Jessica Lynn Carroll

JESSICA LYNN CARROLL (Lindsay) is excited to be making her Playhouse debut! This is her second time performing An Entomologist’s Love Story following the New Works Festival production at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Jessica has an affinity for new work, having acted in other readings at TheatreWorks, as well as at American Conservatory Theater, Magic Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, Crowded Fire Theater, and Aurora Theatre Company. The result is a resume consisting largely of world premieres. Her credits include Confederates and Auctioning the Ainsleys (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), Marie Antoinette in The Revolutionists (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), I and You and Bellwether (Marin Theatre Company), Jesus in India (Magic Theatre), The Big Meal (San Jose Repertory Theatre), Hookman (Encore Theatre Company), and Truck Stop (Crowded Fire Theater). Jessica earned her BFA from Southern Methodist University and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. jessicalynncarroll.com

Lori Prince

LORI PRINCE (Betty) has Off-Broadway credits including Lyric is Waiting (kef productions) and Sarah, Sarah (Manhattan Theatre Club). Regional credits include Clean Alternatives (Kitchen Theatre Company), Detroit (TheatreSquared), Not Medea (B Street Theatre), Educating Rita (Triad Stage), Pride and Prejudice (DCPA Theatre Company), Rocket City (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival), Pirandello’s Henry IV (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), The Front Page (Playmakers Repertory Company), Hamlet and Key West (Geva Theatre Center), The Unexpected Guest (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Lobby Hero (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre), The Book of Ruth (Alliance Theatre Company), A View from the Bridge (Theatrefest), and And Then They Came for Me (George Street Playhouse). Film credits include Before the Bomb, Epic, Last Call, 212, and Johnny Montana. Television and new media credits include lif-eaf/ter, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Are We There Yet? She has a BFA in acting from Syracuse University.

Will Springhorn Jr.

WILL SPRINGHORN JR. (Andy) is a Bay Area-based actor. He performed previously at San Francisco Playhouse as Will in Coronado and Ernst in Cabaret. Favorite Bay Area credits include The Toxic Avenger and Persuasion at San Jose Stage Company, where Will is an artistic associate. Other Bay Area credits include work at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Center REPertory Company, 42nd Street Moon, B Street Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Company, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Hillbarn Theatre, and Woodminster Summer Musicals. He is currently appearing in SIDHE with director Mark Andrews. Will teaches theatre at Diablo Valley College and West Valley College. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. willspringhornjr.com

Lucas Verbrugghe

LUCAS VERBRUGGHE (Jeff) last performed in San Francisco in The Proud. His New York credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Ritz on Broadway, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Macbeth (The Public Theater), Permission (MCC Theater), The Common Pursuit (Roundabout Theatre Company), Assistance (Playwrights Horizons), and the world premieres of boom (Ars Nova) and Oohrah! (Atlantic Theater Company). Los Angeles theatre credits include Icebergs (Geffen Playhouse, Ovation Award nomination), Seminar (Ahmanson Theatre), and Need to Know (Rogue Machine Theatre). Film credits include Our Idiot Brother, Lazy Eye, A Woman, a Part, A Birder’s Guide to Everything, and The Bad Guys. Television credits include Splitting Up Together, Ten Days in the Valley, Grimm, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Lucas has an MFA from New York University and is a San Francisco native.

Melissa Ross

Melissa Ross‘s Plays include Thinner Than Water, A Life Extra Ordinary, Nice Girl, An Entomologist’s Love Story and Of Good Stock. Thinner Than Water and Nice Girl were both originally produced by LAByrinth Theater Company. Thinner Than Water is included in the anthology “New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2011” by Smith and Kraus. Nice Girl was a finalist for the Francesca Primus Prize and is in Applause’s “Best Plays of 2015.” Of Good Stock received its world premiere at South Coast Repertory as a part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival followed by a subsequent production at Manhattan Theater Club. A Life Extra Ordinary premiered with The Gift Theatre Fall of 2016. An Entomologist’s Love Story is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Commission and an Edgerton New Play award recipient. Melissa’s plays have been developed and produced around the country at theaters including: Dorset Theater Festival, The Gift Theatre, Iama Theatre Company, Kitchen Dog Theater, LAByrinth Theater Company, LCT3, La Jolla Playhouse, Manhattan Theater Club, New York Stage and Film, The New Group, Raven Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and TheatreWorks Palo Alto. She is twice commissioned by both South Coast Repertory and Manhattan Theater Club. Melissa is a graduate of Bennington College and the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Program at The Juilliard School, a two-time winner of the Le Comte de Nouy Prize, and a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company.

“Playhouse directors, Bill English and Susi Damilano, have once again picked a winner!” – Arts Preview

“Abuzz with tension … Ultimately Entomologist’s is more of a coming-of-age story than love story. ” – San Francisco Chronicle

Ultimately an affecting, wistful story, full of hope for the way we non-insects can learn to connect.” – San Francisco Examiner

Ross gives us an unvarnished, unflinching look at the frustrations of a modern, educated woman” – 7 x 7

“Finally! A romantic comedy for people who love insects.” – Mercury News

“A smart, delightful, educational, funny and very moving look at love at all levels.” – Theater and Such

“Melissa Ross’s fierce and witty script [is] filled with bitchy repartee and surprisingly poignant moments.” – My Cultural Landscape

“SF Playhouse’s staging and sets are always as good as anyone’s in the city, but Nina Ball outdoes herself this time.” – SF Theater Blog

“Each character in this love story is richly painted with surprising and delightful character points.” – Theater & Such

“A stimulating, light-hearted, off-beat story of maybe-yes, maybe-no romance.” – Theatre Eddys

“Hilarious and hopeful, An Entomologist’s Love Story is a sweet antidote for what ails us. – Aisle Seat Review

“An up-to-date, current, and fine specimen of a smart, new style rom-com. – Theatrius

“[A] sweet, charming story of romance and finding one’s perfect ‘fit’.” – For All Events