Artist Bios

Coast Starlight

John Raymond Barker* (Ed) Houston theatre credits include Main Street Theater: Leave It To Jane, Lady Be Good; Alley Theatre: The Devil’s Disciple, A Flea In Her Ear; TUTS: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Funny Girl, Grand Hotel (also 5th Avenue Theatre (Seattle)), Zorro; Stages Theatre: Shakespeare’s R&J, The Firebird; A.D. Players: Narnia, Tent Meeting. In NYC: many new works and guest-starred on Law & Order: SVU (S20E12). Reps: ATB Talent & Pastorini-Bosby Talent. Love to Jared.

Jeff Brown* (Noah) Jeff Brown is an actor whose work is grounded in discipline, service, and lived authority. A licensed attorney, former Deputy Coroner, and U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot, he brings real-world stakes, steadiness, and care to the stage. His performances favor restraint, listening, and behavioral truth, shaped by lives lived in service to others. Jeff approaches theater as a collaborative act, valuing preparation, generosity, and responsibility to the story, the room, and the audience.

Julie Fontenot (Anna) Main Street Theater: Wolf Hall (Lady Worcester). Unity Theatre: Brighton Beach Memoirs (Blanche). University of St. Thomas: Pride and Prejudice (Mrs. Bennett). A.D. Players: Arsenic and Old Lace (Elaine). Texas Repertory Theatre: Crimes of the Heart (Chick Boyle), Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet). East End Theatre Company: Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Jeanette). Doghouse Theatre: Streetcar Named Desire (Blanche Dubois). Hampstead Stage Company National Tour: Alice in Wonderland (Alice). Education: B.F.A., Lamar University, Theatre.

Robby Matlock (T.J.) Robby is excited to return to MainStage for this Regional Premiere! Previous Credits include: Henry Gray (Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley) Main Street, Mayer (The Lehman Trilogy) Stages, Orsino (Twelfth Night) Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) Houston Shakespeare Festival. He received his MFA in Acting from the University of Houston. Thank you to Robin for being a great collaborator. All the love to his family, friends, amazing Wife Jill and their Dog Winnie.

Chaney Moore (Liz) Main Street Theater: Cinderella, Dog Act, The Diary of Anne Frank, Goosebumps the Musical: Phantom of the Auditorium, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (2017 & 2018), Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Holes, Akeelah and the Bee, The Wizard of Oz, How I Became a Pirate (Tour), Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas, Shrek the Musical, Bridge to Terabithia; Ensemble Theatre: Sista’s the Musical; Strangebird Immersive: Company Member. Education: B.F.A., Sam Houston State University.

Sethe Nguyen (Jane) Main Street Theater: Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”; Stages/Brave Little Company: The Snow Queen; Art Factory: The Rocky Horror Show, The Wild Party; Texas Tech University: Xanadu, Water by the Spoonful, The Secretaries, Bike America. Education: B.F.A., Texas Tech University, Acting.

Robin Robinson (Director) Main Street Theater: The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza (World Premiere), The Wind in the Willows, Sherlock Holmes Mystery of the Crown Jewel, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Georgiana and Kitty, The Wickhams, and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Charlotte’s Web, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Last Wife. Stages: Merrily We Roll Along; The World Of Beauty (World Premiere); Theatre Lab Houston: Avenue X; Search And Destroy.

Liz Freese (Set Design) Main Street Theater: Permanent Collection, Cinderella, Mother of the Maid, The Hard Problem, The Weir, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Wolf Hall, Silent Sky, and many more. Local designs for Houston Grand Opera, Stages, Unity Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, Classical Theatre Company, Sam Houston State University, Rice University Opera, and HCC Southwest. International design credits include Dnepropetrovsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre (Ukraine); Chelsea Theatre, Judi Dench Theatre, Bridewell Theatre (London). M.F.A., University of Missouri Kansas City. Professor of Technical Theatre, San Jacinto College.

Donna Southern Schmidt (Costume Design) Main Street Theater: Memoriam (World Premiere), The Wind in The Willows, Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery of The Crown Jewel, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley, Junie B. Jones Toothless Wonder, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Charlotte’s Web, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley , A Little House Christmas, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Goosebumps the Musical: Phantom of the Auditorium, Jackie & Me, The Book of Will, The Wizard of Oz; Actors’ Equity Members’ Project Code: Almost Maine, The Outsider; Mildred’s Umbrella: The Wanderers, Cry It Out; A.D. Players, resident costume designer for 25 years;  Education: Louisiana Tech University; Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

John Smetak (Lighting Designer) Lighting Design for over 30 productions at Main Street Theater beginning in 2001 and has been the Stage Manager for MST several times including the world premiere of Wondergirl. Other theaters in Houston that John has done lighting design include Stages Repertory Theatre, Catastrophic Theatre, and the Classical Theatre Company. Currently, John is the Stage Supervisor for Lighting & Projections at Miller Outdoor Theatre and holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Houston.

Sha’Na “Shay” Smith (MST JEDI Directing Fellow) is a Houston-based, multidisciplinary artist, arts educator, and wellness practitioner whose work spans writing, directing, performance, painting, music, and somatic sound healing. Acting roles include Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Vera in Seven Guitars, among others; directing credits include Black Nativity (Langston Hughes), Mirandy and Brother Wind (John Cornelius/Michael Bobbitt), and more. Shay has earned her support from The Idea Fund and the Art and Survival Fellowship. Education: B.A., Prairie View A&M University, Theatre Arts.

Rodney Walsworth (Props Design/Set Dressing) Over 120 productions as actor, director, set designer, properties and sound design including Wolf Hall, Darwin in Malibu and The Woman in Black. Recent prop designs include Seven Assassins Walk Into a Bar, The 39 Steps and The Lightning Thief. Resident Property Designer/Set Dresser: Main Street Theater.

Yezminne Zepeda (Sound Design) Selected Works: Main Street Theater: Memoriam, What the Constitution Means to Me, The Oldest Boy, Julia and the Script Writer, The Last Wife, The Revolutionists; Alley Theatre: Torera (World Premiere), Alley All New Festival, A.D. Players: Texas Carol, No One Owns Me, The God Committee, Tuesdays with Morrie; Catastrophic Theatre: The Book of Grace, Tragedy A Tragedy; 4th Wall Theatre Company: Random Acts, As You Like It, The Realistic Joneses.

Rebecca Skupin* (Stage Manager) Main Street Theater: Woman in Black, Present Laughter, The Real Inspector Hound; A.D. Players: Wizard of Oz, A Texas Carol, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, West Side Story; Theatre Under the Stars: Mary Poppins, Cabaret, Swing!; Queensbury Theatre: Violet, Love Letters; 4th Wall Theatre: Ho, Ho, Humbug 2.0; Stages: Always Patsy Cline, The Marvelous Wonderettes; Alley Theatre: Wit, Noises Off, A Christmas Carol; Houston Grand Opera; Houston Shakespeare Festival; Houston Ballet. Actors Equity Association member since 1998, Elected to Actors’ Equity National Council June 2020.

Rebecca Greene Udden (Executive Artistic Director) Main Street Theater: (Director) The Year of Magical Thinking, Mother of the Maid, Darwin in Malibu, Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue, The Hard Problem, The Book of Will, An Iliad and Twelfth Night with Prague Shakespeare Company (MST collaborations), Holes, Enemies, Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies (First American Productions), Silent Sky, Peace in Our Time, Heartbreak House, The Real Thing, The Coast of Utopia, The Heidi Chronicles, Arcadia, Caroline, or Change, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, and many more; (Actor) Private Lives (2019), Memory House, Richard III (with Prague Shakespeare Company), The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Third, The Busy World Is Hushed, The Sisters Rosensweig, Hamlet, and more; (Costume Design) numerous productions; Prague Shakespeare Company: (Director) Twelfth Night. Catastrophic Theatre: Advisory Board. Wordsmyth Theater Company: Advisory Board. Member, American Leadership Forum Class XVI.

Actors’ Equity Association (“Equity”) founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional Actors and Stage Managers. Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. #EquityWorks.

Equity is governed by its own members through an elected Council, representing principal actors, chorus actors and stage managers living in three regions: Eastern, Central and Western. Members at large participate in Equity’s governance through a system of regional Boards and Committees. Equity has 28 designated liaison areas, metropolitan areas with a concentration of more than 100 members.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, Main Street Theater, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.