David Kilpatrick (Playwright)
David Kilpatrick's playwriting career began in second grade with a show called Father Fox Tries to Get Some Chickens. Written on his parents' typewriter and starring his classmates, the piece proved to be so popular it then toured all the way down the hall to the first grade. Now, all of these years later, he's not only delighted to have made a career in theatre but is also honored to be here, with Arts on the Horizon, writing two shows Drumming with Dishes: The Holiday Edition and The Young Spectaculars and the Front Yard Adventure. David has directed a number of shows, including Walnut Street Theatre's outreach programs and New York University's New Plays at the Provincetown series. Since 2007, David has been the Manager of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, working on world premiere commissions/productions, national and international presentations, and the biennial New Visions/New Voices, which develops new work for the field. He received his Masters in Educational Theatre at New York University in 2002 and spent two years afterwards in the education department at NYC's The New Victory Theater. From 2004-2007, David was the Education Outreach Coordinator at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre. David has taught for NYU's Study Abroad programs, has worked with The Jim Henson Legacy and is on the Board of Directors for Theater for Young Audiences/USA. For his own little superheroes - Ian and Celia.

Michael John Casey (Director)
Michael John Casey has directed at Nazareth College of Rochester, Shipping Dock Theatre and most recently at the Washington International School. He has taught Acting at Washington International School, movement workshops with Educational Theatre Company, Stage Craft at Catholic University, and ran the theatre component for the New York State BOCES Summer School for the Arts. Regional theatres Michael John has performed with include: African Continuum Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Catalyst Theater, Constellation Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Ford's Theatre, Fulton Opera House, Geva Theatre, Imagination Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Keegan Theatre, Longacre Lea Productions, Project Y Theatre, Rochester Children's Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Shipping Dock Theatre, Solas Nua and Washington Shakespeare Company. Training: MFA, Drama, Catholic University of America: BA, Theatre Arts, Nazareth College of Rochester. SAFD.

Bette Cassatt (Costume and Properties Designer)
Bette Cassatt got her start sewing by designing and making award-winning costumes for dogs. She has since made costumes for theatre and film, including a four-actor production of "The Three Musketeers," and a Victorian-era feature film called, "A Sweet and Vicious Beauty." Bette made plush creations for Arts on the Horizon's Out of the Box, and is happy to be working on The Young Spectaculars and the Front Yard Adventure.

R. MacKenzie Lewis (Composer)
R. MacKenzie Lewis is currently the composer and music director for Eastern Michigan University’s Theatre Department as well as a lecturer with the Department of Music and Dance. Aside from his university teaching and directing responsibilities, he music directs, composes, orchestrates, and arranges music for various regional theaters, bands, orchestras, and musicals including orchestrating and music directing the National Tour and Off-Broadway premiere of The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical, composing Video Games: The Rock Opera and the world premiere musical with Ben Vereen, Soaring on Black Wings. Lewis also composes and arranges music for several high schools, colleges, and drum corps around the country. He keeps himself busy performing on piano throughout the Metro-Detroit area and recently in the Las Vegas production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. R. Mac lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wonderfully supportive wife and two Spider-Man-Obsessed children.

Mary Alicia Sells (Stage Manager)
Mary Alicia Sells is excited to be working with Arts on the Horizon on this production of The Young Spectaculars and the Front Yard Adventure. She is currently working as the Assistant Stage Manager for the Folger Theatre’s 2012/2013 comprising of The Conference of the Birds, Henry V, and Twelfth Night. Having spent the last year as the Stage Management Apprentice at the Studio Theatre, she assistant-stage-managed Bachelorette, Sucker Punch, Time Stands Still, The Golden Dragon, and The Habit of Art, as well as stage-managed the staged reading of Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God. Other professional credits include: Stage Manager for Women of Will's Nashville Tour Stop (Shakespeare and Company); Assistant Stage Manager for Over the Tavern (Olney Theatre Center), Assistant Stage Manager for Little Shop of Horrors (Olney Theatre Center), Assistant Stage Manager for Smart Girl’s Guide to Risks & Returns Staged Reading (Tennessee Repertory Theatre), Production Assistant for the ADL Concert Against Hate (Kennedy Center), and Production Assistant for Big River (Tennessee Repertory Theatre). She is an alumna of Vanderbilt University where she received her BA in Theatre, English, and History.

Melissa A. Caffrey (Emma)
Melissa A. Caffrey is a graduate of Columbia University, where she studied Anthropology and Theatre Arts. During her time in New York, she worked with many Columbia student groups as an actor, stage manager and producer; taught drama classes to 3rd and 5th graders at local P.S. 145; and led creative play and story time at the Children Museum of Manhattan. Before moving to DC last winter, Melissa worked with fellow alumni to create a collaborative ensemble piece called HOME, which premiered at Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival 2011. In her first year in the DC area, she is ecstatic to be so involved with theater and arts education, working with Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices Festival 2012, Watson Adventures, The Smithsonian Associates’ Smithsonian Summer Camp, and the Atlas' INTERSECTIONS Festival 2013. Melissa’s passion for Theatre for Young Audiences was first realized when she had the opportunity to join the cast of TheatreSquared’s Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse in Fayetteville, AR back in 2006. After taking a break from acting for some time, Melissa is delighted to jump back in with Arts on the Horizon and Theatre for the Very Young. Thank you to everyone who has welcomed her to this vibrant arts community!

Stanley Andrew Jackson III (Andrew)
Stanley Andrew Jackson III is a Junior Theatre Arts major with a concentration in Acting at Howard University and a native of Houston, Texas by way of New Orleans, Louisiana. He is excited to be making his debut with Arts on the Horizon in The Young Spectaculars and the Front Yard Adventure. Stanley started acting at an early age and he truly believes that he didn’t find acting, it found him. Since then has worked with the Kennedy Center, Studio Theater, and now Arts on the Horizon. Collegiate Production include: Venus, Steppin’ Out of the Negro Caravan, Passing Strange, Miss Evers’ Boys, Thoughts of a Colored Man, And They Said I Wouldn’t Make It, and The Problem Princess…Its Time to Wed.