Mwahhh! to our generous, talented Naptown actors

PERFORMING JULY 17, 2025

Allen is an Indianapolis-based performer recently seen as the voice of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors at Indiana Repertory Theatre, in The Wizard of Oz at Beef and Boards Dinner Theater, Belize in Angels in America, and in Working: The Musical with Actors Theatre of Indiana. He is also a featured vocalist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s annual production of AES Indiana Yuletide Celebration. Allen studied Acting at Chicago College of Performing Arts. Allen’s love of reading was shaped in his teenage years when he came across the book Black Boy by Richard Wright on his cousin’s bookshelf. Since then he has fallen in love with everything from James Baldwin to Mary Oliver and, most recently, Ocean Vuong. He also loves the writings of playwrights such as Suzanne Lori Parks, August Wilson and Brandon Jacob Jenkins.

PERFORMING JULY 17, 2025

Emily is the Artistic Director and Founder of Summer Stock Stage, the resident theater company at the Butler Center for the Arts. Over more than two decades, Emily has directed and produced close to 50 musicals. Emily is an accomplished actor, singer and voiceover artist. With a professional career that began at Walt Disney World, Emily has been a member of Actors Equity Association since 1997. Some favorite roles include Diana in Next to Normal, Phoebe in As You Like It, Kate Monster in Avenue Q and Helen in Fun Home. Emily spent 8 holiday seasons performing in Indiana Repertory Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol. She had a long career as a studio singer recording for Music Theater International’s Broadway Jr. Series and has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Emily lives close to extended family in Midtown Indianapolis with her husband Ben and two daughters, Tess and Violet.

PERFORMING JULY 17, 2025

Morgan (she/her) has been a theatre actor in the surrounding area since 2017, working with several local companies including American Lives Theatre, Summit Performance and Indy Shakes. See her next in a Matt Kraft original show Doctors of Sketch Comedy at the IndyFringe Festival! (But only come if you plan on laughing at all her jokes.) Morgan's current fiction obsession is the Thursday Murder Club and anything by Louise Erdrich. She also never misses an opportunity to plug Danielle Sered's book Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair — it'll change your life.

MAY 1, 2025

Diane is a producer, actor, director and voiceover artist, and Chair of Theatre at Butler University. A Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, Diane teaches voice for the actor and an array of acting classes at Butler. Her acting credits include roles at many Chicago theatres, the Human Race Theatre in Ohio, the Phoenix Theatre, and the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, where she served as artistic director for a decade. As a kid, Diane loved historical biographies and all the James Herriot books. As a young adult, Diane enjoyed everything from Jane Austen and Emily Bronte to John Irving and John Updike to Flannery O'Connor and Salman Rushdie and many more. She’s excited to be entering a season where reading for pleasure can return to her life and welcomes any and all suggestions for wonderful books to read. (Just nothing too scary, please.)

MAY 1, 2025

Constance was a prolific actor for 30 years around Indy and throughout the country. For the past 3 years, she has served as the Christel DeHaan Artistic Director at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre. She is a 2014 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, a two-time Arts Council of Indianapolis Creative Renewal Fellow, and was honored by the Indianapolis Foundation as an Indy Theatre MVP at their 100th birthday party. An avid reader, she thinks often of stories she’s read throughout her life, especially during her formative years, such as The Yellow Wallpaper, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Young Goodman Brown, and The Lottery. She is currently reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.

MAY 1, 2O25

Ryan is a local actor who has appeared in many performances at local theatres, including the IRT, the Phoenix, Summit, and Indy Shakes. He is also the executive artistic director of Indy Shakes (Indianapolis Shakespeare). His favorite short story author is Flannery O'Connor; favorite essayist/poet, Ross Gay; favorite novelist, William Faulkner; favorite recent-ish novel, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.

FEB. 27, 2025

A devilishly handsome and absurdly charming storyteller, Clay has been appearing on various Indianapolis stages for the past 15 years. Clay’s favorite authors include Robert Heinlein, and he says he is delighted to be part of Naptown Story Hour.

(Clay performed Tobias Wolff’s Bullet in the Brain.)

FEB. 27, 2025

Bridget is a theatre actor/director and voice actor. Local acting credits include Admissions and Gloria with American Lives Theatre, and MaryJane with Summit Performance. Bridget also directed American Lives' production of Predictor.  Bridget's current reading obsession is Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. 

(Bridget conjured the lusty protagonist in her performance of Erin Somers’ The Ten Year Affair.)

FEB. 27, 2025

Bill has been an actor, director and acting teacher for many years and now leads Bill Simmons Consulting to work with nonprofits to grow financial resources to achieve their missions. His upcoming directing projects include 4000 Miles for the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington (May 2025) and the world premiere of The Magnificent Fall with JoJo Tombilben Theatricals at the Phoenix Theatre (July 2025). 

(Bill had us questioning what love looks like during his performance of Etgar Keret’s Fatso.)