Thanks to our SPACE PARTNER
Neighborhood House is a performance venue and a catalyst for the arts on the historic Christ Church campus. They support artists through subsidized performance/rehearsal rentals in their namesake building, and commission new site-specific works informed by their architecture and history. Built by the Christ Church parish to serve the residents of industrial Old City, Neighborhood House opened its doors in 1915. In the late 1990s, local artists seeking unusual, flexible, and affordable venues for Live Arts/Fringe Festival performances discovered the building’s large, open spaces. The Neighborhood House program solidified around that homegrown demand and the facility advanced with it, greatly aided by the significant initial investments of the William Penn Foundation.
Today, in addition to housing the Christ Church Parish and Preservation Trust offices, Christ Church Neighborhood House serves a core constituency of cross-disciplinary performing artists who imagine new and experimental works in their ADA-accessible, 110-seat theater. The reach of their arts programming extends beyond the building walls to include concerts in the Christ Church sanctuary and commissions for every corner of their historical campus.
Featuring:
Cleopatra - Kishia Nixon*
Marc Antony - Ross Beschler*
Crocodile & Charmian - STARFIRE
Enobarbus et al -Jo Vito Ramírez*
Octavius et al - Adam Howard
Octavia et al - Katherine Perry
Written by Rayne
Stage Management by Randi Alexis Hickey*
Live Music by Karen Smith
Directed by Shamus
*The Actor or Stage Manager appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Special Thanks: Ryan Rebel, Adaeze Nwoko, Damon Bonetti, Brenna Geffers, Pax Ressler, Henry Hor, Samuel Vargas
The Company
Get to know the artists
Ross Beschler (he/him) - is a founding member of the Wilma Theatre’s Hothouse ensemble, and a member of the site-specific performance collective Die-Cast. Ross teaches voice and acting at Rowan University. Select credits: Describe the Night, Minor Character, Twelfth Night, Good Person of Setzuan (Wilma); Cost of Living (PTC); Indecent (Arden); Maple & Vine (City Theatre); End Days (People’s Light); Hunter Gatherers, Knives in Hens (Exile); Ramayana, Delirium (EgoPo); Baal & Dix, Suddenly Last Summer, Ilium Was (Die-Cast); Eat Your Young (Boston Playwrights Theatre); Kate Crackernuts (The Flea). TV: Blue Bloods. Film: Flight of the Cardinal. MFA: Temple University. www.RossBeschler.com.
Randi Alexis Hickey (she/her) - is a Philadelphia based stage manager, director, and self-producer. She makes new musicals with her company, Apartment 20, and is passionate about creating safe and exciting spaces for artists to create. She also runs her own pet sitting business, Randi Sits. Credits include: Nosejob (Lightning Rod Special), Lilith & Her Demons (Polyphone Festival for New and Emerging Musicals, Apartment 20), The Mad Ones Lab (Kerrigan & Lowdermilk), Tick, Tick...BOOM! (Theatre Horizon), Broccoli, Roosevelt, and Mr. House (The Berserker Residents). Upcoming: Penelope (Theatre Horizon & Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). www.randialexishickey.com
Adam Howard (he/him)- Regional theatre credits include Mitch in Tuesdays With Morrie (Delaware Theatre Co.) Michael Darling in Peter Pan (Arden Theatre Co.), Schmuli in The Wanderers (Lantern Theatre Co.), Him in Camp Siegfried (Theatre Exile), Stinky Pete in Carroll County Fix (Azuka Theatre), Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web (Arden Theatre Co.), as well as work at Hedgerow Theatre, People's Light & Theatre Co. and Shakespeare in Clark Park. Adam graduated with a BFA in Acting w/ a Minor in Creative Writing. As always, love to Mom.
Kishia Nixon (she/her) - Recents credits: Holy Grail of Memphis, The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and Clyde’s (Arden); Amsterdam (Theater Ariel) Green Eyes, The Strange Play (Tennessee Williams Festival); Say It Ain't So (Revolution Shakespeare); Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine, The Comedy of Errors (Lantern Theater Company); The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in Clark Park) Delaware Young Playwrights (Delaware Theater Company) Life is a Dream, Three Sisters Two (EgoPo Classic Theater). Member of Wilma HotHouse, Die-Cast, & SCP Artistic Advisory Board.
katherine perry (they/she) - is an actor, trauma-informed educator, and creative engine whose work celebrates the creativity in every body and the storyteller at all stages. This past summer Katherine stole scenes and snacks as Audrey in SCP's As You Like It. Recent on stage collaborations include New Light Theatre, People’s Light, Arden Theatre Company, Delaware Shakespeare, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and PlayPenn, including several new works and world premieres. Their work earned recognition as a finalist for the Sylvia Kauders Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor through Theatre Philadelphia. Katherine teaches in classrooms across the Philadelphia area with 1812 Productions, The Unscripted Project, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, People’s Light, Arden Theatre, and the Kimmel Center. They are also the creator/performer behind Brooke Spitz and SEX TALK (the show) and member of the SCP Artistic Advisory Board. Katherine lives, works, and creates on unceded Lenapehoking. www.katherine-perry.com @iamkaypear
Jo Vito Ramírez (they/them)- is a theater artist, painter, and musician. Some notable roles include Peter Pan in Peter Pan (Arden Theatre Company), Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare in Clark Park), Neoptolemus in The Cure at Troy (Quintessence Theatre Group), Pericles in Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Shakespeare in Clark Park), Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (Delaware Shakespeare); Rigel in GUMSHOE (New Paradise Laboratories). Training: B.A. Theatre, Haverford College. To see more works, please visit jovitoramirez.com - for exclusive content, visit patreon.com/jovito. Love always to Juji of The Sea.
Rayne - Also known as Angela Bey, Rayne is a playwright from Southwest Philadelphia. They tell stories of transformation that center Black folx. Named “one of 18 young Philadelphians shaping the future of the city’s creative class” by PhillyVoice, Rayne has also been featured in Grid Magazine, Philadelphia Gay News, Token Theatre Friends, NPR, WHYY, and more.
Rayne’s plays have been developed through numerous theaters and arts organizations, including Azuka Theatre, Primary Stages, Directors Gathering, The Gumbo Lab, The Strides Collective, Theatre Exile, the Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival, the Painted Bride, New Manifest Theatre, and Christ Church Preservation Trust. Their work has also been supported by the Leeway Foundation, Independence Foundation, National Foundation of the Arts, the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, and others.
Produced works include On Buried Ground (Christ Church Preservation Trust, Fringies Honorable Mention), COMET (Upstream Performance Collaborative & The Painted Bride, Barrymore Award "Outstanding Original Production"), The White Feather Project (UPC & Shoe Box Theatre Collective), The Medusa Play (SBTC), WHISPER (UPC & Director's Gathering), Staying Power (Theatre in the X & Monument Lab), Finding Freedom: Deborah’s Choice (Museum of the American Revolution), Com[promising] Future (The National Constitution Center), A Soft Landing (Elevate Theatre Company), Pedestals (Philadelphia Young Playwrights), and Germantown Plays Pericles and Every Everyman (SCP).
Upcoming projects include IFYOULIKEITILOVEIT!, Ever (a musical collaboration with Zachaiarah Julian and Pax Ressler), and an immersive performance-exhibition commissioned by The Ministry of Awe. This winter, Rayne is collaborating with Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities, and this fall, they will workshop a brand new play—co-directed by Satchel Williams and Bryan Hagelin—with The Strides Collective. More at tallblackcreative.com.
Shamus (he/him) -is a Queer Theatre Maker focused on new works & musicals who serves as Producing Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Clark Park. He is a founding company member of Die-Cast. Recent: Media Theatre, Methexis at the Gene Frankel, Rutgers-Camden & Temple/Philly Young Playwrights. Next up: J.C. Pankratz's Mortals at the Playwrights Center followed by a summer of world premieres with Shakespeare in Clark Park! MFA Boston University. justshamus.com
Karen “Magic Fingaz” Smith - Brooklyn Native, Philly Resident, is a Professional Percussionist, Playwright, Poet, Director, Teaching Artist, Curator and now a member of the Philadelphia Musician’s Union Local 77 !!! Karen is a recipient of several grants including Leeway Foundation's Art and Change and Illuminate the Arts Grants . Ms. Smith is the Founder, Artistic Director and Lead Percussionist of The Karen Smith Experience (formerly called Weez the Peeples) and Sistahs Laying Down Hands Collectives. Called "Sounds of Freedom" by Philadelphia Inquirer, Ms. Smith has worked with many individual artists, groups, theatrical production companies, studio recordings and in October of 2023 created a week long of artistic events for Breast Cancer Awareness festival featuring Breast Cancer Surgeon, Dr. Monique Gary. As of August 1, 2023, I’m delighted to share that I’ve received a Pew Fellowship from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage!! "Collaborations are the essence of my creative Journey and I am sure there are still so many to come. It definitely feels like a highlight sharing OMAZING energies with various communities, organizations and individual artists! Truly One Nation Under a Drumbeat!! Possible is Possible is my daily mantra!”
STARFIRE - is a Curator of Energy & Creative Expression who has energetically collaborated with Theatre In The X, Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival, Harriett’s Book Shop, Mural Arts, Kimmel Center, Monument Lab, Grounds For Sculpture, Def Poetry Jam,, Painted Bride Arts Center, Fringe Arts, Powerstreet Theatre Company, The Barnes, Eastern State Penitentiary, Haddon Township Equity Initiative, Ida's Bookshop, The Women's Film Festival, Ars Nova, DG Jam, ACLU Pa, Urban Creatives, Vinyl Tap 215, CinéSpeak and many more. An advocate for Performing Artists STARFIRE uses Love, Energy & Inspiration to Empower Artists & Creatives of all mediums.
SCP Board of Directors
President- Patrick Derrickson Secretary - Catherine del Tito
Alix Liiv Caplan, John Kearney, Sam Kwietniak, K. O’Rourke, William Van Orden
Artistic Advisory Board
Vic Gill-Gomez, Kishia Nixon, Katherine Perry, Minou Pourshariati, Camille E. Young
This Summer at SCP
