Our Team
JUDITH "JUDE" KALAORA
Founder & Artistic Director
Living Historian | Playwright | Producer | Actress
Judith is a professional educator and living historian. She graduated from Syracuse University Magna cum Laude and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature, Language, and Culture. She completed the Globe Education Program of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England. Judith founded History At Play™, LLC (HAP) in 2010 to chronicle the lives of influential and often forgotten figures. Immersive Living History Experiences offer unique learning environments for viewers to engage with and understand connections between historical legacies and contemporary values. Judith researches, writes, produces, and performs the productions, along with employing Guest Artists. She has created Immersive Living History to engage audiences worldwide, breaking the mold for high-calibre in-person, virtual, & hybrid educational escapism.
LAURA ROCKLYN
Living Historian | Interpreter | Playwright | Actress
Laura is an actress, writer, and first-person historical interpreter based in Boston, MA. Laura received her MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University, an MA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, and holds a Shakespeare Certificate from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She has performed with regional theater companies up and down the East Coast, including The Folger Theatre, Kentucky Shakespeare, and the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and she has worked as a first- person historical interpreter at museums such as Colonial Williamsburg and The Smithsonian.
GEOFFREY CAMPBELL
Reenactor | Consultant | Actor/Singer | Tour Guide
A Revolutionary War reenactor since the USA Bicentennial; a living historian of multiple eras; and a singer and actor, Geoff is a historical consultant, who has advised on productions of 1776, and others. He created and commands The New England End Zone Militia at the New England Patriot's Gillette Stadium. He serves as a key administrator and tour guide for the Histrionic Academy on the Freedom Trail and is a trusted paranormal investigator on Massachusetts' South Shore, as well as guide for The Plymouth Night Tour.
JON FRANCOIS RICE
Professor | Living Historian | Interpreter
Jon F. Rice is a Chicago-based professional historian, researcher, and tri-racial interpreter. He obtained a PhD in American History from Northern Illinois University. He is a retired Professor of African American History at Northern Illinois University, and taught Native American history at UMASS/Boston. Jon has performed for the Chicago Historical Society; in Boston, as an interpreter for the Freedom Trail Foundation; and as a Wampanoag elder at the Wampanoag Homesite, at Plimoth Patuxet (formerly Plimoth Plantation). Rice, who descends from the Choctaw Heritage, delves into the lives and eras of his portrayals to create dialogues that encompass the time in which they lived.
TILLIE EFTER
Business Development | Human Resources
Tillie is a Business Development professional with twenty years experience harnessing industry pros' unique talents to bolster efficiency and streamline productivity. She has collaborated with a variety of companies, including those in the following fields: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device, Event Management, Marketing, Advertising, Education, Arts & Culture, and Home Improvement.
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Tillie holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree, with a dual major in Psychology and Legal Studies and is credited for the inspiration behind two of History At Play™, LLC's most successful productions: Tinseltown Inventor Hedy Lamarr ™, and CHALLENGER: Soaring with Christa McAuliffe™.
KEVIN BLEAU
Accompanist | Composer | Lyricist
Composer/lyricist for Roswitha and 3 other musicals, Kevin is based in Boston. His most recent production, Youth Awakening, featuring the Chinese boy band Awaken-F, played to thousands in Shanghai & Beijing. Kevin’s arrangements have been performed by Crystal Gayle and The Platters. His arrangements for the U.S. Air Force Band of Liberty have reached over a million audience members. Kevin’s works have been featured on the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series, in Worcester’s Mechanics' Hall, and at Boston’s Hatch Shell. Kevin holds degrees from Eastman School of Music and Oberlin College Conservatory.
ZOË KNIGHT
Vocalist | Music Producer | Professor of Voice
Zoë Knight is a Boston-based singer & teaching artist who has been composing & performing original music for over 20 years. An Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music, she is a classically trained soprano, raised on classic rock, and she led original hard rock & metal bands for ten years in NYC and Boston before earning her degree in Music Education at Berklee. Zoë's original music is the soundtrack for HAP's acclaimed production Diana of LOVE™ and is also included in CHALLENGER: Soaring with Christa McAuliffe™.
CHRIS EVERETT
Actress | Vocalist
Born and raised in Boston, MA, Chris has been acting professionally for over 20 years. A member of SAG/AFTRA, Chris’ screen credits include: Don't Look Up; About Fate; The Good House; Kevin Can F**K Himself; and I Care A Lot. She performs with the Massachusetts based non-profit educational theater company, Improbable Players, Inc. She has also appeared in No More Secrets: Survivor Voices from The Second Step for the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable. Chris has voiced several characters for podcasts and is the lead singer for the cover band UMAMI.
ARIELLE KAPLAN
Actress | Living Historian | Vocalist
Arielle is a Boston area actor, singer, choreographer, and violence designer with credits all over New England. After graduating from Brandeis University with a degree in Theatre Arts and concentrations in Acting and Movement, Arielle worked as the resident choreographer for Manchester Community Theatre Players and as an actor in the professional arm of the company Second Stage. Recently, she originated the title role in the new musical Miriam and is currently starring as Alice in T: An MBTA Musical. Arielle is an award winning cosplayer/sewist and can often be found as Princess Leia with The Rebel Legion.
JUSTIN D. DAVIS
Actor | Singer | Dancer
Native to Rhode Island and now based in Boston, MA, Justin D. Davis is a multi-disciplinary artist with a passion for acting. He is also a singer-songwriter, whose music can be found at his website JustinDavisCreates.com. He is also a dancer, excelling in a wide array of styles in which he trains, performs, and competes in along the East Coast.
OLIVIA WINTERS
Marketing Coordinator | Actor | Writer
Olivia Winters is an actor and writer based in Chicago. A New England native, she has enjoyed collaborating in theater & film productions across the region, and in Chicago, you can catch her improvising at Bughouse Theater and iO. Most recently, Olivia could be seen on stage in the Providence Fringe Festival, where she co-wrote and starred in the premiere of an original one-act, Winner Winner.
DUANE SULLIVAN
Singer | Performer
Duane Sullivan performs full time with a guitar , a piano, and a mezzo soprano in assisted living centers all about the region. He is in the duo " The Swinging Standards." They sing and dance to the sounds of the big band era. Duane teaches voice and acting lessons. He is an active soloist/ accompanist at three different churches., and has been a member of the History At Play Troupe for 8 years.
ANI VALENTINO
Intern | Research & Writing Assistant
Ani Valentino is a high school senior from Bedford, New York. She is an avid reader, a self-proclaimed foodie, and loves pop culture and current events. Ani is passionate about social justice with a focus on women in third-world countries. Her heart lies in the pages of nonfiction where she discovers motivation from works, such as: Sold by Zana Muhsen, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and How The Word Is Passed by Clint Smith. With an eye toward the future, Ani aspires to become a high school history teacher, sharing her passion for social justice and historical understanding with the next generation.