Cast & Crew: Cast Biographies

Bill Cobbs (Gibbons) was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where his mother was a cleaning lady and his father was a construction worker. As an amateur actor in the city's Karamu House Theater, he starred in the Ossie Davis play Purlie Victorious. Cobbs was an Air Force radar technician for eight years; he also worked in office products at IBM and sold cars in Cleveland. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for New York to seek work as an actor. There he turned down a job in the NBC sales department in order to have time for auditions. He supported himself by driving a cab, repairing office equipment, selling toys, and performing odd jobs. His first professional acting role was in Ride a Black Horse at the Negro Ensemble Company. From there he appeared in small theater productions, street theater, regional theater and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. His first television credit was in Vegetable Soup (1976), a New York public television educational series, and he made his feature film debut in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three in 1974. Bill has gone on to appear in such films as Decoration Day, New Jack City, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Color of Money, The Bodyguard. The list goes on and on. Bill was a series regular on The Gregory Hines Show and I'll Fly Away. He was a recurring guest star on Six Feet Under, The Practice and The Sopranos. He recently appeared in Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller and is currently starring in the independent feature Black Water Transit opposite Laurence Fishburne. In his free time Cobbs enjoys music, reading, playing his drums, and practicing his golf.

Ai Vy Bui (Townsperson) is a UMKC student who recently joined the theater department. Ai Vy has performed on stage for the church and Asian community since she was 8 years old. It is with great anticipation that she joins the Quindaro company in her acting debut.

Toccarra Cash (Mercy Heath), a 3rd-year M.F.A. acting student, is thankful to be a part of this world premiere! Hailing from Dayton, Ohio, she may be recognized from other UMKC Theatre Productions, such as Present Laughter, Boesman and Lena, Black Snow, The Trial, The Maids' Tragedy, and The Darker Face of the Earth. She has also recently appeared on several Kansas City stages, including the Coterie Theatre (A Star Ain't Nothin' But a Hole in Heaven), the Unicorn Theatre (Intimate Apparel), and Kansas City Repertory Theatre (The Syringa Tree, A Christmas Carol). Ms. Cash is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award in Theatre (Acting), a national award for emerging artists in theatre, film, and dance, which she received in New York in October. She is a proud graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she received her B.A. in Drama. Abundant thanks to Ricardo and Kathleen for providing her with such a deeply inspiring experience.

TJ Chasteen (Abelard Guthrie) is a 2nd-year actor in UMKC's professional actor training program where he has been seen in The Lieutenant of Inishmore (a departmental production at the Unicorn Theatre), The Secret Lives of Losers and Present Laughter. He graduated from Sam Houston State University with a B.F.A. in Theatre where he portrayed Hal in Proof, Darrell in The Distance From Here, and Cleonte in Tartuffe among other roles. He was recently seen as Greed and Pride in One Night Stand's production of Sin.

Angela Cristantello (Clarina Nichols) is in her third and final year of the M.F.A. acting program at UMKC. Throughout her time here, she has been seen in Twelfth Night, The Secret Lives of Losers, Three Sisters, Black Snow, The Trial, and The Maids' Tragedy, and will be in the department's upcoming production of The Country Wife. However, she also been seen about town in the recent Kansas City Repertory production of A Christmas Carol (Martha Cratchit), the Coterie Theatre's Night of the Living Dead (Barbara), One Night Stand's Sin (Gluttony), and she was featured in the New Theatre Restaurant's production of A Fiddler on the Roof (Chava).  She received her B.F.A. in Theatre from the University of Buffalo in 2005.  She wishes to thank both Ricardo and Kathleen for this exciting opportunity, and everyone involved for making this such a happily collaborative process.

Nehemiah Deason (Child) is 11 and attends Fire Prairie Middle School. He has been singing, acting and dancing on stage since he was 7 in theatres across the KC Metro including Starlight, Rainbow's End Theatre, the Children's Performing Theatre and the Barn Players among others. He does commercials, voice-overs and independent film and loves science. He is honored to be working with the talented people involved in this production.

Logan Ernstthal (Charles Robinson) is a 3rd-year M.F.A. student at UMKC. You might have seen him in other UMKC productions such as Black Snow, Cloud 9, Three Sisters, Twelfth Night, Noises Off, or in King Lear at the Rep. Other favorite roles include Pistol in Henry V with Heart of America Shakepeare Festival; Shallow in The Merry Wives of Winsor with Riverside Shakespeare Festival; El Gallo in The Fantastics, Jamie in A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Muskrat in Lumberjacks in Love with Creede Repertory Theatre. He would like to thank Ricardo and Kathleen for this opportunity.

David M. Fehr (William Grey) is in his third year of the M.F.A. acting program. He was last seen as Mike in Goodnight Children Everywhere (UMKC), Lloyd in Noises Off (UMKC), Fred in Present Laughter (UMKC), Kulygun in Three Sisters (UMKC), Harry/Martin in Cloud 9 (UMKC), Miller (U/S) in Room Service (KC Rep), Pablo in A Streetcar Named Desire (MET), Michael and Fred in Sin (ONS), and Douglas in Europe (ONS). He has also directed the last two productions for One Night Stand Sin and Europe. He would like to thank UMKC, Ricardo, and Kathleen for the opportunity.

Bennett Ferguson (Runaway Slave/Henry Drake) is a 1st-graduate acting student. Before coming to UMKC, Bennett attended Buffalo State College in Buffalo, NY. There he played George in a production of Stop Kiss, Danceny in Dangerous Liasions, and many other productions. While attending UMKC, Bennett played Claudio in Measure for Measure.

Samuel T. Gaines (Mingo Heath), a 3rd-yr M.F.A. acting student, received his B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana campus. Favorite roles included Narrator in Into the Woods, George Murchison in A Raisin in the Sun, and Richard in Aloha Say the Pretty Girls. While there he was also able to work with Broadway director Daniel Sullivan. While at UMKC Samuel was seen as Orsino in Twelfth Night, Boesman in Boesman and Lena, Betty/Edward in Cloud 9, and Scipio in The Darker Face of the Earth directed by Ricardo Kahn, Albert K in The Trial directed by Kenneth Albers, and was also seen in Black Snow and The Maids' Tragedy both directed by Barry Kyle. Other credits include Kansas City Repertory productions of King Lear directed by Larry Carpenter, and A Christmas Carol, Ben in the Coterie Theatre production of Night of the Living Dead, and Lust/Wrath in Sin as well as assistant director for Europe both produced by One Night Stand, a UMKC created theatre company. Samuel also had the pleasure of studying Commedia at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California last year. Member: EMC.

Nick Gehlfuss (Enoch Pierce, Bushwhacker) is a 1st-year M.F.A. student at UMKC and is proud to finally make it to the stage. “Being given the chance at a Master's degree in acting is a godsend,” says Gehlfuss.  His past portrayals include Estragon in Waiting For Godot, Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, Abbe de Coulmier in Quills, and Trinculo in The Tempest. He wants to thank his family and friends for always being there for him. He also wants to thank Rick for the experience of coming together with a little music on the side. Live, Laugh, and Love.

Helen Gonzalez (Anennon Mary) is a 1st-year M.F.A. acting student from New York where she received a B.A. in Theatre from Binghamton University. Most recently, Helen played Escalus and the Provost in a UMKC studio production of Measure for Measure. Favorite roles include: Claire in Proof, Philaenium in The Comedy of Asses and Absalom in The Canterbury Tales. Helen also attended the Summer Training Congress at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, CA where she played Arles Struvie in Greater Tuna. She would like to thank her wonderful family for their constant love and support.

Rachel Hirshorn (Emmaline Woodruff) is a first year M.F.A. acting student at UMKC. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (B.F.A., Acting), Rachel has spent the past few years working professionally in the Baltimore/DC area, as well in New York City, where she performed regularly in a midtown-based comedy improv troupe (MITA). Rachel is thrilled to be making her Kansas City stage debut among such talented new friends and artists.

Tyler Horn (Lyle Redding, Bushwhacker)Quindaro is Tyler's first mainstage show with UMKC Theater. He is a 1st-year M.F.A. candidate from Philadelphia, PA. Recent roles include Angelo in the UMKC 1st-year workshop of Measure for Measure as well as Pozzo in Waiting for Godot, J.P. Morgan in Ragtime, and Guillame de Cerisay in The Devils at Temple University. Special thanks to Leigh for all her love and support.

Todd Carlton Lanker (Captain Webb/John Brown) is a 2nd-year graduate acting student at UMKC where he has been seen in Twelfth Night (Sebastian) and Noises Off (Garry). This summer he took part in the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival production of Romeo and Juliet (Paris). Todd is a graduate of Wheaton College.

Tameiah McClendon (Child), 9, is an aspiring actress and dancer, with dreams of starring in her own Disney Channel sitcom. Meia has expressed an interest in bring on stage since the age of 3, and is currently working towards honing her skills in improv comedy. Meia is currently a 3rd grader at the African Centered Education Collegium Campus (ACE) in KC, where she is a straight A student. Among other honors, Meia is the first-ever recipient of the Buck O'Neill Leadership Award. Meia is a member of the Sister Girls United (SGU) stepping squad and the ACE Chorus. She has attended the KC Young Audience (KCYA) Performing Arts Center, where she studied theatre. This is Meia's debut performance.

Zachary Mitchell (Child) is a 9 years old accomplished drummer with the gift of singing, songwriting and dancing. Zach aspires to be an actor and one day have his own TV show. Zach has had the privilege of being called to LA and visit the set of Corey in the House. He attends Benjamin Banneker Elementary where he is an A student and continues to study at Kansas City Young Audiences. He is thankful to have worked with such great talent in bringing this play to the stage.

Jason Reynolds (Chapin Carpenter) is a 2nd-year graduate acting student at UMKC. He received his B.F.A. in acting from The University of Houston, School of Theatre. Past UMKC productions include: Noises Off, Twelfth Night, The Secret Lives of Losers and the 1st-year project of The Merchant of Venice. He was seen this summer in HASF's production of Romeo & Juliet. Previous credits include Picasso in Picasso at the Lapin Agile at the Strand Theatre. Houston Shakespeare Festival: Hamlet; As You Like It. Houston Children's Theatre Festival: Snow White, The Wolf and the Foolish Little Kids, The Princess and the Pea. Special thanks to his family and the love of his life; without their love and support, this dream wouldn't be possible!

Ben Sansom (James Hilliard), from Hilbert, Wisconsin, has appeared as Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, Sir Charles Sturman in The Clearing, Pip in Great Expectations and Peter Austin in Broadway, Broadway (It's Only a Play). He would like to thank his wife, Kristen, and daughters Autumn and Naoma, for their support and patience.

Cassandra Schwanke (Nancy Brown Guthrie) is honored to be a part of telling the story of Quindaro. She is a 3rd-year M.F.A. student at UMKC. She has most recently been seen on the Kansas City Repertory Stage in the production of A Christmas Carol as Belle and Mrs. Fred. She has also been seen at UMKC in Noises Off, Twelfth Night, Three Sisters, Tape, The Trial, Cloud 9, and The Maids' Tragedy. She has also participated in the Kansas City Equity Showcase and the workshop production of Frank Higgins's Living Dolls. She received her B.A. in Theater from the University of Oregon.

Seth Snyder (Matt Hubbard, Bushwhacker) is an undergraduate theatre student at UMKC. Recently he took part in a production of All In The Timing. His beloved role was Vincent Van Gogh in Inventing Van Gogh. Seth feels privleged to be a part of Quindaro.

Bethany Sparacio (Townsperson) is a 1st-year graduate acting student. She has played Mrs. Sizemagraff in Betty's Summer Vacation, Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank, All Doctors in Reckless, Priyamvada in King Dusyanta: A Tale From Kalidasa, Mina Murray in Dracula, and M'Lynn in Steel Magnolias.

Samra Teferra (Caroline/Townsperson) is a 1st-year M.F.A. acting student at UMKC. She received her B.A. in communications from James Madison University. While there, she performed in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, Everyman, The Amen Corner and Fences. She also performed in Martin Said So with Serenity Players Inc. in Washington, D.C. Samra feels very fortunate to be a part of the Quindaro production and would like to thank her family for all of their support.

Orechia Towers (Townsperson) is a native from Kansas City, Kansas. She's a full-time mother, worker and student that loves' spending quality time with her son. Orechia also enjoys being involved in her church and in her community. Orechia is a junior at the University of Missouri Kansas City, majoring in Theatre. She has been in various plays with Joyce Todd Youth Productions and is now currently involved with Kansas City, Kansas Gospel Praise Production.