http://www.stormingheaventhemusical.com/home-horizon daily 1.0 2025-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1553291987887-L8FNI5S3QC3RDPZCPGB9/SHTM_LIGHT.png Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1559831113946-1CVXUQWQH76GAVPULUA7/Flip+Anderson Welcome FLIP ANDERSON MUSIC Flip Anderson has worked with Tracy Lawrence for many years as a writer and producer on several of his albums. He has collaborated with other artists such as John Anderson, Rich McCready, and Kenny Hess, and also produced Civil War: The Nashville Sessions for Frank Wildhorn. He now lives mostly in Gatlinburg where he and his wife, Diane, own and run The Gallery at Gatlinburg featuring works by artists from the Smoky Mountains. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1482359149018-BMY98E5TTRUYL1XL4KPA/Denise+Giardina Welcome DENISE GIARDINA AUTHOR Denise Giardina grew up in McDowell County, West Virginia. She received a BA in history from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. She has written five novels: Good King Harry (Harper and Row, 1984), Storming Heaven (W.W. Norton, 1987), The Unquiet Earth (W.W. Norton, 1992), Saints and Villains (W.W. Norton, 1998), and Emily's Ghost (W.W. Norton, 2009). Storming Heaven was a Discovery selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, a New Voices selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club, and received the 1987 W.D. Weatherford Award for the best published work about the Appalachian South. Giardina's op-ed pieces have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Charleston (WV) Gazette, and the Daily Mail. She was published in The Nation, Southern Exposure, Emmy, and the Village Voice. Giardina took part in the Appalachian Land Ownership Study in the early 1980s which documented that the region is dominated by absentee land ownership. She was arrested twice during the United Mine Workers' strike against the Piston Company in the late 1980s and ran for Governor of West Virginia in 2000 to protest the devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1525706777730-CO0FMYTP3P8M6TLFNWUY/Tracy+Lawrence Welcome TRACY LAWRENCE MUSIC Tracy Lawrence is one of the most recognizable voices in country music with songs such as Paint Me a Birmingham, Time Marches On, Alibis and Find Out Who Your Friends Are. He has enjoyed 22 songs on the Billboard Top Ten charts with 18 number one singles, selling over 13 million albums. The multi-platinum CMA and ACM award winning recording artist has helped shape the sound of country music for two decades, recently celebrating twenty years in music and inspiring a whole new generation of entertainers and fans. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1525707803220-1TWNWISNNM6ZA82JMCHG/Peter+Davenport Welcome PETER DAVENPORT BOOK/MUSIC Peter Davenport is an IRNE nominated actor and award winning filmmaker of the short film, A Family Dinner which he took to the Courts Metrages at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. He has performed in the National Tour of The Sound Of Music as Captain Georg von Trapp, in Regional theatres, and Off Broadway, including other readings and new works in development. He grew up attending the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario as a child, which he continues to this day with his own children. He studied Shakespeare and classical theatre at BADA in London while acquiring his BA and MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College. His own singing can be heard on his debut solo album, Clear Day on LML Music, and on the cast recordings of Papermill Playhouse’s production of Follies and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1525706727972-N7IBR6QC2T4O8E46MMZO/Katy+Blake Welcome KATY BLAKE BOOK/MUSIC Katy Blake is primarily a performer and has toured the country as Eva in Evita, Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia!, and Whistle Down the Wind (dir. Hal Prince). Off-Broadway she has performed at the York Theatre, Signature Theatre, and in various NYMF productions. She created the role of Pam in CATCO’s and Off-Broadway’s The Last Smoker in America, and the role of Sirroco in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Mask (dir. Richard Maltby, Jr.). In Los Angeles, she was seen at the Hollywood Bowl in South Pacific with Reba McEntyre, and was directed by Jason Alexander in Sunday in the Park With George at Reprise! She also sings and writes country music. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1482165667590-EIWUNLLZ189A0HD1V97Z/image-asset.jpeg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1477869026083-1R25HS1RIS8UH613LCYI/Screen+Shot+2015-09-02+at+10.51.21+AM.png Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1525717586426-11IUYQ42FHWHOFVCKQHO/Storming2.gif Welcome http://www.stormingheaventhemusical.com/contact daily 0.75 2015-02-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1481391676191-GQE584HC5ROJ6CDY18IZ/Gary_coal_mining_1908.jpg Contact http://www.stormingheaventhemusical.com/wvpt-cast daily 0.75 2019-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558036411078-2162FMJF0FXRQ7ZXWA01/LUKE+HALFERTY CAST LUKE HALFERTY (Albion Freeman) is thrilled to be making his WVPT debut! A native Pittsburgher, Luke has recently performed with Pittsburgh CLO (The 39 Steps, First Date, Titanic, Brigadoon, The Full Monty, A Christmas Carol), Pittsburgh Public Theater (Hamlet), PICT Classic Theatre (Merchant of Venice, The ‘Scottish Play’, The Crucifer of Blood), The REP (Of Mice and Men), St. Vincent Summer Theatre (Jeeves In Bloom, Too Many Cooks), and more. BFA from Point Park University. Proud member of AEA. Special thanks to friends and family for love and support through it all. www.lukehalferty.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558035914048-JFJGXDG8P1CDRCW44LMV/MATTHEW+GLEN+CLARK CAST MATTHEW GLEN CLARK (Ensemble) is thrilled to be returning to the WVPT Stage for Storming Heaven: The Musical. Regional Credits: Mamma Mia (Eddie), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Tackaberry) with Cumberland Theatre; Young Frankenstein (Kemp), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Linus), with West Virginia Public Theatre. Training: BFA Musical Theatre, West Virginia University. After Storming Heaven, Matthew will be joining the 39th Season of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire before traveling back to Maryland to join Cumberland Theatre in Miracle on 34th Street. www.matthewglenclark.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058585108-U0ESBBCAZFPZIWMGASUV/SARA+GIANOLA CAST SARA GIANOLA (Ensemble) spent five years working in Los Angeles in film, television, and casting. She played Kit in FOX Studios' film release of Prison Break: The Final Break, and China on ABC Family's Bunheads. Collegiate credits include: Evelyn in Shape of Things, The Moon in Blood Wedding and Hotspur in Henry IV. WVPT credits: Violet in It's a Wonderful Life and Ensemble in the Storming Heaven staged reading. Sara would like to thank her family for their undying love and support. Training: West Virginia University (BFA Acting); American Academy of Dramatic Arts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558100747945-G41ZCTW6BHKXJ9P5SDXI/MIA+WALKER CAST MIA WALKER (Director) Off-Broadway/Regional directing: Fault Line Theatre (All Nighter); Encore Theatre (Into the Wild); Club Cumming (Blind Date Project); NYMF (Normativity, Camp Wanatachi); The Flea (Resident Director); Ensemble Studio Theatre (Youngblood), PCLO (Pool Boy). Upcoming: New works readings at Bay Street Theater, Premiere Stages, MultiStages, and TRU. Broadway/National Tour: Tour Director, current National Tour of Finding Neverland and the recent National Tour of Pippin; Associate Director, Jagged Little Pill (coming to Broadway Fall 2019) and Waitress; Assistant Director, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Pippin, and Finding Neverland. Drama League Directing Fellow. B.A. Harvard University. www.miapwalker.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558057870194-T7KM23L6NW08PN1MPT6C/DANIEL+STEVENS CAST DANIEL A. STEVENS (Miles Bishop) has previously performed with WVPT as George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life and Jamie Wellerstein in The Last Five Years. Other work includes: The American Shakespeare Center, The SITI Company, The Texas Shakespeare Festival, The Nebraska Theatre Caravan, Dollywood, Theatrcum Botanicm, NewGuard Theatre Company, and The Southland Theatre Company; the final two of which he is a founding member. Training: West Virginia University (BFA Acting 2009), UCLA (MFA Acting 2017). @OtherDanStevens www.TheOtherDanStevens.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058124098-OO9030KQAFTKCY7KHE7M/CEDRIC+CANNON CAST CEDRIC CANNON (Doc Booker) Credits: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, How to Use a Knife, Sweetee, In Dahomey, Cats, Goddess, Mikado, Carmen Jones, Three Willies, Man of LaMancha, The Pirates of Penzance, Camelot, Porgy and Bess, La Bohème, Madame Butterfly. Houston Grand Opera, Metropolitan Opera, NYC Opera, Frankfurt Opera, New Orleans Opera, Atlanta Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera Carolina. TV/Film: Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order, Blind, The Slap, Good Funk, Right of Way, Moon and Sun, Seven Lovers, Old 37, Know Your Logic, Raw Nerve, Cosby, Oz, All My Children, As the World Turns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058486745-RUVS22507HZYRHIIQE4F/DEJA+ELLIOTT CAST DEJA ELLIOTT (Ensemble) is a recent graduate of the WVU School of Theatre and Dance. She is thrilled to be working with West Virginia Public Theatre again, and very happy to be a part of this beautiful developing work. Regional credits: Storming Heaven: The Musical staged reading (WVPT). Collegiate credits; Assassins, The Three Musketeers, The Trojan Women, and You Can’t Take It With You. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558035669539-I1KX245JVLWA6O4J5MUW/CHRIS+KNUDSEN CAST CHRIS KNUDSEN (Arley) is thrilled to be a part of Storming Heaven: The Musical. He is a non-union actor currently completing his BFA in Musical Theatre from Point Park University. Credits in Pittsburgh include Vinegar Tom (PPU), Coram Boy (PPU), and The Gift of the Magi (PPU). He is also an advanced musician with training in piano, guitar, and banjo and releases solo music on SoundCloud under the name Chris Andrews. He would like to thank his immensely supportive family as well as the creative team at West Virginia Public Theatre. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058793528-4IBWUNRF4QPK7IPT6SJI/NORA+PERONE CAST NORA PERONE (Ensemble) is a London-based performer, producer, and acting coach. WVPT credits: The Last Five Years (Cathy Hiatt), 2018 BroadwayWorld Regional Award for Best Musical; It’s a Wonderful Life (Cousin Tilly/ Mrs. Hatch/ Assistant Director); Storming Heaven: The Musical staged reading (Ensemble). UK credits include: Ordinary Days, London & Edinburgh Fringe; It’s Only Murder, UK premiere; Crazy Ex-Fangirls (and boys), world premiere. Training: BFA Acting (West Virginia University); MA Music Theatre (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama). Nora is delighted to re-join the WVPT team this summer! @norassic_park www.noraperone.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558101008360-YJF8540QGKCBCA3IL19O/ADIN+WALKER CAST ADIN WALKER (Choreographer) Off-Broadway and Regional as Director/Choreographer: Allison Gregory’s Not Medea and L M Feldman’s Grace, or the Art of Climbing (Art House), Soft Butter (Ars Nova), The White Dress (Araca Project), One Arm (Chautauqua Theatre), Pin* and the Blue Fairy (Drama League Residency and Dixon Place), Gruesome Playground Injuries (TheaterLab NYC), Rent, and Singin' in the Rain (Princeton/McCarter.) Walker choreographed the NYC premiere of Normativity (dir. Mia Walker, NYMF) and has previously collaborated with directors Alexandru Mihail, Tracy Bersley, Whitney Mosery, Dawn Monique Williams, and Louisa Thompson. Walker has developed new work with Powerhouse/New York Stage and Film, the New Victory Theater, Arena Stage, Musical Theater Factory, OZ Arts Nashville, BAM, Art House Productions (Artistic Associate, 2017-2019), among others. Walker is associate director of Phantom Limb Company's now touring Butoh Dance and Puppetry spectacle Falling Out (BAM Next Wave 2018 premiere.) Walker trained at CityDance, Complexions, Joffrey, Washington School of Ballet, and has danced principle roles in works by Karole Armitage, Maleek K. Washington, Christopher K. Morgan, and Alex Neoral. Proud member of SDC. B.A. Princeton University. www.adinwalker.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558036017211-WELU297JE2JS3D06I9LP/EDWARD+CYPHERT CAST EDWARD CYPHERT (Ensemble) is a Morgantown native and a senior at West Virginia University pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater. Regional: A Hatful of Rain (WVPT). Collegiate: You Can’t Take it With You, The Diary of Anne Frank, Spring Awakening, The Nether, Assassins. He is currently filming The Pan-American Melting Pot, an original web series he co-created. @edwardcyphert | @panamericanmeltingpot https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558100912161-5EULJ5NHMFTPWOZEU1PC/EMILY+OTTO CAST EMILY OTTO (Music Director) is a music director, arranger, performer, dramaturg, and educator. Her music directing/supervising credits include Southern Comfort (Barrington Stage and CAP21), The Water Dream (NYMF), Incredibly Deaf Musical (NYMF), and the serial cabaret Shells at Joe's Pub. She is a co-creator of eight original productions with NYC's Stolen Chair Theatre Company. Emily has also dramaturged for directors Martha Clarke, Neil Bartlett, and Robert Woodruff at the American Repertory Theatre and the San Francisco Opera. She holds an MFA in dramaturgy from ART/MXAT Institute at Harvard University and a BA in theatre and music from Concordia College. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558036359307-A5RJTQXZMKPVFQ7TPE45/RICK+MUGRAGE CAST RICK MUGRAGE (Rondal Lloyd) graduated from WVU's MFA Actor Training Program last May, and has had the privilege of performing many roles at regional theaters throughout the country. WVPT credits: Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Shaw Moore in Footloose, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Scrooge's nephew Fred in A Christmas Carol, and Rondal Lloyd in the Storming Heaven staged reading. Rick is beyond excited to help tell this story, and he'd like to thank Jerry McGonigle, Katy Blake, and Peter Davenport for this opportunity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558057404006-ZFEAT4M9SGF6XHLWYRJ1/JO+WALKER CAST JO WALKER (Aunt Jane) is a New York-based actor, singer, writer, and designer. She is a founding member of Four Quarter Theater, an ensemble-based company that stages readings of new short plays. Favorite roles include: Woman 5 (Titanic), Dr. Brookner (The Normal Heart), Mrs. Pugh (Annie Warbucks, Signature Theatre), Zinaida (Ivanov), Heidi Von Sturm (Nine), Chorist (The Christians, Playwrights Horizons), Group Leader/Singer (the public domain, Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival). Her short play Underwater was recently produced in Brooklyn. Thanks to David Dabbon, Peter Jensen, everyone at WVPT and this wonderful cast! www.jowalkeractor.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558036181413-BFY0IPM8U524640LS2I0/ALISON+MCCARTAN CAST ALISON McCARTAN (Carrie Bishop, Storming Heaven) is delighted to make her WVPT debut! National Tour: Shrek the Musical. Off-Broadway: Promises, Promises - in Concert (Transport Group); Calamity Jane (Theatre Row.) Regional: Violet (IRNE award), Bad Jews (SpeakEasy Stage); The Drowsy Chaperone, Dames at Sea, Steel Magnolias, 42nd Street (The Wick); A Chorus Line (Weston); Next to Normal (Hangar.) TV: Law & Order: SVU. Alison would like to thank everyone on the Storming Heaven team, Henderson Hogan, Nancy Kremer, and her incredible family and loved ones for their constant support. Thoughts Become Things! @alisoncatherine https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058191484-Z0MU3KU3FQ4ZEJ4FJ3VS/CORWIN+STODDARD CAST CORWIN STODDARD (Isom) is thrilled to make his West Virginia debut! A native of Houston, Texas, Corwin currently resides in Pittsburgh, where he has performed with such companies as Pittsburgh CLO (A Musical Christmas Carol), Front Porch Theatricals (Violet, Floyd Collins), and Carnivale Theatrics (Bridges of Madison County). If you like what you hear in the show, you can find Corwin on SoundCloud as well. Proud alumnus of HSPVA, Perry-Mansfield, and Point Park University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558035856838-VXMHIGSS4OIXRCY8NNH8/LACEY+ALEXANDER CAST LACEY ALEXANDER (Ensemble) is a Birmingham-based actress and playwright, and currently holds a BS in Theatre from Troy University. She most recently performed with the Birmingham Children's Theatre as Smee in Peter Pan. Her plays have been produced by the Nylon Fusion Theatre Company in New York City, and readings of her work were presented by the Queens Theatre in New York and on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center for the Arts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058674833-L28MDSO9V4TFMKVM5L9H/RACHEL+MOORE CAST RACHEL MOORE (Ensemble) is a Morgantown-born actress and WVU alumnus. She currently lives and works in Boulder, Colorado, where she recently performed at the historic Stanley Hotel. She has also appeared in other WVPT productions including Peter and the Starcatcher (Prentiss), A Christmas Carol (Ghost Past), and Young Frankenstein (Ensemble). Rachel is thrilled to be back home to perform in this piece of West Virginia history and thanks everyone at WVPT for this opportunity. Montani Semper Liberi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558035725754-T748IP0567EBMUXRXI9N/AUSTIN+BOWEN CAST AUSTIN BOWEN (Johnson) currently resides in New York, but Virginia is home; that’s where mom is! Some of his Regional credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Chicago, All My Sons, Les Mis, etc. When he returns back to New York, he will rejoin his cast for the Second Off-Broadway residency of Rebirth of a Rabbits Foot, a Hip Hop Vaudeville show that’s running until December at The People’s Improv Theatre. You can follow him on his journey on Instagram @austinjbowen or Facebook: Austin Bowen https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058872437-OD9NJH3WINU3R8ME3EBX/DINO+VERGURA CAST DINO VERGURA (Ensemble) is very excited to be working on his first staged production with West Virginia Public Theatre, after being a part of the staged reading of Storming Heaven: The Musical in January. He is currently a senior Theatre Education Major at Fairmont State University, where he has performed as Lurch in The Addams Family Musical, Jack Stone in Reefer Madness, Shamreav in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and Officer Lockstock in Urinetown, which was selected to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region 2 in January 2018. Enjoy the show! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58166aec3e00be80a7d80fdd/1558058734600-JFFMKZTCJUOET1O1HLW1/FLETCHER+OLSON CAST FLETCHER OLSON (Ensemble) is a Senior BFA Acting Major at West Virginia University and is so excited to be a part of his first ever West Virginia Public Theatre show! WVU credits include: You Can’t Take It With You, The Magic Flute, and The Three Musketeers. Fletcher would like to thank the producers and director of Storming Heaven: The Musical for allowing him to be a part of such an amazing and ambitious project, as well as his friends and family who have encouraged him and stuck by his side over all these years. Enjoy the show!