company

Blair Ault

Blair is the Marketing/Public Relations Manager for Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company, and an Honors College student at the University of Houston where she is majoring in Political Science and History. At a younger age, she performed with various theatrical companies in the Houston Area including Theatre Under the Stars, The Alley Theatre, and several community theatres. Blair is a graduate from the Theatre Dept. in the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts with a focus in Technical Theatre, and has interned with Diverseworks! and the Texas Renaissance Festival where she now assists with social media coordinating. Blair is looking forward to graduating this Spring.

Mark Carrier

Mark Carrier - Mark made his Mildred's Umbrella Debut in 2007 with 365Days/365 Plays, and went on to perform in the role of Bunce in One Flea Spare.

Some other roles of interest are: Oedipus the King, Order of the Scarlet Cat (Brazosport Little Players), The Adding Machine, 365 Plays/365 Days (Kid Ornery Theatre), ...for those that live in cities,Envy the Cockroach (Dos Chicas Theatre Commune), Shel's Shorts, Carl The Second, Tape (Fan Factory Theater Company). Recent directing credits include: The Lower Depths (Dos Chicas Theatre Commune) and A Raisin in the Sun (Country Playhouse).

Ryan Kelly

Ryan made his debut with Mildred's Umbrella in 2007 in a short skit in 365 Plays/365 Days, and went on to play Daniel in Dark Matter and Earl in Haunt of Flies. He has a long history of theatre, both acting and directing in the southwest side of town in Fort Bend County with an occasional appearance in the Clear Lake area. Favorite productions include Sylvia, Noises Off, The Miss Firecracker Contest, The Foreigner, See How They Run, We Must Kill Toni among many others. He’s a graphic designer by day (which started the working relationship with MU in the first place), to which he’s eternally grateful. He does all of the graphic design for Mildred’s Umbrella’s Fabulous posters and programs.

Greg Dean

Since the late 80’s, Greg has worked extensively as an actor, director and designer in Houston, with Urban Theater (Macbeth, Oedipus, Waiting for Godot, Josef [K] ), West-Mon Repertory Theater (Loot, Edmond, Talk Radio), The Houston Shakespeare Festival (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merry Wives of Windsor, Titus Andronicus), Infernal Bridegroom Productions (Endgame, Woyzeck, Guys and Dolls, Cherry Orchard and others), Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre (Crime of the Assistant Master Butler) and the Alley Theatre (Our Lady of 121st Street). For Mildred’s Umbrella, he designed sound and video for Triptych, and directed, designed and performed in Things Being at the Worst, Tomorrow Morning, and Mac Wellman’s Dracula.

Julie Boneau

Mildred’s Umbrella acting credits: A Long History of Neglect, Museum of Dysfunction II. Other acting credits include The Catastrophic Theatre: The Tamarie Cooper Show – Journey to the Center of My Brain, The Splasher; Theatre LaB Houston: Frozen, Sinkhole (for Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Celebration at The Alley Theater); Main Street Theater: Present Laughter; Main Street Youth Theater: Ramona Quimby; Dos Chicas Theatre Commune: Stream of Consciousness, Out at Sea; BLP: The Order of the Scarlet Cat, Asshole Parade, Oedipus Rex; Theatre Illuminata: Thirst; Wandering Troupe in association with Fan Factory: KBBJ; The Ornery Theater: The Adding Machine. In addition to acting, Julie has written/directed/acted in her short one-woman show called Going Coastal: The Ladies of I-10 at Mildred’s Umbrella’s Museum of Dysfunction II and also at The 2008 Freneticore Fringe Festival where her original show won the award of “Audience Favorite”. She also performs regularly with La Chicana Laundry Pictures (films: Scrito ep. II, Dolls, The Demented Domestic, Vilut, Pants the Cat: The Devil’s Bride and Mutually Assured Destruction). Education: B.S., Lamar University, Theatre; M.A., University of Houston School of Theatre.

Bobby Haworth

Bobby is a Mildred's Umbrella company member. Recent productions include The Flu Season, Elixir of Love, Alice and the Underground, Gate of Heaven, A Murder of Crows, The War of the Roses and Love Loves a Pornographer. He is represented by Acclaim Talent in Austin TX, who he has actually heard from once or twice. Bobby would like to thank everyone involved in the production for their creativity and hard work.

Sara Jo Dunstan

Sar

a Jo Dunstan has been in the theater since she was knee-high to a pig’s eye (and stopped growing at that point as well). Recently, she received rave reviews as Ruta (and others) in Mildred’s Umbrella’s Margo Veil and “Nell Gwynn” in the Mildred’s Umbrella production of Compleat Female Stage Beauty. She has had starring roles in Camelot, The King and I, The Bungler (she played a man in that one!), Snoopy! The Musical, Dog Sees God, Veronica’s Room (that’s ROOM, not Closet, not Secret), I Sing!, and The Altruists. Sara Jo has acted professionally in many Houston theaters, including Main Street Theater, Theatre LaB, Pendulum Theatre, Off-Hollywood Productions, The Great Caruso, Wordsmyth, Unhinged Productions, and Catastrophic Theatre.

Mia Migliaccio

Mia made her acting debut in Houston in June 2008 in bare: a pop opera at Country Playhouse. She has performed with Mildred’s Umbrella in Museum of Dysfunction II and was the assistant stage manager for Compleat Female Stage Beauty. She has worked with several theaters in Houston including Main Street Theater (The Light in the Piazza), College of the Mainland Theater (Doubt, My Funny Valentine), National Repertory Theater (Scorched), Company OnStage (Dangerous Corner, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and Country Playhouse (bare: a pop opera, Times Square Angel, MADCAP 24, The Act of Murder). She has a B.A. in Geography from The University of Texas at Austin and works as a GIS Analyst during the day.

Ashley Allison

Ashley has worked with Mildred’s Umbrella in several shows including Margo Veil, Lonely Odd Creatures and Alice and the Underground, which won the audience choice award at the Freneticore Fringe Festival. Ashley has also worked with Nova Arts Project in The Bacchae and Gate of Heaven. She would like to thank her boyfriend for all his support and writing her bio. Ashley is also featured in the Mildred's Umbrella pin up calendar.

Zachary Doss
Zachary is resident Dramaturg/Literary Manager for Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company. Notable productions as dramaturg include (University of Houston) On the Verge, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Katrina: The Bridge, bobrauschenbergamerica; (Horse Head Theater) Red Light Winter; (Nova Arts Project) O3: The Oedipus Project, Hamlet: Re-Envisioned, Wars of the Roses Cycle; (Mildred’s Umbrella) Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Last Easter, Margo Veil. He also served as Dramaturgy Intern on Cyrano de Bergerac and as Assistant Dramaturg on the world premiere of Gruesome Playground Injuries, both at the Alley Theatre. When he isn’t busy doing theater, he spends his time reading books, writing books, plays, poems, or whatever else he feels like, and being hopelessly addicted to social media.

John Wind

John has participated in numerous theater productions in Houston. He is a theater “ Jack of all trades,” and has acted, directed, designed lighting, built sets — all areas of theater production. He was seen on stage as the Ringmaster in Mildred’s Umbrella’s Eros: A Circus.(2002) Other favorite roles include: Bill in Kama Sutra (2001), Johnny in 1940’s Radio Hour (at Company Onstage), Dromio in Comedy of Errors and the Narrator in The Good Doctor. He recently directed The Sugar Bean Sisters, Eleemosynary and Incorruptable at The Company Onstage. Recently he has done light design for Dracula, Bog of Cats and Triptych.

Elizabeth Seabolt
Elizabeth Seabolt-Esparza has been acting in Houston since she was twelve making her debut appearance as Gloria in Wait Until Dark at Playhouse 1960. She has appeared at Theatre Southwest as Maggie in Lend Me a Tenor, Meredith in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress and Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird. With Upstage Theatre she has appeared as Deidre McDavey in I Hate Hamlet. She appeared as Gregory in Romeo and Juliet at Country Playhouse (mainstage) and Terry in Extremeties (Country Playhouse blackbox). At Company Onstage she appeared as Fanny in As It Is In Heaven, Sorel in Hay Fever and Millie in Picnic. At Fan Factory she played the role of Kimberly Bergalis in Patient A. She appeared in Tamalalia 4 with Infernal Bridegroom as ensemble playing various flora and fauna and such. With Dos Chicas she appeared as Demimondaine in For those Who live in Cities, Kaitlyn in Envy the Cockroach, Gina in Media Darlings and Nastya in the Lower Depths. In the summer of 2005 they also produced her short play Deadbolt as part of the Stream of Consciousness/Verge of Insanity piece. With Mildred's Umbrella she appeared as Mary Clifford in Dark Matter, a variety of different parts in the Suzan Lori Parks 365 Days/365 Play project and as Mistress Revels in Compleat Female Stage Beauty. She served as Assistant Director for the production of True West at Theatre Southwest and was also a featured guest artist for the Freneticore Fringe Festival in 2008. She has a B.A. in Drama from University of St. Thomas.

Philip Hays

Philip recently directed Margo Veil for Mildred’s Umbrella. He is a founding member of Boo Town, for whom he has directed Ace Skates on Thursdays and Hot Child in Hollywood, helped to produce the Houston Fringe Festival, and created and performed Fitcher’s a Bastard but His Bird's All Right, IMA ZO!!!, and the Grown-Up Storytime series. He is also a company member of Nova Arts Project, for whom he has directed Henry VI, Part 3 for their War of the Roses cycle, as well as appearing in Oedipus3, Interior, and The Most Lamentable and Tragick Tragiful Tragedy of The Ambassadors. He is a graduate of the International School of Comic Acting and a company member of Teatro delle Due in Reggio Emilia, Italy, for whom he has performed Shakespeare for Italian high school students
Bruce Wind
Bruce has been involved in theatre since April 1994 when he was the sound board operator at Houston Community College-SW. He has also been involved in productions at the Shakespeare-By-The-Book Festival, Company Onstage, Unity Theatre in Brenham, and Mildred's Umbrella. His duties have included stage manager, light board operator, sound board operator, sound design, carpenter, electrician, painter, and some acting. Acting credits include Othello, Midsummer Nights Dream, Lonestar, and The Good Doctor. His previous productions at Mildred's Umbrella are Tomorrow Morning, Dracula, The Third Side, Museum of Dysfunction II, Last Easter, and Night of the Giant.

Anthony Rathbun
Anthony Rathbun is the staff photographer for Mildred’s Umbrella. He was born in Houston Texas. His experience involves but is not limited to editorial, advertising, portraiture, photo-journalism, and wedding still photography. He has photographed every Mildred’s show since 2007. Contact: photographer_anthony@yahoo.com 713-598-7141

Jonathan Shafer

Jonathan has been seen dragging Walt Zipprian's body off stage at the end of Night of the Giant, and was the Stage Manager for Margo Veil. for which he would like to apologize to the people of Lithuania. Jonathan is a student at the University of Houston, where he may yet graduate with a degree in English Literature.

Timothy Evers

Timothy is kept locked in a basement and is rarely allowed to come out.

Trish Rigdon

Trish Rigdon has been a director, producer, and designer in theatre for the last dozen or so years and recently began doing the same in film. She served for four consecutive seasons (2003 – 2006) as the Associate Director/Producer for the Peter Hall Company Season at Theatre Royal Bath with the acclaimed director Sir Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and former Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Great Britain. Her work with Sir Peter included West End productions of the 50th anniversary of Waiting for Godot and You Never Can Tell, US tours of As You Like It (2003 & 2005), US tour of The Importance of Being Earnest with Lynn Redgrave, and Measure for Measure for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s season of the complete canon in 2006. Other productions with the Sir Peter at Theatre Royal Bath include Much Ado About Nothing, Man and Superman, Habeas Corpus, and Galileo’s Daughter (World Premiere). She also worked with Sir Peter on Romeo and Juliet at Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles. Other directing credits include: LaLlorna (Express Theatre, Houston); Hecuba, True West, No Exit, The Laramie Project, Antigone and Spike Heels (Rice University, Houston). Credits as Costume Designer include: The Importance of Being Earnest with Lynn Redgrave (National Tour); Crime and Punishment, Blackbird Cincinnati Playhouse, Lord of the Flies, Round House Theatre; Waiting for Godot, You Never Can Tell (London, West End) Measure for Measure, Habeas Corpus, Miss Julie, Much Ado About Nothing, Man and Superman, Galileo’s Daughter, Don Juan (Peter Hall Company, Theatre Royal Bath and UK tours), Oocam’s Razor (film). The Gold (Arts With an Impact – Houston) Credits as Lighting Designer include: Texas Contemporary Dance Initiative; City Dance Company 2000 - 2005; Phantasmagoria, Dancing Off the Page (Chrysalis Dance Company). Assistant Lighting Designer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Broadway, London, Steppenwolf Theatre); American Buffalo (Off-Broadway, Donmar Warehouse); Top Dog/Underdog (Steppenwolf Theatre, Alley Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center) The Goat, Of Mice and Men, As Bees in Honey Drown, Comedy of Errors (Alley Theatre); Lemonade (Alley Theatre, Off-Broadway). Trish was the Director of Theatre for Rice University 2003 - 2007 where she previously served as Associate Director 2000 - 2003. She holds an MFA in Theatre from University of Houston where she also now teaches in the School of Theatre & Dance, Graduate Design Program. She also serves as the Chair of Education for Women in Film and Television – Houston and is the Executive Director of Houston Cinema Arts Society, which presents Cinema Arts Festival Houston in November each year focused on films and new media by and about artists in the visual, performing, and literary arts.

PAST COMPANY MEMBERS

Jennifer Decker

Jennifer is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company. Mildred’s projects include Kama Sutra (director), Eros: A Circus (acrobat), Things Being at the Worst (Puttenesca), Tomorrow Morning (Claire), Mac Wellman’s Dracula (Vampirette), [sic] (Babbette), Triptych (director), A Long History of Neglect (Justine) Dark Matter (director), One Flea Spare (Darcy), and A Murder of Crows (director). Other Houston projects include Sadomasochistic XMas and Envy the Cockroach (dos chicas), A Tale of Two Cites (Unhinged), War of the Roses Series (Nova Arts Project), the national reading of The Laramie Project: 10 years Later, Catholic Schoolgirls, Reckless, Einstein and the Polar Bear, Chamber Music and Scotland Road. She has an MLA in English and an MLA in Drama from St Thomas University. Her writing has been published in Laurels and the Allegheny Review. She also teaches English at Houston Community College and manages The Misfires, a fantastic local band.

John Harvey

John Harvey is co-founder of Mildred’s Umbrella, and the writer of several of our plays: Kama Sutra, Eros: A Circus, Things Being at the Worst, Tomorrow Morning, Hotel Pasiphae, Needful Creatures and Rot. A graduate of University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program, his poems have appeared in such journals as Gulf Coast, Whiskey Island, and XCP. Harvey has collaborated with local writers in performance-art shows at the Art Car Ball and the Menil Collection and made his acting debut in December 2003, in a dos chicas theater commune production of Immaculate Contraception/Sadomasochistic Christmas. He also played Inspector Viper in Mildred’s Umbrella’s Tomorrow Morning, and Jonathan Harker in Mac Wellman’s Dracula. He teaches at Houston Community College and lectures at the University of Houston Honors College. John recently has been working on a new play, stay tuned!

Karen Schlag

Karen is an Associate Artistic Director for Mildred’s Umbrella and has performed for the company in Last Easter (June), Murder of Crows (Nella), Rot (puppeteer/ shadow) Dark Matter (Mary Jones), By the Bog of Cats (Mrs. Kilbride) and Mac Wellman’s Dracula (Vampirette). Some of Karen’s other theatre work includes The Tamarie Cooper Show (ensemble) with Catastrophic Theatre, Twelfth Night (Viola) with the Shakespeare-By-The-Book Festival, A Doll’s House (Nora) and Eleemosynary (Echo) at Company Onstage, and Dinner with Friends (Beth) at Houston Community College - Northeast. Karen can also be seen in the Houston independent films Brushing Death and Bitters and Other Natural Remedies. Karen’s directing credits include, Charlotte’s Web and Aladdin, both at Company Onstage and The Three Lives of Marion with Wordsmyth Theater. With Mildred’s Umbrella, Karen also heads up the children’s theatre outreach program hosted at the Houston Public libraries. Karen is a Communications lecturer at the University of Houston-Downtown, a member of the Houston-area Actor’s Gym and a founding member for Wordsmyth Theater.

Christie Guidry Stryk

Christie is an Associate Artistic Director for Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company. She holds a BA in Theatre from The University of St. Thomas. Theatre credits include: For Mildred’s Umbrella Theater —Mac Wellman’s Dracula (Mina), By the Bog of Cats (Caroline Cassidy), 365 Days/365 Plays, Dark Matter (Andromeda); Shakespeare-By-the-Book Festival—A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), King Henry V (Princess Katherine), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Anne Page), Macbeth (Lady Macduff); Playhouse 90—Nunsense II (Sr. Leo); dos chicas theatre commune ...for those who live in cities (Lover); University of St. Thomas- Jungalbook (Sherakhan), Dancing at Lughnasa (Christina), Ruthless! The Musical (Louise Lerman), Diana of Dobsons (Miss Jay), Picnic (Madge Owens); Annex Theatre Private Eyes (Cory), Defying Gravity (Elizabeth), All In the Timing (Betty). Film credits: Y-guy Productions Timmy the Greeting Card Guy (Crystal); Toxic Monkey Productions Dead of Knight

Commercial Credits: Wal-Mart, Spokeswoman for Matrix Worldwide. Christie has also done scenic painting for Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre, Unhinged Productions, Annex Theatre, The University of St. Thomas, Playhouse 90, and Ft. Bend Theatre.

Wayne Barnhill

Wayne was the technical director for Infernal Bridegroom Productions and is now a company member of Castastrophic Theatre. Set design and acting roles for IBP include: The Danube, A Soap Opera, The Noblest of Drugs, Full Circle, Meat/Bar, Rhinocerous, The Hotel Play, Trappakeepa & Girth, Me-sci-ah 1&2, Baal, Medea and Speeding Motorcycle. For Brazosport Little Players: 32 Short Stories About Brazosport, and various other creative escapades. Wayne was most recently seen on stage in Mildred’s Umbrella’s A Long History of Neglect and Dark Matter, and has also designed and constructed sets for Mildred’s, including By the Bog of Cats, [sic], Triptych, A Long History of Neglect, One Flea Spare, A Murder of Crows and Rot. For Catastrophic Theatre: Spirits to Enforce (acting);The Strangerer, The Tamarie Cooper Show; The Splasher.

Amy Warren

Amy Warren is made her fourth appearance with Mildred’s Umbrella in Smoke at the Houston Fringe Festival in August. She appeared in Accident Waiting to Happen as part of Susan-Lori Parks 365 Days/356 Plays, Dark Matter as Desdemona, and Haunt of Flies as Barbara. Most of Amy’s performances have been outside the loop. She’s appeared mostly in the Galveston/Clear Lake area at theatres such as COM, the Strand Theatre and Café 21. Favorite roles down south include Kate in Taming of the Shrew, Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cherie in Bus Stop, Germaine in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Sally Tally in Tally’s Folly and Sylvia in Sylvia. Amy holds a Masters degree in Theatre from the University of Houston.

Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan is Artistic Director of the Fan Factory, directed the FF productions of An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein and Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. Prior to founding The Fan Factory Theatre Company, Jon worked professionally with sound for several performing arts organizations in Houston, including dos chicas productions, Da Camera, Glenn Ray Little’s Storytime Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, and the Alley Theatre. In 1996, Jon was a member of the Alley Theatre’s staff when the theatre received the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

Kevin Taylor

Kevin Taylor is an artist from upstate NY who works in sculpture, music, lighting and set design and puppetry. He has worked with Basil Twist in Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka, Red Beads, and Dogugaeshi and O.D.C. Theatre, in Robert Hites' Recent Work, Jenny Roger and Clove Galiee's Trick Saddle (among others) , Superior Concepts Monsters, the Village Halloween Parade, and Mabou Mines Ecco Porco and Animal Magnetism. He is a founding member of the Blue Print Collective. Locally, he has worked for Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre, Houston Grand Opera (Hansel and Gretel) and was the light designer for Rot, (Bobbindoctrin/Mildred s Umbrella), Dark Matter and One Flea Spare with Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company.