Dani is an actor/writer based in NYC. Selected theatre: Diversion (Premiere Stages), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Second Thought), Oleanna (Riverside), Lungs (Stage West), Hamlet (Philadelphia Shakespeare), April is Over (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 5 Stars). She holds an MA in Acting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Laurel Collins is thrilled to be back at Amphibian, where she was last seen in Sparkfest and Miss Molly. Laurel loves performing in Fort Worth with Amphibian Stage, Stage West (POTUS, Poor Clare, and Into the Breeches), Casa Manana (Mary Poppins Jr., High School Musical, Charlotte’s Web), though she has also ventured as far as WaterTower Theater, Irving MainStage, and Onstage Bedford. She also does commercials, VO, and independent film whenever she can. She cohosts and produces a weekly podcast with her sister called Sumo Kaboom. In her twenties, Laurel was a Broadway dancer in The Will Roger Follies and The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public. She also worked in many regional theatres across the US before attending graduate school in New Zealand. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre and a MTA in Directing. When she’s not performing, you can find her writing, teaching, playing ukulele, or hiking with her blue heeler mix Tia.

Mia M. Azuaje (Pearl) is thrilled to be making her debut at Amphibian Stage. She is a Dallas-based artist and a graduate of the University of North Texas. Recent credits include El Rey de Pollo (Echo Theater), As You Like It (Shakespeare Live), Tartuffe (Shakespeare Everywhere), and Crystal City 1969 (Cara Mía Theatre). In addition to performance, Mia is a playwright, voice actor, sound technician, and works in independent film. She would like to thank her friends and family for their constant love, support, and encouragement.

Nicole Renee Johnson is thrilled to be making her Amphibian debut! Recent credits include The Niceties and Intimate Apparel (Theatre Three), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Dallas), Anne of Green Gables and Fireside (Royal Family Productions), and One Man, Two Guvnors (Circle Theatre). She proudly holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Baylor University. Lastly, Nicole sends all her love to her friends and family for their steadfast support and unwavering love.

Kels Ervi (they/them) is a Texas-born, queer, trans-masc, nonbinary theatre artist currently based in Chicago, IL. Their interests include queer stories, devising, ensemble-driven work, stories about cross-generational connection, body-inclusive stories, classic stories reimagined, and community-based work. Up next, Kels will be directing a co-production with Amphibian Stage and Second Thought Theatre.

Kels earned their MFA from Northwestern University, creating work focused on identity, community, and loss which culminated in a thesis production of Indecent by Paula Vogel. Following grad school, Kels served as the Manager for Drunk Shakespeare Chicago & the Lion Theatre (Feb 2024-July 2025). Prior to grad school, Kels was the Associate Artistic Director for WaterTower Theatre (WTT) in Dallas-Fort Worth from 2016-2019. During their full tenure on the artistic staff at WTT (2013-2019), they directed many plays and musicals as well as produced multiple festivals including the annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival and the inaugural DETOUR: A Festival of New Work. Most notably, Kels was the conceiver, director, and co-creator of the celebrated The Great Distance Home (DFW Theater Critics Forum Award – Outstanding Creative Contribution), an imaginative and nearly wordless story about the search for life’s purpose told through movement, music, and object puppetry.

Prior to Chicago, Kels spent eight years in the Dallas-Fort Worth region where they worked with many area theaters including Dallas Theater Center, Cry Havoc Theater, Stage West, Junior Players, Echo Theatre, Uptown Players, Shakespeare Dallas, Rite of Passage Theatre Company, Festival of Independent Theaters, and Shakespeare in the Bar. Regionally, they have also worked with Goodman Theatre, Theatre For One, Cape Cod Theatre Project, and Greyman Theatre Company.

Emily Lopez  is a director, actress, and voice actress originally from Keller, Texas. A proud graduate of Texas Christian University, Emily graduated with a BFA in Theatre: Emphasis in Theatre Studies and a Minor in Arts Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Recent voice acting credits include A Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows (Krishna), Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider (Tiger Master), and My Hero Academia: The Final Season. Recent directing credits include JOB at Teatro Dallas, my queen at Kitchen Dog Theatre and How the Other Half Loves at Texas Christian University. Emily would like to thank her family, friends, and mentors for all of the unending support, as well as Amphibian Stage, Second Thought Theatre, and Kels Ervi for this incredible opportunity. Instagram: @_elo_emily Website: emilyelopez.com

Bryna Turner (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright originally from Northern California.

Their play At the Wedding had its world premiere in 2022 at LCT3 at Lincoln Center Theater. It received the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation’s Theatre Visions Award, was a NY Times Critic’s Pick, and was featured in the NYT Best of 2022 “Unforgettable Theatrical Moments” category. The play was developed in part by TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Their play Bull in a China Shop also premiered at LCT3 at Lincoln Center Theater before going on to be produced and presented around the world. Notable productions include: About Face; Aurora; Diversionary Theatre; and a staged reading at the National Theatre in London directed by Phyllida Lloyd, starring Fiona Shaw and Jade Anouka.

Other plays include Phases of the Moon and How to Separate Your Soul from Your Body (in ten easy steps!). Bryna is an alum of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group, WP Theater’s 2018-2020 Lab; a MacDowell fellow; and the recipient of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award in Theatre. They have taught in the MFA Playwriting Program at Rutgers University and are currently under commission from Lincoln Center Theater. BA: Mount Holyoke College, MFA: Rutgers University. www.brynaturner.com

Kaitlin Hatton is excited to be working with Amphibian Stage again! Recent stage management includes What The Constitution Means to Me, Sherlock Holmes, Marjorie Prime, Handle With Care, Between Riverside and Crazy, Witch, On The Exhale (Stage West), Handless King, Baba, Spaceman, The Hollow, Egress, Hans & Sophie, She-Wolf, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Babette’s Feast, Lonely Planet, and Artist Descending A Staircase (Amphibian Stage Productions), I’m Proud of You, The Other Josh Cohen, Tiny Beautiful Things (Circle Theatre). Recent props designs include Little Women, La Boheme, La Medium (FW Opera), The Persians (Undermain Theatre), Ann (WaterTower Theatre), Instructions for a Seance, Baba, Spaceman, Marie Antoinette (Amphibian Stage Productions), Kodachrome, Fences, Young Frankenstein, An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf, The Glass Menagerie, The Last Wide Open, and One Man, Two Guvnors (Circle Theatre). Kaitlin holds a BFA in Theatre – Design and Technology from Texas Wesleyan University and teaches Stage Management there. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and received the 2019 Live Theatre League Bill Garber Young Artist Award.

Leah Mazur, MFA University of Kansas, is a multidisciplinary scenographer (scenic/lighting/costume designer) and visual artist based in the DFW metroplex. Her research explores the blurring of lines between experiencing and becoming performance, the intersections of interactive installation and performance art, as well as the integration of XR (extended reality) into the performing arts as a means of accessibility and expanded storytelling. She is an active designer with both national and international profiles, focusing on the development of new works and the foregrounding of femme voices and predominately women/femme- led production teams.
Select credits include productions at Spinning Tree Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Kansas Repertory Theatre (Kansas City), Lake Dillon Theatre Company (Colorado), Cape May Stage (New Jersey), Anacostia Playhouse, Scena Theatre (Washington D.C.), Amphibian Stage, Theatre Three, Altar’d Playhouse, SheDFW, Stage West, and Circle Theatre (DFW), Art Haus (New York), RuPaul’s Drag Con (Los Angeles), and Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland). Upcoming projects include work at Undermain Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Circle Theatre, and Second Thought Theatre.
She is currently head of the Design & Technology BFA program in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Murell Horton MFA in Theatrical Design from Rutgers University. 

Awards and nominations: 2007 Irene Sharaff Young Master Award for costume design. 2017 Drama Desk Award nomination for Costume Design, The Liar at Classic Stage Company, NYC. 9 Helen Hayes Nominations for Outstanding Costume Design for work produced at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC.

World premieres of the David Ives’ trilogy of The Liar, Heir Apparent, and Metromaniacs directed by the Artistic Director Michael Kahn. Murell was named Affiliate Artist by Michael in 2019 after 25 years of work at the theatre. “This Affiliated Artists program renews our commitment to those artists who have been the cornerstone of our work for years and acknowledges formally our relationship with other artists whose work has contributed immeasurably to the excellence of our productions.”

Venues include: New York City Opera, The Juilliard School, Houston Grand Opera, The Guthrie, The Old Globe, Classic Stage Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Studio Theatre, The Denver Center Theatre. 

Television: Saturday Night Live over hire assistant and crafts, Martha Stewart Living, One Life to Live, Bobby Flay

Murell is Associate Professor of Theatre at Texas Christian University

Website: murellhorton.com

Agent: The Gersh Agency, NYC

Caroline Hodge is a DFW based programmer and designer who is delighted to be making her design debut at Amphibian Stage. Favorite credits include Every Brilliant Thing and Waitress with the Dallas Theater Center, Hair with Arts Mission Oak Cliff, Mini Movement Fest (‘23, ‘24 and ‘25) and Seeds (‘23, ‘24, and ‘25) with Agora Artists, Jet Fuel and A Dallas Hedda with Bishop Arts Theatre Center and The Persians at Undermain Theatre. Caroline would like to thank her family and her colleagues for their support. See more of her work at CEHodgeLighting.com.

Cresent R. Haynes is making her Amphibian Stage debut with Bull in a China Shop!

Cresent received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Arts Technology, with a focus in Sound Design from Howard University in 2012. 

Since then Cresent’s credits include: Tiara’s Hat Parade (The Children’s Theatre – Wisconsin), Hype Man (Jubilee Theatre), Fat Ham (Stage West & Dallas Theatre Center Co-Pro), Your Wife’s Dead Body (Second Thought Theatre), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Dallas Theatre Center), Ain’t No Mo’ (Soul Rep Theatre), Healed (Second Thought Theatre), The Hatmaker’s Wife (Circle Theatre), SLEEPOVA (Olney Theatre Company), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (University of Rochester), Hang (Second Thought Theatre), POTUS (Everyman Theatre), Show Way the Musical National Tour (presented by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), One in Two (Mosaic Theater Company), The Mortification of Fovea Munson (The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), The School for Lies (Constellation Theatre), Mojada (1st Stage Theatre), A Strange Loop (Woolly Mammoth Theatre), Intimate Apparel (Theatre J), Fabulation (Mosaic Theater Company), The Laramie Project (Duke Ellington School of the Arts), N (Keegan Theatre), Hope in the Hood (Amazing Grace Conservatory) and many more. 

Cresent is also a two-time business owner, freelance Live Audio Engineer and Visual Artist. She has aspirations to design on Broadway and continue touring with various performing artists as their Audio Engineer, all while continuing to fill spaces with her original art and exhibits. (www.linktr.ee/cresentrochelle)

Anne Healy (Intimacy Coordinator) is a Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where she teaches Directing and Musical Theatre and is currently the Associate Department Chair for Academics. Anne earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in musical Theatre and a Ph.D. in Aesthetic Studies focusing on Theatre and Musical Theatre. An Equity actor, she has appeared Off-Broadway and at major regional theatres. An associate member of SDC, directing credits includes the Tony Award winning Dallas Theatre Center as Assistant Director Raisin in the Sun and as a Directing Observer for My Paris with Kathleen Marshall at Goodspeed Musicals in CT, as well as regional summer stock. Directed at UTA: The Theory of Relativity (Regional Premiere), Troupers: A Musical Vaudeville (World Premiere), West Side Story, The Music Man, Ragtime, See What I Wanna See, Bright Star, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, to name a few. Anne’s co-written chapter on the musical theatre director was published in The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre in December 2022. Her chapter on the directors of Rodgers and Hammerstein for Cambridge University Press will be published in early 2026. Anne’s research papers on various aspects of musical theatre have been presented in the US, Canada, the UK, and Finland. She is a member of American Musical Theatre Live Paris and presents masterclasses in musical theatre song and text interpretation each summer. For July 2026, Anne is writing and will direct a Kurt Weill musical theatre revue in Paris. Anne trained with Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE) and advocates for context, consent, and communication in rehearsal and is thrilled to be in the room for this production.

Lili Johnson is a Fort Worth-based multidisciplinary theatrical designer, dedicated to bringing performances to life through sound, lighting, and projections. She is very excited to be back with Amphibian for her second year as Resident Lead Electrician, and hopes you enjoy the show!