Knowledge Workings Theater
Presents
An Actors Equity Approved Showcase
Written by �T.J. Elliott & Joe Queenan�Directed by�T.J. Elliott
Producers�Emma Denson�Ed Altman�Executive Producer
Marjorie Phillips Elliott
Creative Colleagues: Cast
Ed Altman�(Fred Spee)
Hassan Hope�(Bart Little)
Jasmine Dorothy Haefner�(Micky Cohen)
Alyssa Poon�(Aisling O’Toole)
Patrick Smith *�(Leo Sweeney)
Cast�(In Order of Appearance)�
Cast�(Continued)
Cast�(Continued)
Co-Playwright
Co-Playwright�& Director
T.J. Elliott
T.J. co-wrote 2019's Alms with Joe Queenan staged as an Equity Showcase at TheaterLab in NYC. That SRO comeback ended his 35-year hiatus from Off-Broadway. In those lost years, he produced, directed, and performed among casts of thousands in a mélange of corporate telenovelas and tragic, comic, melodramatic, and semi-absurd organizational performance art.
Earlier stage-works included Lazy Eye at Warren Robertson’s Studio Theatre, as well as writing, directing, and producing two Off-Off Broadway runs of the Captive Audiences revues. He also appeared regionally as an actor in The Devil’s Disciple (Reverend Anthony Anderson), Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Bernie), and The Dumbwaiter (Ben). In the early 1980s, T.J. studied with Alan Brody, Terry Schreiber, and Jill Andre.
In the Spring and Summer of 2020, T.J. produced live on Zoom for eleven performances the dark comedy, Grudges, also cowritten with Queenan — to whom he owes his return to playwrighting. In November 2020, he directed Within The Context of No Context celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication of that momentous essay by the late George W.S. Trow. In December, Knowledge Workings Theater premiered his mostly fake Swedish screwball comedy Keeping Right. Genealogy by Queenan and Elliott brought live theater back to Broom Street Theater in November 2021. T.J. lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife, Marjorie Phillips Elliott, with whom he co-founded Knowledge Workings Theater
Our Tech Titans�— Stage Management
Morgan Fears (Stage Manager)
Morgan is honored to be working with Knowledge Workings Theater for the first time. Some of her favorite stage management roles have been in Beautiful Disasters at Michael Howard Studios as well as in The Dining Room and Vinegar Tom at Duke University. She has a BA from Duke University and is currently a conservatory student at Michael Howard Studios.
Aislinn Cain (ASM)
Aislinn �(pronounced ACE-lyn) Cain is a multi-hyphenate creative and actor. She moved from Alabama to New York City in September of 2021 after graduating from Birmingham-Southern College with a B.A. in Musical Theater and a minor in Business Administration. Since moving to New York, she has performed at 54 Below with Actor Therapy and the Super Secret Cabaret. When she isn't pounding the pavement for her theatrical career, she wears many hats such as Digital Content Creator for A Moment of Magic Foundation, Publicist at In The Lights PR, Front Desk Greeter at Pearl Studios, and mother to her ten plus house plants.
Our Tech Titans�— Sound, Projection, & Lighting
Mikelle Kelly �(Lighting Designer)
Mikelle is a lighting designer and stage manager originally from the Pacific Northwest. Mikelle recently graduated from the University of Portland with a BA in Theatre. Before working on The Oracle, she most recently designed lights for How To Get To 304 at the Schapiro Studio Theater in NYC, Abstract Alice at Profile Theater in Portland Oregon, She’s Here at Coho Productions in Portland, Going Down in Flames at The Headwaters in Portland. She would like to thank her friends and family who are always there for her, even during tech week.
Luke Lutz �(Sound & Projection Design)
Luke graduated from Mississippi State in 2019 where he directed and produced over a dozen stand-up and improv comedy shows throughout the Southeast. He moved to Los Angeles after graduation where he currently produces and performs in shows across LA as well as collaborating with Emma Denson to develop and produce original works.
Kathleen Ritter�Scenic Design
Our Tech Titans�— Smooth Operators
Gifford Elliott�(Video & Technical Director)
A 2015 graduate of Cal Arts, Gifford now works in post-production for series such as HBO‘s Divorce, Netflix’s celebrated series Queen’s Gambit (directed by Scott Frank and starring Anna Taylor-Joy), and now The Best Man: The Final Chapters currently filming. Giff also helmed the technical side of our 5 LIVE Zoom productions during the pandemic: Grudges, Satellite Tables, Within the Context of No Context, Genealogy, and Keeping Right
Kax Petkovich�(Board Operator)
Kax Petkovich is a NYC/NJ based sound and lighting technician. He has worked at multiple regional and community theatres including Chain Theatre in NYC as well as Old Library Theatre in NJ, as well as doing electrics work on a variety of shows at Kean University including Sylvia, Indecent, Avenue Q, and The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea. He is also an actor and dancer, currently represented by Robin Nassif of Media Artists Group.
Irene Elliott�Director, Audience Recruitment
Claude Solnik�Publicity Consultant
Claude ( https://csolnik.wixsite.com/playwright ) took the publicity of THE ORACLE to the next level and beyond and then beyond that. We are forever grateful to him and attribute his sensitivity and savvy applied on our behalf to the fact that he is also — indeed primarily — an award-winning journalist, playwright and co-founder of the Textile Theater Co. and the Long Island Rep. whose work has been presented in New York City, Long Island, Philadelphia and Paris. He is the in-house playwright for Theater for the New City, which has presented a wide range of his work.
She used to be the person who put US Magazine to bed every week. And she was that person who generations of ex-pats arriving in New York City to do their stateside stint for Banc Nacional de Paris exuded enormous gratitude for the way in which she shepherded them during their stay. And she was that person who ran Human Resources all over the country for a variety of enterprises, worthy and unworthy. However, we consider ourselves most fortunate that she is now the person who concentrates on recruiting our audiences, communicating to other theaters, reaching out to agents, publishers, and other elements of the theater community on our behalf. We are lucky to have Irene on the Knowledge Workings Theater team.
Our Producers
The term 'producer' can mean many different things; the range with the excellent Ed Altman is from carrying a dartboard in its stand around midtown Manhattan to schlepping supplies and transporting people to using a reserve of experiences and relationships to get us into THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY. Ed has done all of that and much more, but what stands out above all these other efforts is the support, encouragement, and friendship that he offers to everyone within the production. That kind of producer brings more value and joy than we can describe here.
As Executive Producer for Knowledge Workings Theater, Marjorie Phillips Elliott informs and shapes all artistic decisions. Her eye for detail and passion for perfection influence every aspect of our productions from finding the right kind of goofy hat for a character to vetting the latest version of the script. Her generosity of spirit and keenness of eye prove essential to everything that we put up. That she does this with good humor around colleagues not always in such amiable moods renders this performance even more remarkable and laudable.
Emma Denson’s producing duties for Knowledge Workings Theater occur alongside her work as a New York City-based director. She served as the assistant director for KWT’s Grudges in 2020. In 2023, she will direct and produce Joe Queenan's new comedy, Top Hate. Emma currently assists director Colm Summers on his work in Dublin and NYC and is a member of the New Georges New Play Reading Group.
Recent: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Assistant Director, The Young Company), The Book of Mountains and Seas (Production Assistant, St. Ann’s Warehouse), Emily (Director/Co-Producer, The Chain), Wednesday: A Documentary (Production Assistant, Dir. by Raja Feather Kelly). Upcoming: Blanche and Stella (Assistant Director, Columbia University), Purgatory After Yeats (Assistant Director, Ireland Premiere, Dir. by Colm Summers)
And you can still watch our November production of Genealogy online if you missed it first time around from Broom Street Theater in Madison Wisconsin.
Plans are underway for a live in person New York production with that same brilliant cast and director this coming January 2023. Stay tuned!!!
Thank You, AEA!!!
Special Thanks
Thanks for Coming to #maketheaterlive