The Players

Raife Baker (HARRIS) is a recent graduate of ACT's MFA program in San Francisco, where he appeared in ACT's productions of A Christmas Carol (Young Scrooge) and The Government Inspector (Mishka). He has also performed at California Shakespeare Theater in Richard III (Lord Grey, Tyrrell) and Twelfth Night (Antonio). Favorite roles in ACT's conservatory include Tom in The Glass Menagerie, David in David Copperfield, Treplev in The Nina Variations, and Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest. Raife is originally from Atlanta, Georgia where he received his BA in Theater Studies and Philosophy from Emory University. Proud member of Actors Equity.

J.C. Ernst (MATTY) was most recently seen in Te Ilum's productions of The Infernal Machine (Oedipus) and a staged version of Pink Floyd's THE WALL (Pink), as well as Big Josh in BIG, The Musical! at the Hale Centre Theatre. He played Jamie in the West Coast Premier of The Wendy Play and Fred in A Christmas Carol at A.C.T. in San Francisco, where he also received his M.F.A. degree. Favorite roles include Vince in Tape, File in The Rainmaker, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Eugene Marchbanks in Shaw's Candida, and Romeo. He has performed with the Tooth & Nail Theatre Co., Salt Lake Shakespeare Festival, and work-shopped J.T. Rogers critically acclaimed play The Overwhelming with the Salt Lake Acting Company. J.C. holds a B.F.A. degree from the University of Utah. Proud member of Actors Equity.

Natalie Hegg (CLARE) is thrilled to be a part of the Crook Theater and it’s inaugural production! Since recently moving to New York she has done readings of new work at Primary Stages, Playwrights Horizons, and Extant Arts Company. Favorite credits include Rock ‘n’ Roll (West Coast Premiere), A Christmas Carol, and War Music (1st Look Workshop) at the American Conservatory Theatre; workshops of Collapse and Elisabeth and the Water Troll at the New Harmony Project; Orestes 2.0 at the BoCoCa Arts Festival; Twelfth Night at the Great River Shakespeare Festival (Apprentice Program). Natalie holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre and a BS from the University of Evansville. She is also a singer-songwriter who has performed in a few bars here and there around NYC.

Amanda Sykes (VAL) Regional Credits: Circle Mirror Transformation (George St. Playhouse); Proof (The Skyline Theatre Company); The House of Yes (The Unproven Theatre Company); Nobody Suspects a Butterfly (Royal Family Productions). A 2008 graduate of the American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program, she appeared at A.C.T. in Tis Pity She's a Whore (Ensemble; U/S Annabella), as Marya in The Government Inspector and as Belle in A Christmas Carol and in A.C.T. M.F.A. Program productions as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, Clytemnestra in The Tantalus Cycle: Telephus, and Lizzie in The Rainmaker. Favorite past productions include Three Sisters (Natasha), A Bright Room Called Day (Zillah), Twelfth Night (Olivia), and Blue Window (Boo). In 2007, she was awarded the Shenson Performing Arts Scholarship for Outstanding Young Professional Artist in San Francisco and participated in the Prima del Teatro summer training program in San Miniato, Italy. She graduated from the University of Evansville with a B.F.A. in Performance in 2005.

Kyle Schaefer (JIM) New York: A Christmas Carol, The Light Inside, Beyond Measure (Reading). A.C.T.: The Tosca Project (World Premiere), A Christmas Carol. A.C.T. M.F.A. Program: O Lovely Glowworm, Her Naked Skin, The Diviners, Increased Difficulty of Concentration, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Critic. Regional: Candide (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Anything Goes, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (Workshop) at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Kiss Me, Kate, The Producers, The Crucible (SRT). Other performances with: Shakespeare & Company, New Harmony Project, Kennedy Center, Collège International de Cannes, San Francisco Symphony. Will travel to Vancouver and Calgary in the Fall with A.C.T.’s Tosca Café. Member of AEA. BS: University of Evansville. MFA: American Conservatory Theater.