TONYA BECKMAN ROSS

Tonya Beckman Ross relocated to DC from the Midwest in 2004 and has since appeared at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Studio Theatre, and the Kennedy Center. Regional credits include Center Stage, Cleveland Play House, Cumberland Theatre, Fulton Opera House, and Purple Rose Theatre Company, among others. As a teacher, she has worked at Baldwin- Wallace College, Ohio University, and the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, as well as for The Theatre Lab’s Summer Acting Camp for Kids and Summer Acting Institute for Teens. Dialect coaching credits include productions of Importance of Being Earnest, She Stoops to Conquer, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Grapes of Wrath. Tonya holds an MFA from Ohio University’s Professional Actor Training Program and a BFA from University of Wisconsin.

MICHAEL RUSSOTTO

Michael Russotto is a longtime Washington actor and director who has appeared in shows on many local stages, including The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Theater Alliance, Theatre J, The Folger Theatre, Arena Stage, MetroStage, Olney Theatre, and Studio Theatre. Recent roles include Alexandra in She Stoops to Comedy and The Soul in Vigils, both at Woolly Mammoth. Michael has directed at The Actors' Theatre of Washington (cofounder), MetroStage, Source Theatre, The Washington Shakespeare Company, Studio Theatre, and The National Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is a member of the Woolly Mammoth Acting Company, and is also a narrator of recorded books for the Library of Congress.

DEIDRA STARNES

Deidra LaWan Starnes is a four-time Helen Hayes Award nominee who has performed with Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Rep Stage, The African Continuum Theatre Company, Scena Theatre, Studio Theatre, Olney Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Cumberland Theatre, Portland Center Stage, New Federal Theatre, and the Connecticut Repertory Theatre. Her acting credits include Anna Lucasta, Personal History, Spunk, Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Old Settler, The Gingham Dog, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, The Violet Hour, I Have before Me a Remarkable Document…, A Raisin in the Sun, and Ladder 49. Deidra has taught theatre and directed productions at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Hearst Elementary School, the Bethesda Academy of Performing Arts, and Renbrook Summer Adventure Camp. She also taught theatre at the University of Connecticut where she received her M.F.A. Presently she is the Elementary School Program Coordinator for Folger Shakespeare Library. Additionally, she is one of the Directors of The Theatre Lab's Summer Acting Camp for Kids.