Special Events

Who’s Who

ROD BROGAN (Jack) Theatre: Legacy Theatre: A Christmas Carol, Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve; Broadway: Mauritius; National Tour: Doubt; Off-Broadway: Beyond The Horizon, The Burial At Thebes (Irish Rep); Mary Broome (Mint Theater); Treasure Island (Irondale Center); Select Regional: The Lehman Trilogy, Network, American Son (Florida Studio Theatre); The Cocktail Hour (Guthrie); The Fox On The Fairway (Riverside Theatre); The Night Alive, Ironbound (City Theatre); Engaging Shaw (Old Globe); Other Desert Cities, Outside Mullingar (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley); Scott and Hem (Contemporary American Theater Festival); Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Ivoryton Playhouse); Moon Over Buffalo (Music Theatre of Connecticut); Film: The Winning Season; Television: Major Dad (series regular), Unforgettable, Oz, Third Watch, One Life To Live, Law & Order; Video Game: Grand Theft Auto V; Training: MFA, The Old Globe/University of San Diego.

STEFANIE E. FRAME (Sue) is so very happy to be working with Legacy on Long Days. Other theatre highlights include: Extinction (Elephant Theatre, LA; Cherry Lane, NYC); Twelfth Night (Lake George Theatre Lab); Tucker in a Box (Collective: Unconscious/The Tank); Love Sick (FringeNYC). Some of her favorite independent film work includes: Gravy; They’re Out of the Business; Happy Hour; Babyland; Hank Boyd is Dead; Unseen. And, although Stefanie has appeared on the small screen, it’s her voice that is kept most busy via commercials, PBS’ NOVA and video games. A graduate of Smith College, she holds a BA in both Theatre and Sociology. Stefanie sends never-ending love and gratitude to her family (Hi, Willa! Hi, Mom!), and to all her friends and mentors who have helped, or whom she has met, along this journey.

DAN FRYE (Wes) is excited to be back for another show at the Legacy. His previous Legacy credits include Beauty and the Beast (The Beast), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Snoopy), The Great Gatsby: A Live Radio Play (Nick Carraway), The Play That Goes Wrong (Trevor), The Tales of Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh (Eeyore), and Sweet Dreams (Dragon). Break a leg to the cast and crew!

THOMAS RUDDEN (Bobby) is elated to be working with Legacy Theatre to bring Long Days to life! He received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts and continued his postgraduate studies at the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer in Oxford acting intensive. Previous credits include Valley Shakespeare Festival’s tour of Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio/Margaret), Twelfth Night (Malvolio), Macbeth (Porter), and Nora: A Doll’s House (Thomas 2). Offstage, you can find him designing costumes and working behind the camera as a writer/director/producer. Thomas is beyond grateful for his family’s love, support, and endless source material.

ANIYA TAYLOR (Vic) is thrilled to be making her debut at Legacy Theatre. A proud NYC native, she has a background in improv and film acting, and is excited to further explore the world of theatre. She can soon be seen in the upcoming short film Babygirl. Aniya is grateful to the director and crew for this opportunity and sends love to her friends and family for their ongoing support.

GABE McKINLEY (Playwright) Gabe McKinley’s plays have been produced nationally and internationally. He has worked with Atlantic Theater Company, Arena Stage, Naked Angels, Premiere Stages, The Old Vic, American Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theater, The LARK, Keen and Red Dog Squadron, among other companies. Some of his plays include The Kitchen Sink Play, Welcome Home Rock Rogers, Funny, Floodplains, The Source and the critically acclaimed Extinction and CQ/CX (John Gassner Outer Critics Award nomination) and his adaptation of Fellini’s La Strada had a sold out run at Tokyo’s Imperial theater.

MICHAEL HOGAN (Director) Primarily an actor, Mr. Hogan began his work as a director in 2016 when he directed the World Premiere of Mark My Worms by Cary Pepper and Winter Break by James Haigney, and the New York City debut of Mark My Worms, all with Labute New Theater Festival, St. Louis Actors Studio. As a performer: NYC, World Premieres of Neil Labute’s Kandahar and What Happens in Vegas, St. Louis Actors Studio/ NYC; Extinction, by Gabriel McKinley, Cherry Lane Theater; Welcome to Arroyo’s, SPF/NYC; Last Day, Audax Theater Co.; We Rule the Planet, Slovin and Allen, Here Theater. Regionally: Masters of Puppets, Legacy Theater; A Man’s a Man, Arena Stage; Biloxi Blues, Geva Theater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis. Film: Clean Hands, Hank Boyd Is Dead, Staten Island, Coffee and Cigarettes, I Don’t Know How She Does It, Kensho at the Bedfellow. Television: Paradise, A Million Little Things, Murderville, The Resident (as Dr. Albert Nolan, Trauma Attending), Genius: Aretha Franklin, Chicago, P.D., Psych, Shooter, Rosewood, The Kill Point (as SWAT officer Hawk), The Sopranos, Law and Order, C.I. Thank you to Keely Baisden Knudsen and the Legacy Theater for continuing to produce original plays and playwrights. For P.A.H.

JAMIE BURNETT (Set and Lighting Design) is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, recipient of the 2005 New Haven Arts award, and Founding member of The Elm Shakespeare Company. Lighting Designer at Elm Shakespeare for 26 years and Set Designer until 2009. Lighting Design credits include International Festival of Arts and Ideas 2018, Requiem for an Electric Chair; Iseman Theater 2017, Never Stand Still. CCT: Skeleton Crew, Rasheeda Speaking, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Sunset Baby, Topdog/Underdog. SCSU: Stop Kiss, Much Ado About Nothing, The Boyfriend, and Our Country’s Good. SHU: In The Heights, Jesus Christ Superstar. Citywide Open Studios: New Haven Armory; Projects2k: Stamford Train Station Façade Lighting; Producer/Lighting Designer/Production Manager for Terra Tractus (The Earth Moves) (2005), Terra Mirabila (2001), Terra Lumina and Terra Continuum (1999): performed in the Stony Creek Granite Quarry; PNM’s Branford (2010) lighting Branford Green Town Hall. His company, Luminous Environments, specializes in theater and TV studio renovations and public art installations involving specialized lighting. Recent projects: Branford HS Theater, Fairfield Community Theater, and Legacy Theatre.

JIMMY JOHANSMEYER (Costume Design) is an award-winning actor, costume designer and educator. A graduate of Marist College, Jimmy has performed on hundreds of stages including New York Stage & Film/Powerhouse Theatre, NY, Wallkill River Repertory, NY, The Theatre Barn, NY, Millbrook Playhouse, PA, The Legacy Theatre in Branford and on the Main Stage of the Downtown Cabaret Theatre. His costume designs and creations have been seen throughout the country and internationally and include Cold As Ice starring Oxsana Baiul at Gateway Playhouse on Long Island, My Kinda 60’s starring Charles Busch at Below 54, Off-Broadway premiere of Matthew Passion, and most recently The Great American Mousical directed by Dame Julie Andrews. Jimmy was inducted to the Marist College Hall of Fame for his contribution to theatre, and he is the recipient of three Syracuse Area Live Theatre “Outstanding Costume Design” Awards for his work on Cortland Repertory Theatre’s Always A Bridesmaid, The Thirty-Nine Steps and La Cage Aux Folles. Jimmy is also recipient of the Cultural Contribution Award of Distinction presented by the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce. Many thanks to Keely for inviting me back to play once more.

T. RICK JONES (Stage Manager) is excited to be a part of Legacy’s fifth season, having been the theater’s union Stage Manager since 2022 (as well as Lighting Designing a handful of productions.) He’s also been involved with New Haven’s Elm Shakespeare Company, where he was the PSM for last summer’s Richard III and helping to facilitate Elm and Legacy’s co-production of Measure for Measure earlier this year. A 35+ year Stage Management veteran, he has been a Resident Stage Manager at White Heron Theatre Company in Nantucket (6 years), Seven Angels Theatre (2 years), Ivoryton Playhouse (2 years) and Colonial Theatre – Shakespeare in the Park (5 years), where he was also the Associate Producer, Production Manager and Production Photographer. Other credits include: Regional: Yale Opera – The Rape of Lucretia; Actors Shakespeare Project - Henry VI Part 2, As You Like It; Lyric Stage Company of Boston – A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder; White Plains Performing Arts Center – Masquerade: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Color Purple (Regional Premiere), Aida; Off-Broadway: Sessions the Musical, A Night At the Carlyle, Yohen. He has also worked with Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT and is a Contributing Writer for Sherlock Holmes Magazine, a quarterly print publication.

JULIAN SCHARF (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be the ASM for Legacy Theatre’s world premiere production. He is a graduate of Guilford High School where he was involved with the schools theatre program, working on shows such as Little Shop of Horrors and Legally Blonde. Currently he is a sophomore at UCONN studying Digital Media and Design. He enjoys working at the Madison cinemas as a projectionist and hanging with his family and friends.

KEELY BAISDEN KNUDSEN (Co-Founder & Executive Artistic Director) An award-winning director, Keely has performed, directed, and choreographed internationally in plays, musicals, operas, and dance companies in hundreds of theatrical productions and has performed in 48 of the United States and in the UK. Realizing her vision of a new theatre company on the Connecticut Shoreline, Keely’s ideals of inspiring, inclusive work that uplifts the human spirit and connects communities formalized in the creation of the Legacy Theatre with Co-Founder Stephanie Stiefel Williams, a performing colleague and dear friend. Keely has directed, choreographed, and taught a myriad of performing arts courses at such institutions as Quinnipiac University, Yale University, Fairfield University, Hartt School of Drama, Southern Connecticut State University, Westminster College, and was the Director of Education of New Haven’s acclaimed Elm Shakespeare Company for several years. Additionally a composer/lyricist and playwright, she is a member of ASCAP and a writer/curator for Rewls Productions (www.rewlsproductions.us). Her directing has been heralded by the Arts Paper as “…visually striking, emotionally moving” and “captivating” and of her direction of Hamlet it was said, “Knudsen has made the notoriously difficult Shakespearean language accessible.” Her creation of the Wheel Life Theatre Troupe has been an especially rewarding program as she acts and directs with those who ambulate with crutches and wheelchairs. Her BFA is from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, at which she graduated first in the class, and she received her master’s degree in Drama on full scholarship from The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Keely, her husband Brian, and five children (Saviah, Liviana, Wynter, Emery, and Reeves) reside in Guilford, CT.