Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed

Wilbur J. Mole Rat, Jr. -
LaDareon Copeland (LD) is one of the Teaching Artist Fellows and is so excited to be appearing in "Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed". This Georgia peach graduated from Young Harris College in 2016. While there, he performed in multiple productions such as "Rent" (Tom Collins), "The Producers" (Carmen Ghia), and "Fences" (Jim Bono) where his school had the first fully African American cast production and was nominated for an Irene Ryan scholarship. He also was blessed to make his directorial debut at his college with "Songs for a New World". After graduation, LD worked for multiple children’s theaters such as First Stage Children’s Theater, Missoula Children’s Theatre, CLIMB Theatre in Minnesota, and Bay Area Children’s Theater where he originated the role of Ramone in "Peg + Cat Live". When he is not performing on The Rose stage, he also performs as Rustina Roze promoting equality, body positivity and love. He is so thankful for this opportunity to work with such an amazing cast. He would like to thank his cast and crew for being such a supportive team.

Grande Mole Rat/H&M Singer 4 -
Are you ready to ROCK! Alease is from Fayetteville, North Carolina. She graduated from Fayetteville State University with a BA in Theatre and a minor in Dance in 2015. Since graduating Alease has taught Theatre and Dance for the NC Public school System for 5 Years. She also freelance as a director, choreographer, stage manager and teaching artist North Carolina, Up State New York & Pennsylvania. Before arriving at The Rose her most recent projects include “Footloose” at South View High School, “Disney’s Frozen Jr”, " Disney's Aladdin Jr",School House Rock Live" at Temple Theatre and “Anansi and Friends” at Fayetteville State University. In Fall of 2019 Alease made her way to The Rose Theater to start as a Teaching Artist Fellow. While at The Rose Alease has directed DAR Production of "Sherlock Holmes and The First Baker Street Irregular", performed in A Bucket of Blessings (as Baby Elephant/Peacock), and the Metro Tour Show of "The Mysterious Case Files of Sliver Cash Money Detective (Various Characters)". First Alease would like to thank her students, family and friends back in NC for always believing in her. And last but not least her Rose family for supporting her in her fellowship,acting, and new career journey. This summer Alease will be returning to NC to work as The Director of Education at Temple Theatre.

Venti Mole Rat/H&M Singer 5 -
Garett Garniss is excited to return to The Rose Theatre as a mole rat! Garett’s last performance at The Rose was Starkey the Pirate in "Peter Pan". Since his graduation from UNO in 2016, Garett has worked in several different productions around the community including: Egeus/Peter Quince in "Darkness Like a Dream" at the Omaha Fringe Festival, Labeau in "Incident at Vichy" and Cripple Billy in "The Cripple of Inishmaan" at Brigit St. Brigit Theatre company, Friar Anthony/French Soldier in "King John" at Nebraska Shakespeare, and assistant director of "Eminent Domain" at Omaha Community Playhouse. Garett is currently and Educational Assistant at Loveland Elementary where he directed "The Jungle Book -Kids!" and assistant directed "Aladdin -Kids!"

Tall Mole Rat/H&M Singer 3 -
Shannon grew up and trained in Southern California. After graduating from school she joined The Young Americans to train and travel all over the world. After participating as a guest artist and educator in the US, UK, and Japan, she then took off to finish her education. As of this May, she graduated from Midland University with a Bachelors Degree in Arts Management. During her time there, she had the opportunity to play some noteworthy roles. Some of which included Mrs. Peacock in "Clue on Stage", Queen Aggravain in "Once Upon a Mattress", Mrs. Meers in "Thoroughly Modern Millie", and Aldonza in "The Man of LaMancha". She joined The Rose last season for her debut as The Manager in "Elf the Musical", and has since become a guest educator for Musical Theater Classes. She sincerely hopes you enjoy today’s production, and thanks you for your support.

Grand-Pah Mole Rat/Stark Naked/
Naked Mole Rat 4/H&M Singer 2/Announcer -
Joey Hartshorn is grateful to step onto The Rose stage again after being part of the delightful show "Ella Enchanted" as the Wicked Stepmother. Brand spanking new to the area, she is excited and honored to be part of the Omaha theatre scene. She was recently seen in OCP’s "Once" (Baruska) and in "Ragtime" (Emma Goldman), she received the Barbara Ford Award for the 2018-2019 Season at OCP for her role as Marge in "Bridges of Madison County".
Some favorite past roles include, Penelope Pennywise ("Urinetown"), Nellie Lovett ("Sweeny Todd"), Margaret White ("Carrie the Musical"), Vivian Bearing ("Wit"), Becca ("Rabbit Hole") God of Carnage ("Annette"), Sheila ("Boys Next Door") Pirates of Penzance ("Ruth") and some favorite directing credits include Greenday’s "American Idiot", "Dogfight", "Spring Awakening", "Heathers", "Closetland", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Next to Normal".
Joey is currently the worship leader at St. Paul’s United Methodists Church in Papillion, a vocal artist with Resonance and a teaching artist with OCP.
She is grateful to her family and friends for their love and support and would like to thank all those involved in "Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed" for making this a rewarding experience. Thank you for supporting local theatre!

Weather Mole/Naked Mole Rat 5/
H&M Singer 1/Potential Customer/Secret Service -
Jessica is thrilled to be back on The Rose Stage for this super fun rock musical!! She is originally from Maine and has been involved in professional theater since the age of 3. You may have seen her on stage or assistant directing shows here at The Rose, such as "Good Night Moon", "Babe The Sheep Pig", "Wynken, Blynken and Nod", "Curious George and The Golden Meatball", "Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt", "Thumbelina", "Go Dog Go", "The Cat In The Hat", "Bucket of Blessings" and "Elf the Musical"! She is an ensemble member of Kerfuffle (a theater company for the very young), has been the voice for commercials and videos in the Omaha Metro area as well as worked on shows for CBS and the Discovery Channel. She is a fiber artist and educator and when not directing, designing, writing or on stage Jessica enjoys spending time with her two amazing artistic daughters Jules and Jocey, her fluffle farm of adorable dwarf English angora bunnies, and knitting away every other free moment while finding joy always in the journey! She’d love to thank her family and friend for believing in her & allowing her to dance amongst the stars.

Director -
Caulene hails from Fruitland Park, Florida. She graduated in 2013 from Flagler College with a Bachelor’s in Communication (focus cinema and media studies) and Theatre Arts. Since graduation, she freelanced as a director, scenic artist, and teaching artist in Pennsylvania and Alabama. Caulene arrived in Omaha in 2014 as a Teaching Artist Fellow with The Rose Theater, and has worked as a teaching artist with the company since. She earned her Masters in Theatre Management at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2019, and served as a co-artistic director of RESPECT for 2 years. She has appeared locally as an actor, director, and puppeteer. Some favorite theatrical projects include: "Prancer" (Prancer Puppeteer 2; world premiere at The Rose Theater), "Sherlock Holmes and the First Baker Street Irregular" (Wiggins; world premiere at The Rose Theater), "Walk the Night: Visions of Shadows" (Lysandra; immersive theatre project presented by the Blue Barn Theatre), and "The Woodsman" (Witch Puppeteer, Tinker, Ensemble; Strangemen Theatre Company, presented by the Blue Barn Theatre).