THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
MAINSTAGE
Directed by Billy Buff // September 18-27, 2026
Join us in the twists and turns of The Girl on the Train as we follow Rachel Watson, a lonely woman obsessed with the couple she watches from afar. When the girlfriend suddenly disappears, Rachel becomes entangled in a dangerous investigation that forces her to confront fractured memories, manipulation, addiction, and buried violence. This all builds to a shocking revelation about trust, abuse, and survival.
NO VIDEO OR PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED DURING THE PERFORMANCE.
THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OR STREAMS OF THIS PRODUCTION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE COPYRIGHT LAW AND AN ACTIONABLE OFFENSE.
CREW
DIRECTOR - BILLY BUFF
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR - ERIC MICHAEL
STAGE MANAGER - MICAIAH PARSON
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER - ALYSSA ALLEN
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR - CRIS FENGER
INTIMACY COORDINATOR - KG USLAN
COSTUME DESIGNER - CARISSA MILLER
COSTUME TEAM - JEANNETTE GIBSON, TIFFANY NICHOLS
PROPS MISTRESS - BARBARA JACOBS
LIGHT DESIGN - CHOH MAN TENG
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER - KG USLAN
BACKSTAGE CREW - KENNY WOODHAM, JACOB PETERSON, MARVIN MOSS
LIGHT/SOUND BOARD OPERATOR - JORDYN EWING
SET CONSTRUCTION - BRYAN CHAPMAN, SUNNY WALTON
MASTER CARPENTER/SHOP SUPERVISOR - BRYAN CHAPMAN
MARKETING SPECIALIST - ASHLEY DENNY
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - KATHY HOLSWORTH
PLT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - SANDY COX
CAST
ELEANORE ARMANI as RACHEL WATSON
Eleanore is thrilled to be in The Girl on the Train. She has previously been seen in Perfect Arrangement, POTUS, and Little Wars. Other PLT shows include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, as well as immersive theater productions of Unrequited and Somebody to Love. Eleanore has also performed at The Gordon with Pen Arts, including an original staging of When Two of Us Meet and They Promised Her the Moon.
JAY ST. AMANT as TOM WATSON
Jay is a longtime theatre veteran and is thrilled to be making his PLT debut. His credits include: To Kill a Mockingbird, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Come Blow Your Horn, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Jay and his wife, Amy, met 24 years ago in theatre, and have two children, Zach and Sabine. He and his family are excited to be a part of PLT!
ASHLEY SIMMONS as MEGAN HIPWELL
Ashley is an award-winning actor and director who has been active in the Pensacola theatre community since 2017. She has adapted William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into Unrequited and A Midsummer Night’s Dream into Somebody to Love. Favorite stage roles include Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche in Night Watch (yes, back-to-back Blanches!), and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. Outside of theatre, Ashley is a mom, wife, graphic designer, and photographer
KURTIS VON KRUEGER as SCOTT HIPWELL
Kurtis has been performing on stage and screen for 30 years. He was last seen on PLT’s mainstage as Freddy Fillmore in It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. His other credits include RENT, The Subject Was Roses, and Back to the 80s. He has starred in several award-winning films, including Mixed Emulsions and Infinity 7. He would like to thank his daughter, Lydia, and wife, Lendsey, for all their support.
JONATHAN CASCIO as KAMAL ABDIC
Jonathan is excited to be back in the light of the mainstage. You may have seen him as everyone’s favorite Uncle Terry in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He was previously in the shadows during Perfect Arrangement and Jekyll & Hyde as part of the stage crew. You can (not) see him next (if he does his job right) as crew for Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. Maybe next year he’ll direct one of these shows, if he can keep his Attention Span going (that’s a Short Attention Span Theatre joke).
KELSY RANAE as ANNA WATSON
Kelsy is thrilled to be making her PLT debut as Anna! While this is her first time stepping into the spotlight, she spent years behind the scenes with Neighborhood Children’s Theatre, helping with costumes, quick changes, and other performance needs. She has also had the joy of running lines with her talented actor son, so stepping onstage feels like the start of a wonderful new chapter. She can’t wait to bring Anna’s strong will, keen eye, and undeniable spark to life!
ROBERT “ROBBIE” GONZALEZ as D.I. GASKILL
Robbie is excited to be a part of this riveting production! He looks forward to telling a great story with the rest of the cast. Robbie was most recently seen in the Studio 400 production of The Sugar Witch. He has also appeared in PLT’s productions of Jekyll & Hyde, RENT, and A Chorus Line.
Special Thanks
Levaithan Tactical
Elite Printing
Maddie McGlothren
about the director
I came to The Girl on the Train expecting a psychological thriller. What stayed with me was how quickly the ordinary becomes unsettling—a daily train ride, familiar houses passing by, and strangers whose lives we think we understand. Paula Hawkins’ novel became an international phenomenon, drawing millions of readers into Rachel Watson’s fractured world of missing memories, half-seen lives, and the constant question of what—and whom—we can trust.
Since its publication, Rachel’s story has traveled from the page to film and now to the stage. Each version is different. The novel allows us inside Rachel’s thoughts and memories. The film makes those fractured memories visual. Onstage, however, there is nowhere to hide. Rachel, Megan, and Anna are standing directly in front of us, and their fear, anger, confusion, and vulnerability become immediate.
What intrigued me most about the stage adaptation, though, was what lies beneath the mystery.
The Girl on the Train is ultimately about three women whose lives have been shaped by trauma, relationships, and the men around them. Rachel has been manipulated into questioning her own memory and judgment. Megan carries wounds that remain largely hidden from everyone around her. Anna believes she understands the life she has built until she is forced to see it differently. Their stories are separate, yet they gradually become intertwined.
The psychological thriller becomes the perfect way to tell their story. We are asked to question Rachel at the same time she questions herself. Memory becomes unreliable. Perception becomes suspect. The truth arrives only in fragments. And slowly, those fragments begin to fit together.
That is perhaps what I find most compelling about The Girl on the Train. Beneath the mystery is a story about control. Beneath the suspense is a story about trauma and domestic abuse. And beneath the woman watching the world through the window of a passing train is someone who has been taught not to trust herself, struggling to reclaim her own understanding of what is real.
The book, film, and stage adaptation may take different routes to get there. Characters change. Locations change. Events are condensed, rearranged, and reimagined. But the destination remains much the same: a story about what happens when someone controls the narrative of another person’s life—and what it takes to finally take that narrative back.
We hope tonight’s production pulls you into Rachel’s fractured world, keeps you questioning what you have seen and what you believe, and perhaps leaves you thinking about the story long after the final train has passed.
And remember. Mind the Gap.
— Billy Buff, Director
