The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds
by Paul Zindel
directed by Adam Johnson

Not every bloom is natural in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel and directed by Adam Johnson. Young Tillie nurses a science experiment to life in the shadows cast by her abusive mother and erratic sister. Self-loathing and bitterness make for bad soil, but Tillie is determined to clear a space for herself. As each woman tries to control their variables, hope hardly enters into the equation. But even in the darkest moments, there's always a little light.

Shubhra Murarka (Tillie) is a third-year in the College studying English and Physics. She is really excited to be acting in her first mainstage UT production. She has previously worked on New Work Week (actor), Midsummers Night Dream (Assistant Props Designer), and the Avalu Apsara show (Props Designer).

Eloise Hyman (Ruth) is a second-year Jewish Studies major. Previous UT credits: Venticello 2 (Amadeus), Nell (Endgame), Hippolyta/Peaseblossom (A Midsummer Night's Dream -Dean's Men), Candy Cotton (Barely There, musical theater workshop).

Xan Belzley (Beatrice) is a fourth-year English major in the College. Her acting credits include Twelfth Night and Cymbeline with the Dean's Men and Fifth Planet, The Clean House, Alices: Adventures in Wonderland, and Boston Marriage with University Theater. Her previous show credits as a stage manager include Closer and This is Our Youth with University Theater and Orestes at Delphi and Twain's World with First Floor Theater. She also assistant stage managed reWilding Genius with TAPS and The New Colony. 

Emma Glass (Janice/Nanny) is second-year Political Science major. Emma has acted in UT's A Crack Up at the Race Riots and Where the Wild Things Are. Emma is also involved with the Classical Entertainment Society and UBallet. This is her first UT main-stage production.

Adam Johnson (Director) is a second-year in the College. Previously with UT, he has acted in Grey Gardens, A Little Star Quality, Amadeus, and Theater[24]. On the production side, he has worked on Godspell (Assistant Director), Cabaret (Keyboard), Macbeth (Dramatrug), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen... (Director), and previously liaised several shows as a member of UT Committee.

Claire Haupt (Production Manager) is a second-year Theater and Performance Studies major. She has assistant production managed UT shows including Hedda Gabler and Godspell and production managed UT shows including Cabaret and Closer. This summer she will be interning in production management with Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. She would like to thank her family for their never ending love and support.

Natalie Wagner (Stage Manager) is a second-year who plans to double major in Law, Letters, and Society and TAPS. She primarily works as a stage manager: she was the Assistant Stage Manager for four UT mainstages, including Buried in Bughouse Square, and the Stage Manager for Fall 2014's production of Endgame. She also directed a workshop during Winter 2015 and was the props master for Amadeus. Additionally, she is a Curator for the quarterly Theater[24] festival and serves as Treasurer on UT's Student Committee.

Alexandra Garfinkle (Dramaturg) is a fourth-year TAPS major. She has trained at Black Box Acting Studio, served on Committee and has garnered nearly twenty credits as a designer, dramaturg, and director. Previously, she has worked as an assistant director for A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre, directed UT's winter production of Amadeus, and wrote/directed A Sane Man, a performance piece centered on the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann. She will be working in the casting office at Northlight Theatre upon graduation.

Marisa Allison (Set Designer) is a fourth-year Theater and Performance Studies major. She has done design work in costumes, props, and scenery. Her UT/TAPS credits in design include Credeaux Canvas, Lysistrata, Grey Gardens, Macbeth, Before the Window, A Streetcar Named Desire (assistant), and Through the Window. She also costume designed The Antitheatrical Prejudice for Rhinofest 2015 and Manual Cinema's Mementos Mori. Marisa is pursuing a career in theater design post-graduation. This is her first mainstage set design project.

Itzel Blancas (Costume Designer) is a second-year Comparative Literature and TAPS double major. With UT she has previously worked on Amadeus (Costume Designer), Macbeth, Godspell, Hedda Gabler (Assistant Costume Designer), This is How it Goes (Wardrobe), The Dean's Men production of Much Ado About Nothing (Assistant Director), and What A Wild Party (Fall 2014 Weekend of Workshops, Director). She is also a curator for Theater[24]!

Jacob Mulcahy (Master Carpenter) is a fourth-year Math major in the College. This is his ninth production at the University of Chicago, having previously worked as a set designer or master carpenter for This Is Our Youth, The Merchant of Venice, Hedda Gabler, Godspell, Sleuth, Endgame, and Cowboy Mouth. He was also a stagehand for the Dean’s Men production of Henry VI, and took part in numerous shows at his high school in St. Louis, MO.

Sarah Kim (Props Designer) is a second-year EALC and TAPS double major. She has worked on six UT shows in the past, the most recent as director (Wild Thing, A Weekend of Workshops Fall 2014) and Props Designer (Cowboy Mouth). This quarter, she also worked on Rumors as the Props Designer as well and directed Freudzen for Attori Senza Paura. Non-UT credits include assistant director (The Antitheatrical Prejudice).

Éamon Boylan (Composer) is a TAPS major who has previously composed original music for The Glass Menagerie, Hotel Cassiopeia, and several short films. Primarily a director, his work includes Through the Window, Macbeth, Before the Window, Grey Gardens, The Glass Menagerie, This Property is Condemned, and The Taming of the Shrew Project. Also with University Theater he has performed, written, and designed for mainstage productions as well as co-curating the quarterly Theater[24] festival. He has proudly worked for both Logan and TAPS, currently serving as Front of House Manager for north campus events.

Luke Duroc-Danner (Music Director) is a third-year Music major and History minor. With UT, he has previously worked on Amadeus, A Little Star Quality, Clean House, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Glass Menagerie. 

Noah Baskes (Lighting Designer) is a second-year studying Physics.

Maya Festinger (Sound Designer) is a fourth-year in the College.

Josef Klafka (Assistant Director) is a first-year in the College. He has previously worked on Macbeth and Amadeus.

Ramon Valladarez (Assistant Production Manager) is a second-year in the College.

Molly Becker (Assistant Production Manager) is a second-year. Previous credits include assistant production manager for Cabaret and Closer.

Charlie Lovejoy (Assistant Stage Manager) is a first-year prospective English Literature and Linguistics double-major. In UT, Charlie has been a designer for Theatre[24], Stagehand and Assistant Props Designer for Closer, and Assistant Stage Manager for Amadeus. Before coming to college, Charlie was involved in various productions through community and school theatre, and has accumulated twelve credits as a stage manager and over thirty as an assistant stage manager, props designer, and actor.

Alice Sheehan (Assistant Set Designer)is a first-year in the College studying History, she previously was the Assistant Lighting Designer on Endgame and the Lighting Designer on Amadeus.

Ella Toulouse (Assistant Set Designer) is a first-year Philosophy and History double-major in the College.

Peyton Walker (Assistant Costume Designer) is a first-year. She intends to major in Visual Arts and is still pondering an additional major or minor. Her previous experience in UT includes the role of Kate in her head designer's workshop What a Wild Party, Katherina Cavalieri in Amadeus, and is currently Love’s Labors Lost as Katherine. 

Hanna Stenersen (Assistant Costume Designer) is a first-year in the College. Her previous experience in UT includes Hair/Quick Changes for Amadeus.

Josephine Geczy (Assistant Props Designer) is a first-year History of Art and Visual Arts double major. She worked on costumes for the production of Closer last fall.

Christian-Nicholas Castro Romero (Assistant Props Designer) is a first year, prospective Psychology and TAPS major. High school productions he has worked on include Little Shop of Horrors, Antigone, FAME, Guys & Dolls, Our Town and Persephone. He served as Stage Manager, Light and Sound Operator, Stage Hand and Actor (Nicely-Nicely Johnson). UT and other theater group credits include Macbeth (Sound Assistant), Cowboy Mouth (Sound Assistant), CES's Frankenstein (Sound Assistant), Logan's Puppet Festive: The Temp (Light Assistant), Dean's Men's Love's Labour's Lost (Light Assistant), Commedia’s Freudzen (Sound Designer), and CES's Haunted House.

Adrian Geilen (Assistant Props Designer) is a first-year Economics and Geophysical Sciences major. This is the second UT show he has worked on. Previous credits include Assistant Stage Manager for Cowboy Mouth.

Coriander Mayer (Assistant Lighting Designer) is a first-year in the College majoring in TAPS and Computer Science. Since fall, Cori has worked on lighting for various UT productions, acted in Weekend of Workshops, and designed, acted, and directed for Theater[24], as well as improvising at Annoyance Theater.

Stephanie Slavin-Ruffing (Assistant Sound Designer) is a first-year in the College.

Electricians:
Elisabeth Del Toro
Sarah Kim
Michael Roy

Musicians:
Jenna Clemens (Flute)
Felicia Woron (Violin)
Jessica Pena (Cello)
Jackson Ruzzo (Bass)
Jeremy Estes (Recording Engineer)