Kate Bennis, Queen Lear

Kate Bennis is an actor, writer, and communication coach.  She has appeared in hundreds of productions in the last 55 years starting as the 2nd Lamb in a french production of the Wizard of Oz.  NEW YORK STAGE Highlights: Those Left Behind, Cornbury, Anybody’s Game, Valentine’s Day, Anything for You, The Rover, The Three Fears, The Boor, Home, Romance Language, Twelfth Night.  REGIONAL Highlights: She Stoops to Conquer, Way of the World, The Aristocrats, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Liar, Bus Stop, Bloody Poetry, Equus, Brilliant Traces, Orpheus Descending, Virginia, Ride Across Lake Constance, Thatcher’s Women. TV/FILM highlights: House of Cards, Original Sin, Perfect Woman, Ghost of a Chance. Locally, she has been seen as Julianna in The Other Place at Live Arts, Masha in Three Sisters at the Hamner Theater.  She is a member of SAG/Aftra and Actor’s Equity Association.

Lisa Bowers, Producer

Lisa Bowers is the Managing Director of UVA’s Enterprise Studio, a service that supports faculty and graduate students in the commercialization of UVA research and technology.   She was formerly the Chief Commercial Officer of Day One, and, prior to that role, was the CEO and founder of Rhia Ventures, a social venture investment organization focused on reproductive health.  She has had an extensive career at Genentech/Roche, where she held P&L accountability for Genentech’s $400M+ cystic fibrosis business, and was the head of the North American supply chain region, accountable for $20B+ of medicine across the United States and Canada. Lisa has been a board observer for Cadence Health (a private biotech company), as well as a member of the board for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest affiliate in the country, and DICE Therapeutics, a public biotech company.  She earned an English degree from Yale University and a Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.  Fun artistic facts: “I once opened for Bon Jovi in Las Vegas, and I have played the harpsichord in front of hundreds of tourists in Colonial Williamsburg.  I was in the Yale Children's Theater Summer Company in college, and am a board member for Live Arts here in Charlottesville.”

Kara McLane Burke, Regan/France

Kara grew up in NJ and came southward to study theatre at JMU. She had her first acting gig on national tours with Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, where she performed in Merchant of Venice, Comedy of Errors, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo & Juliet, and later became road manager and director. When SSE became The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, she performed for a season at the Blackfriars Playhouse in King Lear, Night of the Burning Pestle, and Much Ado About Nothing, and later served on the Board of Trustees. She has been creating ensemble physical theatre work since she landed in Charlottesville in 1997. She co-founded Foolery, with Martha Mendenhall, Thadd McQuade, and John Harrell, where she created and performed in Second Shepherd’s Play, Cyrano, Cesario, Something Wanting, Life’s A Dream, and directed Vassilisa the Brave. She is a founding member of PEP, (Performers Exchange Project) with Siân Richards, Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell, Martha Mendenhall, and Doreen Bechtol. The collective hosted Serbia’s Dah Teatar for a week of performance and workshops in Charlottesville, collaborated with local artists to mount two large-scale carnivals A Charlottesville Wunderkammer and Shentai, and produced original productions including Zelda & Lucia’s Loony Bin Tragedy, Dido vs The Squid Monster, and Our American Ann Sisters, which was also part of a Deep Space residency at NACL (North American Cultural Laboratory.) She and Siân Richards co-created and performed multiple iterations of The Convolution of Pip & Twig, including runs in Richmond, Charlottesville, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has been seen at Live Arts in The Seagull, Boston Marriage, Our Lady of 121st Street, 24/7, and most recently in The Wizard of Oz. Other collaborations include: Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell’s play Drugsong with Victory Hall Opera and Tidwell’s electro-pop opera The Near Misses, Kay Ferguson’s The Madwoman Project, and The Unearthing with Zap McConnell’s @hand productions. Other training has included Theatre du Jour, Derevo, and Double Edge Theatre. She lives in Charlottesville with her husband Chris, daughters Haley and Erin, and dog Cinder.

Claire Chandler, Kent/Albany 

Claire Chandler is an educator, theater maker, and all-around Shakespeare enthusiast. She currently teaches drama at Village School and is the resident acting teaching artist for youth at DMR Adventures, where she teaches classes, works on main stage productions, and coaches their pre professional troupes. She has taught, directed, and acted in many productions over the years. Some local highlights include: Marlene in Top Girls (Live Arts) and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Four County Players). She has adapted and directed ten Shakespeare productions for youth so far, with The Tempest set to open this summer. She also serves on the planning board of CLAW (Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers), acts as the Emcee, and has helped them become a Virginia Organizing community partner, operating under a 501(c)3. She has training in the Folger Method and from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts; ongoing training with Theatrical Intimacy Education, working toward a TIE diploma. In her spare time she likes to doodle, drink coffee, and talk about going on hikes with her husband Sean, and daughters Maeve and Olwen.

Camilyn K. Leone, Costumes

For 10 years, my family raised Navajo Churro sheep in Crozet, Virginia. As part of taking care of our flock, we had to shear their beautiful fleeces twice a year. In 2018, I decided that I wanted to learn how to weave. I took a tapestry class and I’ve been weaving ever since! I am pursuing a tapestry diploma at West Dean College in England. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to design and weave elements of the costumes for Queen Lear.

Anya Movius, Song Writer

Anya Movius is an 19 year-old singer-songwriter raised in Charlottesville, Virginia who is currently studying Human Rights and Music at Harvard University. Anya has devoted over a decade of her life to performing at open mics and concerts, collaborating with producers, taking  guitar and voice lessons, and consistently and persistently writing songs. She recorded her first EP as a Christmas gift for her parents at age 11. When she was fourteen, Anya recorded music with Paul Curreri and The Front Porch (currently unreleased). In January of 2022, she recorded her debut EP, At Least For Now, with Matt Wyatt at Trees and Booms Studio. In 2023, she worked with White Star Sound and recorded three singles with their critically acclaimed team (Colin Killalea, Chris Keup, Darrell Thorp). These songs were accompanied by music videos co-created with Dawn Makers Films. Anya was selected to perform in Harvard’s first-year talent show in the fall of 2023.

Sian Richards, Goneril/Burgundy/Doctor

Siân Richards has over 20 years' experience as a professional creator, performer, and producer of original works. In 2002 Siân became a company member of D.C.-based Theatre Du Jour and began training under B. Stanley and working in experimental, actor-based/devised theatre. In 2005 she co-founded the Virginia-based theatre collective PEP (Performers Exchange Project) along with Martha Mendenhall, Kara McLane Burke, Doreen Bechtol, and Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell.  Siân co-created, co-produced, and performed in all of the company's work to date. This includes two large-scale arts carnivals, four original plays, and the Charlottesville residency of Serbia’s Dah Teatar. Siân is a Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences Fellow, and her work via PEP has received grants from the CACF/Bama Works and The SHEA Collaborative Foundation, a DEEP SPACE residency at NACL, and has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Siân has led and assisted in leading workshops and demonstrations of physical material development, training, and original performance creation for various organizations including Hollins University, Mary Baldwin University, and The Taubman Museum of Art. In addition to her work with PEP, she has done work as a performer for Victory Hall Opera, The Madwoman Project, @hand productions, Live Arts, and Offstage Theatre. Siân has served as an actor coach/trainer for organizations such as Live Arts and The Bridge PAI Public Artist Residency Project, NO Wake. Siân was the co-creator and producer of Assembly, an artist salon in Charlottesville Virginia and was a founding organizer, producer, and performer with CLAW (Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers) from its inception in 2008-2016. CLAW has gone on to raise over $120,000 for women-led projects in the Charlottesville community. Siân continues her personal physical training and counts Derevo, Double Edge Theatre, and Magdalena USA among her continuing education studies. Her current work includes an ongoing practice with PEP’s Kara McLane Burke and a collaborative public/performance art project, Party 4 Sadness. 

Katie Rogers, Cordelia/Fool/Cornwall

Katie (she/her) grew up doing theater and dance in Fairfax, VA. She studied Drama and Religious Studies at UVA, where she performed with an improv comedy group and worked as a shop assistant in the UVA Drama costume shop. After graduating she stuck around Charlottesville, eventually landing a marketing and graphic design job at Live Arts. Almost four years later, she took a position down the street at DarlingxDashing Boutique, where she currently works as Assistant Director of Operations. Come visit her in the shop, follow along with her antics on the DarlingxDashing Instagram, and check out some of the many events she plans downtown! Recent stage credits include Nicola in Kinky Boots (Live Arts, 2024), Rosalind in As You Like It (Shakespeare at the Ruins, 2022), Sherry in Tigers Be Still (Live Arts, 2019), and Little Becky Two Shoes in Urinetown (UVA Drama, 2018).

Miller Murray Susen, Director/Oswald

Miller Murray Susen is a freelance writer, editor, playwright, director, theater educator, and proud Charlottesville native. She is the current Board Chair of Live Arts Theater where she served as education director for five years, and has been a teaching artist, director, and performer for over a decade. She founded the Teenish Theater Workshop program, a playwriting, production, and performance workshop for 10 to 14 year olds, in 2015, and continues to facilitate it twice yearly. Additionally, she has taught drama and playwriting and directed plays, including her own adaptations and original work, at local institutions such as Four County Players, Charlottesville High School, Village School, The Bridge PAI, Trailblazer Elementary, and more. Her writing has appeared locally in the C-Ville Weekly, among other publications, and she has served as editor for work ranging from young adult novels, to college and grad school essays, to new plays, to Jambalaya, the Village School literary journal. She currently serves as co-president of the TheatreCHS Boosters club in support of the wonderful theater program at Charlottesville High School. In her free time she likes to hang out with her husband and two young adult children, run, read, cook, and play guitar and sing in a Lady Band at The Front Porch.