Kohler McKenzie was born and raised in Burlington, Vermont. In 2006, Kohler received his undergraduate degree in Political Science with a minor in Theatre from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. After acting in over 9 productions at his undergraduate university, Kohler went on to be accepted to and is currently in his third year of master’s training at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he has also served on the teaching faculty for 2 semesters. Kohler also spent a summer training with Atlantic Theatre Company in New York. Acting credits include: Cleante in The Miser, Fedotik in Three Sisters, Moritz in Spring Awakening, Carrol Chatham in The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild, Commander Gomez in Fuente Ovejuna, John/Will in The Cocoonery, Michael in Voir Dire, Pistol in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Edmund in Long Days Journey into Night, Tyler in Arkadelphia, Richard Mittler in Dispatches From Hell.
Paul Kite hails from Austin Texas, where he worked for some small theatre companies. After leaving Austin he attended the University of Evansville where he double majored in Theatre and Literature. (The Cherry Orchard, A Comedy of Errors, Picnic and Our Town). From there he moved to New Jersey and is now in his third year of the graduate acting program at Rutgers University (credits: Big Love, Getting Out, Merry Wives of Windsor, and Blind Date). He has worked at a number of professional companies including Williamstown Theatre Festival where he played the role of Kerry in the workshop production of The Exonerated and the New Harmony Project. He is deeply honored to work with such great people in such a beatiful place.
Maryna Harrison spent ten years in New York directing new work at Vital Theatre, The Ohio, Emerging Artists Theatre, Playwrights and Actors Contemporary Theatre, manhattantheatresource, Brooklyn Arts Exchange and HERE Arts Center. Recently, she led a workshop as part of the Incubator project at New Georges with playwrights, actors, and directors dramatically exploring ancient myths about women with power in a contemporary context. In 2004, she directed the New York premier of "The Snowstorm," by Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva at the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She also recently presented a workshop production of her adaptation of "The Waves," by Virginia Woolf at the International Virginia Woolf Conference. Last year, she assistant directed Anne Kauffman on God’s Ear at New Georges. In June, she assistant directed Michael Feingold's Japanoir at Ensemble Studio Theatre. She is a member of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab, a New Georges affiliated artist, a former Wooster Group intern, and a member of First Look in the Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU. Ms. Harrison worked as an associate producer on MANFEST at New Georges and Vital Signs at Vital Theater. She has taught acting and theater arts at all levels, including two years at a performing arts magnet high school. Most recently, she taught at the McCarter theater in Princeton, NJ, and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She holds a BA in Russian and Theatre from Smith College, and spent a year studying acting and directing at the Moscow Art Theater in Russia. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Directing at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University where she directed Marisol by Jose Rivera, Getting Out, by Marsha Norman, bombs in your mouth, by Corey Patrick and Blind Date by Horton Foote. She is originally from Massachusetts where she was bitten by the theatre bug at age 10 when she saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at the North Shore Music Theatre and hasn't questioned it since.
Giuseppe Diomede is originally from Cleveland, OH. He received his Bachelor's in Business Administration from Ohio University. Shortly after graduating, he began studying improvisational comedy at the Second City and worked professionally as an improv artist for a few years. During that time, he also began studying and working as an actor in the Midwest. Giuseppe has worked in television commercials [statewide and national], regional theatre, and film. This Fall, he will be entering his third year of the MFA Acting program at Rutgers University. Giuseppe is grateful to be working with such a talented group here at Red Stage. He thanks his family and friends for their support and Lebron James for being the man who will hopefully bring Cleveland a sports title [Lebron, seriously, you have to because I can't take this anymore]. Professional Theatre Credits: Rodolpho [A View From the Bridge], Haemon [Antigone], Boatswain [The Tempest], Fitzwilliam [Pride and Prejudice]. Rutgers Theatre Company Credits: Brett [Under the Rainbow], Ratcatcher [Kindertransport], Guard/Principal/Ronnie [Getting Out], Ricky [When Gods Walk the Earth], Mr. Henderson [Trifles], Sampson [Romeo and Juliet]. Film: Davie [Donnybrook] and Jack [101 Salvations].
Gregory Perri is from Vista, NY (a small hamlet in Northern Westchester County). He went to Binghamton University where he received two BA degrees (Theater and History), and was awarded the Jack Berman Award for excellence in theater his Junior year. He was involved in numerous University productions, with a few favorites including Guildenstern in Hamlet, The Bellhop in Lend Me a Tenor, Fabian in Twelfth Night and Leonida in Plautus' The Comedy of Asses. There he was also involved in a production of the Greek tragedy Alecestis, directed by and starring Lydia Korniordou, actor and director from the National Theater of Greece. He spent a summer at A.C.T in the Summer Training Congress in San Francisco with a culminating studio performance of Metamorphoses where he played the roles of Phaeton and Erisychthon. Gregory had worked regionally and in New York at Shakespeare on the Sound, The Stratford Summer Festival Theater, The Cider Mill Playhouse, and at readings at the Ensemble Studio Theater and Mile Square Theater. He starred as David in the short film You Look Just Like Him, which is still in post-production. He is currently at the Mason Gross School of the Arts [Rutgers] where he is entering his third year in the MFA Acting program. Roles there have included Michael in Two Rooms, Richard Lamparsky in the world premier of Right Place, Right Time, Nelson De La Luna in Cloud Tectonics, Constantine in Big Love, Scar Tissue in Marisol and Billy Arnold in Lady of Fadima. Gregory is very excited to be part of the first season here at the Red Stage Theatre Company and looks forward to many more. He would like to thank his wonderful teachers for their inspiration all his loved ones for their endless support and generosity.
Krystopher Perry was born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in Huntsville, AL. He is working towards his MFA in Acting at the Mason Gross School at Rutgers University. A long time visitor to the Vermont area, Krystopher has family in Burlington and Middlebury. Credits include: Hard Heart, Marisol, Big Love, Getting Out, Right Place Right Time, Romeo and Juliet. Many thanks and much love to all his company members.
Kristen Lazzarini hails from Fort Collins, CO. She received her BAs in Theatre Arts with an emphasis on acting as well as Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO. Immediately following graduation Kristen moved to New Brunswick, NJ, to pursuit her MFA in acting at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers Unversity. Now in her third year at Mason Gross, her credits include: Marisol in Marisol, Teena in Hard Heart, Willie in Say De Kooning, Mrs. Hale in Trifles and Isobel Puchinski in Voir Dire. Kristen also teaches acting to BA students at Rutgers University. She is thrilled to be embarking on such a fantastic endeavor with so many talented artists. Much love and thanks to family, the amazing ensemble she works with and the teachers who inspire her to ask more questions and take more risks.
Anjanette Hall, originally from Mt. Pleasant, MI, received a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from Western Michigan University. She has worked at a number of summerstock companies including The Barn Theatre and The Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre in Grand Lake, CO. After graduating from WMU, Anjanette moved to NYC where she appeared as Gretchen Huber on NBC's ED and traveled across the country in TheatreworksUSA's production of The Boxcar Children. Anjanette is proud to have worked for The Cardinal Stage Company in Bloomington, IN where she played Emily in Our Town and Turtle/Young Frog in A Year With Frog and Toad. Now in her third year of graduate school at Rutgers University, she has played Carol in Oleanna, Lydia in Big Love and Praline in Puree. She is honored to be a part of The Red Stage Theatre Company.
P.S. Her favorite role to date is Mother to four year old son Jack!
Aaron Ballard was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. She received her B.A. in theater and her B.S. in psychology from the College of Charleston. Her favorite theatrical credits include: Girleen in The Lonesome West (PURE theater), Leah in Trust (Piccolo/Spoleto), Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Warehouse Theater), Phebe in As You Like It (SC Upstate Shakespeare Festival), Faith in Voir Dire, Sarah Nancy in Blind Date, Arlie in Getting Out, Olympia in Big Love, and June in Marisol (Rutgers Theater Company). She is set to receive her M.F.A in Acting from Rutgers University next spring. Her hobbies include painting, traveling, and watching Jeopardy! All her love and thanks to her two families: her biological family and her Red Stage family.
Jennifer Ring has lived in Fairbanks, AK, Miami, FL and a number of beautiful places in between. Jen was previously a founding member of a theatre group called The Narwhal Fetish, which officially disbanded when she decided to go to grad school. Professionally, she last appeared in The Cassandra Project, and her own, original Play About the Hurricane, both presented at the inaugural Capital Fringe in DC. Her academic theatre credits include Serpentina in The Green Bird, Young Jane in Jane Eyre: the Musical, Ruby in Getting Out, and roles in several new plays, including Puree by Demetra Kareman and Under the Rainbow by Lisa Huberman. She holds a high school diploma from Miami's infamous New World School of the Arts, a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, and she is currently an MFA candidate at Rutgers University where she is a proud producer of The Mason Gross Experiment, and where she first encountered the talented individuals who comprise Red Stage. Love to the family who make all experiments worthwhile.
John Hunter (Production Stage Manager) is from New Windsor, NY and holds a BA and MA in English Literature and Writing from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY and is currently working towards his MFA in Stage Management at Rutgers University. Additionally, John has taught English and dramatic literature for The College of Saint Rose, and he is the founder of Drop Dead Productions specializing in murder mystery events. He has stage managed thirteen productions and designed fifteen for the Drama Program at The College of Saint Rose; most recently he stage managed the original one-act The Infinite Dust by Peter Handy, and assisted on the production of Big Love by Charles Mee for the Rutgers Theater Company. John is thankful to the Bethlehem Summer Music Festival in New Windsor, NY for allowing him to appear in numerous productions and develop his theatrical abilities in a fun and nurturing environment.
Jessie Vacchiano is from Farmingdale, NJ. She holds a BFA in Stage Management from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she stage managed Under the Rainbow, Cymbeline and Sea Marks and worked on several other productions. She has stage managed and designed for over 50 other productions at schools and community theatres in New Jersey. In NYC, she designed lighting for shows at Theatre for the New City and Midtown International Theatre Festival. She is really excited to be playing with the big kids this summer.
