Allison Olivia Choat, they/ them; (Intimacy and Violence) is tickled pink to return to CST for The Mystery of Irma Vep. Prior credits with the company include Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Assistant Director/ Assistant Fight Captain); Cloud 9 (Assistant Director/ Dialect Coach/ Scenic Design) and The Rocky Horror Show (Scenic Design). Allison is a Boston-based theatrical storyteller, educator, and advocate who enjoys working where voice and movement meet directing and design. Recent credits: When Santa Fell to Earth (Director; Moonbox Productions Boston New Works Festival; World Premiere), Legally Blonde, Jr. (Director; Arlington Children’s Theatre), Shrek (Director/ Scenic Design; Arlington Children’s Theatre), A View from the Bridge (Intimacy/ Violence; Apollinaire Theater), and Blood Brothers (Intimacy/ Violence/ Dialect/ Dramaturgy; Theater UnCorked). Allison is Founding Partner and Associate Artistic Director of Cambridge-based theatrical nonprofit Moonbox Productions and is the grateful recipient of multiple Elliot Norton nominations/ awards. Offstage, they are an academic administrator and diversity advocate at Harvard University, a beginner ukulelist, and an expert coffee drinker. Thanks to Lee, Catherine, and the CST team; to David for the highest possible compliment (inviting me back!), and to Gabe and Paul for being willing to do literally anything with a chair.
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Aislinn Brophy
Aislinn Brophy (Ellen/Ms. Saunders/Cathy) is an actress and arts administrator based in the Boston area. She is excited to be performing in her first show with The Nora Theatre Company at Central Square Theater. Aislinn graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Theater, Dance & Media, and is proud to have been a part of Theater, Dance & Media’s very first graduating class. Recent theater credits include A Story Beyond (Liars and Believers), Heritage Hill Naturals (Fresh Ink Theatre) and Red and the Wolf (Fresh Fruit Festival).
Marge Dunn
Marge Dunn (Joshua/Lin) is making her debut with with The Nora Theatre Company at Central Square Theater. Recent Boston credits include Cardboard Piano (The New Repertory Theatre); Miss Holmes, It’s a Wonderful Life (Greater Boston Stage Company); Three Sisters (IRNE nomination), Dancing at Lughnasa, And A Nightingale Sang (IRNE nomination) (Wellesley Repertory Theatre); Dog Act (IRNE nomination) (Theatre On Fire); Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing (Boston Theater Company); and has been seen on stage with Sh!t-faced Shakespeare as Beatrice, Benvolia and Katharina. Offstage she fills her days as a teaching artist, director, fight choreographer, tech director, and yoga instructor.
Joshua Wolf Coleman
Joshua Wolf Coleman (Danforth) Central Square Theater: Cloud 9; Joshua has worked with luminaries of the stage including Edward Albee, Joseph Chaiken and Anne Bogart at The Guthrie Theater, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the La Jolla Playhouse. Other roles include: Norry the Drag Queen, the Headless Sheep, Puddn’head Wilson, and Macbeth, Lysander, Friar Lawrence, Angleo, and Iago. He is currently playing President Obama in web series, Obama Monologues. Television work includes, Bosch, How to Get Away With Murder, The West Wing, Scandal, House, Huff, Grays Anatomy and Touchstone’s Hidalgo.
August 2019.
Luther Henderson
Luther Henderson is and Arranger, Musical, Director and Pianist. Born on March 14, 1919 in Kansas City, MO, Henderson moved to Harlem with his family and became neighbors with Duke Ellington at age four. Ellington would become a major influence on Henderson’s life, beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s when he adapted and orchestrated some of Ellington’s larger works, such as “Harlem — A Tone Parallel” and “Three Black Kings,” for performance in a concerto grosso format by Henderson’s orchestra and another symphony orchestra. Henderson’s classical training at the Juilliard School and music study at New York University led Ellington to dub Henderson “his classical arm.” His talents included composing, arranging, conducting, and performing, and he was hired by Ellington in 1946 to orchestrate his Broadway musical, Beggar’s Holiday.
Henderson worked on more than 50 Broadway productions in various capacities. For Ain’t Misbehavin’, he was the original pianist as well as orchestrator, arranger, and musical supervisor. For Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, he was the musical consultant and arranged several selections. He orchestrated such musicals as the Tony Award-winning Raisin, Play On!, and Jelly’s Last Jam. As a dance arranger, Henderson’s credits included Flower Drum Song, Do Re Mi, Funny Girl, and No, No Nanette. His skill in bringing a jazz sensibility to musical theater was much in demand. For Jelly’s Last Jam, he rearranged Jelly Roll Morton’s jazz compositions and musical fragments into a hit musical; Ain’t Misbehavin’ used the music of jazz great Fats Waller as a base.
Henderson’s talents extended to the arena of television, where he held positions as musical director, orchestrator, arranger, and pianist for the Columbia Pictures television special Ain’t Misbehavin’ for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Albums to his credit included several with the Canadian Brass Quintet and Eileen Farrell’s I Got a Right to Sing the Blues, which was re-released in 1992. For Columbia Records, the Luther Henderson Orchestra recorded six albums. In addition, Henderson contributed to various albums recorded by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Mandy Patinkin, Polly Bergen, Anita Ellis, and others. Henderson’s composition “Ten Good Years,” with lyricist Martin Charnin, was recorded by Nancy Wilson on her Coconut Grove album.
Henderson died of cancer in 2003. His widow, Billie Allen- Henderson, created the Luther Henderson Scholarship Fund at the Juilliard School in New York in 2006 for students of color to pursue musical study.