ACT 1

STOCKED

Serena Norr (playwright) is a writer, screenwriter, playwright, and founder of Let’s Make a Play, a playwriting program for kids and adults. Her plays have been performed at the Omaha Fringe Festival, White Plains Performing Arts Center, the New Deal Creative Arts Center, Westchester Collaborative Theater, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Players Theater with the Rogue Theater Festival and the NYC Short Play Festival, The Tank, The Flea, the University of Alabama as well as various productions over Zoom. 

Karen Marulanda (Director) (she/her/ella) is a proud Colombian/Nicaraguan actor, writer and director currently based in NYC. She most recently directed two episodes of Serials, a late-night short play series at both SoHo Playhouse and The Flea. Recent acting credits include: Luchadora! (Orlando Repertory Theatre) and SWAY (The Fled Collective). Karen was a Semifinalist actor in NBC’s Nosotros Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Slam 2022. Connect with her on Instagram: @karenmarulanda.

Michael Ortiz (Ben) (he/him) is an actor, director, producer, and cryptid hailing from the state of Florida. He is a co-founder of The Fled Collective, an artist in residence with Breaking & Entering Theater Collective, and he currently produces and hosts Serials, an episodic late-night short play competition series. Michael is passionate about the cultivation of new work and creating opportunities for underrepresented artists. He is an avid gamer, a home cook, and lover of all things spooky. Hit him up if you ever want to talk D&D or learn to play the spoons!

Nikki Cannon (Betty) is an actor, singer, and dancer from Gainesville, FL. Recent credits include Serials by The Fled Collective (The Flea Theatre),GIRLHOOD (The Tank), and Julius Caesar (Arachne Theatre). In addition to performing, Nikki is a vintage clothing collector and dog enthusiast. 

Eric Berger (Mac) is thrilled to be joining this wonderful team of artists and bringing such a poignant piece to life. Eric is a film, theater, and voiceover actor born and raised in NYC. He is also currently touring the country in a one-man play entitled Heschel’s Passover Eve, where he plays the extraordinary Rabbi and activist Abraham Joshua Heschel. Recent theater credits include She’s Got Harlem on Her Mind @ Metropolitan Playhouse, Serials @ The Flea Theater, My Man the Wolf @ Open Hydrant Theater Co. Recent film credits include Movie Night, Brilliant Traces, and The Gambit (nominated for Best Actor at Montreal International Wreath Awards Film Festival). Big thanks to his parents, brother, and friends for always supporting the dream, and Karen for bringing him on board! 

Natalia Mar Urzua (Actor - Various) (they/she/he) is a Latine actor, writer, and D&D enthusiast based in Brooklyn. Recent work includes Gamepiece and the Dealer’s Choice Festival with the Spade Collective, Fucked-Up Play Fest, Taking the Plunge (Kaia), Romeo and Juliet (Tybalt/Paris/Friar), and the developing Latine musical The Boogie Down Gospel (multiple roles). They are also a recurring performer and team captain with Serials, previously at the Flea Theater. Their play CJ and Cat premiered at 2022’s Chain Summer One Act Festival. 

William Vonada (Actor - Various) (he/him) is a NY based theatre actor, director, and administrator who has primarily worked with Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective and The Fled Collective. He enjoys pursuing developmental work and helping “dumb” projects get traction. 

BAAD NEWS

Abigail Espinal (Playwright, Director, Martha) is a queer, transgender writer, filmmaker, and performer who is so grateful to be working with the Theater Project! She has performed in several productions, has written multiple short plays and screenplays, and is a previous winner of the Theater Project’s 2021 Young Playwright’s Festival.

Alex Andrews (Marshall) is a mathematics major at Montclair State University who pursues acting alongside his studies. He has previously been in MSU's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and is very grateful to be a part of the 2024 Think Fast Festival. 

THE REAL HOUSEHUSBANDS OF VERMONT

David Carkeet (playwright) has written several novels, three of them NY Times Book

Review notable books of the year: Double Negative, The Full Catastrophe, and The

Error of Our Ways. His stage adaptations of short stories by Mark Twain have been

produced in the U.S., Canada, France, South Africa, and New Zealand. His screenplay

based on William Dean Howells’s The Rise of Silas Lapham won second prize in the

Oregon Independent Film Festival. Davidcarkeet.com

Judith Hendra (director) is co-founder of Topanga Actors Company and is currently closely involved with production and publicity. She had the wonderful luck of acting with some future greats at Cambridge University, has known actors all her life, and been an avid theatergoer. Judith organized TAC's November Short Play Festival and gratefully partnered with Tony Lynn and an umbrella for a playlet celebrating an autumnal romance. 

Ben Birmingham (Ferdinand) says his passion for acting was sparked when he played a safari tour guide in his 2nd-grade school play. His IMDb reports: primarily known for skillfully portraying villains, underdogs, outcasts, and all-around strange, larger-than-life characters with deep emotional damage. Ben was a stirring Count Dracula a Christmas ago at a Woodland Hills (California) non-Equity theater. Topanga Actors Company contributions include a two-hander with Laura Clear in November's Short Play Festival. 

Tony Lynn (Walt) started acting at the age of eight in a Gumby commercial. (He says it's been all downhill from there!) Tony is a former NBC-affiliated reporter, anchor, and talk show host based in New York. He's been a college theater professor and improv performer. He's been working with Topanga Actors Company for a year now mostly in comedy roles. 

Bill Pierce (Abner) is by profession an international photo-journalist and writer. He was drawn into Topanga Actors Company by his wife (Judith Hendra) as occasional company photographer. From there he picked up on his long-ago love of acting as a college student and student of

Sanford Meisner at Neighborhood Playhouse and a lifetime of knowing and admiring actors at work. Bill has been in several TAC productions including one where he died on stage.

Patrick Skelton (Henry) has a lengthy IMDb as a television and film actor. His credits include multiple seasons on All My Children and regular and guest appearances on numerous shows playing characters from corporate types to villains (Braxton, 1989; Agent Red, 2000). He recently appeared as the general in the opening scene of The Creator. Patrick has interpreted a number of roles for Topanga Actors Company and appeared twice in the recent Short Play Festival. 

MATTERING

Donna Romankow Boyd (playwright/director) recently studied playwriting at the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts. Her play The Specimens was selected by Break a Leg Productions for its 2024 Love Festival (NYC). Donna is an accomplished pianist, currently writing an original musical song cycle.

Jackie Romankow (Kit) is an actor and singer based in New York. Favorite past roles include Eleven in Netflix's Stranger Things: The Experience (NYC), Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regional), and female swing in Regarding the Disappearance of Amy (Playwrights' Horizons). In addition to being a singer and actor, Jackie works as a freelance dialect coach and as a voice coach with 92NY. She sends her thanks to Donna for writing any incredible play and for letting her be a part of it! www.JackieRomankow.com  

Jeslyn Wheeless (Gram) is delighted to perform in Mattering by Donna Boyd for THINK FAST.  Other performances include The Ghost of Cinderella’s Mother and Little Red Riding Hood’s Grandmother in Into the Woods (Chatham Players, NJ);  Chorus and Record Office Administrator in Bright Star (Summit Playhouse, NJ);  Mrs. Bedwin in Oliver (Chatham Players);  Chorus in She Loves Me (Summit Playhouse);  Mrs. Hagget in The Late Christopher Bean (Summit Playhouse).  Chorus and Grandma Joad in Grapes of Wrath (Chatham Players).

ACT 2

CLEAN

Emmett Spaw (Playwright/Director) is a second-year student of Theatre and English at Kansas State University. Born and raised in The Little Apple, he has a keen interest in playwriting- His short plays Clean  and Solitaire have been performed in Kansas, Arizona, and Iowa. In his free time he enjoys cycling, MarioKarting, and throwing bananas out of windows.

Michael Pierce (Mark) is a senior at Kansas State University getting his B.A. in theatre

performance. He has done several productions, such as The Fantasticks (Bellomy), Spamalot (Sir Bedevere/Galahad’s Mother/Concorde), West Side Story (A-Rab) and is currently working on The Comedy of Errors where he will play Antipholus of Ephesus. He’d like to thank Emmett for this opportunity and letting him play Mark once again, and Dom for being the best scene

partner!

Dominic Moore (Teddy) is a freshman at Kansas State University working towards his B.A. in Theatre Performance. He most recently participated in Kansas State’s production of Exit, Pursued by a Bear as an understudy. He’d like to thank Emmett for the opportunity and letting him play Teddy this go around, and Michael for being an incredible scene partner!

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU MELONS

Kim Ferse (Playwright//Director/Mrs. Patterson) has been involved in the theatre community since the age of nine, having acted, sung, danced, choreographed, directed, written, and served on a board. Most recently, she appeared onstage as Mrs. Hubbard in Murder on the Orient Express. As a playwright, she penned (with collaborator Angela Mitchell) the book and lyrics to Angry Annie: An Orphan’s Revenge, a full-length musical parody. Her play Final Jeopardy  was featured in last year's Think Fast Festival.

Patrick Kearney (Henry) spent 20 years working in and around NYC before heading to the desert in California. Favorite roles over the years include: Gene in The Author's Voice, Renfield in The Passion of Dracula, The Player Queen in Hamlet, Father Flynn in Doubt, Cliff in Look Back in Anger, and Henry in The Skin of Our Teeth. Patrick is thrilled to be part of When Life Gives you Melons and hopes you enjoy it as much as he does!

Justin Ledesma (Doctor) is a Milwaukee-hailing, award-winning filmmaker, model maker and rock musician who has opened for national acts like Robin Trower, Great White, and The Adicts.  His acting roles include Harry in Gently Down The Stream and Gus in It’s Only A Play at The Bent, and Lieutenant Columbo in the ensemble film Broadmoor.  He is a proud graduate of Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA, and studies at Palm Springs Actor’s Lab. Please visit him at AlliesMusic.com.

THE HIGH PRIESTESS AND THE FOOL

Elle Collins (playwright) loved writing stories and plays at school, but lost her creative spark somewhere in adulthood. Moving to New Zealand seven years ago, with no friends or TV she found time to rediscover her imagination. Joining an improv comedy course at Auckland's Covert Theatre, she found community and ongoing inspiration. Elle continues to be surprised about what she’s discovering about herself by making silly stuff up on stage and on the page each week.

Gabby Mentjox (Director) is based in Auckland, New Zealand. She loves doing improv and immersing herself in a range of creative projects. 

Alaine Tasker (Madam Zolta) says life is to be lived fully. She’s performed in 100+ improv comedy shows at Covert Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand. She also attended International  Improv Summer School at Loose Moose Theatre, Calgary, Canada. Recently she did stand up comedy writing and performing at Auckland Classic Comedy Club, and has acted in a lead role in a university student film.

Elle Bell (Helen) is originally from the UK but now calls Auckland home. She performs a variety of improv comedy every week ranging from Murder Mysteries to Film Noirs. 

MY NEW ASSIGNMENT

Bruce Deveau (writer, director, Angelo) is an actor, playwright, and Leadership Council member of the Playwrights Collaborative of Newburyport, Ma.  He has trained extensively with Marc Clopton of the Actors Studio of Newburyport and Improv with Charles Van Eman.  He was recently seen in Jack Rushton’s Adventures with Lizzie in Seven Easy Pieces, a play in development with the Playwright’s Center of San Francisco, and he has playwright credits in festivals in the US and England. 

Nicole Brooks (Emily) discovered her love for acting after a career in medicine. She studies at both the Actors Studio of Newburyport and the Improv Asylum of Boston and has performed in a number of short play festivals. In 2022, she portrayed Lizzie in the full-length Zoom production of Adventures with Lizzie by Jack Rushton for the Playwrights Center of San Francisco. She is thrilled to be part of another Zoom production. 

Mike Pingree (Dad) had a career as a newspaperman before becoming an actor, mostly at the Boston Herald, and writes a very popular humor column, called Through the Looking Glass, which has appeared in hundreds of papers around the world.  He started acting 15 years ago and has appeared on stage in the theaters across New England. He has also worked as an extra in more than 100 movies and television shows.