Abigail Adams
Member since 1975
Ms. Adams is Artistic Director of The People’s Light & Theatre Company. During her 31 year association with the Theatre, she has directed more than sixty plays, including Nathan the Wise, The Day of the Picnic, Getting Near to Baby, Theophilus North, Twelfth Night, Something You Did, Fabulation, The Member of the Wedding, The O’Connor Girls, Sleeping Beauty: A Comic Panto in the British Style, The Miser, String of Pearls, Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire, The Little Red Riding Hood Show, In the Blood, The Little Foxes, Playhouse Creatures, Book of Days, The Road to Mecca, Sally’s Gone, She Left Her Name, More Grimm Tales, Heartbreak House, A Perfect Ganesh, Arabian Nights, My Mother Said I Never Should, Misalliance, Three Hotels, Peter Pan, The Last Good Moment of Lily Baker, and Taken in Marriage. Ms. Adams has directed readings and workshops of new plays for Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Circle Rep, New York Stage and Film, and the Public Theatre. Abbey served for ten years on the faculty of Swarthmore College and has also taught at New York University, Bryn Mawr College, Carnegie Mellon University, and The Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She has served on a variety of national boards and panels and is an active advocate for arts education. She is currently a site reporter for the NEA, and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Ursinus College.

Kevin Bergen
Member since 1999
Kevin Bergen is a Barrymore Award nominated actor and acting teacher. Kevin first came to People’s Light in 1999 to perform Orlando in As You Like It. Since then he has appeared in over twenty People’s Light productions. Kevin was nominated for a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Harry Brown in Man from Nebraska. Other Philadelphia region credits include: The Wilma Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Bristol Riverside Theatre, and InterAct Theatre Company. Kevin has acted at numerous other Regional Theatres including American Repertory Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare, The Studio Theatre (D.C.), and the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. He has toured the US with Shenandoah Shakespeare and abroad with American Repertory Theatre’s acclaimed production of The King Stag directed by Andrei Serban and designed and choreographed by Julie Taymor. Kevin has acted Off- and Off-Off- Broadway and appeared in independent films, on The Guiding Light, and in several industrials and commercials. He is a graduate of the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard.  

David Bradley
Member since 1991
David has been part of the resident ensemble since 1991, and spent 15 years as a full-time member of the artistic and education staffs. From 2002-2006 he served as Associate Artistic Director, jointly leading the Theatre’s arts education program Project Discovery.  The more than 20 productions he’s directed at People’s Light include …Young Lady From Rwanda, The Crucible, The Giver, A View from the Bridge, He Held Me Grand, Holes, Pretty Fire, Jungalbook, The Music Lesson, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Village Fable, Hush: An Interview with America and several holiday pantos. Since 2006 he’s been Artistic Director of the National Constitution Center’s Living News, a theater piece dramatizing current constitutional issues.  He has directed several productions at Indiana Repertory Theater, and has directed at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis.  David works extensively as an arts educator and consultant, and has collaborated with World Café Live, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, the Rosenbach Museum, Spiral Q Puppet Theater, A Total Approach and The Reinvestment Fund.  He’s an adjunct professor at Arcadia University and a graduate of Yale University.  David lives in Philadelphia’s West Mount Airy neighborhood with wife Margaret and sons Jacob and Noah.

Charles Brastow
Member since 1998
Chaz's first encounter with People's Light was as an intern during the summer of 1984. He joined the company full-time in 1987 during former Production Manager Ken Marini's tenure. Since then he has stage managed over 80 productions and designed sound for over 120. Last year he created the sounds for Cinderella and A Tale of Two Cities. In addition to his work for PLTC, he has designed for the Arden Theatre, Philadelphia Shakespeare Company, Cheltenham Center for the Performing Arts, PlayPenn, Delaware Theatre Company, Arena Stage, and Primary Stages. He has also worked for Nickelodeon (Doube Dare, Think Fast, and Finder's Keepers), Carnival Cruise Lines, Greg Thompson Productions, Miller-Reich Productions, Zap Productions, MLR Theatrical, and Scenery First. Chaz also has an M.A. in History.

Alda Cortese
Member since 1976
Alda Cortese has been with People’s Light since 1976, first appearing in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage at the Yellow Springs Center for the Performing Arts in Chester Springs. She has since appeared in nearly 100 productions with this theatre including Humble Boy, The Foreigner, Jack & the Beanstalk, The O’Connor Girls, The Miser (for which she received a Barrymore nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress), String of Pearls, and Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire. Other roles: Doll Common in Playhouse Creatures, June in He Held Me Grand, Agnes in A Delicate Balance, and the Grandmother in The Little Red Riding Hood Show. Alda also serves as Literary Manger for People’s Light.

Russell Davis
Member since 2000
Russell Davis' plays have been produced at various theatres, including People's Light & Theatre, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Long Wharf Theatre, Center Stage, Yale Repertory, and Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival.  He is currently a 2008-10 recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.  He was resident playwright at People's Light for the Theatre Residency Program of the National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group.  He has received grants and fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, McKnight Foundation, New York Founda­tion for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Tennessee Arts Commission.  He was commissioned by People's Light, through a National Endowment for the Arts grant, to adapt Avi's Crispin: The Cross of Lead.  His plays have been published by Broadway Play Publishing, Dramatists Play Service, Baker's Plays, and Toneeluitgeverij Vink B.V. in the Netherlands.  Selections from plays have been published in Smith & Kraus' Great Scenes for Young Actors (Volume II), in The Best Women's Stage Monologues and The Best Men's Stage Monologues for 1991, 1992, 2003 and 2008, and in Penguin Books' 100 Monologues  - An Audition Sourcebook from New Dramatists.  Two monologues from his new play, Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven, will be published in Smith & Kraus' Best Woman's Stage Monologues of 2010 and Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2010.

Peter DeLaurier
Member since 1981
Peter is an Artistic Associate at PLTC and has been with the Theatre since 1981. His credits include The Director in Six Characters in Search of an Author, Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily, Humble Boy, The Imaginary Invalid and The Giver; he also played Matthew Cuthbert with his wife — company member Ceal Phelan — as his sister Marilla in his stage adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (which was nominated for the Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play).  Other PLTC productions include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Around the World in 80 Days, The Forgiving Harvest, Holes, Camping with Henry & Tom, A Delicate Balance, In the Blood, Once in a Lifetime, Sister Carrie and the international tour of Kabuki Achilles. He appeared in PLTC's remounting of Holes at the Academy of Music. Peter was nominated for the Outstanding Actor Barrymore Award for his performance in Man from Nebraska and won that award for the one-man show Underneath the Lintel at the Lantern Theater Company where he also played in QED last season and Skylight this year.  He has directed at PLTC and at theatres around the country, serving as Artistic Director of New Stage Theatre in Jackson, MS. With Ceal and other friends, he co-founded two of Delaware's professional theatres: The Delaware Theatre Company (1978) and First Stage (1987). Peter has played Off-Off, Off- and Broadway touring shows; developed new scripts in converted cellars and done ancient stories in ancient Greek amphitheatres.  Always, the most rewarding theatre making experiences are in a place like this, in which a company of artists makes plays for a community of which it is an integral part.

Mark Del Guzzo
Member since 2003
Mark Del Guzzo is a company member with The People’s Light & Theatre Co., as well as a member with the Actors' Equity Association (AEA). Mark began his affiliation with People’s Light & Theatre Co. at an early age through People’s Light’s Summerstage Program, that of which he is now one of many teaching artists. His debut performance was as Twin 1, in the theatre’s production of Peter Pan, in ‘93. He’s performed with a majority of the Company Members at People’s Light. Mark is proud to have performed productions such as, Sally’s Gone, She Left Her Name and The Fantasticks. Other productions include Grimm’s Fairytales, Sleeping Beauty: A Panto, Holes (both at People’s Light and The Academy of Music, located in Center City, Philadelphia), and the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The roles for Mark Del Guzzo have been many, and he looks forward to adding more to the list. 

Lee Devin
Member since 1975
Lee Devin graduated from San Jose State College in 1958 and took his PhD (1967) at Indiana University. He taught at  Indiana (1958-62), the University of Virginia (1962-66), Vassar College (1966-70), and Swarthmore College (1970-2002). In 1970 he founded The Theatre at Swarthmore, which became in time the Department of Theater Studies. He retired from teaching in 2002. In 1975 be became a member of the artistic staff of the People’s Light and Theatre, acting, teaching acting, and doing dramaturgy. Over the years at People’s Light he made acting versions of these scripts: Summerfolk, from Gorky, with Margaret Wettlin; A Doll House, from Ibsen; Oedipus, acting version from Sophocles, with Abigail Adams; Alice; scenes and variations from Lewis Carroll; Celebration, a cycle of mystery plays; The Madwoman of Chaillot, from Giraudoux. He played a bunch of parts, from T. Lawrence Shannon, Malvolio, Benedick and Nat Miller to Judge Robedeaux and Canon Chasuble. He wrote program notes and did dramaturgy for shows too numerous to mention. Out in the great world, he wrote articles, chapters in books, plays, and librettos; he worked as a technical director, master electrician, production stage manager, and dramaturg; he acted and directed in the academy, and for movies and TV. He has a framed SAG residuals check in the amount of $0.01 to memorialize his brilliant movie career. With Rob Austin of the Harvard Business School he wrote Artful Making; What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work, published in 2003. In 2005 it won LMDA’s Elliott Hayes Award for dramaturgy. It’s about using theatre techniques to do creative work in business: replacing restraint with release, compromise with collaboration, and industrial teams with knowledge work ensembles. He and Rob are at work on the next book: Reliable Innovation. They’ve also published articles in several business journals. He’s currently a Dramaturg at People’s Light, a Senior Research Scholar at Swarthmore College, a Senior Consultant for the Cutter Consortium Innovation Practice, and a Certified Scrum Master. He’s at work on several writing projects that interfere with his trout fishing, and cause him to neglect his grandchildren.

Elizabeth Webster Duke
Member since 1996
As a member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists at PLTC, Elizabeth has performed in over thirty productions. Favorite PLTC roles include Catherine in A View from the Bridge and Gladys in The Skin of Our Teeth. Liz has performed with The Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, The Wilma Theatre, The Walnut Street Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, The Eureka Theatre Company, The Bay Theatre and the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. She holds an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting at the Shakespeare Theatre and teaches acting at Swarthmore College and George Washington University. She is a three-time finalist for Philadelphia’s F. Otto Haas Emerging Theatre Artist Award.  

Melanye Finister
Member since 1991
Melanye has been a member of the resident acting company at People’s Light and Theatre since 1991 and is also a teaching artitist. She has appeared in many plays at PLTC, including Six Characters in Search of an Author, Something You Did, Fabulation, and The Member of the Wedding, 30FEST: The Moon Please and July 7, 1994, String of Pearls, Afternoon of the Elves, Gospel at Colonus, More Grimm Tales, and Beauty and the Beast. She has also worked for the Arden, Philadelphia Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre Company, Venture Theater, The Wilma, and The Walnut Street Theatre.  Melanye holds a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.

Leonard Haas
Member since 1980
Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Lenny has been performing professionally in local theatres since 1988. He has been seen at The Arden, Wilma, 1812, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Bristol Riverside, Act II Playhouse, Luna Theatre, Mum Puppettheatre, Hedgerow, Cape May Stage, and at The People’s Light and Theatre Co., where he has performed in over 30 productions as a member of their resident acting company.  Proud accomplishments include appearing in an independent film (Cellar), playing Hamlet (Bristol Riverside), being nominated for a Barrymore (Norman in The Dresser, BRT) and actually receiving a Barrymore Award for the role of Henry in People’s Light’s production of The Fantasticks.

David Ingram
Member since 1989
Some of David's recent roles include Simon in I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda, the Knight/Falconer in Midons, or The Object of Desire, Jerry in Once in a Lifetime, Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth, and Dodo/Chandebise in A Flea in Her Ear.  David has also directed here, most recently The Foreigner, and The Yellow Line and July 7, 1994 as part of 30Fest.  Elsewhere, he was seen in Rounding Third (Theatre Exile), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Philadelphia Shakespeare Company), It’s All True (Interact Theater), among others.  David is part of the Theater Department of Temple University, where he produces New Voices, Temple’s annual collaboration with Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and directs Shakespeare Live!, Temple’s annual touring show.

Marla Jurglanis
Member since 1989
Resident Costume Designer for the past 16 years and manager of the Costume Shop, Marla’s recent designs include Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily, Crispin: The Cross of Lead, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Theophilus North, Humble Boy, Splittin’ the Raft, Twelfth Night, The Imaginary Invalid, The Foreigner, The Crucible, Jason and the Golden Fleece, The Member of the Wedding, 30FEST, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Sleeping Beauty: A Comic Panto in the British Style. She has designed costumes for over 70 PLTC productions, including Born Yesterday, Holes, The Fantasticks, The Little Foxes, He Held Me Grand, The Dreaming of Aloysius, Playhouse Creatures, Book of Days, The Memory of Water, Sally’s Gone, She Left Her Name, Hearts: the Forward Observer and many more. Marla’s designs have also been seen at the Delaware Theatre Company, The Arden Theater Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, AMTF, Virginia Stage Company, Alliance Theatre Company and George Street Playhouse.

Mark Lazar
Member since 1999
Mark Lazar is a company member happily celebrating his twelfth year with People's Light & Theatre Co. In addition to spending the last six holiday seasons in a dress as The Resident Dame for the pantomimes of Snow White, Cinderella, Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Jack & the Beanstalk, and Sleeping Beauty, Mr. Lazar includes The Foreigner, Twelfth Night, The Crucible, The Miser, Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire, Born Yesterday, A View from the Bridge, The Little Foxes, Camping with Henry and Tom, and Hearts: The Forward Observer, among some of his recent favorites here.  He is an eleven season veteran of The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, spending the 1990s there as a resident Company Member, performing Shakespeare, the other classics, and ten Christmas Carols as Ebenezer Scrooge.  While at NCSF Mr. Lazar spent many off-seasons at The Charlotte Repertory Theatre and includes Speed of Darkness, Prelude to a Kiss, Boca!, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Inherit The Wind, Mrs. Warren’s Profession and The Tempest as some of his favorites.  He is a founding member and ten-year veteran of the acting company at The Madison Rep, and performed regularly with nearly all of Wisconsin’s professional theatres including The Milwaukee Rep, American Players Theatre, Chamber Theatre, Next Act Theatre, Theatre Tesseract, Next Generation Theatre, Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival, New American Theatre in Rockford and national tours with The Great American Children’s Theatre Co. 

Louis Lippa
Member since 1974
Louis Lippa is a long-time Playwright in Residence with The People's Light & Theatre Company and a member of the Dramatists Guild.   His plays have been produced in the Philadelphia area, as well as Off-Broadway and at regional and community theatres throughout the country. Playwriting awards include an Off-Broadway OBIE; fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; the Dramatic Publishing Company’s National Award for The Stone House; the Roger L. Stevens Award; and the Kennedy Center’s New Play Award for his play, Sign of the Lizard, concerning the murder of the Spanish poet Frederico Garcia Lorca.  His two-part six-hour adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie produced by People’s Light, received critical acclaim from Philadelphia, Washington and London reviewers.  His play, Sacco and Vanzetti: A Vaudeville, has received productions at People’s Light; City Theatre of Pittsburgh; the Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco; and the Gorilla Theatre of Tampa Bay.  He recently received the Barrymore Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ken Marini
Member since 1974
A co-founder of PLTC, Ken has directed over 30 productions, including Six Characters in Search of an Author, Humble Boy, The Man from Nebraska, The Problem and How We Talk in South Boston for 30Fest, Around the World in 80 Days, Born Yesterday, A Delicate Balance, Dimly Perceived Threats to the System, Sacco and Vanzetti: A Vaudeville, and Sign of the Lizard. Other PLTC credits include The Life of Galileo and an internationally acclaimed production of Louis Lippa’s adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. He was the Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Center for the Arts for six seasons, directing Kindertransport, The Glass Menagerie and many others. Other credits include How His Bride Came To Abraham at Playwrights’ Theatre of New Jersey, When Real Life Begins at Chain Lightning Theatre, Richard III for the National Shakespeare Company, Amadeus, Sleuth and Romeo & Juliet for Hedgerow Theatre, Pete ‘n Keely at Act II Playhouse and All’s Well That Ends Well for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. He has directed A View from the Bridge in Russia and Psycho Drama in Edinburgh.

Rosemarie McKelvey
Member since 2004
A member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists, Rosemarie’s most recent designs were for Treasure Island, The Giver, Robin Hood, The Man from Nebraska, Fabulation, Jack & the Beanstalk, Jungalbook, A Higher Place in Heaven, and Around the World in 80 Days. Previous costume designs here include The Forgiving Harvest, Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire, In the Blood, and A Delicate Balance. Other theatre companies she has worked with include the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, The Arden Theatre Company, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, New Paradise Laboratories, Pig Iron Theatre, 1812 Productions, Theatre Exile, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Azuka Theatre Collective.

Susan McKey
Member since 1988
Susan McKey has been at People’s Light since her graduation from Swarthmore College in 1988.  Having no early intentions to make a career as an actor, Susan assisted Abigail Adams producing educational programs, touring productions to area schools, casting, teaching and assistant directing.  Her first role was in the elementary school touring production of The Locked Kingdom, in which she played Miss Susan.  While performing in touring productions Susan learned that an actor’s life at People’s Light is a more satisfying one based in community, not necessarily in pavement-pounding or individual fame.  Susan settled in the Philadelphia area, living in West Chester, Mount Airy, Havertown and now in Elkins Park, where she lives with her husband, Benjamin Lloyd and their two children, Griffen and Ella Marie.  She has been a professional actor since 1993, joining the Actors' Equity Association for the production of Peter Pan in which she played Wendy Darling.  She’s since performed in over 30 productions, some favorites being Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest,  Dunyzhad in Arabian Nights, Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth, Catherine in The Memory of Water, Mrs. Marshall in Playhouse Creatures, Ruth in Book of Days, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Huck Finn in Splittin' the Raft, and Lillie Langtry in Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily.  Susan is especially thrilled to be a part of the group asked to be in the holiday pantomime each year: Sleeping Beauty, Jack & the Beanstalk, Robin Hood, and Treasure Island.  Susan is a Barrymore Award Winner, native Cape Codder, and avid quilter. She is proud that People’s Light is her artistic home.

Kate McSorley
Member since 2005
Kate previously served as Stage Manager for Snow White, Doubt: A Parable, A Tale of Two Cities, Cinderella, The Persians, Humble Boy, The Giver, Anne of Green Gables, Something You Did, The Foreigner, Yemaya’s Belly, Fabulation, Jason and the Golden Fleece, 30FEST, Jungalbook, and A Higher Place in Heaven.  Kate has worked with many theatre companies in and around Philadelphia, including Brat Productions, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival and Amaryllis Theatre Company.

Paul Meshejian
Member since 1989
Paul Meshejian has been a company member with People’s Light since 1989.  He is the founding Artistic Director of PlayPenn, a national new play development conference located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, now in its fifth season.  In its first four years, PlayPenn has developed 24 plays including J.T. Rogers' The Overwhelming, Jordan Harrison’s Act a Lady, Lucy Thurber’s Scarcity and The Day of the Picnic by Russell Davis.  Over the past thirty-five years he has directed, acted, designed, adapted and produced for the stage having founded three organizations and served as Artistic Director for others.  During the 1980s he was the founding Artistic Director of Stage One: Collaboration, an Equity professional theatre in St. Paul devoted to new and rarely produced works.  Film and TV credits include Alan Rudloph’s Equinox, Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys, Bruce Charlesworth’s Private Enemy — Public Eye, The Final Patient, Homicide; Life on the Streets and HBO’s The Wire. Paul is on the Acting Faculty at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, also teaching at Arcadia University.  He serves on the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Theatre Research, is on the advisory board for Freedom Train Productions and is a member of LMDA, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

Christopher Patrick Mullen
Member since 2006
Chris has worked with PLTC since 1989. He is a graduate of DeSales University and has acted extensively with the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival since it opened in 1992.  A co-artistic director of Quinnopolis NY, Chris has also collaborated with the Arden Theatre Co., Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Syracuse Stage, the George Street Playhouse, Mumpuppet Theatre, Retro Productions, the Hedgerow Theatre, the Century Center and the Chester Theatre Co., among others. He has made appearances on NBC’s Law & Order.

Stephen Novelli
Member since 1974
A long-time member of the resident acting ensemble, Stephen first appeared on the People’s Light stage in 1974 at Strode’s Mill, playing Freddie in A Day in the Life of Joe Egg.  Among the more memorable roles he’s played since then are Hamlet in 1980 and 1987, Charles Drouet in Sister Carrie, Agamemnon and Priam in Kabuki Achilles, Old Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World, Vanzetti in Sacco and Vanzetti: A Vaudeville, Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Horace in The Little Foxes, Cassius in Julius Caesar, Argan in The Imaginary Invalid, and The Father in Six Characters in Search of an Author.  As Director, he has staged Dutchman by Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Valley Song by Athol Fugard, The Hope Zone by Kevin Heelan, Measure for Measure and As You Like It by William Shakespeare, Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, Camping with Henry and Tom by Mark St. Germain and Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher.  Stephen was appointed Co-Artistic Director with Abigail Adams in 1993, and served as Associate Artistic Director from 1997 to 2009. 

Dennis Parichy
Member since 2004
Dennis’ designs at People’s Light include Theophilus North, Humble Boy, Splittin’ the Raft, The Giver, Anne of Green Gables, Robin Hood, Something You Did, Man from Nebraska, Fabulation, Jason & the Golden Fleece, The Member of the Wedding, A Higher Place in Heaven, Sleeping Beauty: A Comic Panto in the British Style, The Miser, String of Pearls, Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire, The Little Red Riding Hood Show, The Little Prince, and In the Blood. Other credits here include He Held Me Grand, The Secret Garden, Book of Days, The Memory of Water, Afternoon of the Elves, and More Grimm Tales. He has worked throughout the United States in stock, regional theatre, Off-Broadway, Broadway, and internationally since 1959. He was Resident Lighting Designer for Circle Repertory Company from 1976-1995 and designed the premieres of many of Lanford Wilson’s plays.  He designed the American premieres of Athol Fugard’s Valley Song, Playland, My Children! My Africa!, the New York premiere of The Road to Mecca, and the world premiere of Sorrows & Rejoicings. Broadway credits include Talley’s Folly, Burn This, Redwood Curtain, The Water Engine, and Penn & Teller. Recent designs include Twelfth Night for Arizona Theatre Co., The Constant Wife for the Olney Theatre Center, Sherlock Holmes, the Final Adventure for Kansas City Rep, Rabbit Hole for the Huntington Theatre, and Heartbreak House for The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. He has received an OBIE, a Drama Desk Award, and Drama-Logue Awards for his designs. He teaches lighting design at Purchase College.

Kathryn Petersen
Member since 1986
Kathryn Petersen, an Artistic Associate at PLTC, has appeared in over seventy productions regionally and is a produced and published playwright.  She has written many of our holiday pantos.  She also serves as an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Arcadia University.

Ceal Phelan
Member since 1980
Ceal Phelan first performed at People's Light in 1980 and has regularly acted, taught and directed at the company since 1989.  She has worked in regional theatres around the country and did her time in New York. She and her husband Peter DeLaurier are two of three co-founders of the Delaware Theatre Company.

Elizabeth Pool
Member since 2005
Elizabeth is currently the Resident Dramaturg at People’s Light.  Favorite productions here include Young Lady from Rwanda, The Glass Menagerie, Treasure Island, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Theophilus North, Splittin’ the Raft, Something You Did, Fabulation, and The Crucible.  Elizabeth is co-author of A Line in the Sand: Stories from the U.S./Mexico Border, a play based on first-hand interviews conducted in Mexico and focusing on the issues surrounding immigration.  She is on the Literary Committee for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights and is an evaluator for the PlayPenn Festival. She is the Philadelphia Regional Vice President of the Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas.  Elizabeth has a B.F.A. in Acting from N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts and an M.A. in Theatre from Villanova University. 

Ahren Potratz
Member since 2007
Originally from Minneapolis, MN, Ahren now calls Philadelphia his home.  After graduating with a B.F.A. from University of the Arts in 2001, he spent the better part of six months working at the McCarter Theatre under the tutelage of Emily Mann and Stephen Wadsworth. Ahren has also worked regionally at the Wilma, New Freedom Repertory Theatre, the CSC, Interact, and the Lantern. In addition to his company responsibilities at People’s Light, Ahren serves as a core member of the Enchantment Theatre Company, where he utilizes his mask, puppetry, and movement training to bring fairy-tales to life for children of all ages. In the past few years he has performed in over twelve productions, as well as creating four shows that currently tour nationally to playhouses and symphony orchestras. Ahren is an SAFD certified Advanced Actor-Combatant trained in unarmed and six styles of weaponry and has received multiple Examiner’s Awards for excellence. Credits include:  For PLTC: A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Flute/Fairy), How We Talk in South Boston (Marty), Trying to Find Chinatown (Benjamin), Jason and the Golden Fleece (Orpheus), Theophilus North (Charles/Ensemble), and Six Characters in Search of an Author; For InterAct: Reinventing Eden (Jason Tuttle); For Mixed Blood: Not about Heroes (Wilfred Owen); For The Lantern: The Tempest (Ariel & Ferdinand), Lovers (Joe/Ms. Wilson), Master Harold and the Boys (Hally); For the McCarter Theatre: Romeo & Juliet (Fight Captain/Capulet Boy), All Over (Newspaperman), and Don Juan (Ensemble); For Enchantment: Stravinsky’s The Firebird (Prince Ivan) with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Scheherazade (Sultan) with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Beauty and the Beast (Beast/Pan/Puppeteer).

James Pyne
Member since 1975
Jim is Director of Design at People’s Light. In his 32 seasons with PLTC, he has created sets and/or lights for over 200 productions, including Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily, The Glass Menagerie, Treasure Island, Theophilus North, Humble Boy, The Giver, Twelfth Night, Robin Hood, Anne of Green Gables, The Foreigner, The Crucible, The Member of the Wedding, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sleeping Beauty, Julius Caesar, Holes, A View from the Bridge, A Delicate Balance, The Little Foxes, He Held Me Grand, Playhouse Creatures, Book of Days, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Road to Mecca, Sally’s Gone, She Left Her Name, and Sister Carrie. Jim has received ten Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Scenic and Lighting Design, winning for Outstanding Scenic Design in 1996 for The Life of Galileo and in 2002 for The Merchant of Venice. He has also designed scenery for the Arden (Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Henry V, Hedda Gabler and Private Lives), Villanova University, Act II Playhouse, the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis and the Enchantment Theatre Company.

Marcia Saunders
Member since 1976
Marcia Saunders has been acting with People's Light since 1976 and has enjoyed performing in a variety of roles from Shakespeare, Shaw, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, a Feydeau farce and many world premieres. She has also enjoyed over the years working in many theatres in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York. Marcia is the recipient of Emmy Awards for her narration on the Discovery Channel's Teacher TV and is the recipient of a Barrymore award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Claire in A Delicate Balance.

Mary Elizabeth Scallen
Member since 1991
Mary Elizabeth Scallen came to People's Light in 1991 after earning her MFA from Temple University.  In addition to being an actor and Artistic Associate, she has served as a teaching artist, dramaturg, Shakespeare text coach, and communications writer.  She has performed in over 50 productions at People's Light; favorites include In The Blood (Amiga Gringa, Beauty), Theophilus North (Hannah, Sarah Bosworth, Myra), Twelfth Night (Olivia), The Merchant of Venice (Portia), The Memory of Water (Mary), Quint & Miss Jessel at Bly (Miss Jessel), Arthur's Stone, Merlin's Fire (Morgaine), Hard Times (Louisa) and Getting Near to Baby (Aunt Patty.)  She has also worked with The Arden, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Gretna Theatre (PA), Mill Mountain Theatre (VA), Weston Playhouse (VT) and the NC Shakespeare Festival.  She teaches acting in the Theatre School at People's Light and at The University of Pennsylvania.

Cathy Simpson
Member since 1994
Cathy has been a company member of the People’s Light & Theatre Co. for 14 years.  She is also a member of the “Freedom Rising” Company at the National Constitution Center, and the American Historical Theatre Company, Philadelphia.  Her work in local theatres includes InterAct Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Hedgerow, Theatre Catalyst, the Arden and the Wilma. Regional theater credits include the Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, The National Theatre, Studio Theatre, Source Theatre, Wooly Mammoth, Olney Theatre Center, St. Louis Black Rep., St. Louis Rep., Indiana Rep., Big Arts.\Fla. and Florida Rep. Film and TV credits include the award-winning PBS Maple Ave. Outreach Film P.S. I Love you, and numerous industrials and commercials for local Fox TV.  A three-time Barrymore nominee and a winner for the Freedom Theatre production of The Old Settler, she has also been nominated twice for the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington D.C.

Graham Smith
Member since 1999
Graham Smith has been in more than 180 plays and 10 films. His history includes a B.A. (Davidson College), M.F.A. (Hilberry Classic Theatre), twelve years with the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (NCSF), plus 24 seasons with the Charlotte Repertory Theatre. A member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists at PLTC since 1999, he lives in Charlotte with his wife, Audrey Brown, and their two golden retrievers, Henry Possum and Slim Underfoot. Recent work includes Toby Belch in Twelfth Night and Danforth in The Crucible at PLTC and NCSF, Owen in The Foreigner (at PLTC), Gonzalo in The Tempest (Actors Theatre of Louisville) and  Ben Hecht in Moonlight and Magnolias at Riverside Theatre.

Tom Teti
Member since 1974
Tom Teti has been with People's Light since its inception, and someday he may even count his total productions. He has served as an officer of the company, on the board, has taught, directed, but mostly acted, for year, and years (thirty-four, to be exact). He also acts at other places, in Philadelphia and even beyond. Tom is also proud to do work with the Writing Department at Rosemont College and the Center for Literacy in Philadelphia.

Saige Thompson
Member since 1987
Saige Thompson made her stage debut (under Abbey Adams' direction) in A Doll’s House at age six.  She went on to do another twenty productions at PLTC through the years.  Favorites include: Dimly Perceived Threats to the System, A Village Fable, Playhouse Creatures and The Secret Garden.  She has been living in Los Angeles (the last 7 years) and was cast as a serious regular on FOX's short-lived Life on a Stick and last year's ABC Family mini-series Samurai Girl.  Other TV credits include: ER, Ghost Whisperer, Cold Case, CSI, Without a Trace, Veronica Mars, Grey’s Anatomy, Raising the Bar and the Lifetime movie Racing for Time.  

Julianna Zinkel
Member since 2007
Julianna Zinkel, a member of People's Light & Theatre's acting company since 2007, is a Chester County native. After graduating Downingtown High School, she traveled from the farm to the city and enrolled in Temple University's Undergraduate Theater Program. From there she quickly entered Philadelphia's rich theater community performing at the Arden Theatre in As You Like It (Celia), at the Wilma Theater in Big Love (Bride, Lydia u/s) and Wintertime (Ariel). People's Light was next with one of her favorite shows: The Miser (Elise). Working with such great creative forces, she planted her roots in Philadelphia and continues to be actively involved in the great performing arts community here. Some of her other highlighted and favorite performances include:  At People's Light: Theophilus North (Eloise, Diana), The Crucible (Abigail), Midsummer Night's Dream (Mustardseed, Amazon), and Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Peregrine, One Eye). At the Arden: Crime and Punishment (Sonia, Lizaveta, Alyona). With Brat Productions: Honeypot: Estro-Jen (Estro-Jen). With Cult 12: Diva Divan (Stephan Gustave/Rex Rime).