JESSICA JACKSON is a director, composer, actor, writer, and rampant improviser. During her time as Artistic Director of Creede Repertory Theatre, this award-winning theatre produced 6 world premiere productions, 7 new play festivals, & 12 world-premiere commissions for young audiences. She founded Boomtown Improv Comedy and helmed the devised Pants on Fire: a totally made-up musical for kids. Some of her favorite projects: Socially distanced golf-cart odyssey The Rough (writer/director) & satirical musical Small Ball (director) with The Catamounts, Roe (director) and The Laramie Project (director) at Oklahoma City University, Colorado premieres of Miss Holmes (director) and William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead (director), the world premiere of Sight Hound (director) by Pam Houston, Billy Hell (composer-Denver Post Ovation Award Best Original Music), and sundry original shows created with Jeff Carey (composer/director). She’s working on a new full-length musical, Singletrack, with Steven Cole Hughes and goofing around with her 12-year-old daughter, Penny, and brilliant husband, Matt.

ANNA EPSTEIN has worked in live events for 26 years but fell in love with theater at the age of 6. She has worked concerts, weddings, inaugurations, awards, television and her favorite, live theater. Most recently she made her directorial debut with the FCCT+ Places Everyone! production of The Prom! Anna is thrilled to be joining the OpenStage team for this production!

JACOB OFFEN has played many roles at OpenStage Theatre & Company – actor, staff member, board member, and now director and Producing Artistic Director. Misery marks his directorial debut at OpenStage. Jacob taught Acting at the University of Houston during his tenure as an MFA candidate, and recently at the University of Northern Colorado. He designed a comprehensive curriculum rooted in Stanislavsky, Hagen, Meisner, Roy Heart and Cecily Berry, and coached actors in scene work/audition preparation. Further, Jacob has created acting, voice, and Shakespearean text workshops at the Texas Shakespeare Festival, Houston Shakespeare Festival, and for acting students of all ages. While he served as the Company Development Administrator (2011 – 2015), he produced and directed entertainment for OST&C’s spring fundraisers (Casino Royal: The Sting, Viva Las Vegas, Oceans 11, le Cirque Rouge!). He is thrilled to put his years of experience as a performer and teaching artist to work for Misery and for many future productions to come!

ANDREW COLE joined OpenStage in 2012. In 2021 he received the Shela Jennings Award for Theatre Excellence for his outstanding work with OpenStage. “Nobody ever ate fifty eggs. You ever eat fifty eggs?” Dragline- Cool Hand Luke.

JASPER DAY is based in Fort Collins, Colorado. He holds a B.S. in molecular biology from the University of Denver and studied costume design at Colorado State University from 2022 to 2023. He has designed for opera, dance, film, and theatre and worked with theatres across Colorado including Open Stage Theatre and Company, Fort Collins Children’s Theatre: Places Everyone!, Northglenn Youth Theatre, and the Vintage Theatre. 

MATTHEW SCHLIEF currently serves as the Theater Operations Manager at The Lincoln Center. He has designed scenery, lighting, sound, and projections for TUTS Underground, The Catamounts, Creede Repertory Theatre, Main Street Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Flatlands Dance Theatre, West Virginia Public Theatre, Virginia Musical Theatre, and Lubbock Moonlight Musicals, as well as the COCO Dance Festival in Trinidad. In 2012, Matt received the Houston Press Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and in 2013 received the Broadway World Best of Houston Award for his Lighting Design of Sweeney Todd. He has designed, lectured, and provided master classes at the University of Houston, Rice University, Oklahoma City University, Texas Tech, Colorado Mesa University, Gonzaga University, and the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Trinidad. Over the past 16 years, Matt has designed more than 150 different productions, from a variety of theaters both nationally and internationally. This is Matt’s first production working with OpenStage.

SUSAN ROGERS has worn many hats in the Front Range theater community over the years. She has designed props for OpenStage and Fort Collins Children’s Theatre, and has performed in Children’s Theatre musicals and Opera Fort Collins productions. She served as choreographer, music director, and assistant director in the Fort Collins Children’s Theatre summer program, and composed incidental music for Reasons: The House Burned Down, and OpenStage Theatre’s Stage Kiss. Favorite roles  in FCCT shows include Aunt Spiker in James and the Giant Peach, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, Mrs. Gloop in Willy Wonka, and Mole in The Wind in the Willows. She performs vintage popular tunes with the Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra, and with her dance band The Exuberant Quartet. Susan teaches singing, and in the winter teaches skiing with Ignite Adaptive Sports at Eldora.

SHANNON LIGHT is returning to the stage after an almost 7-year hiatus, and is overwhelmed with joy to be playing Lucy in Dracula, fulfilling a lifelong dream. She first appeared on stage as Katherina Cavalieri in Amadeus, during OpenStage’s 40th season in 2013. Shannon has acted in a variety of shows throughout the years, primarily working with OpenStage and Front Range Community College. Some of her favorite roles (aside from the life-changing first role of Katerina) include Claire in Fuddy Meers, Paulinka in A Bright Room Called Day, and Bianca in Taming of the Shrew. She has worked backstage designing hair and wigs, and has also worked as a makeup designer and stage hand. Working again with Peter Anthony and with such a wonderful and talented cast and crew is a bright spot in her life. She wishes to express her deepest gratitude to her family, friends and loving fiancé for all their support and encouragement throughout the years. 

SELINA FILLINGER, is an LA-based writer and performer. Original plays include The Collapse; Something Clean; Faceless; and The Armor Plays: Clinched/Strapped. Selina recently made her Broadway debut with her seven-woman farce, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Her plays have been developed at Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Old Globe Theatre, Alley Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre and Northlight Theatre. She’s currently commissioned at South Coast Repertory and Roundabout. She was a Hawthornden Fellow and a resident of McCarter’s Sallie B. Goodman Artist’s Retreat; Something Clean is the recipient of the 2019 Laurents/Hatcher Award and Clinched/Strapped received the 2019 Williamstown Theatre Festival’s L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. POTUS was on the 2019 Kilroys List. Selina writes for the third season of Apple TV’s The Morning Show and is developing a feature for Chernin/Netflix.