CHERYL LYNN BRUCE (Miss Leah) is thrilled to be making her Court Theatre debut in Flyin’ West. This season she premiered in The Snow Queen (Victory Gardens), played Nola in The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, written and directed by Regina Taylor, and performed with David Strathairn in Studs Terkel’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken at UNC-Chapel Hill. Other theatre credits include Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams (Victory Gardens), Intimate Apparel (Steppenwolf), The Story (Milwaukee Repertory), and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Kansas City Repertory Theatre) under Marion McClinton’s direction. She workshopped and premiered in Lookingglass Theatre’s inaugural production of Studs Terkel’s RACE directed by David Schwimmer. As the legendary Barbara Jordan in The Voice of Good Hope (Victory Gardens), she won a Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best Leading Actress and a Jeff nomination. She created the role of Elizabeth Sandry for Steppenwolf’s Tony Award-winning production of The Grapes of Wrath, adapted and directed by Frank Galati (La Jolla, the National Theatre, and Broadway). She also performed with Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Nomathemba and recorded on the cast CD. Her work in Northlight Theatre’s production of From the Mississippi Delta won a Helen Hayes Award (Outstanding Lead Actress), a Joseph Jefferson Award (Best Ensemble), and a Connecticut Critics Circle Award (Best Ensemble). Film credits include: Stranger Than Fiction, Daughters of the Dust, The Music Box, and The Fugitive. Television credits include: Prison Break, There Are No Children Here, To Sir With Love II and Separate But Equal, and Crime of Innocence which won an Emmy (Best Ensemble). Ms. Bruce was named inaugural research Fellow at The Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. She heads Youth Drama Workshop and sits on the Artistic Council of the Chicago Children’s Theatre. She has taught and directed at the University of Illinois Chicago and DePaul University’s Theatre School and directs with Stories on Stage.

MONÉT BUTLER (Minnie) earned a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. Her theatre credits include: Hecuba with Marsha Mason, and Much Ado About Nothing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Story at the Goodman Theatre, Relevant Hearsay: Stories from 57 with MPAACT Theatre Company, As Much as You Can with Dog & Pony Theatre Company, Antigone with greasy joan & co. and Circle of Friends with American Girl Theater. Regionally, she has performed in I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda at Indiana Repertory Theatre and A Flea in Her Ear at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Monét is also a voice-over artist and a proud member of AFTRA and Actors’ Equity.

GREG HOLLIMON (Wil) is a Chicago native who grew up in the 1960s as the middle child of three boys (brothers, Faris & Reginald). Raised in the Cabrini-Green housing projects of Chicago (back in the old days, when the projects were good), Hollimon makes his debut at Court Theatre, as he reprises the role of Wil which he played in Ron OJ Parson’s original production of Flyin’ West at Onyx Theatre in 1996. He studied improvisation at Chicago’s famed Second City Theatre and then toured the USA with thier company, honing his craft. Other theatre credits include East Texas Hot Links (Onyx Theatre), Julius Caesar (Tinfish Theatre), Lizard Music (Lifeline Theatre), and The R.I.C. Show: Revelations, Indictments, Confessions (Andrew Lanes Theatre, Dublin). Some may recognize him from Comedy Central’s hugely popular TV & film cult hit Strangers With Candy where he played the ostentatious Principal Onyx Blackman. Other film credits include: Bob Odenkirk’s Let’s Go To Prison, Richard Pierce’s A Family Thing, Stephen Gyllenhaal’s Losing Isaiah, Andy Davis’ The Fugitive, Scott Jacobson’s Partners in Blues: The Story of a Man and His Guitar, and Mike Houlihan’s Tapioca.

BRANDON MILLER (Frank) is proud to make his Court Theatre debut. He is a recent graduate of the Theatre School of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Past theatre credits include: Ntozake Shange’s Layla’s Dream with Congo Square, Last of the Boys at Steppenwolf, and Sex Signals with Catharsis Productions. Brandon’s semi-autobiographical performance Like Father, Like Son premiered at CCPA/Prop Theatre in Spring of 2006 and he has plans for a remount in 2007. As a writer-performer, he has appeared in sketch comedy shows including The Cool Table that toured in LA. Brandon has appeared in commercials and industrial films, as well as voice-overs. He would like to thank his mother, step-father, and everyone else who has helped him get this far.