STAGE FRIGHTS - FULL SHOW! (Pts. 1-6)

Jonathan Cook is heavily involved in the fine arts as an actor, writer, and filmmaker based in South Carolina. Many of his short plays have been produced in theatres around the World and and he is a six-time recipient of the Porter Fleming Literary Award in the playwriting category. Aside from playwriting, he has also written and directed several short films that have been presented in regional film festivals as well as distributed internationally on ShortsTV. He is also the host and producer of the radio theater podcast GATHER BY THE GHOST LIGHT. Launched in 2020, GATHER BY THE GHOST LIGHT is a collection of stage plays adapted to an audio only format performed by voice actors and edited with appropriate sound effects and music.

John Bavoso (he/him/his) is a Washington, DC-based playwright, marketer, and aspiring wrangler of unicorns. He mostly writes plays about women and queer people who are awkwardly attempting (and generally failing) to engage with serious subject matter using only dry wit and impeccably timed combative taunts. John is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow, and the recipient of District of Columbia FY18 and FY19 Arts and Humanities Fellowships. His plays have been produced and/or developed in DC, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin; Canada; Japan; South Korea; India; United Arab Emirates; Australia; and the UK.

Jacquelyn Priskorn has been writing plays since she took her first class with playwright Kitty Dubin in 1997. She has had several plays and screenplays produced since that first class, including the award winning short film "The Guest Room" (shown at the Strasbourg Film Festival in France) as well as a screenplay, "Love & Plutonium", which is currently available on Amazon. "Glass Slipper, Size 8 ½", "The Rot", "The Reckless Romantic" and "Off Center" are currently available through Brooklyn Publishing. "Ida Invisible" and "Andela" are available through Next Stage Press. The one act version of "Barn Wood and Blue Roses" is available through Stage Partners.
Her short play "Off Center" won Best Play at the Oakland University Actor Showcase. And "Good Morning, Miriam" has received the Jury's Choice Award at the Detroit Fringe Forward Festival, Best New Play from New Plays From the Heartland, Audience Favorite at Big Idea Theatre, and The Chameleon Theatre Circle's 17th annual one act play contest.
As an actress, Ms. Priskorn began writing to create roles for anybody and everybody.

Devon McSherry has been involved in the arts for as long as she can remember. Music and theater was what brought her parents together and shaped her love of the arts. So much so that she went to college for musical theater and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Wherever she went, Devon continued to perform but only began writing plays and short films a few years ago. After directing a short play in a festival and helping friends involved in the film community, she decided to go outside her comfort zone and write some short plays.

Marian Thibodeau is an actor and singer currently residing in Augusta, GA. She is a mom of two young girls but enjoys pursuing her love of acting when she can. She was most recently seen on stage playing Cayly in Kingdumb, which was the first live-recorded episode for the podcast, Gather by the Ghost Light. She also had the privilege of playing Sandra/Florence in Le Chat Noir’s sold out run of The Play that Goes Wrong. Along with podcasts and live theater, Marian has been involved in a handful of short films that you find on YouTube, or, hear her in numerous episodes on the Gather by the Ghost Light podcast.

Pepper has been performing in the Augusta area for eight years. In addition to stage, film, and voice acting, Pepper has performed with Sho Fusion Belly Dance Troupe, the Geektastic Bellydance League, and Dirty South Burlesque. She and has also performed with Schrodinger's Cat Improv Group. Pepper also has experience behind the scenes as a director, producer, writer, videographer, editor, production assistant, and stage hand.

Karla is a South Carolina-based actress who caught the acting bug from her paternal grandmother who was a film actress in Austria before WWII. You can find Karla onstage performing in plays in the CSRA, doing murder mystery dinner theatre shows, showing up as an extra in box office movies, and lending her voice to GBTGL episodes.

Arelis Rivera is a Puerto Rican actress and singer, currently based in Augusta, GA. Her voiceover work is featured in the podcast Gather by the Ghost Light, where she has played the role of Estelle in "Kingdumb", Lane Hernandez in "Ain’t the Biggest City", among others. Among her training experiences features The American Academy of Dramatic Arts NYC 2014 Summer Intensive Program. One of her most recent and favorite roles is Chiffon in The Augusta Players production of "Little Shop of Horrors". She has also portrayed Deloris VanCartier in Aiken Community Theatre’s production of "Sister Act". Other show credits include "Something Rotten", "Young Frankenstein", "Ragtime", "Shrek: El Musical". Arelis is also an active member of the local improv comedy troupe Schrodinger’s Cat.

I was born and raised in Augusta, GA. I started in radio by interning at a local rock station, WRXR, while I was still in high school. My first paying radio gig out of school was in Greenville, SC doing Saturday mornings. I barely made enough money to pay for the gas to get me back and forth on the 5 hour round trip to do my show but I had been bitten by not only the radio bug but the entertainment bug! I loved entertaining and getting to know people. I bounced around from station to station, as you do, for years. Picking up stories and perspectives along the way. I probably learned the most about how to treat people who are your listeners from the time I spent in Birmingham, AL producing the Patti & Dollar Bill morning show on WDXB. They were true radio legends and it was a privilege to learn from them and an honor to call them friends. From there I moved back to Augusta to be closer to family. You can often find me on stage with one of the great theatre groups here in town. I can also be seen and heard in several television commercials nationally and you might even catch a glimpse of me in some movies too. I love photography, cooking, and my pup, Magnolia the Malshi.

TJ McSherry is a linguist specializing in Middle Eastern languages and a published philosophy student. In his off time, he is usually found behind the camera, backstage, or next to a control board though he seeks to be in front of the lens or the microphone more often. Favorite stage projects include Evil Dead the Musical, and The Play that Goes Wrong. His short film directorial debut “Cecilia” earned an award for practical effects and his photography has earned local recognition.

Nathan Shelton was born in Springfield, MO to Kevin and Tammy Shelton. His father is a Methodist pastor and his mother works with the Languages department of UMKC in Kansas City, MO. Nathan grew up in theatre, performing at several venues around his hometown, where he started to work professionally as a stage and screen actor in the early 1990s. He went on to study acting, writing, and directing at Missouri State University (then SMSU) in the same prestigious acting program that launched John Goodman, Kathleen Turner, Tess Harper, Jack Laufer, and many others.

Aside from working as a professional theatre/film/television actor, Nathan is an award-winning SFX makeup artist, writer, and director/producer. Nathan moved from Missouri to Chicago, IL in 2013, and continues to work throughout the country on various creative projects with his production company, Arcane (including the internationally acclaimed web series Shadow Bound, and the horror radio-drama anthology series, The Frightmare Theatre Podcast). Nathan and his wife, Alma Rodriquez, were married in March 2021 and split their time between the US and Mexico. Nathan has two children, Finnley and Vince.

Greg Mandryk is a playwright living in Cleveland, Ohio. His work has been produced throughout the United States.

From Los Angeles to the East Coast and back again, Bonnie Marie Williams has been acting for over 25 years on the stage, and in television and film; as a voice actor for clients including Marvel's Avengers STATION, Pokemon, Nintendo Switch, and Spotify, and producing feature films and podcasts. She loves all things Halloween and Batman, and has seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer more times than she can count. When she's not recording in the studio, she's drinking too much coffee, casting and directing voiceover projects, teaching classes to kids and grown-ups, trying out a new recipe or two, talking to ghosts, and watching Star Wars. Save the day with the VO Superhero at www.vosuperhero.com.

Travis Williams is a writer based in Los Angeles.
He is a multi-finalist and 2016 winner of DEATHSCRIBE: The International Festival of Horror Radio Plays with Wildclaw Theatre in Chicago. His short comic Unraveled is published in the horror anthology Tales from the Akermansion with American Gothic Press and Famous Monsters Magazine. Travis’ writings specialize in character driven horror with a Midwestern Gothic twist.

Mike Brannon was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. He fell in love with the theater in high school, then spent the next 30 years raising his kids and working as a computer programmer before finally getting the chance to return to the stage. Over the past 4 years, his short plays have been featured in over 45 productions across the world. He has acted in a handful of projects, directed another 20+ short plays and readings, and helped produce the Triad Playwright Theatre’s 2022 and 2023 short play festivals; Goodly Frame Theater’s groundbreaking Zoom Fest in 2020, and their collaborative monologue project Affairs of the Heart in 2022; and the NC Audio Play Festival (with Creative Greensboro and the Cary Playwrights Forum).

Leah Philbin is a writer from Nottingham, UK. One of her plays, Broke, was included in the 37 Plays Festival at the Theatre Royal Nottingham and my play The Queen of The Sun was recently performed at the Old Electric Theatre in Blackpool. She was recently shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize and was runner up in the UK Power Plays competition. She can usually be found writing in her garden, surrounded by her dog and her many cats.

I connect with my community through art and these connections are often the focus of my work. Whether I’m talking about death over a plein air painting or drawing a cathartic piece about a chicken and a possum having lunch, my art is an ongoing conversation with the world.

Matt is an actor, director, psychologist, and cat dad in Augusta, GA. He has performed locally with Gather by the Ghostlight, The Augusta Players, Le Chat Noir, and The Presidential Dinner Theatre at Fort Eisenhower.