• Reed Birney

    (Jerry, the standby)

    Reed Birney won the 2016 Tony Award for his performance in The Humans. Other Broadway appearances include: 1984, Gemini, Picnic and Casa Valentina (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award). 

    His many off-Broadway appearances include: Lunar Eclipse (Second Stage Theater), Chester Bailey (with his son, Ephraim), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie and Drama Desk Awards), Bug (Obie award), I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard (Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk Award nominations), You Got Older (Drama Desk Award nomination), Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nomination), The Dream of the Burning Boy (Drama League, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Blasted (Drama Desk Award nomination), and Homebody/Kabul.  In 2011, he received a Special Drama Desk Award honoring his career as an actor.

    His film credits include: The Menu, Mass (Gotham nomination, Robert Altman Award), Four Friends, and Horizon—an American Saga, Part Two.

    TV credits include: American Horror Story, Poker Face, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, House of Cards, Girls, High Maintenance, Succession, The Blacklist, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

    He won a 2006 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Performance and in 2011 Actors' Equity awarded him the Richard Seff Award.

  • Pat Nesbit

    (Trish, a fellow standby)

    Pat has appeared on Broadway in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Young Man from Atlanta, and So Long On Lonely Street. She appeared in the First National Tours of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues (as Rowena); and Copenhagen.  She also toured in the Actor Theatre of Louisville's production of Pride and Prejudice.

    Off-Broadway credits include Spinning Into Butter at Lincoln Center Theater; Emily at Manhattan Theatre Club; The Skin Game and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, both at the Mint Theater Company; and English Teachers, Ladies of the Fortnight and The Whole Truth, all with Manhattan Class Company.

    Pat has worked extensively in regional theater and is a four-time Carbonell Award winner for her performances in The Price, Collected Stories, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Middle Ages, all at the Caldwell Theatre. She stars in the short film Dressed.

  • Kelly Bishop

    (Glenna, the leading lady)

    Kelly Bishop started her career as a dancer. After appearing in Broadway shows like Golden Rainbow; Promises, Promises and On The Town, Bishop originated the role of Sheila Bryant in the groundbreaking musical A Chorus Line. The role was largely based on Bishop’s own life, and would earn her the 1976 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other Broadway credits include: Six Degrees of Separation, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Neil Simon’s Proposals, and Bus Stop.

    The actress is also a beloved figure onscreen, having appeared in films like Dirty Dancing as Marjorie Housman, mother to Jennifer Grey’s character Baby. Other film credits include: An Unmarried Woman, Wonder Boys, Miami Rhapsody, and Friends with Kids.

    Bishop is especially well known for her role as Emily Gilmore, the old-money matriarch on Gilmore Girls. Her other TV credits include: Étoile, Shrinking, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Halston, and The Good Wife.

    She is the author of the critically acclaimed The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir.

  • AJ Cedeño

    (Marco, a fellow standby)

    AJ Cedeño is an actor and voiceover artist best recognized for his recurring role as John Sellers in Amazon’s Z: the Beginning of Everything opposite Christina Ricci, as well as his tenure as the commercial spokesman for Nissan USA.

    Theater credits include the off-Broadway productions of March Madness (Abingdon Theater), Austin (Theater Row), Strawberry & Chocolate (directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Robinson), and the Signature Theater’s highly acclaimed production of Incident at Vichy (directed by Michael Wilson).

    His select film credits include lead roles in Straighten Up and Fly Right (Slamdance Grand Jury Winner), The Last Nazi (opposite co-star Reed Birney), and Matthew Newton’s Among the Beasts (opposite Tory Kittles).

    Television credits include a recurring role on Royal Pains (USA), as well as appearances on FBI: International, Girls5Eva (opposite Renée Elise Goldsberry), Younger (opposite Sutton Foster), The Good Wife (directed by Emmy-nominee Josh Charles), Elementary (opposite Lucy Liu), and many others.

    A native of the Midwest, AJ is an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame - where he played Division-I college football - and also holds a graduate degree from the Case-Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Actor Training Program.

  • Safiya Harris

    (Faith, a fellow standby)

    Safiya Harris is so honored to have portrayed Faith in standby.

    Past Credits include: Ensemble/Ophelia (Understudy) in Hamlet (Shakespeare in the Park), Viola in Twelfth Night (Santa Cruz Shakespeare), Rosalind in As You Like It (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey).

    You can find her music on all streaming platforms under SAFIYA. Grateful to her friends and family that support her to live her most authentic life. 

  • Justin Withers

    (Ben, the young leading man)

    Justin Withers is an actor, singer and dancer born in Chicago, Illinois. At age 13, Justin moved in with family in NYC to pursue training and a career in the performing arts. He's been chasing that dream ever since!

    Recent credits include: Off-Broadway: Days Of Rage (Second Stage Theater, Dir. Trip Cullman). Regional Theatre: Love All (La Jolla Playhouse); American Underground (Barrington Stage Company); Thirst (Contemporary American Theater Festival).

    TV: The Night Agent; The Good Fight. Film: A Shot Through the Wall; A Good Old Day.

    Education: B.F.A from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University; Justin also studied abroad at Shakespeare’s Globe in London for six months.

    Having had the experience of being a standby himself, Justin was very drawn to this project and is thrilled to have been a part of telling this story. He would like to thank his family for their continued support and God, for never ending grace.

  • Grace Dumdaw

    (Tanny, the young leading lady)

    Grace Dumdaw (they/them) is a Kachin actor, singer, filmmaker, and photographer born in Myanmar and raised in Louisiana. They currently reside in New York City. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Grace has a BFA in Stage, Screen, & New Media, as well as Peace & Conflict Studies. Their additional acting education includes Larry Moss Studio, Prague Film School, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and Upright Citizens Brigade NYC.

    Grace has appeared on the TV shows: And Just Like That…, Succession, The Equalizer, FBI: Most Wanted, The Blacklist, The Watcher, and more. They are best known for starring as the love interest of singer Zayn Malik in his music video for Love Like This.

    In their spare time, Grace directs videos and sings in a band called Chanpan. Most importantly, Grace is a passionate advocate for the Kachin people of northern Myanmar, their ethnic group. Their goal is to use their art to raise awareness of the civil unrest and injustices faced by ethnic minorities worldwide.

  • Jenelle Chu

    (Claire, the stage manager)

    Jenelle Chu is a Chinese-Vietnamese American actor and teaching artist from St. Louis. 

    As an actor she has worked on Broadway in Junk (Lincoln Center Theater) and Bernhardt/Hamlet (Roundabout). Regional credits include the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Oklahoma City Repertory Theater, People’s Light Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, American Conservatory Theater, Papermill Playhouse, and Bucks County Playhouse. 

    TV credits include Prodigal Son, New Amsterdam, Madam Secretary, Instinct, and Elementary. She appears in the short film White Flags with AC Productions.

    She is a co-founder and co-director of Encompass Collective, an acting training collective for and by people of the Global Majority. 

    Training: BM in Vocal Performance (University of Missouri - Kansas City); MFA in Acting (Yale School of Drama).

  • Chuck Blasius

    (Curtis, the dresser)

    As an actor: Bette and Kate Join The Line (with Robert Kahan at The Duplex); Ken Nintzel’s productions of Pansy Acts, Piano Bar, and Sonata Da Camera Obscura (Ontological Theatre); Lapse and ‘Twas the Night… (P.S. 122); Grant James Varjas’ Accidentally, Like A Martyr (Paradise Factory); I Could Say More (Hudson Guild); The Village (Dixon Place).

    Chuck is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. www.chuckblasius.com

  • Brian Keane

    (Donny, the stagehand)

    National tour: War Horse. Theatre: Orpheus Descending (TFANA), London Assurance (Irish Rep), Timon of Athens (NYSF), Happy Now? (Primary Stages), Misanthrope (CSC), All My Sons (Roundabout), 1776 (Muny), A Streetcar Named Desire (Guthrie), Macbeth (Old Globe), The Winter's Tale (Yale Rep), Frost/Nixon (Bay Street Theatre), Book of Days (Arena Stage).

    Television: Chicago Fire, The Gilded Age, FBI: International, Dopesick, Billions, City on Fire, Evil, Kevin Can F Himself, Love, Death + Robots, Chicago PD, House of Cards, Blue Bloods, Gypsy, The Blacklist, Elementary, Gotham, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, Law & Order.

    Film: Bear City trilogy, Going Under, Campfire, Moratorium.