Who’s Who: School Girls Cast

GERALDINE BOGARD (Gifty) is thrilled to make her SpeakEasy debut and honored to be a part of this production. Geraldine is currently studying Education Studies and Theater Arts at Brandeis University, where she appeared in The Spaces Between Us, a collection of pieces about climate change.

VICTORIA BYRD* (Ericka Boafo) is honored to be making her debut at SpeakEasy Stage. Regional credits include productions with North Shore Music Theatre, Asolo Rep, Reagle Music Theatre, Santa Rosa Summer Rep, and Westcoast Black Theatre. Favorite roles include: Tiger Lily (Peter Pan); Maggie (A Chorus Line); Maria, Marguerita (West Side Story); June (Chicago). Victoria is pursuing a BFA in Musical Theater at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.  www.victoria-byrd.com

CRYSTIN GILMORE* (Headmistress Francis) returns to SpeakEasy Stage, having previously appeared as Shug Avery in the company’s production of The Color Purple, a role for which she  received IRNE and Arts Impulse Awards. Other regional credits include:  Rosie in Mamma Mia, Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, and Matron Momma Morton in Chicago (Charleston Stage Company); Mae in Letters from War (North Shore Music Theatre); Brenda in Smokey Joe’s Café (Show Palace Dinner Theatre); and Shug Avery in  The Color Purple (Playhouse on the Square).  Special thanks to CBUMgmt & JCWilliams Agency. Jesus & Family First.  Be Unstoppable. @crystingilmore

IREON ROACH (Paulina Sarpong).  SpeakEasy: debut!  Ireon is a Chicago native currently pursuing her BFA at Boston University. As a member of the board of The Yard Theater Company in Chicago, a company which highlights young people of color and their stories, Ireon worked on many productions including Blood at the Root, a co-production with Jackalope Theatre. Other professional credits include Dry Land (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble); Milk Like Sugar (Raven Theatre); and How We Got On (Haven Theatre).  Special thanks to everyone at Paonessa Talent.

KRIS SIDBERRY* (Eloise Amposah) is very happy to be back in Boston, having last appeared here in SpeakEasy’s production of Significant Other. Other Boston-area credits include: Intimate Apparel and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lyric Stage Company); The Good Negro, Grimm (Company One); Theater Espresso, and The Freedom Trail. New York credits: All American Girls (Off-Broadway, National African American Theater Festival).  Kris has also worked on various film, TV, voiceover, and commercial projects, including Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, Lifetime’s Web of Lies, and HULU’s Castle Rock.  She holds a BFA in Theater Performance from the University of Evansville and completed a two-year Meisner conservatory at the prestigious Maggie Flanigan Studio.  www.krissidberry.com.

TENNEH SILLAH (Mercy) is thrilled to make her SpeakEasy debut and excited to be a part of this talented cast and crew.  She is a graduate of Quinnipiac University, where she appeared in A Servant of Two Masters, 1918, and Much Ado About Nothing. Boston-area credits include productions with Open Theatre Project, Artists’ Theater of Boston, and Praxis Stage Company. Tenneh is also a playwright and has had two of her short plays, Who Would You Like To Speak To and The Outlines They Live, premiere at the Abingdon Theatre and The Barrow Group respectively.

SABRINA VICTOR (Ama) is so overjoyed to make her SpeakEasy debut with School Girls! Regional credits include Miss You Like Hell (Company One), and the premiere of Brooklyn Bedroom (Performing Fusion Theatre). She holds BAs in Theater and Journalism and a Multicultural Theater Certificate from UMass Amherst, where she appeared in Infants of the Spring; Runaways; Ta’Zieh – Between Two Rivers; and The Misanthrope. Many thanks to Jocelyn for giving voice to these women. sabrinakvictor.com

SHANELLE CHLOE VILLEGAS (Nana) is pleased to make her SpeakEasy debut! She recently appeared as Angus/Fleance in the Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of Macbeth while devising, directing, and acting in her own one-act entitled A Dialogue We’ve Been Searching For. Other credits include Normal Jean Reynolds in Excerpts from the Colored Museum, Cassandra/Kate in And Speak I Will, and Valerie in Colorism. Shanelle is a first-year graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Contemporary Theatre Program, and is working to create more inclusive collegiate acting curriculums for actors of color.