MEET OUR Creatives
Jessica Greenberg (she/her)
Lighting Designer
A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, and THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
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Off-Broadway: ART New York Theatres, 59E59
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Other Theatres: La Mama ETC, HERE Arts Center, Flux Theatre Ensemble, New Opera NYC, Adjusted Realists, The Exchange/Orchard Project, Epic Theatre Ensemble Education Program, SB Dance, Ririe-Woodbury Dance, Salt Lake Acting Company
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Awards: “40 Under 40” Lighting Designers Award from the Light Collective, Design Arts Utah Juror’s Award, URTA Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Training in Lighting Design
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Teaching Credits: Professor of Theatre Design at Weber State University
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Education: BA in Theatre from Hampshire College, MFA in Lighting Design from UMass Amherst
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Professional Affiliation: USA 829
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Website: jessicagreenberg.com
Melissa Maxwell she/her)
Director
STEEL MAGNOLIAS
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Melissa Maxwell is a director, actor, writer, and the Co-Associate Artistic Director of Great River Shakespeare Festival.
Directing Credits: Utah Shakespeare Festival (Steel Magnolias, Trouble in Mind), Playmakers Rep (Clyde’s), Great River Shakespeare Festival (Imbroglio), George Street Playhouse (Clyde’s), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The African Company Presents. . . ), Kitchen Theatre/Civic Ensemble, Pearl Theatre (Slashes of Light), Soho Playhouse (Taboos).
Acting Credits: Mint Theatre (Drama Desk nomination), The Guthrie (The History Plays 2024), GRSF, George Street Playhouse, Public Theatre of Maine, Capital Rep, Pearl Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Crossroads Theatre, Kennedy Center.
Film and TV: FBI: Most Wanted, MANIFEST, Mrs. Fletcher, Madam Secretary, HOSTAGES, Law & Order, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Sopranos.
Playwriting Credits: Imbroglio (GRSF World Premiere), Salt in a Wound (ETA Creative Arts Center, Stella Adler Studio of Acting NY). Unrequited Love (New Perspectives Theater). Fetus Envy (manhattantheatre).
Public Speaking: TEDx Talks: TEDxMosesBrownSchool: Taking Ownership and TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen: On Courage.
Website: www.melissamaxwell.com.
Trey Plutnicki (he/him)
Choreographer
AS YOU LIKE IT, MACBETH, and THE GREENSHOW
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Trey is a Chicago-based actor and choreographer from River Edge, NJ. His work as a choreographer includes dance-heavy productions, tap dance, plays with music, and large puppetry.
Previous acting credits include: Disney's The Little Mermaid (Drury Lane Productions), Ragtime, Pirates of Penzance, Much Ado About Nothing (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Something Rotten! (Rocky Mountain Reparatory Theatre), Twihard: The Twilight Parody Musical (Otherworld Theater).
Trey has also appeared on Chicago Med, American Greed, and as the guy with the mom on Netflix's Squid Game: The Challenge.
Jeremy Sortore (he/him)
Voice/Speech/Text Coach
ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, AS YOU LIKE IT, MACBETH, and THE GREENSHOW
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Jeremy Sortore, MM, MFA (he/him) has over two decades of experience offering collaborative instruction to actors and other performing artists who seek to connect to a sense of embodied artistry and communicate what matters through breath, movement, and sound. As an educator/clinician with international experience and a coach for Tony Award-winning regional theaters, Jeremy is focused on actor-centered processes that emphasize collaboration, consent, curiosity, and community.
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Currently a tenured faculty member at the University of Michigan, Jeremy is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, a Vocal Combat Technique Certified Trainer/Coach, a PAVA-Recognized Vocologist, an Associate Faculty member with Theatrical Intimacy Education, an Associate Editor of the Voice and Speech Review, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Consent-Based Performance.
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Website: jeremysortore.com
Apollo Mark Weaver (he/him)
Scenic Designer
ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, AS YOU LIKE IT, and MACBETH
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Previously at the Festival: The Winter’s Tale, Henry VIII, The Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Book of Will, Henry VI Part 1, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor
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Other Theatres: Geva Theatre Center: No Child…, Tinker to Evers to Chance; Merrimack Rep Theatre: The Wickhams, Slow Food, The Villains’ Supper Club, The Making of a Great Moment; Arizona Theatre Company: Miss Bennet, The Wickhams; Swine Palace: Roe, People Places and Things, Red Velvet; InterAct Theatre Company: Hype Man; Azuka Theatre: Moth, Shitheads, The Gap; Redhouse Arts Center: Romeo and Juliet; Inis Nua Theatre Company: Folk, The Monster in the Hall
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Teaching: Assistant Professor of Scenic Design, Louisiana State University
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Education: MFA in Scenic Design, Temple University
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Professional Affiliation: United Scenic Artists Local 829
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Website: apolloweaver.com
Jo WIniarski (she/her)
Scenic Designer
A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, and THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
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Previously at the Festival: 48 shows including The Mountaintop, Silent Sky, Ragtime, Clue, Trouble in Mind, Boeing Boeing, Coconuts, Peg O My Heart, Midsummer Nights Dream, Romeo and Juliet
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Broadway: Associate Designer Rock of Ages, Sondheim on Sondheim, LoveMusik
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Off-Broadway: The Fears, HYPROV, Accidentally Brave, Stet, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelky
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Other Theatres: Pioneer Theater Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Dallas Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Guthrie, Geva, The Old Globe
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Television: 6 Seasons art director, Late Night with Seth Meyers episodes 1-844; interim art director The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon episodes 1609-1668
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Film: Accidentally Brave
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Other Credits: Wishes for Disney Cruiseline
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Education: MFA New York University
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Professional Affiliation: United Scenic Artists Local 829
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Website: jowiniarski.com