MERRY ME

Low-Cost Previews: May 15 – 23

First Friday for the Military: May 16 , 7:00 PM
Complimentary tickets for active duty and veterans.

GSA/Youth Nights: May 16, 7:00PM & May 23, 7:00 PM
Free tickets for students.

Pre-Show Event — Backstage Thursday: Director’s Happy Hour: TBD
Join the Director and other members of the Merry Me artistic team in the Clark Cabaret for a chance to chat before the show! Pre-show event begins at 6pm, performance at 7pm.

Opening Night: May 24, 7:00PM

Pre-Show Event — Backstage Thursday: Designer Spotlight:  TBD
Join us in Clark Cabaret before the show to meet the Design Team and hear the influences and process involved. A fun pre-show experience! The pre-show event starts at 6:00pm before the 7pm performance

Pay-What-You-Will & Industry Night: June 2nd, 7:00 PM

Daily: Before and after performances
Come to the show early to enjoy our Clark Cabaret, open one hour before the show time and will remain open after the show.

Coming Soon!

LT. SHANE HORNE
Winne Beasley (she/they): Winnie Beasley is an actor, writer, solo performance artist, educator, and afro-futurist based in San Diego, CA. They are thrilled to be making their Diversionary Theatre debut. Winnie studied theatre at Columbia College Chicago and is currently a teaching artist throughout the San Diego area. Past credits include: Stop, Kiss (The Cuckoo’s Theatre Project), Dog Act (CCC), 12 Ophelias (The Martin), And We Danced (Soulkiss Theatre), and Game Night (Soulkiss Theatre). When they aren’t acting, you can surely find them somewhere telling an inappropriate joke or writing one down. She hopes you enjoy the show and get your merries! 

DR. JESS O’NOPE
Andréa Agosto (they/them/she): Andréa is so excited to be returning to the stage at Diversionary Theatre! Andréa is a theatre artist, educator, director, playwright, and voice over actor. An award winning filmmaker (Kansas City Film Fest) and actor (International Model & Talent Association), Andréa loves telling stories. They have written Codewswitchin’ is Conscious (Powers New Voices Festival) and QuickChange (Black Lady Showcase 2022). Agosto was a part of the cohort the for 2024 Classical Directing Fellowship and The Old Globe. They’ve Associate Directed As You Like it, Comedy of Errors (The Old Globe), Assistant Directed Henry V (The Old Globe), Co-Directed Straight (Loud Fridge), and directed the following: Cleopatra, Notes on Killing Seven Oversight Management, and Economic Stability Board Members (MOXIE), Buckets (Diversionary) Game of Tiaras, 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse (Falcon Players), and more. Their stage credits include: High Table, A Kind of Weather, Bull in a China Shop, Cardboard Piano, Homos, or Everyone in America (Diversionary), Mud Row (Cygnet), Pleasure Trials, Dance Nation (MOXIE), You Can’t Take it With You (Lamb’s Players), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (FUSION), and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (The Coterie). Follow them on Instagram and TikTok: @andreariquena or visit their website www.andreaagosto.com for more info.

MRS. SAPPH MEMNON
Mak Shealy (she/they): Mak is a writer and performer originally from a field in South Carolina and now based in Los Angeles & New York. Mak’s plays, screenplays and pilots are nerdy, muscular, darkly comic stories usually centered on rural life, queer relationships and the thin line between life and afterlife.

Mak is stoked to be making their Diversionary Debut! 

You can watch Mak onscreen in the queer rom com, The Holiday Club or in Love Life (HBO Max). They recently toured their debut solo show LEAKY (a digestive traumady) on both coasts and wrapped two short films, “Jealous Cat” and “Two Buttons. SideSmirk. Nose Kiss.” 

BFA: New York University

PVT. WILLY EMNON
Coleman Ray Clark (he/him/his): Coleman Ray Clark is a theatremaker/collaborator, often on new plays and musicals, who loves taking risks and trying new things. He’s a director who sometimes designs, acts, and produces. His work is often highly collaborative, inventive, and full of love. Various work and affiliations include Manhattan Theater Club, Classic Stage Company, The 24 Hour Plays, CCAE Theatricals, Cygnet Theatre, TheatreSquared, and 101 Productions. He is an artistic leader of The What Co. (@thewhatco), an experimentation ground for new work. He’s thrilled to make his return to acting at Diversionary. Much love to Sherri, Chris, Bailey, and his puppy Nino. @colemanrayclark.

GEN. AGA MEMNON
Troy Tinker-Elliot (he/him/his): This is Troy’s second appearance here at Diversionary. His First was in October, as “Older Trevor” in “Midnight at the Never Get.”

He has performed in Memphis, Cleveland, Orlando and Las Vegas. Favorite roles include Bialystok in “The Producers” and Tito in “Lend Me a Tenor.” He also toured for 20 years as narrator for the Lipizzaner Stallions Coliseum show.

MRS. CLYTEMNESTRA MEMNON
Jacquelyn Ritz* (she/her/hers): Jacquelyn is delighted to make her Diversionary debut in Merry Me.  Local regional credits include the title character in Annabella in July, Bloomsday, How the Other Half Loves, Chapter Two, and Fallen Angels (North Coast Repertory), The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, a 2024 Craig Noel nominee for Outstanding New Musical (Lamb’s Players) and the Baroness in La Jolla Playhouse’s Lempicka directed by Rachel Chavkin.  She performed at the Kennedy Center in Stephen Sondheim’s Bounce directed by Harold Prince.  She is the voice of Madame Blueberry (and others) in VeggieTales. AEA and SAG/AFTRA. More info at www.JacquelynRitz.com

THE ANGEL
Micheal Amira Temple (she/they): Micheal Amira Temple is a theater practitioner and educator interested in using theatre arts as a tool for discovery, connection, healing, and self- actualization. Her work has a strong focus on community, self- advocacy, and joy! Amira currently works as a teaching artist with Imagine Brave Spaces and The Old Globe bringing theatre to particularly vulnerable populations. She has also worked with Backyard Renaissance, Oceanside Theatre Company, Loud Fridge Theatre Company, Blindspot Collective, Coronado Playhouse, Prague Shakespeare Company, and more as an actor, facilitator, writer, and director. She thanks you for coming to support artists and their work, and hopes you enjoy yourself tonight!

We are no longer requiring masks in our theater. Masks are still encouraged to help keep our performers and audience members safe, but they are not required.

NOTE: This policy is subject to change at any moment to reflect changing local, state, and federal regulations. Please return before your scheduled performance date to see our most recent policy.