Makoce by Larissa FastHorse

A Zombie horror play with a twist.
Fri, Feb 13 at 7:30pm 

Directed by Courtney Burkett
Stage Managed by Sarah Ackerman
Production Assistant & Stage Directions by Laura Nguyen 

Featuring Leslie Hull, Amanda Kuo, Shyla Lefner, Alex Leydenfrost, Kevin O’Callaghan, Bello Paolo Pizzimenti, and Ashley Wickett. 

Courtney Burkett (she/her) is a founder and member of the artistic leadership team at Detroit Public Theatre, where she regularly directs productions (Clydes, DPT Holiday Cabaret, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Murder Ballad, Cry It Out, American Here, Marie and Rosetta). In her role as Producing Artistic Director, she oversees production and marketing. Prior to co-founding DPT, Courtney was the Director of Theatre Programs with Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, directing the internationally-acclaimed Mosaic Acting Company. Courtney was a founding Artistic Partner with Breathe Art Theatre Project and also served as Managing Director of the CRLT Players at the University of Michigan, and as Business Manager for the University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company. Courtney is a fourth generation native Detroiter. She holds a BFA from Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts in St. Louis, and an MFA from Wayne State University’s Hilberry Theatre program.

Sarah Ackerman (Makoce Stage Manager) is elated to be back at Flint Rep! Recent PSM credits include A Facility for Living (Flint Repertory Theatre) Jane Anger (Shakespeare in Detroit), and Jesus Christ Superstar (Fulton Theatre). Event stage management credits vary with clients such as Mastercard, Ford, and The Detroit Jazz Festival. She holds a BFA in Stage Management and Design from Michigan State University. Sarah teaches all aspects of theatre at Stoney Creek High School, freelances as a scenic painter, makeup/wig/props designer, guest lecturer, and vocalist. Proud member of Actors Equity. Many thanks to Mom, Dad, Charlie, and the Flint Rep staff. @_sarahackerman sarahmackerman.com

Laura Nguyen (she/her) is so excited to be working with Flint Rep again, this time with the New Works Festival! She has most recently flocked with the Flint Rep: On the Road tour of The Birds. Some of her other previous credits include POTUS (Western Michigan University), In Common (Purple Rose), Death of a Salesman (Flint Repertory), and ABCD (Michigan Stage). She holds a BFA in Acting from WMU and an AFA in Theatre from Lansing Community College. Thank you to the cast, crew, family, friends, and to you for supporting live theatre and new works. Instagram: @lauratnguyen lauratnguyen.com 

Shyla Lefner was recently seen in Larissa Fasthorse’s production of Fake It Until You Make It at the Arena Stage in Washington DC and the Tony Nominated Broadway revival production of Our Town at the Barrymore Theatre. She has been part of the original cast and garnered a 2024 Obie Award for her work in the production of the 1491s’ Between Two Knees, following a run at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Rep, McCarter, Seattle Rep and culminating at NYC’s Perelman Arts Center. Selected Regional credits include Bulrusher (McCarter & Berkeley Rep), The Cymbeline Project, Alice in Wonderland, Henry V, The Way the Mountain Moved (OSF), Manahatta (OSF & Yale Rep); Bernhardt/Hamlet, The Door You Never Saw Before (Geffen); Fairly Traceable, Off the Rails and The Frybread Queen (Native Voices). Some film and television credits include Polar Sun, Point of Origin, Grace, Whatever It Takes and Fashion House. Proud graduate of the University of Southern California @shylalefner

Amanda Kuo (she/her) is so honored to be participating in this season’s New Works Fest. Kuo is a graduate of the University of Michigan Theatre Performance program and Resident Artist at Flint Rep, so this truly feels like coming home. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, she has worked regionally at Flint Repertory Theatre (Magnificent 7, Into the Woods, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Songs About Stuff), The Cleveland Playhouse, and the Link Theatre in Arkansas.  Her work on screen has taken her from Boston to New York to Los Angeles, and her credits include several independent short films, Kevin Can F*ck Himself, and national commercials. Kuo worked for the Fernando Pullum Performing Arts Center as the acting coach for their youth community theater program. She now resides in New York City.

Bello Paolo Pizzimenti is grateful to be here with this cast and creative team and with you, the audience. We are all co-creating this experience together, in the present, and we will have this shared memory afterward. Thank you for your contribution.

Alex Leydenfrost has appeared in many Purple Rose Theatre Company productions, most recently in Bert and Trixie Visit the Vet. Other PRTC shows include: Wake, Gravity, Some Couples May…, Best of Friends, Superior Donuts, Redwood Curtain, Vino Veritas, and Human Error. Alex has also performed at several other Michigan professional theatres including: Performance Network, Power Center, Williamston Theatre, and most recently in Halftime with Don at Tipping Point Theatre. A native New Yorker, Alex has also acted Off Broadway at The Pearl Theatre (As You Like It, Tartuffe), Circle-in-the-Square (The Valley of the Dolls), and too many Off-Off Broadway theatres to list. His film credits include Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith, Pilot Error, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and A Girl Like Him.

Leslie Hull is a ‘Jill-of-all-Trades’ – Artist/Director/Actor/Educator. On-stage credits include work in and around ‘Chicagoland’ and locally at Williamston Theatre, Performance Network, Tipping Point, Peppermint Creek, most recently as Eunice in Streetcar Named Desire and Ensemble of The Birds Community Tour for Flint Repertory Theatre. She was Prop Designer for A Driving Beat, Streetcar Named Desire, and Facility for Living also at Flint Rep and will be joining the team again for this spring’s production of Green Day’s American Idiot! A faculty member at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, in the Communications, Media, and Theatre Department and newly as instructor at Mott Community College in Theatre. Directorial projects include The Pillowman (Martin McDonagh), Native Gardens (Karen Zacarias), Tiny Beautiful Things (Nia Vardalos), and In The Belly of the Whale (Georgette Kelly) all at Stage Center Theatre. With a BFA in Theatre/Musical Theatre from University of Michigan-Flint (Go Blue!), and an MFA in Acting from Michigan State University (Go Green!), and a proud union member of Actor’s Equity. Thank you to Ma, Da, and Conor for your cheers and love, always.

Kevin O’Callaghan (he/him) is a Flint based theatre artist. This is Kevin’s 4th Flint Rep New Works Festival as an actor. Also for Flint Rep: A Streetcar Named Desire (Stan), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Nick), Death of a Salesman (Happy), and the world premiere play ‘Rain on Fire. Select Regional: Rubin in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (40th William Inge Theatre Festival); Bernard in Boeing Boeing (Hope Rep); Mister/Ossifer in Passover (Theatre NOVA); George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (Tipping Point). NYC: Mad Dog Theatre Company, Tectonic Theatre Project, The Attic Theatre, and Theatre East. Training: Western Michigan University (BA) and The Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory (MFA). Kevin teaches acting and theatre appreciation at Mott Community College in Flint. Proudly Union.

Ashley Wickett is thrilled to make her Flint Rep debut! Ashley earned her BFA in Theatre Performance from The University of Evansville and her MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater. Credits include Soft Target (Detroit Public Theatre), The Antichrist Cometh, Fourteen Funerals (Purple Rose), Catch Me If You Can, Strangers on a Train (Meadow Brook), Scapin (dir. Bill Irwin), Once in a Lifetime and A Christmas Carol (ACT), Romeo and Juliet (California Shakespeare Theatre & Livermore Shakespeare Festival), Much Ado About Nothing (Pioneer Theatre Company), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Indiana Repertory Theatre). She has performed in staged readings with The Shakespeare Project of Chicago, Barebones Theatre Productions, The New Harmony Project, Shakespeare in Detroit and ACT. Ashley is a teacher/director with Next Step Broadway in Birmingham. She also works as a private audition coach with performers of all ages. She lives in Bloomfield Hills with her husband, Patrick, and daughters, Grace and Juliet and could not do any of this without them or her parents! Next up you can see Ashley in Murder on the Links at The Purple Rose. For more visit www.ashleywickett.com or IG: @ashleywlane