The King's Wife

WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST

GABRIELA CARRILLO (Queen Katherine of Aragon) is a Mexican-American actor, singer and songwriter currently based in NYC. Katherine of Aragon is the second Tudor queen she’s portrayed in her career, having just completed 3 years playing Catherine Parr in SIX on Broadway and the 1st National Tour. Graduate of Berklee College of Music. @officialgabrielacarrillo

KERI RENÉ FULLER (Lady Anne Boleyn) Upcoming Off-Broadway: The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (Coco); Broadway: SIX (Jane Seymour), Jagged Little Pill, Waitress (Francine, Jenna u/s); Tour: Cats (Grizabella); TV: Law & Order: SVU (Snowflake). Also, [title of show] (Heidi), Murder Ballad (Sara), Lizzie Borden (Lizzie), A Chorus Line (Maggie), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Rachel), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), Titus Andronicus (Lavinia). Workshops: GATSBY with Florence + The Machine. Find her music under DITTA on all streaming platforms.

J. QUNITON JOHNSON he/him (King Henry VIII) is currently in the cast of Hamilton on Broadway. He made his Broadway debut as the first replacement for Hercules Mulligan/James Madison in the show. Other notable shows include: Tony Award-nominated Choir Boy, Footloose and In the Heights at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

EVELYN HILL she/her (Lady Maria de Salinas) is thrilled to join Paramount Theater’s workshop of The King’s Wife. Recent roles include Dawn in Waitress and Maureen in RENT at the Omaha Community Playhouse. She has performed with BLUEBARN Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Commons, Opera Omaha, Performing Artists Repertory Theatre, The Rose Theatre, and Steelhouse Omaha.

DONNA LOUDEN (Lady Hastings) Donna Louden is so excited to be returning to The Paramount Aurora as part of the development of The Kings Wife. Other Paramount credits include Next To Normal (Jeff Nomination) and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She has toured the country with the national tour of Bright Star and most recently, Donna spent the holiday season at Hong Kong Disneyland as a vocalist in A Holiday Wish Come True. Many thanks to the whole team at Paramount, Mêlisa Annis, Jamie Floyd and Tamilla Woodard, and the team at Stewart Talent.

ANAND NAGRAJ he/him (Judge) Tour: Aladdin. Chicago: Drury Lane, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Children’s, Court, Northlight, Silk Road, and TimeLine. Regional: Milwaukee Rep, Kansas City Rep, Denver Center, and the Utah, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, Idaho, and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festivals. TV: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD (NBC), Proven Innocent (FOX). Voice: Shiva in Ghee Happy (YouTube), Tony the Tiger.

ANGEL ALZEIDAN she/they (Princess Mary) is so excited to be back at Paramount and to be a part of the new Spark Lab Series! Recent credits include: Khalilah in Siluetas (Power Street Theatre), Natalie in Next To Normal (Paramount Theatre), and US Young Layal/Marwa in Layalina (Goodman Theatre). Upcoming: Angel will be making her feature film debut as Seema in The Alien, shooting this summer! Endless thanks to MMV Talent and Shirley Hamilton Talent!

ADAM LASALLE he/him (Cardinal) is humbled, grateful, and honored! Off-Broadway: King George in Spamilton (NY Times Critic’s Pick). Regional: 2 Pianos 4 Hands (Northlight Theatre), Spamilton (Original Chicago Cast/Music Director, Royal George Theatre), Beautiful, Darling Grenadine (Marriott Theatre), among others. TV: NBC’s Chicago Fire. Endless gratitude to the teams at Paramount and DDO, his family and friends, and his fiancée Allison. www.adamlasalle.com.

PEYTON SCHOENHOFER he/him (Lord Thomas) a Rockford native, is thrilled to continue his journey in the Midwest and make his debut with Paramount Theatre’s Spark Lab Series. With a strong background in theater and film, his recent credits include New Faces Sing Broadway NOW and an appearance on Chicago Fire.

Who’s Who Behind the Scenes

MELISA ANNIS (Book) is an award-winning playwright and theater-maker. Mêlisa has developed and presented work at and with Playwrights Horizons, Rosalind Productions, Primary Stages, BMG Music, The Lark, Parsnip Ship, The New School, The Playground Experiment, Rattlestick Theater, Tangent Theater, RAL Productions, Red Bull Theater, The Ambassadors Theatre Group (London), Arcola Theatre (London), Berkley Rep, Theatre for a New City, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre. Radio Drama: Mêlisa was lead writer on radio series For Spacious Skies which was awarded the True West Award, CO. Her play Beginnings was awarded the Spirit of The Festival Award, Ireland, and she is currently developing a radio series based on love letters sent between soldiers during the American civil war. Mêlisa was the recipient of the Parity Commission for her play Charlie’s Waiting, and is excited to be continuing development of her play The Inheritance of a Long-Term Fault with Clutch Productions. Mêlisa is a frequent contributor to the BBC, BBC Wales and S4C and she’s a proud Welsh speaker. Diolch mawr i Peter.

JAMIE FLOYD (Songs and Lyrics) is a Nashville-based, independent 3x Grammy-nominated songwriter and recording artist. Her songs have been recorded by artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, Miranda Lambert, Ronnie Dunn, Madi Diaz, Sturgill Simpson, Lizzy McAlpine and Brian Wilson. She has written extensively for film and TV, including the finale for Dolly Parton’s A Country Christmas Story. As an artist, she has toured nationally and internationally, performing at Stagecoach, The Grand Ole Opry, The Bluebird Cafe and the Country Music Hall Fame to name a few. Floyd’s journey in the music industry, including her experience as the “Grammy-nominated waitress,” was featured alongside Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris & Jason Isbell in the critically acclaimed documentary The Last Songwriter, which advocated for the Music Modernization Act. In addition to The King’s Wife, she is currently working on two other new musical theatre projects: That Boy Ain’t Right and Killin’ It: A Howdy Horror Murder Mystery Musical. Her latest single “Sad Girls Do” was featured on Spotify’s “Fresh Finds: Best Of 2023” playlist, which highlights the best of all-genre independent releases.

TAMILLA WOODARD (Director) has directed at theaters nationally and internationally, including at WP Theater, Clubbed Thumb, The Atlantic Theatre Company, The Alliance, The Guthrie, Baltimore Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts with TheaterWorksUSA, and The Cleveland Public Theatre, among others. She currently chairs the Acting Program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and is a resident director at Yale Repertory Theatre and the co-founder of the site specific international partnership PopUP Theatrics, which creates large-scale immersive theatrical works. She was previously the co-artistic director of Working Theater and served as the BOLD associate artistic director of WP Theater. Tamilla also served as the associate director of the Tony Award-winning Hadestown on Broadway in its premier season. Recent: Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at The Folger Theater, Christina Anderson’s the ripple, the wave that carried me home, and The Democracy Project, a site specific work for Federal Hall written by Tanya Barfield, Larissa FastHorse, Lisa D’Amour, Melissa James Gibson, Michael R. Jackson and Bruce Norris. Film: The Kilbane’s Weightless. Tamilla was named one of 50 Women to Watch on Broadway, is a proud board member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and is a recipient of the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.

JARED STEIN (Music Director, Keyboard) has spent his career as a music director and music supervisor for live theater, film and television. His credits include the Broadway and touring productions of American Idiot, Hair (revival), Spring Awakening (1st National and Deaf West Theater), and Rent. While in Los Angeles, he served as associate musical director for both live television productions of Grease and Rent. He appeared as a guest music director on Disney+’s series Encore!, and recently completed 5 seasons as music arranger/producer for Freeform’s Good Trouble. His first feature film as executive music producer, Your Monster, was accepted to Sundance Film Festival in 2024. This summer he will serve as Associate Music Director for Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl. Jared lives in Bozeman, Montana between projects, and is the co-founder and executive artistic director for A.I.R. (Arts Incubator Ranch), a new non-profit dedicated to educational opportunities and developmental residencies for artists from around the country.  www.airmt.org

JENNIFER KRANZ (Producer) is a Tony Award-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning producer of theater and film and EVP of Production and Development at Rosalind Productions. Current projects (limited list): The King’s Wife (Woodward Newman Prize winner, 2024), by 3x Grammy-nominated songwriter Jamie Floyd and award-winning playwright Mêlisa Annis and the feature film Mouse (post-production) written/co-directed by Kelly O’Sullivan (Saint Frances, SxSW Special Jury Prize, 2020, Ghostlight, Sundance, 2024). Past projects (limited list) Broadway: Funny Girl, The Prom, King Lear, Three Tall Women. Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy (with Keen Company), Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things (with Ars Nova, NY Times Critics’ Pick), My Lingerie Play (with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, NY Times Critics’ Pick). Film: Cleo from 8:20 to 2:35, dir. Shaina Feinberg (short, Aspen Film World Premiere). As a former TV executive, she’s held tenures at top entertainment companies including Cablevision, Time Warner, NBC Universal, Lifetime Television Networks, and AMC Networks. Jennifer is a member of the TV Academy, the Broadway League, BAFTA, a board member of theater company Page 73 (A Strange Loop) and a board member at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. She received her master’s degree in Entertainment Businesses from NYU and was a Betsy Magness Leadership Fellow, one of the television industry’s highest honors for women. She has guest lectured at NYU’s Stern School of Business and other universities in the U.S. on the creative aspects of producing.

EMMA S. RUND she/her (Dramaturg and Stage Directions Reader) is a Chicago-based dramaturg, playwright, and avid reader. Dramaturgy credits include Blood of My Mother’s at Paramount, School for Scandal at Idle Muse, Bones of Butterflies at the Indianapolis Phoenix Theatre, and Ball State University productions including Gypsy, Fun Home, Alias Grace, and Pride and Prejudice. www.emmasophierund.com.

LANITA VANDERSCHAAF she/her (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be back at the Copley Theatre! She was most recently an Assistant Stage Manager for Frozen and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Paramount.) Additional credits include Billy Elliot, Little Shop of Horrors, School of Rock, Into the Woods, Dreamgirls, Groundhog Day, Cinderella (Paramount), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Drury Lane) BULL: a love story, Hand to God, Sweat (Copley Theatre), and Celebrating the Black Radical… (Williamstown Theatre Festival). She would like to thank her family and friends for their continuous support.

COURTNEY ABBOTT they/she (Intimacy Consultant) Chicago: Glassheart (City Lit); the love object (The Story); In His Hands (First Floor); Lavender Men (About Face); Love Song (Remy Bumppo); SS! Romeo & Juliet (Chicago Shakes); The Rise And Fall of Little Voice (The Gift); No Man’s Land, Bald Sisters, Choir Boy (Steppenwolf); Wolves (Redtwist). Film: Stars in the Water, Paper Planes, Lee Baby, Departing Seniors. Education: MFA, Ohio University; BS, Northwestern. Courtney is a Stakeholder in the Back Room Shakespeare Project. CourtneyAbbott.com

KARA DAVIDSON she/her (Director of New Works and Associate Artistic Producer) Kara Davidson joined the Paramount team as the Director of New Works in 2023. Previously, she was the Producer of the NOW Lab with the Omaha Playhouse in Nebraska and the co-director/co-founder of The Lab Chicago.

TRENT STORK, CSA they/them (Artistic Producer and Casting Director) Trent Stork serves as the Casting Director for Paramount Theatre, casting both the Broadway Series and the Bold Series. Trent has cast over 40 productions for Paramount and they also serve as an Artistic Producer and Director of several productions.

JIM CORTI he/him (Artistic Director) is a Joseph Jefferson Award winning actor, director, and choreographer. He inaugurated Paramount’s Broadway Series with Tim Rater in fall of 2011, and by 2023, Paramount became the largest subscription-based theatre in the country, and soon became Jeff Award eligible in 2015, garnering 71 nominations with 20 wins in 3 years, including Best Musical awards for Les Misérables, West Side Story, and Sweeney Todd, which he directed. Recent collaborations: Fun Home, Into the Woods, Next to Normal, A Streetcar Named Desire, Million Dollar Quartet and The Full Monty. Next up, he is opening Paramount’s Bold 2025/2026 Series directing True West.

TIM RATER (President & CEO) has been with Paramount Theatre since 2010. Under Tim’s leadership, the productions at Paramount Theatre, RiverEdge Park, Copley Theatre, Stolp Island Theatre, and the Paramount School of the Arts have helped establish downtown Aurora as an entertainment destination. Tim and his team continue to expand the artistic and institutional boundaries and strive for new ways to energize downtown Aurora. With love, as always, to Bridgette, Alana and Evan.