Set in a fictional Alaskan town, the residents of The Cold Plunge believe they can transform into moose by jumping through a hole in a frozen lake. But mail carrier Myrna Glass knows it’s madness. They’re all dying in that lake. And no one will listen–no one except her new partner, who just transferred in from another town.  

The Cold Plunge explores how a deep-seeded, unfounded belief system can tighten and strain the bonds of family and community. The story is punctuated with jolts of humor, bursts of action, and tender moments of romance and heartbreak.

CAST BIOS

Kurt Conroyd (he/them)
Film, television and stage actor who trained in Chicago with Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Second City, as well as Studio Magenia in Paris, France. Film and TV credits include Wild (starring Reese Witherspoon), Lean on Pete (A24) and he co-starred in Amazon’s The Benefits of Gusbandry.

Sammy Rat Rios (she/they)
Notable stage credits include Young Americans (Portland Center Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Portland Playhouse) and In the Next Room…or the Vibrator Play (River & Rail Theatre). Film credits include starring in Further In (The NW Collective), and Walla Walla (Best Short Film at the Oregon Independent Film Festival 2023). Rios trained at the British American Drama Academy in London, UK.

Diane Kondrat (she/her)
Actor with more than 40 years of professional experience in dozens of theaters around the country, including Third Rail Repertory, Portland Playhouse, Public Theatre San Antonio, Coho Productions, Phoenix Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, and Indiana Repertory Theatre. Film and television work includes Trinkets (Neflix), and Grimm (NBC).

Bruce Burkhartsmeier (he/him)
Professional actor of more than 45 years, notable productions include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, True West, Other People’s Money, and Men of Honor (20th Century Fox). He trained in NYC with estimable actress and teacher Uta Hagen, as well as Geraldine Page, Earle Hyman, and William Hickey.

Claire Rigsby (she/her)
Claire has starred in stage performances at Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, CoHo Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Chapel Theater, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Broadway Rose, and Live Onstage! You can catch Claire’s voice in Profile Theatre’s audio play of Las Meninas by Lynn Nottage, directed by Dawn Monique Williams.
Onscreen credits include In the Vault (Amazon), Trinkets (Netflix), and Grimm (NBC).

Finley Vleer (he/him)
Finley, age 18, has trained with professional actors Vin Shambry, Chynna Rae Shurts, and Katie O’ Grady at the Acting for Kids and Teens program in Portland, Oregon, as well as the the theatre program at Cleveland High School. This is his first professional credit.

CREW BIOS

Callie Day (she/her) – sound engineer
Sound engineer with more than twelve years experience on dozens of documentaries, short films and feature films (Lorelei, Savage Midlife), as well as educational material for Oregon Children’s Theatre and Acting For Kids & Teens, and commercial clients such as Nike, Portland Trail Blazers, and Planned Parenthood.

Jeff Stuart Saltzman (he/him) – mixer
More than 30 years experience in mixing, mastering and recording, Jeff has worked on hundreds of albums for bands including Death Cab for Cutie, Richmond Fontaine, Menomena and Steven Malkmus’ first solo album. Other highlights include mixing the theme song for the Pokemon television series, and working directly with Francis Ford Coppola on his personal audio projects at his vineyard.

John San Nicolas (he/him) – casting director
Primarily an actor with more than 100 stage and TV credits including Portlandia and Leverage, John is always honored to put on his casting director hat to find the perfect actors for each role in a project.

Sunny Bleckinger (he/him) – writer, director, sound designer
Sunny worked as a journalist in the Netherlands for five years before stepping away to focus on audio and written fiction. He’s made dozens of short narrative soundscapes, all capturing moments in a fictional or real person’s life. Sunny is also a two-time winner of XRAY FM’s Radio is Yours Contest in audio storytelling. He was Artist-in-Residence at KBOO Radio, where he produced a one-act radio play, The Pool. And his previous radio play,Four Mondays, was an official selection at the HEAR Now: Audio Fiction Festival.