Meet the Creative Team

The People Before the Park by Keith Josef Adkins. Painting by Robert S. Duncanson "A Dream of Italy."

Meet the Creative Team of The People Before the Park
Director \| JADE KING CARROLL Proof of Love (Audible at Minetta Lane/audiobook); Detroit ’67 (McCarter Theatre co-production with Hartford Stage); Intimate Apparel, The Piano Lesson (McCarter Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Hartford Stage); Having Our Say (Hartford Stage co-production with Long Wharf Theatre); Autumn’s Harvest (Lincoln Center Institute); A Trouble in Mind (Two River Theater & Playmaker’s Rep); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Whipping Man (Portland Stage); The Revolutionists, Sunset Baby (City Theatre); A Raisin In The Sun (Juilliard & Perseverance); The Tempest (Chatauqua Theater Company); Seven Guitars (People’s Light and Theatre & Point Park University); King Hedley II (Portland Playhouse); Mr Chickee’s Funny Money (Atlantic Theater); Janice Underwater (Premiere Stages); The Etymology of Bird (CitiParks Summer Stages); The Piano Lesson (Cape Fear Regional Theater); alondra was here (The Wild Project); Cherry Smoke (Theatre Row); Sex on Sunday (BE Company @ Urban Stages); Skeleton Crew (Dorset Theater Festival, Portland Stage and a co-production with Theatreworks- Palo Alto & Marin Theatre); The Basset Table (Adelphi); Topdog/Underdog (WVU); Marisol (NYCDA); Black Girl, You’ve Been Gentrified (Joe’s Pub); Radio Golf (Penn State); The History of Light, Samuel J&K, The Summer House (Passage Theatre); The Persians, Splittin’ the Raft (People’s Light & Theatre); Spit (Intar); From the Author of (Delaware Rep); A Member of the Wedding (Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Provincetown); Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth (Playwright’s Realm); Associate Director for A Streetcar Named Desire and The Gin Game (Broadway), The Children’s Monologues (Carnegie Hall).
Scenic Designer \| TOBIN GRIFFIN Tobin Griffin is a second-year MFA scenic and media designer. He has done scenic design for The People Before the Park, A Plant, MERRILY, and Palanquin for the University of Iowa. He has worked professionally freelance designing at several theatres in North Texas, along with internships at the Glimmerglass Festival and Stageworks event design.
Costume Designer \| LOYCE ARTHUR As a costume designer, Professor Loyce Arthur’s work focuses on world mask and Atlantic region Carnival traditions; community engagement; and theatre for social justice. She has designed costumes for 90+ productions including Once On This Island at the Skylight Music Theater, Milwaukee, WI, Brokenville in Athens, Greece, and Sweat, Iphigenia Point Blank, and Welcome to Thebes at the University of Iowa. She also coordinates the Iowa City Carnaval Community Engagement Project and yearly parade.
Lighting Designer \| BRYON WINN Bryon Winn is a professor of design and Director of Theatre for the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa. He has designed lighting, projections, and/or scenery for theatre, opera, dance, and corporate events throughout the country. This includes over 250 productions and 50 premieres of new plays. His theatre design work has been seen at Portland Stage Company, Trinity Rep, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Florida Studio Theatre, Axis Theatre, Intersection for the Arts, Miranda Theatre Company, Utah Musical Theatre, Cornell College, Middlebury College, Riverside Theatre, and Iowa Summer Rep. He has also taught workshops on media server and moving light programming in Seoul, South Korea and is a member of the UI XR Studio.
Sound Designer \| HUDA AL-AITHAN Huda Al-Aithan is a 3D designer from Saudi Arabia. She received her MA and MFA degrees from the University of Iowa in three-dimensional design with a second emphasis in theatre arts. Huda’s design work has been exhibited in design exhibitions in Milan, New York, and Chicago.
Dialect Coach \| CRYSTAL MARIE STEWART Crystal Marie Stewart is thrilled to be a part of this work! A third year MFA acting candidate, she hails from Greenville, South Carolina. While there she performed in several shows with The Warehouse Theatre including In The Next Room (or the Vibrator Play), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Twelfth Night, and A Streetcar Named Desire. She loves language, research, and listening - and coaching dialects has been a really fun way to combine the three!
Assistant Scenic Designer \| AMY RODRIGUEZ Amy Rodriguez is a third-year theatre arts major, graduating this spring. She is also doing scenic design for Sirens of the Field, and will be in this year’s Iowa New Play Festival.
Assistant Costume Designer \| BETHANY KASPEREK Bethany Kasperek is a second-year MFA student at the University of Iowa. Bethany is a costume designer and scenic designer/painter. At Iowa, Bethany's credits include costume design for Bonnets (How Ladies of Good Breeding are Induced to Murder), scenic design for Three Sisters, and art director for Breath Behind The Mask. She is excited to be working on this project and can't wait for you to see it.
Assistant Lighting Designer \| HOLLY DAVID
Stage Manager \| BRILLIAN QI-BELL Brillian Qi-Bell is a fourth-year theatre arts major focusing in stage management and arts entrepreneurship. Previous UI Theatre SM/ASM work includes: Global Express, Twilight Bowl, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cat Found God, Pastoral Play, The Wolves, Laterality, Polaris, Monument, Perils of the Flowerbed, Hit the Wall, and A Plant. Thank you Elizabeth, Jade, and cast for creating her wonderful final mainstage. Special thanks to Melissa, Bryon, and her previous mentors for making her the SM she is today.
Assistant Stage Manager \| ELIZABETH SARSFIELD Elizabeth Sarsfield is a second-year student double majoring in theatre arts and computer science. Previous credits at Iowa include: Seven Neos (SM), Reflected (SM), and Palanquin (ASM).

Meet the Creative Team of The People Before the Park

Director | JADE KING CARROLL

Proof of Love (Audible at Minetta Lane/audiobook); Detroit ’67 (McCarter Theatre co-production with Hartford Stage); Intimate Apparel, The Piano Lesson (McCarter Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Hartford Stage); Having Our Say (Hartford Stage co-production with Long Wharf Theatre); Autumn’s Harvest (Lincoln Center Institute); A Trouble in Mind (Two River Theater & Playmaker’s Rep); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Whipping Man (Portland Stage); The Revolutionists, Sunset Baby (City Theatre); A Raisin In The Sun (Juilliard & Perseverance); The Tempest (Chatauqua Theater Company); Seven Guitars (People’s Light and Theatre & Point Park University); King Hedley II (Portland Playhouse); Mr Chickee’s Funny Money (Atlantic Theater); Janice Underwater (Premiere Stages); The Etymology of Bird (CitiParks Summer Stages); The Piano Lesson (Cape Fear Regional Theater); alondra was here (The Wild Project); Cherry Smoke (Theatre Row); Sex on Sunday (BE Company @ Urban Stages); Skeleton Crew (Dorset Theater Festival, Portland Stage and a co-production with Theatreworks- Palo Alto & Marin Theatre); The Basset Table (Adelphi); Topdog/Underdog (WVU); Marisol (NYCDA); Black Girl, You’ve Been Gentrified (Joe’s Pub); Radio Golf (Penn State); The History of Light, Samuel J&K, The Summer House (Passage Theatre); The Persians, Splittin’ the Raft (People’s Light & Theatre); Spit (Intar); From the Author of (Delaware Rep); A Member of the Wedding (Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Provincetown); Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth (Playwright’s Realm); Associate Director for A Streetcar Named Desire and The Gin Game (Broadway), The Children’s Monologues (Carnegie Hall).

Scenic Designer | TOBIN GRIFFIN

Tobin Griffin is a second-year MFA scenic and media designer. He has done scenic design for The People Before the Park, A Plant, MERRILY, and Palanquin for the University of Iowa. He has worked professionally freelance designing at several theatres in North Texas, along with internships at the Glimmerglass Festival and Stageworks event design.

Costume Designer | LOYCE ARTHUR

As a costume designer, Professor Loyce Arthur’s work focuses on world mask and Atlantic region Carnival traditions; community engagement; and theatre for social justice. She has designed costumes for 90+ productions including Once On This Island at the Skylight Music Theater, Milwaukee, WI, Brokenville in Athens, Greece, and Sweat, Iphigenia Point Blank, and Welcome to Thebes at the University of Iowa. She also coordinates the Iowa City Carnaval Community Engagement Project and yearly parade.

Lighting Designer | BRYON WINN

Bryon Winn is a professor of design and Director of Theatre for the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa. He has designed lighting, projections, and/or scenery for theatre, opera, dance, and corporate events throughout the country. This includes over 250 productions and 50 premieres of new plays. His theatre design work has been seen at Portland Stage Company, Trinity Rep, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Florida Studio Theatre, Axis Theatre, Intersection for the Arts, Miranda Theatre Company, Utah Musical Theatre, Cornell College, Middlebury College, Riverside Theatre, and Iowa Summer Rep. He has also taught workshops on media server and moving light programming in Seoul, South Korea and is a member of the UI XR Studio.

Sound Designer | HUDA AL-AITHAN

Huda Al-Aithan is a 3D designer from Saudi Arabia. She received her MA and MFA degrees from the University of Iowa in three-dimensional design with a second emphasis in theatre arts. Huda’s design work has been exhibited in design exhibitions in Milan, New York, and Chicago.

Dialect Coach | CRYSTAL MARIE STEWART

Crystal Marie Stewart is thrilled to be a part of this work! A third year MFA acting candidate, she hails from Greenville, South Carolina. While there she performed in several shows with The Warehouse Theatre including In The Next Room (or the Vibrator Play), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Twelfth Night, and A Streetcar Named Desire. She loves language, research, and listening - and coaching dialects has been a really fun way to combine the three!

Assistant Scenic Designer | AMY RODRIGUEZ

Amy Rodriguez is a third-year theatre arts major, graduating this spring. She is also doing scenic design for Sirens of the Field, and will be in this year’s Iowa New Play Festival.

Assistant Costume Designer | BETHANY KASPEREK

Bethany Kasperek is a second-year MFA student at the University of Iowa. Bethany is a costume designer and scenic designer/painter. At Iowa, Bethany's credits include costume design for Bonnets (How Ladies of Good Breeding are Induced to Murder), scenic design for Three Sisters, and art director for Breath Behind The Mask. She is excited to be working on this project and can't wait for you to see it.

Assistant Lighting Designer | HOLLY DAVID

Stage Manager | BRILLIAN QI-BELL

Brillian Qi-Bell is a fourth-year theatre arts major focusing in stage management and arts entrepreneurship. Previous UI Theatre SM/ASM work includes: Global Express, Twilight Bowl, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cat Found God, Pastoral Play, The Wolves, Laterality, Polaris, Monument, Perils of the Flowerbed, Hit the Wall, and A Plant. Thank you Elizabeth, Jade, and cast for creating her wonderful final mainstage. Special thanks to Melissa, Bryon, and her previous mentors for making her the SM she is today.

Assistant Stage Manager | ELIZABETH SARSFIELD

Elizabeth Sarsfield is a second-year student double majoring in theatre arts and computer science. Previous credits at Iowa include: Seven Neos (SM), Reflected (SM), and Palanquin (ASM).