*Indicates member of APO, National Theatre Honor Society
PRODUCTION STAFF
TECHNICAL CREW
kharoun Krestin Ghali
hbach* Amy Halloran
kins Emma Harris
tman Devin Hendricks
rson Sadie Holsten
mour Katherine Kollasch
Shiloh Branson Kaelyn Mena
Korbyn Cannon Cassidy Murphy
Isabella Cesarini Th
Giavanna Dvornik El
Elonnie Davidson A
Zariya Foster
LIGHTING CREW
cPherson
Emily Anderson
Berk Billy Berryman
Boyd Ariel Carter
Sylvia Ardon
Rylee Taylor R
Emily Anderson Chl
PROPS CREW
er Ava Armstrong
Tucker Eskew Brennan Huepenbecker Ashley Angerman* Sad
William Simmons
lley Summer Clark Land
COSTUME CREW
Lilie Hardie Kaitlyn Reich
Charlie Swan Zoe Zink
Evie Rizzo
Gus Wissemeier
*Indicates member of APO, National Theatre Honor Society
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Before the internet (Gasp!), TV/Film (Double Gasp!), and the published word, the human race stood up in front of a crowd and told stories. Knowledge and wisdom were passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter. Stories of adventure and love and hope, all given to us by the voices of ancestors. That is the basis of theatre, the reenacting and passing of stories and wisdom. Then came the invention of writing and eventual printing which led to the Book! Now we had a vehicle to pass our stories and wisdom to the masses. We can relive our favorite stories over and over. Books were precious and passed from generation to generation. Liam Callahan states:
“Every book in a bookstore is a fresh beginning. Every book is the next iteration of a very old story. Every bookstore, therefore, is like a safe-deposit box for civilization.”
This is the world of our play. A haven of our stories, reenacted by a company of players for the enjoyment of an audience. Like the books we read, this production attempts to immerse you into the world of the Bookstore with stories and characters that, hopefully, connect to you in some meaningful way. As Candace states in the play,
“It ’s more than a store. It’s a haven for words, for knowledge, for beauty. It’s a cathedral and a museum and a garden”.
Our hope is that you find a moment of peace, reflections, and just little bit of Love in the next 90 minutes or so. We wish, like Mac reflects in the final scene, that you find the book that just happens to come along at just at the right time.
"I guess I am looking for a book I didn’t know I was looking for but which just happens to come along at the right time for me.”
SPECIAL THANKS
DR. STEPHEN EAVES
DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS
FRIENDS OF THE ARTS AT BELMONT
PAUL GATRELL, JESSICA MUELLER,
JERRY STRATTON, and AMBER WHATLEY
ERIN GRACE BAILEY
BELMONT’S PROP MASTER GENERALS
JULIA HEATH-REYNOLDS
ALIX BROWN, SUMMER CLARK, KEIRA MAUPIN,
KAMARIA MCGINN, BERKELEY MOORE, & JULIA ORR
ARTISTIC & MANAGEMENT TEAM
ARIELLE ANDERSON (Assistant Director/Intimacy Choreography/Dance Choreography) Credits include: (Swing) Daria Chase & Inspector Goring, A Games A Foot (Belmont University); Director, The Rockin Tale of Snow White & The Mystery At Magpie Manor (Harmonia School of Music and Art); Assistant Stage Manager, Hamlet: Hold off the Earth Awhile (Belmont University); Leading Player, Pippin (Infinite Arts); Student Director, Wonderland High (RiverHawk Productions); Angela, Somewhere Different Now (Infinite Arts); Student Director, Newsies (RiverHawk Productions); Ross, Macbeth (Infinite Arts); Ellie Blake, Freaky Friday (RiverHawk Productions). Arielle is a Junior pursuing her B.F.A. in Theatre Directing.
ALIXANDRIA BROWN (Stage Manager) Credits include: Assistant Stage Manager, A Year with Frog and Toad; Sophia Western, Tom Jones; Assistant Director, Wrinkle In Time; Moth, Love’s Labor’s Lost; Ensemble, Aviator (Devised); Matilda, Matilda the Musical; Grace Fyer, Radium Girls. Alixandria will graduate this May with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theatre Education.
KAMARIA MCGINN (Assistant Stage Manager) Credits include: Stage manager, Alice In Wonderland JR (Children’s Theatre Of Madison); Gwendolen, The Importance Of Being Earnest (Groundlings Theater); Parakeet, Belmont’s 2025 Rep Co; Stella, Blood On Canvas (Belmont University). Kamaria is junior pursuing her BFA Theatre Performance.
ZOE BRANDT (Set Design) Credits include: Assistant Stage Manager, Pride and Prejudice (Belmont University). Zoe will graduate in May with a Bachelors in Arts in Theatre and a minor in Studio Art.
JACK FREEDMAN (Sound Design) Credits include: Sound Design, The Game’s Afoot (Belmont University), Hamlet: Hold Off the Earth Awhile (Belmont University). Jack is a junior and is pursuing his B.S. in Theatre Arts and Audio Engineering.
VIRGINIA HIRSCH (Lighting Design) Credits include: Lighting Design, Extinguishing the Spark (Belmont University), Shop Worker 2024-2025 (Belmont University). Virginia is a sophomore and is perusing her B.A. in Theatre and Drama.
KI’ARA LYNCH (Properties Design) Credits include: Ki’Ara is a sophomore BFA Theater Education major and currently working in the costume shop (Belmont University).
KEIRA MAUPIN (Costume Design) Credits include: Assistant Costume Design, Pride and Prejudice (Nashville Shakespeare Festival); Stitcher, The Maids (Belmont University). Off-Broadway performance credits include: Ensemble, Anne of Green Gables; Maggie, Charlotte’s Ladies (Royal Family Productions, NYC). Keira will graduate this May with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre & Drama and double minors in Fashion and Music Business. She also holds a Fashion Business Essentials Certificate from Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York.
CAST
Nora Jones
Paige Hardy
Melody Brooke Myers
Molly Barbery Zebee Carnahan
Josiah Martinez
Camden Daiker Claire Shipman
Gentry Anne Hollis
CAST
Alayna Wilburn
John Walters Burkhart
Sadie Jensen Miriam Strahan
Victoria Pregent
Eli Moore Jacobi Robinson
Kristina Caputo
Sam Hendrick
CAST
PAIGE HARDY (Rachel) is currently a junior in the BFA TheatrePerformance program. She is also minoring in Education. Some of Paige's favorite roles at Belmont have included Sandra and Annie swing in The Play That Goes Wrong, Miss Blake U/S in Blue Stockings, Aggie and Madge swing in The Games Afoot, Helen in The Attic, and Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet.
MELODY BROOKE MYERS (Marie/Miss Whitherly/Mrs. Walters) is a sophomore Theatre Performance major from Franklin, TN. Her most recent productions at Belmont have been A Small Part of the Interesting Story and The 39 Steps. She is so excited to share with you all of the hard work everyone has put into this show! She hopes you have so much fun and enjoy the performance!
MOLLY BARBERY (Ellen): Molly is currently a Sophomore in the BFA Theatre Performance program. She recently played Aggie Wheeler in The Game’s Afoot (Belmont University) and Missus in The Attic (Belmont University).
KRISTINA CAPUTO (Sue/Turtledove) is a freshman and is so excited to perform in her first Belmont University production! She’d like to thank her friends, family, and cast mates for all of their support. She hopes you’ll find The Bookstore just as magical as it felt being part of it.
ZEBEE CARNAHAN (Sven): Zebee is a Sophomore in the B.F.A. Theatre Performance Program. Previous Credits Include The Games Afoot, A Small Part of the Interesting story, and Wanda’s Visit.
CAMDEN DAIKER (Jamie/Also Jamie) is a sophomore currently pursuing a BFA in theatre performance at Belmont University. Some of his recent roles include Romeo, Romeo & Juliet (Belmont University); John, Waiting Room, a staged reading (Belmont University Studio); Ensemble, Spark of Resistance, a devised piece (Belmont Directing II Studio); Callum, The Attic (Belmont Junior Short Play); Jean, Miss Julie (Belmont Junior Short Play).
SAM HENDRICK (Neil/Josh) Sam is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Audio Engineering Technology with a minor in Film Acting.
GENTRY ANNE HOLLIS (Kim/Jane) is a junior pursuing her BFA with an emphasis in Theatre Performance. Some of her past Belmont credits include Peters/Sister Anne/Nurse U/S in Romeo and Juliet, Henrietta in Suppressed Desires, Lady Aline in A Marriage Has Been Arranged, Kristin U/S in Miss Julie, Mrs. Lindley/Minnie U/S in Blue Stockings, and Reader #13/Female Swing in A Wrinkle in Time.
SADIE JENSEN (Swing) is a junior Theatre Performance major from Seattle, Washington. She thrilled to be a part of her first mainstage performance here at Belmont University. Taking on the responsibility of understudying eight tracks with fourteen roles has been a brand-new and yet rewarding challenge, and she is so grateful for the chance to learn from this amazing cast and creative team!
CAST
NORA JONES (Candace): Nora is a senior Theatre Directing major in the Honors college with a minor in Music. Recent acting credits include: Mrs. Whitefield, Tom Jones (Belmont University); Hero, Much Ado About Nothing (Greenwood Community Theater); The Cheated One, Woman's Honor (GCT Offstage). Recent directing credits include: The Maids, Director (Belmont University), Hamlet, Director (GCT Offstage), Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - Apt. 2B, Director (St. Croix Festival Theatre)
JOSIAH MARTINEZ (Man in Tent/Byron/Dr. Hern)
ELI MOORE (Miles/Ryan) Credits include: Sam in Boy Meets Girl: A Young Love Story, Various Roles in 4a.m., Charles Wallace and Reader 7 in A Wrinkle in Time, Blifil in Tom Jones, Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps, and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet. Eli is a senior currently pursuing his B.F.A. in Theatre Performance. He is super excited to be tackling The Bookstore and sharing the magic of books with everyone. When he’s not in the theatre, you can find him hanging around campus with friends or diving into a Dungeons and Dragons game.
VICTORIA PREGENT (Alexis) is a French Canadian actress based in Nashville, TN. She is currently pursuing her BFA in Theatre and Performance at Belmont University and has trained at prestigious institutions, including the University of Toronto, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, and LaVilla School of the Arts. Victoria has received vocal training under Dr. Chandler Thomson and Lorna Greenwood and has participated in intensive programs such as Joffrey Ballet’s Musical Theatre Intensive in New York City and Florida Ballet’s Summer Intensive. In addition to acting, she has experience in choreography, scriptwriting, and musical performance, with fluency in multiple dialects and dance styles.
JACOBI ROBINSON (Greg/Man in Elizabethan Garb) is a Sophomore theatre performance major, is elated to be a part of this whimsical production. It’s his second show at Belmont and he is excited to learn all he can from his castmates and elevate this show to be the best it can be. Jay wants to thank Paul Gatrell for guiding us along this process, our stage manager, Alix Brown, for keeping this train on its tracks, and our backstage crew for bringing the magic of theatre to life. Enjoy finding your fun and maybe a book or two!
CAST
CLAIRE SHIPMAN (Jamie/Also Jamie) is a senior, pursuing a BFA in Theatre with a dual emphasis in Performance and Directing. Recent acting credits include: Bird #1/Ensemble, Frog and Toad (Belmont University); Domonique U/S, Lucky Stiff (Belmont University); Ensemble, Charlotte’s Ladies (NYC Royal Family Productions). Recent directing credits include: Romeo and Juliet, Assistant Director (Belmont University); Spark of Resistance, a devised piece (Belmont Directing II Studio); scenes from The Lesson (Belmont Directing II Studio); and Suppressed Desires (Belmont Junior Short Play). In January, Claire is directing her Senior Capstone project, Last Train to Nibroc, and would love to see you there!
JOHN WALTERS BURKHART (Ted/Anthony/Mr. Max Brewer) is a senior pursuing a BFA in Theatre Performance at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Throughout his education, his work has spanned stage, screen, and voice acting mediums. Some of his favorite roles have included Coventry in Jack Absolute Flies Again (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama); James Allison in Down the Pipeline (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama); Mr. Collins, Mr. Wickham, and Miss Bingley in Pride and Prejudice (Nashville Shakespeare Festival); and Partridge in Tom Jones (Belmont University).
MIRIAM STRAHAN (Swing) is a Freshman Theater Performance major and is excited to be making her Belmont debut! She’d like to thank her family, Paul Gatrell for giving her a chance, Alix for being incomparably kind, the cast and crew for having her, and the audience for sitting in a specific spot if she asks. Enjoy the show!
ALAYNA WILBURN (Machina/Sadie/Married Friend) is a senior at Belmont University, where she is getting her BFA in Theatre Performance. Her most recent role was various characters in new work: A Small Part of the Interesting Story, cowritten and directed by Abigail McCurdy. Also at Belmont, Alayna played the landlady in Lucky Stiff, directed by Shawn Knight, and Mackenzie in Crying on Television, directed by Tamiko Robinson-Steele. She is thrilled to be a part of such a lovely cast and crew, bringing peace and joy to a hectic time.
