Alisa is a New York-based actor and recent graduate of the MFA Acting program at UVA. Select local credits include Rona in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and Penny in “Urinetown” at UVA; Amy in “Company” and “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” at Heritage Theatre Festival; “Sister Act” at Virginia Repertory Theatre; and “The Merchant of Venice” at the American Shakespeare Center. She is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association

Cady is a faculty member of the UVA Department of Drama, where she teaches Acting and Speaking in Public. She was last seen on stage in Heritage Theatre Festival's production of Harvey and heard as a frequent voice on the podcast BackStory. She was proud to serve as a speaker coach for a third time for this year's TEDx Charlottesville event.

Chiquita knew since the age of 3 that she wanted the life of a performer. She started dance at the age of 4 and acting by the age of 10. Chiquita went on to receive her Bachelor's degrees in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Georgia and soon after, pursued roles in California earning leading roles in independent films and television. She continued forward to pursue graduate school where she recently completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Virginia.

At UVA Chiquita had the fortunate opportunity to play a diverse array of dynamic roles such as the Mother in Blood Wedding, Vera in August Wilson's Seven Guitars, Elmire in Tartuffe, and Taylor in Stick Fly. The Perfectly Circular Rock is Chiquita's first foray into voicovers and writing. She has enjoyed every moment of writing and creating these characters. She hopes that you find enjoyment from them too!

Denise is a playwright and actor. She’s toured her one-woman show, Dirty Barbie and other Girlhood Tales, at such venues as Assembly Hall at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and the 59E59 East to Edinburgh Festival in New York City as well as at The Corner Store in Washington, DC, and the Diana Wortham Theatre in Asheville, NC among other venues.

Acting highlights include: Pride and Prejudice, Shear Madness, The Odd Couple, Almost, Maine (Heritage Theatre Festival) and The Matchmaker, Eurydice, Chemistry of Change (Live Arts). She has an MFA in Playwriting from UVA and a BA in Theatre from Catawba College

Grissom is an Associate Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of Virginia.

Evelyn is a first year at the University of Virginia. Participating in over 10 productions at her high school and in the local Charlottesville area, Evelyn is delighted to be part of The Rock and this amazing group of artists. She would like to thank Doug Grissom and her mother Cady for the opportunity to participate in her first podcast!

James most recently appeared onstage in Follies at Live Arts. His other acting credits include: Harvey, Middletown, The Odd Couple, Annie Get Your Gun, 1776, My Fair Lady, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Sound of Music, On Golden Pond, Sunday in the Park with George, Gypsy, Carousel, West Side Story, You Can’t Take It with You, The Sunshine Boys, Sweeney Todd (Heritage Theatre Festival); Tartuffe, Urinetown, The Arctic Circle (and a Recipe for Swedish Pancakes), Our Town, Wonderful Town, Parade, The Beaux’ Stratagem, The Pajama Game, Measure For Measure, The Skin of Our Teeth, A Streetcar Named Desire, Into the Woods (UVA Drama); Life Insurance (Barhoppers 2003 & 2008, Offstage Theatre). James performs historical voice work for the podcast BackStory.

Jess is an actor and filmmaker. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2018 with a BA in Drama and American Studies. Local acting highlights include: Top Girls (Live Arts); We Are Pussy Riot or Everything is P.R., Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (UVA Drama); and The Vagina Monologues (Virginia Players).

To learn more about her, visit her website at www.littmanjess.com!

Judy is the assistant business manager for the UVA Department of Drama and Heritage Theatre Festival.

Kate is an actor and playwright who has been active in the Charlottesville theater community since 2009. She has been privileged to act in several local venues, including: Heritage Theatre Festival: (Steel Magnolias: Ouiser), Shear Madness (Mrs. Shubert). Local/University: Follies (Hattie Walker), The Book of Will (Emilia Bassano/Anne Hathaway), The Lion In Winter (Eleanor), Blithe Spirit (Madame Arcati), August: Osage County (Violet Weston). Film: Machinery of Dreams (Beth), More and Less (Ada).

Her plays include THE O’MALLEY GAMBIT, RESOLUTIONS (book and lyrics) and EMBERS. She has studied playwriting as a Community Scholar at UVA, and is a founding member of the Charlottesville Playwrights Collective.

Lewis is a producer, audio engineer, fixer at WTJU. He co-wrote and produced a remake of War of the Worlds for a WTJU Halloween broadcast in 2013.

He has also been a lead audio engineer for WTJU’s live concerts for the past 7 years and was a host and producer for Soundboard, WTJU’s local news program. He is inspired by the works of modern audio plays like Tanis, Rabbits, Limetown, Wolf359 as well as older works like Dragnet, Gunsmoke, Suspense, and Dimension X.

A third year English and Drama major and Miller Arts Scholar, Maille-Rose Smith is passionate about acting in all its inspiring forms! At UVA, she has acted in the Drama Department's New Works Festival (Fall 2017), the Music Library Series (Spring 2018), the Virginia Players' Play in a Day, Spectrum Theatre's A View From the Bridge (Fall 2018), and Shakespeare on the Lawn's Two Gentlemen of Verona (Fall 2017), Julius Caesar (Spring 2018), and most recently Macbeth (Spring 2019).

She has also acted in television and film projects at and outside of UVA, including "The Art of Fugue" (Dir. Asher Caplan), "Unsaid" (Dir. Brian Boenau), and the UVA Year in Review. Recently, she has leapt into podcast and radio acting, as Ann Droid on "Erasmus Dagger" (dir. Jess Miller and Bob Lynch) and as a voice actor on 99.7 CYK.

Marianne Kubik is a physical theatre artist and Associate Professor in the University of Virginia’s Department of Drama. She performed the role of the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has worked for the Heritage Theatre Festival, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Marianne has overseen the creative vision for over 120 stage productions, including UVA Drama’s She Kills Monsters, We Are Pussy Riot, Shipwrecked, and Rhinoceros. She is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors and the recipient of the Prize for Innovative Teaching from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Mark is a Charlottesville based actor with numerous local and regional credits, including The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time, The Liar, and Peter and The Starcatcher at Live Arts Thetre and at the Hamner Theater in Three Sisters. He lives in Charlottesville with his wife and two children.

Mercedes has been a professional actor for over 30 years. She was seen on Broadway in the 5-time Tony winning play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Her many Off-Broadway credits include: The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project. Ms Herrero has been a part of 13 world premieres of new works by Lynn Nottage, Nilo Cruz, Lynn Redgrave, Moises Kaufman, A.R. Gurney, and Craig Wright, among others. She is a member of AEA and SAG/AFTRA.

Nell is an arts advocate with an extensive background in professional theatre as an actor, playwright and teacher, and is based in Gainesville, Florida, where she has acted in over 70 productions at the Hippodrome Theatre.

Nell appeared off Broadway at New World Stages for E.P. Production in ELVIS PEOPLE and is the co-author of COQUINA, a play that opened in New York City at the Harold Clurman Theatre.

Nell has been a member of the Actors Equity Association for over 35 years and a member of the Hippodrome Acting Company.

Priyanka is an actor, director, and playwright. She recently graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Virginia and currently serves as a Faculty member at the UVA Department of Drama.

In addition to this, Priyanka is touring with her one-woman show The Elephant in the Room - recent performances include Yale University, Lincoln Theatre and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington D.C.

www.priyankashetty.com

Randy is an actor, professional role player, and teaching artist in Charlottesville, VA. He has an MFA in Acting from the University of Virginia and a BA in Theatre Performance from College of Charleston. Randy is currently working as a Standardized Patient Educator at UVA’s School of Medicine Clinical Skills Center.

He is always looking for new ways to apply his theatre skills in ways that effect positive change and offer untapped perspectives. Randy can also often be found working in regional theatres, film, and the voice-over industry.

Robert studied theatre at the University of Tennessee, where he also worked for several years in theatre administration. His life's work has been divided between various aspects of theatre and teaching English as a Second Language in the U.S. and abroad.

Ron has appeared in productions at Four County Players, Live Arts, Act One, Offstage Theater and UVA Drama Dept over the last 40 years, and is proud to make his “voice” debut at WTJU.

Sam is a proud graduate of the University of Virginia's MFA Program. He's worked on stage and in film in NYC, LA, and Virginia; but this is his first ever podcast. Here's to many more! Thanks to Doug and his cohort for the fun times and memories made during the creation and recording of this super fun (slightly crazy) lil' project.

Sam Shannon lives in Dunedin, New Zealand, and is currently in her final year of university at the University of Otago studying law and performing arts. She came to UVA on exchange in the fall semester of 2018 and took playwriting with Doug Grissom, which is how she ended up a part of this project. Whilst at UVA Sam was part of Amuse Bouche. During their shows, as a result of nerves she spoke with a bad hybrid Kiwi/American accent, because things are funnier when you say them in an accent?

Sam has been involved in theatre since high school and recently had her professional acting debut playing ‘Rose’ in The Flick by Annie Baker which thankfully happened in New Zealand, as according to a friend who came to see the show her American accent sounded kind of ‘Canadian’. She can, however, do a very convincing Scottish accent. Sam is not sure of what she’ll do after university, but with any luck, will have a bright future in law or Canadian, Scottish or New Zealand theatre.

Tim has appeared in Superior Donuts, Six Degrees of Separation and many others at Live Arts in Charlottesville and also appeared at the Heritage Repertory Theatre, University of Virginia Drama and many other theatres.

Tovah Close teaches acting and public speaking in the UVA Department of Drama. She was most recently a guest artist with Mary Baldwin University's Shakespeare and Performance MFA program, and prior to that taught voice and speech at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New Studio on Broadway. Acting credits include American Conservatory Theater, Metropolitan Playhouse, BoCoCa Arts Festival, Abingdon Theatre, The Process Group and Light House Studio.

Locally, you may have heard her voice on WNRN or in get-out-the-vote PSAs. Vocal coaching credits include: ACT, 59E59, Heritage Theater Festival, Epic Theatre Ensemble, The Governor's School of North Carolina, Mile Square Theater, Summer Theater of New Canaan, Live Arts, and various private clients. Tovah has an MFA in acting from American Conservatory Theater, a BFA from U.C. Santa Barbara, and is a member of VASTA and Actors Equity Association.

This is Virginia’s first podcast and boy was she excited to play multiple, unique characters in this clever, perfectly circular tale. She loves all outdoor activities, from hiking to biking, but her one true love is theater. Recent credits include God of Carnage (4CP), Three Sisters (Hamner Theater), and Hand to God (Live Arts).