Oliver with Concordia University

Throughout 2024, storyteller Megan Wells hired Distant Era to create portraits of the historical women she plays. At the end of that year, Megan additionally became a professor at the theatre program at Concordia University Chicago. Now in 2025, Megan needed a photographer to capture the production of Oliver she’d directed for the university, and I’m so grateful she reached out to me.

Storyteller Megan Wells as: Abigail Adams, Florence Nightingale, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary Magdalene, Nannerl Mozart, Clara Barton, and Miep Gies.

We made the photos after a performance of the show, just prior to its closing night. It was my great pleasure to collaborate with my friend Megan on her directorial debut at Concordia University. I’m so proud of her for all she’s accomplished in the last year, and I can’t wait to see how she continues to build the theatre program. Megan is one of the most engaging people I’ve ever spoken with, and our conversations over the past year have often been deep ones about life and story. Megan did a wonderful job putting together this show, and I’m honored that she invited me to capture it for her.

A thousand thanks, Megan, and hearty congratulations on your great success!

Selected photos from Concordia University’s *Oliver*.

Cast, Crew, and Summary

The following information about the show appears on the Brown Paper Tickets website’s listing for Oliver:

Produced by Jeff-Award winning director Megan Wells and music director Peter Stigdon, Concordia students, alum, staff and faculty create a joyous ensemble. In the versatile Bergmann theater, Garet Pahlkotter’s set surrounds the audience for an engaging immersive experience. Lights by student Will Gmitro pop the musical with mood and color. The fun choreography is also student created by Tati Overton. The set painting is created by Wren Nuckles. All held together by the stage management glue of student Eric Perry.

Alum Emil Clausing creates a quirky and heartful Fagin matched with Walther Academy student Andy Leininger’s warm and charismatic Oliver. The terrific cast includes students, staff and faculty: Evalynn Berg, Madison Blodgett, Mahima Gangwar, Nathan Gorman, Michael Hadler, Anton Jones, Joey Jurca, Harrison Mueller, Tati Overton, Abigail Porter, Christina Ray, Anika Slayton, Peter Stigdon, Marlena Tomaczyk, Rayna Wangler and Hannah Weber. We are joined by three students from local schools; Aria Ames, Evelyn Fierro and Evelyn Oas.

Bravo to Megan Wells and to Oliver‘s cast and crew!

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Steven Townshend is a fine art/portrait photographer and writer with a background in theatre, written narrative, and award-winning game design. As a young artist, Steven toured the US and Canada performing in Shakespeare companies while journaling their moments on paper and film. In his transition from stage to page, Steven continued to work as a theatre photographer, capturing dramatic scenes while incorporating elements of costume, makeup, and theatrical lighting in his work. Drawn to stories set in other times and places, Steven creates works through which fellow dreamers and time travelers might examine their own humanity or find familiar comfort in the reflections of the people and places of a distant era.