2021-2022 Season

“Passover”
By Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu
March 25, 2022 - April 9, 2022
March 25, 26, 31, April 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 at 8 pm, and March 27 and April 3 at 2 pm
Premiered March 2022
Presented by iTheatre Collaborative
A modern riff on "Waiting for Godot" and the Exodus story, set on a city street corner, Moses and Kitch stand around — talking smack, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space and disrupts their plans. This not an Easter play.
Pass Over contains frequent profanity, gunshots, and flashing lights. May not be suitable for people under 13.
Donate to iTheatre
Since its beginning, iTheatre has produced theater that was challenging, thought provoking and maybe changed the way you think about theater and what it can be. And that's certainly not going to change. So, in addition to ticket sales, we rely on public and private grants, sponsorships and individual donations from people like you. Even if it's $5 (no donation is too small) or $5000 (no donation is too large), your contribution will make a huge difference onstage at iTheatre.
Cast (Alphabetically)

Joshua Ambrose
as Moses
Joshua is a 22-year-old Liberian American actor from the North Phoenix area. He recently graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance. This production of Pass Over will be his debut performance with iTheatre Collaborative.

Johnny Kalita
as Ossifer
Johnny is excited to debut with iTheatre in Pass Over. Johnny has performed in numerous theatrical productions, films and commercials. You can see him in the 2022 Arizona Grand Lottery Commercial as Daniel. Originally from Chicago, Johnny spent 10 years performing and studying theatre and improvisation. His most recent Chicago theatrical credits include Invictus Theatre's Love's Labour's Lost, Bare Knuckle Production's History of Violence, and appeared on stage as a townsperson in The Goodman Theatre's Enemy of the People. Johnny started his own theatre in Chicago, Black Mamba Theatre, where he produced Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. He is a graduate of Black Box Acting Academy Meisner based studio, The Second City Conservatory, The Annoyance Theatre, i.O. Chicago, and recent film credits include Angry Mule Production's Bride of the Killer Pinata, Outerloop Production's The Anomaly, and a local indie where he starred with Pass Over lead David Rice in Upside Down, which recently won 3rd place out of 1,400 films in a film festival. Johnny can also be seen performing on the Mainstage at Bridge Improv Theatre in Tempe.

Greg Lutz
as Mister
Greg is honored to be directing again for iTheatre Collaborative. The joy and wonderful success of his previous iTheatre Collaborative direction, Eat the Taste, has set the pace for iTheatre Collaborative's 20th Anniversary Season's opening show of Ideation. Greg has been in theatre for 40 plus years and studied under teachers such as Charles Nelson Reilly, Paul Kent, Paul Mantee, and E.E. Moe and Syd Morrison at the Megaw, both in Los Angeles and Phoenix. He also enjoys writing and directing award-winning murder mysteries for his local entertainment company Murder Ink Productions, along with managing and writing for Las Vegas lounge singer/comedian extraordinaire, Jackie Fontaine. Greg has enjoyed a fulfilling stage career with recent appearances in iTheatre Collaborative’s riveting production of Pass Over. He has also appeared on many Valley stages such as the Black Theatre Troupe's recent production of A Soldier’s Play. Greg has also enjoyed great success in film and television with credits such as Mayor Bernhardt in the CW's series Roswell, D.A. Brent Dalton in CBS Interrogation and Rev Pat Robertson in the Netflix's Come Sunday. Greg feels blessed to be working with such talented actors. "The actors in Ideation have made my job easy. It has been a pleasure watching them bring this intricate story (written in 2013) to life!" Greg would like to thank the crew, cast for their dedication, blood sweat and "ideating." Also, a big thanks out to E.E. Moe of the Megaw Actor's Studio and Matt Englehart at FORD RBA Talent for their help and support.

David Rice
as Kitch
David is an artist based out of Phoenix, Arizona. David's love for the craft of storytelling has landed him various leading roles in films around the Valley. Seeking to push his desire to hone in on what it really means to "live in the moment," David has been on a mission to get into theater. Pass Over will be David's first live performance and he couldn't be more excited to share the stage with such talented individuals.
Playwright

Antoinette Nwandu
Playwright
Antoinette is a New York-based writer for stage, film, and television. Her play Pass Over made its New York debut at LCT3/Lincoln Center in 2018. A filmed version of the Jeff Award-winning Steppenwolf production — directed by Spike Lee — premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and at SXSW, and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Victory Gardens produced the World Premiere of her play Breach: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate in February of 2018. Antoinette is a MacDowell Fellow, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, an Ars Nova Play Group alum, and a Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Literary Fellow. Honors include a Lilly Award (2020); a Lucille Lortel Award (2019); the Whiting Award (2018); the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award (2017); the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award (2008); the Negro Ensemble Company's Douglas Turner Ward Prize (2008), and spots on the 2016 and 2017 Kilroys lists. Her work has been supported by the Sundance Theater Lab, Space on Ryder Farm, Ignition Fest, the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, the Kennedy Center, Page73, PlayPenn, Southern Rep, The Flea, Naked Angels, Fire This Time and The Movement Theater Company. Antoinette has a bachelor's degree in English, magna cum laude, from Harvard College; an MSc from The University of Edinburgh; and an MFA from NYU Tisch. Antoinette is a writer on the second season of Spike Lee’s She's Gotta Have It for Netflix, and will premiere her play Tuvalu, or The Saddest Song at the Vineyard Theater in New York City once the theater is allowed to reopen.
Creative Team (Alphabetically)

Elizabeth Broeder
Sound Design
Elizabeth is so happy to be working with iTheatre Collaborative this season. She is an interdisciplinary artist who has been artistic associate with iTheatre since 2017. Her recent iTheatre productions include Kunstler (sound design), Frost/Nixon (stage management/sound design) and Actually (acting/sound design). She is a Core Member of Southwest Shakespeare Company and a dance instructor/choreographer with Phoenix Country Day School and Prima Dance Arizona. She sends all of her love and gratitude to dad, mom, Sarah, Charles, Chris & Rosie, John, Johnny and Jake.

Rosemary Close
Producer
Rosemary has been involved in theater in the Valley for over thirty years. Her work dates back as far as the Arizona Contemporary Theater Company, Northwest Studios and the Glendale Little Theater to name a few oldies. Her onstage credits include: Frozen, Harvey, Chapter Two, Barefoot in the Park, Cabaret, The Balcony, The Way We Live Now, Royal Gambit, Loves Scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Reel to Real, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, The Maids, Skimpies and The Bad Seed. Her recent directing credits include: last season’s Velocity of Autumn and Hughie, previous season’s Grounded and An Almost Holy Picture. In 1991, Rosemary began her longtime association with the New York theater company, Mabou Mines. She appeared in numerous productions with that company both in Phoenix and New York. The highlight of that work with Mabou Mines was a leading role in the multimedia stage production, Wrath of Kali, directed by the award winning and acclaimed, Lee Breuer. Currently, she is the Managing Director for iTheatre Collaborative and is proud to be a part of the impact iTheatre has made in the Phoenix downtown community.

Christopher Haines*
Designer, Producer
Chris is a member of Actor's Equity Association, is a theatre veteran with over thirty years of experience as an actor, stage manager, writer, director and designer. He graduated in 1991 from Duke University. Some of his stage work includes: as an actor, the title roles in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Danton's Death, Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, Father Flynn in Doubt, Jack Lawson in David Mamet's Race, Ralph in Frozen, Orson Welles in Orson's Shadow, the Librarian in Underneath the Lintel, the Third Man/Doctor in Baltimore Waltz, Prospero in The Tempest, Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Alan Seymour in Picnic, Vernon Gersch in They're Playing Our Song, and Mr. Rich in Celebration. He has directed such productions as The Thanksgiving Play, A Bad Friend, Deathwatch, Dogg's Hamlet/Cahoots Macbeth, The Congresswomen, Cat's Paw, Molly Sweeney, The Fish Must Die and Carolina on Our Minds. As a designer his work includes Topdog/Underdog, A Raisin in the Sun, Gunplay, Peter Pan and Wendy, Wizard of Oz, The Colored Museum, The House of Bernarda Alba, and Horn in the West, a 1500-seat outdoor amphitheater in Boone, NC. In 1994, Mr. Haines collaborated with the internationally acclaimed director, Lee Breuer (founder of Mabou Mines), on his project Wrath of Kali, as the director of videography, both in its debut in Phoenix and in New York City. Other design work in video, photography and media includes the Daniel Lentz Group's A Crack in the Bell, such plays as Jack, Reel to Real, Romeo and Juliet, Sweet Thunder, and Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, and he has worked as the director of photography on the feature films Wake of the Hero and Means of Escape, and was the production designer for the independent film Hack. In 2002, he co-founded iTheatre Collaborative in Phoenix. His work at iTheatre has garnered national attention and recognition with invited performances at the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, NC, the Black Arts Movement Festival in Austin, TX and the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, AK. For iTheatre, he has produced over forty productions in the Valley with numerous regional and world premieres.
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
More About Christopher
Jacob Nichols
Production Stage Manager
Jacob is an artist and recent graduate from ASU. Along with performing, he has directed two short films. Video and visual media production is where he is trained, but he has also worked to design projections and sounds for live stage performances. Jacob thanks his mother, friends, Charles St. Clair, and iTheatre for all of their support.

Charles St. Clair
Director
Charles is an interdisciplinary artist with over 400 major productions to his credit in theatre, lm and video. Some directing credits include: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Race, Indivisible, August in April, TopDog/UnderDog, Death and the Maiden, The 36th, Underneath the Lintel, Venus, Bee-Luther-Hatchee, The Piano Lesson, A Raisin in the Sun, Mozart’s Opera The Marriage of Figaro, The Impresario, as well as The Three Penny Opera, Faust, Tosca, La Traviata, Carmen and the ve- time ariZoni award winning production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Mr. St. Clair was Resident Equity Stage Manager for Burt Reynolds’ Theatre in Jupiter, FL, the Ruth Foreman Theatre in Miami, FL and the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. He has been a technical director and production manager for over 300 productions and events, including the Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Special Olympics, the Orange and Sun Bowl half time productions and tours to Europe, China, India and the Middle East. He has also had the opportunity of lighting such well-known performers as Liza Minnelli, Barbara Mandrell, Pia Zadora, Alabama, Harry Belafonte and tours of the Broadway shows A Chorus Line, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Into My Parlor, I’m Not Rapport and Arsenic and Old Lace. Mr. St. Clair presently serves on the faculty of Arizona State University at the West campus where he teaches Acting and Directing and serves as the Technical Director for the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.