White Elephant — Cast & Crew | Uptown One Train Theater

Cast

Lydia Sims

as Annie

Lydia Sims is an actor & producer originally from Savannah, GA. Most recent theatre acting credits include Rocks and Geodes (Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research), Nesting (Vino Theatre), and Erase Erase (Grace Exhibition Space). Most recent producing credits include Take Me to Dollywood (LaMama Experimental Theatre Club). She is currently in production for season two of her web series SHREWS (first season on YouTube!). lydiacsims.com · @lydiacsims

Amelia Mason

as Louisa

Amelia Mason is an NYC-based actor, dancer, and singer originally from Burlington, VT. Most recently, she's performed at Royal Family Theater, 54 Below, The Tank, New Circle Theatre, and MOtiVE Brooklyn. She holds a BA in Theatre and minors in Dance and Sociology from Barnard College of Columbia University, and trained at the British American Drama Academy in London. ameliarmason.com

Will Nussbaum

as Harry

Will Nussbaum is an actor and writer from DC. He graduated from Brown University in 2024, during which time he played Conrad in Stupid Fucking Bird (Something on the Green), Narrator in Every Brilliant Thing (directed by Zoe Redlich), and was a part of Starla and Sons Improv and Out of Bounds Sketch Comedy. Will is passionate about poetry, doodling, and being a positive role model for his cat. He will be starting full time at the Esper Studio in the fall.

Creative Team

Annie Stein

Playwright

Annie Stein is a producing member of Uptown One Train. White Elephant is her first full-length play to have a production! She developed it with Uptown One's inaugural playwriting cohort, as well as Trove Theater Collective. Before all of that, her one-act The Ghost of Bob Dylan Shows One of Us Greatness was a finalist in the 2025 Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series. More recently, she was a finalist for the 2026 Red Bull Theater Short New Play Festival. She has worked with the Episodic Theatre Project, Williamstown Theater Festival, and Brown University's Something on the Green, in roles varying in title but equal in fun.

Sarah Marlin

Director

Sarah Marlin is an artist and arts administrator from Saratoga Springs, NY. She directs and makes plays and performances. She is also a co-founder of Pizza Party Press, a multi-media live arts & events producing duo with Salwa Meghjee. She sometimes hosts salon Soup to Nuts in her Crown Heights apartment. Her writing was featured in The New York Times Tiny Love Stories 6 years ago. She's worked for the Troy Music Hall, Yaddo, and is currently at Lincoln Center Theater. Her favorite seltzer flavor is vanilla. Thank you, Nora Ephron! @soupmarlin

Keelin Gaughan

Stage Manager & Props Designer

Keelin Gaughan (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based stage manager & scenic designer. She works as the Technical Director of Middle and Upper School Drama at the Brearley School, where she has recently worked on Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, Seussical! the Musical & David Adjmi's Marie Antoinette. Recent credits include Accidental Evils' Henry IV: Part I (stage manager), Someplace Fun: An Evening Length Opera at The Cell (scenographer), and Cyrano de Bergerac at Brown University (stage manager & set designer).

Lauren Lee

Lighting Designer

Lauren Lee is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer. Recent credits include The Anatomy of Melancholy (IATI), The Twelve Minor Prophets (JACK), Gray Mud (Theater for the New City), Indian Princesses (associate, The Atlantic), Mexodus (associate, Daryl Roth Theater). BFA in Lighting Design and Technology, UNCSA. laurenleelx.com

Isaac DeMarchi

Scenic Designer

Isaac DeMarchi is a multi-disciplinary scenic artist from Washington DC. As a scenic designer, Isaac recently designed sets for The Magic Flute with Amore Opera. In October, Isaac will be designing for Theater In Asylum's production of Faust Syndrome. As a prop designer, Isaac has worked with various companies, such as Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Opera Delaware, and Georgetown University. Isaac has also built props for Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Select credits: Romeo and Juliet, Beaches, and Lost Boys. Additionally, Isaac is the Production Manager and Co-Artistic Director of Four Letter Word. Their next production, Last Night Ever with Mary Mack, is upcoming on June 11th and 12th. demarchidesign.com

Ari Cleveland

Sound Designer

Ari Cleveland is a multi-media artist specializing in sound design, AV production, and direction for theater, comedy, podcasts, and events. They are drawn to works that amplify and celebrate the off-beat and unconventional. Recent projects include On Tuesday We Fight (Soho Playhouse), Needle & Bone (The Flea), This is Not a Death Cult (The Flea), The 24 Hour Musicals (Irondale Space). Ari graduated with a BA from Brown University, and was a part of the 2025 Cohort for 24 Hour Plays: Nationals and named a 2026 Design Wing Fellow for the Great Plains Theatre Commons New Play Festival. @ari.chillicothe

Mila Tardif

Costume Designer

Mila Tardif (they/them) is a NYC-based costume designer, craftsperson, and wardrobe coordinator. Their passion for costuming began at Skidmore College and later led to opportunities at Paper Mill Play House (Assistant Costume Shop Manager), Arel Studio (Wardrobe Coordinator), and Élan Artists (Wardrobe Coordinator & Crafter). As a freelancer, they've hand-painted, rhinestoned, and embellished garments and footwear for Broadway productions (Spamalot, Good Night Oscar, and The Great Gatsby). Currently, they are the Costume Shop Manager at Signature Theatre Company. Select design credits include Dry Land (The Vino Theater), And Baby Makes Seven, Somewhere, Plano, and The Danube (all at JKB Theater).

Producers

Ben Rosenn

Producer

Ben is interested in the intersection of public space, urbanism, and the arts. Outside of his producorial work with Uptown One, his career working to transform public space across the city is rooted in his commitment to world-building, communal play, and spatial equity. He is the Director of Deployments at the clean energy and mobility start-up, PopWheels, by day, and a co-founder of Uptown One Train Theater company by night. Performing since he was 8 years old, some of Ben's favorite credits include Mastiff (The Moors), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), and The Dentist (Little Shop of Horrors). Ben graduated from Brown University with a degree in History and has training in The Meisner Technique, Shakespeare, and musical comedy.

Lydia Riess

Producer

Lydia is a writer, performer, and sometimes director born, raised, and based in New York City. Her original plays include Rocks and Geodes (The Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research), Scorpions Don't Bite (Providence Fringe Festival), RUFUS (Brown University), and The IKEA Play (The National Theater Institute). She's developed work with Invulnerable Nothings, The Connecticut Theater Exchange, and Brown/Trinity's Writing is Live. Her thesis film, This Was Really Great, was an NYCIFF official selection. In all of her work, she draws on her background in sketch comedy and clown.

Elena Messinger

Producer

Elena Messinger is a director, producer, and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Select credits include: Last Laugh (director, upcoming, ZOO Venues); Lost Grrrl Found (producer, TV EYE); nesting (director/writer, Write Club's Play Fest); Dad Don't Read This (producing assistant, St. Luke's); The Moors (producer, Uptown One Train); Climate Controlled Facility with Elevator Access and Other Amenities (director/writer, The Tank); Dr. Ride's American Beach House (director, Columbia University Players); Ivanov (Assistant Director, dir: Laura Strausfeld). Previously, Elena has worked and/or interned for the creative producer Pomegranate Arts, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Clubbed Thumb, and the Redwing Blackbird Theatre.