Ice Fishing
Eelpout centers around the time-honored tradition of ice fishing in Minnesota, though the practice happens anywhere in the world where bodies of water freeze thickly enough for people to walk across them. The play takes place on Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota, which is one of the state’s larger lakes. In order to ice fish, anglers will drill or cut holes in the frozen lake ice. They then use smaller-than-normal fishing poles or even fishing spears to catch fish swimming below the ice. Much of Eelpout takes place in an ice fishing house or “ice house.” These temporary structures can be as elaborate as tiny cabins, dotting the frozen lakes of the north for much of the winter. And everyone has a story about the uncle who forgot about his ice house one spring, and now it rests on the bottom of the lake.

Rachel Wolther (director) is a writer and director, featured as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Her up- coming feature film THE FRENCH ITALIAN, a comedy starring Catherine Cohen, Aristotle Athari, Chloe Cherry and Ruby McCollister is currently in post production. Rachel’s screenplay NOBODY NOTHING NOWHERE brought her to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and appeared on both the Black List and Hit List. Octavia Spencer, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Lucy Liu attached to star for a 2023 production. Outside of film, Rachel directed episodes of the radio-drama podcast THE MESSAGE, which was number one on the charts. She often collaborates with comedians, creating comedy shorts including SNEAKERS with Amy Zimmer, which premiered at the NYTV Fest, and PEP TALK with Meghan O’Neill, which premiered at the Cucalorus Film Festival. Rachel directed the absurdist dance comedy SNOWY BING BONGS starring Sunita Mani,Tallie Medel & Eleanore Pienta, an adaptation of their live performance, which premiered at BAMCinemafest and screened at Rotterdam, BAFICI, AFF Wroclaw and others around the world and is now available to stream on mubi.com. After many years using live performance as source material for film and videos, Rachel is truly excited to reverse the process with EELPOUT.

Paul William Kruse (playwright) tells Queer love stories. As a playwright and media artist from Western Wisconsin, his work flows from his Catholic roots and ever-evolving experience of family. Paul often writes collaboratively, drawing from his years of experience as a videographer and documentarian. He is a 2023–2025 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center and a cohort member of Audible’s third Emerging Playwrights Fund. His work has been produced by Adjusted Realists in Brooklyn, NY; Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA; the Vortex Theater in Austin, TX; and in high schools around the country. Paul recently completed his MFA at UT Austin where he was a fellow with the Michener Center for Writers. He was resident playwright with Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective from 2012–2022, which he co-founded with Adil Mansoor and Nicole Shero. www.paulwkruse.com

Neon Caviar / Sarah Todes (producer) is a Brooklyn-based multimedia production company that produces formally inventive, exuberant work with a strong visual component, helmed by Sarah Todes. Current projects include GAMP, a dark comedy TV Pilot written by Sarah Todes and directed by Rachel Wolther that is the proud recipient of a NYFA Women’s Fund Grant, and Lemons, a devised personal narrative/ cultural criticism co-created by Sarah Todes and Sarah Hughes about social media and grief that has received support from Roxbury Arts Group and the LPAC Rough Draft Festival, and is a finalist for the Drama League Next Stage Residency. neoncaviar.com

Jake Fallon* is an actor, writer, and improviser who proudly hails from Denver, Colorado. He trained at the Atlantic Acting Conservatory and Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles with some of the greatest teachers on the planet. Most recently you could have caught him in The Burdens by Matt Schatz at The Urbanite Theater or featured in PBR's latest social campaign (#BoggsIsBlue). Thanks to the whole Eelpout team for having me on this wild ride. 

Julius Reese is an actor and writer from The Berkshires and a graduate from Stella Adler studio for acting. A regular cast member of Inside the Black Box, which was renewed for its third season, streaming on Crackle Tv. Select theatre credits include; Party in the Breakroom (Adam, The Tank), Clybourne Park (Stella Adler Studio), Fiorello! Off-Broadway Revival (Classic Stage Company) 

Keith Weiss is an actor, singer, producer, and currently serves as one of the Co-Founding Leaders of The Fled Collective, an artist collective rooted in creating theatre rooted in collective liberation, equity, and community justice. Theatre: Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies (59E59), Esperaré (Columbia MFA), Secret Identity (The Other Side of Silence). Film: Tahara (Apple TV), Pledge (IFCMIDNIGHT/Hulu). EPIC: THE TROY SAGA and EPIC: THE CYCLOPS SAGA now on Spotify. Thanks to Paul, Rachel Wolther, Sarah Todes, Rachel Yong, the cast, Mom and Dad, and Marena. For Charles Tuthill.

Andy Donnelly is excited to be a part of this great new play! Select credits include: Singin’ in the Rain (Cosmo), White Christmas (Bob Wallace), Disaster! (Chad), The Merchant of Venice (Bassanio), Hedda Gabler (Eilert Lovborg), Next to Normal (Henry) and many more. BFA: Kent State University. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Charlie, Ellie and his fiancé Hallie. Enjoy the show!

James Overton (They/Them) is an actor, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Eelpout is their first show since they graduated from the Atlantic Acting School's Full-Time Conservatory last December. They've most recently appeared in Root 22 Collective's production of Kate Hamil's Little Women as Aunt March and contributed the original score; and at the Atlantic's Stage 2 as Dionysus in The Bacchae adapted by Chuck Mee, further adapted by Cara Hinh. In 2018 they were nominated for "Best Original Music" for Hamlet Isn't Dead's production of Much Ado About Nothing. www.james-overton-central.com.