Puy Navarro is an actress and Theatre Producer in NYC, where she has lived since 1999. With her company she presented the Spanish classic La Vida es Sueño by Calderon de la Barca at the Classical Theatre Festival of Almagro in Spain, and previously at the Dag Hammarskjold Theatre at the United Nations, in collaboration with Amnesty International. She is a member of Teatro del Repertorio Español, where she performs in their repertory. She has played the Bride in Bodas de Sangre, and under the direction of Jorge Ali Triana: Cronica de una muerte anunciada, Quijote, and currently, Doña Flor y sus dos maridos. Other directors include Berlanga and Stephen Daldry.

Selected Regional: The Prince of Verona in Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey); Cassius in Julius Caesar (Warehouse Theater, Greenville, SC); Shovel in The Josephine Footnote and Elmer Cohen in Doctor Tedrow’s Last Breath, both for deep ellum ensemble (NYC); Simon Stimson in Our Town (Porthouse Theatre, Kent, OH); Count Lerma and The Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos for Prospect Theatre Company (NYC). A veteran of the grass-roots/post-punk Dallas Texas theater scene, Mark was for 6 years a founding ensemble member of Our Endeavors Theater Collective there, and played dozens of parts with them and lots of other companies in his time in that city.

Derek has designed lighting for nearly 100 live productions including theatre, dance and opera. Selected NYC credits: Charlie Victor Romeo, The Royal Pink, Iceland, Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, 14 UnNatural Acts, The Last Word (Performance Space 122); Mine, Pericles, Counterpoint, Nueva Cancion, The Horton Foote Project, Shoes, Brickworks (Slant Theatre Project); The Frankenstein Project, The Great God Brown, A Flea in Her Ear (Columbia Stages);  Sliding into the Beast (NYTW/NYU);  365 Plays/365 Days (Cherry Lane Theatre) A Brooklyn Nutcracker (Brooklyn Music School);  The Jamal Lullabies and Evanston (undergroundzero festival ’09). His lighting design work for will be featured in United States exhibit for  the 2011 Prague Quadrennial. Training:  MFA- New York University, BFA- Univ. of Evansville. www.derekwrightlight.com

Patrick Johnson is an award-winning designer, performer and musician based in New York City. Productions with Matthew Earnest: Alice and Peter Pan at Kent State University, Coriolanus at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas; With Deep Ellum Ensemble: The Josephine footnote and Dr. Tedrow's Last Breath. In Dallas, Texas: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Buried Child, and In The Belly of the Beast at Kitchen Dog; Last One-Nighter on the Death Trail and Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes with Our Endeavors Theater Collective.

Jonathan is a recent graduate of Wright State University and has performed regionally as the title role in Porthouse Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Peter Pan and Jack Scott in the West Virginia Public Theatre production of High School Musical. He would like to thank God and his family for being the driving force in his life. (www.ramosofficial.com)

John Reese is honored to be making his NYC debut with the Way to Heaven ensemble. He would like to thank Matthew and Francisco for the opportunity. Training: University of North Carolina School of the Arts; South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. Selected credits: Hally in Master Harold...and the Boys; Charles the Dauphin in St. Joan; Christopher in On the Razzle; Rosencrantz in Hamlet; Malvolio in Twelfth Night; and the upcoming independent feature film Do Not Disturb.

Jessica is excited to be working with the Way to Heaven family again.  She graduated from Kent State University (BFA, 2008). NY Credits: Way to Heaven (NY Times Critics’ Pick) and Forbidden Office (Secret Theatre). Regional Credits: Hermia in Midsummer Night's Dream (Ohio Shakespeare Festival), Ensemble in Jesus Christ Superstar (Porthouse Theatre, OH) and Ensemble/Luisa U/S in NINE (Cain Park, OH).
Additional Credits: Dorcas in The Winter's Tale, Lampito in Lysistrata, Eileen in Wonderful Town and Fraulein Kost in Cabaret.  
Industrials:  Hyperpigmentation (Clinique). She is excited for all that 2010 will bring and would like to thank her family and the Positive Palace for all their love and support on this journey called Life.

Francisco is a graduate from Madrid's Royal Academy of Drama (RESAD). In 2004, he moved to New York thanks to a scholarship for Film Studies, and has lived and worked in the City since then.  His US theater credits include Life is a Dream and El Quijote (directed by Jorge Alí Triana). Credits in Spain include Roberto Zucco, singer of Madrid's 2012 Olympic Hymn, as well as the Spanish premiere of Actors Theater of Louisville's short plays. In 2009 he originated the role of the Commandant in both the US and NYC premieres of Way To Heaven, by Juan Mayorga. Most recently, he has worked in Yolanda García Serrano's Ser o No Cervantes, for which he received the HOLA Award 2010, as well as in Circus, a short-film by Pablo Remón. He's cofounder and producer of Equilicuá Producciones. Please visit www.francisco-reyes.com

A native Texan, Trae Hicks has been living and working in New York City since 1995.  Trae has collaborated over the years with director Matthew Earnest in over 35 mountings of his productions - appearing in works in fourteen cities across three continents.  As a member of deep ellum ensemble he has performed works by Brecht, Shakespeare, Buchner, Gertrude Stein, Erik Ehn, Tennessee Williams as well as all of their original works.  Regional credits include the Baron Docteur in Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus (English Theatre, Berlin), Volumnia in Shakespeare's Coriolanus (Kitchen Dog Theater, Dallas, TX), Richard Huelsenbeck in The Rude Mechanicals' Lipstick Traces (Burning Coal Theatre Co., Raleigh, NC), and Torvald in Ibsen's A Dollhouse (Warehouse Theatre, Greenville, SC).

Shawn is a graduate of the American Music and Dramatic Academy in New York City. He is a founding member of deepellum ensemble, and worked on many shows with the company in New York, throughout the U.S., Berlin, and Ethiopia. Recent roles are Brutus in Julius Caesar. Trigorin in The Seagull and Humpty Dumpty in a new adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Down the Rabbit Hole and Through the Looking Glass. Shawn lives in New York City.

Beth is making her New York debut. She is a BFA graduate from Kent State University, where she was Ensemble in The Diviners and Mrs. Wade in Wonderful Town.  Two of her favorite roles at KSU were Bess in Bury the Dead and Josephine Strong in Urinetown. Beth was also in Porthouse Theatre’s production of Our Town, directed by Matthew Earnest.

Samantha performed the role of "Girl" in the 2009 American premier of Way to Heaven with the Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raleigh, NC, and the 2009 New York City premiere at Teatro Círculo. Other recent credits include: "Child" and "Lost Child" in the staged reading of Blood (Brooklyn, NY), "Dill" and "Mrs. Dubose" in To Kill a Mockingbird at Burning Coal Theatre (Raleigh, NC), "Annie" in Annie at the Temple Theatre (Sanford, NC), "Rhoda" in Bad Seed and "Helen Keller" in The Miracle Worker (Cannon Award, Best Actress) at the Neuse Little Theatre (Smithfield, NC), and "Amaryllis" in The Music Man with the Orange Community Players (Hillsborough, NC).  Samantha is a member of Burning Coal Theatre Company. She is currently in the seventh grade at Immaculata Catholic School in Durham, NC. Samantha would like to thank her family, Francisco and Matthew for this opportunity.

Born in 1969, Matthew Earnest grew up in Texas and began his career under Richard Hamburger at Dallas Theater Center.  Relocating to New York City, Matthew spent a season as assistant director to Lee Breuer at Mabou Mines, and a Drama League fellowship made him assistant director to Adrian Hall, a position he would hold for many years.  As Founding Artistic Director of New York-based deep ellum ensemble, Matthew created works that garnered international acclaim from 1995 until the company disbanded in 2007.  Today he is an associate artist at Germany’s English Theatre Berlin and at the University of Delaware’s PTTP, and he works independently around the country directing plays and creating new works.  His latest, Wanderlust: A History Of Walking, which he adapted from the bestselling book by Rebecca Solnit, was created with an NEA Access to Artistic Excellence grant and was shown in New York City at Ice Factory ‘10 following its premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre.  Matthew’s productions have been seen across the U.S., Europe and in Africa.

An actor, writer and filmmaker, Sal Bardo studied music at New York University and acting at Herbert Berghof Studio. His recent stage credits include the world premieres of A Grave for Sister Agatha and All Fall Down as well as the independent feature films Eulogy for a Vampire and Motel Americana. Sal joined the cast of Way to Heaven for its New York premiere in 2009 and is thrilled to continue to be a part of this amazing production. Thanks to Matthew and the talented cast and crew.

Juan Mayorga was born in 1965 in Madrid, and is one of Spain’s most prominent contemporary playwrights. He studied in Münster, Paris and Berlin, gaining a Doctorate in Philosophy. He taught mathematics in Madrid and also taught playwrighting at RESAD (Madrid's Royal Academy of Drama). In 2007 he was the recipient of Spain’s National Theater Award. In March 2009, he received the Max Award for Best Playwright. Among his plays are Way To Heaven (Himmelweg), Love Letters To Stalin, Nocturnal, Perpetual Peace and Darwin’s Turtle. His work has been presented in 18 countries, and translated to 16 different languages.