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| Director | Heddy Vernon |
| Asst Director | L'Tanya Van Hamersveld |
| Sandy Amanda Jillian Lisa Vanessa Natalie Janet Beth Extra Extra Extra Music Dance |
Ariel Gibson Jessica Charapata L'Tanya Van Hamersveld Natasha Lee Mel Azizi Abigail Fletcher Joy Steiner Heddy Vernon Janese Nix Lynne Magrill Brie Hinman Jessica Charapata Brie Hinman |
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Heddy
has loved
theater for as long as she can remember. She has acted for over half
her life and loves doing community theater. This is the second
year she has directed BIRTH and is elated with the cast. She is also
thrilled that she gets to be in the play this time around. Heddy brings
her love of
theater and art to children through Gainesville Creative Kids and is
excited to see GCK grow into a unique and beautiful community arts
program.
She has lived in Gainesville since coming here for college in 1990. She married a 'native' and got sucked into the Gainesville black hole. She loves the community and friends she has here and can't imagine living anywhere else. She has two wonderful daughters who make her life magical. Isabel (7) was born via emergency c-section after laboring naturally for 34 hours and pushing for 4. Sophia (4) was born via scheduled c-section. She is thankful that her beautiful daughters are healthy and hopes that they are able to have a more natural birth experience. Heddy gives thanks to her amazing family for their support in this adventure. |
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L'Tanya has given birth twice. The first pregnancy had her feeling very weak and anemic. She was on bed rest for several weeks. Then, she labored and delivered a beautiful baby girl in 3 hours without an epidural. The second pregnancy gave her a lot of energy. She just knew she was going to have a boy this time, but the baby was constantly in her rib cage sometimes cutting off her air supply. The labor and delivery was just like the first except that she would pass-out between each push. She had another beautiful baby girl. L'Tanya holds a BA in Theatre from California State University and an MFA in Theatre & Dance from the University of Florida. L'Tanya is an experienced theatre professional who loves to dance and has directed and choreographed works for many schools, community groups, and civic organizations. She also owns her own theater company, Act Reel. |
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Jessica
is thrilled to be part of BOLD again this year. She studied acting,
dance, and fiction writing in both Chicago and New York. Her background
has been regional theater and Off-Off-Broadway in New York as well as
commercial and film work in Chicago. She has participated in the NYC
Fringe Festival and favorite roles include: Estelle in Sartre's No
Exit, Abigail in The Crucible and Buddy Layman in The Diviners where
she played a boy!
Upon becoming pregnant with her first child in Chicago she decided to move to Florida to be closer to her family and raise her children in a smaller town setting. She has two daughters Sage Aria (3 yrs.) came after 15 hours of labor and Avalon Grace (1 yr.) came after an emergency C-section. She is excited to be involved in this production and to know so many beautiful and empowering women! |
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Joy
is an acolyte actress who appears in life, advocates free will, and is
proud to be a part of this production.
Eleven years ago, Joy pushed 4 hours on her back in a hospital bed and out came an occiput-posterior, cone-headed, 9 lbs. baby, Gabe. Joy is grateful that the nurses didn't formula feed him and she got to connect with Gabe by nursing after he was away from her for 3 hours after birth. Four years ago, after laboring in the water, Joy gave birth naturally, on hands and knees, to Layla. With baby Avi, in 2006, Joy faced last minute big baby C-section pressure. One week past her due date, Joy woke up, still not in labor. Visualizing how labor feels, she started up her contractions and pushed out Avi 12 hours later, in a full squat position, another water birth. Delivered at home, perfectly, in love and with trust, with a cord around his neck, her 10 lbs. baby's apgar was 10. "I hope that Birth empowers people to support the need for all voices to be heard empathetically. Let's collectively all slow down, listen, and trust women-birth is a normal life process!", says Joy. |
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Ariel
is thrilled to be exercising her creative muscles once
again, while
supporting her passion - empowering women to make informed
decisions about their bodies. Ariel decided to postpone her plan to
become a midwife when she discovered she was pregnant almost 4 years
ago. So for now, she is fully committed to mothering, homeschooling,
and becoming a more conscious and compassionate human being. Ariel's vision of a natural birth at a birth center was shattered when she thought her water had broken but did not ask for a test because she didn't want to inconvenience anyone. When she didn't progress as planned, she was sent to the hospital for a cascade of interventions. After signing the consent form for an emergency c-section, Ariel managed to push out Cora Fay vaginally with a 4th degree tear. Ariel is doing everything possible to prepare herself physically, mentally, and emotionally to reach her goal of having a peaceful homebirth for her second child. She wants to thank her husband Bobby for his enduring support through every one of her obsessions, hobbies, and crazy diets. |
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Melanie
has been acting
since she was 10 and can honestly say that it is her ultimate passion
in
life. As an actress she is constantly looking to improve by
taking on
roles that challenge her. Stumbling upon BIRTH has definitely
provided her with a challenging role, Vanessa. She
has
grown
to love this
character, and only hopes that she can portray her as the
strong, independent, loving and determined woman that she is. She is currently a senior at the University of Florida majoring in Telecommunications with a focus on Broadcast News. This play has been a wonderful experience. Having never given birth, it has really educated Melanie on her body and the experience of birth as a whole. She thinks everyone should see this play, because birth is a part of all of our lives, in one way or another. |
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Natasha is a woman who wears many hats. She is the Pastor of a local church, Love of God Outreach Ministries. She is the Operations Manager and Co-owner with her husband of SuperGlo Cleaning Services. She is a certified Zumba Instructor, classes held weekly. The wife of one, Terry Lee, and mother of four beautiful, healthy, smart children T'Arial (12), Jawan (9), Elijah (6), & Xzavier (2½). Natasha feels blessed of the Lord to have had all four of her children without any complications. I must say, each birth intensified with pain while decreasing in labor length. I went drug free until the last two where I got an epidural. I figured my tolerance level for pain decreased as I got older. Natasha's
acting experience has been
in school plays and drama classes. She is excited to work BOLD to
help educate women and their families and for an opportunity to hear
her kids say, "Look at what momma can do!" |
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Abigail
was born in
Shands hospital here in Gainesville. Her mother had a natural birth with the lights dimmed, and legend has it that Abigail didn't cry when she was born- she cooed. In contrast to this peaceful beginning, Abigail grew up to become aware of and witness the injustices experienced by women across the world in regards to reproductive health. This is what drove her to become a midwife, to assist women in experiencing safe, empowering and gentle births. Abigail has just moved back to Gainesville after living away for 10 years, and is starting to practice midwifery here. She feels honored to be a part of this performance, and this movement! |
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A
long-time Gainesville
resident, Janese is thrilled to be part of the BIRTH
experience. She is
a strong proponent for the power of the Arts to raise community
awareness. BOLD is an ideal project, combining acting and education,
and getting to fundraise for ICAN. What could be more fun?
Janese was most recently seen in Aural Odyssey at SFCC's Black Box
Theatre. She enjoys dance and acting, and chasing her three children. Since the birth of her first daughter was C-section due to breech position, supporting ICAN has personal significance for her. Although my C-sect recovery was easy and I am infinitely thankful for the health of my daughter, I wanted actively to give birth to my children. I am delighted that is what I got with the hospital VBAC during the birth of my younger daughter and son. |
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Originally from Puerto Rico, Lynn has been in Gainesville for the past 9 years and a registered pharmacist for the past 22 years. As a Pharmacist at Shands UF IV Center Pharmacy, she strongly believes that the patient's safety always comes first and in order to do your best, you don't only need to be 'book wise' but must also be compassionate from the heart. She is a proud Mommy of 3: Jesse (18yrs), Andrew (5 yrs) and Karyn (4yrs). All of them were premature, but healthy babies. Jesse was a breech and emergency C-Section, Andrew was a VBAC with an epidural and Karyn was also a VBAC with an epidural that went wrong. From the 3 experiences, the vaginal deliveries were the best ones. One of my friends served the function of an 'unofficial' doula and because of her encouragement, my whole perspective of giving birth changed. |
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Brie Hinman grew up dancing, singing, and acting. She began combining her three passions into performance art at Indian River Community College. She pursued her degree in dance at the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, where she graduated with her BFA in December 2008. |
This production of BIRTH is co-sponsored by the City of Gainesville,
Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.