Meet the artists of Kind of Blue
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Ron Lee McGill, who is assuming the role of George Evans, is a Durham native who has been involved with acting since the age of 3, doing print work for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. It wasn't until his time at Hillside High School that he fully embraced the craft of theater-making by acting in and directing several main-stage productions as well as touring shows in Virginia, North Carolina, and London, England. He then enrolled at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where he delved into the worlds of Film & Television, Performance Studies, and Spoken Word Poetry as the eventual President of the Ebony Readers Onyx Theatre, an on-campus theater organization. Since graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, Ron has interned with Maloof Productions based out of Los Angeles CA, performed in the stageplay “Mississippi Mourning”, and has done numerous film projects including the LA 48hr Film Competition. He is represented by Maultsby Talent Agency and hopes to push his talents and career to its full potential as both an actor and writer.
Camille Robinson, a first-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill, is making her Carolina stage debut in Kind of Blue at the Historical Playmakers Theater. She was active in community theater in high school with the principle roles of Mayzie in Seussical: The Musical and Ben in Night of the Living Dead. She was also the featured performer in the Albemarle Center Players production of The Lion King. Camille has always had a passion for music and dramatic arts. She is excited to be originating the role of Ruby Evans and to be a part of this unique cast and production.
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Amber Koonce, a third-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a young veteran of theater. Amber has graced the stage since the age of five, with most of her work debuting in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last year, in her first UNC production, she starred as Lady in Red in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (LAB! Theater). Her previous roles have included Rusty in Footloose, Grace in Boundless Grace (Children’s Theater of Charlotte), and Sister Abbess in Sound of Music. Amber feels blessed to be a part of living history, as she assumes the role of Nia in the genius that is Kind of Blue.
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Brycen McCrary is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill. He was born in Tacoma, WA and moved to Charlotte, NC for high school. Brycen’s studies have led him to instruction under reputable UNC Chapel Hill Performance Studies educators including Renee Alexander Craft, Paul Ferguson and Tony Perucci. He spent his first three years running Varsity Track and Field on campus. He also was an active participant in Harmonyx A Capella Group and the UNC Gospel Choir. He has appeared in many productions including assuming the role of Angel in Company Carolina’s Production of RENT, Sanda in Duke University's production of The Beatification of Area Boy, and X in UNC Chapel Hill's Student Television show Highphenated. Brycen dedicates his performance as Joseph Parker to all of his loved ones who could not make it to the show and his friends who can attend.
Director
Jamila Reddy is a fourth-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her directorial theater credits include Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (assistant director to Tom Quaintance, Playmakers Repertory Theatre), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf (LAB! Theatre), The Spectrum (Criminal Justice Action Awareness League), and various productions with Ebony Readers Onyx Theatre. She is the recipient of the 2010 Richard and Christoper Edward Adler Award for Excellence in Dramatic Art and the George Moses Horton Cultural Performance Award. She enjoys writing, thrifting, napping, blogging, and snacking (not particularly in that order). She is an advocate of natural hair, freedom, and changing the
world one performance at a time.
world one performance at a time.
Playwright
Kuamel Stewart, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, is in the nascent stage of his playwriting career. Though he has just begun forging into his Companion Play Cycle, he believes that Kind of Blue is the first of his epic 40 play cycle that will manifest his aspiration of dramatizing the many examples of the beauty of human imperfection. Through his cycle, he is attempting to bring the soundtrack of American history into the forefront of American drama. What has in essence become his creed, is that all of these plays will be born out of his affinity and affection for jazz. And it is because of that reason that he works tirelessly to be as transcendently original as Louis Armstrong, as orchestral in his dramatic creations as Duke Ellington, as speedily emergent as Charlie Parker, as topically and stylistically diverse as Miles Davis, and as passionately fixated on his craft as John Coltrane.