White Rabbit Red Rabbit Bios

Challenge Accepters Biographies (alphabetical order)

Michelle Aguillon is an AAPI theater artist who has directed, acted, designed, and produced in the Boston area for over 25 years. She has directed at Hope Rep Company, The Umbrella Stage Company, Chuang Stage, TC Squared, Company One, Central Square Theater, Emerson College, the Lyric, Speakeasy, Vokes Players, Theater Uncorked, Arlington Friends, Concord Players, and Hovey Players. Directing credits include Natural Shocks, By The Way Meet Vera Stark, Middleton Heights (World Premiere), Dracula - A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Fences, The Joy Luck Club, Disgraced, To Kill a Mockingbird, True West, The Piano Lesson, Passion, the Annual Asian-American Playwright Collective Annual Play Festival 2020-2023, Augusta and Noble, Vietgone, Proof, Sense and Sensibility, Rabbit Hole, The Pillowman, and G.R. Point, among others. Michelle is the Executive Director at the Creative Arts School in Reading. She studied acting and theater at San Francisco State University and the National Theater of London.

Michael Bobbitt is a theater director, choreographer, and playwright who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. He joined Mass Cultural Council as Executive Director in February 2021, and is the highest-ranking cultural official in Massachusetts state government. Upon joining the Agency, he was invited to serve on the Board of Directors for the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ (NASAA). As Executive Director Michael has led Mass Cultural Council through the development of its first-ever Racial Equity Plan; worked with staff, Council Members, and cultural sector advocates to secure and distribute a historic $60.1M in state pandemic relief funding; and overseen the drafting and adoption of the Agency’s FY24-FY26 strategic plan.

He previously served as Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, MA; immediately prior he held the same position at the Adventure Theatre-MTC in Maryland for twelve years. While in Maryland Michael led the organization to be a respected regional theatre training company, and a nationally influential professional Theatre for Young Audiences.

Mara Bonde has thrilled audiences in diverse venues with her electric stage presence and musical artistry. Her voice has been described as having "sweet purity of tone" (Boston Herald) and "ravishing" (The Boston Globe). She has been the guest artist for "Holiday Pops" with the Boston Pops, The Naples Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic and with the Baton Rouge, Lansing, New Haven, and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras. Other orchestral engagements have taken her to the South Florida, Firebird Pops, Utah, San Diego, Stamford, Waterbury, Cape Ann, and Melrose Symphony Orchestras, among others. Some favorite roles are Jazz Trio in Trouble in Tahiti (Boston Lyric Opera), the title role in The Merry Widow (Imperial Symphony Orchestra), Mother Abbess (Reagle Music Theatre), Sarah Brown Guys & Dolls (Reagle Music Theatre), Marian The Music Man (Greater Lowell Music Theater) and Adina L'Elisir d'amore (Sarasota Opera). Mara is delighted to be part of White Rabbit Red Rabbit!

Mary Callanan* (she/her/hers) is excited for the challenge! Last seen as Frau Schmidt at North Shore Music Theater’s Sound of Music, she also appeared this season as DeeDee Allen in The Prom at SpeakEasy Stage Co of Boston.  Broadway: Bandstand (Jean Ann Ryan OBC), Mamma Mia! (Rosie; Final Company), Annie (Mrs. Pugh, u/s Miss Hannigan). Tours: My Fair Lady, The Bridges of Madison County, Mamma Mia!,The Sound of Music, Big, Damn Yankees. Regional: Gypsy, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Kinky Boots, Oklahoma!, Damn Yankees, Letters from 'Nam, Mame, Les Miserables, Falsettos, Follies, BatBoy, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Chicago and Violet. Thanks to CGF and LAF. Proud Member of Actors' Equity. http://www.marycallanan.com

Aimee Doherty* Umbrella: 42nd Street (Dorothy Brock). Recent credits include: Indecent (Halina/the Middle) at Wilburly Theatre, Addams Family Values (Morticia) at Wheelock Stage, and The Stranger (Edith) at the Barnstormers Theatre. Other regional theaters include: the Huntington Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Company One, Lyric Stage, Moonbox Productions, SpeakEasy Stage, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Ballet, New Rep, Greater Boston Stage, Gloucester Stage, and Theatre By The Sea, among others. Aimee soloed with the Boston Pops under the baton of Keith Lockhart and appeared in the film Don’t Look Up. Next Up: Back by popular demand Indecent at Wilburly Theatre in Providence and Thirst  at the Lyric Stage in Boston. She is a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award and a three-time recipient of the IRNE Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. www.aimeedoherty.net

Benjamin Evett* (he/him/his) is an internationally recognized actor, director, and producer. He is the Artistic Director of Queen Mab – a Micro-Theatre. He won Boston’s Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for Albatross in 2015. He was a member of the American Repertory Theatre Resident Acting Company in Cambridge from 1993 to 2003, appearing in over fifty productions. He was Founding Artistic Director of The Actors’ Shakespeare Project, playing Hamlet, Coriolanus, Petruchio, Edmund and Caliban. He has appeared with the New Repertory Theatre, the Huntington Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, the Poets’ Theatre, the Arizona Theatre Company, the San Jose Rep, the Virginia Stage Company, the Missouri Rep, the Alley Theatre, and the Cleveland Play House, among others. Internationally, he has performed in Moscow, Taipei, Paris, Venice, and Madrid. Ben studied at Harvard and the ART Institute, and currently lives in Arlington with his wife, two sons and a dog.

Brendan J. Kenney is a music director, conductor, and accompanist in the Greater Boston area with fifteen years’ experience, primarily in Musical Theatre. Brendan’s love of conducting surfaced in High School, particularly when he opted not to walk with his graduating class so he could “guest conduct” the wind ensemble’s performance of Pomp & Circumstance. Since then, he has had dozens of productions under his baton at educational, community, and community children’s levels – and had the honor of conducting the centennial season opener for The Concord Players in November, 2019.
In 2010, Brendan founded the “Call for Pit Orchestra Musicians” initiative to help raise awareness of the importance of budgeting for and utilizing the full orchestration for Musical Theatre. To date, the flagship Boston branch has over 3500 members with additional branches launched across the country and in Canada. The CFPOM initiative was also born of Brendan’s desire to start a summer/holiday community Pops orchestra, and the Firebird Pops is the result – ten years later!
For almost a decade, Brendan was a full-time Organist/Cantor/Choir Director for Catholic Churches, with a particular concentration on the Traditional Latin Mass and Gregorian Chant/Renaissance Polyphony. Between his church career and musical theatre career, he could be found playing, analyzing, coaching, and conducting music across the span of thousands of years in a single day. Despite a recent career change, he still occasionally substitutes as a cantor or organist alongside his full-time job as a web developer for a tech corporation headquartered in the Seaport District of Boston.
Outside of music direction and conducting, Brendan has been seen on stage in “The Secret Garden” (Captain Albert Lennox), “Grey Gardens” (Gould), and “Songs for a New World” (Man 2), as well as making guest appearances with the “MIT Artists Beyond the Desk” program.  Additionally, he has been seen performing at the Orpheum Theater in Boston singing backup for Sarah Brightman’s Hymn tour, as well as the SNHU Arena (Manchester, NH) and the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood singing backup for Josh Groban’s Bridges tour.  He studies voice with Kim Lamoureux out of Middleton, MA and competed in the 2019 NATS Adult Musical Theatre division with high marks.

Melinda Lopez is an actor and playwright. She is the recipient of the 2019 Mass Cultural Council Award in Dramatic Writing and the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for sustained excellence celebrating her twenty year career as a playwright, performer and educator, and was the inaugural playwright-in-residence at the Huntington Theatre, 2013-2023, as part of the Mellon Foundations National Playwright Residency Program. Current projects: Mr. Parent, running now at Boston Playwrights Theatre and soon at GEVA, Rochester, NY, Stir (Old Globe, spring 2024) Power Trio (commissioned by LaunchPad) and Twelfth Night (Play On! Adaptation). Previous plays include: Young Nerds Of Color, Mala, which is also available to download on Audible in both Spanish and English; Yerma, Becoming Cuba, and Sonia Flew.

Melinda is also an actress: favorite roles include: Our Town, A Month in the Country, Rose Tattoo, Appropriate, Motherfucker with the Hat, Theatre District, (SpeakEasy Stage). She is also featured (and has become a meme) in the film Fever Pitch. 

She lives in the Boston area with her husband, daughter, giant yellow dog, and other critters., and occasionally sleeps on the ground in the American Southwest. She has run two marathons and plays a little ukulele. www.melindalopez.com

Gregory Maguire is a studio artist at The Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, is a novelist and an advocate of children’s literacy and literature. His best known work is Wicked, the novel that inspired the blockbuster Broadway musical, celebrating its twentieth anniversary on Broadway this month. In addition to a dozen other novels for adults and two dozen works for young adults and children, Maguire has been featured in the Sunday New York Times Magazine and on Oprah, and he has performed original work for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Several other of his pieces have been adapted for the stage or for television, and Part One of the Universal Films musical version of Wicked, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, is in production and scheduled for release in theaters in about a year.

Tony Massarotti is an American author and a former sportswriter for the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe. He co-hosts a sports talk radio show, Felger & Mazz, on 98.5 The Sports Hub with former Boston Herald columnist Michael Felger.

Anthony Pires, Jr.* is excited to make his return to The Umbrella Stage Company. You may have last seen him as Angus in Tuck Everlasting. Other theatre credits include, Addams Family (Wheelock Family Theatre), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Central Square/GBSC/Front Porch Arts Collective), Preludes (Lyric Stage Boston), The Prom, Once on This Island (SpeakEasy Stage), Passing Strange (Moonbox Productions), Hair (New Rep). When Anthony isn’t onstage, he works in EdTech. He is originally from Dorchester, MA. Anthony is a local Boston actor and a two-time Elliot Norton Award winner. Special thanks to his friends and family for all the support! http://www.anthonypiresjr.com

Ilyse Robbins* is excited, humbled, and terrified to be on stage for the first time in six years. She is thrilled to do it at The Umbrella in rep with Lizzie which she directed/choreographed. Recent projects: Assassins (Lyric Stage); Tell Me on a Sunday (Peterborough Players); Beehive (GBSC); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Front Porch, Nora@CST, GBSC): Elliot Norton Award - Outstanding Musical Production. Ilyse directed/choreographed All is Calm at GBSC: Elliot Norton Award - Outstanding Musical Production. Her original choreography for the World Premiere of Swan Lake in Blue: A Jazz Ballet at GBSC won the Elliot Norton Award - Outstanding Choreography and she directed the award-winning Move on the Cha-Chas at United Solo Festival NYC. Ilyse is a teacher, coach, and writer. BS in Communication/Theater  - Northwestern, theater certification - BADA, Ed.M. - Harvard. Upcoming: Rocky Horror (Central Square), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (WFT). Love to Glen and the kids. www.ilyserobbins.com

Robert Saoud* National Tour: GROUCHO: A Life in Review, Chico Marx opposite Gabe Kaplan as Groucho. Umbrella Stage: Tuck Everlasting and Head over Heels. Regionally he has performed at The Huntington Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Trinity Repertory, Merrimack Repertory, They Lyric Stage, Greater Boston Stage, Speakeasy Stage Company, New Repertory, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Playwrights Theatre and was a cast member of Boston's long running production of Shear Madness. This November he will be seen in The Huntington / Speakeasy co-production of The Bands Visit. He is a Fellow of the 2000 Eugene O'Neil Cabaret Symposium and has performed numerous cabarets in New York and New England.

Jude Torres* enthusiastically returns to The Umbrella after playing Moe in Middleton Heights and Harker in Dracula. Acting credits include screen, stage, and VO work with Fresh Ink, Boston Theater Marathon, Company One, Footlight Club, Phoenix Playmakers, Moonstruck Theater, Boston Rock Opera, Chuang Stage, AAPI Playwright Collective, L’Oreal, Paramount Pictures, Central Square, New Rep, Speakeasy, and Liberty Mutual. Jude is a multi-hyphenate recognized by the Emerging Artist Fellowship with DUNAMIS, whose titles include producer (Tanvi. and CST), composer (Harvard University), educator (Company One), stage hand (A.R.T.), JEDI/DEI Director (FLC), and musician/singer-songwriter who has performed in Boston, New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Jude holds a dual degree in Biology and Performing Arts from Emmanuel College and is a Speech-Language Pathologist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. Much love to The Umbrella, the fam, KJB, and his cat, Munchkin de Milo. IG: @heyjudetorres | joseph-jude.com (he/him)

Creative Team Biographies

Brian Boruta (Producer) This is Brian’s 48th production with The Umbrella and his 44th as the Director of Performing Arts, during which time he has earned Best Production nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Red, Angels in America, Equus and Bonnie & Clyde; a DASH Award for Best Play for True West and To Kill A Mockingbird, and Best Musical for Parade and Big Fish. The Umbrella directing credits include: Parade (Dash Award for Best Director of a Musical) Big Fish (DASH Nom.), Hair, Evita, Side Show, Next to Normal, The Rocky Horror Show. Elsewhere: Sweeney Todd, Legally Blonde, Godspell, Seussical the Musical, The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You. Favorite on-stage credits include Billy Lawlor in 42nd Street (DASH Nom.), Judas/ John the Baptist in Godspell, Cosmo Brown in Singin’ in the Rain, Austin in True West, and Greg in A Chorus Line. As a designer and educator, Brian has worked with numerous college, high school and community groups including Merrimack College, Goddard College, Framingham State University, The Performing Arts Center of MetroWest, Brookline, Chelsea and Wellesley Public School. His solo piece, UnMasqued, has been workshopped and performed at the Wheeler Theater in Port Townsend, WA. Brian holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and was named the recipient of the 2014 Framingham State University Young Alumni Achievement Award for his work in the performing arts.

Shauwna Dias Grillo* (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be making her Umbrella debut with Lizzie and White Rabbit Red Rabbit! Select previous AEA SM credits include: The Little Mermaid (Reagle Music Theatre), Make Way For Ducklings (Wheelock Family Theatre), Clue, Beehive, Little Women, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ain’t Misbehavin, Miss Holmes Returns, All Is Calm, and The 39 Steps (Greater Boston Stage Company). As AEA ASM: West Side Story (Reagle), Miracle on 34th Street (GBSC). Plus extensive work with The Young Company at GBSC as a stage manager, production manager, education assistant, props coordinator, and sound designer. Much gratitude to Ilyse, my most frequent collaborator and a treasured friend.

*The actors and stage managers employed in this production are members of Actor's Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

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