STAGED READING
Staged readings are for developmental plays that are just missing that final touch–an audience.
Take my Milk for Gall is a prequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, charting the breakdown of the Macbeths’ relationship as they fail to produce an heir.
*Content warning: Please be advised that this play contains depictions and themes of miscarriage.
This event is part of our enthralling two-week adventure, SparkFest 2023. Explore other SparkFest events.
Amphibian Stage’s New Tiered Ticket Pricing Model
Tickets for this show range from $10-30, but YOU get to decide what you pay in an effort to make theatre more accessible for any budget. Read more about our tiered ticketing model here!
Meet the Team
Leela Velautham
Playwright
Leela Velautham was born and brought up in the UK. Alongside an academic career in sustainability research, she has been featured in the Best of Playground SF 24 and 25 and twice in the best of Playground NY, is a two-time semi-finalist of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2021 and 2022 (with the plays “The Empty Crusade” and “Modern Love”, respectively) and won the University of Oxford’s New Writing Festival in 2011 for her play “Schroedinger’s Hat”. A full production of her one-act play “Post-Scarcity Possibilities” was staged as part of the 2022 Meganne George Women’s Work Short Play Festival at the New Perspectives Theatre Company. She is currently a member of the New Perspectives Theatre Company’s 2022 Full-Length Lab.
Playwright
Leela Velautham
Leela Velautham was born and brought up in the UK. Alongside an academic career in sustainability research, she has been featured in the Best of Playground SF 24 and 25 and twice in the best of Playground NY, is a two-time semi-finalist of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2021 and 2022 (with the plays “The Empty Crusade” and “Modern Love”, respectively) and won the University of Oxford’s New Writing Festival in 2011 for her play “Schroedinger’s Hat”. A full production of her one-act play “Post-Scarcity Possibilities” was staged as part of the 2022 Meganne George Women’s Work Short Play Festival at the New Perspectives Theatre Company. She is currently a member of the New Perspectives Theatre Company’s 2022 Full-Length Lab.
Illana Stein
Director
Illana Stein (she/her) is a NYC-based director, originally from Fort Worth. Amphibian credits include Director/Co-writer (with Deborah Yarchun and Sean Hudock) on Hans & Sophie (five DFW Critic Awards including Outstanding Director and Outstanding New Play) and A Lost Leonardo. She recently directed Handle with Care (Stage West). NYC Directing credits: Julius Caesar Tour (HVSF), NYU (Tisch, Stella Adler, Strasberg) Associate/Asst. credits: TFANA, Signature, Pearl, OSF, Yale Rep, A.R.T., Hangar Theater, Cincy Playhouse, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Drama League First Stage Residency, LCT Directors Lab, AJT Theatremacher Program Director, JPP Artistic Producer, and League of Professional Theatre Women Board. illanastein.com
Director
Illana Stein
Illana Stein (she/her) is a NYC-based director, originally from Fort Worth. Amphibian credits include Director/Co-writer (with Deborah Yarchun and Sean Hudock) on Hans & Sophie (five DFW Critic Awards including Outstanding Director and Outstanding New Play) and A Lost Leonardo. She recently directed Handle with Care (Stage West). NYC Directing credits: Julius Caesar Tour (HVSF), NYU (Tisch, Stella Adler, Strasberg) Associate/Asst. credits: TFANA, Signature, Pearl, OSF, Yale Rep, A.R.T., Hangar Theater, Cincy Playhouse, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Drama League First Stage Residency, LCT Directors Lab, AJT Theatremacher Program Director, JPP Artistic Producer, and League of Professional Theatre Women Board. illanastein.com
Taliyah Salih
Production Assistant
Taliyah Salih is excited to be working with Amphibian Theater for the first time. Most recently she stage managed Moon Man Walk (Jubilee Theater), Wonder of the World and Chamber Music (Texas Wesleyan University). She is currently perusing a BFA in Design and Technology, with an emphasis in stage management.
Production Assistant
Taliyah Salih
Taliyah Salih is excited to be working with Amphibian Theater for the first time. Most recently she stage managed Moon Man Walk (Jubilee Theater), Wonder of the World and Chamber Music (Texas Wesleyan University). She is currently perusing a BFA in Design and Technology, with an emphasis in stage management.
Jeffrey Stanfield
Technical Director
Jeffrey Stanfield is a graduate of Texas Christian University Theatre program, he has worked as a scenic carpenter, scenic designer, and technical director across DFW, and is the Technical Director at Amphibian Stage. Most recent designs include Imposter! Hypocrite! Tartuffe! at Circle Theater, Seance and Spaceman at Amphibian Stage. He is also a movement theater artist and puppeteer trained in Czech black rod and object puppetry.
Technical Director
Jeffrey Stanfield
Jeffrey Stanfield is a graduate of Texas Christian University Theatre program, he has worked as a scenic carpenter, scenic designer, and technical director across DFW, and is the Technical Director at Amphibian Stage. Most recent designs include Imposter! Hypocrite! Tartuffe! at Circle Theater, Seance and Spaceman at Amphibian Stage. He is also a movement theater artist and puppeteer trained in Czech black rod and object puppetry.
Ally Varitek
SparkFest Apprentice
Ally Varitek is a dramaturg and occasional actor who recently graduated from Baylor University Theatre. She loves the intersections of the arts and is especially passionate about the literary side of theatre. She’s an interdisciplinary aficionado who finds herself enamored with approaching relationships from a place of abundance instead of competition and above all loves learning about the human experience through theatre. Find her at allyvaritek.com!
SparkFest Apprentice
Ally Varitek
Ally Varitek is a dramaturg and occasional actor who recently graduated from Baylor University Theatre. She loves the intersections of the arts and is especially passionate about the literary side of theatre. She’s an interdisciplinary aficionado who finds herself enamored with approaching relationships from a place of abundance instead of competition and above all loves learning about the human experience through theatre. Find her at allyvaritek.com!
Joy Jones
Actor
Joy Yvonne Jones is an accredited actor, poet, playwright, model, and entrepreneur; who embodies revolutionary art with every project she is a part of. Recipient of the San Diego Critic Circle Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Joy’s stage credits include Saartjie Baartman in Voyeurs de Venus (Moxie Theatre), Caitlin in Ferryman (New Village Arts), Frances in Mud Row (Cygnet Theatre), Jane in Pride and Prejudice (Cygnet Theatre), Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (New Match Collective), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Texas Shakespeare Festival). She is currently working on her One Woman show: Cleopatra, and a short film, A Month of Sundays. Follow her on Patreon, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, or visit her website to know where you can catch her next. Joyyvonnejones.com
Actor
Joy Jones
Joy Yvonne Jones is an accredited actor, poet, playwright, model, and entrepreneur; who embodies revolutionary art with every project she is a part of. Recipient of the San Diego Critic Circle Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Joy’s stage credits include Saartjie Baartman in Voyeurs de Venus (Moxie Theatre), Caitlin in Ferryman (New Village Arts), Frances in Mud Row (Cygnet Theatre), Jane in Pride and Prejudice (Cygnet Theatre), Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (New Match Collective), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Texas Shakespeare Festival). She is currently working on her One Woman show: Cleopatra, and a short film, A Month of Sundays. Follow her on Patreon, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, or visit her website to know where you can catch her next. Joyyvonnejones.com
Carter Gill
Actor
Carter Gill (He/Him) is based in Dallas and New York, Carter Gill is currently a recurring guest-starring in the award-winning Harlan Coben’s Shelter streaming on Amazon Prime. Carter currently serves on the Movement Faculty at Southern Methodist University and works as a movement director with Dallas Theatre Center. Gill has performed with several Off-Broadway and regional productions over the past 15 years and recently, he was a company member of Punchdrunk NYC’s Sleep No More. He has worked with Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Lark, Theatre for a New Audience and The Women’s Project, among others. Regionally, Gill has performed with The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he and the company were Helen Hayes Award nominees for Best Ensemble. He proudly crafted and performed in several company-created Commedia dell’arte productions in New York and he has collaborated with such esteemed directors as Karen Allen, Alan Muraoka, Tatiana Pandiani, Christopher Bayes, Daniel Fish, Mark Lamos, Patricia McGregor, Alan Paul, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Les Waters, Norman Ayrton and Evan Yionoulis. Film and television credits include Banana Split on Netflix, NBC’s Law & Order, CBS’s Person of Interest, AMC’s Turn: Washington’s Spies, TV Land’s Younger and Evil on CBS, Harlan Coben’s Shelter. MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. Upcoming Theatre: The French Play, by Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco at SMU, director. Hamlet directed by Becca Wolff at Telluride Theatre Company, choreographer.
Actor
Carter Gill
Carter Gill (He/Him) is based in Dallas and New York, Carter Gill is currently a recurring guest-starring in the award-winning Harlan Coben’s Shelter streaming on Amazon Prime. Carter currently serves on the Movement Faculty at Southern Methodist University and works as a movement director with Dallas Theatre Center. Gill has performed with several Off-Broadway and regional productions over the past 15 years and recently, he was a company member of Punchdrunk NYC’s Sleep No More. He has worked with Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Lark, Theatre for a New Audience and The Women’s Project, among others. Regionally, Gill has performed with The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he and the company were Helen Hayes Award nominees for Best Ensemble. He proudly crafted and performed in several company-created Commedia dell’arte productions in New York and he has collaborated with such esteemed directors as Karen Allen, Alan Muraoka, Tatiana Pandiani, Christopher Bayes, Daniel Fish, Mark Lamos, Patricia McGregor, Alan Paul, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Les Waters, Norman Ayrton and Evan Yionoulis. Film and television credits include Banana Split on Netflix, NBC’s Law & Order, CBS’s Person of Interest, AMC’s Turn: Washington’s Spies, TV Land’s Younger and Evil on CBS, Harlan Coben’s Shelter. MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. Upcoming Theatre: The French Play, by Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco at SMU, director. Hamlet directed by Becca Wolff at Telluride Theatre Company, choreographer.
Mitchell Stephens
Actor
Mitchell Stephens Artist, Actor, Movement Director, and choreographer are the many titles that Mitch has. A proud Texas native, Mitch has worked across the country. They are beyond grateful to be a part of this show and this wonderful community that is Amphibian Stage! @mitch.ismitch @mitch.stephens.movement
Actor
Mitchell Stephens
Mitchell Stephens Artist, Actor, Movement Director, and choreographer are the many titles that Mitch has. A proud Texas native, Mitch has worked across the country. They are beyond grateful to be a part of this show and this wonderful community that is Amphibian Stage! @mitch.ismitch @mitch.stephens.movement
Lisa Fairchild
Actor
Lisa Fairchild is honored to be appearing in her second SparkFest with the team at Amphibian Stage, having previously appeared as Sheila in the staged reading of Sharifa Yasmin’s Close to Home. It was directed by Sophia Watt who then directed Lisa in Dance Nation at RecRoom Arts in Houston. It is a current delight to be directed by Illana Stein who recently guided her performance in Handle with Care at Stage West.
Actor
Lisa Fairchild
Lisa Fairchild is honored to be appearing in her second SparkFest with the team at Amphibian Stage, having previously appeared as Sheila in the staged reading of Sharifa Yasmin’s Close to Home. It was directed by Sophia Watt who then directed Lisa in Dance Nation at RecRoom Arts in Houston. It is a current delight to be directed by Illana Stein who recently guided her performance in Handle with Care at Stage West.
Stan Denman
Actor
Stan Denman is an actor, playwright, and director who lives in Waco, Texas. His acting credits include Booth at Second Thought Theatre, PARADE at Water Tower Theatre, The Unseen at DFW’s Out of the Loop Festival and at the Cherry Lane Theatre in NY, and Horton Foote’s Drama Desk-nominated production of The Traveling Lady at Ensemble Studio Theatre in NY. In addition to Actor’s Equity, he is also a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Stan is a professor of theatre at Baylor University, where he has directed over 30 productions.
Actor
Stan Denman
Stan Denman is an actor, playwright, and director who lives in Waco, Texas. His acting credits include Booth at Second Thought Theatre, PARADE at Water Tower Theatre, The Unseen at DFW’s Out of the Loop Festival and at the Cherry Lane Theatre in NY, and Horton Foote’s Drama Desk-nominated production of The Traveling Lady at Ensemble Studio Theatre in NY. In addition to Actor’s Equity, he is also a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Stan is a professor of theatre at Baylor University, where he has directed over 30 productions.
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