#KITCHENMONOLOGUES - a remote theater project for a stay-at-home season
​In April of 2020, Phase Eight ensemble member Samantha Corbitt (Ruined, Yo Soy Latino, Striking Up) had an impulse to keep creating in the midst of stay-at-home orders. Her idea--turn the kitchen into a stage for a series of monologues and invite others to do the same.

We're proud to present a weekend of locally authored monologues and re-imagined classics among our stoves, sinks, and mugs of tea with more to come after that--including perhaps, your own #kitchenmonologue? Subscribe to our social media and tag us with your creations!

Creatives Involved in the May 9-10, 2020 #KITCHENMONOLOGUES
ALEXANDRA BLANKENBILLER has had a passion for the arts for as long as she can remember, singing in choruses from elementary throughout high school. In 2016, she was invited to become part of Jacksonville’s premiere acapella group, the Jax Treblemakers. With her Treblemakers, she has had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at the Veterans’ Memorial Arena for a Sharks game, perform at the 31st Annual Christmas Tree Lighting at the Jacksonville Landing, and bring on the Christmas for ZOOlights at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, among other performances. A writer and actor as well, she has in the past couple of years delved into the world of film, co-writing and being a part of multiple short films including Todd Chipman’s SNIPPED, and has had small roles in two local features: Royce Freeman’s In Utero, and Durden Godfrey’s I Am Going To Kill Someone This Friday. The Yo Soy Latino Showcase was her first time working with Phase 8 and her theatre debut.

ANDRES D. BRAVO is a queer Latino transman in love with the art of storytelling. His love for acting, writing, and comic book art eventually became his full-time career. He expresses tremendous gratitude for the people who helped him turn his passion into his purpose.

GRACE H. BRYAN loves being a part of theatre and film families in Jacksonville and St.Augustine. She has helped out as an actor and producer in a variety projects such as Phase Eight's pending "Striking Up", Theatre Jacksonville's "Shadowlands", "Silent Sky", Bab's Lab "Dracula", "Sherlock Holmes" and local films "Teardrop Goodbye: with Mandatory Directorial Commentary From Remy Von Trout", "Shine On", "Lay Me Down", "Wake Up", "DOA" Ortega River Rats" and "Psycho Sophia." When not able to work in the arts, she is either working as a neurosurgical Physician Assistant and being a wife and mom.

JAN PETER BUKSAR is a born and bred NY'er, who moved to Florida in 2013. He earned his BFA in Acting at NYU, with his primary training at the Stella Adler Conservatory.  He was seen in Phase Eight's production of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train.  Other local credits include The Laramie Project at The 5 & Dime Theatre, Into the Woods, and Mothers and Sons at Players-By-The-Sea Theatre, Twelfth Night and Bay at the Moon at All Beaches Experimental Theatre, and Hedda Gabler, Clybourne Park, and The Boys Next Door at the Limelight Theatre. He made his directorial debut at The 5 & Dime with the play Cock.   

THEO CANTY started his artistic career as a musician. He attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and studied Vocal Performance. In 2006 Theo won the Grady Rayam Negro Spiritual competition for young African American classical vocalist. Theo studied classical music at Stetson University under the direction of Dr. Stephen Hg, and vocal jazz at Berklee College of Music under Allison Wedding. Upon returning to Jacksonville in 2015, Theo began his acting career. He received rave reviews for his work as Jimmy Early in the Musical Dreamgirls. He has also been cast as in works by local playwright James Webb, and most recently he was cast as Victor in Smokey Joe’s Café. Theo has shared the stage with performers such as "Three Mo' Tenors" and Nikki Giovanni.

SAMANTHA CORBITT is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. She began dancing, singing and playing the piano at the age of four. Samantha is an alumni of Attitudes Performing Arts dance studio and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where she studied performance theatre. After high school she spent a year studying theatre in the BA program at Florida State University before changing her major to French and Spanish. Following her undergraduate studies, she attended law school at Florida Coastal School of Law where she graduated in 2015 with her JD, and she recently passed the Florida Bar Exam. Samantha currently pursues her love for performance through acting and singing and as a member of Nan Nkama Pan African Drum and Dance Ensemble. 

ADAM NATHANIEL DAVIS: playwright, poet, painter, programmer. Writer of OK, Sierra--a soon-to-be Phase Eight production. More at writing.voyage.

GABRIEL DAVIS has held positions at the Westport Country Playhouse as Education Associate and the City Theatre Company as Literary Assistant. He holds his Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University, School of Drama.  His Bachelor of Philosophy is from the Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh--where he was a Chancellors Undergraduate Teaching Fellow and a Brackenridge Fellow. Find his monologue at monologuegenie.com/yoga-fart-monologue.html and more about Davis at gabrielbdavis.com.

EVIE DAY is an FSU acting graduate who has a passion for teaching drama to homeschoolers. She recently appeared as the narrator for Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell. Evie previously appeared at ABET as Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Evie was last seen at Phase Eight as Boyet in Love’s Labour’s Lost and at Clamour Theatre’s Clay and Water event.

ADAM GROFF is a creator living in Jacksonville, Florida. He has an MFA in Playwriting and Screenwriting from Florida State University and a BA in Creative Writing from FSU as well. He is the winner of the Kennedy Center Theatre Festival for his 10-minute play, Nancies, a published short story writer, a Nicholl Fellowship Semi-Finalist, a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and winner of the 2017 Austin Film Festival Scripted Digital Series Competition for his web series, The Range. Adam spends the majority of his days writing screenplays, stage plays, and short fiction. This is Adam's third time working with Phase 8 Theater Company – his previous productions were 2017's LIVE GIRLS and 2018's MASS.

KAREN KONZEN is an actor and writer. She was most recently seen as Olympe De Gouge in The Revolutionists (Actors Collective). Other stage credits include Artie in Eleemosynary (ABET), A Picasso (The 5 & Dime), On the Verge and Macbeth (ABET), The Fox on the Fairway and Conversations After a Burial (Players by the Sea), Tea and Sympathy (Theatre Jacksonville), and House of Blue Leaves (Limelight Theatre). Film credits include the lead role of Maya “Thunder” Brown in Thunder (official selection of the Sunscreen Film Festival), the principal role of Helen in Cry for the Bad Man (starring Camille Keaton), and the lead role in two of filmmaker Kendall Brunson’s most recent shorts Grab This! and Box (featured in the Loft Film Festival). Karen also recently wrote a series of monologues performed as part of the Actors Collective production One By Tenn Plus Eight.

BROOKS ANNE MEIERDIERKS has performed quite a few times with Phase Eight. She was in Hot L Baltimore one of Phase Eight’s first productions and Mass which were both directed by JaMario Stills. She has also performed on numerous stages both locally and across the United States. Foreigner and ‘Night Mother are among her favorite shows she has performed in. She enjoys any time spent with family and friends and loves to support the arts.

JACK PERMENTER serves as Phase Eight's directing chair.

​RICH PINTELLO is an actor who has been doing theater since around 2012 or so and has been a part of some wonderful Phase Eight Theater productions.

ARIANNA RODRIGUEZ is very excited to be a part of the kitchen monologues project. As the production chair for Phase Eight she can’t wait to tackle this new form of theater and get some amazing monologues out there.

KELBY SIDDONS  is a graduate of Northwestern University who has had her original work performed in New York (Manhattan Theater Club), Chicago (Northwestern U), Milwaukee (Rep), Houston (Express), Gainesville (Y-Not), and Jacksonville (Phase Eight / MOCA, Players by the Sea, Theatre Jacksonville, ABET / Actors' Collective). In the Jacksonville stage community, she has directed (Macbeth and Alice in Wonderland at ABET; Three Days of Rain at Players by the Sea), acted (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at ABET; Next Fall at the 5 & Dime; Amadeus with Players by the Sea and the JSO), puppeteered (Dickens on Centre under the direction of Jason Woods), and more. She serves as the associate artistic director of PhaseE Eight. Credits at kelbysiddons.com.

ERICA VILLANUEVA has unknowingly prepared herself for a mass quarantine for the last decade. Not a stranger to indefinite isolation, Erica is in her element. Enjoying the solitude, she spends her days meditating, practicing yin yoga, reading, writing, and introspecting. When she is not at risk for carrying/contracting COVID-19, Erica spends her time acting in the local community. She is grateful she’s been given an opportunity to continue her passion for theater in the comfort of her own home.

KRISTEN WALSH serves as the publicity chair for Phase Eight. You might have seen her recently as Ada in 5&Dime’s The Harvest, Alice in ABET’s Alice in Wonderland, or as Woman in 5 & Dime’s production of Cock. Other past favorites include Talia in Phase Eight’s Women’s Work, Poppy in Phase Eight’s Noises Off!, and Lydia in Theater Jax’s Pride and Prejudice. She was voted Jacksonville’s best actress in FOLIO Weekly’s Best of 2019.

MITCHELL WOHL was last seen at The 5&Dime in The Harvest (Tom) and last seen with Phase Eight in Women’s Work (Avery). Other recent credits include Reasons To Be Pretty (Kent), The Crucible (Reverend Hale), Love's Labor's Lost (King Navarre), City of Angels (Stine), The Hot l Baltimore (Suzy's John), Into the Woods (Cinderella’s Prince), Godspell (John the Baptist/Judas), The Miracle Worker (James Keller), and La Caroline at MOSH (Jean Ribault).