The Road To Mecca
February 8 - 24, 2008

Orange Girls Fundraiser
July 17 - 19, 2008

Scorched
September 12 - 28, 2008

Once upon a time, the only place a woman was welcome in a theater was along its outer walls, selling fruit (or a bit of herself) to the public...that is until an ambitious "orange girl" named Nell Gwynn caught the eye of Charles II. In exchange for her favor, she asked to be put on stage. The rest, as they say, is history. We have named our theater company after the place the women of the theater began in order to mark the distance we have come--from leaning upon the arm of a King, to standing center stage on our own two feet.

The Orange Girls are Brooke Edwards, Michelle Hand, and Meghan Maguire.

Brooke Edwards

Brooke Edwards is co-founder and co-artistic director of Orange Girls and is honored to share these titles with her partners, Michelle Hand and Meghan Maguire. Brooke brings to Orange Girls, over 20 years of performance experience. She started acting in children’s theatre in her hometown when she was 10 years old, and since then has studied and performed all over the country. Brooke received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Western Illinois University in the spring of 1995. Her concentration was costume design and world theatre history. She then attended the certificate performance program at The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Washington, D.C. She also studied privately at The Studio Theatre Conservatory, where she also worked and performed. Other Washington credits include The Wooly Mammoth Theatre, The Source Theatre, and The National. Brooke moved to Los Angeles in 1997 where she studied with renowned instructor and coach, David LeGrant. She has appeared in film and television, including Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the police drama Pacific Blue. Her most recent film role was that of Fiora Abruzzo in the David Anspaugh-helmed film The Game of Their Lives.
Brooke moved to St. Louis with her family in early 2000, and has since performed with many local theatre companies including Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage with Hothouse Theatre, The Food Chain, with City Players, Julius Caesar, and most recently, The Winter’s Tale, for St. Louis Shakespeare, and The Hunchback Variations for The Midnight Company. Brooke portrayed Etta Bailey in the Orange Girls inaugural production, Going To See the Elephant, for which she received the first ever Kevin Kline Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a play. She was last seen in the title role of the Orange Girls production of Medea. She has also participated in many local film productions including Wedding Laine and Another Christmas with Brian Hohlfeld and Carrie Houk.
Brooke has previously taught scene study at The Jewel Box Theatre in Los Angeles, under mentor Walter Olkewicz and taught on-camera, improvisation, and early childhood acting for John Robert Powers.

Michelle Hand    

                                             
Michelle Hand, Co-founder of the Orange Girls, is a native St. Louisan who began her professional acting career in 2001 with the role of Elizabeth in Defying Gravity for (Mostly) Harmless Theater Company. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work with many local companies, including Act Inc, Echo Theater Company, Hothouse Theater Company, Mustard Seed Theater, The New Jewish Theater, Stray Dog Theater and the West End Players Guild. She has played roles ranging from the blood-thirsty titular role in Electra, to the staid Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible; from the chain-smoking beautician in Educating Rita to the otherworldy Annagial Book'r in Remnant; from the guarded spinster in Talley’s Folly to the robust Stella Kowalski in A Streecar Named Desire. Michelle has receved numerous Kevin Kline nominations and was recognized as the Outstanding Lead Actress at the first annual Kevin Kline Awards.  She has appeared in a local television commercial and provided the voice for the animated Laura-Croft -look-alike in the Enterprise Leasing training software. In her other life, she received her MA in English Literature and Writing from Washington University and served as an instructor in English Literature and Composition for Washington University and Maryville University. Currently, she is teaching in the Performing Arts Department for Fontbonne University. She is mother to a beautiful daughter and wife to a generous and supportive husband.

Meghan Maguire

Meghan Maguire is extremely proud to be a co-founder of Orange Girls alongside Michelle and Brooke. Born and raised in St. Louis, Meghan started acting in local commercials at the age of six. She attended Indiana University at Bloomington where she majored in voice performance with a minor in theatre. After graduation, Meghan moved to New York City where she co-founded the House Of Truth theatre company, acting as writer, actor, and co-producer for several original off-off-Broadway productions. Other favorite New York credits include Cassandra in The Orestia (One Year Lease), Evelina in Bloomer Girl (St. Clemens Theatre), and Megan in The Burnt Woman of Harvard (Inverse Theater). Television credits include appearances on “Guiding Light”, “As The World Turns”, and “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol”.  In St. Louis, Meghan has had the pleasure to work with such companies as Orthwein Theatre Company, Historyonics, Muddywaters Theatre, and the St. Louis Shakespeare Company. And in 2004, she was honored to be named RFT’s Best Actress of the Year.Meghan is thrilled to be helping bring to life St. Louis’ first women-focused theatre company, and is grateful to all of her friends and family for their ongoing and invaluable support.