OUR COMPANY













KATE MIDDLETON

Producing Artistic Director

Kate is the Founding Member and Producing Artistic Director of Ground UP Productions. She is a proud member of SSDC, and has directed the critically acclaimed new musical The People vs. Mona, which The New York Times called, "Good-natured, down-home fun," Variety said was "A hootin' good time," and The New York Innovative Theatre Awards nominated for "Best Production of a Musical" and "Best Set Design" in 2007. She has also directed The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she was awarded Best Direction 2008 by The Independent Weekly, TS Eliot and The Women, in association with NYU's Department of International Studies, and was the assistant director of Ground UP's Lobby Hero, by Kenneth Lonergan, in 2006.

Kate has appeared on the Ground UP stage numerous times in Pump Boys and Dinettes, Hot Damn Holiday, Proof, The House of Yes, The Shape of Things, and Jack and Jill, A Romance. Other credits include Avow at The 45th St. Theatre, Marty with John C. Reilly (Huntington Theatre), South Pacific opposite Mark Jacoby (ArtPark), Carnival with Bob Cuccioli (NJ Shakespeare Festival), August Snow (Triad Stage), and Blithe Spirit, The Full Monty, and Chicago (Weston Playhouse). TV/Film: Law & Order: "Fame", Law & Order SVU: "Desperate", Comedy Central's "Date from Hell", as well as many national and regional VO's and commercials.

Kate will be seen in Cathedral, written and directed by Joe Pintauro, at Manhattan Theatre Source this April, and the Ground UP production of Barefoot in the Park in July 2009.







































KATE AUGUST

Stage Manager

Kate August (SM) is an elusive creature of the off-off Broadway theater. Past projects include but are not limited to; Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire, One Nation Under, Red Light Winter, 2Gents, The Optimist (ASM), 99 Degrees, 516 and the After Dark series sponsored by the Potomac Theater Company, and many other kamikaze theater events, they have always been her favorite types of theater endeavors. She was last spotted on off Broadway as Dancing Lesbian Nun #2, in Blair Fell's, Burning Habits (in which she also did the sound, stage managed, and assistant directed) She has studied with UAA in Anchorage Alaska, and The school for Film and Television of NYC. She's Worked within the Denver Center with The National Theater Conservatory. And often times she can be found teaching "children how to lie" in Long Island, or out in the Midwest touring with the Beijing Opera. She also has a profound enjoyment of waffles...









































JEFF BESSELMAN

Company Actor, TD/Carpenter

Jeff is a "jack-of-all-trades" type of individual. He's a trained actor and has appeared in shows such as The Comedy of Errors and A Midsummer Nights' Dream with Hudson Shakespeare, Love, Sex, and the IRS, Leading Ladies, and Mornings at Seven at Pioneer Playhouse as well as Not About Nightingales, Biloxi Blues, The Rainmaker, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile as well as appearing various films, TV shows, and hosting jobs. Jeff has also had the great pleasure of serving as a technical director (twice for Ground UP) as well as being a former stage manager and lighting designer. He has been on the Ground UP Board for roughly two years and has truly enjoyed the experiences he's been a part of. The skies the limit for Ground UP and here's to looking forward to whatever the future may hold.






















WADE DANSBY 3

Graphic Designer

Wade has achieved over 20 years of graphic design, set and property design as well as acting, directing and producing for the cultural arts. A theater MacGyver, if you will. Originally from North Carolina he is an alumni of both UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University.

Professionally, he is a Senior Graphic Designer for LaPlaca Cohen Advertising, Branding and Design, specializing in design for the cultural arts. Some clients include: The Broadway League (AKA The League of American Theaters & Owners), New York Historical Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Joyce Dance Theater, Ovation TV, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Center Theatre Group in LA, Hirshhorn, LA Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl, Duke University Dance, Manbites Dog Theater.

An original founding member of Ground UP Productions, he has been a part of every project and production they have done.



























DEVAN HIBBARD

Stage Manager, Secretary

Devan is the resident Stage Manager and Board Member for Ground UP Productions. With Ground UP she has stage managed Proof, Pump Boys & Dinettes, Lobby Hero, Hot Damn Holiday, Burn This, The People vs. Mona, The Baby With The Bathwater and The Optimist (Dir. Jace Alexander). Other NY credits include: Kaboom! (NY Fringe Festival; Dir. BT McNicholl), Kiki Baby (Primary Stages; Dir. Lonny Price), Me, My Guitar & Don Henley (Crooked Neck Productions; Dir. Peter Page), The Secret of Mme. Bonnard's Bath (NY Playwights Lab; Dir Israel Horovitz) Macbeth, Three Musketeers & The Lottery (The Acting Company). Devan holds a B.F.A. from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She will be pursing her M.F.A. for Theatre Education in the Fall.





















TRAVIS McHALE

Set and Lighting Designer

Travis has designed many of Ground UP's shows, favorites are The People vs. Mona, Burn This, and The Optimist (Set and Lights). Recent credits include lighting designs for My Favorite Things, starring Shirley Jones (Colorado Festival of World Theatre), Freudian Slips (Abingdon Theatre Co.), and No Child (Weston Playhouse). He has designed in New York for Primary Stages, Lincoln Center Institute, Barrow Group Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source and many others. Regional work at Weston Playhouse, Colorado Festival of World Theatre, Ballet Spartanburg, Auburn University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Open Dream Ensemble. He has been an associate or assistant designer for Roundabout, Kennedy Center, NY Philharmonic, Goodspeed, Indianapolis Opera, and the current tour of Fiddler on the Roof. BFA, Lighting Design; UNCSA.























GUY OLIVIERI

Actor, Casting Director, Grant Committee Director

Guy is a company actor, when he's not filling the roles of Casting Director, member of the grant-writing team, and producer. As an actor, Guy has worked all over the country, literally, as Mark in the National Tour of RENT, and in productions of Side Man (Cliff), Wit (Jason), Baby (Danny), two productions of Chess, three productions of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, and three productions of Little Shop of Horrors. He's also appeared in TV and film, and has done commercials and voiceovers for things like: The NFL, Berlitz, Carmax, Miller Light, Ben and Jerry's, Aeropostale and Sprint.

Guy has been with Ground UP since the 2nd show, and appeared in The House of Yes, Proof, Hot Damn Holiday (which he also wrote), and Jack and Jill. Guy grew up in Cresskill, New Jersey, and is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
























SETH SHELDEN

Company Actor and Legal Consultant

Seth is a Resident Company Member of Ground Up who performed in the company's first production, The Shape of Things. Seth also serves as a Ground Up Education Director, and assists Ground Up with certain legal issues. Seth is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California - Berkeley School of Law.






















DAN WHEELESS

Producer and TD/Carpenter

An original founder of Ground UP, Dan has TD'd all 13 productions. Born and raised in Summit, NJ, he headed south where he was a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recently, he was the TD of Summit High School New Jersey where he designed and built sets for Much Ado, Les Miserables, and Titanic. He has assisted Ken Larson at WYACK in New Jersey, and at The Lamb's Theatre on A Jew Grows in Brooklyn. He has also worked with Capital Scenic, and most recently The Abingdon Theatre's Freudian Slips. He is currently a Travel Guru at Eastern Mountain Sports in SoHo, and just hiked The Great Wall of China with his beautiful wife Kate, Ground UP's Producing Artistic Director. Some of his favorite productions with Ground UP have been Burn This, The People vs. Mona, Jack and Jill, and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek.