Meet the Dreadfuls
Greg Hunter
Puppeteer
Greg Hunter is a Georgia native and has had many opportunities to perform around Atlanta; His credits include: The Color Purple (Aurora Theatre), Ruth and the Green book (Center for Puppetry Arts),Wait Until Dark (Georgia Ensemble Theatre), Beautiful: the Carole King Musical (Aurora Theatre), The Drowsy Chaperone (Atlanta Lyric Theatre), A Year with Frog and Toad (Synchronicity Theatre), and Beauty and the Beast (Center For Puppetry Arts), just to name a few. Greg is also the company manager at Aurora and is thankful to them for allowing him the opportunity to continue exploring his passion for puppetry with this hauntingly fun show. www.greg-hunter.com
Reay Kaplan Maxwell
Puppeteer
REAY KAPLAN MAXWELL is an Atlanta based actress and puppeteer, as well as the Education Initiatives Manager at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Reay holds a B.S. in Acting from Syracuse University and a M.A. in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut. Her work has been seen at the Center For Puppetry Arts, the Alliance Theatre, 7 Stages, Synchronicity Theatre, Dad’s Garage and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Reay’s work extends to audio book narration, and her voice can be heard in 30+ titles, available through Audible.com
Evan Hill Phillips
Puppeteer
Evan Hill Phillips is a graduate from Michigan State University with a BFA in Theatre. Evan is also an Associate Artist of the Sense-Ability Ensemble and is currently developing an original musical geared towards neurodiverse audiences.
At the Center Evan was last seen performing in Sesame Street the Musical, Stellaluna, Human, Avanti DaVinci & Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Some of Evan’s other Atlanta credits include When Last We Flew (Out Front Theatre), The Speakeasy Encounter, The Student Body (Destination Theatre), The Mad Hatterpillar & her Many Heads (Synchronicity Theatre), Cat & Mouse Tales (Stage Door Theatre/ Piccadilly Puppets), And Then They Came for Me, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Georgia Ensemble Theatre), The New Black Fest’s Hands Up (Alliance Theatre), Water Works, A Christmas Carol (Herschend Family Entertainment), Ellipses (Working Title Playwrights), Newsies (Atlanta Lyric Theatre/Aurora Theatre), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Reindeer Games & The Lawrenceville Ghost Tours (Aurora Theatre, Appco19).
Evan is also skilled in graphic design, animation, playing music on the Alto Saxophone, appreciating trash, improv, stage-combat, befriending rubber duckies, quoting obscure cartoons & cooking tostadas. He hopes you enjoy the show! Shoutout to Mom, Dad, Kyron, Blake & Jalen for all of their support. Sporadic updates at @evanhillphillips & www.evanhillphillips.com.
At the Center Evan was last seen performing in Sesame Street the Musical, Stellaluna, Human, Avanti DaVinci & Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Some of Evan’s other Atlanta credits include When Last We Flew (Out Front Theatre), The Speakeasy Encounter, The Student Body (Destination Theatre), The Mad Hatterpillar & her Many Heads (Synchronicity Theatre), Cat & Mouse Tales (Stage Door Theatre/ Piccadilly Puppets), And Then They Came for Me, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Georgia Ensemble Theatre), The New Black Fest’s Hands Up (Alliance Theatre), Water Works, A Christmas Carol (Herschend Family Entertainment), Ellipses (Working Title Playwrights), Newsies (Atlanta Lyric Theatre/Aurora Theatre), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Reindeer Games & The Lawrenceville Ghost Tours (Aurora Theatre, Appco19).
Evan is also skilled in graphic design, animation, playing music on the Alto Saxophone, appreciating trash, improv, stage-combat, befriending rubber duckies, quoting obscure cartoons & cooking tostadas. He hopes you enjoy the show! Shoutout to Mom, Dad, Kyron, Blake & Jalen for all of their support. Sporadic updates at @evanhillphillips & www.evanhillphillips.com.
Kristin Storla
Puppeteer
Kristin is a ghoulishly talented Atlanta-based Puppeteer, Actor, certified Intimacy and Fight Director who’s always ready to bring a bit of boo to the stage! A regular haunt at the Center for Puppetry Arts, she’s conjured up memorable performances in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (no ghost lights needed!), Avanti DaVinci (a real scream!), Charlotte’s Web (spinning webs of delight), Peter Pan (where the shadows come to life), Aesop’s Fables (with morals that’ll rattle your bones), and Pete the Cat (with all nine lives). Up next, catch Kristin in CPA’s production of Rudolph, sleigh-ing audiences once again!
Sarah Beth Hester
Puppeteer
Sarah Beth “EssBee” Hester is thrilled to once again take the stage at the Center for Puppetry Arts! As a puppeteer, actor, musician, and teaching artist, Essbee is an active member of the Atlanta theatrical community, since graduating the apprentice program with the Shakespeare Tavern in 2015. Sarah Beth was a head puppeteer for BBC’s Moon and Me and will return as the titular character in The Center for Puppetry Art’s annual production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Some recent credits include: Principle Performer, Sesame Street the Musical (CPA); Shmoopy Lou, Just Another Play About Rainbows (Havoc Movement) Diafoirus/ Puppet Fabrication, Le Malade Imaginaire (Théâtre du Rêve) Benvolio, Romeo & Juliet (ASC); Puppet Captain/ Performer, Tesla vs Edison (CPA, World Premiere); Puppet Fabrication for Havoc Movement; Musical Composition and puppet fabrication, The Mad Hatterpillar (a new puppet musical); National Puppetry Conference, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. You can find EssBee’s newly released album I’M FINE. anywhere that music streams.
Ben Shirley
Musician
Benjamin Shirley is a musician, composer, educator, and organizer based in Atlanta, GA. Primarily a cellist, Benjamin has sought to incorporate his love of avant-garde jazz, old-time fiddle, and experimental classical traditions into a dynamic, creative, and personal vernacular. He has performed in hundreds of concerts across the U.S. and Europe with groups including “deep listening Appalachia” duo Whispers of Night, experimental noise orchestra Faun and a Pan Flute, improvising rock quintet Mute Sphere, creative jazz trio BASrelief, garage-classical Artifactual String Unit, and a duo with saxophonist Jeff Crompton. Engaging as an instrumentalist and composer for each of these groups, he is dedicated to a highly collaborative mode– instigating flows of invention, devising unexpected structures, and arriving at uncharted musical destinations. In addition to co-leading the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra, he has performed with ensembles such as Bent Frequency, the Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble, and the Albany, GA Symphony Orchestra, and at festivals such as Big Ears in Knoxville, TN and Black Mountain College’s {Re]Happening. Benjamin holds degrees in music and political science from UNC Chapel Hill and a certificate in music education from Georgia State University. A devoted student and teacher of music, Benjamin continues to garner inspiration from the music traditions of the past, while pursuing a musical life aimed at the future horizons of creativity.
Jeremy Speed Schwartz
Musician
Jeremy is an Atlanta-based artist and performer, and is very excited to be telling stories and singing songs with the Ghastly Dreadfuls. He holds an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. Jeremy has been a repeated collaborator on Xperimental Puppetry Theater at the Center for Puppetry Arts. A recent transplant to Atlanta, Jeremy’s theater work in New York and California includes Parade (Rochester CenterStage), Ruddigore (Off-Monroe Players), Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Hornell Theatre), As You Like It, and A Little Night Music (Westchester Playhouse). As an animator and interactive artist, Jeremy’s work has been featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The Sundance Institute, and in film festivals internationally. He is very thankful to his wife Heather, and his kids Madelyn and Nat for all their support. Jeremy teaches in the School of Art and Design at Kennesaw State University.
T.T. Mahony
Musician
T.T. Mahony is a working musician based in Atlanta. Conversant in a variety of idioms and on piano, organ, harpsichord and synthesizer, he has been active as a teacher, concertizer, entertainer, arranger, composer, vocal coach and church musician for over twenty years. He holds degrees from Georgia State University and the University of Georgia and is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists.
