Cast Set for THE SQUIRREL PLAYS U.S. Premiere at Mirror Stage

Mirror Stage has announced full finalized cast for the U.S. premiere of The Squirrel Plays by award-winning playwright Mia McCullough and direction by Suzanne M. Cohen. A deeply dark comedy about choice(s) and consequences, The Squirrel Plays is a cycle of three short one-act plays: Infestation, Compensation, and Eradication.

The Squirrel Plays cast features the return of audience favorites from Mirror Stage's former Feed Your Mind staged reading series, Angie Bolton as Realtor, Exterminator, and Animal Control (Bee-Luther-Hatcher, Knock Me a Kiss, The Penelopiad) and Jason Marr as Man (In the Book Of... and Maple and Vine), most widely known in Seattle for the lead role of John McClane in Seattle Public Theater's A Very Die Hard Christmas.

Rounding out the cast are several new faces to Mirror Stage from Seattle's vast theatre scene, leading with Valerie Miller Markham as Wife (Seattle Public Theater, A Very Die Hard Christmas; Taproot Theatre, The Nerd); Serin Ngai as Neighbor # 1 (SIS Productions, Sex in Seattle); Emily Hoffman as Neighbor # 2 (Albatross Theatre, Pontypool); and Caitlin Frances Branston as Neighbor #3 (Sound Theatre Company and Pratidhwani, Indian Ink; Macha Theater Works, Smoke & Dust).

Full cast biographies are included below with headshots available for download at Mirror Stage's online media page here.

The Squirrel Plays will be on stage April 27-May 20, 2023 at 12th Avenue Arts located at 1620 12th Ave, Seattle with free post-play discussions following every Sunday matinee performance (Sunday matinee performances require masks).

Cast Biographies (listed in alphabetical order)

Angie Bolton (she/her) - Realtor, Exterminator, and Animal Control

Angie has performed in previous Mirror Stage productions, The Penelopiad, Knock Me a Kiss, Bee-Luther-Hatcher, and The Story. She has also performed for UW School of Drama, Langston Hughes, Village Theatre, Seattle Public Theater, On The Boards, The Group Theatre, The Bathhouse Theater, and the Museum of History and Industry. She currently teaches for STG Dance as a Dance for Parkinson's Instructor and for Spectrum Dance Theater as a fitness instructor.

Caitlin Frances Branston (she/her) - Neighbor #3

The Squirrel Plays marks Caitlin's first performance with Mirror Stage. She has worked in the Greater Seattle Area with Live Girls!, Macha Theatre Works, Village Theatre, Sound Theatre Company, Balagan Theatre, Taproot Theatre, Seattle Musical Theatre, Arts West, SecondStory Repertory, Centerstage, Harlequin Productions, Seattle Public Theater, and many others over the years. Some of her favorite on stage roles include Maggie in Smoke & Dust; Fabiana Cunningham in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Flora Crewe in Indian Ink; Sylvia in Sylvia; Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady; Ivy Weston in August Osage County; Harpo Marx/Gino in A Day in Hollywood a Night in the Ukraine; Gwendolyn Pigeon in The Odd Couple; Kitty in The Drowsy Chaperone; and Mrs. Harville in Persuasion the musical. Caitlin can be heard portraying Dena Rising in the radio drama series Phoenix Rising.

Emily Hoffman (she/they) - Neighbor # 2

The Squirrel Plays marks Emily's first performance with Mirror Stage. Previous stage appearances in Seattle include a staged reading of Pontypool, presented by Albatross Theatre Lab. Prior to moving to Seattle, Emily was a graduate of Ball State University's theatre program and worked with Columbus Children's Theatre.

Jason Marr (he/him) - Man

Jason is delighted to return to Mirror Stage, after previously appearing in In the Book of... and Maple and Vine as part of the Feed Your Mind series. He has performed locally with ACT Theatre, Book-It Repertory, Village Theatre, and Seattle Shakespeare, and regionally with Shakespeare Santa Cruz and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C., among others. Some favorite roles include Benedick in Much Ado (Island Stage Left), Henry in Henry V (Harlequin), and John McClane in A Very Die Hard Christmas (Seattle Public Theater). He's also a company member with Unexpected Productions. He earned a BFA in Acting and Directing from UNC Greensboro, and an MFA from the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. He is married to the lovely, extraordinary Jill Marr.

Valerie Miller Markham (she/her) - Wife

Valerie Ryan Miller is excited to be making her Mirror Stage debut! Recent credits include A Very Die Hard Christmas (Seattle Public Theater), The Nerd (Taproot), Dears in Headlights (Dacha), Robin Hood: A British Panto (Centerstage), The Producers (Lakewood Playhouse), and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tacoma Arts Live). A PNW transplant via New York City, Valerie became an official Seattleite appearing in Macklemore's "Next Year" music video. An alum of Barnard College & Completely Ridiculous Conservatory, she also received a fellowship from Lucid Body House in New York City.

Serin Ngai (she/her) - Neighbor # 1

The Squirrel Plays marks Emily's first performance with Mirror Stage. Serin has performed with Book-It Repertory Theatre, ReAct, NW Asian American Theatre, ArtsWest, Seattle Public Theater, and SIS Productions where she also previously co-produced and wrote scripts for their episodic series, Sex in Seattle. Offstage, Serin has been practicing family law for the past 17 years, and she has been the owner of her own firm, Sound Family Solutions, PLLC, for nearly 10 years. She volunteers at two legal clinics and served as President of the Asian Bar Association of Washington in 2020.

About Mirror Stage

Originally founded in 1991, Mirror Stage is a nonprofit multidisciplinary arts company that believes the power of storytelling holds the key to bringing people together in imagining and embodying a better future. We challenge assumptions, bias and prejudice, increasing equity and inclusion while encouraging more thoughtful reflection on today's issues. Mirror Stage nurtures unique artistic voices, centering those who have been most marginalized by society's inequitable systems and structures. Mirror Stage gets people talking, as well as thinking. Learn more about the history of Mirror Stage.

Mirror Stage gratefully acknowledges the support of 4Culture, ArtsWA, the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, the EPS Fund, Humanities Washington, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Posner-Wallace Foundation.

The Squirrel Plays received additional support from CrossCut and KCTS-9.