Jackalope Theatre Company Cast & Creatives Of FAST COMPANY

Jackalope's 12th season continues with the Chicago premiere of Fast Company, written by Carla Ching, directed by Kaiser Ahmed*, with the full cast and production team announced below.

Jackalope Theatre presents the Chicago Premiere of this slick and quick-witted play about con-artists, family, and a heist gone wrong.

Mable Kwan is the best grifter that ever lived. She taught sons H and Francis to be the best roper and fixer around, but kept her youngest daughter, Blue, out of the family business. When Blue goes rogue and puts together the score of the decade, things don't go according to plan and the family must decide if they can work with each other long enough to help each other. Fast Company is a globe-trotting heist adventure that looks at family, trust, and the art of the steal.

The cast for Fast Company features Carolyn Hu Bradbury (Blue), Fin Coe (H), Vinh Nguyen (Francis), and Mia Park (Mable).

The full production team for Fast Company includes: Nadya Naumaan (Associate Director) Joy Ahn (scenic design), Slick Jorgensen* (lighting design), Louis Lothan (assistant lighting design), Stefani Azores-Gococo (costume design), Steve Labedz* (sound & projection design), Mara Zinky (props design), Vahishta Vafadari (vocal coach), Almanya Narula (fight choreography), AJ Sacco (magic consultant), Danielle Stack* (production manager), Catherine Miller* (casting director), Jackie Marschke (stage manager) & Anna Brockway (assistant stage manager).

* denotes Jackalope company member

Carla Ching (Playwright) An LA native, Carla stumbled upon pan-Asian performance collective Peeling at the Asian American Writers Workshop and wrote and performed with them for three years, which she still considers her first theater training. Her plays include Nomad Motel (NNPN Rolling World Premiere at City Theatre, Horizon Theatre, Unicorn Theatre; Forthcoming NY Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company), Fast Company (South Coast Rep, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Lyric Stage and Pork Filled Productions; winner of the Edgerton New American Play Award), The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up (Artists at Play, Mu Performing Arts, Aurora Theatre, Midnight Rice at Theatre off Jackson), TBA (2g) and The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness (Ma-Yi Theater Company). Her work has been developed at the O'Neill Playwright Conference, Huntington Theatre's Breaking Ground, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, The Women's Project Lab, the Lark Play Development Center Writers Workshop and Meeting of the Minds, the CTG Writers' Workshop and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Former Artistic Director of Asian American Theater Company, 2g. TBA is published in Out of Time and Place. Fast Company is published by Samuel French. BA, Vassar College. MFA, New School for Drama. Proud member of New Dramatists and founding member of The Kilroys. On television, Carla has written on USA's Graceland, AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, Amazon's I Love Dick, Hulu's The First, AMC's Preacher and the forthcoming Untitled Hilde Lysiak Project from Apple. www.carlaching.com @carlaching

Kaiser Ahmed (Director) A Chicago-based theatre director, producer, teacher & actor, Kaiser is the incoming Artistic Director at Jackalope Theatre. He was the Founding Artistic Director from 2008 to 2011. He has since supported as the Associate Artistic Director to Co-Founding Artistic Directors AJ Ware (2011-2014) and Gus Menary (2014-2020). At Jackalope, Kaiser has directed 1980 (or Why I'm Voting for John Anderson), The Raid, The Killing of Michael X, Long Way Go Down, Slaughter City, The Last Exodus of American Men, and countless readings and short plays. You may have also seen him on the stage in Ideation and Lunacy. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh and raised in mid-Michigan, Kaiser came to Chicago in 2004 to earn a BA in Theatre Directing from Columbia College. He was recently named on NewCity's "Players 2019: Fifty People Who Really Perform For Chicago". He assistant directed on Guards at the Taj (Steppenwolf) and on Hand to God (Victory Gardens). Kaiser is a 2015-16 Eugene O'Neill National Directors Fellowship Finalist, a 2016-17 Victory Gardens Directors Inclusion Initiative recipient, a proud member of Not In Our House Chicago, an Associate Member of SDC, and SAG-AFTRA, represented by Gray Talent. Recent local directing credits include Language Rooms at Broken Nose Theatre, VANYA (or That's Life!) and Washer/Dryer at Rasaka Theatre, The Late Henry Moss and House of Yes at The Artistic Home Theatre Company, and has worked as a guest director at Chicago Dramatists, Silk Road Theatre, Wildclaw Theatre, Pavement Group, and several others. Regional credits include the World Premiere of Stoo's Famous Martian-American Gumbo, an interactive TYA play commissioned by Peppercorn Theatre in Winston-Salem, NC. As a teaching artist, Kaiser works with Northlight Theatre, Raven Theatre & Mudlark Theatre.

Cast:

Carolyn Hu Bradbury (Blue) is thrilled to make her Jackalope debut. She recently appeared in a staged reading of Lauren Yee's Young Americans at the Victory Garden's Ignition Festival, and in Preston Choi's This is Not a True Story at the National AA Confest. Other credits include She Kills Monsters, Water by the Spoonful, and Oresteia (The Theatre School). She has a BA in Theater and English from UC Berkeley, and will receive her Acting MFA from The Theatre School at Depaul this Spring.

Fin Coe (H) is a theatre artist originally hailing from California and now living and working in Chicago. A graduate of Case Western Reserve University, past performing credits include Halcyon Theatre, Silk Road Rising, and The New Colony, where he also teaches the Writer's Room.

Vinh Nguyen (Francis) hails from Houston, Tx and got his BFA in Acting from Depaul University. He is excited to debut at Jackalope Theatre with his fellow peers, and to work with an all asian cast. Vinh was most recently understudying at Steppenwolf for The Great Leap and can also be seen on NeXt, a new Fox series premiering soon.

Mia Park (Mable) is powered by hopeful engagement and shares her passion for discovery through acting, teaching yoga and taichi, producing events, playing music, volunteering. TV: Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Shameless, APB, Empire, Chic-A-Go-Go with puppet Ratso, recurring roles on BOSS, Chicago Med. Theatre: Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Silk Road Rising. Mia created and produces Our Perspective: Asian American Plays and is a yoga/taichi teacher at the VA. Thanks, everyone! miapark.com

Fast Company runs MAR 4 - APR 11, 2020 at the Broadway Armory Park, 5917 N Broadway in Chicago. Tickets are $10 - $35, and are on sale now via www.jackalopetheatre.org.

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