Meet the Cast & Crew
THE ACTING COMPANY:
 |
ALECIA ANNACCHINO is thrilled to be making her Kohl’s Wild Theater debut in her hometown! She just graduated this May with a dual B.A. in Theatre Arts and Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Stage credits include Miss Havisham and Compeyson in Great Expectations, Frances in Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play, Pistol/Rambures (and Text Coach) in Henry V, Rosencrantz in Hamlet, April in Stephen Sondheim's Company, Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer, Corin in As You Like It, and Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in The Music Man. Alecia has received several Irene Ryan nominations at UW-Parkside, and was the 2011 recipient of the Donald Cress Theatre Arts Honorarium in 2011. |
 |
ALEXIS DEPETRILLO is a graduate of Carroll College, holding degrees in both Theatre and Music. After spending a few years stage managing locally at Skylight Opera Theatre, First Stage Children’s Theatre and In Tandem Theatre, she returned to the stage to travel with Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre as Serifina, the storyteller in Beauty and the Beast. Alexis has always loved the Zoo and has always wanted to save the world, so it just tickles her silly to be working for Zoological Society and to be proactive in spreading awareness about animals, the environment and conservation. |
 |
KELLY DOHERTY is thrilled to be a part of the inaugural season of Kohl's Wild Theater. She received her BFA in Performance from UW Whitewater. Previous shows include Taming of the Shrew at Carte Blanche Studios, My First Time at BITE Theatre, Rigoletto at Florentine Opera, Henry V at Quasi Productions, and Combat Theatre with Bunny Gumbo. She would especially like to thank her parents for their continued love and support. |
 |
DAVID FRANZ is thrilled to be joining the Zoological Society of Milwaukee and Kohl's Wild Theater. A native of Waukesha, David spent 2 years in Philadelphia following his graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Philadelphia credits include A Christmas Carol and At This Evening's Performance at Hedgerow Theatre, where he also served as resident movement coach and choreographer, and Mrs. Warren's Profession with the Philadelphia Artists Collective. Milwaukee credits include Mitchell in The Little Dog Laughed with Theatrical Tendencies, and he is currently directing in Pink Banana Theater's one act festival. |
 |
LINDSEY L. GAGLIANO is proud to be an original company member of Kohl’s Wild Theater! You've probably seen her as Honey Bee here at the zoo or during outreach at your child's school. Lindsey graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with both her BFA in Acting and her BA in K-12 Theatre Education. Since then she has been working in the Midwest at theatre companies such at Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Windfall Theater, InTandem Theater, The Alchemist Theater, and more. She also toured with Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. |
 |
BOBBY JOHNSON is ecstatic to return to Kohl's Wild Theater after being part of the summer acting ensemble in 2011! As a recent graduate of UW-Parkside, Bobby holds a BA in Theatre Arts, as well as a Professional Writing Certificate. Some of Bobby's previous credits include Dauphinin Henry V, Lorenzoin Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play, Tommy Djilasin The Music Man, Larryin Stephen Sondheim's Company, and Pipin Charles Dicken's Great Expectations. He has worked with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater as an educational outreach performer, and with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre as a student collaborator in their recent production of Bus Stop. |
 |
MEGAN KAMINSKYis a Milwaukee native and graduated from UW-Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts with her BFA in Theatre. Since graduating, she has been involved with multiple theatre companies in the city. Favorite past roles include Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest and Sorel Bliss in Hay Fever. Megan has also attended Shakespeare and Company's Summer Training Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts, where she hopes to return someday. Thank you to family and friends for all of their support. |
 |
JOHNATHAN KOLLER is thrilled to be a part of Kohl’s Wild Theater. Johnathan received a BFA in acting from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in December of 2010. Johnathan has been acting in Milwaukee for the past 13 years. Credits include Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Danny in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Jesus in Godspell Jr. and Orin the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. Johnathan has also worked at the Bristol Renaissance Fair for the last 5 summers; starting out as a Street entertainer and currently as a Stage Manager. Johnathan would like to thank his family and friends for all their love and support. |
 |
EMMIT MORGANS is thrilled to be part of the KWT team! He would like to thank all of his fellow company members for their support and is looking forward to many fun performances ahead. Emmitt is a 2007 graduate of the UW-Whitewater Acting BFA program and has called Milwaukee home since September 2007. You may have seen him in shows with Skylight Music Theatre ('The Producers', 'Barber of Seville'), Bunny Gumbo (Combat Theatres 19-23), Goats & Monkeys ('Othello', 'Hamlet', 'Taming of the Shrew') or a few others! Allons-y! |
 |
SHERRICK ROBINSON is elated to start his first season with Kohl's Wild Theater. Sherrick holds a B.F.A in Theater Performance from Nebraska Wesleyan University, but he’s glad to be back in his hometown of Milwaukee. He has directed and acted in over a hundred productions. Some recent appearances include Six Degrees of Separation, HAIR, A Rising Wind, RENT, and Jungle Book. When not acting, he can be found at Miller Park hanging out as a Brew Crew member. He is grateful for this opportunity to share the gift of theater with kids, and looks forward to many productions at the Zoo! |
 |
SAMANTHA SOSTARICH is a 2007 graduate of UW Madison, receiving her BA as a Theatre Acting Specialist. Previous roles include Joan in Dames At Sea, Isabel in Pirates of Penzance, Ulla Understudy/Usherette in The Producers, Rhoda in White Christmas with The Milwaukee Skylight, Woman Two in Side By Side By Sondheim with The New Court Theatre, Schwartzy in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Soupy Sue in Urinetown, chorus in L’enfant Et Les Sortileges, Ida in Die Fledermaus, and Betty in The Three Penny Opera at the UW Madison. Other favorite performances include Rona Lisa Peretti in The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee, Ulla in The Producers, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady, Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, and Marty in Grease, Elizabeth in Aspects of Love, and Germaine in Picasso at the Lapin Agile. |
 |
JADE TAYLOR is extremely excited to be a part of Kohl’s Wild Theater and its uplifting endeavors. She has recently finished her freshman year at Syracuse University. Favorite shows have been Ragtime, and Dorothy in First Stage Children's Theater production of The Wiz. Jade is an avid reader and writer and is continuing her education at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee majoring in musical theatre. She has been riding the Milwaukee County Zoo’s train since childhood and supports the educational goals of the Milwaukee County Zoo. Endless thanks to devoted family and friends! |
CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM:
DAVE MCLELLAN (Theater Coordinator)is thrilled to join the Zoological Society in creating this exciting new theater program. Prior to this position, Dave spent a year working as a conservation educator for the Walt Disney Company in Orlando, FL. Before moving to FL, he was a company member and assistant director with the Wildlife Theater, performing regularly at the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo and Queens Zoo in NYC. Other selected theater credits include the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Ford’s Theater, Round House Theater, Imagination Stage, Surflight Theater, Capital Repertory Theatre, Cape Rep Theatre, and Universal Studios Florida. Dave now resides in Wauwatosa with his wife, Mary, and two children, Angela and Johnny.
JONATHAN ELLERS (Playwright – A Climb Through Time With Clues and Rhyme! and The Reach of the Rainforest) has worked in the field of theater for young audiences for twenty years as a director, manager, playwright, and deviser of unique live interpretive experiences for museum and zoo visitors. After learning his craft from "the father of participation theater in the U.S," Moses Goldberg, Jonathan spent nine years running the largest zoo-theatre program in the country – Wildlife Theatre in New York City. Since then he has worked as a playwright/director/deviser of interpretation for such organizations as Conservation International, General Electric, the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the New York Hall of Science and the New York Botanical Garden. Jonathan lives at the very northern tip of Manhattan with his wife Jacki and two young daughters, BettyAnn and Ruby.
NICOLE GREEVY (Playwright –Treasure of the Sea and A Tale of Two Hemispheres) is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and actor. She has written and directed dozens of plays, songs and videos for Central Park Zoo's Wildlife Theater, using drama, music and puppetry in order to make conservation and natural-science themes accessible to the average visitor. Some of her other wildlife-themed work includes the short teleplay Thundering Plains, Or, How the Wildlife Conservation Society Saved the American Bison (as interpreted by sock puppets) and she is co-creator of Living in Captivity, an independent comedic pilot about zookeepers (Official Selection, New York and Los Angeles Independent Television Festivals). As part of the writing team Numerical Productions, her short plays have been produced around the country. She is currently working on the forthcoming comedic web series, Theater for a Young Audience.
MELANIE WEHRMACHER (Playwright –The Strange Case of the Alien Invasion, Vampires Vs. Aliens, and Wild Wisconsin!) Productions include Reminiscences (Jackson Rep), The Mail Play (Looking Glass), The New York Times (Baobab Groove), Experiment (Secret Theatre), and her solo shows Trip (Provincetown Playhouse), and Hotdish with a Hot Dish (Creative Center.) Awards include the Jig Cook Playwriting Award, Sam French Festival semi-finalist, a FieldWork residency, and Best New Play (KC/ACTF). She has written a significant body of work for museum theatre as a writer for the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Central Park and Bronx Zoos, and the NY Hall of Science. Ms. Wehrmacher is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.
CHRIS BEIMBORN (Playwright – The Biodiversity Pep Rally) has been enthusiastic about conservation for as long as she can remember and is excited to be a part of the Kohl’s Wild Theater. She is a Milwaukee-based Science and Environmental Education Consultant who designs and carries out programs to help the public, students of all ages, teachers and others build skills of inquiry and learn about science and the environment. She is surprised at how often her work consists of writing dialogue for things that don’t actually speak.
NEIL HAVEN (Playwright – Bullies and Bonobos) is a playwright and actor based in Milwaukee, WI. He is the author of Who Killed Santa?, Stuck, Pink Champagne, The Playdaters, Get a Life, Odd Ducks, and Cut or Uncut, among others. His work has been seen at various theatres and universities in Milwaukee, New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and more. Who Killed Santa? is available through Original Works Publishing.
ALVARO SAAR RIOS (Playwright – Journey to the Rich Coast) is a writer & a performer. He holds an MFA in Writing for the Stage & Screen from Northwestern University and is the co-founder of the national touring performance troupe–The Royal Mexican Players. His work has been performed in New York City, Hawaii, California, Chicago, Milwaukee, and all over Texas! Mr. Rios currently teaches for the Theatre Dept. at UW-Milwaukee.
JOHN TANNER (Composer/Sound Designer)is one of the principals of Tanner-Monagle, with years of experience in scoring, arranging and music composition for television, radio, industrial video and theatre. His commercial music has won numerous awards, including Golden Reel Awards; Telly Awards; national, regional and local American Advertising Federation “Addys”, Silver Microphone awards and RAC awards for retail advertising. John has also garnered both Gold and Platinum sales certification for his album engineering work. His national television projects include scoring the PBS documentary and soundtrack CD, “The Gold Rush.” He has written original scores and designed sound for theatrical productions at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Player’s Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, First Stage Milwaukee and many others.
STEVE BARNES (Set/Props Designer)is a Racine based set designer and is very happy for the opportunity to work with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee and Kohl’s Wild Theatre. Over the past few years, he has designed for the Milwaukee Rep, First Stage Children’s Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theatreworks, In Tandem Theatre, as well as Lawrence University and the Racine Theatre Guild. Steve holds an MFA in Scenic Design from Purdue University.
ANDREA BOUCK (Costume Designer) is a recent MFA graduate in costume design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She came to Milwaukee to pursue her career in the theatre and now manages the Costume Shop at First Stage Children's Theatre in addition to designing costumes for other area theaters. Before coming to Wisconsin she designed costumes for Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV in Richmond, Virginia. Andrea also works in the Crafts shop at American Players Theatre during the summer months.
CHRIS GUSE (Sound System Consultant) is an Associate Professor in the UWM Peck School of the Arts Theatre Department specializing in sound design and technology. His most recent work includes sound designs for the Renaissance Theatreworks/Uprooted co-production of Crumbs from the Table of Joy and UWM's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Chris regularly consults on sound system installations and configuration including major work with Ten Chimneys and Church in the City.
BRANDON KIRKHAM (Puppet Designer) is pleased to be part of Kohl's Wild Theatre at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Brandon received his MFA in Costume & Scenic Design at Ohio University, and works as a Props/Crafts Artisan at First Stage Children's Theatre in Milwaukee. Brandon's Puppets have been seen in venues across the country, including First Stage, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre (Holland, MI), Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN), Enchantment Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA), the Utah Museum of Natural History, the United States Institute of Technical Theatre's (USITT) Foam & Puppet Symposium, and in the Czech Republic at the Prague Quadrennial International Design Exposition.
