The MAP
presents
IF WE KISS
by Rachel Vail
directed by Zachary Elkind
KEVIN / GEORGE: Jordan Bellow *
CHARLIE: Caroline Grogan *
MOM / DARLENE GREENFUDDER / PENELOPE / MRS BUCKLEY: Katie Hartke *
JOE / MR HERMAN / MR MCKINLEY / MR BUCKLEY / BRAD: Jeffrey Omura *
TESS / SAMANTHA: Frankie Placidi
production stage manager: Natalie Wagner
set designer: Anna Grigo
costume designer: Alyssa Korol
lighting designer: Riva Fairhall
choreographer: Susannah Millonzi
producer: Spencer Lutvak
press: John Wyszniewski / Everyman Agency
social media: John David West
house manager: Liz Dion
Jordan Bellow (Kevin/George) Jordan Bellow (Kevin/George) New York - Clubbed Thumb, Theatre for a New Audience, 59E59, New Ohio, and The Connelly. Regional - The Wilma, Woolly Mammoth, Chester Theatre Company, Fisher Center, Westport Country Playhouse, Denver Center, Syracuse Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre and South Coast Repertory. TV - Not Suitable For Work (Upcoming), Dickinson, Gotham, and Orange Is The New Black. Helen Hayes nominee (Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play).
Caroline Grogan * (Charlie) is a New York-based actor, voice-over narrator, and teaching artist. She is thrilled to be returning as Charlie in If We Kiss. Recent credits, Bedlam: Are the Bennet Girls OK?, Arcadia, Persuasion, The Crucible (Boston & NY). Society Theatre company member: Beginning Days of True Jubilation and The Strangers Came Today. Up next, March 2026: Entangled by Mona Mansour & Emily Zemba at HERE. Television credits: FBI: Most Wanted and Bedlam: The Series. In addition to performing, Caroline is the Education Director at Bedlam, Executive Artistic Director of the arts nonprofit, Zara Aina (zaraaina.org). She founded "Storybox Storytelling" where she teaches classes for kids in NYC. Caroline is a clown passionate about exploring art with young people! She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. @caregrogan www.caroline-grogan.com
Jeffrey Omura * (Joe / Mr Herman / Mr McKinley / Mr Buckley / Brad) This is Jeffrey’s second production with the MAP Theater after starring in James Joyce’s Exiles earlier this year. He recently returned from Berkeley Rep where he appeared in Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir. In NYC he’s worked with The Public Theater, Playwrights Realm, Ma-Yi, and NAATCO; across the country with Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, St. Louis Rep, Weston Playhouse, and more. On screen, he’s popped up in “Succession”, “Hawaii Five-0”, “Elementary”, “Limitless”, “The Blacklist”, “Gossip Girl”, “High Maintenance”, and more. His voice can be heard in 75+ films and TV shows. Offstage, Jeffrey helped found Fair Wage Onstage, Be An #ArtsHero, and @QueersforAction, and he’s been elected three times to Actors’ Equity’s National Council. A proud Carnegie Mellon Drama alum. Follow @jeffreyomura | www.jeffreyomura.com
Katie Hartke (Mom / Darlene Greenfudder / Penelope / Mrs. Buckley) is thrilled to be returning to If We Kiss after its world premiere in 2024. New York: Winter’s Tale (Bedlam); Olivia (Twelfth Night), Lady Capulet/Lady Macbeth (Youth & Ambition), and Leena Breitwisch (Breitwisch Farm, world premiere), Esperance Theater Company, where Katie is also a co-founder; Othello (Epic Theatre Ensemble); Wonder of the World (Core Theatre Comp.); Life Is A Dream (Flux Theatre Ensemble). Regional: Bedlam’s Sense & Sensibility (A.R.T.); 11 seasons with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, where favorite roles include Adriana (Comedy of Errors), Viola (Twelfth Night), Imogen (Cymbeline), Lucrece (The Liar), Rosaline (Love’s Labours Lost), and Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Sense & Sensibility (Virginia Stage, Cape Playhouse); Blithe Spirit (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina); cul-de-sac (Half Moon); Love/Sick (Arc Stages); Love/Sick, Clybourne Park (Shadowland); A Christmas Carol (Portland Stage); Maggie in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof (Middlebury Actors Workshop). TV/Film: “Succession,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “The Blacklist,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Bedlam: The Series,” “Lost Nation,” “I’ll Be Right There,” “Guiding Light,” “College Humor,” “The Circuit.” Training: Catholic University, Circle In the Square Theatre School. Proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA. For my loves, Ryan and Zoë.
Frankie Placidi (Tess / Samantha) (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based actor, writer, animal lover, & enthusiast of all things paranormal. Recent theater credits include The Matriarchs (Theatre Lab), I'm Repeating Myself (The Brick), A Necessary Killing (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks), The 12 Chairs (Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference), Exploring the Sources (New Georges), and many readings & workshops. She is a resident actor with Mercury Store. @frankieplacidi; www.frankieplacidi.com
Zachary Elkind (Director) is a director based in New York. From 2019 – 2024, Zack was the Associate Artistic Director of Bedlam, where he directed Mary Stuart, Richard II, Hedda Gabler, and more. At Bedlam, he also curated the Do More: New Plays series of readings and workshops, through which he commissioned Talene Monahon’s The Good John Proctor for Bedlam’s world premiere production and developed work with Zora Howard, Julian Hornik, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Stefani Kuo, a.k. payne, Emily Breeze, Madison Fiedler, Renae Simone Jarrett, Sam Hamashima, and Eleanor Burgess. Other recent work: James Joyce's Exiles, If We Kiss, Richard II (The MAP); Anna Karenina, Hedda Gabler, Sparks Fly Upward (Bedlam); Richard II (Luna Stage); Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables (Ghostlight); Macbeth (NYU Steinhardt). Zack has also worked with Page 73, the New Group, Symphony Space, Heartbeat Opera, BRIC, and Live from Lincoln Center. His feature film adaptation of Three Sisters is currently in post-production. If you have a theater-loving teen in your life, check out ghostlighttheatercamp.com. Say hi at www.zacharyelkind.com.
Rachel Vail (Playwright) has written a few plays including this one, an adaptation (with Zachary Elkind) of Anna Karenina, and Benediction; and more than 40 books including If We Kiss; Well, That Was Awkward; and Sometimes I’m Bombaloo. Her latest book, You and Me, Anemone, was selected by Kirkus as a Best Book of 2025. Rachel’s books have won literary awards and been translated into a dozen languages. They’ve appeared on state and bestseller lists, and have been the subjects of both scholarly study and homework. Her dream at age 22 was to be a playwright. Thanks, Z, for making it come true.
Alyssa Korol (Costume Designer) is a costume designer, crafts artisan, and wardrobe manager who enjoys creating thought-provoking works to challenge societal expectations and invite new perspectives. She grew up in northern Vermont and is now based in the New York City area. Recent works include Exiles (The Map), Entertaining Mr. Sloane (Annabel Capper Presents, 2024), We (Kevin Ray Works, 2024), and Richard II (The Map + Luna Stage, 2022). In her craft, Alyssa values innovative character exploration, complex world building, and lively collaboration, the context for bringing stories to life and making compelling art. Boston University MFA in Costume Design, 2018. (www.alyssakorol.com).
Anna Grigo (Scenic Designer) is a New York City-based scenic and production designer for theatre, opera, and film. Select credits include: Scenic Designer for SISSY (Baryshnikov Arts Center), Choir Boy (Yale Repertory Theatre), Kinky Boots (Bucks County Playhouse), birthday birthday birthday (The Tank), Fiddler on the Roof (Yale Dramatic Association), and Matt & Ben (Kitchen Theatre Company). Anna was the Assistant Scenic Designer for the Broadway production of Sweeney Todd and the Associate Scenic Designer for the Broadway production of Cult of Love. Anna received her MFA in Set Design from the Yale School of Drama. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. www.annagrigo.com
Spencer Lutvak (Producer) is grateful to be producing another show with The Map. Spencer is a Camp Director at Ghostlight Theater Camp, a sleepaway camp for kids ages 9-17; the owner of Budget with Spencer, where he works with individuals on everyday money management and financial literacy; and he previously worked at The Public Theater in both Finance and General Management. budgetwithspencer.com
Riva Fairhall (Lighting Designer) is thrilled to be working with Zack & co on this lovely production. Opening night: 12/7. Partly cloudy. Low around 30F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. @not.riva
Natalie Wagner (Production Stage Manager) is a NYC-based stage manager working in opera, movement/dance, theatre, and various genre-defying types of performance. Recent productions include Book of Mountains and Seas (international tour, Beth Morrison Projects); Salome (Heartbeat Opera); Maria de Buenos Aires and The Coronation of Poppea (Opera Montana/Raison d'Etre Dance Project); Don Giovanni (Mannes School of Music); Zemlinsky's Zimmer (The Little Opera Theatre of NY); Spacetime (Rainart); The Nightingale and Erwartung (West Edge Opera); The Servant of Two Masters (Synetic Theatre); Sky on Swings (Opera Saratoga). She's also worked in Chicago storefront theatre and on NYMF musicals. She's thrilled to be stage managing for Zack for the first time since they were just two years older than Charlie Collins & co.
Everyman Agency is a communications firm promoting complex ideas, mostly in the arts. Founded by John Wyszniewski, Everyman Agency builds awareness and provokes action for cultural organizations and individual artists by putting impactful storytelling, strategic thinking, and meaningful relationships at the heart of its work. Clients include Ars Nova, Axis Theatre Company, En Garde Arts, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Rattlestick Theater, Target Margin Theater, and TheaterWorks Hartford, among others. www.everymanagency.com
The A.R.T./New York Theatres are a project of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T ./New York) which provide state-of-the-art, accessible venues and top-line technical equipment at subsidized rates, so that the city’s small and emerging theatre companies can continue to experiment, grow, and produce new works. Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York assists over 500 member theatres in realizing their rich artistic visions and serving their diverse audiences well. A.R.T./New York accomplishes this through providing progressive services to our members – from shared office and rehearsal spaces to technical assistance programs for emerging theatres. Because of this dedication to serving the needs of the nonprofit theatre community, A.R.T./New York has received numerous honors, including an Obie Award, an Innovative Theatre Award, a New York City Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture, and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. For more information, please visit www.art-newyork.org.
Actors' Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 50,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org
*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production. This is an Equity approved Showcase.
Performance space for this production was subsidized by the
A.R.T./New York Theatres Rental Subsidy Fund,
a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).
Special Thanks:
Houghton Hall Arts Community
Lincoln Center Theater
The Scrap Pile
Materials for the Arts
Natalie Shinnick, Sean Boyce Johnson, Rebecca Hanai Malamud, Mattie Tindall, Gillian Gold, Celia Frey
Abby VandenBrul, Lila Popell, Kim Zhou, Erin Thibodaux, Joey Jaeckel, and the Ghostlight Theater Camp company of If We Kiss
Simone Policano, Simon Schaitkin, Marianna Gailus, Chris Peters, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Joana Tsuhlares, Rajesh Bose, Peregrine Heard
Kevin Orzechowski, Jillian Eddy
Eileen & Jeff Vail, Arlene & Arthur Elkind
Mitchell Elkind, Liam Elkind
Alexa Lyons
Key art photograph by Paul Lutvak
“Chicken at Sunset” furnished by Zoë Quinn
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