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Cast Biographies
RYAN VINCENT ANDERSON (Virgil Tibbs) an actor/writer/director, has performed with the
Independent Shakespeare Company, African-American Shakespeare Company, A Noise Within,
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and more. His film and television work includes Feeding Mr.
Baldwin, Young and the Restless, and Eagleheart. Anderson wrote and directed the play OUT/
SIDE, which was chosen for the inaugural Paul Robeson Play Festival with the Robey Theatre
Company in Los Angeles.
MICHAEL HAMMOND (Sam Wood) has performed at the La Jolla Playhouse; Shakespeare
Theatre and Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C.; the Williamstown (Mass.) Theatre Festival; and
more. He’s done readings at the Kennedy Center, the Theatre Lab/Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and
the DC Shorts Film Festival.
KALEN HARRIMAN (Melanie Purdy/ Noreen Tatum) has performed with the Center Theatre
Group of Los Angeles. Her regional credits include Writer’s Theatre in Chicago, Montana
Shakespeare in the Parks, Riverside Theatre in the Park, and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre
along with the television show Chicago Fire.
TRAVIS JOHNS (Pete) performed in the premiere of Atlanta: The Musical at Geffen Playhouse,
and has also performed at Fremont Centre Theatre, Playhouse West, and Santa Monica
Playhouse. His film credits include Imagine, Swelter, Sound of My Voice; Adventures of Power,
and the lead role in Sex & Violence: Or A Brief Review of Simple Physics. His television credits
include: Ray Donovan, 2 Broke Girls, The Mentalist, Sons of Anarchy, and Justified.
JAMES MORRISON (Chief Gillespie) began his acting career as a clown and wire walker for the
Carson and Barnes Wild Animal Circus in the mid-1970s and went on to apprentice with the Alaska
Repertory Theatre. Morrison has done over 100 plays at theatres including The McCarter Theatre,
the La Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, the LA Stage Company, and the Pasadena
Playhouse. His film credits include I am I, The Jazz Funeral, Raspberry Magic, Catch Me If You
Can, The One, Falling Down, Abilene, Wilderness Survival for Girls, and Jarhead. He played Bill
Buchanan in seasons 4–7 of the television show 24. Other television credits include Those Who
Kill, Revenge, Private Practice, Hawthorne, and Space: Above and Beyond.
DARREN RICHARDSON (Various) Richardson’s most recent L.A. Theatre Works productions
include Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, which toured China and was the first
American play performed at the Beijing National Theatre, and the U.S. tours of The Graduate and
Pride and Prejudice. He has done extensive BBC radio work and his television and film credits
include Lost, Fastlane, Soccer Dog: European Cup, and the shorts Offside and Nebraska.
TOM VIRTUE (Various) is a frequent TV guest star, having appeared in over 250 TV episodes.
He has also been a series regular on The Building, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Even Stevens,
and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. His recent film appearances include Iron Man
3, Hitchcock, The Guilt Trip, and Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. Virtue has performed offBroadway for the Hudson Guild and in Chicago with The Practical Theatre, which led to his being
hired by The Second City’s Mainstage Company.
MATT PELFREY (Adaptor) is a film, theatre, and television writer. He is co-artistic director of
Furious Theatre Company. His plays have been produced around the country and overseas and
include Cockroach Nation, Terminus Americana, An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Pure Shock
Value, Freak Storm, and the stage adaption of In the Heat of the Night.
BRIAN KITE (Director) has directed across the United States and abroad. He is the producing
artistic director of La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, where his credits include Les
Misérable, Miss Saigon, Little Shop of Horrors, Steel Magnolias, Driving Miss Daisy and Proof.
He directed Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers for L.A. Theatre Works, which toured
throughout mainland China. Kite is a member of the directing faculty at the School of Theater,
Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles; serves as the Chair of the L.A.
Stage Alliance’s Board of Governors; and is the artistic director of the Buffalo Night’s Theatre
Company.
SUSAN ALBERT LOEWENBERG (Producing Director) is the founder of L.A. Theatre Works.
Loewenberg has produced award-winning radio dramas, plays, and films in Los Angeles, New
York, Chicago, and London. She also serves as host and executive producer of LATW’s radio
series, L.A. Theatre Works, broadcast on NPR stations nationwide and in China daily on The
Radio Beijing Network. She has served on the National Endowment for the Arts; California Arts
Council; and the Fund for Independence in Journalism in Washington, D.C., and was co-chair of
the League of Producers and Theatres of Greater Los Angeles. From 1996 to 2002, Loewenberg
served on the Board of Directors for Federal Prison Industries by presidential appointment, and
served for several years as a member of the regional panel of the President’s Commission on
White House Fellows.
PROGRAM NOTE
In 1967, the major motion picture In the Heat of the Night opened in movie theatres across the
country, and audiences watched with mouths agape as a forty-two year old Sidney Poitier made
history on the silver screen. The film, based on John Ball’s 1965 novel of the same name, was one
of the first to address serious issues facing our nation during the height of the 1960s Civil Rights
Movement. It dealt head-on with the one thing that was on every American’s mind during
that time: race.
The Civil Rights Act had been signed into effect three years prior to the film’s release, marking
the end of segregation in schools, restaurants, bathrooms, businesses, and public transportation.
But despite these legal changes, discrimination and mistrust between races in America was at a
boiling point. Many white people resisted integration—and they rose up, violently, in protest.
Other white Americans followed the non-violent teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., supporting
the de-segregation and fair treatment of their African-American brothers.
In the Heat of the Night gave a voice to the thoughts and feelings of those white Civil Rights
supporters and to black people across America, who often kept their opinions hidden in fear of the
power wielded by those in opposition.
Audiences who saw Heat in their local movie theatres had never before seen a character like the
protagonist Virgil Tibbs (played by Sidney Poitier in the film). College-educated, well dressed, a
respected police officer from California, and a black man, ‘Virgil’ was a product of the Civil Rights
Movement who may never have been written into existence were it not for the efforts of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. and his non-violent movement for racial equality.
Argo, Alabama, where the story of Heat takes place, is an actual Alabaman town, and though
the events and characters of its setting in the play are entirely fictional, the white townspeople’s
feelings toward Virgil saturated many American cities during the 1960s, especially in the South.
Violent discrimination against African-Americans—including church bombings, police brutality,
riots—occurred all too frequently. The most horrific source of this racial aggression was the Ku Klux
Klan. Just as in Heat, KKK members were often respected members of the community—policeman,
mayors—who got away scott-free with terrifying acts of racial violence.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968—just six days before In the Heat of the
Night was awarded five Oscars at the 1968 Academy Awards Ceremony. The story of In the Heat of
the Night reached virtually every American in some form or another during the 60s and 70s. The film
was later adapted into an award-winning television series that ran for seven seasons.
Over the past half century, we’ve made progress. But today, undertones of racial inequality and
discrimination saturate American media and culture. There are moments in this story that are
uncomfortably familiar to us today. And in many ways, In the Heat of the Night seems more timely
than ever.
—Anna Lyse Erikson
Associate Producer, L.A. Theatre Works
2015 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY 5, 2015
Pollak Theatre - Monmouth University
West Long Branch, NJ
FEBRUARY 6, 2015
Stockton Performing Arts Center - Stockton College
Galloway, NJ
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
Rudder Theatre - Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
Dominican University Performing Arts Center
River Forest, IL
FEBRUARY 15, 2015
Goddard Auditorium - Earlham College
Richmond, IN
FEBRUARY 20, 2015
Roper Performing Arts Center - TCC
Norfolk, VA
FEBRUARY 22, 2015
Macomb Center for the Performing Arts
Clinton Township, MI
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
Zeiterion Theatre
New Bedford, MA
FEBRUARY 28, 2015
Temple Theater - Angelina Arts Alliance
Lufkin, TX
MARCH 7, 2015
George S. & Dolores Dore Eccles Center for the Performing Arts
Park City, UT
The Evolution of the Civil Rights Movement
Educational Program
L.A. Theatre Works offers an Education program that juxtaposes historical events and source material
from the Civil Rights era with select scenes from Matt Pelfrey’s stage adaptation of John Ball’s
groundbreaking 1965 novel In the Heat of the Night. The program brings to life the slow evolution in
race relations that occurred during the volatile decade of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedys, and
of prejudice, segregation and integration. The presentation will begin with an introduction to the Civil
Rights Movement during the mid-1960s and how it set the theme and tone of the play. Speeches by
Civil Rights leaders and political advocates as well as pro-segregation arguments will be punctuated
by riveting scenes from the story - which pointedly mirror the real-life racism experienced by AfricanAmericans of the time and their determination to stand up for their dignity and rights. America’s larger
social awakening to the civil rights struggle is traced throughout the presentation. This program and the
play include language of the period.
Requirements:
Number of Participants: 50 minimum/no maximum
Age level of Participants: Middle School, High School, and/or College Students
Length of program: 60 minutes including post Q&A
Location: L.A. Theatre Works’ performance venue
Suggested individuals, events, and topics to research and discuss before attending the performance:
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
John F. Kennedy
Robert Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
George Wallace
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
The Freedom Riders
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Segregation
Integration
The Klu Klux Klan
In the Heat of the Night was performed on November 16, 2014, at George Mason University’s
Center for the Arts in Fairfax, VA. This is an excerpt from Diane Jackson Schnoor’s “FIVE STAR”
review of ‘In the Heat of the Night’ published November 17, 2014 in DC Metro Arts…
L.A. Theatre Works delivered
a searing, disturbing, and flatout brilliant rendition of In the
Heat of the Night – John Ball’s
sizzling 1965 noir thriller, adapted
for the stage by acclaimed
playwright Matt Pelfrey.
The radio theater production
made a stop Sunday night at
the George Mason University
Center for the Arts, reminding
audiences just how timely,
provocative, and unsettlingly
relevant the content is in our
modern world.
The story that made “My Name Is Mister Tibbs” one of cinema’s most commonly quoted lines is brilliantly
re-imagined by director Brian Kite in this radio play format, where a talented ensemble of seven actors brings the
town of Argo, Alabama to life…
The language is raw, the tensions are real, and L.A. Theatre Works gives this work an energy and urgency that make
for a memorable night at the theatre.
Projection Designer Sean Cawelti enhances the tensions of the plot with images that suggest the darker sides of
Argo…the projections enhance the fine work being done by the actors on stage. Carin Jacobs’ costumes…[enhance]
without overwhelming the piece. Rich Rose’s set is simple and elegant, allowing the words and the richly drawn
characters to take center stage. Dan Ionazi’s lighting, coupled with Mark Holden and Michael Lopez’s sound design
helped to drive the central, heated urgency of the plot.
L.A. Theatre Works assembled a masterful cast for this touring production of In the Heat of the Night. Ryan Vincent
Anderson delivered a controlled
and sensitively nuanced portrayal
of Virgil Tibbs… Anderson and
Morrison deliver... Michael
Hammond deserves special
praise for his sensitive portrayal
of the conflicted officer, Sam
Wood… Travis Johns adds
dimension to the despicable
and morally reprehensible Pete,
lifting him from what might have
been a stock character into a
seriously flawed yet believable
individual. Kalen Harriman deftly
portrayed two very different
female roles, giving each
weight and complexity. Darren
Richardson and Tom Virtue
shifted chameleon-like through
various roles, portraying many
memorable and distinct residents
of the town of Argo.
On November 11, 2014, L.A. Theatre Works performed Heat at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.
The following is an excerpt from a review by Chelsea Stith, published in the CVNC Arts Journal.
In the Heat of the Night Addresses a Heated Topic with Intensity
Skeleton blocking, costumes, and onstage foley* provide a strange world for an audience accustomed to
traditional theatre. The actors direct their lines and blocking to the audience, not each other; here, the result was
a performance that got in your face and grabbed your attention by the collar. It was aggressive and gritty and
perfectly suited for this particular play. The audience never quite got comfortable with the subject matter or how
it is portrayed, nor should they have.
The cast was excellent… Ryan Vincent Anderson offered a carefully controlled interpretation of Virgil Tibbs…
Travis Johns, as Pete, was despicable in all the right ways, and Kalen Harriman shifted flexibly between two
completely different roles... Michael Hammond’s sensitive portrayal of Sam Wood…was top-notch.
The lighting by Dan Ionazi was stark, simple, and effective, as was Carin Jacob’s costuming. Rich Rose’s set
design added a modern sense to this period piece, as did the Sean Cawelti’s projected visuals.
Seeing this process and the synchronization of the sound effects to the blocking was fascinating…
Excerpt from: ‘Heat of the Night’ turns spotlight on
racism by Gerry Camp for the Folsom Telegraph,
Folsom, CA, Wednesday Nov 26 2014
I was fortunate the other evening to be in the audience for L.A. Theatre Works’ brilliant, electrifying, moving, and
timely production of “In The Heat of the Night” at Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom.
What made the play brilliant, for me, was its unique staging.
Standing in for scenery are projections, some still photos, some brief bits of film, some double exposures or
abstract images, projected on five screens behind the actors. Credited to Projection Designer Sean Cawelti,
these images effectively contribute to the plot developments and the tone of the scenes.
As soon as the stage went black, the audience was on its feet in a standing ovation.
…brilliant acting…I cannot praise highly enough the entire cast…
…one of the most compelling evenings of theater I have seen in a long time.