Newtown/Lantana

by Rachael Carnes

20 kids were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary — And nothing changed. This play is a reflection on that tragedy, and a call to action, using only verbatim text.

Cast: Flora Bare, Kayla Cole, Christy Cutts, Austin Daly, Alicia Frame, Cindy Henkin, Jolie LeBell, Marjorie Muller, Lauren Markey, Maddie Pell, Marla Seidell, Megan Skord, Nate Smith, Jessica Smoot, Bethany Weise, and Lucy Sandy

Director: Natalie Sallee

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Rachael Carnes has spent 20+ years investing in arts integration, through her work in educational arts nonprofits. Rachael is recognized as an international leader in the field of inclusive education, teaching workshops in The Hague, Istanbul and across the U.S., including the Kennedy Center’s annual Arts for Learning Institute. She discovered playwriting in 2016 and had her first professional production last year. And as a professional journalist and editor, Carnes regularly contributes to publications throughout the Northwest. Her full-length play Fumblewinter was among those selected for the 2018 William Inge Festival New Play Lab Series. Her work has been short-listed by theater companies in London (twice!), Seattle and has recently been picked up by a theater in New York City. With a collaborative spirit, Rachael has brought together playwrights from across the country, creating a new project, No More Empty Seats: playwrights Against Gun Violence, and from that, a full-length work sourced from 20 playwrights, that will have readings in all fifty states in March 2018. She thanks her family for supporting her writing.

Natalie Sallee is Co-Artistic Director and Director of New Works for The Arc Theatre. She enjoys wearing all the hats- namely performing, directing and producing. Natalie was last seen on stage as M'Lynn in Steel Magnolias with The Arc and can be seen this summer playing Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor with Shakespeare on the Ridge. Other roles she's played include Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Joyce in Top Girls, The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and Leonata in Much Ado About Nothing. Natalie received her B.A. in Acting from Ball State University and her M.F.A. in Acting from The Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.