Ed Blunt (Jeremy Furlow) is making his debut at Missouri Repertory Theatre in Joe Turner's Come and Gone having previously appeared in August Wilson's Two Trains Running at Cleveland Play House. Mr. Blunt's resident theatre credits also include Master Harold and the Boys at Fleetwood Stage, A Lesson Before Dying at Studio Arena Theatre and GeVa Theatre, A Fair Country at Huntington Theatre Company, Measure for Measure at Yale Repertory Theatre, The Grapes of Wrath at Cleveland Play House, and Conviction at Berkshire Theatre Festival. He also has appeared in The Inspector General at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in As You Like It at the Balliol Theatre in Oxford, England. His film and television credits include Bamboozled (directed by Spike Lee), Down, 10 Cents a Can, "100 Centre Street," "Third Watch," and "As the World Turns." Mr. Blunt received his MFA from Yale School of Drama. He also attended British American Drama Academy where he trained with Fiona Shaw and is a graduate of Morehouse College.

Cheryl Lynn Bruce (Bertha Holly) is a longtime leading member of the Chicago acting community where she is artistic associate at the Goodman Theatre. Her most recent roles include Ruby in the Goodman's premiere production (and the subsequent La Jolla Playhouse presentation) of Oo-Bla-Dee, and Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan in Voice of Good Hope at Victory Gardens Theatre. Her other Chicago credits include Fires in the Mirror, Crown Heights Brooklyn and Other Identities, Each One as She May, The Grapes of Wrath, and Cry, The Beloved Country. Ms. Bruce received Washington's Helen Hayes Award, a Chicago Joseph Jefferson Award and a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for her performance in From the Mississippi Delta. At the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, she was featured in Nomathemba with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Her film and television credits include Daughters of the Dust, Music Box, The Fugitive, and "Crime of Innocence," for which she received an Emmy Award.

Natasha Charles (Martha Loomis) has recently appeared as Hester in In the Blood by 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks at the Unicorn Theatre. Her regional credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labours Lost at the Kentucky Shakespeare festival. Ms. Charles is a second-year graduate student in acting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she was recently seen in My Mother Said I Never Should.

Chera Hishaw (Zonia Loomis) has appeared as Lilly in Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse at Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City. She has taken acting classes at the American Heartland Theatre and at Theatre of the Imagination. A sixth grader at St. Peter's Catholic School, Ms. Hishaw enjoys singing, music, and swimming.

John Earl Jelks (Herald Loomis) is making his Missouri Rep debut in Joe Turner's Come and Gone, having previously been featured in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco. He has also appeared in Pill Hill at Chicago Theatre Company, and The Diary of Black Men at Union Square Theatre in New York and the Shaw Theatre in London. Mr. Jelks' film credits include Compensation, My Closest and Dearest Friends, Magic Love, and Tucker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Mr. Jelks trained at San Francisco Theater Arts Training Program, Play Work Productions with Danny Glover, Los Angeles Academy of Theater Arts, and HB Studio with Earl Haymes.

Larry Paulsen (Rutherford Selig) continues his work at Missouri Rep having appeared this season as the Old Shepherd in The Winter's Tale and last season in Machinal. Mr. Paulsen appeared in six Peter Altman productions at the Huntington Theatre Company, including The Mikado, The Shaughraun, the world premiere of The Last Hurrah, Gross Indecency, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Mary Stuart. In New York, Mr. Paulsen has acted in The Kentucky Cycle on Broadway and in Julius Caesar at the New York Shakespeare Festival. His other credits include The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Curse of the Starving Class, and Inspecting Carol at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Changes of Heart at Mark Taper Forum, Death of a Salesman and Pirates at South Coast Repertory, The Tempest at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and the U.S. premiere of Sunsets and Glories, the world premiere of For Our Fathers, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, and Our Country's Good at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle. He is a veteran of eight seasons as a company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has also performed at Arizona Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre, Portland Center Stage, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Alaska Repertory Theatre, and the Empty Space.

Breanna Ransburg (Zonia Loomis) has appeared in various plays and musicals at Pembroke Hill School, where she is in the fourth grade. Ms. Ransburg's interests include vocal music, piano, soccer, and basketball.

Joseph Samuels (Reuben Mercer) has appeared in I Didn't Get No Wake-up Call with MC Players and I Need a Vacation at Wendell Phillips Elementary School in Kansas City. Mr. Samuels, a fifth grader at Three Trails Elementary School, enjoys playing football, baseball, and the saxophone, and is an avid drummer.

Heather Alicia Simms (Molly Cunningham) is appearing for the first time at Missouri Repertory Theatre in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Her stage credits include Breath, Boom at Playwrights Horizons, Insurrection at the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, Spunk at Cincinnati Playhouse, Flyin' West at Stamford Theatre Works, and Splash Hatch on the E Going Down at New York Stage and Film. Ms. Simms' film and television credits include Stompin' Down at Sugar Love's, Muscle Car, "Third Watch," "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Law & Order," and "As the World Turns." She is a graduate of the Columbia University Drama School.

Aaron Thomas (Reuben Mercer) is a sixth grade student at J.S. Chick African-Centered Traditional School, where his second grade teacher encouraged him to become an actor. An assistant patrol leader in Boy Scouts, Mr. Thomas' interests include dancing, singing, and drawing.

Tracie Thoms (Mattie Campbell) is making her debut at Missouri Repertory Theatre in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Ms. Thoms has appeared in Up Against the Wind at New York Theatre Workshop, and her regional credits include A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Marion McClinton, at Baltimore Center Stage, The Oedipus Plays at the Shakespeare Theatre, and HAIR at the Studio Theatre Secondstage in Washington, D.C. Her television credits include "As the World Turns," "Guiding Light," and "As If." Ms Thoms earned her BFA from Howard University and completed her graduate studies at the Julliard School.

Adolphus Ward (Bynum Walker) has previously appeared in three August Wilson dramas: Fences at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Alley Theatre of Houston, Arizona Theatre Company, and Agape Theatre, plus Two Trains Running and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul. Among his many other stage credits are Driving Miss Daisy, Other People's Money, The Amen Corner, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, and The Lion and the Jewel. He has performed in The Great Gilly Hopkins at First Stage Milwaukee and A Lovesong for Miss Lydia at Penumbra. Mr. Ward also has extensive film and television credits. He trained at the Actors Center in New York.

Al White (Seth Holly) originated the role of Memphis Lee in August Wilson's Two Trains Running directed by Lloyd Richards on Broadway and previously in various resident theatres, including the Huntington and Mark Taper Forum, and also has acted in Wilson's The Piano Lesson at South Coast Rep in California. His other stage credits include Richard III, Othello, Street Scene, Cyrano de Bergerac, A Christmas Carol, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Matchmaker, and Desire Under the Elms for American Conservatory Theatre. Mr. White has extensive film and television credits including A Piece of My Heart, Back to the Future II, Airplane!, Airplane II: The Sequel, The Omega Syndrome, Harold and Maude, Red Scorpion, "Seinfeld," "NYPD Blue," "The District," "The King of Queens," "Son of the Beach," "The Young & The Restless," "Moonlighting," and "Hill Street Blues." Mr. White has been honored with a Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent on Broadway.

William D. Carey (Production Stage Manager) continues his work at Missouri Rep having stage managed Blood Wedding last season. Among his professional stage management credits are Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre, Dutchman at Hartford Stage Company, A Midsummer Night's Dream at Court Theatre, Mere Mortals and The Old Settler at Chicago's Organic Theatre, and The Woman in Black and Blithe Spirit at Peninsula Players Theatre. At American Players Theatre in Wisconsin, Mr. Carey has served as development director, as well as technical director.

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