Joni Sheram
Playwright
Joni Sheram received her BA in Theater Arts from Colorado State University and her MA from California State at Bakersfield. For many years, Sheram wrote scripts for and performed in a Colorado murder mystery troupe, while also teaching high school drama and other subjects.
In 2006, Joni was asked to write a piece about breasts, for performance at the opening of an exhibition of breast-related sculptures. In response, she created the first iteration of CUPS. Her brief performance piece quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a full-length play.
While some of the experiences in CUPS are Sheram’s own, most are stories that women shared with Joni at early workshop readings of CUPS. Every story in CUPS is true. Together, these stories tell every woman’s story in a personal, funny, and moving way.
CUPS premiered in La Veta, Colorado in 2008 with Betty Brown as Nora. The play was then work-shopped at Manitou Art Theatre in Colorado Springs, under the direction of Birgitta De Pree, with Sheram playing the role. Since then, Sheram performed CUPS at dozens of venues from Massachusetts to New Zealand. In 2009, Joni licensed the play to the Theater League; she’d looked forward to seeing it performed around the country.
cupsaplay.com , the original CUPS website.
Jana Robbins
Director
Jana Robbins is a director, producer and actor. Her Broadway producing credits include producing last season’s RAGTIME ( 7 Tony nominations) as well as LITTLE WOMEN. Off-Broadway she produced I LOVE YOU BECAUSE, WHITE’S LIES starring Betty Buckley and THROUGH THE NIGHT (Drama Desk nomination for Best Solo Performance.)
She’s appeared in leading roles on Broadway in GOOD NEWS, CRIMES OF THE HEART, I LOVE MY WIFE, ROMANCE/ROMANCE, GYPSY and THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST’S WIFE in which starred opposite Valerie Harper in the National Tour.
As director, she most recently directed CRIMES OF THE HEART at Gettysburg College, as well as directing it at her alma mater, Stephens College, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. In 2008 Jana returned to Stephens to direct LITTLE WOMEN. A recipient of the Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award for Best Director for her direction of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE by Frederick Stroppel, Ms. Robbins directed and produced THE PARTICIPANT by Dayton Callie (Deadwood) in association with Chazz Palminteri, which garnered an “LA Weekly” nomination for Best Solo Performance. She directed UNLOCK’D, a new musical, at Theaterworks, Palo Alto, and Karen Ziemba in a staged reading of THE CHOSEN WIFE in New York City. She has also taught and directed inner city high school students in A Change of Heart, presented at the SoHo Playhouse with guest star André DeShields, and Breaking the Silence at the Players Theater. Jana is looking forward to directing LITTLE WOMEN at Cal State Fullerton this Spring.
Visit Jana Robbins site: more
Karen Yuhasz
Associate Producer
After teaching theater for almost a decade Ms, Yuhasz designed many productions in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as numerous industrials for companies such as Levi Strauss, IBM, Dole Foods, Interstate Bank, and Pacific Gas and Electric. For seven years, she worked for Theater Now West, Inc., a theatrical production and management company. Credits include assistant producer for the premiere of Carroll O’Conner’s play, Labor Day; presenting and producing shows in Las Vegas, including the musical Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus at the Flamingo Hotel. During her time with Theater Now West, they also managed the talent for the NBC sitcom, The Mommies.
She joined Theater League, Inc. in Kansas City in 2002. As Director of Production she oversees the presentation of over 30 touring Broadway shows a year in as many as 6 different venues, as well as being an associate producer for the organization including FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, LOVE SWEET LOVE and last year’s premiere production of CUPS in Kansas City.
