Jennifer Kirkland
Jennifer serves as both music director and performer for this show. She trained at Indiana University School of Music (vocal performance, organ performance) following years of private study. She has performed professionally and semi-professionally for over 40 years in a variety of musical styles: classical (both sacred and secular), pop, Broadway, and jazz. Favorite roles include Sally Bowles (Cabaret), Amy and Joanne (Company), and Auntie Mame (Mame). Her law practice took her away from performing for almost 15 years, but thankfully, the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton and Joan Swift with Oak Grove Theater pulled her back to music, her "first love." She spent 14 years performing professionally with the late guitarist Bert Carlson as a duo, offering an eclectic mix of American music. Jennifer's style is influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Dawn Upshaw, Diana Krall, and Anita O'Day. Her fellow performers say Jennifer "is what happens when technical mastery, fierce intelligence, and unparalleled artistry come together in one incredible performer...[she] understands this music at every level. Every minute decision the composer or lyricist made, she notices, which gives her interpretation such nuance and delicacy. She has made all of us better performers under her leadership." Jennifer would like to thank her talented, dynamic and generous collaborators, who have made creating this show out of whole cloth a delight!
Sandi Belcher
Sandi first began singing, acting, and directing at the tender age of twelve, when she wrote her own play and cast all her friends in it. Since then, she has continued to find community and opportunities for artistic growth at just about every area theater venue. Favorite roles include Rose (Gypsy), Desiree (A Little Night Music), 17 Different Characters (Parallel Lives) with Barbara Spilman Lawson, Carnelle Scott (The Miss Firecracker Contest), and Babe (Crimes of the Heart). As a director, some of her best work has been musical theater (Company; Big Fish; Sunday in the Park With George). For those familiar with her emotionally attuned work as a director, the sumptuous quality of Sandi's singing should come as no surprise: "No one can convey heartbreak and regret better," enthuses Diana. Likewise, Kemper reports, "I watched in awe while working with her to bring the intimate and bittersweet The Last Five Years to life...I continue to be impressed with her work as a performer and director. Her vision for each show is beautifully laid out with great attention to even the smallest detail, but it’s her patience, thoughtfulness, kindness, and love for all things theatre that have made me a lifelong fan." Sandi would like to thank Duane Hahn, Alice Flora, Roger Zimmerman, and Bernadine Cochrane, her high school drama and music teachers who were "great mentors to me and quite literally changed my life. They are the reasons I do what I do today. They all encouraged me, taught me, supported me, and gave me unbelievable opportunities that allowed me to grow as a singer and actor. Also, a blanket thank you to the local theater community here. They are my family and have enriched my life in more ways than I can name in a few sentences. And lastly, to my mother, Theoma Floyd and my husband, Jim Belcher, who have been my champions and cheerleaders throughout the 50 years I have been doing this."
Diana Black
With over 20 years of experience in professional and community theater, Diana studied with Fleta Hylton at the Levine School of Music, and with Peggy Kriha Dye (General Dir., Virginia Opera) at Kenyon College. Along with those mentors, her influences include Sarah Vaughan, Judy Garland, Barbara Cook, and Laura Benanti. Favorite roles include Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), April (Company), Sarah (Vinegar Hill), and Luisa (The Fantasticks), and she directed Pride@Prejudice in 2017 to great acclaim. Diana specializes in working with children: as "Storytime Lady" at Staunton Public Library, she won the loyalty of families hungry for smart, funny children's entertainment and a VPLDA Award for Outstanding Children's Programming. Diana teaches acting classes at Silver Line Theatre Exchange in Staunton, and has been a professor of critical thinking and writing at James Madison University since 2016. She serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for Staunton City Schools and is Board Vice President of the ARROW Project, a mental health-focused nonprofit. Sandi calls Diana "a delight, in every way imaginable," while Dan says she "makes children feel as competent as adults, and reminds adults that having fun is serious business." Diana would like to thank her parents "for always supporting my arts education," her husband, Dave, for taking care of their two kids while she rehearsed and feeding the family, her treasured teacher/Aunt Fleta, and all of her fellow performers in this show for their collaborative spirit, boundless talent, and superb suggestions.
Daniel Burrows
Daniel received his BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University. Since 2003, he has worked as an actor/educator for the American Shakespeare Center, training corporate clients and students alike in presentation and leadership. As evening descends, he can be found at Zynodoa restaurant, practicing those same skills of persuasion. In the privacy of the shower, he enjoys singing Billy Joel and Harry Connick, Jr. songs, but in public prefers the trenches of stand up comedy, which, of the two, is probably by far the more exposed. Favorite roles include Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors) and Claudio (Much Ado About Nothing). Fellow performers say of Dan: "He is the most fun, the most charming, the most endearing performer...he can make you belly laugh and he can move you to tears." Dan would like to thank his fellow castmates "for having faith in me, and my wife and children for giving me the time and encouragement to sing again."
Jeremy Douylliez-Willis
Jeremy studied theater at Piedmont College in Georgia, his home state, and has sung in choirs all his life. You may have seen Jeremy in action previously at ShenanArts (George in Sunday in the Park With George; Marty in It Shoulda Been You; Razzle in Kinky Boots), the Wayne Theater (Pinocchio in Shrek), or singing with Schola Cantorum. He is most inspired by the work of great Broadway and cabaret divas: Bernadette Peters, Julie Wilson, Lillias White, Donna Murphy, and Judi Dench, among many others. Sandi, who has directed Jeremy in several productions, says, "Jeremy is a triple threat. His acting, singing and dancing put him at the top of the food chain among area performers. He has that 'it' factor that draws your eye when he's on stage and makes it difficult to look elsewhere. He could sing the phone book and I would be completely enraptured." Says Diana, "I have never acted across from anyone more generous or inventive. When you play opposite him, he is always giving you so much to work with, and his instincts are impeccable." Jeremy would like to thank his fellow musicians, his family, and his husband, Cory, whose expertise as a choreographer helped so much with the movement in our songs.
Kemper McCauley
Kemper grew up providing service music on piano and organ for his parents' church. He can still remember when his first piano teacher, the late Virginia Edwards, assigned him John Thompson’s “Teaching Little Fingers to Play," and from there he built his way up to playing Baroque and Classical composers. These days, Kemper most enjoys playing contemporary composers Einaudi, Streliski and Hisaishi, and has been influenced by their wistful, delicate, and minimalist styles. 8 years ago, Kemper "discovered the excitement of accompanying musical theatre" in large part thanks to his collaborations with Sandi: "There have been many special moments with various theatrical groups over the years, but the most magical experience, hands down, was in Sandi's Sunday in the Park with George." Despite his self-professed "love/hate" relationship with Sondheim's notoriously challenging music, he does have a favorite lyric: "Anything you do/Let it come from you/Give us more to see..." All the singers in the show are full of praise for Kemper, who they describe as "the ideal accompanist...everything we've thrown at him, from changing keys midway through songs to asking that he play a different key signature from what's written, he has handled with grace, wicked good humor, and amazing musicianship. In all truth, we absolutely couldn't do this without him." Kemper would like to thank his collaborators for inviting him onboard, his family, and all of his piano teachers over the years.