STAGE FRIGHTS - PART FOUR: LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).