Ibi Owolabi was awarded a Drama League Fellowship which included work with
the Manhattan Theatre Club, Red Bull Theater, Dallas Theater Center, including her
role as Assistant Director for the Tony nominated Cost of Living on Broadway.
Ibi made her Off Broadway debut as the director of Poof! by Pulitzer Prizewinning
playwright Lynn Nottage at the Keen Company. Other recent projects have included
Pride Plays in NY and DC, Flex at Brooklyn College and Five Models in Ruins at Lincoln
Center’s LC3.
In Atlanta, she has been a Kenny Leon Fellow at the Alliance Theatre and has directed
plays at Actors Express, the Synchronicity Theatre, Emory, and the Weird Sisters
Project.
Peyton Rowe will play Anne Page in the cast of Merry Wives at The Shakespeare
Theatre Company in Washington D.C. this season. Peyton recently graduated from
New York University’s Acting MFA program and signed with Stewart Talent (NY) and
Principal Entertainment (LA). She performed at 54 Below in New York and Othello,
Romeo & Juliet and Taming of the Shrew at the Tiny Theatre Company in Atlanta.
Peyton also studied Shakespeare in Oxford, England at BADA.
Tajh Oates, Class of 2016, is the Production Manager of The Alley Theatre in Houston which is one of the largest and most well regarded acting companies in America. He has also worked at Arizona Theatre Company, The Public Theatre in NYC, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Westport County Playhouse.
Gabby Burton will be attending University of California San Diego for her MFA in Acting
in a fully funded program. UCSD is one of the 4 most selective acting programs in the
country. The program is also affiliated with the prestigious La Jolla Playhouse.
Gabby has worked with the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston as a
Sparks Scholar and Apprentice where she played Prince Hal in Henry IV part 1. She
made her professional debut as an undergrad playing Benvolio in Romeo and Juliett
with Lowcountry Shakespeare Company and toured nationally with the Missoula
Children’s Theatre.
Gabrielle Scott is a Stage Manager at Orlando Shakespeare Festival, She previously
worked at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Theatre & film alum Akil Jackson recently appeared in Ava Duverney’s Origin and the feature film Devotion, He was just awarded Best Actor in a Short film at the Mammoth Film Festival for his role in Don’t Worry About Tomorrow Behind the camera, Akil works consistently on films and series from ABC, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and WB
Tatyana Arrington is an entertainment journalist who has reported for such outlets as
BBC News and Newsweek. She conducts interviews with celebrities, tastemakers, and
disruptors across many industries including film, music, fashion and pop culture with
such brands as Disney, ABC, Netflix, Prime Video, and Essence. She hosts Beach
Battles on GO USA TV and is the creator and host of The Pop Culture Playbook.
Brock Vickers is an Actor, Writer, and Producer based in the Atlanta area who has appeared in many commercials as well as acted in roles on television for Netflix, AMC, Discovery and Passionflix. Brock is a sales agent, producer and voiceover artist for Forio which produces training videos for clients such as Facebook/Meta, Harvard, MIT, University Of Michigan,University of Colorado, and Salesforce.
Jordan Taylor recently began a fully funded program at Northwestern University where she is earning her MFA in Acting. She will be trained by artists from the Steppenwolf and Goodman theatres in Chicago as well as become a practitioner of SoulWork.
Deja Holmes is an Actor, Author and Educator in Atlanta who has performed with True
Colors Theatre, the Alliance Theatre, Contemporary Classics, Georgia Ensemble
Theatre, and the Tiny Theatre Company, Deja has worked as a Teaching Artist for the
Alliance Theatre, Artz for the Harp, and Here We Grow. Deja is also the author of the
children’s books Grams and Me (which she adapted into a TYA play for Synchronicity
Theatre) and her latest Cami Finds Her Voice.
Karen Aguirre works for the education program at the Alliance Theatre and is
represented by Atlanta Models and Talent. She has also produced and starred in
Churchwives and has appeared in Star and Raising Dion.
Benjamin Roberts has worked at Lowcountry Shakespeare Company in Romeo & Juliet
and The West Coast Black Theatre Troupe in Sarasota on a production of Fences. Ben
will be rejoining the company this fall for roles in Black Nativity and How I Got Over. In
2026 he will perform the role of Mr. Richard in The Tutti Frutti Tour about the Life and
Legacy of the Architect of Rock & Roll, Little Richard as it tours California.
Rachel Hartman is the Co-director of RabbitFoot Puppetry based in Chicago. Her company has performed at the Asheville Fringe, New Orleans Giant Puppetfest, and is a resident at the Agitator Gallery in Chicago.
Bryce Hargrove has been accepted into the MFA program of Brooklyn College and will be part of a selective 7 person cohort studying acting.
Not all roads lead to the stage! Ashley Wooten is currently serving in the Peace Corps
in South Africa, and has also worked as a teacher in France.
Kabera Higgs is currently working with Jeremy O Harris at Williamstown Theatre
Festival as House Manager, having been promoted from her role as Assistant House
Manager the previous year. Before that, she served as Asst. House manager at the
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.
Theatre and Biology alum Elizabeth McCooey appeared on several episodes of Cobra
Kai on Netflix and is now getting her Veterinary Medicine degree at the University of
Georgia
Tsiambwom Akuchu MFA was recently made Assistant Professor of Dance at California State University Long Beach and has taught at Colby College and has performed at DANCENOW at Joe’s Pub in New York, and the Kennedy Center in D.C.
Dylan Richards spent a season performing at Lost Colony theatre and has had work on Manunter on Apple TV+, Hulu Original The Girl From Plainville, and the feature film Devotion.
Bailey McClure MFA has recently been made Assistant Professor of Scenic Design at University of West Georgia. She has been a designer in New York City for many years working Off Broadway, on Sesame Street (PBS/HBO) and the show Everything’s Trash (Freeform & Hulu)
Kristyl Tift, PhD MFA was recently made Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing at Vanderbilt University. Her Voiceover narration of Brandy Colbert’s Blackbirds in the Sky (Harper Audio) recently won the Audiofile Earphones award for Outstanding Narration.
V.A. Patrick Slade is a producer, novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor based in
Los Angeles. He is film and TV projects include The Last Stop, El Lobo, Pregame, Dead
End Falls, Dovey Vs. Goliath and The Grind, His books include Seat Filler, Memoirs of
an Ebony Cover Family, The Deans: New Beginnings, and The Deans: Legacy, Love, &
Lies