Murri Lazaroff-Babin | RUSS THE BUSS / REGGIE / CUSTOMS GUY
Murri (he/him) is an actor, deviser, and writer from Northern California. He’s really stoked to get on stage and mess around a bit (thanks Profile!). This summer concluded the first run of his solo show, Camp Fire Stories – seen at 21Ten, CoHo, and the Atlanta Fringe. Outside of acting Murri enjoys watching and playing baseball, rarely admitting that he’s a Dodgers fan. He’s a self-proclaimed cat whisperer, loves breakfast, and going to the movies. MFA Acting – DePaul.
Heath Hyun | TZI CHUAN / MELVIN / DAD / GENERAL TSAO
A Portland based actor and writer. He holds a M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a focus in playwriting from Goddard College and a B.A. in Theatre with a focus in performance from Humboldt State University. He is thrilled to be back on stage with Profile Theatre having appeared in their 2022 production of King of the Yees, by Lauren Yee. Other Portland credits include appearances with PCS JAW Festival, Lakewood Theatre, Portland Shakespeare Project, Broadway Rose, Shaking the Tree, Northwest Children’s Theatre, Imago Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, CoHo Theatre, and more.
Evangeline Billups* | Jennifer Chen
A Portland native, Evangeline is excited to be making her Profile Theatre debut in her hometown! Evangeline grew up in SE Portland and started doing theater in school productions at Cleveland High School. Evangeline later received her BA in American Studies from Yale University and her MFA in Acting from Columbia University under Ron Van Lieu. Theater credits include Fucking A (Lenfest Center for the Arts), Metamorphoses (Theatre at Schapiro), Everybody (Studio at Schapiro), and Double Happiness (Museum of Chinese in America). Many thanks to her Portland community, her mom, & Roberto. Instagram: @evanbillups, evangelinebillups.com
*Appearing through an agreement between Profile Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional performers and stage managers in the United States.
by Darleen Ortega, arts columnist
Profile Theater’s current production of “Witch” deserves the critical praise it is receiving. The performances are all fantastic, Josh Hecht’s direction mines Jen Silverman’s witty, sharp play for all the shrewdness tucked into its humor, and a nimble design team helps us imagine the play’s particular world set in the 17th century but resolutely planted in today’s vernacular. Each interaction between the various characters crackles with energy—fury, ambition, revenge, anguish. And each of the players channels that energy fantastically, culminating in Charles Grant’s furious dance choreographed by Adin Walker.
But what I loved most are the play’s central insights about where untapped hope and power reside. Elizabeth, the most isolated character, deemed a witch by the community and the person who apparently has the least to lose, is the one hardest to persuade to sell her soul and the one most capable of the sort of reframe that might pull the rest of the players–including the devil himself–out of their endless conflicts.
The scruples of each of the other characters fall easily; the devil Scratch (a canny Joshua J. Weinstein) deftly spots their vulnerabilities, always linked to self-interest and their sense of who or what stands between them and their due. Not Elizabeth. As brilliantly embodied by the always fantastic Lauren Modica-Soloway, Elizabeth is the one capable of spotting the emptiness of Scratch’s logic and the collective trap in which everyone else is caught. She is the only person capable of moving Scratch to question his purpose, to compel him toward the bigger questions that he otherwise wouldn’t see. And without the energy that persuades people to abandon their scruples, what might be possible? Of course it is the outcast who would be capable of such imagination; when will we learn to examine the pattern of wisdom discarded? Who are we throwing away and why are we doing so? What does the outcast see that others miss? Silverman’s play—offered with consummate skill in this production—lifts up such questions.
Adam Mun-Van Noy | Assistant Fight and Intimacy Director
Adam (he/they) grew up in the Pacific Northwest studying as a Graphic Artist and Designer. After meeting and studying under multi award-winning Kristen Mun-Van Noy, he dove head first into the craft of Fight Choreography and Violence Design.
He has been choreographing and training with Kristen for over eight years, and assisted at many local high schools, colleges, theatres and also 2 films in the Portland area. They married in August 2022 and now make quite an effective husband-wife choreo team.
Laurie Robertson | Costume Design Assistant
After a long career in Mental Health, Laurie is pursuing her dream of working in costume design. Recent lead designer roles include Steel Magnolias, Don’t Dress for Dinner, Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story and as Co-lead for Amelie, the Musical. Laurie has assisted Ahmad Daniel Santos in several productions at Profile Theater, Portland Center Stage among other projects and is the currently the In-House Costumer/Manager at Magenta Theater. She thanks Ahmad for his mentorship & passion for creating memorable characters through design.
Kristen Mun-Van Noy | Fight and Intimacy Director
Kristen Mun-Van Noy (she/her) was born and raised on the island of Oahu. Since 2012 she has been working as a fight choreographer and teacher in the city of Portland, OR. She owes her training to Dueling Arts International and her time as assistant fight choreographer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (09-10) with resident Fight Director U. Jonathan Toppo. She has received her intimacy training from Theatrical Intimacy Educators and IDC Professionals. Recent intimacy and fight work include 12th Night with PCS, POTUS with Anonymous Theatre, and Paradise Blue with Portland Playhouse.
Rory Stitt | Sound Designer
Rory Stitt (Sound Designer) Active primarily as a composer and sound designer, Lingít artist Rory Stitt has also worked extensively as an actor, orchestrator, and music director. He has performed his solo work at the Kennedy Center (D.C.), Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre (NYC) and been represented at the MIDEM music festival in Cannes. Hear his work and inquire about piano study opportunities here: www.rorystitt.com
Blanca Forzan | Lighting Designer
Blanca Forzán is a lighting designer, set designer, and writer with a background in Architecture from the Universidad del Valle de México. She has collaborated on international productions such as Faust at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Hamlet in Cádiz, Spain, as well as at renowned theaters in the United States such as the Aurora Theatre, Artist Repertory Theatre, and Portland State University.
In 2023, Blanca was awarded the Best Lighting prize at the Carbonell Awards for her outstanding work on El Huracán in Miami, Florida. Recently she has worked with Coho Theatre as a set designer and master props in Sanctuary City, as well as in the production of Yohen at the Brunish Theatre with Passinart. In 2024, she participated in 9 theater productions. She designed set and lights for Story Teller at Artist Repertory theater 2025. She is super happy to work with Profile Theatre again.
Peter Ksander | Scenic Designer
Peter Ksander is a scenographer and media artist. He was a founding curator of the Incubator Arts Project in NYC, won an Obie award for the scenic design of Untitled Mars (this title may change), and a Bessie award for the visual design of This Was the End. He holds a MFA from CALARTS, and is a Professor at Reed College.
He has worked repeatedly with Richard Foreman, Karin Coonrod, Object Collection, and the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble (PETE), where he is a company member. Recent Portland credits include set designs for Aw Hell, Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolfe, Another Dialogue, Twelfth Night, Infinite Life, Te Moana Meridian, A Seagull,Il Re Pastore, Cardiac Organ,Apoptosis, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
