The Thanksgiving Play
by Larissa Fasthorse
Ripon College Fall 2022
Director: Lillian Brown
Scenic/Lighting/Sound: John Dalziel
Costumes: Andrea Williams
Stage Manager: Rebecca Steinkamp
Cast Members
Logan: Inesha Wiseman
Jaxton: Christian Schmidt*
Caden: Connor Elliot
Alica: Summer Schlieckau
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Plot: A troupe of "terminally woke" teaching artists devise a play that celebrates both Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month.

Photo Credit: Ric Damm

Photo Credit: Ric Damm

Photo Credit: Ric Damm

Photo Credit: Ric Damm
The Great American Trailer Park Musical
by Betsy Kelso and David Nehls
Ripon College Spring 2022
Director: Lillian Brown
Music Director: Dr. Erin Bryan
Scenic/Lighting/Sound: John Dalziel
Costumes: Andrea Williams
Stage Manager: Lindsey Wigand
Cast Members
Betty: Lucie Hodgkins
Linoleum “Lin”: Alli Slowiak
Donna “Pickles”: Summer Schieckau
Norbert: Evan Jensen
Pippi: Abbe Lane
Jeannie: Inesha Wiseman
Duke: Andy Ratayczak
Plot: Trouble ensues when a run-a-way stripper starts a love affair with a married man.

Photo Credit: Ric Damm

Photo Credit: Ric Damm

Photo Credit: Ric Damm

Photo Credit: Ric Damm
Everybody
by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Ripon College Fall 2021
Director: Lillian Brown
Scenic/Lighting/Sound: John Dalziel
Costumes: Andrea Williams
Stage Manager: Lindsey Wigand
Cast Members
Katelyn Dano: God
Maricarmen Dorantes: Cousin/Time
Brooklyn Hogan: Death
Billy Stiggers: Everybody
Summer Schieckau: Love
Lanie Kish: Friendship
Anjelika Dombrowski: Kinship
Adam Scholze: Stuff
​

Photo Credit: Sarah Brown

Photo Credit: Sarah Brown

Photo Credit: Sarah Brown

Photo Credit: Sarah Brown
Plot: A modern adaptation of the 15th-century morality play Everyman.
No Answers: An Epidemic Art Project
The Ohio State University Fall 2020
Short Film: The Month of May
Director: Lillian Brown
Stage Manager: Tamera Fraley
Scenic: Lillian Brown
Sound: Jesse Tack
Lighting: Tom Dugdale
Ensemble Members
Rina H. Gjoka
Matthew Greenberg
Kylie Logan
Erin Parsons
Inspired by community-engaged work with patients at local addiction recovery centers, the project served as a prism that reflects how artists are responding to the public health crisis. The Month of May is about a group of healthcare workers who experience fatigue and a loss of empathy amid a consistently increasing caseload.

Photo Credit: Jacob Athyal

Photo Credit: Jacob Athyal

Photo Credit: Jacob Athyal

Photo Credit: Jacob Athyal
A Closer Look at the Process...

The United States makes up approximately 5% of the world’s population and consumes 80% of the world’s opioid supply. According to a study by Rembert, in 2015 there were an estimated 92,000 to 170,000 Ohioans abusing or dependent on opioids. Shockingly, the state of Ohio ranks 3rd in the nation for overdose-related deaths, it also leads the country in overdose deaths per capita.
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Rina H. Gjoka, a member of the OSU 2021 Acting Cohort, had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Koczwara, a registered nurse working on the front lines of the opioid epidemic in Columbus, OH. We worked closely with Steve while devising No Answers. He routinely provides care to individuals suffering from substance use disorder. One of his main goals, as a medical professional, is to destigmatize substance use as a means of closing the empathy gap amongst medical professionals. In the interview, he says, “When you think of 80% of all people that are addicted to substances like heroin, using that as an example, they got there through mismanagement of pain medication. And when I say mismanagement, I mean mismanagement of how they were prescribed”.