Cade McCall and Sammy Sledd Two students are creating theater magic with the performance and technical skills they learned at the University of Alabama at Birmingham — and they have their work cut out for them.

Theatre UAB, the performance company of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Theatre, is presenting “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” from Nov. 12-16. Buy tickets.

Based on the novel “Israel Rank” by Roy Horniman, and set in London in 1907, the musical centers on penniless clerk Monty Navarro. When his mother dies and he learns he is eighth in line to become the Earl of Highhurst, Monty decides to speed up the line of succession. One by one, the family members who stand in the way of his inheritance meet with deadly misadventure. This dark comedy, which won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical, offers audiences non-stop laughs and includes a substantial, scene-stealing role for one actor who is up to the challenge of portraying all eight characters in the D’Ysquith family. Read more about the production.

Cue Sammy Sledd, the UAB senior from Huntsville, Alabama, who starred in last season’s “Freaky Friday” co-production between Theatre UAB and Red Mountain Theatre Company. She will portray each character in the D’Ysquith family, from over-the-top Lord Adalbert to Lady Salome the actress.

Dressing those characters is student costume designer Cade McCall, of Headland, Alabama, who will graduate in December with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater with a concentration in design and technology. This is the largest show he has worked on, and the play has lots of action and some very quick changes in Act One, where all eight D’Ysquiths appear and meet their demises. The shortest amount of time allotted for a costume change is just 25 seconds.

Cade McCallMcCall, 23, says he was so happy when Sledd was cast so he and his talented classmate could collaborate.

“It is a challenge that I know she was hungry for, and something I know she can do well,” McCall said. “No one could play these characters like Sammy could.”

Professor Valerie Accetta, head of the UAB Musical Theatre program, is directing “A Gentleman’s Guide.” She performed alongside Sledd in “Sister Act” and “Freaky Friday” at Red Mountain Theatre and has directed Sledd in several shows, including “Into the Woods” and “Fun Home.” No matter what role Sledd is tackling, Accetta says she approaches it with rich research, unwavering commitment and a sense of play that allows for unexpected choices.

“She is raucously funny, but she has such a big heart that every performance is filled with nuance and specificity,” Accetta said. “Sammy has the added challenge of playing eight roles of different ages and gender identities. Each one is unique and wildly funny, and her work inspires and elevates the work of everyone around her, including myself.”

Sledd, 21, says the costumes, and getting costume fittings started early, have been the most helpful.

“I have been doing a lot of physical work to really make [each character] different in my own body,” Sledd said. “Then I use different vocal qualities or different patterns of speech to differentiate the characters, because they really are all back to back to back.” She even wears fake teeth for one character. UAB musical theater majors have intense vocal training, including anatomy and physiology of the voice with Estill Voice Training, private voice lessons with the Department of Music and dialect courses. This training allows Sledd to make specific and creative vocal choices for the many roles she plays.

Rehearsals started by blocking each of the characters individually, so putting it all together is a real challenge, especially with the fast costume changes.

What is most educational about this production, McCall says, is the combination of entertainment and stagecraft magic used to bring this story from the page to the stage.

“Having one person embody so many characters and literally wear so many hats makes you giggle,” he said. The play invites audiences to laugh with joy, and “that is something that is really important in the theater and, right now, in the world.”

McCall has embraced the farcical style of the piece and found clever ways to depict these characters and execute the many costume changes required, says Associate Professor of Costume Design Kimberly Schnormeier, associate chair of the UAB Department of Theatre.

“Costume design requires great attention to myriad small details and the ability to enhance characterization through clothing,” Schnormeier said. “Cade has done this with great flair and style.”

Choosing UAB

Sammy SleddSledd knew that she wanted to do theater from a young age, having grown up with a mom who worked as a costumer in community and school theater.

“There were many other things I could have done, but theater is what I had to do,” Sledd said.

In high school, she had four different theater teachers over four years, and halfway through her junior year, a new teacher stepped in: Olivia Skillern, a UAB Department of Theatre graduate.

“I was kind of struggling,” Sledd said. “Olivia brought in so much positivity and light and love, made everybody kinder to each other, and really made theater feel like a family. Her support just completely changed the entire department.”

When Skillern encouraged Sledd to look at UAB for school, she did.

“I could trust that the kind of education she brought to my school was the kind of education offered at UAB,” Sledd said. She had toured other schools and talked with students she met at Alabama’s Walter Trumbauer Festival. UAB was her first in-person audition, and once she got the call from Accetta, she canceled the rest of her auditions and committed to UAB.

“They care most about the kind of person you are, and that speaks volumes about the department,” Sledd said. Some other places tend to focus solely on your performance capabilities. “UAB Theatre is so filled with good people, so supportive, so compassionate. The UAB standard of excellence is wild.”

Sledd starred in “Fun Home” and “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,” presented by UAB, and performed as principal soloist in the UAB Touring productions of “Leading Ladies” and “Broadway Today,” along with playing several characters in “Fiercely Shakespeare.” Skilled in singing and dancing, she has also worked in stage combat and theater education. She will graduate in spring 2026 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theater.

McCall, 23, came to UAB as the first person in his family to attend college, with an interest in costuming but plans to focus on performing. In the spring semester of his freshman year, however, he was assistant costume designer for UAB’s production of “The SpongeBob Musical” and the next year assisted in hair and makeup design for “Into the Woods.” After taking acting, scenic design and many other production classes, he switched his concentration from performance to design and technology.

He was co-costume designer for “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and designed costumes for “The Revolutionists” at UAB and two UAB Touring shows this year, “Rainbow Fish” and “Dynamic Duos.” Over summers, he has worked as a stitcher for Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan then for The American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and on the wardrobe crew at Red Mountain Theatre for “Waitress.” The design/tech concentration emphasizes training for scenic, lighting and costume designers, as well as those seeking careers as stage managers, technical directors and other technical professions. Students who have interest and ability in any of the theater design fields are encouraged to specialize in their field of interest, but also to experience and learn about the other fields with which their work must coordinate. For example, lighting designers will study scenic design and costume design, so they may understand the crucial interactions of color, texture and movement.

“My favorite classes were my voice and movement classes,” McCall said. “It really taught me the importance of breathwork and movement, and that translates to figuring out how to make and design and create something that an actor can move in.”