CAST

Kari Buckley is the recipient of Boston’s 2024 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play for her role as Harper in Angels in America, pts 1 & 2 with Bedlam/Central Square Theater. Originally from York, ME, Kari returned to the Seacoast in 2023 to play Mimi in the New England premiere of Is Edward Snowden Single? with Bardo Theatre Company/The Players’ Ring, one of her absolute favorite shows to date. Additional past roles include Callie in Stop Kiss, Nora in A Doll's House, and Mandy in Time Stands Still. She’s also in a Lifetime movie if you’re into that sort of thing! Kari is so unbelievably grateful to be back in Portsmouth, the place that encouraged her initial love of theater, to perform with her childhood friend in this beautiful play about growing up. A million thanks to Dylan, Tyler and Tim for being truly inspiring artistic collaborators and friends, her mom for the never-ending support, and of course the sweeties, for everything. Graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse. IG: @misskaribuckley.

Kari Buckley (Kayleen)

Dylan is thrilled to be returning to The Players Ring for the first time in fifteen years! Broadway: Leopoldstadt, Betrayal. Off-Broadway: Love, Love, Love, Pope. Broadway National Tour: Tina, Beautiful. Regional: Windfall, Grease. TV/Film: We Crashed, A Spectacular Holiday, Mannies (Creator/Writer). Training: Carnegie Mellon University. Thank you to Tyler and Kari and the rest of the creative team here at The Players Ring! Love to my family, my wife Sarah, and our dogs Josh and Warren. @DSWallach

Dylan S. Wallach* (Doug)

CREATIVE TEAM

Photography by Ben Bagley Media.

RAJIV JOSEPH (Playwright) Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. He has twice won the Obie Award for Best New American Play, first in 2016 with Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play) and then, this year, for Describe the Night. Other plays include Archduke, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool and Mr. Wolf. Joseph has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He is a board member of the Lark Play Development Center in New York City. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

TYLER CHRISTIE (Director) is a New Hampshire-grown/Brooklyn-based director of plays and musicals. NY: DECAY (EST/YoungBlood), Six Red Seeds, The Cult of Domina, Mommy and the Pirate (Theater Accident’s Hit & Run Reading Series), Up Strung Down (Fresh Binder@The Tank), Tamra Wasserman presents... (The PIT/Slingshot), SERIALS (The Flea), Father Demo Square (NYTF). Regional: Fully Committed (July 2025), Witch & Deadly Murder (Winni Playhouse, NH Premiere), Is Edward Snowden Single? (Bardo/Players' Ring, NE Premiere), Perfect Arrangement (Bay Area Premiere) & Little Shop of Horrors (Hillbarn Theatre), Rock of Ages (Firehouse Center), Ken Ludwig's Baskerville & In the Heights (SRT, NH premieres), Nine Lives (Chicago MT Fest.) Educational: CANS (Weathervane TYA), Violet (PAPA), Into the Woods, Boeing Boeing, dark play (CCC) and Almost, Maine. Tyler has developed new plays with New Dramatists, The Lark, Page 73, The New Group, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Working Theater, Theater Accident, The Tank, The PIT, Arts on Site and Victory Gardens. He is a Co-Founder of Slingshot Theater Co., an alum of the SDC Observership Class and is currently the Associate Director of the Playwrights’ Lab at New Dramatists, the country’s oldest playwright center. As a theater educator, He has been an artist-in-residence at Natick High School and a summer camp instructor for over 12 years, most recently with Upside Arts. BA in Theatre Direction from Columbia College Chicago.

LAUREN STETSON (Lighting Designer) is so very excited to be working with The Players’ Ring and Bardo. She lives in Melrose, MA spending her days raising her four children while moonlighting as a freelance lighting designer in the Boston area. She spreads her love of lighting to young thespians as a guest lecturer/ advisor for Wellesley College. Most recent credits include Alice by Heart for Boston Conservatory, A Raisin in the Sun and Diaspora! for New Rep Theatre.

KATE DUGAS (Stage Manager) is a theatrical professional based in New England and recently started at New Hampton School as Technical Director and Visual/ Performing Arts Faculty. They went to Saint Anselm College with a BFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in Music and a minor in English in the Theatre Arts. They have been a theatre professional in many capacities all over New England such as Technical Director, Stage Manager, Production Manager, Intimacy Director, Scenic Charge, and many others, most recently at Seacoast Repertory Theatre., The Winnipesaukee Playhouse and Barnstormers. Throughout this year, they are currently working on the Accelerator Program to complete certification with IDC as an Intimacy Director soon.

CLAY CATES (Rehearsal Stage Manager) is a theatre artist and props maker originally from the Seacoast, now located in NYC. Previous stage management credits include the premier of original play PS 306 at NY Theatre Festival, as well as work at Seacoast Repertory Theatre. Production design credits include the premier of the original musical, Apocalypse Truck at Theatre for The New City in NYC. Props credits include Mac Haydn Theatre, Winnepesaukee Playhouse and Weathervane Theatre.

REEGAN CAMIRE (Assistant SM) is happy to be back working behind the scenes at The Players’ Ring. She has previously worked on this stage in shows like Gay Bride of Frankenstein and off stage for The Legend of Georgia McBride and A Tuna Christmas.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.

Sam Rogers, Tim Hackney and Robert Fabricio Armstrong.

Tim Hackney and Robert Fabricio Armstrong.

CAST

TIM HACKNEY* (KJ)

Tim is the artistic director of Bardo Theatre Company and has taught for Commonwealth Shakespeare, Seacoast Rep., Bedford High School and other theaters and schools across the country. Bardo: Is Edward Snowden Single? (Edward Snowden). National Tours: Historian/Herbert/Not Dead Fred in Spamalot; Mrs. Bumbrake/Teacher in Peter and the Starcatcher; and The Drowsy Chaperone. Regional: A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (SpeakEasy Stage); Romeo & Juliet (Commonwealth Shakespeare); Charles Ramsdell in The Whaleship Essex (Hudson Guild); Joe Pitt in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Playhouse on Park); Jason Posner in Wit (Playhouse on Park). Film: Mother Android, The Catcher Was a Spy, Detroit.

ROBERT FABRICIO ARMSTRONG (JASPER)

Robert studied acting at The New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Recent works include performing in the Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s Summer 2022 - the entire 2023 Season, "In The Heights” directed by OBC Eliseo Roman and Choreographed by Rebecca Kritzer in Fort Meyers, FL., Directing "Practically Ordinary Ep.1* -PILOT " Winner of Best Comedy at the IndieBoom! Film Festival, and Directing “Drowning” selected by the SOHO International Film Festival in NYC.

SAM ROGERS (EVAN)

Sam Rogers is a Portsmouth based actor and a recent graduate from Western Connecticut State University with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Sam recently appeared in the American High film "Crush", streaming on Hulu. He was a company member in the 2023 MainStage season at the Seacoast Rep. Favorite credits include: John Proctor in "The Crucible" (for which he was awarded ‘Best Performer in a Play’ by the 2023 Broadway World NH awards), Anthony Hope in "Sweeney Todd", Carl Bruner in "Ghost", and Billy Crocker in "Anything Goes". Other regional credits include "Much Ado About Nothing" (Benedick) at Ives Concert Park

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.

CAST

Kari Buckley (Mimi)

Kari is so unbelievably excited to be back in Portsmouth, NH, the place she grew up doing theater! Despite exclusively playing animals and old men as a child, Kari eventually moved on to roles like Callie in Stop Kiss, Nora in A Doll's House, and Mandy in Time Stands Still. She’s also in a Lifetime movie if you’re into that sort of thing. Working on this incredible play with some of her favorite people has been an absolute dream and Kari couldn’t be more grateful. A million thanks to Tyler, Maria & Tim, the sweeties, and her mom for the never ending support.

Maria Jung* (April)

Maria is an actor, model and photographer based in New York City. Selected theater credits include the premieres of Chill (Merrimack Repertory Theatre) and Avalon (Opera House Arts). This is the first play Maria has performed in since before the pandemic. She is over the moon to be returning to the stage in a city as warm and welcoming as Portsmouth. Maria is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse where she met Kari, and could not be luckier to be working and laughing with her in this wonderful and dynamic play. She would like to thank Tyler for his bold and fearless direction, her mother for her unwavering support, and all you lovely people that support the arts! She is repped by Boals, Winnett & Associates and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Check her out @mariafromchinatown on Instagram!

Tim Hackney* (Edward Snowden)

National Tours: Historian/Herbert/Not Dead Fred in Spamalot; Mrs. Bumbrake/Teacher in Peter and the Starcatcher; and The Drowsy Chaperone. Regional: A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (SpeakEasy Stage); Romeo & Juliet (Commonwealth Shakespeare); Charles Ramsdell in The Whaleship Essex (Hudson Guild); Joe Pitt in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches(Playhouse on Park); Jason Posner in Wit (Playhouse on Park). Film: Mother Android, The Catcher Was a Spy, Detroit. Tim served as the director of Senior Rep. at Seacoast Repertory Theater. He has taught for Commonwealth Shakespeare, Bedford High School and several other theaters and schools across the country. He is the artistic director of Bardo Theatre Company.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.

CREATIVE TEAM

KATE CORTESI (Playwright) is a Brooklyn- and Boston-based playwright from Washington D.C. Plays: Love (Marin Theatre Company directed by Mike Donahue, Sky Cooper New American Play Prize winner, two-time Kilroys List, Ojai Playwrights Conference, South Coast Rep New Scripts, WP Theater/Colt Coeur Parity Fest), Is Edward Snowden Single? (The Jungle Theater directed by Christina Baldwin, Single Carrot Theater, The Pool/New Ohio directed by Kate Bergstrom, Dorset Theatre Festival, Platform Presents New Play Award finalist), Great Kills (Princess Grace Award winner, Premiere Stages New Play Festival), One More Less (NYFA Award winner, Relentless Award finalist, Playwrights Horizons New Works Lab directed by Robert O'Hara), A Patron of the Arts (Cherry Lane Mentor Project, KIT Italia, South Coast Rep New Scripts), and Citizens United, a short comedy for young performers about the Supreme Court ruling. Cortesi's work has been seen across the country and internationally, including in translation, and is published by Samual French. Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Rep, Keen Theatre Company. Awards/honors: New Dramatists, Huntington Playwriting Fellowship, NYFA Fellowship, Princess Grace Award, Columbia University's Karen Brownstein Award, and three time Kilroy's List. Cortesi has taught writing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Riker's Island and lots of places in between. She's written plenty of scripts for film and TV as well. For more, please visit Katecortesi.com

TYLER CHRISTIE (Director/ Design) is a New Hampshire-grown, New York-based director of plays and musicals. NY: Tamra Wasserman Presents (The PIT), SERIALS @The Flea, Father Demo Square (NYTF). Regional: Little Shop of Horrors (Hillbarn Theater) Deadly Murder (Winni Playhouse), Baskerville and In the Heights (SRT, NH premieres), Nine Lives (Chicago MT Fest.) Educational: Into the Woods, Boeing Boeing, dark play (CCC) and Almost, Maine. Upcoming: Perfect Arrangement (Hillbarn, Mar. 2023). Tyler has developed new plays with New Dramatists, The Lark, Page 73, The New Group, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Victory Gardens Theater. He was a Co-Founder of Slingshot Theater Company, a member of the SDC Observership Class and is currently the Associate Director of the Playwrights’ Lab at New Dramatists, the country’s oldest playwright center. As a theater educator, Tyler has been an artist-in-residence at Natick High School and has been a summer camp instructor for the past 12 years, most recently with Upside Arts. BA in Theater Direction from Columbia College Chicago.

KATIE JUSTER* (Stage Manager) Katie is a professional actress, stage manager, and teaching artist. She currently teaches drama at Portsmouth High School and Middle School and is the Education Director for Bardo. Recent credits include Evil Dead (Linda; Firehouse Center for the Arts); Barefoot in the Park (Corrie; Player's Ring), and Stat Geek in Natick (Stage Manager, 3S Arts Space).

BRETTON REIS (Lighting Design) is wicked pumped to be working on this show! Since earning his MSc from the U. of Edinburgh, he has worked in many theatres throughout New England, designing, acting in, and/or directing over 200 productions. Recent credits include writing/directing "Stat Geek in Natick" (first place, 2021 Voices of Truth Festival), adapting/directing/designing "Frankenstein" here at the Players' Ring, and performing in "Holmes and Watson" at the Hatbox. Thank you to the Bardo team for their dedication, and to his friends and family for their support. For more, check out brettonreis.com

NICK TAVARES (Assistant Stage Manager) is a senior at Portsmouth High School right here in the seacoast! He is grateful that you came to support not only live theater, but a new and upcoming theater company full of wonderful people. He has stage managed several prior shows through Upside Arts, as well as other roles including lighting design for Upside Art's "Pippin," music direction for "A Year With Frog And Toad" (UA), as well as spotlight and run crew for various seacoast theaters! He wants to thank the crew and cast for all the laughter, pizza, Survivor discussions, and wonderful art that they are making. He plans on attending the Theater Education program at the University of New Hampshire next fall. Thank you for coming!