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Biographies
The Actors
Chloe Elliot-Chan – Galileo: Most Affectionate Daughter, Suor Maria Celeste
Chloe is a Southwest Florida actor last on stage as Ada Lovelace in The Naples Players’ production of Ada & The Engine. Other recent credits include The Business of Murder, Bedroom Farce and Proof at Players Circle Theater as well as Crocodile Fever, Save Hamlet, Good Bad People and Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Laboratory Theater of Florida. She also appeared in Ghostbird Theatre Company’s original play: No Single Body for Me to Follow. Additional educational credits include Hamlet, An Enemy of the People, and Sweet & Sad, all at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Bower School of Music and the Arts, where she is a senior Theatre major.
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Chloe Elliot-Chan – Sister Maria Celeste
Shaun Summers Cott – Abigail Adams: Remember the Ladies
Shaun is delighted to portray Abigail Adams, a role that resonates deeply with her upbringing in Teaneck, NJ, where equality and social conscience shaped her worldview. After a thirty-year hiatus from acting to focus on her accounting career and raising two daughters, a move back to NYC reignited her passion. There, she took classes and performed in stage productions, indie films, and even background work on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She’s especially grateful to Director Frank Blocker for warmly welcoming her into Southwest Florida’s theater community when she moved to the area six years ago. Her favorite local roles include Sister Acacius in The Divine Sister and Sumner in Men on Boats. Shaun admits it took her over a year to memorize Abigail’s lines, but the challenge left her confident she will never be daunted by a script again. She is immensely thankful for the unwavering support of her husband, and for the friends and family who make the time to see her perform; it means the world to her
Shaun Summers Cott – Abigail Adams
Melissa Hennig – Marjory Stoneman Douglas: A Voice for the Everglades
An Environmental Specialist with Collier County’s Conservation Collier Program, Melissa is delighted to bring Marjory to life. As the 20-year Picayune Strand State Forest restoration project comes to a successful end, she is honored to celebrate the life and work of Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Melissa has been performing in Southwest Florida for about 10 years. Some of her favorite roles include Mrs. Peacock in Clue!: On Stage, Clown 1 in The 39 Steps, Jeremy/Brother Venerius in The Divine Sister, and Anabella Byron in Ada & The Engine. This past June, Melissa and her director, Frank Blocker, received the Audience Choice Award at the Fort Myers Fringe Festival performing five 10-minute comedy plays. She would like to thank her husband Markus for his support.
Melissa received a nomination for Best Cabaret or Solo Performance from BroadwayWorld.com. Vote for her here: Vote
Melissa Hennig – Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Marilyn Hilbert – Ida Tarbell, Muckraker: The Mind Must Be Convinced
A veteran actress on the Southwest Florida theatre scene, she is no stranger to one-woman shows having appeared as Rory Powers in Her Last Starring Role, Mrs. Erskine in Second Lady, and as the title role in Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End. Some of her previous performances include as Ethel in On Golden Pond, Gladys in The Waverly
Gallery, Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy, Kate in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Doris in The Cemetery Club, Sister Walburger in The Divine Sister, Lady Boyle in Superior Donuts, the ensemble in Laugh, Cry, Pee, Repeat, and Blanche in Four Old Broads, to name a few. She’s very pleased to be appearing in this production of these wonderful historical women.
Marilyn Hilbert – Ida Tarbell
The Team
Janina Birtolo – Playwright
Janina has led many colorful careers in journalism, editing and creative writing. All while performing a dozen different solo plays on historical women such as Catherine the Great, Amelia Earhart, and Mary Todd Lincoln in addition to the ones featured in this festival. She shares her work with other actresses and encourages them in creating new works of their own. Catch a listing of her other works on historical women HERE.
Frank Blocker – Director
Currently directing 4000 Miles at Players Circle Theatre in Fort Myers, Florida, Frank’s local credits include Crocodile Fever, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Clue!, The Addams Family and Macbeth: The Murder Mystery. Frank is also a playwright: Good Jew, Suite Atlanta, Air Marshals, Chameleüns, Patient Number, Deadly Sugarplums: A Fright Before Christmas and off-Broadway debut Eula Mae’s Beauty, Bait & Tackle. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, recent credits include Lenny in Rumors, Gyp DeCarlo in Jersey Boys, and the Chairman in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He will appear next at Delray Beach Playhouse, January 13-25 in Good Jew. And at the Naples Norris Center Auditorium in February and March 2026. He will be performing solo comedies Southern Gothic Novel (New York Drama Desk Award-nominee) and Stabilized Not Controlled on Wednesday nights. Get tickets here:
Tickets for Southern Gothic Novel. Tickets for Stabilized Not Controlled.
Razmus Productions – Producer
Producing theatre, film and events. We only produce what we want to see.
KenAllen Publicity & Bookings 