Playwright / Director | CIANON JONES** Cianon Jones is a graduating MFA Candidate in Playwriting at the University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop who writes humorously distorted plays that capture the repercussions of capitalism on our bodies, minds, nature, and communities. Informed by aspects of inheritance, history, and consumption, her plays desire for the presence and existences of Black people within the impacted past, fervent present, and imaginative future. Recent awards, fellowships, and commissions include: 2021 Hustle Award, University of the Arts; 2022 Tennessee Williams Scholar in Playwriting, Sewanee Writers’ Conference; 2023-2024 Iowa Arts Fellowship, University of Iowa; 2025 Alexander Clark play commission: Muscatine Art Center, University of Iowa Arts Share, Global Education at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security; 2025 Performing Arts Summer Research Award, University of Iowa; 2024-2026 Norman Felton Playwright Fellow, University of Iowa; 2026 Iowa Economic Development Artist Grant Recipient; 2026 Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Recipient. |
Director / Faculty Advisor | TONY MENESES
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Script Dramaturg | MARGARET SMITH** |
Stage Manager | AASRITH VEERAPANENI* Aasrith is a second-year student at the University of Iowa, studying theatre arts and English. Credits can be found in Iowa, St. Louis, and Connecticut. SM credits include The Indoctrination of Bananas (2025, Iowa) and 10 Minute Play Festival (2026, Iowa). Select ASM credits include GOWANUS/DEGENERATES (2024, Iowa), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2025, Stray Dog Theatre), Argonautika (2025, Iowa), and Die Fledermaus (2026, CR Opera). He wants to thank Sam, Maggie, Josh, Cianon, and Genna for the opportunity to work with them. He also wants to thank the cast, crew, and creative team for a great show the folks back in CT for giving him his start. |
Scenic Designer | JASON VERNON* Jason Vernon is a multi-faceted artist with experience as performer, director, writer, producer, and adding scenic designer to the list with Deep Fried Dolphins. He will receive his BA from the University of Iowa in Theatre Arts with a certificate in Social Justice and the Performing Arts and a minor in Dance in May 2026. This March, he produced and directed the premiere of an accessibility centered new work, Former Poster Child by Grace Nelson, equipped with Disability Aesthetics and integrated ASL, Audio Description, and Captions. His work navigates creative scholarship while insisting upon humor, authenticity, and community interdependence. Jason has served as research assistant, collaborator, and recurring performer in Stephanie Miracle’s FAKERS CLUB: a live cinema public performance experiment. Other credits include Iowa’s remounting of Trisha Brown’s Floor of the Forest, and Department of Theatre Arts' productions of Dance Nation, Macbeth, The Bacchae. |
Costume Designer | JOHANNA SPECHT** Johanna Specht is a first-year MFA candidate in costume design at the University of Iowa. Before joining the MFA program, she completed a bachelor's degree in communication studies at Gonzaga University in 2025. She has Assisted on Romeo and Juliet and How to Defend Yourself. She also designed the gallery Stained Glass. This is her first New Play Festival, and she is very grateful to have helped bring Josh and Cianon's vision to life. |
Sound Designer | EDITH KANG* Edith Kang is a second-year theatre arts student with a focus in technical theatre. This will be their 7th production in the department. Some works include sound designing for Drill, Drill, Drill and Argonautika, and board operator for Day Fades Into Night Into Day and Head Over Heels. They would like to thank their fellow production team and the cast for an amazing show and hope that everyone will enjoy this production. |
Lighting Designer | LOWDEN FLOWER** Lowden Flower (he/him/his) is thrilled to be part of the Deep Fried Dolphins team! Lowden is a first year lighting design MFA candidate at the University of Iowa and is proud to be working on Deep Fried Dolphins in his first year. Lowden is originally from Westchester, New York and graduated with a BFA in Theatre Design/Tech in 2025 from the University at Buffalo. Lowden has designed lights for theatre, dance, and live music in the Buffalo, NY area and is excited to start his career in Iowa City! Lowden would like to thank the Deep Fried Dolphins team, his family, and his girlfriend back in New York for all their support. Thank you for supporting Performing Arts at Iowa! |
Vocal/Acting Coach | CAROLINE CLAY§ Caroline Clay (she/her) is a native of Washington, D.C. and an Assistant Professor of Acting here at UIowa’s Department of Theatre Arts. Best known for her memorable portrayal of “CeCe the Matchmaker” for an entire season on Grey’s Anatomy, she is a 30-year career veteran of five Broadway shows, television, film, and a national tour. She is the winner of an NAACP Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in Skeleton Crew at The Geffen Playhouse (West Coast.) Previous directing credits include In the Red & Brown Water (2024), including a staged reading in collaboration with The Stanley Musuem, in conversation with their collections of the African diaspora; Gwenevere (2022) and Lil’ G: A Gatsby Remix (2023) both by MFA ‘23 Playwright, Isaiah Reaves. As a playwright, Clay is the author of two solo shows, Let it Flo!: The Life & Scandals of Florynce Kennedy, which played Off-Broadway (2016) at the Cherry Lane Theatre, and Sepia Sculptress: Wildfire, Edmonia Lewis (2017) at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage in Washington, D.C. Nominated by her students, Clay received the University of Iowa’s Office of Undergraduate Research’s Distinguished Mentor Award of 2024. Caroline is a proud union member of both Actor’s Equity Association, and SAG-AFTRA. #unionstrong |
Assistant Stage Manager | GENNA RAY* Genna is a first-year theatre student on the stage management track. She also majors in English and secondary education. This is her third show at Iowa and her first ever New Play Festival! She is so excited to close her first year of college out with this experience and so grateful to the creative team and cast she gets to share it with! She would also like to thank her family for all their love and support with everything arts and beyond. Enjoy the show! |
Assistant Costume Designer | CLAIRE ZUBCIC* Claire Zubcic is a first-year undergraduate at the University of Iowa. She is currently pursuing a Theatre Arts BA with a focus on costume design, alongside a Business Administration minor. She is so excited to get started on her first project here at Iowa and can’t wait to see where the journey takes her! |
*Undergraduate student.
**Graduate student.
§Member of Actors’ Equity Association, The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
UI Theatre is dedicated to providing hands-on theatre experience for both undergraduate and graduate students.