Cast and Crew Bios
Corinne Adams (Chorus Leader / A Chorus of Birds)
Corinne is a Senior and is beyond excited to end her time on the WHHS stage in her 12th show, The Birds. You may have seen her last year wearing a fetching yellow hat as Hannah in Puffs, or this year in either The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later or Peter and the Starcatcher. You can also find Corinne behind the scenes designing/working on hair and makeup for the junior high shows, taking loads of pictures for marketing and publicity crew, and most reliably, braiding Adelaide’s hair so she can wear the trademarked red bob wig; iykyk.
Laine Adams (Co Set Designer)
Laine is a senior at WHHS. Besides spending her time cooped up in a literal black box trying to figure out how to build a mountain out of wood and screws, she loves reading, flowers, Louie, and pickles. She is also one of the captains of the Walnut Hills Swim Team. Laine has been involved in 5 shows but Birds has definitely been a favorite. She hopes you enjoy the show and is grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful cast and crew for her final show! Chirp! Chirp!
Sophia Alonso-Ortega (Hair and Makeup Crew)
This is Sofia’s first show she will be part of at Walnut! She has done ballet and other kind of dance in the past and that brought her the motive to be behind the scenes doing hair and makeup. She’s very excited and hopes to enjoy every moment!
Naomi Amsterdam-Warner (Costume Crew)
Naomi is a freshman at Walnut. She is on costume crew and this is their very first show! She enjoys listening to music, Dungeons and Dragons, and playing with their three cats. He hopes you enjoy the show!
McKenzie Bell (Assistant Director)
She loves the Jonas Brothers.
Norah Boehm (A Chorus of Birds)
Norah Boehm is a freshman at Walnut and she is so excited to be part of The Birds. Norah is in the cast as part of the chorus of birds. If you saw The Laramie Project earlier this year, then you may have at noticed her in a variety of roles. Her crew a expériences include hair and make-up in Chicago and lights in last year's One Acts. Norah enjoys cardigans. She thanks you for coming and hopes you enjoy the show. aaa
Will Boone (Co Set Designer)
William is a senior who put blood, sweat, and a lot of tears into set designing a literal mountain in a little box. Will’s natural activities include: guitaring, dealing with Louie, and putting screws and measurements into every production since Rhinoceros and now finishing strong with The Birds. It's been an adventurous and entertaining experience growing into the Walnut Hills Theatre community, mostly constructing and planning but with the occasional dance party backstage. Going out as a leader (like the ones he’s looked up to) in what has become an amazing production of The Birds is an honor. Mother Goose signing off.
Elliot Bruggemann (Assitant Stage Manager)
Kerry Hishon defines a program biography as a short summary of a theatre person's previous work, that is included in a booklet distributed to audience members just before the show starts. Get Tblow out of here. Also Jonas’, father. If you find Dequavion Johnson let me know.
Charles Burdsall (A Movie Mogul / A Chorus of Birds)
Your fourth favorite homeless person. He’s been in The Laramie Project and the first Tenfest 2023, now The Birds, all in his sophomore year because he tend to start things late. He follows after names such as Nate Caudill, Wolf Singer, and the famous Eric Burdsall. Charles has been lured into the world of poetry, music, the gym, and an unsatisfiable desire for the outdoors. Asinus nuces involutae!
Maya Busche (Matt)
Maya Busche plays a human in The Birds.
Andrew Canter (Rags/A Chorus of Birds)
Incredibly cool.
+this is his 21st show
Al Carmicle (Costume Crew)
Al Carmicle is a sophomore and on costume crew for this wonderful show, the Birds. This is her eighth show at Walnut and she hopes you enjoy it!
Riley Coleman (Costume Crew)
Riley Coleman is a sophomore at Walnut. This is her first time working as a part of costume crew. She loves all types of birds, but her favorite would have to be the BeetleGoose featured on behind the scenes on the Beetlejuice Broadway show. She is a totally normal Beetlejuice enjoyer. This will be Riley’s third time participating in Walnut Theater, with the other two being Guys and Dolls and 42nd Street. She hopes you all have an amazing time watching the show!
Grace Cotton (Costume Crew)
Grace Cotton is a freshman at Walnut Hills High School. This is her sixth show at WHHS and she is thrilled to be part of the theater community. She loves getting to make the show come alive from behind the scenes. When she isn't at the theater, she enjoys swimming, being a part of the Chatterbox staff, and robotics. She would like to thank the amazing cast and crew and she hopes you enjoy the show!
Gabby Crawford (Co Lighting Designer)
Gabby is a Junior and is very thrilled to be co-light designing The Birds. This is their fifth show at Walnut Hills and they hope you enjoy every second of The Birds!
Kyra Doty (Superhero #2 / A Chorus of Birds)
Kyra is a senior and she is so excited to be a part of The Birds! This is Kyra’s last Walnut show as an actor. Although she is feeling bittersweet about it, she is incredibly grateful for all the friends and memories she has made through theater. Some of her favorite past roles include Lady Macduff in Macbeth, Aaron Kreiffels in The Laramie Project, and Wayne Hopkins in Puffs. She would like to thank her friends and family for their love and support and the amazing cast, crew and production team of The Birds. She hopes you enjoy the show!
Aubrey Dugen (Costume Crew)
Sursum Ad Summum
Elijah Eison (The King)
Sursum ad Summum.
Nico Fierro (Set Build Crew)
Nico is really cool. Loui
AJ Frecker (A PR Guy/ A Chorus of Birds)
“I don't understand why everybody has to be so judgmental. I understand why mom's judgmental. I think it's 'cause she cares, *partially*. Think it's also partially 'cause, everyone else is lookin' at her like, ’Hey, Cody's just a bum.‘ ’Cody's this,’ ’Cody's that,’ ’Cody's this.‘ Cody's me, bro. Let me be me. When is that going to start?” - Cody Maverick (Surfs Up)
Violet Garitson (A Chorus of Birds)
Violet Garitson is a Sophomore at Walnut Hills High School (shocker). The Birds will be her first time acting, and she's excited to participate as an ensemble bird! Her favorite bird is the penguin, because it looks silly. She was a crew member for Chicago and helped mic people! Violet and mic tape are not friends.
Edmund Gimbert (Sound Crew)
Sursum ad Summum
Jack Hardig (Sound Designer)
Sursum ad Summum
Isabelle Hayes (Costume Crew)
Guess what? No, it's not a chicken butt joke…CHICKEN NUTT
Nico Klein (Hair and Makeup Crew)
This is Nico’s second show that they are working on as hair and makeup crew! Nico is a sophomore at Walnut Hills High School. She enjoys doing hair and makeup as well as dancing and hanging out with his friends. He is very excited to be working on The Birds! They hope to enjoy every second of the production!
Abbie Kershner (Props Designer)
Dr. Pepper please sponsor the walnut hills theater department
Ayana Kim (Props Crew)
Ayana is a sophomore at Walnut and is thrilled to be a part of The Birds as her second show! She loved her time on The Laramie Project and is looking forward to doing props for The Birds. While not at theater you can find her working diligently, painting, reading, or having fun with friends. She hopes you thoroughly enjoy The Birds!
Lex Koester (Costume Crew)
Lex Koester is a senior at Walnut. This is his third and final show at Walnut, working previously on Puffs and The Laramie Project. When they aren’t helping actors discover deodorant, you can find her singing in various walnut choirs or playing dungeons and dragons. They are very grateful for all the memories they have made while being on costume crew!
Naima Jones (Dillon)
Naima is a Junior who is elated to be on the wonderful cast of The Birds, and this is her 10th show at Walnut! Perhaps you’ve seen her in Macbeth as Angus, messing about behind the scenes of Carrie, or if you’re a superfan as the Judge in Chicago! Outside of theatre, Naima likes to headbang, work at the movie theater on the West Side (Come visit she is bored), and daydream. On a good day, you might catch her playing guitar or hanging with friends! But, enough chitchat, please enjoy The Birds (she has sold her soul for this show)… but if anything real were to be taken out of this: It’s not about her, or her friends in the show, or the Birds in general but the friends we made along the way. Oh… and my Chicago bio was NOT written by me @naima._.j
Christian Jordan (Marketing and Publicity Crew)
Christian is a senior at Walnut Hills, and this is his third show overall, but his first show as a part of a crew! In the other two shows he was apart of, he was Rulon Stacey in The Laramie Project, and was Amos Hart in Chicago (although you may not remember seeing him). Christian is very grateful to be a part of the Marketing and Publicity Crew, and hopes that he does his job well, and also hopes that you enjoy the show.
Adelaide Linser (A Singer/Songwriter / A Chorus of Birds)
Adelaide is a sophomore and this is her 14th show at Walnut. You may have recently seen her as Mary Sunshine in Chicago, Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street, or Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. This is also her 7th show on marketing and publicity for Walnut where she runs the Tiktok page alongside her absolute idol, Caroline Lovelace. Outside of theater, Adelaide has done 3 seasons of colorguard and studies opera. Adelaide hopes you have fun and enjoy the show!
Abi Lonergan (Props Crew)
Sursum ad Summum
Bailey McKinney (Set Build Crew)
Bailey McKinney is a senior this year, and this is her 7th show! Usually she works on build crew (some favorite shows being Carrie, Puffs, and The Laramie Project), but you may have seen her running around in a cool headset for this year's One Acts Festival. In her free time, she enjoys petting her cats, reading, and making people smile. Bailey would like to thank her partner in crime for getting her to this point, without him she may have never joined this amazing family. She is so grateful for the memories she’s made, but most importantly she hopes you love the big mountain!
Felix Moore (Lighting Crew)
Felix is a sophomore at Walnut who has participated in thirteen shows so far in the WHHS Theatre department. He has enjoyed nearly every moment of being part of various crews throughout his high school career. Most notably, if you were present at our spring play in 2023, Puffs, you may have had slugs thrown at you, or even better, witnessed the dragon’s egg (that was Felix) appearing out of the ground. Although theater is one of his main hobbies, oftentimes he will be baking or sleeping. Enjoy the show 🦅.
Fiona Nance (Props Crew)
Fiona is a 7th grader excited to be a part of her second play. She loves all things arts and crafts and her favorite dad joke is- “what do you call a sleeping bull? A bulldozer!” Why aren't you laughing?
Lily Pavelka (Set Build Crew)
Lily Pavelka is a freshman and has helped to build sets for a few other shows like Puffs or Guys and Dolls. Her favorite bird is a fancy pigeon and hopes you enjoy the show as much as she does!
Nia Person (Hair and Makeup Crew)
Sursum ad Summum.
Ryan Peerless (Co Lighting Designer)
Sursum ad Summum
Lizzy Rebber (Marketing and Publicity Co Head)
Sursum ad Sumum.
Sci Redding (Hair and Makeup Designer)
Sci is a sophomore at WHHS, This is Sci’s third show that he is designing, he is very excited to be a part of The Birds production team.
Khara Rosebrook (Costume Crew)
Khara’s last show at Walnut! She hopes you enjoy the hundreds of feathers she kind of helped sew together!
Max Rush (A Chorus of Birds/Set Build Crew)
Max is a senior and they have a serious question. “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”
Jonathan Rubin (Famous Sidekick / A Chorus of Birds)
Oh great. Here we go again. First Jonathan informed you he wasn't a homophobic pastor in The Laramie Project then you found out he wasn't a racist lawyer in Chicago and now he would like to inform you that he is not a bird. Or wait…Is Jonathan a bird? This will be a lot for him to think about. “Cacaw”-Jonathan Rubin
Clark Sayre (A Prophet / A Politician / The Open Defecator / A Process Server / PR Guy Interloper, Marketing and Publicity Co Head)
Clark is a sophomore at Walnut and he has done a lot of shows to the point where he kind of lost count. You may have seen him releasing his inner lion in Chicago or connecting with his nonexistent Irish roots in The Ferryman. As Co-Head of Marketing and Publicity, if you are reading this that means that Clark did his job correctly, so he offers you great gratitude. He hopes you enjoy this silly time and maybe you will laugh at him a little bit? Well nobody knows for sure.
Lauryn Shafer (Superhero #1 / A Chorus of Birds)
The awesomenest (get it?? Nest??? AHAAHHAHA)
Nyla Shahanavaz (Stage Manager)
Nyla Shahanavaz is currently a Junior at WHHS. She loves working on the technical side of productions and her favorite aspect is stage management, although sound design takes a close second. In her free time, you may catch her teaching little kids how to swim, listening to music, or hanging out with friends. She is so proud of the cast, crew, and production team for putting this show together and hopes you enjoy it immensely!
Emma Smith (Costume Designer, Department Costume Manager)
Emma is a senior, and she is very excited and sad to be designing her last production at Walnut. She is also the costume manager in the department, and currently working on organizing the chaos that lives in costume storage. In addition to The Birds, she has costumed Puffs, 42nd Street, Guys and Dolls, and the 2021 One Acts Festival, as well as acted in Hamlet, Frozen, an Evening of Essays, and Lend Me A Tenor.
Jana Smith (A Chorus of Birds)
“These are my ladies. This is Jill. This is my lady, Amy. Little Suzy. Brianna…. you know why we call her Brianna, right? ……yeahhh it’s a long story.” - Tank Evans (Surfs Up)
Nola Stowe (Costume Crew)
Sursum ad Summum.
Louie Tucker (Set Build Crew)
Louie is a freshman. If she was a burd, she would be a flying fish. Dont ask me. Im just a freshman. You're welcome.
Renee Visconti (Sound Crew)
Renee Visconti is a senior at Walnut Hills High School. This is her third show working on sound crew, and she loves shoebill storks, mispronouncing Aristophanes, and using maybe too much gaff tape. Outside of theatre, she’s an avid procrastinator, artist, member of Walnut’s Wind Ensemble, and vice president of the Tri-M Music Honor Society. She’s super excited to be part of this crew and hopes you enjoy the show!
Jonas Warner (Set Build Crew)
As a member of the Jonas brothers and the Warner brothers, Jonas knows what a good show looks like. Although the Birds is as old as most people's parents(Just kidding), it still is a great show. My one hope is that this can prove that we are worthy of Dr. Pepper’s sponsorship (Please sponsor us).
Oran Wilkins (Lighting Crew)
Oran is a Senior at Walnut and is very excited for the production of The Birds. This is his 16th show overall, but his first show on lights. Some of his favorite shows include Jack VS. Jill (Director), Chicago (Assistant Director/Prop Designer), Macbeth (Props Designer), and Spongebob the Musical (Props Designer). When he is not doing theater he can often be found outside, playing lacrosse, hanging out with friends, watching Bluey, or creating controlled chaos at the zoo. He hopes you enjoy The Birds!
Evan Williams (Set Build Crew)
Full time occupation as jonas’ father figure. Get tblow outa here.
Polly Wilson (Set Build Crew)
Sursum ad Summum.