LIZZIE Cast and Creative Team
MEGHAN RANDOLPH (Lizzie Borden) is Music Theatre of Madison's founder and Executive Director. She has produced every show in MTM's eleven-year history, directed over half of them, and appeared in several. Recent MTM credits include A New Brain (Director), La Cage Aux Folles (Producer, Costume Designer), Nine (Director), 35MM (Ballad of Sara Berry soloist), Bonnie & Clyde (Director), and many more. Other recent performance credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (Pilate-Middleton Players), Big Fish (Witch-Theatre LILA/Four Seasons), Assassins (Sara Jane Moore-Four Seasons), Fiddler on the Roof (Fruma Sarah-CTM), and many others. She performed on the national tour of Cats and in concert with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, and will soon be seen in Four Seasons Theatre's Man of La Mancha as Aldonza. Meghan is also a director and arts manager who has worked extensively in the area in many roles. She holds a BFA in musical theatre from the University of Michigan and a Masters of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University.
LIZ GRIFFITH (Emma Borden) is an MTM artistic associate. MTM Credits: Nine (Luisa), Nevermore (Muddy), Alice (Kitty). Other Madison credits include Gypsy (Louise-Capital City Theatre), A Grand Night For Singing (Victoria-Four Seasons Theatre), and The Haunting of Hill House (Theo-Heartline Theatricals). Other credits include the pre-Broadway and West End engagements of Kristina, Show Boat and Kristina at Carnegie Hall, and work with Arkansas Rep, Gateway Playhouse, Encore Musical Theatre Company, Depot Theatre, Meadowbrook Theatre, and more. She holds a BFA in musical theatre from the University of Michigan and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association.
ERIN MCCONNELL (Bridget Sullivan) is an MTM artistic associate. MTM Credits: Bonnie & Clyde (Emma Parker), 35MM (Music Director), Nine (Music Director), Alice (Red Queen), and Striking 12 (Girl/Pianist/Music Director). She has also worked in Madison as a music director and performer for OutCast! Theatre, Mercury Players, and Broom Street Theatre. Additional regional credits include Other Desert Cities (Brooke Wyeth – Duluth Playhouse), Tales from the Bad Years (Orchestra Director – University of MN-Duluth), Bug (R.C. – Renegade Theater Company), Spring Awakening (Orchestra Director – Renegade Theater Company), Closer (Alice Ayres – Playground Theater), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Marcy Park – Duluth Playhouse), Agnes of God (Agnes – Playground Theater), West Side Story (Maria– Duluth Playhouse), and many others.
KELSEY ANNE JOHNSON (Alice Russell) is new to Wisconsin and honored to be working with the MTM team. She received a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Arizona in 2013 and has since worked in Arizona, Maine, New York, and St. Martin. Favorite credits include Nine (Claudia - Arizona Repertory Theatre), Next to Normal (Natalie u.s.- Arizona Theatre Company), and Cinderella (Stepmother - Herberger Theatre).
JULIA LUEBKE (Emma on 8/25 at 10:30, Understudy Lizzie and Emma) is a newcomer to Madison, and is excited and honored to be a part of the Wisconsin premiere of Lizzie! This is her first show with MTM. Favorite past roles include Whatsername (American Idiot), Female Soloist/Naomi (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Sue Snell (Carrie: The Musical), Rory (Bare: A Pop Opera), Bad Idea Bear (Avenue Q), and Mama Morton (Chicago). She is also currently a professional princess performer and travels all over the state for events. She would like to thank MTM for giving her a chance, and her parents for not judging her too harshly when she does all these "weird shows".
ALYSSA BEASLEY (Bridget on 8/25 at 10:30. Understudy Bridget and Alice) is delighted to join Music Theatre of Madison once again! She is currently a student at UW-Madison studying Civil and Environmental Engineering. Some recent credits include MTM’s A New Brain (Minister) and Nightmare Alley (Narrator/Tarot Girl), University Theatre’s Fugitive Songs (Barrett) and Legally Blonde (Margot), and Out!Cast Theatre’s Rocky Horror. She would like to thank all of the people in her life who validate her choice to continue pursuing the arts.
DANA PELLEBON (Director) is a board member for Music Theatre of Madison. MTM credits: Hostage Song (Wife) and Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens. She has worked with a variety of community and professional theatrical troupes in the Madison area. Most recently she directed The Whipping Man and Mauritius for Madison Theatre Guild and Detroit 67 for Krass Theater. Some of her favorite onstage roles include Melpomene in Xanadu and Jill in True Confessions of a Go Go Girl. She performed in/produced the Madison-based caburlesque troupe, Foxy Veronica’s Peach Pies. She also produced three shows for the New York International Fringe Festival.
JENNIFER HEDSTROM (Music Director) has served as rehearsal pianist, keyboardist, and music director for many shows within the Madison theater community. MTM Credits: A New Brain (Music Director/Pianist), La Cage Aux Folles (Orchestra Director) and Big Money (Music Director). Other Madison credits include Madison Theatre Guild’s Alice (Music Director/pianist), and Forward Theater Company's Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Nedra/pianist). Jennifer is the staff accompanist at Edgewood College and works as a freelance pianist, piano teacher, and singer-songwriter in the Madison area.
CINDY SEVERT (Choreographer/Assistant Director) is an award-winning director/choreographer whose work spans musical theatre, ballet, opera, symphony, film, cabaret, and British panto. She has been on the faculty of the School of Madison Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, and UW Continuing Studies teaching Dance for Musical Theatre and Jazz, and is a frequent guest instructor for colleges, schools, studios, and community organizations. She recently premiered Up All Night for Madison Ballet. Selective credits include Madison Opera’s La Cenerentola, Warner Brothers’ Purple Rain (assistant choreographer), UW Dept. of Theatre & Drama’s The Revolt of the Beavers, Madison College’s Bone Dance, Mercury Players Theater’s Reefer Madness and The Full Monty, StageQ’s The Stops, New York and Minnesota Fringe Festivals
TOM LITTRELL (Lighting Designer) is proud to be lighting the amazing women of ‘Lizzie’ – once again, a show that you might not have seen if MTM had not produced it here. Tom’s Madison theatre resume is MTM-heavy, having designed lighting for A New Brain, 35MM, Nine, Bonnie and Clyde, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and more. In a sordid past life he toured with David Bowie, Genesis, and Led Zeppelin. As always, love to Stacy for her support and encouragement.
JENNI SCHWANER LADD (Costume Designer) Lizzie is Jenni’s first design for MTM. Recent designs include Alice Klock’s CLAN (device) for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and LEVIATHAN (upcoming) for Neos Dance Theatre; Rocky Horror with Out!Cast Theatre; and Assassins with Four Seasons Theatre. As wardrobe supervisor, she has toured with Reduced Shakespeare Company and Les Ballets Trockadero. She is currently the assistant costume supervisor for Madison Opera and Madison Ballet, and tour wardrobe supervisor for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Jenni holds an MA in Theatre History and an MFA in Costume Design from the University of Illinois.
JULIA MCCONAHAY (Hair and Makeup Designer), owner of Chrysalis Hair and Body in Madison, WI., has been sculpting hairstyles for costumes, photo shoots, weddings, special occasions, and every-day wear for over 15 years. Julia also rocks the free world as a contemporary violin player which helped to inspire the looks for Lizzie. She took on another role in 2016's Striking 12, performing onstage as violinist and storyteller. This is Julia's first role as hair designer for MTM, but it won't be her last!
STEVEN CHESLIK-DEMEYER (Writer) Fresh out of art school in the early 80s, Steven bought a used guitar in a junk shop on St. Marks Place, learned three chords, and taught himself to write songs by listening to Dolly Parton records. He insinuated himself into a couple post-punk neo-folk bands in the East Village, but soon discovered the world of downtown theater. Through the late 80s and early 90s, he wrote and performed music in several experimental productions with tiny mythic theatre company and directors Kristin Marting and Tim Maner. In 1992, he and Jay Byrd created an act called Y’all, singing original songs and telling stories in the style of old-time country vaudeville. The act sprang from the downtown theater scene but went on to play in coffeehouses, churches, retirement homes, and rock clubs across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In ten years, Y’all recorded four CDs, published two books, appeared on MTV and Comedy Central, and went broke. Their last two years together, they lived in a camper on the road with a third partner. Steven made a documentary about that relationship and the final years of Y’all, Life in a Box, which premiered in the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2005. Steven lives in New York City with his husband and continues to write songs, plays, and stories. Steven is a MacDowell Fellow and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in American Studies. He blogs at golikewater.blogspot.com.
TIM MANER (Writer) Right out of college, Tim co-founded the tiny mythic theatre company with a focus on developing the work of creator/directors and a mission to “disrupt the american living room / rearrange the furniture in the american mind”. tiny mythic’s work became a staple of the downtown alt-theatre scene of the early 90s, and just a few years later, the previously transient company transformed into the award-winning NYC arts center, HERE. His producing/presenting history at HERE spanned a decade with hundreds of productions brought to life by thousands of artists. (Though he no longer serves as a co-director, he remains an active founding board member working to expand opportunities for mid-career hybrid artists.) Tim has created over twenty original works as a creator/director including: The Hawthorne Project, a six-year collaboration with writer/adaptor Elizabeth Banks building a trilogy of multi-layered multi-media events adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s three American novels and The Opera Project, a five-year collaboration with writer Ruth Magraff and composers Matthew Pierce and Fred Ho creating a series of original New Wave Operas. He’s also sung in some bands, arranged and conducted a Cowgirl Chorus, and originated roles in a couple of Robert Wilson shows (one of which had him wearing Gianni Versace couture at La Scala in Milan, Italy). He is a graduate of NYU/Tisch/Playwrights Horizons.
ALAN STEVENS HEWITT (Writer) ASH grew up in a musical family, the son of a professional oboist. He cut his teeth as a teenager recording for Ruffhouse/Columbia Records at Studio 4 in Philadelphia, and during the 90’s as member of alt-folk band The Low Road (Caroline Records), touring with Los Lobos, Barenaked Ladies, and label-mates Ben Folds Five. He moved full-time to NYC in the late 90’s to pursue his conservatory degree in composition at Mannes College of Music/The New School, where he studied with Robert Cuckson and Carl Schachter. In the mid-aughts, with partners, he opened The Coral Room, a nightclub in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, which featured a 10,000 gallon saltwater aquarium with live “mermaid” performances and hosted cutting edge bands, performance artists, events, and djs nightly. As an actively performing musician, his credits include Broadway’s Fun Home (also 1st Natl. Tour), Finding Neverland, Matilda, Sting’s Last Ship, Rocky, Jekyll & Hyde, Lysistrata Jones, American Idiot, Spring Awakening (also 1st Natl. Tour), Off-Bway’s Closer Than Ever, Rent, tours in the U.S. and abroad, and numerous recordings as player, composer, arranger, and producer. His first score for theatre was for a production of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal that the NYTimes thought was awful. He lives in the Hudson Valley and enjoys motorcycles and longboarding.