Julia Isabel Diaz (she/her) (performer) is a Mexican-American performing artist committed to spreading joy, inspiring confidence, and enacting change through her work. She has performed with several theatres across the Twin Cities, including Ten Thousand Things, Exposed Brick Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, and Emerging Professionals Ensemble. In the summer of 2022, Julia was selected to be in the Ordway Center for Performing Arts' first GreenRoom Musical Theater Training Fellowship.

Falicia Nichole (performer) is an actor, producer, advocate, and singer. She has appeared at Artistry MN - The Pajama Game (Babe), Hairspray (Dynamite), Little Shop of Horrors (Crystal); FFF - French Twist (Frou Frou); Theatre on Purpose - The Lonely Hour (Nicole), Guns (Elaina); Women’s Theater Initiative - Not Fair My Lady, SIZE; Bad Mime Productions - Cafés des Lettres (LeBrun); Bucket Brigade - Life Goes On (Sage)

Film credits include: Television - Hidden Falls (Main Cast- Edelle), The Source (Main Cast- Ms. Maine); Short Film - One the Inside (Nala), Manic on Minos! (Scarlet Death); Seasonal - Mothers Day 365 (MotionWorship), What is Christmas (MotionWorship)

Falicia Nichole is excited to share this New Work with an audience and hopes that the authenticity of Judy, Joan, and Joni stirs something in those who get to hear it. What a privilege it is to experience so many colors of humanity as a community! SDG

HiddenFallsFilm.com
FaliciaNichole.com

Michael Robins (co-creator/director) founded Illusion Theater in 1974. Over the past 40+ years, he has guided nearly 500 plays to production. Most recently Michael directed T. Mychael Rambo's PRESENT, the premiere of Michael Egan's stage adaptation Five Minutes of Heaven, and In This Moment...Now. Favorite projects he has directed include Allison Moore’s Ivey award winning My Antonia, Bill W. & Dr. Bob by Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey, James Still’s Miranda, Kate Guentzel in The Pink Unicorn, and Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling’s A Night in Olympus. With Roberta Carlson, Michael created the musical Only One Sophie. Michael is part of the team that created Illusion’s Education/Prevention program in 1977 starting with the award-winning play Touch. Michael received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Ivey Award with Illusion Theater co-founder Bonnie Morris

Molly Sue McDonald* (performer) is recognized for her versatility as a performer, an actor, singer, and musician in the areas of theater, music-theater, opera, live radio, and the concert stage. She is familiar to Twin Cities audiences through her work at the Guthrie, Chanhassen, Cricket, Nautilus, Ten Thousand Things, Frank, Park Square, Mixed Blood, Old Log, Illusion, History, and Latte Da Theaters. Other regional credits include Arizona Theater Co and Chicago's Goodman and Lincolnshire Theaters. She has sung with Plymouth Music Series, Ex Machina Baroque Opera, Dorian Opera Theater, and the Symphony Orchestras of Minnesota, Columbus, Kansas City, Duluth, South Bend, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids. She is 1/4 of the hit group Sopranorama! and has worked with such luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Garrison Keillor, Douglas Campbell, and Maureen McGovern. Her award-winning lullaby album, Child of Mine, can be found on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, and several other music streaming sites. She is an accomplished instrumentalist (violin/ guitar/mandolin) and has been featured from time to time on her rollerblades.

Roberta Carlson (co-creator/arranger/musical director) is familiar to local audiences for her work with Illusion in For Our Daughters, Bill W and Dr. Bob, Love and Marriage, and Only One Sophie. She composed music at Children's Theatre Company and the Jungle Theater. She has also composed for the Guthrie Theater, Arizona Theater Company, and many other theaters across the country. Her score for Steven Dietz's Dracula has been used in more than 150 productions nationally, as well as Canada, Europe, and Japan. She has twice been the recipient of the Arizona State Arts Council "Zuni" Award as well as various other critics' awards.

Justin D. Cook (he/him) (assistant music director) is a writer, composer, and music director currently based in Minneapolis, MN. Having received a graduate degree in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, his passion is writing character-driven, story-centric pieces that engage with the realities of the human experience and the hope of what could be. His work has been presented at venues around Minneapolis and New York such as Lincoln Center, Off-Broadway, UCLA, Nautilus Music Theater, 54 Below, and more. In addition to writing and composing, he maintains an active career through music directing and working in theater administration, maintaining a presence in both the Minneapolis and NYC theatre scenes. Instagram: @justindcookmusic.

Rachel Lantow* (stage manager) is grateful to be part of creating new works with Illusion again, after What is Emily Drawing? and A PLAY by Barb & Carl last season. She alternates touring and investing in her hometown arts community. This spring, Rachel's touring company, Cirque Mechanics, enjoyed an off-Broadway run of their new show Zephyr at the New Victory Theater in New York City, which was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. She has worked with Cirque Mechanics since 2018 on their remount of Birdhouse Factory, their inaugural tent show Cirque Mechanics Under Canvas, and 42ft: A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels. During the thick of the pandemic, she was a logistics coordinator for the Minnesota community vaccination clinics. Selected local stage management credits include 5 years of productions with Circus Juventas in St. Paul, New Eyes Festival (Mu Performing Arts), 10//X// (Alternative Motion Project), Heaven, French Twist (Flying Foot Forum), Loyce Houlton’s Nutcracker Fantasy (Minnesota Dance Theatre at the State Theatre), Hatchet Lady (Walking Shadow Theatre Company), SOLO (McKnight Foundation), In the Margins (THREADS Dance Project), The (curious case) of the Watson Intelligence (Park Square Theatre), Momentum: New Dance Works 2017 & 2019 (The Cowles Center/The Southern/Walker Arts Center) Flying Foot Forum (Flint Hills Children's Festival at the Ordway, The Guthrie, the Cowles Center),  Four Saints in Three Acts (VocalEssence & Black Label Movement at the Cowles Center).  Rachel received her B.F.A. in Theatre Technology/Design from Minnesota State University, Mankato. "For my audience of one and for Kaela."

Tree O’Halloran* (Associate Producer) has worked intermittently with the Illusion Theater on new works, established plays and educational tours since 1988 and has recently joined the theater full time in the role of Associate Producer. As a stage manager, she has worked around the country and abroad for such theaters as the Guthrie, the Alley Theatre, the Children's Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, Willliamstown Theater Festival, PlayMakers Rep, Nissay Theater (Tokyo), Gibileena Festival (Italy), Jungle Theater and Ten Thousand Things.

Virginia Culhane (sound and projections) has been working in various roles at the Illusion Theater over the past year including stage management, front of house, video captioning, and COVID compliance. As well as theatre, they have a background in Japanese language and Asian studies. They are excited to be part of the Fresh Ink program again!

Alex Clark (lighting) is a freelance lighting designer and photographer with an MFA in lighting design from the University of Minnesota and a BA in theatre, social science, history, and international relations from the University of Minnesota – Morris. He is blessed and cursed with an insatiable curiosity about everything and a fascination for how light interacts with our world. Recent lighting designs include  Lady Day (Yellow Tree Theatre), Clue (SOAR), Something Rotten (Phipps Center), Small Mouth Sounds (College of St. Benedict), Quilters (Perpich), White Christmas (Phipps Center), and RARE (Sod House Theatre).