of the artist in me.”

DANIELLE K. THOMAS (Sour Kangaroo) is a native New Yorker who received her BFA (cum laude) in Theatre Arts from Howard University and classical training from The British American Drama Academy at Oxford University. Recently returning from the European tour of Hair (Dionne), some of her other favorite theatre credits include Cinderella (Queen) and Little Shop of Horrors (Chiffon). Film credits include Crooklyn, a Spike Lee Joint (Kiesha). Danielle would like to thank her friends and family, especially her mom, Hildred (“I love you”) for always being supportive and dedicates this performance to her father who is now in heaven with her heavenly father, Jesus. “Daddy, I miss you and I will remember you and love you forever!”

AARON VEGA (Wickersham Brother) is currently on staff with The Human Race and has already begun his season with The Nerd (Axel) and the In-School Tour of The Tempest (Ferdinand/Caliban). Aaron has his BFA in Acting/Musical Theatre from Wright State University and performed in many shows there including: States of Independence and Parade. Other professional credits include: Was, Green Gables, Christian Duhamel’s Reinventing Romance, Animal Farm, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, West Side Story, Joseph..., The Wizard of Oz, Noises Off, Beauty and the Beast, A Little Night Music and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Twelfth Night.

ANNA-LEE WRIGHT (Bird Girl) is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School in NYC and member of Equity. She recently played Gladys in the NYC premiere reading of Kander and Ebb’s musical version of Thornton Wilder’s Skin of Our Teeth. She is also a four-year veteran of Ann Reinking’s Broadway Theatre Project.

STEPHEN FLAHERTY (Music/Book/Co-conception ) is agraduate of the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and has written music for theater, film and the concert hall. He won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his music for the Broadway production of Ragtime. Mr. Flaherty was also nominated for the Grammy Award for the recordings Songs From Ragtime and Ragtime: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Other Broadway composing credits include: Seussical (Drama Desk and Grammy Award nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nominations for Best Score and Best Musical; Olivier Award for London's Best Musical), My Favorite Year (Lincoln Center Theatre) and Neil Simon's Proposals (incidental music). He is also the composer of A Man of No Importance, which was produced in New York by Lincoln Center Theatre, Gertrude Stein’s A Long Gay Book (directed and adapted by Frank Galati), and the musical farce Lucky Stiff. Film work includes Anastasia (Academy Award nominations for Best Score and Best Song, 2 Golden Globe nominations). His concert pieces have been performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall among others. The Ahrens and Flaherty Songbook, a collection of his theatre and film songs written with lyricist Lynn Ahrens, has been published by Warner Bros. Publications.

LYNN AHRENS (Lyrics/Book/Co-conception) won theatre's triple crown – the 1998 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award – for the score of the Broadway musical Ragtime and received two Grammy nominations for its cast recordings. Also in 1998, she received two Academy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for the songs and score of Anastasia, Twentieth Century Fox's first feature animation. Most recently Ms. Ahrens was represented on Broadway with book and lyrics for Seussical (Grammy nomination) and Off-Broadway with lyrics for A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center Theatre ( 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical). She wrote book and lyrics for the long-running Broadway hit Once on This Island ( London's Olivier Award, Best Musical, two Tony nominations), book and lyrics for Lucky Stiff (Helen Hayes Award, Best Musical) and lyrics for My Favorite Year. All the above have music by long-time collaborator Stephen Flaherty. Ms. Ahrens is the lyricist and co-book writer for A Christmas Carol, (music by Alan Menken, co-book by Mike Ockrent) which has ran for ten years at Madison Square Garden. For her work in network television as a songwriter, creator and producer, Ms. Ahrens has received the Emmy Award and four Emmy nominations. Her songs are a mainstay of the renowned animated series Schoolhouse Rock.

ERIC IDLE (Co-conception) has multi-hyphenated his way through life assiduously avoiding a proper job, from a writer and actor in the legendary Monty Python TV series and movies, to the creator and director of The Rutles, the pre-fab four, whose legend will last a lunchtime. He has appeared on stage in drag singing rude songs at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl as well as performing in two highly successful tours, Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python (2000) and The Greedy Bastard Tour (2003), for which he journeyed fifteen thousand miles across North America in a bus. Harper Collins recently published his Greedy Bastard Diary of that tour. His play Pass the Butler ran for five months in London’s West End. He has written two novels, Hello Sailor and The Road to Mars, a children’s book, The Quite Remarkable Adventures of The Owl and The Pussycat, and The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book. Mr. Idle's stage adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, titled SpamAlot, won him the 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and for Best Original Score.

 JOE DEER (Director/Choreographer) has directed and/or choreographed almost a hundred productions in Off-Broadway, regional, summer stock and university theatres including The Human Race’s The Underpants, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Six Wives and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. He also directed the regional premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Only Heaven and co-produced Under Construction: A Composers’ Summit. For four years, Joe was artistic director of Struthers Library Theatre ( Warren, PA) and a resident director for ten seasons at Mountain Playhouse ( Jennerstown, PA). Joe appeared in Broadway productions of Anything Goes, The Music Man, Brigadoon and The American Dancemachine as well as numerous Off-Broadway and national touring productions, and concerts at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center and the Palace Theatre. Joe was a stage manager for the acclaimed Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls, the national tour of Singin’ in the Rain, and at regional and Off-Broadway theatres. He is President of the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance International, has an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University and is proud to head Wright State University’s Musical Theatre program.

GERALD RHEAULT (Music Director/Keys 1/Conductor) proudly returns to The Human Race after two years of traveling around the country as musician and Associate Conductor for numerous musicals including: Ragtime in L.A., Camelot, Forever Plaid, My Fair Lady and The Spitfire Grill at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, UT. Mr. Rheault was last seen at HRTC as Music Director/Keyboard/Conductor for The Spitfire Grill and Convenience by Gregg Coffin. He was also asked by Mr. Coffin to Music Direct and play in Sacramento, CA for his latest musical work, Five Course Love. Beyond musical theatre, Mr. Rheault enjoys conducting for choruses and orchestras. Most recently he has been seen as conductor for numerous Messiah sing-along concerts in his home area of Sacramento, CA. www.Rmusicservices.com

MARK HALPIN (Scenic and Properties Designer) is happy to be returning to HRTC, where he previously designed shows including: Steel Magnolias, Dirty Blonde, Proof, Was and The Drawer Boy. 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.

JEFF SHEARER (Costume Designer) has been designing costumes for fifteen years. He has designed for Shawnee Playhouse in the Poconos and served as Assistant Costume Designer for San Diego Repertory Theatre. Favorite projects include Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Mame, Gypsy and Little Shop of Horrors. Jeff has also designed for theme parks such as Paramount Parks, Cedar Point and Kennywood, and corporate clients such as Lucent Technologies and Cincinnati Bell Wireless. Cincinnati audiences have seen Jeff’s work at the School of Creative and Performing Arts, the Cincinnati Opera’s outreach program the Cincinnati Zoo’s Festival of Lights and the CSO’s Home for the Holidays.

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.

TODD M. REISCHMAN (Sound Designer) resides in Indianapolis where he owns and operates Lost Sound Studio. His design work and original compositions have been heard internationally. This is his debut with The Human Race Theatre Company.

CHRISTIAN DUHAMEL (Assistant Musical Director) hails from Seattle, Washington. He has been musical director for productions of Landscape of the Body, Closer Than Ever, South Pacific, Grease!, Les Miserables: School Edition, and most recently A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Sinclair Community College. His original musical Reinventing Romance was a finalist in the KCACTF National Playwriting Competition; he received Awards of Merit for Musical Composition and Lyrics as well as the inaugural Best Student Director award for the Great Lakes Region. In June he graduated from Wright State University with his BFA in Acting. His upcoming projects include The Gondoliers at Wright State University and a workshop of his original musical Icarus Ascending.

ELIZABETH GRUNENWALD (Production Stage Manager) is happy to be joining The Human Race for her first full season. Her previous Human Race credits include: 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. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.

RAYNELLE WRIGHT (Assistant Stage Manager) is pleased to be working again with The Human Race. Human Race credits include: The Retreat from Moscow, Green Gables, The Underpants and The Nerd. Previous credits: Doubt (Manhattan Theatre Club), Like You Like It (Beckett Theatre), Hello, Dolly! (Tri-Arts at the Sharon Playhouse), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and The World Goes ‘Round (Summer Stage Wright). She is a member of Actors’ Equity.