Lana Parrilla and Carlos Gomez to Lead World Premiere of ONE OF THE GOOD ONES at Pasadena Playhouse

The cast has been revealed for the world premiere of Gloria Calderón Kellett’s One of the Good Ones, a new comedy from the co-creator and showrunner of Netflix's One Day at a Time (March 13 to April 7) which will be helmed by Kimberly Senior (Broadway’s Disgraced at Pasadena Playhouse. One of the Good Ones marks the first Latine commission in the Playhouse’s 100 year history and is Danny Feldman’s first commission in his time as Producing Artistic Director.
 
The cast of One of the Good Ones is led by Lana Parrilla (Once Upon A Time, The Lincoln Lawyer) as Ilana and Carlos Gomez (Broadway’s In the Heights) as Enrique, and features Isabella Gomez (Netflix's One Day at a Time, The Goldbergs) as Yoli, Nico Greetham (Disney’s Newsies; Love, Victor; American Horror Story) as Marcos, and Santino Jimenez (Netflix's One Day at a Time) as Pedro. 
 
The creative team includes Tanya Orellana (Scenic Designer), Denitsa Bliznakova (Costume Designer), Jaymi Lee Smith (Lighting Designer), Jeff Gardner and Andrea Allmond (Sound Designers), and Casting by RBT Casting (Ryan Bernard Tymensky, CSA). The Stage Management team includes David S. Franklin (Production Stage Manager) and Miriam Mendoza (Assistant Stage Manager).
 
The ultimate family showdown is on in the world premiere of this new comedy commissioned by Pasadena Playhouse. When the "perfect" Latina daughter brings her boyfriend home to meet the parents, her family's biases and preconceptions are put on full display. As tensions run high and hilarity ensues, everyone must navigate the ins and outs of family dynamics and the boundaries of acceptance — all while tackling the age-old question: what does it truly mean to be an American? Meet your new favorite family in this laugh-out-loud, heartfelt story from Gloria Calderón Kellett, the co-creator and showrunner of Netflix’s One Day at a Time. 

Performances run Wednesday March 13, 2024 to Sunday, April 7, 2024.
 
Tickets and information for One of the Good Ones are available at pasadenaplayhouse.org, by phone at 626-356-7529, and at the box office at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.  
 

Lana Parrilla 

(Illana): Of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, Lana Parrilla spent her childhood in Brooklyn, New York. At a young age, she made numerous home videos with her family and especially with her aunt, who is a working actress. Lana’s family supported her natural inclination to perform, however with her determination no one was going to stand in the way of her passion. Parilla graduated from high school and shortly thereafter moved to Los Angeles to study her craft and began to appear in local theater productions. 
 
Parilla’s remarkable role as Regina Mills/Evil Queen/Roni on ABC’s hit show Once Upon A Time came to an end in 2018, after an impressive seven seasons. For her work on the show, she has received the NHMC Impact Award, an ALMA Award for Outstanding TV Actress, a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi in 2016, and was voted by fans as TV Guide’s Best Villain for 2 out of the 3 years. In 2003, Parilla received an Imagen Award for her work on Boomtown.
 
Parilla recently wrapped season 2 of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer, and will next be seen in Netflix’s upcoming feature film Atlas, starring opposite Jennifer Lopez. She also recently starred in Season 2 of the CBS All-Access dark comedy-drama anthology series, Why Women Kill, playing the main role of Rita Castillo. 
 
One of Parilla’s earliest on-camera jobs was an appearance in the Steven Spielberg movie of the week Semper Fi. Thereafter, she joined the cast as a regular on the hit comedy series Spin City. Parilla has been a regular on many critically acclaimed shows such as Boomtown, where she played a young paramedic, 24, as a counter-terrorist agent, and Swingtown, as a sexually progressive woman in the 1970s, to name a few. Parilla has also recurred on such memorable series as NYPD Blue, Six Feet Under, and Lost. 
 
When not on location, Parilla enjoys spending time with her family in Los Angeles and New York and loves to travel the world. She has volunteered in community projects throughout Sri Lanka, Haiti, Canada and at home in the US.
 

Carlos Gomez 

(Enrique): Carlos originated the role of Kevin Rosario in the Tony Award winning production of In the Heights on Broadway. Other theater credits include Destiny of Desire (Arena Stage) (Old Globe Theater), Daphne’s Dive(Signature Theater NYC), Living Out (Mark Taper Forum), and Once Removed (Long Wharf Theater). Selected television work includes ER, Friends, Madam Secretary, Law & Order:The Menendez Murders, FBI, Not Dead Yet, Hightown,and The Baker and the Beauty. He has appeared in the films Desperado, Fools Rush In, The Perfect Game, House of Sand and Fog, Dolphin Tale 2, Trial by Fire, The Report, and Ride Along 2. Carlos was nominated for an Alma Award, and was awarded the Imagen Award 2011-2013 for portraying Carlos Sanchez in the hit tv show series The Glades on A&E. 
 

Isabella Gomez 

(Yoli): Isabella may be best known for her award-winning role as Elena Alvarez in the critically acclaimed series One Day at a Time. She’s garnered a handful of credits since, including recurring on the hit ABC series The Goldbergs, starring in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and Amazon’s With Love. Other leading projects include E’s Royal Rendezvous, Spotify’s La Cabina Telefonica, and the upcoming horror indie The Mannequin.  She’s stoked to be making her stage debut with One of the Good Ones at the beloved Pasadena Playhouse. 
 

Nico Greetham 

(Marcos): Nico is excited to return to the stage in his Pasadena Playhouse debut. Broadway: Disney’s Newsies. Television includes So You Think You Can Dance, Love, Victor, and Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Horror Story and American Horror Stories (Seasons 1 and 2). Film includes Netflix’s The Prom, Dinner in America, and Dramarama. Nico is honored to have the opportunity to represent his heritage as first-generation Colombian American. Thanks to all those involved in this production, his family, and his team. @nicogreetham
 

Santino Jimenez 

(Pedro): Santino was born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The acting bug bit him while in elementary school, where he carried a brown tempura painted cardboard donkey through the cafeteria. Since then, he’s appeared on such networks as NBC, CBS, FOX, HBO, and NETFLIX. He spends his time volunteering with Young Storytellers, a non-profit organization raising the voices of children one voice at a time and is a Jiu-Jitsu kid’s coach at Legacy Glendale. Thank you to his team, Gloria, and Pasadena Playhouse for this incredible opportunity!
 

Gloria Calderón Kellett (Playwright)

Gloria Calderón Kellett is an award-winning writer, producer, director and actress.
 
She was an executive producer, co-creator, co-showrunner, director, and actress on the Emmy-winning sitcom One Day at a Time. Her critically acclaimed Amazon Original series, With Love, is the first series coming out of an overall deal between her company, Glonation and Amazon Studios. Along with Blumhouse Television and Spotify, Glonation is also producing The Horror of Dolores Roach based on the hit Gimlet podcast reuniting her with star Justina Machado.  
 
The proud daughter of Cuban immigrants, Calderón Kellett graduated from Loyola Marymount University and went on to earn a master’s degree in theater from the University of London. She spent her early years as a writer/producer on numerous shows including Devious Maids and How I Met Your Mother. Her acting credits include Jane The Virgin, Angie Tribeca, Dead To Me, How I Met Your Mother, and Your Place Or Mine. She also appeared as a narrator on Drunk History (New Orleans). Kellett is also a sought after director having directed episodes of How I Met Your Father, Lopez vs. Lopez, One Day at a Time, Mr. Iglesias, the Mad About You revival among others. 
 
Gloria is a champion for women, the Latino/a/x/e community and other disenfranchised voices. She is an executive committee member for The Television Academy. She assisted Amazon in supporting their inaugural Inclusion Playbook, providing a template for how to make content in an inclusive and responsible way. Her advocacy includes being a founding member of the Untitled Latinx Project, a group of Latine show runners who advocate on behalf of the Latine community (by such efforts as the Dear Hollywood initiative) to help studios identify ways to support and tell Latine stories. As an ambassador for the non-profit ReFrame, which celebrates and encourages gender parity in front of and behind the camera and a partner with the Latinx House/Adelante she supported up and coming Latina directors and DPs by having them shadow on the set of With Love on Season 2. Alongside the Latino Film Institute, LACollab and Amazon she also mentors with The Youth Cinema Project to strengthen the Latino pipeline to Hollywood. Her mentor efforts also include working with the Pillars Artist Fellows, co-founded by Riz Ahmed to support Muslim writers and directors. To offer free advice to new artists at the beginning of their careers, she partnered with Buzzfeed’s Perolike to release a web series titled: Hollywood 101. 
 
She is a member of The Creative Coalition where she fights to support the arts and arts programs by going to Washington DC and meeting with members of congress to encourage their support for the National Endowment for the Arts and is the chair for their Pay Gap Initiative which gives grants of 10k to entry level BIPOC candidates to help them start their Hollywood journey. As an Ambassador for the National Women’s History Museum, she is focused on highlighting the countless untold stories of women throughout history. As a part of the Celebrity Ambassador Cabinet for The National Hispanic Media Coalition, she supports their woman-led non-profit civil and human rights organization founded to eliminate hate, discrimination, and racism toward the Latino community. She’s also a part of the Creative Council for Emily’s List which is the nation’s largest resource dedicated to electing Democratic women to office and the Creative Council for Vote Mama Foundation which is the leading source of research and analysis about the political participation of moms.
 
Gloria is also an industry advocate for greening Hollywood and has partnered with Scriptation to come up with solutions to make a positive environmental impact and reduce Hollywood’s carbon footprint while also advocating for stories about the environment on TV. 
 
Awards for her work include: The Television Academy Honors, The Geffen TrailBlazer Award, Mental Health America Media Award, ALMA Award, Imagen Award, Vanguard Award, NHMC Award, Sentinel Award, and The Voice Award. She has been honored as an industry leader by The Hollywood Reporter in their Top Women in Entertainment issue, the THR100 list issue, and their 50 Agents of Change issue.
 

Kimberly Senior 

(Director): Kimberly is a theater freelance director whose award-winning work has been seen in 15 states and spans 200+ productions. Broadway: 2013 Pulitzer-winning play Disgraced. Other: Manhattan Theatre Club, Audible Theater, Goodman Theatre (Artistic Associate), Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, Huntington, among others.  Film/TV: Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (HBO). Selected Awards: Alan Schneider Award, 2016 TCG Conference, 2016 Special Non-Equity Jeff Award, Finalist, 2013 SDCF Joe A. Callaway Award. www.kimberlysenior.net