Company
New Edgecliff Theatre is supported by a small group of dedicated individuals with diverse backgrounds. Together, they contribute their unique skills and enthusiasm to help our organization thrive.
Michael Shooner | Jim Stump | Devon Campailla
Melissa Bennett | Jonn Baca | Catie O’Keefe | Justin Baldwin
Executive Director
mshooner@newedgecliff.com
A Cincinnati native and theatre alumnus of Edgecliff College in Walnut Hills, Michael founded New Edgecliff Theatre in 1998 after a 17 year odyssey that took him to Seattle, Los Angeles, and then across the US, Canada and Japan with the Missoula Children’s Theatre. While producing and serving as NET’s Executive Director, he occasionally gets on stage there, most recently in 2009 as Martin Dysart in the Acclaim Award-winning production of Peter Shaffer’s Equus. He has also appeared as guest artist with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in The Weir, Romeo & Juliet, and All My Sons. He received an Acclaim Award for his performance opposite Dale Hodges in the Xavier University production of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen. He thanks the Cincinnati Playhouse for his first Equity contract, The Hostage, in 1977.
Artistic Director
jstump@newedgecliff.com
Mr. Stump is well known and respected in the Cincinnati theatre community. He earned his B.A. in Theatre from Indiana University and went on to graduate from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. As a performer, he has appeared frequently on multiple area stages, including Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Know Theatre, Stage First, New Stage Collective, the Carnegie Theatre, Human Race Theatre, as well as New Edgecliff. He served as President of the League of Cincinnati Theatres from 2005-09, and continues as member-at-large. He’s chalked up administrative theatre experience with such organizations as Cincinnati Costume Company, Cincinnati Arts Association, Madcap Productions and The Whodunnit? Players.
Managing Director
dcampailla@newedgecliff.com
Devon Campailla holds a BFA in acting from Miami University (OH). She has been involved with many theatre companies in the region as an actress and stage manager, including The Rising Phoenix Theatre Company, Clear Stage Cincinnati Know Theatre of Cincinnati, and the Showboat Majestic. Before joining the staff of New Edgecliff Theatre, she appeared on their stage in Lives of the Saints and An Evening in Durang(o) and called cues for numerous productions at the Columbia Performance Center. Devon was brought onto the NET staff in 2007 for her meticulous eye for detail and creative presence. Since that time, she has helped develop the educational outreach program, theCincinnati Directors Competition, and Sweet Suspense (NET’s radio drama fundraiser).
Melissa Bennett
Technical Director
mbennett@newedgecliff.com
Melissa is a Cincinnati native who has worked as a designer, technician, fight choreographer, and actress around the country. She is an Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and an Associate instructor with Dueling Arts International. When not working with New Edgecliff, she is freelancing, working for such companies as Decoworks and the Cincinnati Opera. Aside from her work with NET, her credits include Fight Choreographer for Covedale’s Guys and Dolls, Scenic Charge and Props Mistress for Commonwealth Dinner Theatre, and Fight Director for Kentucky Symphony Orchestras West Side Story.
Jonn Baca
Educational Director
jbaca@newedgecliff.com
Jonn Baca is a graduate from Miami University with a BFA in Acting. He has directed several shows, most recently The Grapes of Wrath at the Aronoff Center for Clear Stage Cincinnati. He is also an Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, and has been performing and choreographing fights professionally in the region. He teaches Stage Combat at Northern Kentucky University and is the Assistant Instructor at Xavier University. He also works for the University of Cincinnati’s Preparatory Program as an Acting, Movement and Stage Combat Instructor. Jonn is also a member of the Cincinnati Actor’s Studio.
Catie O’Keefe
Playwright-in-Residence
cokeefe@newedgecliff.com
Catie O’Keefe Catie O’Keefe holds a BA in Theatre from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon USA and a Masters in Playwriting from Royal Holloway University of London. Her work has been performed at the Jerwood Centre, Southwark Theatre, Henley Fringe Festival, The Royal Court Upstairs, Theatre 503 and the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Space Between My Head and My Body premiered at London’s Theatre 503 and then transferred to the Underbelly Baby Belly 3 in Edinburgh. Her Play Deception, Illusion and Nate has been performed in the US and as part of the Dyssing Monday’s Dyslexic festival in October 2008 and again in the Henley Fringe Festival in July 2009 in the UK. Her Play An Apartment with Grace was one of six winners to be produced for The Louisiana State University Outworks Festival in April 2010. NET presented the US premiere of her play Darker to much acclaim at the 2011 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Her writing is best described as “dark, imaginative and witty”.
Associate Managing Director
jbaldwin@newedgecliff.com
Justin Baldwin graduated from Miami University in 2008 with a B.A. in theatre. He is thrilled to be moving back to Cincinnati after a three year stint with the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival where some performance credits include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Measure for Measure, and Pericles. Justin could have been seen previously in Cincinnati in The History Boys at New Stage Collective, or in A Christmas Carol with the Childrens Theatre of Cincinnati. He is the directing intern for Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati for the ’10-’11 season, and the Associate Artistic Director of his own small theatre company This Ain’t Real Theatre Co.
