Brett Steven Abelman is a DC-area native, a teller of stories, and a proud member of The Welders 2.0. At Fringe this year, besides reviewing, he is also acting in Clara Bow: Becoming ‘It’ with LiveArtDC. His work includes Play Cupid, Balloon Plays, Curiouser; Attack of the Killer Bugs, the musical; The Water Plays; Prodigal Daughter; over 100 short plays; and others in development. His work has been produced, stage-read or workshopped at Spooky Action Theater, Rorschach Theatre, LiveArt DC, Pinky Swear Productions, DC 1-Minute Play Festival, with the dearly missed eXtreme eXchange DC, and more. Brett also acts, works backstage, plays drums, and, for his day job, works as a professional organizer (ableorganizingdc.com).
John Bavoso is a DC-based playwright, book and theatre reviewer, and marketer. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and a Pinky Swear Productions company member. His plays have been produced or developed in DC, Virginia, New York, Colorado, Texas, and Sydney, Australia. John’s short plays include Adam & Steve, Kylie and Janet and Robyn and Cher, Happy Hour, and Threat Level: Cream, while his full-length works include Olizzia, Over Her Dead Body: A Bluegrass Benediction, and BLIGHT. John-Bavoso.com.
Jon Boughtin is a seasoned press flack and political hack who now makes his way in the world slinging words in the private sector. But as a proud theater husband who learned the ins-and-outs of DC theater through his fiance and local actor, Heather, Jon is thrilled to spend another summer under DC’s hottest tent. When not writing, parenting or hawking homes, Jon can be found on the ultimate frisbee field attempting to defy the aging process. Jon is a native Upstate New Yorker and longtime Tennessean with a BS from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from George Washington University.
Marshall Bradshaw is a DC-adjacent critic, actor, and game designer, with a secret identity in business development and marketing. He has written for DC Theatre Scene since Capital Fringe 2016, and his work can be seen on our website, on Washington City Paper‘s, as a collaborator with Damocles Thread Development, or experienced live at MAGfest. You can find more of him on Twitter @dMarshallb or at the Fringe Bar doing his part to clear the place of Genny Creams.
Amy Couchoud is a director, teaching artist and producer who has been active in the DC performing arts community since 2000. A Capital Fringe Festival veteran, Amy’s work as a director includes former Fringe favorites Chocolate Jesus, The Sin Show and Logic, Luck and Love. She was the co-creator and director of E-geaux (beta), a mash-up of mobile technology and theatre which was featured on NPR’s All Tech Considered. Amy has worked with Story District as a director, faculty member and producer of the annual Story District’s Top Shelf since 2007. She holds a degree in Dramatic Arts from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Emily Crockett is a full-time journalist (covering gender issues for Vox), part-time actor and singer (opera/indie rock/karaoke), and occasional director and playwright. She’s recently been seen gallivanting about with the Washington Rogues in Agents of Azeroth and Young Romantics. At Fringe, you might have seen her writing in Tent of Dreams: An Occuplay (Nu Sass Productions) or her writing and acting in iLust for G-Love (City Lights Productions). At not-Fringe, you might have seen her acting and directing with Nu Sass in A Socky Horror Puppet Show, opera-singing as the title role in Bel Cantanti Opera’s Carmen, or rocking out with her band Notaries Public. Emily thinks Fringe is theatre-kid Christmas, and it’s just about her favorite time of year.
Ben Demers is a DC-based communications professional, writer, and DCTS Board Member. As a digital media strategist by day, he relishes the transportive experience of live theater and still gets chills when the lights dim before each show. He performed music and theater productions extensively in high school & college and joins in short plays, open mic nights, and the occasional karaoke binge when he can. He received an MA in Public Relations from Georgetown and a BA from Vassar College.
Ashley Derr has directed shows at Capital Fringe and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She holds graduate degrees in directing, theatre criticism, and performance studies from The University of Maryland and Texas State University-San Marcos. A recovering academic, she is currently a children’s drama program director and a fitness instructor. She uses nights out at the theatre as an excuse to temporarily escape the sweet, sticky clutches of her two young children.
Kelly Whealan George serves as Executive Director of Research Administration and Professor of Economics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide. She’s not a rocket scientist – but does know how much it costs to fly the rockets. She’s a proud Southside Irish girl who met a Navy pilot and fell in love. ( Think Top Gun circa 1980: Please sing “ You’ve lost that loving feeling” now /or / “Take me to bed or lose me forever.”) As a Navy wife she has been packing and unpacking all over the US for the past 24 and raising her three boys “in her free time”. Her day job is to make economics understandable, painless and applicable to students’ lives. Kelly is the token ‘left-brainer’ in her group of artists and creatives, always the one to help balance a checkbook, buy a car, or figure out the bar tab.
Jon Jon Johnson is a multidisciplinary artist in the DC area. In another universe, he’s a Spymaster, operating out of Fringe HQ in an ongoing battle against demons.
Alan Katz is dramaturg, critic, epicure, and occasional director in the DC area. Alan has worked for a number of theaters and playwrights around the DC area including WSC Avant Bard, The Inkwell, the Folger Theater, and now with We Happy Few. He specializes in new play and adaptation dramaturgy, but he also reads Ancient Greek and works with Shakespeare every day as a librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Alan helped create the BFA in Dramaturgy option at Carnegie Mellon and holds his MA in Theater History from Catholic University. He also excels at being a translator, poet, dog whisperer, house manager, Magic: the Gathering player, and he does the best roast chicken you’ve ever had in your life. Reach him at AlanJayKatz.com or @dcdramaturg on Twitter.
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Want sneak peeks and instant reactions from the latest shows before all the reviews publish? Add dcdramaturg on Snapchat https://www.snapchat.com/add/dcdramaturg
Jill Kyle-Keith is the longtime owner and Queen of Beale Street Puppets in Baltimore, Maryland. Bravely hanging on to the idea that vaudeville will someday return and this Internet thing is just a fad, she has foolishly made her living in live entertainment for over thirty years. The end result is that she has seen hundreds, if not thousands, of live shows over the years, has performed at Edinburgh Fringe and Capital Fringe, and now feels qualified to offer her unasked-for opinions to an unsuspecting public.
Jon Jon Johnson is a multidisciplinary artist in the DC area. In another universe, he’s a Spymaster, operating out of Fringe HQ in an ongoing battle against demons.
Kelly McCorkendale is a dog-lover, avid quilter, and occassional creative writer who loves the color orange and boycotts cable (except “Game of Thrones” because, well, what if winter is coming!?). After college, she realized poets weren’t in demand, so she shipped off to Madagascar with Peace Corps. Since then, she’s found a niche working on health systems in Africa but has a long-list of life tasks yet to be fulfilled–such as perform blackmail, learn a trade, and become a competitive eater. She has an MA in International Education, believes rice is the elixir of life, and, in high school, won the best supporting actress honor for the state of Missouri. She may also recite poetry (her first love) when imbibing in alcohol.
Lucette Moran is a DC-based director, stage manager, and dramaturg by night, and a legal assistant/refugee assistance volunteer by day. She graduated from American University in 2016 (International Studies, B.A.; Arabic Language minor), where she took on a variety of cast and production roles for the Rude Mechanicals, AU Players, and the Dept. of Performing Arts. To this day, her favorite roles include Malcolm (Macbeth) and Vixen (The Eight: Reindeer Monologues). In recent years she has also created art with AnyStage Theater Company (I’m Margaret Thatcher I Is, Director), Nu Sass Productions (Marx in Soho, Stage Manager), Rorschach Theatre (A Bid to Save the World, Asst. Stage Manager), and Fat & Greasy Citizen’s Brigade (Midsummer Night’s Dream, ensemble). She’s grateful to the DC theatre community for welcoming her these past few years, and she’s very excited for Capital Fringe 2017!
Tim Treanor, is a senior writer for DC Theatre Scene. He is a 2011 Fellow of the National Critics Institute and has written over 600 reviews for DCTS. His novel, “Capital City,” with Lee Hurwitz, was published by Astor + Blue in November, 2016. He lives in a log home in the woods of Southern Maryland with his dear bride, DCTS Editor Lorraine Treanor. For more on Tim Treanor, go to timtreanorauthor.com.
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