CAST
ILIRIDA MEMEDOVSKI
as BIRDIEMemedovski is currently pursing a theatre degree with a minor in costuming at Carthage College. She has been involved in the world of theatre since one of her high school teachers introduced her to acting. She is currently the secretary and member of Alpha Psi Omega, Carthage’s National Honors Theatre fraternity. The Book of Birdie is her first film credit.
SUZAN CROWLEY
as MOTHER SUPERIORCrowley is a Brit/US transplant who is currently residing in Los Angeles to pursue film production. Film credits include: The Devil Inside (Maria Rossi), The Draughtsman’s Contract (Mrs. Pierpont), Success Is The Best Revenge (First Inspector) and Born of Fire (The Woman). Television credits include: ITV’s The Knock (Nicki Lucas), BBC’s Backup (Ms. Soames), BBC’S Christabel (Lexi), Lifetime’s Liz & Dick (Cleopatra Hair Stylist), A&E’s The Last Cowboy and CW’s All Of Us (Samantha Thompson). London theatrical credits include: Under The Greenwood Tree, Sugar Dollies and The Heidi Chronicles. Los Angeles theatrical credits include: Doctor Faustus, Macbeth, It’s A Wonderful Life and Saint Valentine’s Day Masochism. Ms. Crowley is the recipient of an AudioFile Earphone Award for her narration of Mademoiselle Boleyn.
KATHRYN BROWNING
as GRANDMOTHERBrowning has more than 15 years’ professional experience, working in film, theater, television, corporate industrials, and mainstream commercials, both on screen and behind the scenes. As an actress, she has had the luck and pleasure to work with James Foley and John David Coles in the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series House of Cards (North Dakota Senator Ann Wallace). From 2000 to 2003, she produced and directed the weekly PBS television show, Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg. Kathryn Browning is a member of Actors Equity and SAGAFTRA and trains at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory in Washington, DC.
KATHRYN HAYNES
as SISTER PRUDYHaynes is a Chicago based actress who has studied at The Chicago Academy For the Arts, Knox College and The Moving Dock Theatre Company. Film credits include: Tre Manchester’s Your Ever After (Niele), Evan Rindler’s Bee Sting (Kris), Hernan Olivera’s Conviction (Charlotte), Keith Nixon’s No Crying Over Spilled Coffee (Veronica) and Zubaydah Bashir’s The Limit (Mother). Previous stage credits include: All Fall Down (Lorraine), Come Blow Your Horn (Mrs. Baker), 9 Circles (Army Lawyer/ Civilian Attorney), Death Defying Acts (The Interviewer) and doriantightredpantsXX (Sybl Vane).
KITTY HALL
as JULIA
Hall is an American/British actress, singer-songwriter and playwright from Chicago, IL. Her training credits include Columbia College Chicago and Second City in Chicago. Film credits include: Chris Vukaskin’s Submission (Clara) and Mat Kangler’s Mindless (Demon Girl). Previous stage credits include: Eyes And Ears (Mary), It’s All Happening (La Cienaga/ Miss Flanery), Arsenic & Old Lace (Abby Brewster) and Oklahoma! (Gertie Cummings).
HOLLY STANFIELD
as SISTER MERCY
Stanfield is an award-winning theatre and music educator, working in public schools for over 30 years. She has been honored as Kenosha Unified School District High School Teacher of the Year, Herb Kohl Fellow, Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year, Wisconsin Forensic Association Theatre Hall of Fame and she is the 2014 recipient of the Reba Robertson Award. Her students have appeared numerous times on the Wisconsin High School Theatre Festival Showcase Stage and the International Thespian Festival Main Stage including the high school premieres of Aida: School Edition, Rent: School Edition, Avenue Q: School Edition, Tarzan, Shrek Catch Me If You Can, The Little Mermaid and Dogfight. Holly was also invited to direct the Thespian National Cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie: School Edition for the Educational Theatre Association. Holly is currently co-director for the Wisconsin chapter of the Educational Theatre Association.
KATI BRAZDA
as SISTER CLARENCE
Brazda is a New York actress with a long list of stage credits. She has performed across the country, on Broadway and five Off-Broadway productions, including The Effect by Lucy Prebble at Barrow Street Theatre in New York, in conjunction with The National Theatre of London.
KYMBERLY MELLEN
as SISTER DOLORES
Mellen is an award-winning theatre and film actress, who recently appeared at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, in Les Miserables (Madame Thenardier), Hamlet (Gertrude), Merry Wives (Mistress Quickly), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania/Hippolyta), Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), and Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice). Her regional theater work includes shows at Pioneer Theatre Company, Writers’ Theatre, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Jackson Hole Playhouse and Sundance Theatre. Mellen received Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Award for Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role, and After Dark Award, and has been named Creative Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Sun Times.
PRODUCTION TEAM
ELIZABETH E. SCHUCH
DIRECTOR
Schuch is a London-based director/creative producer trained in theatrical design (BFA, DePaul Theatre School, Chicago) and visual effects (MPhil, Glasgow School of Art). Within a year of earning her degree, she won Chicago’s top honour in theatre (a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Scenic Design) and was selected as a designer for the Berlinale Talent programme. Specialising in creative visuals, Elizabeth has artistically contributed to over 50 film and television shows, a dozen commercials, and 20 theatre productions in a variety of artistic capacities: production designer, projection designer, storyboard artist, concept artist, pitch artist, matte painter, in the art department or as an art director (including Wonder Woman, Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, Ted Talks.) As the head of London production/VFX company Melancholy Star, Schuch produced and co-wrote award-winning film THE WINTER/Ο ΧΕΙΜΩΝΑΣ, a Greek-language fantasy feature. The film won the Nostimon Imar Award for Best Director, a Méliès d'Argent nomination and was screened at Imagine and Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festivals, as well as 13 other festivals internationally. Her work on THE WINTER earned her a nomination for a Greek Academy Award (Best Set Design), and membership in the European Film Academy.
KONSTANTINOS KOUTSOLIOTAS
CINEMATOGRAPHER/VFX/PRODUCER
Award-winning director and visual effects wizard, Koutsoliotas has over 15 years of experience as a VFX artist and supervisor. Based in London, he has worked on dozens of high-end visuals for projects like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and 300, as well as commercials for clients Saatchi & Saatchi, Burberry, and Versace and more. This will be Koutsoliotas’ first feature length film as a cinematography, to which he brings his wonderful eye for atmosphere, poetic composition and visuals, as well as experience planning for live action and fantasy effects. As a director, his award-winning arthouse fantasy THE WINTER, shot in his native Greece, was screened in over a dozen festivals around the world.
IAKOVOS VROUTSIS
PRODUCER/ PRODUCTION MANAGER
Vroutsis is a film producer based in Athens, Greece. He has worked as a production manager and producer on various independent feature films and commercial videos since 2008. His first job as a production manager was for the short film Gran Partita, by Alexandros Skouras, that won the Best Digital Film Award at the 2011 Drama International Short Film Festival. In 2014, he managed the Greek distribution of the feature film The Winter, which initiated a collaboration with the London based VFX, Art and Film Studio, Melancholy Star.
ANAMI TARA SHUCART
COSTUME DESIGNER / CO-WRITER
Shucart has enjoyed multiple careers in Costume Design/Making, Wig Styling/Making and Writing. Shucart has a BFA in Costume Design at DePaul University and currently works in theatre, film and television from Chicago to Los Angeles. She currently resides and is producing work in London. This her first produced feature script.
JOAO PEDRO FLECK
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
João Pedro Fleck is the director of Fantaspoa Produções. In the company, along with his associate, Nicolas Tonsho, they produced 5 feature films in 2 years, including the box office hit, Kryptonita, which lead 111,000 viewers to the cinema last December in Argentina. They’re currently working on three scripts in development, to be directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith (2017), Stuart Gordon (Nevermore, July, 2017) and Guilherme de Almeida Prado (Odradek, December, 2016). Apart from the career in film and running Fantaspoa Film Festival, Fleck is also a post-phd researcher in consumer behavior.
ANA MAIO
PROPS DESIGN
Maio is a designer and illustrator with a particular interest in creating dynamic relationships between bodies and space, light and darkness through the exploration and activation of materials. Under the guidance of Teatro do Bolhão, she had great success in youth theatre and scenic art in Portugal. She then trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Theatre Design. She has collaborated with companies such as Untitled Projects, Blind Summit and PuppetSoup.
DANIELLE WEBBER
DANCE SOLOIST
Webber is a tap dancer and performing of traditional and free-style tap dance, Training in Chicago for over 10 years, Webber currently runs a dance studio in Kenosha.
JACOB JOHNSON SOUND RECORDIST
Johnson is thrilled to have a chance to record sound for The Book of Birdie. This is his first feature film credit. He has recorded sound for several shorter films including Tough Cookie, a film that won the Audience Favorite award at Chicago Comic-con in 2014. He has also recorded sound for a short that took First Place at the Milwaukee 48 Hour Film Festival in 2011.
