Artist Bios
Kim’s Convenience
Cast
Johnny Barton* (Appa) Main Street Theater: Li’l Abner; Shakespeare in the Shade: Hamlet, Macbeth; Conroe Shakespeare Festival: A Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor; Points North Theater: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, The Tempest, Henry V, Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Fairy Tale Christmas Carol; Stage Right: The Buddy Holly Story, Clue, The Dinner Party, The Odd Couple, M*A*S*H, Farce of Nature, 42nd Street, Annie; Crighton Players: Kiss Me Kate, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Happy Days the Musical, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Education: B.F.A. Sam Houston State University, Theater.
Minsook Kim (Umma) Main Street Theater: Debut; Company OnStage: Meteor Shower. Film/TV; Guardian Demon, Missed Fate. Education: B.A., Carleton College, International Relations, political economy concentration.
Sethe Nguyen (Janet) Main Street Theater: Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”; 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.
Kory LaQuess Pullam* (Rich/Mr. Lee/Mike/Alex) Main Street Theater: Debut; Houston credits include: The Alley: Seared; Stages: Othello, The Remix, The Hispanic, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Latine Vote; The Ensemble Theatre: Love and Southern Discomfort, A Motown Christmas; Rec Room: Death of a Salesman; Regional Credits include: The Guthrie: Choir Boy, The Parchman Hour; Park Square: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Calendar Girls; Mixed Blood: Is God Is; Penumbra Theatre: Pipeline, Girl Shakes Loose; Ten Thousand Things: Fiddler on the Roof; Children’s Theatre Company: Three Little Birds, Charlotte’s Web, Shrek: The Musical, Cinderella, The Scarecrow and His Servant; Pillsbury House + Theatre: Prep; History Theatre: Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story; Raven Theatre: A Soldier’s Play; New Village Arts: 1222 Oceanfront; Underdog Theatre: Luna Gale, How It’s Gone Be. Awards: 2016 Star Tribune’s Artist of the Year. 2017 City Pages’ Artist of the Year. Education: B.F.A., Stephen F. Austin State University, Theatre.
Jack Stansbury (Jung) Main Street Theater: Debut; Houston Shakespeare Festival: Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing; Studio 208: Julius Caesar. Film/TV; Oshi No Ko, Lazarus, Genshin Impact, Haikyu!!, Ragna Crimson, Kaiju No. 8, Akiba Maid War, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, The Dangers in My Heart, Helck, SolarBalls, Urusei Yatsura.
Production
Andrew Ruthven (Director) Main Street Theater: (Director) Taking Steps, Permanent Collection, Dog Act, The Weir, Daddy Long Legs; The Revolutionists, Red Hot Patriot, Working, The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Putting It Together, A Year with Frog and Toad, Into the Woods, Close Up Space, It’s Only Life, A Catered Affair, A Number, The Pie Dialogues (World Premiere), (Assistant Director) Caroline, or Change, Nine, (Actor) Mr. Pim Passes By, Urinetown, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, Comic Potential, Seussical, Oh, Boy!, Lady in the Dark, The Trust, Hay Fever, The Mask of Moriarty, Texas Repertory Theater: (Actor) Company; Unity Theatre: (Director) Godspell, Now & Then, Daddy Long Legs, The Fantasticks; Theater LaB Houston: (Actor) Passion, Assassins; Queensbury Theatre: (Director) Man of La Mancha. Education: M.F.A., University of Houston; B.A., University of Texas at Austin.
Amaél Angel (MST JEDI Directing Fellow) Main Street Theater: Debut; Pomona College: (Creator/Performer) Metanoia; Climate Change Theatre Action Festival 2023: (Director) You Are Not Alone; Spotlight Musical Theatre (Director) HOME: A BIPOC Musical Showcase; Film/TV: EUSA 2023 Short Film Festival: (Co-Director) Duelo. Education: B.A., Pitzer College, Theatre Arts and Spanish Studies.
Afsaneh Aayani (Set Designer) Main Street Theater: The Wind in the Willows, Charlotte’s Web, Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus, Dog Act, The Oldest Boy, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe plus numerous puppetry credits; Regional Credits: Cincinnati Playhouse: English; The Old Globe: English; Alliance Theatre: English; Alley Theatre: Alley All New Festival, A Christmas Carol; Chautauqua Theater: Birthday Candles; American Stage: Disgraced; Two River Theater: Romeo and Juliet; Theatre Under the Stars: The Ugly Christmas Sweater, Frozen; Trinity Rep: Alabaster; Other Credits: Meow Wolf Houston; Heartbeat Opera: Extinctionist; Catastrophic Theatre: Turn of the Screw, Innominate, Cleansed, Waiting for Godot, A Maroon’s Guide to Time and Space; Stages: Roe, Black Superhero Magic Mama, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B; El Paso Opera: Frida, Sunday in the Park With George; Houston Grand Opera: Big Swim; Houston Shakespeare Festival: King Lear; Theatre of the Republic: Finding Nemo the Musical; PBS Arkansas: Blueberry’s Clubhouse; Moores School of Music: Little Shop of Horrors. Education: B.F.A., Puppetry, Tehran University of Art; M.F.A., Scenic Design, University of Houston. www.afsanehaayani.com
Janessa A. Harris (Lighting Designer) Main Street Theater: The Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963; Other theater work: Miss Rhythm: The Legend of Ruth Brown, Othello: The Remix, Always…Patsy Cline, cullud wattah, Houston for the Holidays, Dream: The Music of the Everly Brothers (ALD), Song of Me, Sunrise Coven, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Stages Studio Sessions (SSS) with Raven Troupe, Button’s Sleeping Beauty, SSS with Teresa Zimmerman, and SSS with Anna Maria Morris, Ain’t Misbehavin, Motown Christmas, Clyde’s, Is God Is, Descendants the Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Aida, Head Over Heels, Les Misérables, Matilda, Finding Nemo Jr., Carrie the Musical, and James and the Giant Peach, Eurydice, Henry V, The Magnolia Ballet, Burn the Floor: Farewell Show, Norwegian Getaway Christmas Show, Pinkalicious the Musical, Spring Awakening the Musical, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Peter and the Starcatcher. Education: B.A, Louisiana State University, Technical Theater; M.F.A., Southern Illinois University, Theater.
Robert Leslie Meek (Sound Designer) Main Street Theater: Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word (world premiere); Rec Room Arts, Resident Sound Designer: Hurricane Diane, Put Your House in Order, A Number, Wolf Play, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Peter Pan, King James, Betrayal, Death of a Salesman, Toros; Stages: The Legend of Georgia McBride, A Case for the Existence of God, Panto Pinocchio, The Ripple the Wave That Carried Me Home, Let. Her. Rip; 4th Wall Theatre Company: Between Riverside And Crazy, The Lifespan Of A Fact, The Thin Place, The Sound Inside, Sanctuary City, Fairview, The Pavilion, The Thanksgiving Play, Topdog/Underdog, Hamlet; The Octarine Accord: Synapse; San Jacinto College South: The Pits. University of Houston: By the Way Meet Vera Stark, Stupid F*cking Bird, Find Your Way Back; Moody Center for the Arts: Spill. He has also made original music for advertisements, worked with national brands, and collaborated on exciting original works including audio for an animated pilot for The American Museum of Natural History. Robert is a music producer with more than 400,000 streams across music streaming platforms and releases original music as “J U N O.” You can listen and learn more at www.junomusichtx.com.
Laura Moreno (Costume Design) Main Street Theater: (Director) Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”, Carmela Full of Wishes, Last Stop on Market Street (Costume Design) Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Fancy Nancy The Musical, Miss Nelson Is Missing! The Musical!, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Dragons Love Tacos; Alley Theatre: (Assistant Director): A Midsummer Night’s Dream, What-a-Christmas!; Mildred’s Umbrella: Ladies’ Night: Beckett Shorts; Lamar University: The Revolutionists; Jewish Community Center: Photograph 51; Horse Head Theatre Company: Church, Judgement of Fools; Gravity Players: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Duchesne Academy: Little Women, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Comedy of Errors, Antigone; Edgar Guajardo Theatrical Productions: School of the Americas. Education: M.F.A, University of Houston, Directing; M.A, University of Houston, Arts Leadership; B.F.A., University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance, Acting.
Rodney Walsworth (Props Design and Set Dressing) Over 120 productions at Main Street Theater as actor, director, set designer, properties designer, sound designer including Enemies and Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies (First American Productions); Stages: Resident Properties Master, 2 ½ seasons; other Houston acting work includes The Ensemble Theatre, Theater LaB Houston, Talento Bilingüe de Houston, Stages; B&B Productions at Jump Start Theatre (San Antonio): The Laramie Project (Globe Award, Lead Actor – Drama). Resident Properties Master and Set Dresser, Main Street Theater.
Ashley Galan* (Production Stage Manager) Main Street Theater: (Assistant Stage Manager) Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley, (Assistant Director) Carmela Full of Wishes, (Directing Fellow) James and the Giant Peach, The Last Stop on Market Street, (Stage Manager) Charlotte’s Web, (Assistant Stage Manager) Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Pete the Cat, Dragons Love Tacos; Stages, Teatrx: (Actor) La Vida Es Cortos Festival: Cafecito; Sin Muros Festival: Parts Per Million, Prophets; The Octarine Accord: (Stage Manager) The Honeycomb Trilogy Part2: Blast Radius; Alley Theatre: (Production Assistant) Torera (reading), Instructions on a Séance; Lamar University: Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, The Good Doctor, The Bakkhai, Ghosts. Education: B.S., Lamar University, Theatre and Dance (Acting Emphasis).
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, 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.
Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 45,000 actors, singers, dancers and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production. AEA is a member of the AFLCIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org
*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, [Producer], and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.