A rockin' country musical!

King James

Produced in partnership with Broadway & Beyond Theatricals
WORLD PREMIERE

jun 19–Jul 13, 2025

Book by ASHLEY ROBINSON
Music by DAN GILLESPIE SELLS
Lyrics by SHAKINA
Directed by GIOVANNA SARDELLI

Based on the play by Ed Graczyk

Set in the 1970s in a ramshackle Texas town, Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical follows a group of friends as they celebrate the 20th reunion of their fan club “The Disciples of James Dean.” As the women look back fondly at their younger days, the arrival of a familiar stranger threatens to uncover deep-seated truths and unexpected connections. Based on the cult classic Broadway play and feature film, this rockin’ country musical is a story about choosing your family, creating your community, and finding your way.

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Special Events & Accessible Performances

Join TheatreWorks for a pre-show discussion with TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and an artist from the production. In this free event, peer behind the scenes and learn more about the process of bringing 5 & Dime to life.
  • Thursday, June 19, 2025 @ 6:30 – 7:15 pm (in the lobby)
  • Wednesday, June 25, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, July 9, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Saturday, July 12, 2025 @ 8pm
  • Sunday, July 13, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, July 6, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, July 6, 2025 @ 7pm
  • Wednesday, July 9, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Tuesday, July 1, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Friday, June 27, 2025 @ 8pm
  • Saturday, June 28, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, July 6, 2025 @ 2pm
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania

Cast

ELLIE VAN AMERONGEN*

ELLIE VAN AMERONGEN
he/him (Joe/Jimmy Dean) is overjoyed to be a part of this world premiere after workshopping the show in New York this past fall. He has appeared regionally at SpeakEasy Stage Co. (Once, Fun Home, Men on Boats), Casa Mañana (Jekyll and Hyde, Side Show), and at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (SPARK New Work Festival). He received the Thomas Derrah Emerging Artist Award and was IRNE Award-nominated for his work in Fun Home at SpeakEasy Stage Co. He is a proud Boston Conservatory graduate. Find his original music on all streaming platforms. @ellievanam

ASHLEY COWL*

ASHLEY COWL (Edna Louise) appeared in TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival presentation of 5 & Dime. Regional and Bay Area Theatre: Los Angeles revival of Kiss of the Spider Woman (Havok), Musical Theatre West, 5 Star Theatricals, Fullerton Civic Light Opera, Center REP, Producer’s Associates/Woodminster, 42nd Street Moon, Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, and Berkeley Playhouse. She was a guest performer at events for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Apple, Genentech, Miss America, and Danskin, the latter held at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Commercial: Grocery Outlet (national spot - Spanish & English). She earned her BFA in Musical Theatre from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles.

STEPHANIE GIBSON*

STEPHANIE GIBSON (Sissy) played Sissy in last summer’s New Works Festival reading. Broadway: Cinderella (Gabrielle), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Cherry), The Addams Family, Spamalot. Select: Glitter, Goblets & Gatos (solo show, Feinstein’s/54 Below), Anyone Can Whistle (Encores!), A Chorus Line (Tour), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (dir. Judith Ivey, Baltimore Center Stage), Crime and Punishment: A Comedy (The Old Globe), Last of the Red Hot Mamas (Bucks County), Murder on the Orient Express (Papermill), Cabaret (Cape Playhouse), Into the Woods (TUTS), Young Frankenstein (MUNY), Guys and Dolls (Arkansas Rep). TV: And Just Like That, Happy!, Law & Order, FBI, Run the World, Andy Warhol Diaries, Person of Interest, Up All Night. For Mom.

HAYLEY LOVGREN*

HAYLEY LOVGREN (Stella Mae) is a Bay Area native, and is thrilled to reprise the role of Stella Mae after last summer’s New Works Festival. Recent credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at San Jose Stage Co., Ruthless at New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Assassins, Clue, and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change at Hillbarn Theatre. Pre-pandemic she performed with 42nd Street Moon, San Francisco Playhouse, 3Below, and City Lights Theatre Co. She played King Herod in Ray of Light’s all-female production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which earned her a TBA Award. BA in Theatre Arts from Santa Clara University; MFA in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory.

LAUREN MARCUS*

LAUREN MARCUS (Mona) appeared as Mona in the New Works Festival reading of 5 & Dime. Broadway: Be More Chill (Original Cast). Select credits: The Jonathan Larson Project (The Orpheum), White Girl in Danger (Second Stage/Vineyard), Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter (Atlantic), Fiddler On The Roof (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Little Shop of Horrors (Pittsburgh Public), The Humans (St. Louis Rep), Company (Barrington Stage), The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (La Jolla Playhouse). Film/TV: tick, tick…BOOM!, SVU. As a writer, Lauren has developed work at New York Stage and Film. She’s currently co-writing the book for a musical adaptation of Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

JUDITH MILLER*

JUDITH MILLER (Loretta) has worked with many theatres up and down the Bay Area, including San Jose Stage Co., Hillbarn Theatre, Los Altos Stage Co., Palo Alto Players, Dragon Productions Theatre, South Bay Musical Theater, The Jewel Theater, and Marin Theatre Co. Notable roles: Roberta in Admissions (Los Altos Stage Co., San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Supporting Actor nomination and Overall Production winner), Violet Weston in August Osage County (San Jose Stage Co., SFBATCC Best Actor nomination and Overall Production winner), Carla in Grand Horizons (San Jose Stage Co., SFBATCC Featured Comedic Actor nomination and Overall Production winner). Thank you for supporting live theatre.

SHAKINA*

SHAKINA (Joanne) made trans TV history as a writer/director/performer on NBC’s Quantum Leap, recognized with Critics Choice Awards for writing and directing, and on NBC’s Connecting..., as the first trans actor to be cast as a series regular on a network sitcom. She can also be seen in Amazon’s GLAAD Award-winning Transparent Musicale Finale, which she helped write and produce, and Hulu’s Difficult People as the iconic trans truther, Lola. Her play, Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club, premiered on Audible in collaboration with Williamstown Theatre Festival, winning the 2021 Drama League Award for Best Audio Theatre Production. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, where she helped to develop hundreds of new musicals including the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and her own autobiographical glam rock odyssey, Manifest Pussy.

JOMAR TAGATAC*

JOMAR TAGATAC (Male Understudy)

CREATIVE TEAM

ASHLEY ROBINSON, Book

ASHLEY ROBINSON (Book) is a Brooklyn-based actor and writer, born and raised in rural Lockhart, South Carolina. His play adaptation of Brokeback Mountain premiered on London’s West End last year, is currently being translated and produced worldwide, and will have its US premiere at Chicago Shakespeare next year. His musical Fall of ’94 is in development. Ashley is a Ucross Foundation writing resident. London acting credits include Floyd Collins (Wiltons Music Hall), Casa Valentina (Southwark Playhouse), and Merrily We Roll Along (Harold Pinter Theatre/Menier Chocolate Factory). New York acting credits include Capote in the New York premiere of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, A Clockwork Orange (Action to the Word, New World Stages). He originated the role of Jett Rink in the World Premiere of the musical Giant. Training: University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In loving memory of the great Carol Hall.

DAN GILLESPIE SELLS, Music

DAN GILLESPIE SELLS (Music) is the Ivor Novello award-winning songwriter and front person of triple platinum selling pop band The Feeling. His 25 year career has taken him (and his songs) into the worlds of dance, theatre, TV and film. He has composed, arranged and produced for and with artists as varied as Sophie Ellis Bextor, Rufus Wainwright, Jake Wesley Rodgers, and Shakka Khan. Theatre credits include 3withD (The London Coliseum/Stuttgart Ballet/Joyce Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Crucible Theatre), the multi-award-winning Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and the West End production of Brokeback Mountain. Awards include the Stonewall Award for Entertainer of the Decade (for his work in the LGBTQ + community), Best Composer at The Stage Debut Awards 2017, plus multiple BRIT and Oliver Award nominations including “outstanding achievement in music.”

SHAKINA, Lyrics

SHAKINA (Lyrics & Joanne) made trans TV history as a writer/director/performer on NBC’s Quantum Leap, recognized with Critics Choice Awards for writing and directing, and on NBC’s Connecting..., as the first trans actor to be cast as a series regular on a network sitcom. She can also be seen in Amazon’s GLAAD Award-winning Transparent Musicale Finale, which she helped write and produce, and Hulu’s Difficult People as the iconic trans truther, Lola. Her play, Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club, premiered on Audible in collaboration with Williamstown Theatre Festival, winning the 2021 Drama League Award for Best Audio Theatre Production. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, where she helped to develop hundreds of new musicals including the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and her own autobiographical glam rock odyssey, Manifest Pussy.

GIOVANNA SARDELLI, Director

GIOVANNA SARDELLI (Director) is TheatreWorks’ Artistic Director and former Director of New Works for nine years. TheatreWorks directing credits include King James (SFBATCC Awards for Best Production, Best Director), Mrs. Christie, A Distinct Society, Nan and the Lower Body, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, They Promised Her the Moon, Archduke, Crimes of the Heart, The North Pool, and Somewhere. Other directing credits: Describe the Night (Obie Award Best New Play) at Atlantic Theater Co., the World Premiere of Archduke at Mark Taper Forum, An Entomologist’s Love Story at San Francisco Playhouse, and the Marvel podcast Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show! Sardelli holds an MFA in Acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and taught in NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and Dance Department for over a decade.

JACOB YATES, Music Director

JACOB YATES (Music Director) is a classically trained cellist and Music Director. His favorite Broadway/Off Broadway credits include Wicked, Les Misérables, Spring Awakening, Alice By Heart, Hadestown (Tour/Broadway), Only Gold, Rock of Ages, and currently Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. In addition to his Broadway career, Jacob has toured with Disney’s Disney Princess - The Concert as well as performed all over the world with Broadway and Television Stars. He will also be seen in the upcoming feature film, On A String. Upcoming musical projects include Hard Road To Heaven and When We Touch.

RYAN BLIHOVDE, Orchestrations

RYAN BLIHOVDE (Orchestrations) is a Manhattan-based musician whose work spans Broadway, national tours, and foley/post-production audio for film. Ryan is grateful for help from Cassidy Gephart and Greg Paladino. Favorite credits include The SpongeBob Musical (First National Tour), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Broadway, drum sub), and transcribing the score for the Prologue to Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Broadway). Ryan was once beaten at ping-pong by Shaun White.

NINA BALL, Scenic Design

NINA BALL (Scenic Design) is an award winning scenic designer, visual artist and educator. Recent TheatreWorks design credits include Queen, How I Learned What I Learned, In Every Generation, and Nan and the Lower Body. Other theatres include: American Conservatory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep, California Shakespeare Theater, Marin Shakespeare Co., Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, among others. Ball is also a production designer and has worked on numerous film, TV, and commercial productions. Affiliations include: Scenic Design Faculty at Stanford University; Shotgun Players company member; Marin Shakes Artistic Associate; and a member of United Scenic Artist Union 829. ninaball.com

ALINA BOKOVIKOVA, Costume Design

ALINA BOKOVIKOVA (Costume Design) is an artistically diverse costume designer with a portfolio spanning over a hundred professional productions. She is thrilled to return to TheatreWorks, where she previously designed tokyo fish story and Calligraphy. Additional credits include work with Presidio Theatre, Opera Parallèle, California Shakespeare Theater, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Opera, and Opera San José. Alina has several regional Best Costume Design awards, presented her works at an exhibition in Moscow “Costume Design at the Turn of Century,” and was featured in American Theatre Magazine. She teaches at the Academy of Art University and UC San Diego.

KURT LANDISMAN, Lighting Design

KURT LANDISMAN (Lighting Design) designed TheatreWorks’ Happy Pleasant Valley, Tiger Style!, In Every Generation, The Joy Luck Club, Once on This Island, and The Heidi Chronicles. Bay Area credits include American Conservatory Theater, San Jose Rep, San Francisco Opera, Berkeley Rep, Marin Theatre Co., Center REP, Magic Theatre, and many others. His 45 years of lighting design include the premieres of Sam Shepard’s True West as well as Fool for Love which played Off-Broadway for two years. His lighting has been seen throughout the US and internationally, with productions in Tokyo, Singapore, and Shanghai. His designs have received 22 Bay Area Critics Circle Awards. kurtlandisman.com

CLIFF CARUTHERS, Sound Design

CLIFF CARUTHERS (Sound Design) is a West Coast-based sound designer and composer with over 75 credits at TheatreWorks, where he was resident sound designer from 2002 to 2009. Highlights include Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, Arcadia, The Clean House, and The Loudest Man on Earth. Credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Alley Theatre, Guthrie Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Center REP, The Acting Company, Kansas City Rep, Marin Theatre Co., Aurora Theatre Co., California Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, and Cutting Ball Theater. Mr. Caruthers is co-curator and technical director of the San Francisco Tape Music Festival, a proud member of United Scenic Artists, and teaches sound design at Stanford.

Y. SHARON PENG, Wig and Hair Design

Y. SHARON PENG she/they (Wig and Hair Design) recently designed for Harvey Milk Reimagined (Opera Parallèle), Brigadoon (South Bay Musical Theatre), The House on Mango Street (Teatro Visíon), and Chriskirkpatrickmas (Seven Dials Playhouse, London). Recent TV/Film: Stranger Things (Makeup Artist), Ride (Costume Supervisor), Finger (Costume Designer), and Anime Crimes Division (Costume Designer). Sharon currently heads the Hair & Makeup Department at Opera San José, styles wigs for San Francisco Ballet, and is a Principal Artist and Foreperson at San Francisco Opera. An alum of Fashion School of Design & Merchandising (San Francisco), Sharon trained in bespoke wig construction with the English National Opera. Member of IATSE Local 706. ysharonpeng.net

LEE ANN PAYNE, Movement Coordinator

LEE ANN PAYNE (Movement Coordinator) choreographed TheatreWorks’ Happy Pleasant Valley and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and appeared in Emma, Josephine, and NWF readings of A Driving Beat and Norman Rockwell’s America. Locally, she has choreographed for 42nd Street Moon, Jewel Theatre, Hillbarn Theatre, and Palo Alto Players, among others. She won a TBA Award for her choreography for Hillbarn Theatre (Anything Goes), along with the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for the overall production. Ms. Payne holds an MFA in Musical Theater from San Diego State University. She is CFO of Montalvo Arts Center.

KIMILY CONKLE, Dialect Coach

KIMILY CONKLE (Dialect Coach) has coached more than twenty TheatreWorks productions, most recently Steel Magnolias. Other credits include productions with San Francisco Playhouse, San Jose Stage Co., Marin Theatre Co., CenterREP, Sierra Repertory Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Co., City Lights Theater Co., Ross Valley Players, and Stanford University. Affiliations: Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), Voice and Speech Trainers Association, and Theatre Arts faculty at Foothill College. Training: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, American Conservatory Theater, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and Bristol Old Vic. She made four trips to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a performer/director and holds a BS from Georgia Tech.

DANI O’DEA, Fight Coordinator

DANI O’DEA (Fight Coordinator) has worked as a Fight, Intimacy, and Movement Director at Berkeley Rep, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Opera, and more. She also works as a teaching artist in theatres and schools across the Bay Area. Training: BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts at the Experimental Theatre Wing with a focus on physical/devised theatre and stage combat; apprenticed under award-winning Fight Master J David Brimmer. As his associate, Dani worked on countless Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Dani also worked in motion capture at 2K Games for 10 years, both as a stunt performer and Sr. Producer.

JUDITH NIHEI, Artist Counselor

JUDITH NIHEI (Artist Counselor) is a San Francisco-based licensed psychotherapist in private practice. She consults for schools, nonprofits and community-based organizations, facilitating the incorporation of stress-reduction and cultural humility as an integral part of trauma-informed services. Clients have included Edgewood Center for Children and Families, Japanese Community Youth Council, and Theatre Communications Group, Inc. As a director, dramaturg, writer, actor, and administrator, she worked with Asian American theatre companies in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as The Seattle Rep, Cornish College of the Arts, Hillbarn Theatre and BRAVA. She began her career in improv with The Committee and currently performs as one of The Bad Aunties.

TAYLOR MCQUESTEN*, Stage Manager

TAYLOR MCQUESTEN (Stage Manager) works internationally as a stage and tour manager, electrician, and stuntwoman. Select credits include 10+ seasons as TheatreWorks’ Resident Stage Manager, Production Stage Manager and Assistant Director for Lizard Boy, Tour Manager for Evan Rachel Wood and Zane Carney’s band EVAN+ZANE, SF Sketchfest (Assistant Technical Director / Associate Production Manager), Center REP (Production Stage Manager / Electrician) California Shakespeare Theater (Production Electrician), Legion A/V (Head of Lighting), Playfaire Productions (Swordswoman), The Independent SF (Lighting Designer), Highlander Films (Production Assistant), American Conservatory Theater, Cabrillo Stage, Hillbarn Theatre, and Magic Theatre. She also trains historic mêlée weapons at Davenriche European Martial Arts School under master swordsman, Sir Steáphen Fick.

EMILY ANDERSON WOLF*, Assistant Stage Manager

EMILY ANDERSON WOLF (Assistant Stage Manager) was Assistant Stage Manager for TheatreWorks’ The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Little Shop of Horrors, Archduke, Frost/Nixon, Fun Home, Crimes of the Heart, Emma, Triangle, Fire on the Mountain, Peter and the Starcatcher, Sweeney Todd, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Little Women, and Other Desert Cities. She was also Assistant Stage Manager for threesixty Entertainment’s First National Tour of Peter Pan; Journey to the West at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and with American Musical Theatre of San Jose. Ms. Wolf is a proud member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. She holds a BA in Theatre, Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

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