August Wilson's FENCES at Interact Theatre Company

Omete Anassi (he/him/his) is a first-generation Kenyan-American, born and raised on the southwest side of Houston, Texas. In two weeks, He’ll be receiving his Master’s of Fine Arts in Drama from The Juilliard School, where he served as the Co-President of the Juilliard Black Student Union (JBSU), spearheading their post-COVID resurgence by producing and directing the first annual “JBSU Artist Showcase”. The event featured over 40 Black Juilliard students across the drama, dance and music division. Before Juilliard, Omete was a student athlete and thespian at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He eventually ended up transferring to the University of Southern California (USC), where he served as Chapter President of the Alpha Delta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, an Executive Board Member of USC’s Black Student Assembly, and Co-Founder of Brothers Breaking Bread (BBB), an organization exclusively aimed to address the mental health and community building of USC’s Black male students. BBB is still functioning on USC’s campus today, with over 60 Black male members every year. Omete graduated from USC in 2017 with his Bachelor’s in Neuroscience and went on to accomplish prolific artistic feats, such as being a 2019 NAACP Theatre Award winner for “Best Male Lead'' for his performance in the world premiere of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm’s Br’er Cotton. Most recently, he served as the leading actor and associate producer of independent feature film African Giants, which won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival and is available on Amazon Prime Video. Omete considers himself a “Griot”, which is a West African term used to describe the community members who hold the stories of their people in their bodies and spirits.

Larry Bates was last seen as Fred in A Christmas Carol at South Coast Repertory. Other favorite roles at SCR include Martin Luther King Jr. in All the Way, Ralph D. in The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Happy in Death of a Salesman, Booth in Topdog/Underdog, Cactus in Mr. Marmalade and Youngblood in the SCR/Pasadena Playhouse production of Jitney, for which he won an NAACP Theatre Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor. Other favorite theatre credits include the World Premiere of Human Error (Denver Center Performing Arts), JQA (San Diego Repertory), Ah Wilderness! (Goodman Theatre) and Martin Luther King Jr. in The Mountaintop (Matrix Theatre, San Diego Repertory, Hattiloo Theatre for MLK50 commemoration). His film and television credits include Miss Virginia, Lions for Lambs, “The Romanoffs,” “Seal Team,” “Sunnyside,” “NCIS,” “Big Little Lies,” and “American Born Chinese.” Bates is a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow and a graduate of The Theatre School, DePaul University.

Performed at American Repertory Theatre this year as Odysseus in Kate Hamill's world premier of The Odyssey. Other credits include; 'A Good Guy', Rogue Machine, 'The Tempest', Shakespeare Center Los Angeles, 'Othello' at A Noise Within, 'Macbeth', 'Othello', Utah Shakespeare Festival, 'Seven Guitar's', Yale Rep, 'Pericles', Guthrie,Folger,OSF, 'All The Way', Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 'Great Society', Seattle Rep, 'Eurydice', Milwaukee Rep, 'Bombitty of Errors', Hudson Valley Shakespeare, 'TopDog UnderDog', Renaissance Theaterworks. Film: The Tragedy of Macbeth. TV: Chicago Med, SWAT, Stuck in the Middle.

Shaun Heard is an actor, writer, producer, director, and college professor. His greatest passion and proudest achievement is being a classically trained actor with an MFA from the University of Southern California (USC). Shaun’s most notable work includes his two-season arc as Dan Barnes on Shonda Rhimes’ Station 19. Beyond acting, Shaun is deeply committed to shaping the next generation of artists, having taught acting at institutions such as Cal State San Marcos, Sacramento State, Duke University, and Palomar College. Shaun is thrilled to be collaborating with Interact Theatre Company, continuing his lifelong mission to create powerful, authentic storytelling on stage, screen and in the classroom.

Erron Jay received his BFA in Theater from Missouri State Univ. & his MFA in Acting from The Theater School at DePaul Univ. Theatre credits include A Raisin in the Sun at South Coast Rep. The world premiere of Harriet Jacob's at Steppenwolf Theatre. Two Trains Running at Merle Reskin Theatre. Sueno at Merle Reskin Theatre, A New Brain at Athenaeum. TV credits include Lucifer, No Good Nick, KC Undercover, & Famous Crime Scenes. He is grateful to return to Interact's Prize Winners staged reading series following last year's "Clybourne Park" production. And he's very proud to be a member of this fantastic company. Erron is a professor of acting at AMDA's LA campus, and a teaching artist at Geffen Playhouse and also in Los Podrinos Juvenile Detention Center with the non-profit Michael's Daughter. He is grateful for the opportunity and for the support of his friends and family. He can be found on social media @erronjay or online at erronjay.com. Manager - Hillary Sigale at Infin8 Artists & Entertainment.

Nyla Ray is a 10-year-old singer, dancer & actress with experience in local musical theater productions. Nyla has trained at Heart Arts, Village Arts, A Noise Within and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Her passion for the performing arts shines through as she continues to cultivate her talents across multiple disciplines.

As Performer / Producer Danielle Moné Truitt leads the latest installment of Dick Wolf's successful "Law & Order" franchise, "Law & Order: Organized Crime" on NBC. Beginning her career in theatre, Truitt was nominated for an NAACP® Theatre award and an Ovation award for her role in the Katori Hall play The Mountaintop. She received a second Ovation nomination for her role in Dreamgirls. Truitt wrote, produced and starred in the dynamic one woman play 3: Black Girl Blues, which performed to sold out audiences during the course of its run through Los Angeles, Sacramento, and New York. Truitt's additional television credits include the FOX drama series "Deputy" alongside Stephen Dorff, in addition to leading roles on FX's "Snowfall," "Super Fun Night" for ABC and "Mulaney" for FOX. In 2009, Truitt made history when she joined Disney's Academy Award® nominated animated film, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG as the video reference for Princess Tiana.

Michael Shepperd is pleased as punch to be working with Interact on this great piece. Directing credits include Blood at the Root at Open Fist Theatre Company, for which he received a Stage Scene LA “Scenie” award for Best Direction of a Play, as well as a Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle nomination for Best Director; Twelve O’Clock Tales with Ava Gardner at the Whitefire Theatre (Stage Raw Top Ten); The Boy From Oz (Ovation Award, LADCC Award, Best Director); Rotterdam at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (LADCC Award Best Production, Stage Raw award for Best Production and nomination for Best Director; West Addams at the Skylight Theatre (LA Times Critics Choice); Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the Garry Marshall Theatre (Scenie Award for Director of the Year, Broadway World nomination for Best Director); The View Upstairs (Broadway World Award, Best Director); Sucker Punch at Couerage Theatre; Too Heavy for Your Pocket at Sacred Fools (LA Times Critics Choice); and productions of The Next Fairy Tale, [title of show], and Rent. Los Angeles acting roles include Matilda(Miss Trunchbull), The Producers(Roger DeBris; Ovation Award nominee), Fences (Troy; Ovation, LADCC nominations), BootyCandy(LADCC nomination, Ovation, Stage Raw Win), The Color Purple (Mister; Ovation award), Steel (Ovation Award), Master Harold and the Boys (NAACP theatre award nomination), The Producers (Ovation Award nomination), Intimate Apparel (NAACP Theatre Award), Choir Boy (NAACP nomination); and Shout Sister Shout. As an actor, he recently appeared as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Open Fist, and in Athol Fugard’s Valley Song at International City Theatre. Other L.A. credits: Matilda (Miss Trunchbull), The Producers (Roger DeBris; Ovation Award nominee), Fences (Troy; Ovation, LADCC nominations), BootyCandy (LADCC nomination, Ovation, Stage Raw Win), The Color Purple (Mister; Ovation award), Steel (Ovation Award), Master Harold and the Boys (NAACP theatre award nomination), The Producers (Ovation Award nomination), Intimate Apparel (NAACP Theatre Award), Choir Boy (NAACP nomination); and Shout Sister Shout. Broadway/Regional credits include: Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan; The Seafarer; Little Shop of Horrors; Caroline, or Change; Whipping Man. TV: NCIS: Origins, Bosch, Why Women Kill, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Soul Man, Hot In Cleveland, Wizards of Waverly Place, Monk, Criminal Minds, NCIS.

Most recently, Heins produced and directed the critically acclaimed Los Angeles premiere of Aaron Posner's "Life Sucks" at the Broadwater Main Stage. The production earned a coveted spot on L.A. Times theater critic Charles McNulty’s Top 9 List of 2023 and received seven nominations from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle, including wins for Best Ensemble and Best Writing–Adaptation. A graduate of The Juilliard School and an alumnus of The Acting Company, Heins has performed on Broadway and Off-Broadway, at leading regional theaters across the U.S., and in both film and television. His notable Los Angeles stage credits include "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Ford Theatre (Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Performance), ITC's celebrated production of "Counsellor-At-Law" with John Rubinstein (Ovation Award for Best Ensemble), the 2018 ITC revival of Jerry Sterner's "Other People's Money," and the West Coast premiere of Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins' "Nice Fish." Heins is also an accomplished voice-over artist, lending his talents to everything from film trailers to political ads, and has served as a dialect consultant on Broadway productions and for PBS. He has taught at several professional actor training conservatories, including NYU Tisch School of the Arts/Playwrights Horizons Theater School and SUNY Purchase College. During the summers, Heins serves as executive producer of the company’s summer theater camp for underserved youth, INTERPLAY, which was integrated into the L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs’ five-week Summer Performing Arts Camp (SPAC) in 2023. Heins curates the ITC Play Lab for established local playwrights and has spearheaded four annual staged readings series in partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library’s LA Made cultural enrichment program, where he directed "You Can’t Take It With You," "The Great White Hope," and "Driving Miss Daisy," and performed in "Art." Heins also produced and directed two impactful short films written by Catherine Butterfield for ITC: "Faultless" and "Just Another Birthday in Bedlam." Both films garnered international recognition, winning multiple awards at prestigious film festivals, including a 2021 Bronze and 2022 Gold Telly Award. These films are available on ITC's official YouTube channel, @InteractTheatreCompanyLosAngeles.

A Los Angeles native, Kristen is a professional actress, voice over artist, writer, and Interact Theatre Company’s Managing Director and Ensemble member.  She spent eight years acting across the East coast before moving back to California. She is a graduate of Cal State University, Northridge with a BA in Theatre Arts, and a minor in Chemistry.  She has studied with Shakespeare & Co, The Shakespeare Theatre, Annie Grindlay, and many other excellent VO coaches and casting directors. Kristen is also a proud alumni company member of Commonwealth Classic Theatre and The Hub Theatre. Selected favorite stage roles have included Flo in Nice Fish, Angelique in The Imaginary Invalid, Ariel in The Tempest, Emily in Our Town, Viola in Twelfth Night, and Young Seward in Macbeth. After working for a production company for many years, Kristen further developed skills in the art of editing, writing, producing, while also honing her voice over skills. 

Bairton Brown (he/they) is a multiracial filmmaker and theater practitioner. While earning their B.F.A. from DePaul University in Chicago, Bair’s first short, FROM YOUR FORMER LOVER, premiered at the New York Independent Cinema Awards. As their thesis, Bair directed the web series NAOMI & LEVI TAKE ON THE WORLD (2021), which was selected for distribution on Open Television | OTV. While earning their Master’s in Arts & Public Policy from NYU, Bair directed the sold-out world premiere of HOW DARE YOU  by Kendra Augustin at Affirmation Theatre, and FINAL GOODBYE by Shaneisha Dodson at Soundscape Theatre. In 2023, Bair completed a Next-Up Playwriting Fellowship at Congo Square Theatre. Brown’s second full-length play, MEMENTO VIVERE, received staged readings at Congo Square Theatre in Chicago, Denver Fringe, & Hollywood Fringe Festival.  Bairton returns to Chicago annually as a writer and director for Congo Square’s web series, BLACKSIDE. In Los Angeles, Bair supports Interact as an AD/SM and Dramaturg for Interact’s Pulitzer Prize Winners’ Series. Bair’s Virtual Playwriting course, DEFINING MOMENTS, will launch in Autumn 2024 through their LLC, Stonehaven Studios. Bair’s fist book, BLACKTOPIA, is published by Syllble Studios.

Born and raised in Japan, Ruri Matthews discovered her passion for the saxophone after the birth of her second daughter—and she’s been playing for 24 years ever since. She performs with several bands and has recently seen her solo performances become her most popular gigs. Ruri mainly plays rock, R&B, funk jazz, and smooth jazz, blending styles with soul and energy that resonate with a wide range of audiences. A proud mother of two grown daughters, Ruri has spent the last several years dedicated to building a life rooted in music. She is especially grateful for the opportunity to perform in theatrical productions and continues to pursue her artistic dreams with heart and purpose.