Join us for a benefit performance Wed, May 27th!
The Furnace is a non-hierarchical artists’ collective making ensemble-driven theater experiences that nurture an inclusive, progressive community.
We began training together in April of 2024, playing with techniques for discovering vulnerability and immediacy on stage, and experimenting with different ways of making theatre. We work to facilitate joyful collaboration and mutual growth in our local theatre community through skillsharing and performance. We are based in Burlington, Vermont.
Caitlin Durkin (she/her) is an active member of the Burlington theatre community who is passionate about creating spaces that allow artists to trust each other and pursue the work with reckless abandon. She works as an actor, director and intimacy coordinator in the Burlington area and is a member of Historically Close Friends, The Furnace, is on the board for the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts and Between the Willows.
Katie Gilmartin is a theatre maker, educator, and administrator. She holds a Masters of Philosophy in Theatre and Performance from Trinity College Dublin and is the Youth Program Coordinator for Vermont Works for Women. Katie has worked with Lost Nation Theatre and Historically Close Friends and recently performed as the Stepmother in The Juniper Tree with Between the Willows. In NYC Katie worked with The Anthropologists, NYTW, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, and more. She’s been a mentor, director, and choreographer for the Burlington-based children’s company Very Merry Theatre. Katie has a BA in Theatre & Performance and Arts Management from SUNY Purchase.
Aleah Papes (she/they) is a performer, audio journalist, and fact-checker. Favorite onstage credits include Susan in Title of Show (Vermont Stage), the ensemble of Sweeney Todd (Vermont Repertory Theatre), Bridget in Translations (Vermont Stage), and Maria in The Sound of Music in Concert with Lyric Theatre Company and the VSO. Her voice can also be heard on Vermont Public, where she is an announcer, and in the alto section of the VSO Chorus.
Quinn Rol (he/him) was a NYC actor for 7 years, now a local Burlington theatre artist and teacher. Co-creator of the Front Porch Follies! Past Vermont shows include The Pitmen Painters, Airness, and Translations at Vermont Stage, and Spring Awakening with Full Circle. Teaches acting classes at Vermont Stage, the Flynn, and the Montpelier Hub. Acting BFA from UNM, MFA from Columbia, and Vermont’s only Designated Linklater Voice teacher. quinnrol.com
Gina Stevensen (they/them) is a playwright, performer, and group facilitator whose work is an invitation toward healing, community, and liberated queer futures. Their writing has been supported by the Vermont Arts Council/NEA and the Ragdale Foundation. Their play Breakfalls was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and premiered at Vermont Stage. Gina received the Kernodle New Play Award and is in the 2025-2026 cohort of the Vermont Screenplay Incubator. Their solo play Caterpillar Soup was commissioned by The Flynn. Their plays have been developed in NYC, London, and across the U.S. with Roundabout, American Stage, Theatre503, Urban Stages, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hartford Stage, Barter Theatre, and more. Gina has been a guest lecturer at Hunter College, NYU, the University of Vermont, and the University of Arkansas. MFA Playwriting: Columbia University. BFA Drama: NYU Tisch.
ginastevensen.com
Harley Winzenried (they/she) is an actor, dramaturg, and theatre educator with a passion for new playmaking. Select acting credits: Eurydice in Eurydice (Foul Contending Rebels), #11 in The Wolves (Actors Theatre of Charlotte), Julia in Wolf Child (North Carolina Theatre for Young People). Harley is a proud alum of the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Fall '17) and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama with a minor in Musical Theatre from the University of North Carolina - Greensboro. harleywinzenried.com
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