JJ Bauer (Technical Consultant)

JJ is delighted to work again with longtime friends at Redbird Theater Company. She has been a stage manager, props manager, costume designer, set designer, and utterly unwilling actor for various area theater companies, including Deep Dish Theater, Ghost and Spice Productions, NC State Theatrefest, The Open Door Theatre, Street Signs Center for Literature and Performance, and Wordshed Productions.

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John Claude Bemis (Patrolman Bob Thomas, Thomas Shetley, Frog-gigging Boy, Clerk of Court)

John is the award-winning author of six novels, a picture book, and the RODEO HAWKINS graphic novel series. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UNC-Chapel Hill for his work as an author-presenter in schools and served as North Carolina’s Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature, promoting literacy and the literary arts. A popular instructor and inspiring guide to writers of all ages—kids, teens, and adults— he teaches creative writing workshops and leads retreats around the world. John is also a sculptural mask-maker, a songwriter, musician, and performer. He lives with his wife and daughter in Hillsborough.

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Sam Coleman (Sheriff Sam Latta)

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Nancy Demorest (Eula Lee, Hobart Lee)

Nancy is a former feature screenwriter and a former head writer for the now defunct soap opera, THE GUIDING LIGHT, for which she was awarded 3 Daytime Emmys and a Writers Guild of America award.  Other than appearing in a 1977 national Pepsi commercial, where she chugged said Pepsi with great vigor, her acting experience has been limited to a handful of independent and student films.   One of those, GIANTS BEING LONELY (produced by Grear Patterson and  Olmo Schnabel), premiered  at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.  

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Michael Foley (Friend, Bonner Sawyer)

Michael's appearances since re-opening from the plague:  for Bulldog Theatre:  FATHERLAND (Attorney); for Scrap Paper Shakespeare: TITUS ANDRONICUS (Titus), PRINCE HAL (Falstaff, et al.); for Burning Coal: SEA CHANGE (Mrs. Hogsdale, et al.); for Meredith College: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Leanato); for Firebox Theatre: THE DUMB WAITER (Ben), ANNA CHRISTIE (Chris), DANCING AT LUGHNASA (Father Jack); for Sweet Tea Shakespeare: RICHARD III (Clarence/Mayor).  Michael was a mainstay for the former companies Manbites Dog and Little Green Pig in Durham, where he appeared in or directed for over 25 productions.  He has also appeared with Raleigh Ensemble Players, Theatre in the Park, Deep Dish, Dog and Pony Show, Shakespeare and Originals, Carrboro Arts, and more.

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Jane Holding (Rachel Crook)

Jane first went on stage as Big Mama with The Hillsborough Amateur Theatrical Society.  Since then she has worked also with other local theater and movie-making concerns including Little Green Pig, ManBites Dog, Archipelago, RedBird, Honest Pint, Commonwealth, The Theater of the American South, Turnip Films, and Jim Havercamp.  She worked with Andrea Moore on FAMILY SECRETS and with Maureen Quilligan, Michael Malone, and Francesca Talenti on BEHIND THE SCENES at the Burwell School.   She is especially interested in all things local.  She appeared for many years at Allan Gurganus’s HALLOWEEN and St. Matthew’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Jane thanks Elizabeth Woodman and RedBird Theater for the chance now to play Rachel Crook, a notable resident of Chapel Hill.  Next spring RedBird  will revive the one-woman show OLDEST LIVING CONFEDERATE WIDOW: HER CONFESSION with Jane once again in the title role of  Lucille Marsden. Jane and Allan Gurganus adapted his internationally famous hometown novel to make the play. They traveled together by station wagon to perform it far and wide in North Carolina.

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Tamara Kissane (Director)

Tamara is a theatre-maker based in Pittsboro, NC. As an actor, she has performed with many local companies, and her plays and monologues have been presented throughout the Triangle and Triad of NC. She was the 2020 Piedmont Laureate and received Outstanding Contribution to the Arts from Chatham Life & Style (2020). Recent work with Redbird Theater Company: THE PRICE (actor), 

THE BRIGHT STAR GARDEN (AND PICKLEBALL) CLUB (director), MEMORIES OF TIME IN PLACE (playwright). Upcoming: Theater Book Club readings in November & December; THE CHILDREN in February 2027.

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Jim Parker (Sheriff Hallie Moore, Prosecutor Bill Murdock)

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Eryk Pruitt (Reporter)

Eryk is an author, filmmaker, and screenwriter living in Durham, NC. He wrote and co-produced THE LONG DANCE, a true crime podcast that investigated the 1972 NC Valentine's Murders. He's also the author of SOMETHING BAD WRONG and BLOOD RED SUMMER, among other crime novels. He can either be found working at his desk on another story or behind the bar at Yonder, his cocktail joint in Hillsborough, NC.

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Tom Rankin (Police Chief Sloan, Judge Hunt Parker)

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Pat Revels (June Williams, Receptionist, Sheriff’s Office)

Pat is a retired educator.  Born and raised in Louisville, KY, she spent 3 decades as a dedicated secondary social studies teacher and counselor. Pat currently resides in Hillsborough, NC, where she channels her curiosity in taking courses offered in the community for life long learners and her creative energy focusing on the interior decor of her home which is frequently visited by her daughter, Jessica, and grandson, Buddy.  Although she can’t bake a cake she bested the cake walk competition in 2022. Frequently found in the audience of a Redbird Theater production, Pat is very proud to work with its production team in bringing “Who Killed Rachel Crook”

to the theater stage.

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Tracey Reynolds (Woman near road, Mama Lee, Woman at Jail, Nonie Kirkland, Operator Susan Conklin, Peg Forrest)

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James Rives (Man near road, SBI Agent James Dunbar, Jury Foreman)

James studied theater in his teens.  After a hiatus of some forty-five years, during which time he enjoyed a career as a professional classicist, he is happy to be back on stage under the aegis of RedBird Theater Company in Elizabeth Woodman’s wonderful play.

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Randall Roden (Attorney Robert Gantt)

​Randall lives in Chapel Hill, having retired from a very satisfying career as a trial attorney, with six and a half years at the U.S. Department of Justice (when it really was such a place) and with the law firm Tharrington Smith in Raleigh. He has kept his law license in hopes he might be able to rescue someone from ICE, but so far there has been no action on that front.​

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Daniel Wallace (Attorney Sandy Graham)

Daniel is the author of seven novels, a story collection, and a memoir. He teaches in the creative writing program at UNC. 

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Elizabeth Woodhouse (Playwright/Narrator)

​Elizabeth is an editor, book publisher and podcaster, whose recent area of focus has been North Carolina literary voices and stories. She adapted the play, WHO KILLED RACHEL CROOK, from her four-part podcast of the same name (part of the 27 VIEWS podcast series). Her interest in Rachel Crook was sparked years ago by an essay entitled CHAPEL HILL MURDERS (from CHAPEL HILL IN PLAIN SIGHT: NOTES FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS), written by the late, great Daphne Athas. From 2007 to 2020, Elizabeth was director of Eno Publishers, a regional book publishing adventure that issued the 27 VIEWS series of books throughout North Carolina, the aforementioned Athas essay collection, and other titles of local and statewide interest.  Elizabeth lives in Hillsborough.