Meet the Team

Peter Atkinson founded The Merry Beggars while in graduate school at Columbia University. Prior to Columbia, he studied Classics & Early Christian Literature at Ave Maria University. Peter founded a study abroad program in Rome and a Shakespearean acting program in Florida. After training in Massachusetts and London, Peter went on to Columbia University’s graduate school for an MFA in Acting. While in graduate school, he starred Off Broadway and in 2021, The Merry Beggars was acquired by Relevant Radio. Peter is married to an incredible actress, Naomi Atkinson, and they have three wonderful children.

Kevin joined The Merry Beggars as a writer/director and casting director in 2023. Prior to his work for Relevant Radio, he enjoyed a successful career as a stage, screen and voice actor in New York, London and Ireland. His directing credits include world premieres of new operas and plays. As a producer he has worked in theatre, opera, animation, and audio. His stage acting credits include lead and supporting roles in the West End, UK regional theatre, off-Broadway and at festivals worldwide. Screen credits include guest star and recurring roles on US network television, and feature films working with Steven Spielberg, Adam McKay, Steve Martin, and Tina Fey. As a voice actor, Kevin has voiced national network TV and radio campaigns, narrated audiobooks for Bloomsbury, Harper Collins and Penguin Audio, and played lead and supporting roles in video games with Avalanche Studios and Rockstar Games. His audio drama credits include acting in radio plays for Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) and BBC Radio 4. An alumnus of St Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique, he is also co-founder and serves on the board of The Catholic Artists Society.

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Kiley began work with The Merry Beggars in 2020 when she wrote "I Do Like the Rain" for The Quarantine Plays. Since then she has written On the Night Train and twenty-one of The Saints series. Beyond The Merry Beggars, Kiley is the founder of Embers Theatre, a traveling theatre company that puts on camps and performances each summer. She holds a BA in Theatre from Hillsdale College. Kiley lives with her husband in Virginia and her 1 year old son often makes cameo appearances on TMB team Zoom calls.

Michael brings more than 15 years of professional audio experience to Relevant Radio, including 13 years at NFL Films, where his work on HBO’s Hard Knocks: Houston Texans earned him an Emmy Award. His career has taken him from the NFL to the world of AAA video games, serving as a Dialogue Designer for Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty franchise. His work in dialogue editing and sound design has also earned him two Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Award nominations. A Chicagoland native, Michael grew up in Niles, attending St. Juliana School and Notre Dame College Prep before attending Columbia College Chicago’s Audio Arts and Acoustics program.

Ariel Gade is an award-nominated actress, voice actor, casting director, and acting coach based in Northern California. Her career began at the age of four when she booked her first commercial, eventually leading to roles in major feature films and television alongside actors including Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Jennifer Connelly, and Christopher Lloyd. Her credits include ENVY (dir. Barry Levinson), Dark Water, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Call of the Wild 3D. Most recently, she voiced a role in an upcoming animated project created by an award-winning creative team with experience spanning Pixar, Disney, and DreamWorks.

Ariel joined The Merry Beggars in 2023 as a Casting Associate and now serves as Casting Director, where she has helped assemble the casts for many productions in The Saints series. She is passionate about discovering exceptional talent and connecting actors with meaningful, faith-filled stories.

Ariel attended the University of California, San Diego, and earned her MBA in Film Production from John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, California. When she's not casting or acting, she's usually chasing after her energetic one-year-old daughter.

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Elena Stonehouse is a producer who has worked between Spain and Los Angeles, producing narrative shorts, documentaries, and independent films. She studied Screen Studies at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, where she co-produced her senior thesis film, Reset. Her producing credits include The Fear, Jazz Friday, and Interns, created for the LA 48 Hour Film Festival. Elena is passionate about animation, film, and audio drama, hoping to create stories that share the joy of Christ.

Joseph Marsh is a producer, director, and actor from the Piedmont region of central Virginia, currently based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Shakespeare in Performance program at Ave Maria University. He has also studied at the American Shakespeare Center and Fiasco Theater in New York. In 2023, he joined The Merry Beggars as Production Manager for The Saints and now serves as Associate Producer.