Supporting Materials

Free “Open Talk” Video

A Free Open Talk on Saturday, August 29, 2026, 2:00–3:00 P.M.

Join us for a presentation that will deepen your understanding of the play and hopefully enrich your experience of attending the production. As always, actors from our production will be on hand to present an exciting sneak peek at the play in action!

This open talk is supported in part by a generous gift from Bill & Nancy Sohn.

Cynthia Meier (Director) is Co-Founder and Executive Director for The Rogue Theatre and holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. She has directed 48 of The Rogue’s 103 productions to date including The Secret in the Wings, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Galileo, Bach at Leipzig, The White Snake, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, Betrayal, Naga Mandala, and The Four of Us for which she received Arizona Daily Star Mac Award nominations as Best Director, as well as Arcadia and Richard III for which she won Mac Awards for Direction. Cynthia has created stage adaptations for The Rogue of Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Virginia Woolf’s The Lady in the Looking Glass & Mrs Dalloway, James Joyce’s The Dead, Kafka’s Metamorphosis, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, and (along with Holly Griffith) Moby Dick. She is co-founder of Bloodhut Productions, a company performing original monologues and comedy improvisation, which toured throughout the western United States. She also directed The Seagull (featuring Ken Ruta) for Tucson Art Theatre, and she directed Talia Shire in Sister Mendelssohn and Edward Herrmann in Beloved Brahms for Chamber Music Plus Southwest. Cynthia has also been nominated for nine Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star, and in 2008, she received the Mac Award for Best Actress for her performance of Stevie in Edward Albee’s The Goat at The Rogue Theatre.

Cynthia Meier’s direction of A Doll’s House is supported in part by
generous gifts from Nan Schubel and Christa Lubatkin

CAST

NORA HELMER. Sophie Gibson-Rush*
TORVALD HELMER. Aaron Shand*
DOCTOR RANK. Hunter Hnat*
KRISTINE LINDE. Chelsey Jean Smith*
NILS KROGSTAD. Matt Walley*
ANNE-MARIE. Carley Elizabeth Preston*
EMMY. Caroline Barrett / Juniper Wible
IVAR. Oliver Morgan / Jude Smith-Sheppard

*Member of The Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble

Stand-Bys: TBA

Biographies

Caroline Barrett (Emmy)

Caroline Barrett’s performance is supported
in part by a generous gift from Jill Ballesteros

Sophie Gibson-Rush (Nora Helmer) is honored to be a member of the Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble. She is also the co-founder of Koso Theatre Collective, and the front woman and primary songwriter for the rock quartet Holy Faint. She attended Boston University and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art where she earned a BFA in acting. She continued her education at Double Edge Theatre studying devised theatre. Favorite acting credits include Ariel in The Tempest, Elmire in Tartuffe, Widow Quinn in The Playboy of the Western World, Gladys in The Skin of Our Teeth, Marc Antony in Julius Caesar, and Thomasina Coverly in Arcadia. Always for Jojo with love. IG: @soatgoat

Sophie Gibson-Rush’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Susan Tiss, John Wilson and Sylvia Pozarnsky

Hunter Hnat (Doctor Rank) is grateful to be in his ninth season as a member of The Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble. He was most recently seen as Ferdinand in The Tempest. He has performed in over 30 shows with The Rogue, some notable favorites include Boy in Peter and the Starcatcher, Betty/Gerry in Cloud 9, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Christopher Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pip in Great Expectations, Happy in Death of a Salesman, Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Edmund Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Other credits include Salomé (Scoundrel & Scamp), U/S in Romeo and Juliet (Arizona Theatre Company), and How the House Burned Down (Live Theatre Workshop). He is a U of A alumnus with his BFA in Musical Theatre, class of 2015. Enjoy the show!

Hunter Hnat’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Carol Mangold and Paul Winick & Ronda Lustman

Oliver Morgan (Ivar)

Oliver Morgan’s performance is supported
in part by generous gifts from Fred Corey

Carley Elizabeth Preston (Anne-Marie) was last seen as Juno in The Tempest. Now in her eighth season as a member of The Rogue Theatre’s Resident Acting Ensemble, Carley has also appeared in Peter and the Starcatcher, Romeo and Juliet, Marjorie Prime, The Skin of Our Teeth, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, Heartbreak House, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Babette’s Feast, Sweat, Mrs Dalloway, Passage, Twelfth Night, The Awakening, As You Like It, The Weir, A View from the Bridge, Blithe Spirit, and The Crucible. Carley received her BFA from the University of Arizona, where she was a member of the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Some of her other stage credits include Time Stands Still (Mac Award for Best Actress), Molly Sweeney, Enchanted April, and The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. She would like to thank the love of her life, Jerrad McMurrich, and their pups, Loki Björn Hiddleston, Freyja Laveau, and Indiana Idris Jones, for supporting her theatre habit!

Carley Elizabeth Preston’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Peggy Houghton & Paul Garner, Rebecca Standifer and Cheryl Lockhart

Aaron Shand (Torvald Helmer) was last seen on The Rogue stage as Orgon in Tartuffe. Now in his ninth season as a member of The Rogue Theatre’s Resident Acting Ensemble, Aaron has also appeared in Romeo and Juliet, The Playboy of the Western World, If on a winter’s night a traveler, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, The Left Hand of Darkness, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Seafarer, Twelfth Night, The Awakening, As You Like It, The Weir, A View from the Bridge, Moby Dick, Middletown, Much Ado About Nothing, Galileo, The Grapes of Wrath and King Lear. Born and raised in Tucson, he received his B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Arizona, performing for the Arizona Repertory Theatre in Bus Stop, The Miracle Worker and Romeo & Juliet. He also spent a season with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, performing in The Cherry Orchard and A Christmas Carol.

Aaron Shand’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Eloise Gore & Allen Hile Katherine Jacobson and Sally Krusing

Chelsey Jean Smith (Kristine Linde) is thrilled to be starting her first season as a member of The Rogue Theatre’s Resident Acting Ensemble. She has previously appeared as Iris in The Tempest, Another Woman in The River, Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher and Honor Blake in The Playboy of the Western World. A Jersey native, she’s appeared on east coast stages such as Walnut Street Theatre, Bristol Riverside Theatre, and the Majorie S. Dean Little Theater in NYC. Previous credits include Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime, Amy in Company, and Catherine in The Foreigner. Recent local credits include Arizona Theatre Company: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson: Apt 2B (u/s Ms. Sherlock Holmes), Dial M for Murder (u/s Margot Wendice); Invisible Theatre: Almost, Maine. Her forever-favorite role is “Mama” to Jude. Smith holds her BFA in Musical Theatre from Shenandoah Conservatory. Sincerest thanks to the Rogue team for their kindness!

Chelsey Jean Smith’s performance is supported in part by
generous gifts from Pauline Pettinato and Vicki Ettleman

Jude Smith-Sheppard (Ivar)

Jude Smith-Sheppard’s performance is supported in part by
generous gifts from Barbara Martinsons & Larry Boutis

Matt Walley (Nils Krogstad) is a member of The Rogue Theatre Resident Acting Ensemble and was most recently seen as Trinculo in The Tempest. Other appearances include Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher, Clive/Cathy in Cloud 9, Tartuffe in Tartuffe, Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Jon in Marjorie Prime, Jimmy Farrell in The Playboy of the Western World, Marana in If on a winter’s night a traveler, Mr. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth, Don Armado in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Captain Cat in Under Milk Wood, Estraven in The Left Hand of Darkness, Boss Mangan in Heartbreak House, Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard in The Seafarer, Stan in Sweat, and Stubb in Moby Dick. He co-created and performed in Oaf at The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre. He is also a strength coach at The Protocol gym in Tucson. Thank you to Laura for thinking ‘clown’ a decent occupation. 

Matt Walley’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Ann & Andrew Lettes and Barbara & Gerald Goldberg

Juniper Wible (Emmy)

Juniper Wible’s performance is supported in part
by generous gifts from Rick & Debby Apling

Russell Ronnebaum (Music Co-Director) has served as The Rogue Theatre’s Resident Composer and Director of Music since 2019. Some favorite productions include Peter and the Starcatcher, Tartuffe, Marjorie Prime, If on a winter’s night a traveler, Under Milk Wood, The Left Hand of Darkness, Mrs Dalloway, Death of a Salesman, The Awakening, As You Like It, Frankenstein, Moby Dick, and Much Ado About Nothing. Russell holds a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Arizona. He is the assistant director of music at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Oro Valley. As a pianist, Russell often performs with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Russell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016, performing the music of Dan Forrest. Recordings, videos, sheet music, and more are available at www.RRonnebaum.com.

Russell Ronnebaum and Liz Soflin’s music direction is supported in part by generous gifts
from Christa Lubatkin, John Blackwell & Denice Blake and Kathy Larason

Designers and Production Staff

Cynthia Meier (Costume Design) worked her way through college at Eastern Michigan University by assisting in the costume shop. Most of what she knows about Costume Design, she learned from Katie Holkeboer, the costume designer and professor at EMU. After graduating with her MA in Speech & Theatre, Cynthia stayed on at EMU to teach Costume Design, Costume Construction, Stage Makeup, and Introduction to Technical Theatre while designing the university mainstage plays and supervising the costume shop. She has designed costumes for each and every one of The Rogue plays since 2005. 

Cynthia Meier’s costume design is supported in part by a generous gift from
Kay Crofoot & Robin Oggins, Sandy McNabb and Marcia & Tyler Tingley

Joseph McGrath (Scenic Design) worked in the scene shops at West Virginia University and the Juilliard School of Drama while he was studying to become an actor. He served as Technical Director for Arizona Theatre Company from 1987–88, and opened his own scene shop, Sonora Theatre Works, in the 1990s. Joe has designed and built scenery for Ballet Tucson for most of their ballets for over 20 years, as well as various projects with UA Opera Theatre. He has designed each and every set for The Rogue since its inception in 2005.

Joseph McGrath’s scenic design is supported in part by
generous gifts from Jerry James and John Hemann

Domino Mannheim (Lighting Designer) is a freelance Lighting Designer from Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2017 with a BFA in Technical Theatre and Lighting Design, and graduated in 2022 from Rose Bruford College in London with her Masters in Lighting In Performance. Some recent productions she has designed include Kiss Me Kate in Crawford, NE, Chicago, The Musical in Chicago, and The Tempest here at the Rogue Theatre! As a traveling designer, she is very grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a talented team back in her hometown!

Domino Mannheim’s lighting design is supported in part by generous gifts
from Lori Levine & Gary Benna and Sylvia Pozarnsky

Maddie Thatcher (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with The Rogue Theatre again after previously assistant stage managing Peter and the Starcatcher and stage managing The Tempest and The Playboy of the Western World. Maddie was born and raised in Tucson and got her BFA in Technical Theatre Production and Design from the University of Arizona. Some of her local credits include Asst. Stage Manager for The Scoundrel and Scamp’s productions of One Twig at a Time and Pooh, as well as Production Stage Manager for Hamlet: Fine Revolution. Maddie has spent several summers in Ohio as the Production Stage Manager & Assistant Director for Scioto Society’s Tecumseh! The Outdoor Drama, as well as Production Stage Manager for their Haunted Mountain shows including Frankenstein, The Passion of Dracula, and Tales of the Dead: St. Nicolas.  Maddie would like to thank her family and friends for all of their love and support!

Maddie Thatcher’s stage management is supported in part by
a generous gift from Paul Winick & Ronda Lustman

Shannon Wallace (Production Stage Manager) first came to The Rogue in 2015 to stage manage The Picture of Dorian Gray, and now serves as their Production Stage Manager and Operations Manager. She has worked on over 30 shows with The Rogue, some favorites include: The Tempest, Peter and the Starcatcher, If on a winter’s night a traveler, As You Like It, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Curious Incident, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey. She holds a BFA from the University of Arizona, with a dual emphasis in stage management and lighting design. During her college years, she worked on over 25 productions with Arizona Repertory Theatre and dabbled in production and company management at Arizona Theatre Company and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. After graduating, she continued to expand her arts management experience, including being Operations Assistant at Mudlark Theater Company. Apart from a one-year sojourn to Chicago, The Rogue has been her home for almost 10 years, and she is grateful every day to be a part of this vibrant and loving community.

Shannon Wallace’s production stage management is supported in part by
generous gifts from Clem & Sharie Shute and Julia Royall

Nanalee Raphael (Costume Shop Supervisor) has known from age five that she would work in theatre. Of course, she thought it would be as an actor, not as someone who flings fabric around. She feels blessed that she has always been employed in costuming, for both professional and academic theatres, and has never had to have a “day job.” Until moving to Tucson in 1995, she was peripatetic in her work situations, desiring to work with theatres all over the country. She has worked as a costume designer, costume director and/or draper in professional theatres in Michigan, (Hope Summer Repertory, Holland), Wisconsin (American Players Theatre, Spring Green), Illinois (Goodman, Wisdom Bridge, and Steppenwolf, Chicago), New York (The Public, NYC), Arizona (ART & ATC, Tucson), at Shakespeare Festivals in Vermont and New Jersey, and California (The Old Globe, San Diego). She received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Costume Design and Technology from Syracuse University. She is one of the “Pioneering Seven,” the first group of women to study full-time at Dartmouth College.

Peter Bleasby (Master Electrician) has been actively involved with lighting for theatre and other entertainments for 70 years. That is not a typo! Professionally it includes stints with BBC Television, and with UK lighting designer Richard Pilbrow for the opening of the National Theatre (Director: Laurence Olivier). Non-theatrical lighting has included Commercial/Industrial, Cathedrals, Major Sports Venues and Fashion Shows. He assisted with The Rogue’s initial lighting rig at the Historic “Y” in 2009 and has been the master electrician for every show since the 2013/14 season. His most recent contribution was the design and oversight of the $95K LED lighting installation in time for Tartuffe - the 100th production - in September 2025. From light bulbs in coffee cans to LED lights with internal software, it’s been an amazing  technological journey, but always in the service of the productions.

Connor J. Greene (Assistant Master Electrician) first came to The Rogue as a volunteer electrician on Miss Julie in 2016. In 2018, he interned for Peter Bleasby on The Grapes of Wrath. Starting with The Awakening in 2020, he began drafting for Deanna Fitzgerald’s designs. In 2021, when a piece of lighting technology misbehaved during Twelfth Night, he became a special projects electrician. Now, in 2025, Connor is excited to serve as The Rogue’s Assistant Master Electrician. He is looking forward to the learning and growth that comes from making good art with the wonderful community who supported and fostered him throughout his entire career. Connor holds a BFA from the University of Arizona, with an emphasis in lighting design. He was a Journeyman Electrician for Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2019, a freelance electrician in NYC from 2019-2020, and the Lighting Programmer for Arizona Opera Company from 2021-2023. He would like to thank his families of both blood and water.

Kara Clauser (House Manager) has been involved with the Rogue for more than a decade as a box officer, volunteer usher, and now house manager. She studied ecology and geographic information systems at the University of Arizona, and has a day job as a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Megan Coy (House Manager, Box Office Staff) is excited to return to the Rogue after taking a few years away! As the resident stage manager in 2019-2020, she worked on Middletown, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Moby Dick, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. In 2020, she decided to leave the Rogue to be home with her daughter Eleanor and has now welcomed a son, Esben. Always looking for a creative outlet, Megan started her jewelry business, Coy Creative, in 2020 as well! Prior to working at the Rogue, she worked in marketing and production at The Magik Theatre in San Antonio, traveled internationally with a touring production, and graduated from the U of A in 2013 with a BFA in Theatre Production. She is so excited to be back with her friends at the Rogue!

Matt Elias (House Manager, Sound Consultant) is constantly seeking out art whether it be theatre, music, television or video games. He became enamored with live performance at The Rogue Theatre in 2014 while joining his wife, Shannon, as an usher. His experience as a touring musician, his penchant for audio production and his general obsession with how stuff works, makes him useful in all sorts of tight places throughout the production process. Nowadays you’ll see him as House Manager, trading off shows with Woods Fairchild and you might not see him sneaking a peek at each of those shows from behind the scenes. Matt has experience as a Master Bicycle Technician, Emergency Medical Technician, Fire/EMS 911 Dispatcher, and most recently a Production Brewer at Dragoon Brewing Company.

Thomas Wentzel (Box Office Manager, Program, Website) is a Scientific Programmer for the National Solar Observatory and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Arizona. Previously he has worked as a Data Manager for several prevention programs in the Arizona Cancer Center and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health. He has served on the Board of the Tucson Men’s Cooperative, editing its newsletter for five years, and on the Executive Committee of Sons of Orpheus—The Male Choir of Tucson. He has sung with Furry Day Singers, Sons of Orpheus, AwenRising and Arizona Repertory Singers, and has performed with Tucson Art Theatre in Viktor Slavkin’s Cerceau and Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty. Thomas has designed and built The Rogue Theatre Web site (with great assistance from Bill Sandel and Bryan Falcón in creating the 2020 Website update), and serves as Webmaster and Business Manager. He also served on The Rogue’s Board of Directors for the theatre’s first twenty years.

Shannon Elias (Box Office Associate, Volunteer Coordinator) got her first big break in theatre at age 11 when she was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz in school. After that first applause, she was hooked. She began at The Rogue Theatre as an usher in 2008, and volunteered in various roles until she was hired to the box office in 2018. She made her debut on The Rogue stage in The Oresteia in 2020 and has since appeared in The Tempest, The Playboy of the Western World, The Skin of Our Teeth, Babette’s Feast, The Left Hand of Darkness, and the staged-readings of Everybody and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. She also worked backstage with The Rogue as Assistant Stage Manager for The Awakening, Mrs Dalloway, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s Labor’s Lost. Shannon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from the University of Arizona with a minor in Special Education and Rehabilitation Psychology.

Our Thanks

Performance Schedule

Supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts with funding from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support is also provided by generous grants from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, and the Shubert Foundation.