A Rat’s Nest
by Moe Callahan
Saturday, July 11 at 2:00 pm
Sunday, July 12 at 3:40 pm
Studio Theatre
Running time: 40 minutes
Rating: With Guidance (audience members under 13 will be admitted with an adult)
Content Warning: Murder?
World Premiere at the DOTS 2026 Fringe Festival
What to Expect
Rat husbands. In sickness and in health. This original puppet show encourages a rat while he tries to answer the question: What would you do to stay with the one you love until the very end? Trust is stronger than sickness. And love is a matter of life and death.
special Thanks
Special thank you to my real rat husband, Jonah Drake. I would kill you.
“You can see the passion that goes into each carve and cut of a piece of puppetry they make.”
~ Bennett Derossett
Moe Callahan
Creator
and Puppet Designer
Moe Callahan is proudly participating in the DOTS Fringe for the third year in a row. They got their start in Springfield theater by working behind the scenes at Springfield Contemporary Theatre. Moe debuted their directing career with Queen City Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. This year, they are presenting their first one act that they wrote, directed, and produced. Moe is also a puppeteer and visual artist in their spare time.
Maceo Torrance Cortezz
Niles
Bio coming soon
Jon Spence
Lloyd
Jon Spence is a high school English teacher who has performed in various musicals, plays, and other productions for 15 years.
Amanda Cole
Mavis
Amanda Cole is enjoying her return to the local community theater scene, having been previously involved during the early 2000’s at MSU, SBU, Tent, and the VCT. Last fall she portrayed Juliet in Queen City Shakespeare’s “Shakespeare on Tap” and she will be directing Macbeth for that company this fall. Besides theater, she enjoys reading, good company, and a challenging game of Mahjong.
Hadleigh Callahan
Clock
Bio coming soon.
Mallory Maggi
Lamp
Mallory Maggi (She/Her/Hers) is excited to join in on the Fringe fun this year! Her most recent artistic endeavor was directing macbitches for Queen City Shakespeare Co. With High Tide Theatrical she directed the first production of the 2024 season,Tick, Tick… Boom! She has also performed in Leading Ladies, Villains, and Literature to Life in Concert. Mallory has also served as the Stage Manager/Assistant Director for The Laramie Project, The Rocky Horror Show in 2024 and 2025 and has worked crew for Next to Normal and Hand to God.
Mallory holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Public Relations and Theatre Studies, as well as a Master of Professional Studies in Applied Communication from Missouri State University. She spent several of her college summers as a part of the Marketing and House Operations team with Tent Theatre and served as the Office Manager for the Missouri State University Department of Theatre and Dance’s Marketing Office.
Chelsea Stanford
Puppeteer
Upon remembering she has free will, Chelsea decided to pursue her lifelong dream of being a ham and commiserate with the theatre-folk of the Ozarks; she has literally never done anything like this in her life! She has no previous roles to speak of! She is just happy to be here, making her debut in A Rat’s Nest! When she’s not playing pretend or hanging out with friends, she’s watching women’s hockey, tinkering in Adobe Illustrator, or singing original parody songs to her beagle, Matilda.
A Special Thank you!
DOTS would like to extend a very special thank you to Springfield Little Theatre Education Department at The Judy for your continued support of our efforts to produce original theatre in Springfield Missouri.
We are also grateful to Springfield Regional Arts Council for believing in our mission.
Devising Original Theatre Springfield is a 501c3 Organization.