Meet the Artists
Erin Anderson (president of the board, founding member) Having grown up just south of Elk Rapids, surrounded by cherry orchards, Erin enjoyed the dynamic and exciting contrast of a six-year stint in New York City where she attended Sarah Lawrence College and later worked in marketing for the publisher, Penguin Putnam, Inc. before returning to her native northern Michigan. Erin holds a B.A. in literature and middle eastern history from Sarah Lawrence College and a diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she majored in creative writing and was named a presidential scholar in the arts in 1996. Upon moving back to Michigan, she sought meaningful work that aimed to preserve what called her home in the first place–the area’s stunning natural beauty–and she was very happy to have found it at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy where she spent 6 years as a charitable giving specialist. In her current role as major gifts officer at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Erin works to help those who wish to financially support Interlochen’s mission match their specific charitable giving goals with the right program or project. The author of Look About You: A Magical Childhood in Michigan’s Wild Places, Erin continues to write. A passionate audience member and lover of theatre, she is thrilled to put her talents to use building a strong foundation for this company to take hold—and thrive—in Elk Rapids.
Jordan Anderson (sound engineer) A Grand Traverse area native, Jordan provides sound equipment and audio technical assistance for “Metamorphoses.” He is a 2007 graduate of Central Michigan University with a degree in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts. Currently, he is the Assistant Production Director for Midwestern Broadcasting in Traverse City, the owner of the video and audio production company Pancake Boy Productions, and the co-owner of Mr. Music Disc Jockey Services LLC. Jordan does not sleep a lot, but he balances this out with too much caffeine. He enjoys writing and performing music, as well as learning as much as he can about Traverse City founder, Perry Hannah. He is also an argyle enthusiast; if he’s wearing a pair of socks, you can bet they’re argyle!
Avigail Barel (management assistant) Avigail Barel is an Asset Manager at TriMont Real Estate Advisors, a commercial real estate advisory firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is responsible for the supervision and strategic management of a $785MM portfolio of existing and developing property investments located throughout the United States and Canada. Avigail attended Tulane University for her undergraduate studies and received an MBA from the University of Miami. Although Avigail’s experience lies primarily in the realm of commercial real estate transactions, her fundamental appreciation of the arts was cultivated during four summers at Interlochen Arts Camp, where she was a violinist in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. She, Molly Bain Founrfelter, Ines Thiebaut and Kit McKay shared a cabin at Interlochen Arts Camp in 1994.
Megan Caplan (production manager, set designer) Megan has returned to Parallel 45 after designing las year’s Our Town. She currently resides in New York City where she works as a freelance theatre technician. Recently she was the Production Manager for SITI Company’s Under Construction and the Associate Production Manager/Technical Director for Classic Stage Company’s Double Falsehood. Other NYC companies include: Manhattan Class Company, Lincoln Center’s LCT3, Theatre For A New Audience, Signature Theatre Company, NY Theatre Workshop, Summer Play Festival. In MI for Interlochen Arts Camp, she was the Technical Director for the Theatre Department summers 2006-08 and the Master Carpenter summers 2004-05. Other companies include – In Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Theatre Company, Jeanne Ruddy Dance, Wilma Theatre, Live Arts & Fringe Festival. In Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park University, City Theatre, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.
Fiona Carey (Oread) Fiona Carey is from northern Michigan. An alumna of Interlochen Arts Academy, she has been involved with the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival as an assistant stage manager. She played Emily in P45′s production of “Our Town” and is thrilled to have been blessed with a second summer in Elk Rapids with such a beautiful, vibrant team. In the fall, Fiona will head back for her sophomore year at Kalamazoo College, where she hopes to focus on cultural anthropology.
Katherine Dillingham (Hades) Born and raised in Oklahoma and a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, northern Michigan is one of the places she calls home. Last summer she performed in P45′s Our Town, and in Interlochen Shakespeare Festival’s Macbeth. Kate is a Registered Drama Therapist and the Director of Art, Dance and Drama Therapy at Institute for Therapy through the Arts, working with adults with mental illness who are chemically addicted, tweens with emotional and behavioral disorders, and elders with dementia. She also coordinates Operation Oak Tree, which brings programs and services based in the creative arts therapies to military families throughout the state of Illinois. Before moving to Chicago, she served as a drama therapist and case manager at a clinic for adults with mental illness and intellectual disabilities in New York City. She loves to sew, upcycling pre-loved fabrics into like-new goods and garments. Kate holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the Hartt School and a Master of Arts in Drama Therapy from New York University.
Noah Durham (Hermes) was seen last year as Charles Webb in P45′s Our Town. At the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival, Noah has appeared as Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Rosse in Macbeth, Salerio in The Merchant of Venice and Christopher Sly in Taming of the Shrew. As a company member with Trap Door Theatre in Chicago, he has been seen in many productions including 12 Ophelias, Eva Peron, The Beastly Bombing and the European tour of The Crazy Locomotive. Noah recently performed dangling from a rooftop in DC Microfiction, a circuit of French monologues performed in unconventional spaces in Washington, DC. Other credits include Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New American Theatre), Angel in The Birds (Moscow Art Theatre), Fritz in the original cast of A Nutcracker Christmas (Emerald City Theatre), Benjamin in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Jenny Wiley Theatre), and various roles in The Awesome 80s Prom (Chicago cast). He is currently on faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp. Noah studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and Interlochen Arts Academy.
Brian Elston (lighting designer) Brian Elston is going into his second year at The Ohio State University as an MFA lighting student. His past designs include A Piece of My Heart, God’s Ear, 448 Psychosis, Schoolhouse Rock Live, Too! at Columbus State University where he graduated with a BFA in Design and Technical Theatre. He was also very proud to serve as the Lig hting Designer for P45′s inaugural show Our Town. Brian has worked the past three summers at the Interlochen Center for the Arts where he met many of his P45 family members.
Molly Bain Frounfelter (Aphrodite, associate director) is a writer, teacher and performer. An alum of The University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University, Molly has taught language arts, multiculturalism, and theatre fundamentals in Detroit Public Schools, the University of Michigan, Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Community College of Allegheny County, in Pittsburgh, PA, where she currently resides and works. This fall, she’ll begin work on her third one-woman show. A native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Molly always misses and dreams of Lake Superior.
Gary Gatzke (vice president of the board) made his return to northern Michigan after eight years in New York City. A native of northern Michigan, Gary studied double bass with Winston (Jack) Budrow, Lawrence Hurst and Derek Weller at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He then continued his studies at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Eugene Levinson and Homer Mensch, completing his Bachelor of Music degree in 2002 and his Master of Music degree in 2004. In 2004, Gary joined Juilliard’s development team in the office of national advancement and alumni relations, where he worked until returning to northwest Michigan to accept the position of Director of Alumni Engagement at Interlochen Center for the Arts. A private instructor of cello and double bass, Gary participates in numerous national music festivals each year, and is principal double bassist for the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.
Alana Harrison (Hunger) Alana attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Comedic Writing and Performance. She then moved to New York City, became a resident performer at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and is now a company member of Story Pirates, where she collaboratively transforms children’s writing into musical sketch comedy and cartoons. She performed in shows parodying John Hughes films at UCB including “Pretty in Pink”, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, and “Sixteen Candles” under the direction of Amy Poehler and David Wain, and co-starring with Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, and Jack McBrayer. Alana also wrote and performed several original shows including “Paincake” and “Signs Point to Yes” both under the direction of Kit McKay, at UCB, One Arm Red’s Playwright Festival, and the NY Emerging Artist Showcase. Her television appearances include Comedy Central’s “The Upright Citizens Brigade” and NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”.
Robin N. Lyles (producer) is a native of Georgia, recently making the nomadic migration north to Parallel 45. She is a graduate of Columbus State University, with a BFA in Theatre Performance, concentration in Directing. While in Columbus, she was involved in many productions as both an actor and director, both at CSU’s Theatre on the Park as well as at the Springer Opera House, state theatre of Georgia. Most recently, she was a member of the inaugural company of the Columbus Repertory Theatre, playing a French pepper shaker and a magical dancing cupcake in Blue’s Clues Live!: Blue’s Birthday Party.
Ana Luderowski (Bacchus) is an old Interlochen camper returned to work with the finest theatre artists in the world! Born in upstate New York, Ana studied for five summers at Interlochen under the tutelage of Kit Mckay,Linda Osborn and Laura Ames Mittelstaedt, to name a few. At Concord Academy, where Ana went to high school, she performed in many shows as well as a view-points devised piece directed by David Gammons. During this time Ana was also a founding member of the award-winning improv comedy group “Dressed in Black and Vegan” which has performed at the Improv Asylum and the Gotham Comedy club, among others. She then came back to Interlochen again to play Bianca in the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival. Ana is now heading into her last year at The Central School of Speech and Drama in London where she plans to start a career. But however far away she gets, there’s no better place to be doing summer theatre than in Northern Michigan.
Jonathan Mazer (Zeus) Jonathan Mazer played Doc Gibbs in P45′s inaugural production, “Our Town”, and is thrilled to be performing with this extraordinary ensemble again. Jonathan is a director and actor, originally from Los Angeles, who has called northern Michigan his summer home ever since he could speak. He recently was awarded an MFA in theatre directing from Northwestern University, received a BA in theatre arts from NYU, where he studied with the Experimental Theatre Wing, and is a proud graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy. Prior to his graduate studies, Jonathan lived in New York City, where he worked as an actor and director in numerous off and off-off Broadway productions. He has performed in and conducted workshops for a multitude of new plays, and appeared in the films “Pump Up the Volume” and “A Nightmare on Elm St 6: Freddy’s Dead”. His favorite role, however, was as Petruchio in the 1993 Interlochen Arts Academy production of “The Shrew”. Directing credits include: “My Sister In This House” (UT Austin), “Stone Cold Dead Serious” (Northwestern University), “The Bacchae” (Northwestern University), “Blind Horses” (off -Broadway), “Spurn” (off-Broadway), “Igloo” (off-Broadway), and “Dream”, his own adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, produced at the Limelight Nightclub (off-Broadway). Assistant director credits include theatrical productions directed by Mary Zimmerman, and David Kersnar, and the films “June Weddings” (produced by Tom Noonan) and “Little Man” (produced by Mortar Films).
Kit McKay (director) Kit has made her way north each summer since she was a child. After spending her childhood basking in Leelanau’s delights, she moseyed over to Interlochen Arts Academy. Kit continued her study of theatre at Sarah Lawrence College, where she discovered her passion for directing and co-founded the Überproject, a New-York-City based theatre. Kit received her M.F.A in directing at Northwestern University and studied at the Yale School of Drama in Theatre Management where she was given the opportunity to spend last fall as a Yale Fellow working with Ben Moore and Jerry Manning at Seattle Repertory Theatre. She currently works at the American Dance Institute in Rockville, Maryland where she runs their residency program for emerging choreographers. During the summers, Kit is director of Intermediate Musical Theatre at Interlochen Arts Camp.
Laura Mittelstaedt (Ceres) Laura Ames Mittelstaedt is happy to be joining P45 for the first time. Originally from Rhode Island, she has worked regionally in Chicago, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Center Stage, and the Trinity Rep Summer Shakespeare Project, and SUNY New Paltz. Laura has her MFA in Acting from Penn State. Recently she played Portia in The Merchant of Venice with Interlochen Shakespeare Festival where she is a founding member and artistic associate. Laura is faculty in the Theatre division of the Interlochen Arts Academy and Arts Camp, and lives in Traverse City. Special thanks to Michael for #5.
Julia Morrissey (producer) is a Washington D.C.-based actor where she also serves on the boards for the Actors’ Center and Rockville Little Theatre. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawerence College and has studied at the British American Academy in London and T. Schreiber Studio and LABrynth Theatre in New York. In her non-theatre life Julia works as the Program Manager for the American Dance Institute in D.C.
Michael Norton (contributing sound designer) Michael Burditt Norton is excited to be contributing to the second season on P45, moving from performance to sound design. Michael works on performance sound design and his own original compositions in Berlin, Germany, where he currently resides.
Linda Osborn (secretary of the board, production stage manager) Linda is a native of Michigan and has spent most of her life as close to the 45th parallel as possible, and is delighted to be a part of this fine group of immensely talented artists. She has spent the last nine summers teaching theatre and directing at Interlochen Center for the Arts. While living in New York City, Linda worked as a stage manager and production assistant at The Juilliard School and as a studio/props coordinator for Production Design Group – the Emmy Award winning firm responsible for the set design of NBC Nightly News, Dateline, MSNBC, A & E Biography, The History Channel, The National Geographic Channel and many others.Justin Perez (Apollo, choreographer) finds his way to northern Michigan each year by way of Interlochen Arts Camp, where he has most recently served as Director of the Intermediate Musical Theatre Workshop. Other regional credits include work with Lyric Opera of Boston, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Les Freres Corbusier. In P45s inaugural production of OUR TOWN, Justin played Stage Manager A and also choreographer. Justinis a proud company member of P45.
Justin Perez (Apollo, choreographer) finds his way to northern Michigan each year by way of Interlochen Arts Camp, where he has most recently served as Director of the Intermediate Musical Theatre Workshop. Other regional credits include work with Lyric Opera of Boston, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Les Freres Corbusier. In P45s inaugural production of OUR TOWN, Justin played Stage Manager A and also choreographer. Justin is a proud company member of P45.
Kristina Corcoran Williams (dramaturg) is thrilled to be in Michigan working with Parallel 45! Born in Traverse City, she is now based in New York where she serves as the Resident Dramaturg and Literary Manager of the Off-Broadway company Transport Group. She has also worked in New York with TCG, Primary Stages, The LARK Play Development Center, Dixon Place, and Invisible Dog. She has worked regionally on new work with Yale Repertory Theatre, The Colorado New Play Summit, and Madison Repertory Theatre. She’s served as Literary Associate at Yale Repertory theatre. She has worked with playwrights Paula Vogel, Bruce Norris, David Greenspan and José Rivera. She has served on faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp, is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, has a BA from University of Wisconsin — Madison, and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Logan Woodruff (Vertumnus, costume designer) is a native of northern Michigan and a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy. He currently attends Vassar College in New York where his studies are concentrated in drama and urbanism. Logan is a frequent designer for the Philaletheis Society of Vassar College and is proud member of the Woodshed Theatre Ensemble. After having a wonderful time playing George Gibbs in last summer’s production of ‘Our Town’, Logan is honored and thrilled to be returning this summer among such incredible collaborators in the supportive Elk Rapids community.