Meet the Production Team!

The Playwrights

Jenna Adams

Jenna is a senior majoring in Theatre Arts Studies

at BYU. She is a writer, director, producer, and professional actor. Jenna enjoys writing a variety of mediums including comedy sketches, plays, screenplays, and is a published writer for her research in international development. She recently directed and produced Uncommon Women and Others, co-directed BYU’s Vintage Broadcast Podcast, assistant-produced BYU Radio’s “The Apple Seed,” and is currently assistant directing BYU’s production of Julius Caesar. After graduating from BYU, Jenna hopes to combine her love for theatre and international development by enrolling in a master’s degree in Applied Theatre to facilitate community development for refugees through the performing arts.

Favorite lines from her play, Stranded:

JASON: They’ve got to be expired.
MARGOT: Doesn’t matter, they’re Double Stuffed.

Ellie Kuoppala

Ellie was born and raised in Butte, Montana. She is a senior in the Theatre Arts Studies program with an emphasis in Playwriting and Stage Management and a minor in Business. Currently, she is working on the Young Company play, Luna, and the mainstage, Pride and Prejudice. One day she hopes to own and operate her own community theatre somewhere in the mountains.

Favorite line from her play, When We’re Thirty:

ERIC: I want him to see me as a good man. A manly man. One who wears manly ties.

Alyssa Call

Alyssa is a junior in the Theater Arts Studies program studying playwriting and directing. Born and raised in Utah, she caught the writing bug in elementary school and has been writing plays ever since. Microburst will be her first time seeing her work performed on a real stage and she is excited for the opportunity for this realization of a dream.

Favorite line from her play, Beautiful Monster:

Mom: Never think of yourself as a monster.

Rose Allen

Rose is a junior(ish) studying playwriting and directing here at BYU. She’s lived in Orem for the past 5 years, but she grew up in Wisconsin. She has previous credits as an actor, designer, and director, but only one of her plays has been produced before; she wrote and directed “Hijack/The Missing Link” during her senior year of high school. This is definitely her favorite play that she’s written, and also the one she’s spent the most time on, by far. She’d like to give a special shoutout to Spencer Fields since this play would not have been finished without him.

Favorite line from her play, A Perfectly Ordinary Christmas Dinner:

EVAN: That was never their intention. I know they have spent so much time and shed so many tears for your difficulties.

Rachel Carr

Rachel is a senior in the Theatre Arts Studies program, and recently discovered her love of playwriting. She is a singer and audio technician and loves storytelling in any form. She is so grateful for the opportunity BYU has provided in producing her play, and will continue to pursue creative writing after graduation.

Favorite line from her play, Pigeons:

NOAH: What, I can’t be a domestic god sometimes?

Sammy Daynes

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Singapore, Samantha is a senior studying theater education. At BYU she has been an actor (Hamlet, Comedy of Errors), dramaturg, stage manager, and costume designer. Other plays she’s written include Long-Term Care and Different, a musical about special needs families that she co-wrote with Tyler and Rick Daynes. She wrote Time Management in the Fall of 2019 and has waited two years to see the play produced. It’s gone through multiple revisions and the iteration of the play you see tonight is draft #18. She is so excited to have it finally on a stage and so grateful to the whole team at BYU for making it possible! “A wise man once said: If you’re not at least a little bit embarrassed by the art you’re presenting, you’ve spent too much time on it.”

Favorite line from her play, Time Management:

HAZEL: I think if you knew how good your life is going to get, you wouldn’t want to change a thing.

The Directors

Cameron Cox (director)

From Orem, Utah, Cameron is a masters student studying Media and Performance Studies. Aspiring jack of all trades, Cameron has a BA in Theatre Arts Studies with emphases in directing, stage management, and dramaturgy. Cameron is thrilled to direct BYU’s Microburst Theatre Festival, previously having assistant directed BYU’s Much Ado About Nothing. Stage management credits include the operas The Magic Flute, A Dinner Engagement, and Bon Appetite for The School of Music; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Romeo y Julieta and Happysadness for BYU Arts Production and Prothero for the Salt Lake Fringe Festival. Dramaturgy credits include BYU’s Little Shop of Horrors, Illusionary Tales, The 39 Steps and he is thrilled to be working on Escape from Planet Death opening next week. Next year Cameron is looking forward to writing his thesis and hoping to start a PHD after he graduates.

Joanna Noall (assistant director)

From Salt Lake City, Utah, Joanna is a senior studying directing and design. Previous directing credits include Is He Dead, The Stonecutter, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, and her BYU Mask Club production of Happy Days. She has also been seen on stage at BYU in Much Ado About Nothing, and The Comedy of Errors.

Favorite moments with Microburst: I love the moments of watching happy playwrights when the right lines click into place. I’ve also loved working on creating an evening of theatre with all the plays together.

The Dramaturgs

Spencer Fields

Spencer hails from the small town of Gig Harbor, Washington and is thrilled to have acted as a dramaturg for Microburst. He is currently working towards his undergrad in Theatre Arts Studies with an emphasis in dramaturgy and a minor in Africana Studies. His previous dramaturgy credits include various Mask Club performances and BYU’s upcoming mainstage production Fiddler on the Roof. Spencer also acted as the assistant stage manager here at BYU for last year’s performance of The Pirates of Penzance and will again assistant stage manage the upcoming production of The 39 Steps at BYU.

Lillian Bills

Lillian is a senior studying Interdisciplinary Humanities with a theater emphasis and a minor in Digital Humanities at BYU. She is passionate about dramaturgy, sharing stories, and making connections. Her recent credits at BYU include being the dramaturg for last season’s Everyone and for the mask clubs Tragedy: A Tragedy and Talking With. She has enjoyed every moment working with her playwrights and is grateful for all of the new friendships she has made.

Lillian also designed the playbill for this year’s Microburst performances. You can view the playbill here.