Cast of A Doll’s House
LIZ ELKINS NEWCOMER (Nora) is a Founding Company Member of CCS. With CCS Virtual Reading Series: Uncle Vanya and The Importance of Being Earnest. Theatre Credits: Off-Broadway World Premiere of Sea of Tranquility (Atlantic Theater Company), The Deception (La Jolla Playhouse / Theatre de la Jeune Lune), LoveSick (59E59Theaters), and The Fox (George Frankel Theatre). Liz has an MFA in Theatre from UCSD, where she performed in Pericles, Good Breeding, The Love of the Nightingale and Gum. She received a BFA with Honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School and Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Film/T.V. Credits: SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for Black Panther, Breaking News in Yuba County, Assassination Nation, Out of Blue, Bad Moms, Award-Winning Short Film Harry Grows Up, NCIS: New Orleans, Army Wives, and Mercy. She is a proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. Liz is also a Certified Enneagram Teacher, and offers individual sessions and workshops as owner of Art of the Enneagram.
JANA MESTECKY (Mrs. Linde) is a Founding Company Member of Crescent City Stage. With CCS Virtual Reading Series: Uncle Vanya and The Importance of Being Earnest. After two decades in New York City, Jana has found her a new home in New Orleans this past year. She has appeared with companies on stages across the country including the Astoria Symphonic Choir, The New Group, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Mint, The Gene Frankel Theatre, Lincoln Center Festival, Ernie Martin Studio Theatre, DR2. Playhouse on Park, Shakespeare and Co (Paris), The Players Club, Little Light Productions, and the Bleecker Street Theatre. She has also been a resident company member of The New Globe Theatre Inc., the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ Imaginary Theatre Company, and now Crescent City Stage. Her work extended beyond the stage to include television, film and commercial work nationally and internationally. In addition to her BA in French and Theatre, she holds an MFA in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University and has studied at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, Théâtre des Cinquantes in Paris, France, and The Actors Studio in New York City. Her other passion is teaching where she has held positions as Chair of the Performing Arts at The Spence School (NYC) in addition to other appointments at St. John’s University, The Birch Wathen Lenox School, The Buckley School, and Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré (New Orleans). She is a member of the professional unions AEA and SAG-AFTRA.
MICHAEL A. NEWCOMER (Torvald) founding company member of CCS. With CCS Virtual Reading Series: Uncle Vanya, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Macbeth. Michael has been seen in over 35 productions across the country, performing at some of the country’s most renowned regional theatres. For all the work that is fit to print on his career, visit http://www.michaelanewcomer.com. Proud AEA and #FairWageOnStage advocate.
ABDUL-KHALIQ MURTADHA (Dr. Rank) has enjoyed various classical and contemporary roles in regional and repertory theatres across the country and is delighted to be appearing in his first Crescent City Stage Virtual Reading. He has played Macduff before in Macbeth at the Ensemble Theatre Company in Santa Barbara and his past Shakespeare roles include: Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure , the title role in Othello, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Jacques in As You Like It, Escalus in Measure for Measure, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona. A few of his most recent roles include playing Claudius and the Ghost in Hamlet for the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company , Orsino in Twelfth Night at Pioneer Theatre Co.(Salt Lake City), Martin Luther King, Jr. in Mountaintop at WBTT (Sarasota), James T in Barbecue at the Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis), for Ensemble Theatre Co. (Santa Barbara), and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the LBJ plays - All the Way and The Great Society, as well as Dr. Prentice in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at Asolo Rep in (Sarasota). Some of his TV and Film credits include: NCIS-LA, All My Children, Raising the Bar, The Unit, Medium, Numb3rs, and the current streaming feature – 8989 Redstone. (Amazon Prime). Awards include Best Actor - New Orleans Short film festival - In the Wind; NAACP Award: Best Ensemble - All My Sons (playing Chris Keller) at The Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles. He was recently appointed the position of visiting Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota and was also the Featured Guest Artist for the Africana Repertory Theatre of IUPUI where he directed The People Speak/ Voices of the African Diaspora. He is an ensemble member of the Fonseca Theatre Company in Indianapolis and his interactive multimedia play The American Muslim Project was the resident umbrella project for the 2019 Indy Convergence. BA – Indiana University, Bloomington; MFA – University of California, San Diego ** Member: AEA, SAGAFTRA
ALOK TEWARI (Krogstad) Broadway: The Band’s Visit Other Theatre: Monsoon Wedding (Berkeley); The Band’s Visit (Atlantic); Awake and Sing! (Public / NAATCO); A Fable, Through the Yellow Hour, War (Rattlestick); Bunty Berman Presents, Rafta, Rafta… (New Group) Television: “BULL,” “For Life,” “FBI,” “Looming Tower,” “Iron Fist,” “House of Cards,” “Madam Secretary,” “Homeland,” “Fringe” Film: Pirates of Somalia, Shelter, Brooklyn’s Finest. Upcoming TV/Film: “Ramy,” Love-40
MARY PAULEY (Anne-Marie) has lived and worked in New Orleans since November of 2005. She enjoys working with a variety of local companies and has been pleased to be a part of Le Petit Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol the past two years. She is a multiple Big Easy and Marquis award winner for performances of A in Three Tall Women, Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Bev/Kathy in Clybourne Park in New Orleans. Other favorite roles from the past include Lucille in Dividing the Estate, Linda in Death of a Salesman, Malifica in Sleeping Beauty: An American Panto, Marcus in Titus Andronicus, Molly and the Fraulein in two productions of The Gnadiges Fraulein, Winnie in Happy Days, Ethel in On Golden Pond, Big 8 in Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Aida in Over the River and Through the Woods, Doris in Same Time Next Year, Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy, and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Film credits include The Monkey’s Paw, One Month Out, Tres Leches, and Hut. Mary has worked with The Dallas Children’s Theatre in Texas and had the pleasure of working with former members of The Living Theatre in New York. After studying at Richland College and The University of Texas in Dallas, and the HB Studio in New York, she received a BFA with Honors from Cameron University in Oklahoma. Mary is a proud AEA member.
AVA KREUTZIGER (Emmy Helmer and Children), having just moved from New York City to New Orleans last year, is thrilled to perform with Crescent City Stage. Performance highlights include Dixie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, Peter in Peter Pan, Susan in Funeral Parlor, Donkey in Shrek, Ensemble in The Complete Works of American History Abridged and The Little Shop of Horrors. She is currently a student at the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans.
BROOKE ISHIBASHI (HOST) originated roles in the world premieres of Cambodian Rock Band (La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory), Takarazuka! (music by Dave Malloy), A Beautiful Day In November... (Women’s Project), Saturnalia (directed by Daniel Fish). With CCS Virtual Reading Series: Macbeth and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other notable: the critically acclaimed Good Person of Szechwan with Taylor Mac (The Public), Qui Nguyen’s The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi), Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower (Ars Nova), All’s Well That Ends Well (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Developmental: created new works with Vampire Cowboys, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Thomas Kail, Maltby & Shire, Lear deBessonet, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, BD Wong, Evan Cabnet, May Adrales, Lee Sunday Evans, Lloyd Suh, Kimber Lee, Baayork Lee, Geffen Playhouse, Lincoln Center, NY City Center, La MaMa, Vineyard Theatre, New Georges, Lark Play Development, NAAP, NAATCO, Soho Rep, Clubbed Thumb, HERE Arts, The Foundry. Concerts: Joe’s Pub, Highline Ballroom, City Winery, Stonewall Inn. TV: Series lead in DJ Nash’s People Are Talking (NBC, dir. Pam Fryman). Education: BA in Theatre/Musical Theatre, Marymount Manhattan College; Upright Citizens Brigade. Proud Actors’ Equity Association Western Region Principal Councilor and core member of Fair Wage Onstage. @BrookeIshibashi / FairWageOnstage.org