Artist Bios

Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

Efren Calderon (Swing) is very excited to be returning to the Main Street’s Theater for Youth stage once again. Recent Main Street credits include The Best School Year Ever as Charlie Bradley, as well as his MST debut in last year’s The Pigeon Gets a Bigtime Holiday Extravaganza as Flappy Squirrel. His most recent credit includes playing Kevin G. in Queensbury Theater’s production of Mean Girls. He would like to thank his family and closest friends for pushing him to strive further every day and to bring the magic of storytelling to those who need it most.

Cardero (Mr. Scary) is a proud Houstonian. He’s been acting since middle school and started performing professionally in Houston in 2021. Previous roles at Main Street include The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Winds and the Willows. When not on stage, you can find him as a teaching artist, director, and coach in Houston schools. He is excited to work on this show with a great cast and bring this story to life.

Miles Estes (Sheldon) Main Street Theater: The Pigeon Gets a Bigtime Holiday Extravaganza, Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”, Sleeping Beauty The Musical; A.D. Players Theater: (Metzler New Works Festival) How To Die: The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Sam Houston State University Theater: The Prom, Uncle Vanya, 365 Days/365 Plays, Airness, Almost Maine, What the Constitution Means to Me. Education: Sam Houston State University.

Tristan Flores (José/Mr. Toot) Main Street Theater: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Rocky, Maxwell, Martha, Dr. Bobby), Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Musical (Duane Higgins), The Wind in the Willows (Swing); Stages: Spamilton (Kinbg George), 21 Chump Street (Justin); A.D. Players Theater: Gift of the Magi, A Midnight Society; Sam Houston State University Theater: Marisol, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Sweeney Todd, Airness, Uncle Vanya, Silent Sky. Education: Sam Houston State University, Musical Theater.

Kiya Green (Lucille / Elf Ellen) is a graduate from Stephen F. Austin State University where she earned her B.F.A. in Theatre. Select credits include: The Ensemble Theatre: The Bluest Eye (Pecola) and Flex (Sidney Brown); Stages: Mud Row (Elsie); The Phoenix Group: Pullman, WA (Self); Alley Theatre: The Brainstormers & Their Cosmic Mission (ECE Tour) (Willa). Kiya would like to thank her family and friends for all the love and support.

Emily Faith Smith (Julia/Pig #2/Dance Captain) Main Street Theater: Debut; Strange Bird Immersive: Man from Beyond; Sam Houston State University Theater: She Loves Me. Education: Sam Houston State University.

Mac Hardy (Swing) has been in other Main Street Theater productions such as Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type, Elephant and Piggie, Sleeping Beauty, The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza, and The Best School Year Ever. Mac got her B.F.A. in Musical Theater at Sam Houston State University where she was in shows like Hands on a Hard Body, Richard III, and Memphis. In other institutions, she has been in Grease, The Mousetrap, and Winne the Pooh.

Matt Hurt (Herb / Grampa Miller) Main Street Theater: The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza, Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”, Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Musical, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Sleeping Beauty The Musical, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Junie B. Jones: Toothless Wonder, Miss Nelson Is Missing! The Musical, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Cinderella, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Pete the Cat; Lamar University: So You Can Look Ahead, Twelfth Night, Luna Gale, The Comedy of Errors, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Education: B.S., Lamar University, Theatre and Dance.

Fernanda Schoening (Junie B. Jones) is doing the happiest happy dance to be back at Main Street Theater as Junie B. Jones in Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! She previously had the joy of playing Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and most recently Louella in The Best School Year Ever. When she’s not on stage, Fernanda loves teaching musical theater, performing, and sharing her passion for storytelling with young artists. She hopes you laugh super hard and have the bestest time!

Johanna Grace Wylie (May) is an Actress and Teaching Artist with a B.F.A. from Sam Houston State University. Most recently you may have seen her in The Best School Year Ever as Imogene Herdman at MST, The Wind in the Willows as Mol” at MST, The Winter of the Snow Queen as Henrietta at Stages, and at The Ensemble as the Stage Manager for Akeelah and the Bee. Johanna is ecstatic to be back making magic at Main Street!

Allison Gregory, Playwright

Allison Gregory’s plays have been produced and developed all over the country and include Forcing Hyacinths (Julie Harris Playwriting Award; South Coast Repertory Theatre’s California Playwrights Award); Fall Off Night (Garland Award, L.A); Cliffhouse (Gregory Nomination, Best New Play, Seattle), Burning Bridget Cleary (Seattle Times Award, Best New Play, Seattle), and (ICU), among others.

She has received commissions, grants, and development from South Coast Repertory, ACT Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Skirball-Kenis Foundation, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Childsplay, The Empty Space, Seattle’s Arts and Cultural Affairs, Seattle Dramatists, Northwest Playwright’s Alliance and Hedgebrook Playwright’s Foundation.

Ms. Gregory also writes for young audiences, and her plays include Go Dog. Go!, adapted from the P.D. Eastman book and co-written with Steven Dietz; Even Steven Goes to War (“Zoni” Best New Script Award; AATE and UPRP awards; Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices selection); Peter and the Wolf (Seattle Times Award, Best New Play; National Tour), The Robber’s Daughter (SCT, 2014) and Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!, based on the book series by Barbara Park, for which her children think she’s a rock star.

Ms. Gregory lives in Austin and Seattle with her husband, playwright Steven Dietz, and her understanding kids Ruby and Abraham.

Robin Robinson (Director) Main Street Theater: The Best School Year Ever, The Coast Starlight, 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.

Lauren Davis (Properties Design/Scenic Charge) Main Street Theater: (Props Design) The Best School Year Ever, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, The Pigeon Gets a Bigtime Holiday Extravaganza!, Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Musical, The Wind in the Willows, Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School, The Diary of Anne Frank, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Jackie & Me, and many more; Catastrophic Theater: (Properties Design and Charge Scenic Artist) Spirits to Enforce, Tamarie’s TX Toast, Rhinoceros, Cleansed, Curse of the Starving Class, Snow White, and more; Stages: (Charge Scenic Artist) Alma en Venta, Panto Wonderful Wizard, Panto Unfrozen, Mack and Mabel, Xanadu, Panto Goldilocks, Road Show, Panto Mother Goose, Panto Red Riding Hood. Ms. Davis also works locally as a decorative painter and mural artist.

Christina Giannelli (Lighting Design) became entranced with lighting design while in high school. She lights theater, dance, opera, large events, sculpture and enormous spaces in Houston and around the world. For many years she produced “Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance” and other events at Miller Outdoor Theatre. She is the founder of Dance Source Houston, a service organization supporting dance performance and dance makers in Houston. She enjoys mentoring young designers. B.A., Yale University; M.F.A., University of Houston.

Macy Lyne (Costume Design) Main Street Theater: Purlie Victorious, Seven Assassins Walk into a Bar, Taking Steps, Stuart Little, Permanent Collection, The Real Inspector Hound, Mother of the Maid, The Secretary, Daddy Long Legs, Men On Boats, The Revolutionists, Into the Woods; Stages: The Lehman Trilogy, Honky Tonk Laundry, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson- Apt. 2B; Other Houston credits include Beautiful Princess Disorder, End Game, Waiting for Godot, Happy Days, Rhinoceros, Spirits to Enforce, It Is Magic, Ubu Roi, Dr. Faustus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Shawn W. St. John (Sound Design) An award-winning sound designer, composer, producer, audio engineer and voice artist, Shawn has worked with Tony Award winning sound designer Tony Meola, as well as notable actors, playwrights and directors, including Eli Wallach, Sandy Duncan, Joanne Woodward, Calista Flockhart, Joe DiPietro, Beth Henley, John Rando, Jason Nodler and Mickle Maher. Sound designs include Main Street Theater, A.D. Players, The Catastrophic Theatre, Unity Theatre, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Education: B.A., Rollins College, Theatre. www.fiver.com/stjohnstudios

Jon Young (Set Design) is returning for his second show at Main Street’s Theater for Youth, after previously designing A Diary of a Wimpy Kid in Spring 2025. In Houston, Young has designed professionally for Houston Shakespeare Festival, Rice University, University of Houston, A.D. Players, and Stages Repertory Theatre. Young has designed over 35 productions at the University of Oklahoma for Dance, Drama, Opera, and Musical Theatre. Young is the James Garner Chair in Drama at the University of Oklahoma and a member of USA 829. You can see more of his work at https://www.youngscenicstudio.com and @youngscenicstudio

Joseph Reyes (Stage Manager) Main Street Theater: various crew positions.

Vivienne M. St. John (Theater for Youth Artistic Director) Main Street Theater: (Director) The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, A Little House Christmas, The Diary of Anne Frank, Jackie & Me, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Goodnight Moon, (Costume Design) Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, Superfudge, Henry and Ramona, The Great Gilly Hopkins, If You Take a Mouse to School, Sideways Stories from Wayside School; Berkshire Theatre Festival: Assistant Production Manager, Visiting Mr. Green with Eli Wallach, Hay Fever with Joanne Woodward and Calista Flockhart, Jitta’s Atonement with Dianne Wiest, Free Fall with Sandy Duncan, Bill Graham Presents with Ron Silver; Company Manager: Four of a Kind, Good Company, Woman in Mind with Marlo Thomas and Elizabeth Franz, Over the River and Through the Woods; Production Manager: The Ray Davies Show. Worked at several Houston theaters including TheatreLab, Express Children’s Theater, and The Houston Grand Opera. Main Street Theater’s Theater for Youth Artistic Director since 2000.

Rebecca Greene Udden (Executive Artistic Director) Main Street Theater: (Director) Leopoldstadt, The Year of Magical Thinking, Mother of the Maid, Darwin in Malibu, Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue, The Hard Problem, The Book of Will, Hecuba and The Trojan Women, Troilus and Cressida, An Iliad and Twelfth Night with Prague Shakespeare Company (MST collaborations), Holes, Enemies, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (First American Productions), Silent Sky, Peace in Our Time, Heartbreak House, The Real Thing (1986 & 2013), The Coast of Utopia, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Heidi Chronicles (2010 & 1992), Arcadia (2010 & 1996), The House of the Spirits (English-language premiere), Caroline, or Change, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, The Rice (World Premiere), 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, Somebody’s Sons, The Sisters Rosensweig, Hapgood, 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.

Front of House Staff

Kacie Adams, Emily Buesing, Jake Cummings, Lindsay Ehrhardt, Audrey Holt, Faheemah Karim, Domenico Leone, Jessy Martin, Sethe Nguyen, Helen Rios, Mark B. Robbins, Emily Smith, Laura Smolik, Laura St. John, Adi Teodoru