CHEMISTRY

Laurie Roberts (Steph)

Laurie Roberts is honored to join The Cake Shop Theatre Company in this production of Chemistry.  A member of the Bruce E. Coyle Acting Intern Company at Cincinnati Playhouse, she received her BA in drama and dance from the University of Washington in Seattle, and she is a recent MFA acting graduate of the University of South Carolina. With the Playhouse, Ms. Roberts played a number of characters in the Off the Hill tour of Roses & Thorns (A Tale of Beauty & the Beast) as well as the boisterous role of Rose in A Christmas Carol.  She also understudied in Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, A Christmas Carol, Buzzer, and Circle Mirror Transformation. While living in Seattle, Ms. Roberts developed two original pieces that each debuted at the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, The Grind Show and Ithaca I’ll Never See. In South Carolina, Ms. Roberts studied with P3/East’s founders Robyn Hunt and Steve Pearson, masters of Suzuki training and the Slow Tempo work of Ota Shogo. Favorite university credits include Hamlet (Ophelia), The Three Sisters (Irina) and Boeing Boeing (Gretchen). This past year her love for writing, dance and devising new work culminated in a solo show, The Maiden’s Prayer, inspired by The Three Sisters and the choreography of Pina Bausch. Ms. Roberts would like to thank her family and friends for their endless love and support. For more information visit www.lauriebenningroberts.com

Jay Hobson (Jamie)

Jay Hobson, originally from Columbus, Ohio, is completing his year with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's Bruce E. Coyle Acting Intern Company. At the Playhouse, he has appeared in A Christmas Carol, Buzzer, Chapatti and the Off the Hill production of Roses and Thorns (A Tale of Beauty & the Beast). He has understudied roles in Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, A Christmas Carol, and Buzzer. Mr. Hobson is a 2014 graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned his degree in Political Science. While in school, Jay appeared in productions at Available Light Theatre Co, MadLab and SRO Theatre Co. He studied acting in Chicago with Kathryn Gately. He is very excited to be working with this extraordinary team as part of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

Jacob Marx Rice (Playwright)

Jacob Marx Rice's plays have been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, La MaMa ETC, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, The Alchemical Theatre Laboratory, the Barnard College Theatre Department and others. His play Chemistry recently had a sold out, extended run at the New York International Fringe Festival, where it won the Excellence in Playwriting Award and was selected for the Encore Series at Soho Playhouse. He is the winner of the 2012 Seymour Brick Memorial Prize for Playwriting and a finalist for the 2015 Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center National Playwrights Conference. Education: Columbia University.

Katie Lupica (Director)

Katie Lupica relocated to Cincinnati from New York City as the 14-15 Directing Fellow at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where she assistant directed several main-stage productions including Peter and the Starcatcher and Circle Mirror Transformation. NYC Directing: Pains of Youth (The Cake Shop, Access Theater); Jacob Marx Rice's Portrait and a Dream (FringeNYC); The Saint Plays (Austin E. Quigley Award); and many workshops, short plays, readings, and concerts. Regional Directing: Williamstown Theater Festival (Workshop Stage), Powerhouse/NYSF. Select Assisting: Godspell (1st Broadway Revival), Pygmalion (Williamstown). Ms. Lupica is the Co-Producing Artistic Director of The Cake Shop Theater Company with Casey Hayes-Deats, and an Associate Member of SDC. She earned her BA in Theater and History, summa cum laude, from Columbia University. www.katielupica.com

Wes Calkin (Scenic Design)

Wes Calkin is a scenic and lighting designer based in Cincinnati.  Chemistry is his first Cincy Fringe show, and his first production since earning an MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in May.  Local credits include scenic and lighting design for West Side Story at The Carnegie, lighting design for Sweeney Todd at The Carnegie, and lighting designs for Legally Blonde and Carrie at CCM.  He believes very strongly in the creative potential of limitations.

Jessica Hafer (Costume Design)

Jessica Hafer graduated from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music in 2007. Since graduation she has been designing costumes for various high schools and colleges.  She was awarded a Dayton City Paper "Best of" award for her costume design in Wright State University's production of A Light in the Piazza. Currently Ms. Hafer is the costume department supervisor at Kings Island, where she also designs costumes for the live entertainment produced in house.

Alice Trent (Lighting Design)

Alice Trent is the lighting designer for Chemistry. She has previously worked as the Assistant Lighting Designer for Ring of Fire and Peter and the Starcatcher at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Her recent works as a lighting designer include Spring Awakening, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Godspell at Xavier University. You can see more of her work at her website: www.alicetrent.com.

Mark Van Hare (Sound Design, Composer)

Mark Van Hare is a composer and sound designer working in New York City. He composed original music and designed the sound for Icarus at University Theatre with The Dramat at Yale, In Fields Where They Lay at the New Ohio Theatre, Generation Sex with Teatro Luna at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Mr Landing Takes a Fall at The Flea Theater, Remission at the Ford Studio at Signature Theatre, Daniel Fish's Eternal at Incubator Arts Project, All God's Chillun Got Wings at JACK in Brooklyn, and Look Upon Our Lowliness at Harlem School of the Arts Theatre. markvanhare.com

Katy Ward (Stage Manager)

A Cincinnati native, Katy Ward is excited to be working on a production in the city’s Fringe Festival this year. Especially a production with such fantastic people involved. She has spent the past season as a Stage Management Intern at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and is more than excited to return for a second year. Katy received a BFA from Northern Kentucky University, where she stage managed several productions including Spamalot and My Favorite Year. 

The Cake Shop Theater Company

The Cake Shop is an NYC-based independent theater company founded in 2013 by Casey Hayes-Deats and Katie Lupica. We are dedicated to new and newly recovered works that give an uncensored voice to emerging artists in collaboration. In pursuit of resonant stories, we choose each project for its potential to feed, delight, and stimulate audience and artists alike. Past projects include the NY Premiere of Martin Crimp's version of Ferdinand Bruckner's Pains of Youth (2014, Access Theater, NYC) and developmental workshops of Uncertainty/Principle by Jacob Marx Rice, Lulu is Hungry and Anti-Cruise by Claire Kiechel, and an untitled devised project about water contamination and West Virginia.