Creative Team
Douglas Lyons
he/him
Playwright
Douglas Lyons is a GLAAD, NAACP and Emmy nominated writer, an Audelco award-winning playwright, actor, and composer whose work has spanned Television, Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Film. Douglas served as a writer and composer on Apple TV’s Fraggle Rock. His Broadway playwriting debut Chicken and Biscuits was the 2nd most produced play in the U.S. in 2022-23. His other theatrical works include the Off Broadway hit: Beau, the Lucille Lortell award-winning Table 17, Don’t Touch My Hair, Polkadots, Five Points, Pure Glitter, and Mother. Daughter. Father. Son. Douglas’ Broadway acting credits include Beautiful, the Tony award-winning revival of Parade and the Book of Mormon. He is currently developing television with SkyDance and Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort as well as writing the script for the stage adaption of the Warner Brothers animated classic Happy Feet. @Chocolatehipster
Charles Grant^
he/him
Director
Charles is excited to step into the world of Table 17 so beautifully crafted by Douglas Lyons. As an artist who wears a number of hats (Director, Actor, Producer, Teacher, Writer), he’s worked with Portland Center Stage, Bellingham TheatreWorks, Many Hats Collaboration, Third Rail, Profile Theatre, Fuse Theatre Ensemble, Broadway Rose, and Portland Playhouse where he is currently in the role of Producing Director. Recent Directing Credits include Fat Ham (co-production with Portland Center Stage & Portland Playhouse), Fairview (Bellingham TheatreWorks), and A Christmas Carol (Portland Playhouse 2023 – 2025). Love to the entire cast, creative team, crew, and staff for giving their all to this experience. May we continue to share our stories on our terms. Thank you for being here with us and supporting live theatre! Visit thecharlesgrant.com or IG @thecharlesgrant to say hello.
Andrea Vernae^
she/her
Assistant Director
Andrea Vernae is a passionate storyteller from the Magic City of Miami, Florida. Her favorite aspect of this story is how it highlights our capacity to love—not only each other, but ourselves through every transformation. She hopes these characters remind audiences to extend grace and patience to themselves, even in the darkest moments. Andrea would like to thank Charles for being such a kind, inspiring, and fierce director, and for granting her the opportunity to be a part of this beautiful process.
Cassie Greer*
she/her
Stage Manager
Cassie Greer has worked professionally around the country as an actor, director, stage manager, designer, administrator, educator, and facilitator. She received her training in the MFA Acting program at Florida Atlantic University; the BA Theatre, History, and Music programs at Goshen College; and in the 9th Certification group of Fitzmaurice Voicework® teachers. She is honored to now call Portland Playhouse her artistic home. In addition to working both behind the scenes and in front of the lights here at PPH, Cassie has also recently collaborated with Profile Theater, Many Hats Collaboration, LineStorm Playwrights, Young Musicians and Artists, The Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, and Portland State, Linfield, and Pacific Universities. Find details on her various interests and projects past, present, and future at cassiegreer.com. Big love and thanks to the entire Table 17 team, and to Tylor and Gwen. @cassiegreer
Thyra Hartshorn
she/her
Scenic & Properties Designer
Al Knight-Blaine
he/him
Lighting Designer
Al Knight-Blaine is a lighting designer working in theatre, dance, and performance art in Portland and the surrounding PNW. Alongside his day job lighting events and music festivals with Outlaw Lighting, he’s the resident lighting designer for Night Flight Aerial, and the head of lighting at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Al is a graduate of Southern Oregon University, with a BFA in lighting design. Recent designs include Allie Hankins’ performance series By My Own Hand, The NOT-Cracker (Open Space Dance), Fright Night (Night Flight Aerial), and PICA’s Time Based Art Festival (mainstage, 2021 through 2026). At Portland Playhouse, he was the head electrician for seasons 14, 15, and 16, and the lighting designer for Chicken and Biscuits, and Angry Rauchous and Shamelessly Gorgeous. He’s thrilled to be back to work with everyone here again, and looking forward to being back soon for this year’s A Christmas Carol! www.aknightblaine.com
Wanda Walden
she/her
Costume Designer
Wanda Walden – Visual Artist, Costume Designer/ Stylist – has been on the scene for four decades. Some of her credits include:
PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE – The Spongebob Musical; Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; Paradise Blue; Notes from the Field; The Sounds of Afrolitical Movement; Passing Strange; Bella: An American Tall Tale; Barbecue; Crowns.
Cullen Elliott & Saibi Khalsa
Sound Designers
Saibi and Cullen (Weirdbird Sounds) are a design team based out of Portland Oregon. Saibi grew up in Santa Fe and studied sound design at both Sarah Lawrence College and Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Cullen grew up in Corvallis, and studied sound at Southern Oregon University. they met while working at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and have been making art together ever since! Recent credits include Dracula (Santa Fe Playhouse), Fat Ham (Portland Center Stage), and The Roommate (Profile Theatre).
Steven C. Yonug
he/him
Hair & Makeup Designer
Steven is thrilled to be joining the company of Table 17 as Hair & Makeup Designer. A hairstylist and wig maker originally from Nashville, TN, he has traveled extensively throughout the United States before making Portland his home several years ago and hasn’t looked back.
National touring credits include Wicked, Back to the Future, Mean Girls, The Phantom of the Opera, Falsettos, The King and I, and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Regional credits include Fat Ham, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Million Dollar Quartet, Anything Goes, Les Misérables, The Wizard of Oz and more.
Film and television credits include Hocus Pocus 2, May December, I Want You Back, Kindred, Ozark, and Tales of the Walking Dead
Maia Denzler^
she/they
Costume Assistant
Maia Denzler is a costume and textile artist based in the Portland Metro area. They have worked around Portland in various costume design and technical roles in theatre, dance, as well as performance and installation art. Recently they returned to Portland after completing their Masters in Costume Making at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in Liverpool, England. Recent credits include [BLANK] (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts), Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous, A Christmas Carol, and Spongebob (Portland Playhouse), Spring Songs, Summer Waves (NW Dance Project). Their performance and textile art installation work includes The Born Project, as well as the Bumbershoot Festival Fashion Show and Dance Performance under designer Fuchsia Lin. Website: maiadenzler.com.
Kristen Mun-Van Noy
she/her
Fight & Intimacy Consultant
Kristen Mun-Van Noy was born and raised on the island of Oahu. Since 2012 she has been working as a fight choreographer and teacher in the city of Portland, OR. She owes her training to Dueling Arts International and her time as assistant fight choreographer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (09-10) with resident Fight Director U. Jonathan Toppo. She has received her intimacy training from Theatrical Intimacy Educators and IDC Professionals. Recent intimacy and fight work include Fat Ham at PCS, Dear Evan Hansen at Broadway Rose and X with Third Rail Rep.
Keela Johnson
Cultural Consultant & Dramaturg
Keela Johnson is a cultural consultant with over eight years of experience in theater, supporting productions that foster confidence, accountability, and connection. Her love and commitment to the work led to the creation of a Capstone Course called Community Healing and Theater, which she teaches each spring at Portland State University. Her work includes promoting connection, conflict resolution, cultural understanding and research, and hosting post-show (TalkBacks) and/or activities for audience and artists to reflect together. Keela centers her work on fostering empathy and authentic connection through the arts. As she likes to say, we build stronger community ties by owning and sharing our stories without apology or permission.
Cast
Tyharra Cozier
she/her
Jada
Tyharra Cozier is thrilled to play Jada in Portland Playhouse’s Fall production of, Table 17! A proud alum of Florida State University’s School of Theatre, her 2026 credits include Juniper Joiner in Lost Ones: The Case of Mire Falls (Kryptic Films), Kate in Angry, Raucous, and Shameless Gorgeous (Portland Playhouse), and various IFCC (Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center) projects. When she’s not on stage, Tyharra flits around Portland—attending COHO Productions board meetings, managing some of Portland’s Class-A skyscrapers, teaching little ones acting on Saturday mornings, training for Hood to Coast, or streaming video games on Twitch. She is deeply philanthropic and encourages audiences to support local organizations, including Rose Haven, a day shelter for women and children. As always, Tyharra sends love to her family and friends. IG: @Tyharra “Because I love you, I get the least of you” – Nikki Giovanni
Marcus Lattimore
he/him
Dallas
After a Hall of Fame College Football Career and brief stint with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, Marcus reinvented himself as an award-winning Orator. He is a nationally sought out Keynote Speaker and was Oregons 2024 Grand Slam Poetry Champion, representing the state on the national stage. His art blends vulnerability, rhythm, and lived experience into powerful storytelling centered on identity, resilience, and reinvention.
Tyler Andrew Jones*
he/him
River/Eric/Bartender
A multidisciplinary theatre artist, writer, and teacher, Tyler is thrilled to return to the Portland Playhouse! Previous PPH credits included Bella: An American Tall Tale, A Christmas Carol, and Joy Comes in the Mourning. Recent credits include The Importance of Being Earnest at Portland Center Stage, where Tyler also serves as a resident teaching artist. Offstage, Tyler recently directed Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches at the Greenhouse Cabaret in Bend, OR. Tyler attended Marymount Manhattan College and is a proud member of AEA and The Dramatist Guild of America. Many thanks to Charles, Andrea, and the whole Playhouse/Table 17 Company! For Austin. IG: @t.andrew.jones
Dani Barker
she/her
U/S Jada
Dani Barker is a Jamaican-American vocalist, actress and educator. She moved to Portland in 2015 to pursue jazz, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance from Portland State University in 2019. Early in her career, she performed with the Darrell Grant-led MJ New Quartet and was featured at the Portland Jazz Festival. In 2021, Dani made her theatrical debut in the title role of Bella: An American Tall Tale at Portland Playhouse, returning in 2024 as Miss Honey in Matilda. She served as Education Outreach Manager for PDX Jazz, ‘21-‘24 teaching jazz history in underserved K–12 schools while helping students showcase artwork at the Portland Art Museum. Since joining Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe as a featured vocalist in 2023, Dani has toured nationally. Her original music has reached listeners around the world, establishing her as a dynamic performer, educator, and storyteller committed to using music to inspire, connect, and build community.
Raphael Likes
he/him
U/S Dallas
This is Raphael’s first season with Portland Playhouse. He was born and raised in the Portland area, a true Oregonian! He’s also done shows with Stumptown Stages, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, and Oregon Children’s Theatre. He’s so glad you came to the show, and hopes you enjoy the performance. Enjoy the show!
Jelani Kee*
he/him
U/S River/Eric/Bartender
Jelani Kee is excited to be back at Portland Playhouse. He was last seen in Passing Strange. A graduate of Central Washington University, Jelani has a BFA in Musical Theater and minors in dance and dance performance. Jelani got his theater career started in the Seattle area working at theaters like Artswest, Village Theater, and 5th Avenue Theatre. Favorite past performances include Hair (Hud), In The Heights, You’re a good Man, Charlie Brown (Snoopy), Dreamgirls, and The Wiz.
