Meet the

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

CAST

  • ARTURO

    Alton Alburo is a New York-based theatre & performance artist thrilled to be making his Philadelphia debut with Pig Iron. Recent work include “Blue Bloods” (CBS), to the yellow house (La Jolla Playhouse), Pinching Pennies with Penny Marshall (New York Theatre Workshop), and Ghostwriter with Kate Mara & Adam Scott (C13Features). Alton was a finalist for Soho Rep’s Writer Director Lab 2022/2023, and his play i cant help myself was featured on Hulu’s “The Come Up.” Rep: DGRW

  • ARMANTROUT / JIMMY 

    Benjamin Bass (they/them) is a queer multi-disciplinary artist living in Philadelphia and the founder of Broken Mirror Studio. Notable credits include We Own This City, Audrey's Children, the Obie Award-winning hit The Woodsman, Trey Lyford's The Accountant, and the Chinese national tour of One Starry Night. Benjamin was the former 1st year acting professor at UArts (RIP). They have taught master classes at N.Y.U., S.U.N.Y. Purchase, University of the Arts, UPENN, and Drexel University. Benjamin is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association and the Screen Actor's Guild. This production marks Benjamin’s Pig Iron debut, and they are thrilled to be playing! www.benjaminbass.com @BrokenMirrorStudio

  • TEMPLE

    Jameka Monet Wilson (they/she) is a lover of all that surrounds craft and French fries. They are especially enlivened by New Work and are honored to be a part of a show as exciting as Franklin's Key! Recent credits include: The Drag (Clair/Egopo), Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Rae/Strides Collective), The Winter's Tale (Perdita/ Delshakes). She would like to thank her village for their endless support: Thank you for the ethereal magic you’ve put into a mundane world.

  • RICHARD

    Michael A. Stahler (he/him) is an actor, writer, director, dialect coach, and occasional tour guide of Philadelphia history. His credits include his Off-Broadway debut in Granny Jackson’s Dead (Big Telly, et. al.), winner of Best Production at the Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival, SHIP (Azuka Theatre), winner of the American Theatre Critics Associations' New Play Award, the Barrymore-winning The Playboy of the Western World (Inis Nua Theatre), and the world-premiere of Juliette's Dunne's The Puzzle, directed by Bill Fennelly and Tony Award-winner David Shiner (Hedgerow Theatre). Recently, he has made his international debut in Belfast with The Worst Cafe in the World (Big Telly). You can also catch him in the first season of FOX’s hit trivia strategy game show The Floor with Rob Lowe. Get in touch at MichaelStahler.com.

  • POLEDOURIS / JENKINS

    Izzy Sazak​ (they/them) ​​​​is a queer, genderful Turkish-Colombian-American trans-disciplinary artist, theater-maker, clown, educator and facilitator. They live, work, play and grow, on Lenni Lenape Land (Philadelphia). They are an associate artist of Delaware Shakespeare, and a company member of Applied Mechanics. Recent Credits: Home for the Holidays (Delaware Theater Company); Poor Judge (Pig Iron Theatre Company); Philly Baby Jam (Ninth Planet); Pinocchio (The Arden); Other Orbits (Applied Mechanics); Head Over Heels (Theater Horizon), 12th Night, O Lo Qué Quieras (Delaware Shakespeare), Geoff Sobelle’s HOME (U.S. and East Asian Tour 2019). Pig Iron/UArts MFA Class of 2018, University of Virginia BA in Drama (2011). izzysazak.com @dizzychalex

  • FORDHOOK

    Chris Thorn (he/him) was previously with Pig Iron: Twelfth Night (2014). Broadway: Death of A Salesman (Hudson Theater), Bernhardt/Hamlet (Roundabout) Off-Broadway: I Ought to Be in Pictures (TBTB), Greater Clements (Lincoln Center), Pride and Prejudice (Primary Stages), Miss Lily Gets Boned (Studio 42) Regional: A.R.T., Syracuse Stage, Chautauqua Theater Company, Opera House Arts, Merrimack Rep,The Guthrie, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, CATF, Barrington Stage,Theaterworks Hartford, Boston Playwright’s. Film/TV: Madam Secretary, Evil, The Good Fight, Girls on the Bus. Education: Boston University BFA. University of Idaho MFA. @ckthorn

  • PRENTISS

    Alice Yorke (she/her) is an actor, theatermaker, and Co-Artistic Director of Lightning Rod Special. She is the lead creator of LRS’s highly lauded musical satire of the abortion debate, The Appointment (WP Theater: Best of 2023 Theater, The New Yorker; “Should Have Been Nominated for a Tony,” New York Times. NYTW Next Door: Best of 2019 Theater, New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine). With LRS: performer/creator: Lions, Nosejob (Barrymore nomination), SPEECH, The Appointment, Sans Everything, Let the Dog See the Rabbit and Hackles; creative producer: Underground Railroad Game (2015). Select performance credits include Can’t Forget About You (Inis Nua) Walden (Interact), Much Ado About Nothing (Lantern Theater), The Gap (Azuka Theatre, Barrymore nomination). Alice and LRS are current Next Forever fellows at Princeton University. “Best Theatre Talent in Philadelphia” – Philadelphia Magazine. 2026 Creative Capital Awardee. www.aliceyorke.com

MOVEMENT ENSEMBLE

  • GOGGLER

    Ben (he/him) is a proud graduate of the inaugural class of the Pig Iron School, and has been on faculty since 2016. He co-founded Almanac in 2013 with fellow alum Nick Gillette, which has created 16 full length works and toured to Egypt, Mexico, Croatia, Canada and the UK, and won Barrymore, Rocky and other awards. He co-founded, directed, and now serves as Head of Partnerships for Cannonball Festival, and received the 2025 APAP/CIPA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Creative Producing. At Circadium, he developed and taught a three year curriculum merging Lecoq pedagogy with circus skills. He’s performed in various Pig Iron shows, and his work has been presented on stages including Jacob’s Pillow, FringeArts, New York Live Arts, Queer Zagreb, and Breaking Walls Festival.

  • GOGGLER

    Makoto Hirano (he/him) is a Philadelphia-based choreographer. Over the past two decades, his award-winning performance projects have been presented and commissioned by festivals and venues from Cairo to Off-Broadway. As a collaborating performer, Hirano has originated over 35 roles including projects with Bill Irwin, Pig Iron Theatre Co., Nichole Canuso Dance Co., and Thaddeus Phillips. Hirano is a founding member and current advisor to the arts collective PAPA (Philly Asian Performing Artists); co-founder of installation art duo Gatto+Hirano; co-founder of Team Sunshine Performance where he is a creator, producer, performer, and Barrymore-Award nominated choreographer (upcoming: The Great American Gunshow -- Kentucky). From 2007-2014 Hirano was a Facilitator with Philly/Baltimore/South Carolina-based professional development program Artists U, and is currently on faculty at the Pig Iron School. A former U.S. Marine, Hirano earned his BFA in dance at Temple University. Gratitude forever and always to the best wife!

  • GOGGLER

    GABE MOSES (he/they) is thrilled to be joining this production, making his Pig Iron debut. Regional Theatre includes Romeo & Juliet, Rent, The Lehman Trilogy (Arden Theatre Company); A Christmas Carol, A Raisin in the Sun, Peter Panto, Illuminating Bayard Rustin (People’s Light, Company Member); Lovesong (Inis Nua Theatre); The Worst Cafe in the World (Tiny Dynamite); Ragtime, Crazy for You, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Timon of Athens, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Noises Off! (Delaware Theatre Company); Hair (Cortland Repertory Theatre). BA in Theatre from DeSales University. Love to Mom, Jeremiah, the fam, and CaSandra Kay. IG: @gabejmoses

CREATIVE TEAM

Script by

Dan Rothenberg & Robert Quillen Camp

Original Score by

Rosie Langabeer

with Josh Machiz & Gregg Mervine

Magic & Visual Effects

Skylar Fox

Video Designers

David Tennent
Joshua Higgason

New York Casting by

TBD Casting Co.

Associate Magic & Visual Effects

Michael Kras

Production Stage Manager

Kelsey Vivian

Set Designer

Anna Kiraly

Sound Designer

Chris Sannino

Associate Set Designers

Carolyn Marz
Qingan Zhang

Associate Director

Jonah Godfrey

Lighting Designers

Amith Chandrashaker Stoli Stolnack

Costume Designer

Maiko Matsushima

Dramaturg

Mike Barsanti

Directed by

Dan Rothenberg
Eva Steinmetz

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.