The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday’s last performances, given four months before her death. In Robertson’s Tony award-winning play, Holiday engages the audience with salty, often humorous reminiscences of her troubled life as a travelling performer in a segregated south. With the help of her piano man, Jimmy Powers, she lets music tell her story, sharing soulful and heart-wrenching songs from her memorable canon including: “Strange Fruit,” “God Bless the Child,” “When a Woman Loves a Man,” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do.”

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Cast & Creative
Jimmy Shields

Jimmy Shields has been making his theater rounds in the greater PNW for the last 14 years. As a performer you may have seen his work with Village Theatre, Tacoma Musical Playhouse, or ACT Theatre. As a director and choreographer, his work has been seen at Showtunes Theatre Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, Theatre Puget Sound, and Tacoma Arts Live.
In 1 season and 1 show at Harlequin:
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Director)
Addison Daniels

Addison Daniels is a jazz lover and proud member of the Latinx and Pacific Islander community. He has been playing piano for 14 years and has won several local music awards for his playing. He has acted in plays and musicals at the young age of five and has recently gotten into directing music. This is Addison’s first time tickling the keys at Harlequin Productions
In 1 season and 1 show at Harlequin:
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Music Director, Piano)
Jeannie Beirne
Jeannie Beirne is the Resident Scenic Designer for Harlequin Productions. She has also enjoyed working with The Olympia Family Theatre, Saint Martin’s University, and South Puget Sound Community College. In Missouri, she has designed Urinetown and The Music Man with Missouri Western State University, and The Drowsy Chaperone, She Loves Me, and Damn Yankees for Tent Theater. In Arizona, Jeannie designed Mama and Jack Carew and the world premiere of Suocera by Hal Corley at the Theatre Artists Studio and Big Love with Kim Weild at Arizona State University.
In 12 seasons and 40 shows at Harlequin:
A Christmas Carol (Scenic Design) A Doll's House (Scenic Design) August: Osage County (Scenic Design) Building Madness (Scenic Design) Cabaret (Scenic Design) Every Brilliant Thing (Scenic Design) Falsettos (Scenic Design) Fighting Over Beverley (Scenic Designer) First Date (Scenic Design) Fun Home (Scenic Design) Hedda Gabler (Scenic Designer) Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Scenic Design) Hundred Days (Scenic Design) I Ought To Be In Pictures (Scenic Designer) Is This a Room (Scenic Design) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Scenic Design) Little Shop of Horrors (Scenic Designer) Love and Information (Scenic Design) Man of La Mancha (Scenic Design) Middletown (Scenic Designer) Noises Off (Scenic Design) POTUS (Set Design) Present Laughter (Scenic Design) Pride and Prejudice (Scenic Design) Ruthless (Scenic Designer) Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol (Scenic Design) Sweeney Todd (Scenic Design) Tenderly (Scenic Design) The 1940s Radio Hour (Scenic Designer) The 39 Steps (Scenic Designer) The Highest Tide (Scenic Design) The Language Archive (Scenic Designer / Video Designer) Three Days of Rain (Scenic Design) To Kill a Mockingbird (Scenic Designer) Until the Flood (Scenic Design)
Darren Mills
Darren Mills is the Resident Costume Designer for Harlequin Productions. Additional regional credits: La Cage Aux Folles and Angels In America (SPSCC), Equivocation (SMU), and Murder Ballad (Sidecountry Theater). NYC hairdressing credits: Broadway: Phantom, Mamma Mia!, The Music Man. Film: The Stepford Wives, War of the Worlds, Lonesome Jim, The Notorious Bettie Page. TV: The Sopranos.
In 27 seasons and 68 shows at Harlequin:
A Christmas Carol (Costume Design) A Doll's House (Costume Design) A Long Day's Journey into Night (Wig/Makeup Designer) A Rock 'n' Roll Twelfth Night (Hair & Wig Designer) A Rock N' Roll Twelfth Night (Costume Designer) A Streetcar Named Desire (Hair & Makeup Designer) And a Nightingale Sang (Costume Co-Designer) As You Like It (Costume Designer) Assassins (Costume Designer) August: Osage County (Costume Design) Cabaret (Costume, Wig, Hair and Makeup Design) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Costume Designer) Dancin' in the Aisles (Costume Designer) Deathtrap (Costume Design, Wig, Hair and Makeup Design) Enchanted April (Costume Designer) End Days (Costume Designer) Falsettos (Costume/Hair/Makeup Design) Forever Stardust (Costume Designer) Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Costume, Hair and Makeup Design) Henry V (Company Dresser) I Am My Own Wife (Costume Design) Intimate Apparel (Costume Designer) La Béte (Hair/Makeup Designer) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Costume Design) Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Costume Designer) Little Shop of Horrors (Costume Designer) Love and Information (Costume Design) Man of La Mancha (Costume Design) Murder in the Cathedral (Costume Designer) My Old Lady (Costume Designer) Noises Off (Costume Design) Operation Stardust (Costume Designer) Philadelphia Story (Costume Designer) Present Laughter (Costume Design) Rock 'n' Roll Twelfth Night (Costume, Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer) Rough Crossing (Costume Designer) Ruthless (Costume Designer / Hair and Wig Designer) Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol (Costume Design) Six Hotels (Costume Designer) Stardust Radio Review (Costume Designer) Sweeney Todd (Costume Design, Wig, Hair and Makeup Design) Swingtime Stardust (Costume, Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer) Sylvia (Costume, Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer) Tenderly (Costume Design) The 39 Steps (Hair & Wig Designer) The Art of Racing in the Rain (Hair/Wig Design) The Constant Wife (Costume Designer) The Elephant Man (Costume Designer) The Glass Menagerie (Costume Designer) The Importance of Being Earnest (Costume Designer) The Ladies of the Camellias (Costume Designer) The Last Schwartz (Costume Designer) The Love List (Costume Designer) The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Costume Designer) The Real Thing (Costume, Hair & Makeup Designer) The Rocky Horror Show (Costume Designer) The Seafarer (Costume Designer) The Stardust Christmas Commotion (Costume Designer) The Stardust Christmas Enchantment (Costume Design) The Taming of the Shrew (Costume Designer) The Twelfth Night of Stardust (Costume Designer) The Understudy (Costume Design) The Women (Costume Design) To Kill a Mockingbird (Costume Designer) Unexpected Tenderness (Costume Designer) Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (Costume Designer)
Mark Thomason
Mark is a local lighting designer based in Tacoma and teaches technical theatre and design at Tacoma School of the Arts and occasionally at the University of Puget Sound, having spent most of the last 20 years as a lighting designer, production manager, and technical director; he also works with Zombie Orpheus Entertainment and much of his film work can be seen on The Fantasy Network. BA in Theatre Production from Bradley University.
In 12 seasons and 21 shows at Harlequin:
A Doll's House (Lighting Design) Dry Powder (Lighting Designer) Falsettos (Lighting Design) First Date (Lighting Design) Fun Home (Lighting Design) I Am My Own Wife (Lighting Design) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Lighting Design) Murder for Two (Lighting Design) Murder on the Orient Express (Lighting Design) My Name is Rachel Corrie (Lighting Design) Noises Off (Lighting Design) Richard III (Lighting Designer) Sweeney Todd (Lighting Design) The Art of Racing in the Rain (Lighting Design) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (Lighting Design) The Glass Menagerie (Lighting Designer) The Lady's Not for Burning (Lighting Designer) The Language Archive (Lighting Designer) The Last Five Years (Lighting Designer) The Lonesome West (Lighting Designer) Until the Flood (Lighting Design)
Cassandra Davis
In 1 season and 2 shows at Harlequin:
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Asst. Lighting Design) Until the Flood (Asst. Lighting Design)
Keith Jewell
In 23 seasons and 79 shows at Harlequin:
A Christmas Carol (Co-Sound Design, Sound Design) A Christmas Survival Guide (Sound Designer) A Rock N' Roll Twelfth Night (Sound Designer) A Stardust Christmas Carol (Sound Designer) A Stardust Homecoming (Sound Designer) Accomplice (Sound Designer) And a Nightingale Sang (Sound Designer) August: Osage County (Sound Design) Baskerville (Sound Design) boom (Sound Designer) Cabaret (Sound Design) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Sound Designer) Dancin' in the Aisles (Audio Engineer) Deathtrap (Sound Design) Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Sound Designer) Enchanted April (Sound Designer) Every Brilliant Thing (Sound Design) First Date (Sound Design) Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Sound Designer) Fun Home (Sound Design) Hedda Gabler (Sound Designer) Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Sound Design) Hundred Days (Sound Design) Intimate Apparel (Sound Designer) Is This a Room (Sound Design) Jesus Christ Superstar (Sound Designer) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Sound Design) Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Sound Designer) Let the Good Times Roll! (Audio Engineer) Little Shop of Horrors (Sound Designer) Love and Information (Sound Design) Magical Mystery Midsummer Musical (Sound Design) Man of La Mancha (Sound Design) Mating Dance of the Werewolf (Sound Designer) Middletown (Sound Designer) Murder for Two (Co-Sound Design) Murder on the Orient Express (Sound Design) Operation Stardust (Sound Designer) Phantom of the Stardust (Sound Designer) Philadelphia Story (Sound Designer) Rent (Sound Design) Romeo and Juliet (Sound Designer) Ruthless (Sound Designer) Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol (Sound Design) Sixties Chicks (Sound Designer) Sixties Chicks Too (Sound Designer) Sixties Kicks! (Sound Designer) Soul on Fire! (Audio Engineer) Stardust for Christmas (Sound Designer) Summer in the Sixties (Sound Designer) Sweeney Todd (Sound Design) Tenderly (Sound Design) The 1940s Radio Hour (Sound Designer) The Americans Across the Street (Sound Designer) The Art of Racing in the Rain (Sound Design) The Constant Wife (Sound Designer) The Elsinore Diaries (Sound Designer) The Highest Tide (Sound Design, Sound Designer) The Last Five Years (Sound Designer ) The Love List (Sound Designer) The Rocky Horror Show (Sound Designer) The Stardust Christmas Blizzard (Sound Designer) The Stardust Christmas Commotion (Sound Designer) The Stardust Christmas Dazzle (Sound Designer) The Stardust Christmas Enchantment (Sound Design) The Stardust Christmas Fandango (Sound Design) The Taming of the Shrew (Sound Designer) The Twelfth Night of Stardust (Sound Designer) The Understudy (Sound Design) To Kill a Mockingbird (Sound Designer) Until the Flood (Sound Design)
Gerald B. Browning

In 9 seasons and 28 shows at Harlequin:
A Christmas Carol (Properties Design, Director) Building Madness (Properties Design) Deathtrap (Scenic Design) Fun Home (Properties Design) Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Properties Design) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Properties Design) Love and Information (Ensemble) Murder for Two (Properties Design and Scenic Painting) Noises Off (Properties Design) Pride and Prejudice (Properties Design) Rent (Scenic & Properties Design) Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol (Properties Design) Sovereignty (Properties Design) Tenderly (Properties Design) The 1940s Radio Hour ("Pops" Bailey) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (Scenic Design, Properties Design) The Highest Tide (Father/Ensemble) The Love List (Bill) The Women (Properties Design) This Flat Earth (Properties Design) Until the Flood (Rusty/Dougray, Properties Design) What the Constitution Means to Me (Properties Design)
Maggie Doyle

Maggie has also worked with TAO, Lakewood Playhouse, Annex Theatre and the Indiana Repertory Theatre. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Theatre Performance (Go Blue!). Love to Christian, who brings love, laughter and magic into her life.
In 10 seasons and 26 shows at Harlequin:
A Rock N' Roll Twelfth Night (Columbine/Officer) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Mae) Clybourne Park (Betsy / Lindsey) Dry Powder (Stage Manager) Enchanted April (Rose Arnott) Fighting Over Beverley (Stage Manager) Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Meredith) Gloucester Blue (Stage Manager) Henry V (Ensemble) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Stage Manager) Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Carol) Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey II (puppeteer)) Magical Mystery Midsummer Musical (Clown Troupe) Noises Off (Stage Manager) Philadelphia Story (Elizabeth Imbrie) Present Laughter (Miss Erickson, Lady Saltburn) Recent Tragic Events (Nancy) The 1940s Radio Hour (Assistant Director) The Highest Tide (Assistant Director) The Stardust Christmas Blizzard (Joy Higgsby) The Stardust Christmas Commotion (Joy Higgsby) The Stardust Christmas Dazzle (Joy Higgsby-McKellan) The Stardust Christmas Enchantment (Joy Higgsby-McKellan) The Stardust Christmas Fandango (Joy Higgsby-McKellan) To Kill a Mockingbird (Assistant Director) Two Gentlemen of Verona (Lucetta / Outlaw #3 / Host)
Edania Liptzin
In 1 season and 8 shows at Harlequin:
A Christmas Carol (Company COVID Safety Manager) Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Sensitivity Consultant/Company COVID Safety Manager) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Company COVID Safety Manager) Murder for Two (Company COVID Safety Manager) Sovereignty (Company COVID Safety Manager) Tenderly (Company COVID Safety Manager) This Flat Earth (Company COVID Safety Manager) Until the Flood (Company COVID Safety Manager)

Alexandria J. Henderson

Alexandria J. Henderson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music – Vocal Performance. During the pandemic Alexandria kept busy developing her craft with the Atlantic Acting School’s inaugural Global Virtual Conservatory. Pre-pandemic credits include Lydia Languish in The Rivals – Seattle Shakespeare Company, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde – Showtunes Theatre Company, and Lorrell Robinson in Dreamgirls – Village Theatre (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical Gregory Award recipient). She is so grateful to her family and support system for keeping her afloat. For more information check her out on the web: www.alexandriajhenderson.
In 2 seasons and 2 shows at Harlequin:
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Billie Holiday) The Stardust Christmas Enchantment (Valerie Camille)

Addison Daniels

Addison Daniels is a jazz lover and proud member of the Latinx and Pacific Islander community. He has been playing piano for 14 years and has won several local music awards for his playing. He has acted in plays and musicals at the young age of five and has recently gotten into directing music. This is Addison’s first time tickling the keys at Harlequin Productions
In 1 season and 1 show at Harlequin:
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Music Director, Piano)

Lamar Lofton

Bassist Lamar Lofton hails from Seattle. After attending prestigious Garfield High School he attended Cornish College of the Arts where he received his BFA in Music Performance. Since then he has performed locally and around the world in various musical settings from musical theatre to international Reggae and Jazz artists including Clinton Fearon, Eek-a-Mouse, John Hicks, Ernestine Anderson, The Abbysinians, Julian Priester, Hadley Caliman, Renee Strange, Cedric Brooks, and many others. Adept at both string and electric bass, his versatility in instruments and musical settings continues to keep him in demand as an accompanist and a leader.
In 1 season and 1 show at Harlequin:

Maria Wulf

Maria is an in-demand drummer, percussionist, and educator throughout the Pacific Northwest. You may recognize her from past Harlequin performances including Dancin’ in the Streets , Dancin’ in the Aisles , Soul on Fire! , A Stardust Homecoming , Sixties Kicks! , A Stardust Christmas Carol , and Summer in the Sixties. Outside of Olympia she has performed in such venues as The Earshot Jazz Festival, Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, The Triple Door, The Seattle Art Museum, and Tula’s. Nationally, she has performed on stages in New York City and at the Women In Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Her original compositions have been performed at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts and have been featured on KPLU’s Jazz Northwest. As an educator, Maria has served on the faculties at Pacific Lutheran University, Pierce College, and St. Martin’s University. She is a proud director of the all women big band the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra and is currently adjunct instrumental jazz and percussion faculty at South Puget Sound Community College.
In 6 seasons and 8 shows at Harlequin:
A Stardust Christmas Carol (Joy Ludwig / drums) A Stardust Homecoming (Joy Ludwig (drums)) Dancin' in the Aisles (Band) Dancin' in the Streets (Drums) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Drums) Sixties Kicks! (self) Soul on Fire! (Drums) Summer in the Sixties (Drums)
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More Info

Watch the "Lady Day" Promo Teaser!
"Lady Day" runs October 29 - November 27, 2021 at the State Theater in downtown Olympia, WA. Starring Alexandria J. Henderson* as Billie Holiday.
More info