The Ensemble
Founder & Artistic Director
Davey White
Davey White is a playwright, director, puppetry artist, and performer. In 2023 he and his partner, Kalela Williams founded The Off Center, where he has created An Evening With Edgar Allan Puppet, Wuthering Heights (Really) Abridged, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, A Grimm Evening, Amerika: The Boy Who Disappeared, Dad’s Original Tangy BBQ Sauce, Degenerate: The DeJarnette Project (co-written with ensemble member, Diana Black), and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
He traveled with EgoPo Classic Theatre to Jogjakarta, Indonesia, where he collaborated with Paper Moon Puppet Theatre and Kalinari Theatre Movement on an international adaptation of The Ramayana, which he and his collaborators also performed in Philadelphia.
He performed his solo show, Gintry, a Play with Drinks several times in association with DieCast. His other written work has been seen with DieCast, PlayPenn New Play Conference, Plays and Players, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company’s @Play Festival, New Leaf Theatre (Chicago), Maples Rep (MO), and The Cardboard Box Collaborative.
As an actor, he’s performed at The Wilma Theater, Indiana Repertory Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, DieCast, EgoPo Classic Theatre, Delaware Shakespeare Festival, Commonwealth Classic Theatre, and others. He has taught at Temple University, Rowan University, Stockton University, Montgomery County Community College, and Indiana University East Campus. He holds an MFA in Playwriting, and an MFA in Acting from Temple University.
Co Founder
Kalela Williams
Kalela Williams is a proud auntie, a cat mama, and an author living in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Her debut novel, Tangleroot, was published in 2024 and she works in literary public programming.
Kalela is a graduate of Tri-Cities High School in College Park, Georgia; the University of Mary Washington, and Goddard College, where she earned her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA).
Her creative work has appeared in Drunken Boat, Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, and other literary magazines, with her poem “Braiding Hair” once featured on a BBC Radio 4 episode. She has been a recipient a Tin House writing residency, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and a Roland Writers Residency.
As “Black History Maven,” Kalela’s community events and gatherings explore diverse histories, affirm Black identity, and spark boundless curiosity.
Core Ensemble Member
Maria Leckey
Maria is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist you may recognize from Staunton’s femme collective, The Hot Mamas. Past Off Center credits include The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, A Very Grimm Evening, Amerika: The Boy Who Disappeared, and Degenerate: The Dejarnette Project. She has composed music for many of those, as well as co-coposing the music for The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Maria loves writing songs, driving five over the speed limit, and engaging in meaningful creative work with her fabulous and talented collaborators.
Core Ensemble Member
Diana Black
Diana Black enjoys figuring out songs by ear on the piano and singing with the six-person ensemble Shenandoah Cabaret. Recent work: starring in the one-person play Underneath the Lintel (Silk Moth Stage), co-directing Here in the Light (Eunoia), stage managing Dad's Original Tangy BBQ Sauce, and co-writing providing dramaturgical research for Degenerate: The Dejarnette Project (The Off Center), and co-composing the music for The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (The Off Center).
Core Ensemble Member
Jean Roche
Jean Roche is an actor with a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of Memphis, a Master of Letters in Shakespeare & Performance from Mary Baldwin University, and an M.F.A. in Shakespeare & Performance also from MBU. At the Off Center, Jean has played Robinson in Amerika: The Boy Who Disappeared and DeJarnette in Degenerate. She's also been a storyteller for Stories from the Ether and a shadow puppeteer for The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Some previous credits include Van Helsing/Mina u/s in Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors at the American Shakespeare Center, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Knoxville Shakespeare Company, and Clytaemnestra in Clytaemnestra's Revenge at Meadowlark Shakespeare Players.
Core Ensemble Member
Claire Josefson
Claire is a puppetry artist from Stuarts Draft, Virginia. She has been seen at the Off Center in Degenerate, for which she also created some puppets, Amerika: The Boy Who Disappeared, and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Her puppets have been seen onstage in Mary Baldwin University's 2023 original musical, The Wreck, as well as in her Capstone-nominated thesis production of scenes from The Merchant of Venice. She would like to thank her family and friends for their support and her grandmother, Yancey, for encouraging her to walk on the wacky side.
Core Ensemble Member
Nat Slater
Nat is a multi- disciplinary artist interested in visual storytelling. Previously, they were seen in (and contributed shadow puppetry to) The Off Center’s productions of Degenerate, Amerika: The Boy Who Disappeared, and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Originally from Arlington, Virginia, Nat is incredibly grateful to have found a personal and creative home in the Shenandoah Valley. Nat lives in Staunton with their partner Fiona and their two fluffy cats.
Core Ensemble Member
Walter Pultz
Walter is an actor from Augusta County. He has performed with The Off Center in America: The Boy Who Disapeared, Stories From the Ether, and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Walter stepped into carnival puppetry in the 2024 Modest Puppet Festival and shadow puppetry at Mary Baldwin University, He would like to thank his friends, family, and mentors for their unwavering support.
Core Ensemble Member
Deborah Seif
Deborah recently returned to the stage after an eighteen-year hiatus in The Off Center's production of Dad's Original Tangy BBQ Sauce. Favorite roles include multiple roles in Tom Stoppard’s On The Razzle (Wilma Theater, Philadelphia), Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing (Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia), Gail in Escape From Happiness (Wilma Theater, Philadelphia), and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival). Deb was also a voiceover artist for over 20 years.