Professor House
by Jacob Juntunen
directed by Sam Hayes
This production made possible by the Regional Arts Council of St. Louis (RAC), Fractured Atlas, generous individual sponsors, and the collaborative St. Louis theatre community.
Special Thanks
The Chapel
Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RAC)
Artistic Director 50th Birthday Campaign Donors
Fractured Atlas
SATE Theatre Ensemble
Ellie Schwetye
Pam Braet
Winter Opera Theatre
New Jewish Theatre
St. Louis Shakespeare Festival
Day Spring Academy J. Horton Prop Warehouse
Hi/Tec Copy Center
Professor House Ensemble
Jacob Juntunen
Playwright
Before Jacob Juntunen was a father heading the playwriting MFA at SIU and living in St. Louis, he was a 1970s California kid watching PBS puppets. In the 1990s, Jacob was a high school dropout making sandwiches at a deli in Portland. The teachers at Clackamas Community College and Edward Albee saved him. In 1998, he saw a VHS tape of Tadeusz Kantor’s theatre and that made him live in Poland repeatedly. His plays include See You in a Minute (St. Louis Theater Circle Awards Outstanding New Play nomination, 2024), 18 Months After November, Hath Taken Away, In the Shadow of His Language, and Joan’s Laughter. He founded Contraband Theatre in 2016. You can read his plays on New Play Exchange. www.jacobjuntunen.com
Sam Hayes
Director
Sam Hayes (director) is thrilled to be working with Contraband on this new play after directing the workshop back in January. Since moving to St. Louis, directing credits include: Madam at Fly North Theatricals, Into the Breeches at Kirkwood Theatre Guild, Title of Show at Prism Theatre Company, Shakespeare Speedrun - Julius Caesar at Greenfinch, Spring Awakening and Dead Girls No Mothers at Over Due Theatre Company, and Can’t Unsee for Confluence New Play Festival during their directing fellowship for St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s 2021 season. They graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with dual BFAs in Performance and Costume Design & Technology.
Reagan Posey-Mank
Stage Manager
Reagan Posey-Mank (Stage Manager) was so thrilled to be invited to join the team for Professor House! Recently, Reagan has served as a Production Assistant for Hamlet at St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Assistant Stage Manager for Salome at Union Avenue Opera, and was a part of the cast for the LaBute New Theater Festival 2025 at St. Louis Actors' Studio. Reagan directs the amazing students at Bayless School District in Affton, MO. She'd like to thank her wife, Lauren, for being her number one supporter.
Erik Kuhn
Set Design & Tech Direction
Erik has been a technical director, scenic & lighting designer, fight director, stage combat instructor, and/or actor on projects with professional companies and educational institutions all across St. Louis. Recent credits include Set Design for Classic Adventure Movie (SATE) & Fight Director for Hadestown (Nerinx Hall) and Macbeth (Saint Louis University). He also regularly teaches at various workshops for Dueling Arts International, through which he is recognized as an Advanced Theatrical Combatant & Full Instructor.
Theresa Comstock
Lighting Design
Theresa Comstock (she/her) is a lighting and scenic designer who worked in both Chicago and Kansas City prior to joining the faculty at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the St. Louis Metro Area.
Some of her favorite productions to have worked on were Horse Power at The Coterie in Kansas City, Green Book Wine Club Train Trip at the Kansas City Melting Pot Theater, Ubu Roi with the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, and Of Mice and Men with Monomoy Theater in Cape Cod. Theresa earned her MFA in Theater Design and Technology from Northern Illinois University.
Jen Blum-Tatara
Costume Design
Jen Blum-Tatara (Costume Designer) is so excited to be collaborating with Contraband! As a professional costumer who has been working in the St. Louis area for almost a decade, Jen has met and worked with many talented performers and artists throughout the years. She loves to "play" in any way she can, from designing costumes to parodying the show she’s running with other backstage technicians. Jen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Theater and English Literature from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and she has returned annually to her alma mater to design costumes for the Cougar Theater Camp every summer. Recent projects include Die Zauberflöte (Winter Opera St. Louis), Shrek Jr (Gateway Center Performing Arts), and Chicago: Teen Edition (Edwardsville High School). When not working, Jen prefers to spend her time at home reading alongside her loving husband and three adorable pets.
Ellie Schwetye
Sound Design
Ellie Schwetye has previously collaborated with Contraband Theatre on See You in a Minute and Bawdologs (St Lou Fringe). Other sound design projects include working with SATE, New Jewish Theatre, Prison Performing Arts, The Black Rep, Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis, The Midnight Company, West End Players Guild, Albion Theatre, and Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre.
Katie Orr
Props/Set Dressing/Asst. TD
Katie Orr is a designer, painter, theatre-marketing aficionado, and graduate from Stephens College. As a theatre advocate and native St. Louisan, it’s her passion to highlight local theatre. Though she is a designer/technician for many companies in the St. Louis community, she now resides full-time as the Technical Director for DaySpring Arts & Education. Some design credits include: Into the Woods (New Jewish Theatre Company), Spells of the Sea (Metro Theatre Company), Galileo Galilei (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Forgottonia (Fly North Theatricals), and Newsies (Missouri Baptist University).
Maida Dippel
Playing TOMMI
ReMaida Dippel (Tommi) is so excited to be acting in their first Contraband show! A proud St. Louisan since 2018, some recent acting credits include Frances in Critique Theatre Company’s production of “Slasher”, Elektra in “Elektra (Elektra’s Version)” also with Critique Theatre Company, and Anna in “Lieblingstante” for the Aphra Behn Festival produced by SATE. Maida is so excited to share this beautiful play with the St. Louis community, and they also really want you to follow them on Instagram (maida.dippel). Huge shout out to their friends, family, Sam and Jacob (along with the rest of the crew who made this show happen), and their two cats, Zucchini and Miss Lady. Enjoy the show!
Ben Ritchie
playing PETER
Ben Ritchie has been haunting St. Louis theaters for just over twenty years. In that time, he has communed with Weird Sisters, participated in a Crucible of witch trials, investigated the Dark Matters of an alien abduction, and even battled the undead Dracula (and won!). It's likely that he's even voiced an omniscient mechanical fortune teller at an amusement park where several teenagers tragically met their ends...but he'll never admit to it. Ben is grateful to Sam and Jacob and everyone at Contraband for allowing him to play along as new spirits are exorcised during this ghastly Halloween season. Much love to Nicole, and the little demons, Sass and Buster.
Claire Coffey
playing LILLIAN
Claire Coffey (Lillian) is primarily a Stray Dog Theatre girlie, credits with them including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Mousetrap, and Bell, Book & Candle (Theatre Circle Award Nominee: Best Leading Actress in a Comedy). Other shows include Twelfth Night at Clayton Community Theatre (Arts for Life Award winner: Outstanding Leading Actress in a Comedy) and the 2025 Labute New Works Fest with St. Louis Actors' Studio. Thanks to the entire cast and crew for their hard work on this show, and, as always, much love to Josh and the kitties.
Sadie Harvey
playing ROSAMOND
Sadie Harvey is a 2022 graduate of SIUE with a degree in theater performance. Recent acting credits include Cynthia in Wrens (Prism Theatre Company), Angel in Finale (West End Players Guild), and Beliné in The Imaginary Invalid (SIUE). She recently assistant directed [title of show] (Prism Theatre Company). Her intimacy direction credits include Am I Dangerous? (Contraband Theatre) and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (SIUE SETO). She has also stage managed A Little Night Music (Union Avenue Opera), Much Ado About Nothing (SIUE), and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (SIUE SETO). Sadie is honored to share this experience with such an amazing group of artists and is deeply grateful to Jacob and e.k. for the safe, welcoming space they’ve built through Contraband Theatre.
Ron Baker
Playing LOUIE
Ron Baker is honored to be working with Contraband Theatre and its wonderful team to be a part of
this exciting and complex original production, “Professor House” as Louie. Having worked with
several theatre companies over the course of a decade, Ron is a progressive St. Louis performer
having fullled many gratifying roles such as Ezra in “A Change is Gonna Come?” apart of the 2025
Social Justice Shorts Play Festival, Amen in “The New Black Fest’s Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7
Testaments”, Darryl in “A Post Racial America: Vol. 1”, Ensemble cast in the play festival,
“#Enough”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in “The Mountaintop”, Alan in “God of Carnage”, and many
more to claim including a slew of student directed projects, audio projects, commercials, short
lms, and web series from the KC to STL region.
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Taijha Silas
playing WILLA
Taijha Silas (They/She) is an STL transplant from Southern Louisiana and received their bachelor's in Directing and Musical Theatre from Northwestern State University. After college, Taijha moved to St. Louis to start working with the Saint Louis Black Repertory Theatre as an Acting and Marketing Fellow. During her time in Saint Louis, Taijha has performed with companies such as The Black Rep, New Jewish Theatre, & Jest Murder Mystery Company, and now Comtraband Theatre! When Taijha is not performing, they have been able to work with companies such as The Metro Theatre Company, First Run Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, The Fabulous Fox, St.Louis Shakespeare Festival and The Muny using their proficiencies in tech theatre & Directing! Taijha also works at The Repertory Theatre of Saint as the Production Associate. Taijha is beyond blessed and thankful to everyone who supports them in their career and can’t wait for you to enjoy their work! You can follow Taijha’s career journey through instagram: @taijha.silas
Sarvin Parvis
Assistant Stage Manager
Sarvin Parviz (she/her) is a multi-genre writer, multimedia artist & collaborator born in Tehran, Iran. Her repertoire includes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, libretti, plays, collages and time-based art. She is the winner of Graduate and Professional Council Award in Creative Activities and a semifinalist in the European Opera-directing Prize who recently developed her first opera at Guerilla Opera Writing Collective and a song cycle at FUSE: Collaborations in Song. She holds an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and currently is based in Saint Louis. Her work has appeared in Roi Fainéant Literary Press, The Indianapolis Review, Apple Valley Review among others with more forthcoming in Fall/Winter 2026.
Mikayla Delos-Santos
House Manager
Mikayla Delos-Santos is a playwright and director born and raised in Colorado Springs. Throughout her thirteen years in the theatre arts, Mikayla has started a theater company, directed three shows, taught youth acting classes, and performed in several on-stage productions. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting for the Stage and Screen and is working toward her Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting at Southern Illinois University. Instagram: @mikayladelossantos.playwright.
e.k. doolin
Producer & Dramaturg
e.k. doolin, she/her, is a theatre artist living in the Midwestern United States, near St. Louis, Missouri. Her artistic aesthetic centers around humor, hope, humility, and curiosity. e.k. received her MFA in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University in 2024 (Go Salukis!) While in grad school, she had the honor of attending the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Shout Out: Region 3!) for her plays Running Uphill to Smooth Criminal and Waiting for Hecate. Waiting for Hecate was commissioned by Prison Performing Arts of St. Louis and is digitally available on their website (prisonperformingarts.org). e.k. is an alumnus of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Confluence Writers Group, where she developed her play Titania and Oberon’s Epic (therapy) Road Trip. Her play, Am I Dangerous? had its World Premiere with Contraband Theatre (St. Louis) in 2024 and was nominated in the category of Outstanding New Play by the St. Louis Theater Circle. Her short play Energy will be featured in the 2025 Prism Theatre New Play Festival. The St. Louis Post Dispatch named her one of “5 Playwrights You Should Know” (January 2025). Follow @ekdoolinplaywright on Insta.
Meghann Pytka
Contraband Executive Officer
As Executive Officer, Meghann was the primary author and recipient of the RAC Program Grant that was the major funding resource for this production.
Thank You To The Donors Who Made This Production Possible.Contraband Theatre believes in the practice of radical hospitality for our artists and our audience. We are able to accomplish this in part through the radical generosity of our donors.
We would like to thank the following donors for their Radical Generosity
Here is our Supporter Wall from the Professor House: Artistic Director's 50th Birthday Campaign:
Sheila Moeschen
Stacey Campbell
Rachel Hanks
Albert James Fisher
Susan Mach
Martine Green-Rogers
Daniel S Dent
Diane Fairchild
Rory Leahy
Elyzabeth Wilder
John Perovich
Annie Howell
Joan Lipkin
Richard O’Shaughnessy
Kate Piatt-Eckert
Andrew Black
Sarah Bowden
Cecilie Keenan
Daniel Smith
Robert Koon
Rebecca Udden
Erin Burden
Megan Gogerty
George Cederquist
Peter Moore
Brent Long
David Dudley
Jaime and Macklen Gray
Emily McConnell
Katherine Zien
Laura Starr
Jack Rimar
Jenn Remke
Jack Juntunen
Kalon Kelley
And our eight anonymous donors