mark Shanahan, artistic director
BETH HUISKING, managing director

presents

NATIVE GARDENS was commissioned and first produced by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park under Blake Robison (Artistic Director) and Buzz Ward (Managing Director).

NATIVE GARDENS is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of 
Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com 

Videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is stricty prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law.

2025 Programming & Season Sponsor barbara streicker

2025 Media Sponsors

(in alphabetical order)

Virginia Butley Paula Leggett Chase^*

Tania Del Valle  Linedy Genao^*

Frank Butley Adam Heller^*

Pablo Del Valle Anthony Michael Martinez^*

extra performers

Horacio “Joe” Cardozo              Brianna Parkin

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

NATIVE GARDENS will be performed with no intermission.

Karen Zacarías, Playwright 
Karen Zacarías award-winning plays include the sold-out/extended comedy The Book Club Play, the sold-out world premiere drama Just Like Us (adapted from the book by Helen Thorpe) at Denver Theater Center, the Steinberg–citation award play Legacy Of Light, the Francesca Primus Award winning play Mariela In The Desert,  the Helen Hayes Award winning play The Sins Of Sor Juana, the adaptation of Julia Alvarez’s How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Karen also has a piece in the Arena Stage premiere of Our War.  Her TYA musicals with composer Debbie Wicks la Puma include Jane Of The Jungle, Einstein Is A Dummy, Looking For Roberto Clemente, Cinderella Eats Rice And Beans, Ferdinand The Bull, and Frida Libre. Her musical Chasing George Washington premiered at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and went on a National Tour.  Her script was then adapted into a book by Scholastic with a foreword by First Lady Michelle Obama.

JoAnn M. Hunter, Director
JoAnn M. Hunter has over 30 credits on Broadway, the West End, and Australia. Broadway (Choreographer/Director): Bad Cinderella, Disaster, School of Rock, On A Clear Day, and Broadway Bound. City Center Encores: Love Life. UK: SuperYu, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and School of Rock. Upcoming: JO: The Little Women Musical, Yasuke-The Legend Of The Black Samurai, Birds of NY (with Sophie B. Hawkins.) Proud to be a Japanese American woman and am more than that. I am grateful to be here at Westport Playhouse with Karen Zacarías’ Native Gardens!

Billie Aken-Tyers, Associate Director
Billie’s work as an Actor, Director and Playwright has appeared on numerous stages internationally. Billie is currently the Associate Director of Titanique. Off -Broadway. Selected Directing Credits: Your Alice (BAM, Edinburgh Fringe, The Arcola Theatre London) Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Shenandoah Music Theatre), 3 Hams (EdFringe) Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (Scranton Shakespeare Festival), You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (SSF), Lysistrata Jones (Ophelia Theatre) Ragtag Theatre’s Rapunzel (Tour Director, Barrington Stage, Red House Arts). Associate Credits: Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (Audible Theatre) Death Drop (New World Stages) Writing: Your Alice (BAM), Next Round (Gala Theatre UK, Theatre Lab, Scranton Fringe), We Carry On–A series of radio plays. Billie was the Artistic Director of Ophelia Theatre  www.billieakentyers.com@billieakentyers.

Anna Louizos, Set Designer
Selected Broadway: School of Rock (sets and costumes), In the Heights, Avenue Q, R&H’s Cinderella, Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn, White Christmas, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Honeymoon in Vegas, It Shoulda Been You, High Fidelity, Curtains, Golda’s Balcony, Steel Magnolias, Baby it’s You. Select regional/off-Broadway/international:  Lucha Teotl (Goodman), West Side Story (world tour), Peter Pan (US tour), The Pilot and the Little Prince (Poland), Fiddler on the Roof (with Jason Alexander). Goodspeed, Dallas Theater Center, Old Globe, La Jolla, Alliance, Bucks County Playhouse et al. Book illustrations for Rupert Holmes’ recent novel, Murder Your Employer. 3-time Tony Award nominee.

David C. Woolard, Costume Designer
David C. Woolard received Tony Award nominations for The Rocky Horror Show and The Who’s Tommy. He has designed over 20 shows on Broadway and over 200 shows around the world. Including West Side Story, Damn Yankees, the operas Diving Bell, Cold Mountain, Everest. In addition to his Tony nominations, Mr. Woolard has won a Drama Desk Award, the Henry Hewes Design Awards and was nominated for an Olivier Award. For additional credits please visit http://davidcwoolard.com

Charlie Morrison, Lighting Designer
NYC/National/International tours: Disney’s The Little Mermaid, A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, A Chorus Line, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Miss Saigon, Disney’s Aida, The Producers, Man of La Mancha, Guys and Dolls, Groovaloo, Hello, Dolly!, My Fair Lady, The King and I, Spelling Bee, Gypsy, 42nd Street, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, The Who’s Tommy, Titanic, The Music Man and many others. Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Seattle Repertory, Seattle 5th Avenue, Broadway Sacramento, Theatre Under the Stars, Dallas Summer Musicals, Kansas City Starlight, Pittsburgh CLO, George Street Playhouse, North Carolina Theatre, Play-Makers Repertory, Tulsa Opera and many others. TV: Finding Magic Mike for HBO-Max. Charlie is the

John Gromada, Sound Designer
John Gromada is a composer and sound designer for theater, film, and radio. Composer/designer for 40+ Broadway plays and hundreds of Off-Bway and regional theater productions in Connecticut and around the nation. Gromada is the recipient of three Drama Desk Awards, the Lortel and Obie Awards, and received a Tony nomination for his work on The Trip to Bountiful, which he also scored for Lifetime’s subsequent television movie. His work can also be heard now at Hartford Stage in A Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas and in Chazz Palminteri’s concert film of A Bronx Tale, which will soon be in theatres and streaming. Since the pandemic, he has also been producing radio drama for theaters and radio stations around the nation, including A Merry Little Christmas Carol for Westport Country Playhouse and the White Heron Radio Ghost Light Series, and several dramas for Audible.com. 

Abigail Zaccari, Stage Manager 
Broadway Credits include Paradise Square. Off-Broadway Credits include A Sign of the Times, ¡Americano!. Regional Credits include Maggie at Goodspeed Opera House, Here You Come Again at The Norma Terris Theater; The Nutty Professor at Ogunquit Playhouse; Chicago at The Muny. Thank you to Willy, Mom, Dad, and Chris for everything. abigailzaccari.com

Willy Kinch, Assistant Stage Manager
Broadway: Angels in America. National Tour: Mean Girls. Off-Broadway: ¡Americano!, Turtle on a Fence Post, Is Anyone Alive Out There, Motherland. Regional: A Christmas Story at the Goodspeed Opera House. Other New York Credits: The Scarlet Pimpernel at Lincoln Center, Laramie: a Legacy. Thanks Abigail for bringing me onto another one. Thanks Mom and Dad for your love and support. Thanks Chris for teaching me how to make cardboard rehearsal props and tape circles on the floor 10 years ago.

Mark Shanahan, Artistic Director
Mark Shanahan was named Westport Country Playhouse incoming artistic director for 2023-24. He assumed the position in February 2024. Since 2018, he has been the curator of the Playhouse’s popular Script In Hand series originated by Annie Keefe.

Shanahan is the writer/director of The New York Times Critics’ Pick A Sherlock Carol (Off-Broadway Alliance nomination, Best New Play 2021), playing two seasons in New York and annually at London’s Marylebone Theatre. He directed his own adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in partnership with Agatha Christie Ltd. in a World Premiere production at the Alley Theatre. Additionally, he is the author of Merry Little Christmas Carol, See Monsters of the Deep, the Off-Broadway and regional hit comedy The Dingdong, and numerous radio plays as creator of the White Heron Ghost Light series, featuring Christopher Plummer, Judith Ivey, Rhonda Ross, and other notable actors.

Shanahan has directed at  stages around the country such as Alley Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Arkansas Rep, White Heron, Mile Square Theatre, Hudson Stage, 
Theatre Squared, Fulton Opera House, Weston Playhouse, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Florida Rep, Penguin Rep, Merrimack Rep, The Cape Playhouse, and many more.

Beth Huisking, Managing Director
After joining the Playhouse in 2005 as marketing associate, Beth was then named associate director of marketing in 2010. After 8 seasons in the marketing department, she moved to the position of General Manger in 2013, and in 2023 was named Managing Director. Prior to the Playhouse, she was former marketing associate with Stamford Center for the Arts, where she began as a summer intern. She was also an event staff supervisor for the Bob Carpenter Center, Newark, DE, where she coordinated over 25 performances per season. A marketing major at the University of Delaware, she was a member of the American Marketing Association and of Gamma Sigma Sigma, the national community service sorority. She recently received a certificate in Human Resources Management from Cornell University.

Associate Set Designer
Craig Napoliello

Assistant Costumer Designer
Sophie S. Schneider

Technical Director
Jason Thompson

Head Carpenter/Flyman
Robert Andrea    

Scenic Artist
Tamar Klausner 

Assistant Carpenter
Scott A. Trichka

Head Sound
Jon Damast

Head Electrician
Dylan Dineen

Head Props
Ryan Neuberger

Head Wardrobe
Lisa Ficco

Dresser
Jessica Camarero

As our area’s cultural hub, the Westport Country Playhouse is proud to bring our community together to share stories, laugh, grieve, grow, spark conversations, and embrace ideas. We launched our new year-round hybrid theatre programming to ensure we have something for everyone, throughout the year. But we can’t do it without your help.

Through your giving to the Playhouse – annual giving, sponsorships, estate plans, and more – you become a caretaker and steward of this institution. Ticket sales only cover a small percentage of what it costs to keep this theater running, so we rely on your generosity to help grow our vibrant and thriving institution, one that has nurtured our community for generations – and help ensure that every generation inherits a healthy theater.

PLEASE MAKE YOUR GIFT TODAY! 
Visit https://www.westportplayhouse.org/support/ways-to-give/, or contact Rick Davis at rdavis@westportplayhouse.org for details. We are grateful for your support, and we look forward to welcoming you back again soon. (And spread the word about our beloved theatre to your family, friends, colleagues, and local businesses!)