Beyond the Score®

James Ridge has been a member of American Players Theatre for 24 seasons. Past roles include John Heminges, King Berenger, Cyrano, Iago, Mr. Bennet, Teach, Richard III, Jacques, Touchstone, Shylock, Malvolio, Puck, Charles Dickens, Lickcheese and Bluntchli. Having played Scrooge in CTM’s A Christmas Carol, he now directs the adaptation written by his talented wife, Colleen Madden. He has also worked with Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, Next Act Theatre, Forward Theater, Madison Repertory, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Con Vivo.

Colleen Madden is a member of American Players Theatre’s Core Company. Recent favorite roles at APT are Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday, Beatrice in A View From the Bridge, and Mariah in Twelfth Night, among many others. Apart from APT, she has also had the honor to perform with Forward Theater, Children’s Theater of Madison, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. T.V.: Chicago P.D., All My Children. Film: Aquarians, Trace the Line, Survival Guide and upcoming Brutal Season.

Gavin Lawrence has performed with American Players Theatre for six seasons, and was recently seen in Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop – APT’s first show back with a live audience. He has worked at Steppenwolf, Woolly Mammoth, the Goodman, Arena Stage, Baltimore Centerstage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Mixed Blood, the Guthrie, Children’s Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, First Stage, Skylight Music Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kansas City Rep., Florida Studio Theatre, and the City Theatre. Film and TV work include, Joe Somebody, Justice, and Chicago PD.

His plays have been produced in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and Chicago. Cut Flowers, first produced by Mixed Blood Theatre, garnered five Black Theatre Alliance awards in Chicago including the Lorraine Hansberry award for Best Writing Of A Play. His play, Salt Fish and Bakes, was named Best New Script by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. His plays and musicals for young people have been produced at Universities and High Schools across the country as well as China.

As a director and composer, his work has been seen at the Kennedy Center, Mixed Blood Theatre, LatiNegro Theatre Collective, and Penumbra Theatre where he wrote and arranged the original music for Waiting In Vain, by the late Rebecca Rice. Gavin is an AUDELCO AWARD winner for Outstanding Performance By A Lead Actor for his Off-Broadway performance in Pure Confidence by Carlyle Brown and has been honored twice with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Howard University. He has received grants from the National Endowment For The Arts, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Playwrights Center where he worked as a Many Voices Fellow. Most recently Gavin was awarded with the Fox/TCG Resident Actor Fellowship for Distinguished Achievement. His fellowship allowed him a three-year residency at Baltimore Centerstage following the death of Freddie Gray and the ensuing uprisings in Baltimore and around the country. His solo show – Dear Son (The Black Body) was born out of his time at Centerstage where, under the artistic leadership of Kwame Kwei- Armah, the piece was workshopped and developed.

Praised for her “spicy and rich lyric soprano,” Wisconsin native Emily Secor enjoys performing on and off the operatic stage. She recently completed her tenure as Studio Artist with Madison Opera for the 2019-2020 season, where she performed the role of Annina and covered the role of Violetta in La Traviata, and performed the role of Miss Lightfoot in Fellow Travelers. 

In conjunction with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Emily was a featured soloist for “A Virtual Madison Symphony Christmas,” a pre-recorded Christmas program that aired during the month of December 2020. Described as “a sheer delight,” her performance received glowing accolades: “She sparkles on an aria from ‘Messiah’ (“He Shall Feed His Flock”) and brings loads of charm to ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.’ Thanks to the virtual format, I can listen to her shimmery rendition of ‘O Holy Night’ three times.” (Lindsay Christians, The Capital Times). 

Emily’s recent performances with Madison Opera as a Studio Artist during the 2018-2019 season included covering the role of Nedda in I Pagliacci, performing the role of Mrs. Nordstrom and covering Anne Egerman in A Little Night Music, and performing the role of First Woodsprite and covering the title role in Rusalka.