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The Acting Company
Asolo Rep's acting company is composed of the following talented individuals. In addition to our resident company and third year M.F.A. students of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, they come to our stage from other cities and our own community. "Associate Artist" is a title given to a group of resident Equity actors who have made a personal and professional commitment to Asolo Rep for more than three years, established an official residence in this community and have made a special commitment to Asolo Rep's longevity. In return, these actors constitute the "leadership" of the acting company and serve in a variety of capacities for the institution, including mentoring students of the Conservatory. Those professional actors who are members of the Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, are noted with an asterisk.
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Marie-France Arcilla* – Guest Artist, first season (WORKING) is thrilled to be at Asolo Rep. Most recently, she starred in the World Premiere of Dame Julie Andrews and Emma Walton-Hamilton's Simeon's Gift at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. In NYC, she created the role of Blue Girl in the hit show Shout! The Mod Musical (Rhino/Cast Album). She also originated Martha in The Ark with Annie Golden (37Arts/Cast Album), Valerie in Sidd (Dodger Stages/Cast Album), Heather Sweet in REPO: The Genetic Opera (now a major motion picture) and Grace/Dottie in Making Tracks (SJ Rep). Credits: Miss Saigon (Kim), Once On This Island (Andrea) and Aida at NSMT. Passionate about new works, she's collaborated on upcoming musicals Sunfish and Life and Lucky. Occasionally cross-dressing, she's played Viola in Twelfth Night and Octavius in Julius Caesar. Long ago, she sang pop songs on a Philippine kiddie show. Now she hosts Cinema AZN on the AZN Network and has appeared on Law & Order: SVU and Cashmere Mafia. AMDA Grad, ADMU Grad, Proud Manileña. www.mariefrance.org.
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Shane Austin – Second season (Attendant/Soldier, Tale of Two Cities; Horse, Equus) Graduate, North Carolina School of the Arts. Credits: Martin, A Grand Night for Singing (VLT); Nick Piazza, Fame (Players Theater), Amadeus and A Few Good Men (Asolo Rep). Thanks to family and friends for their support – especially his grandmother for opening her home to him for two seasons!
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Darrin Baker* - Guest Artist, first season (WORKING) Broadway credits include: Professor Porter in Tarzan; Wonderful Town with Brooke Shields; Laughing Room Only opposite Jackie Mason; Neville in The Scarlet Pimpernel; Coach Dunbar in Footloose; Sunset Blvd. with Glenn Close (Broadway debut). Off-Broadway and regional favorites include: Sheldrake and Bob Wallace in Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Pantages Theater in Hollywood); Charlie in Dirty Blonde (Cincinnati Playhouse); Torvald in Ingmar Bergman's Nora and Michael in I Do, I Do! (New Harmony Theater, Indiana); Gordon in A New Brain (Portland Center Stage); Babet and Marius in Les Miserables (original Toronto production - RoyalAlexTheater). TV credits include: several episodes of Law & Order and SVU; Roger in the Showtime series Queer As Folk; Melrose Place; Almost Grown (by Soprano's creator David Chase). At 16 Darrin played Jesus in his high school production of Godspell written by WORKING's creator Stephen Schwartz. It was that production that influenced Darrin's choice to make "acting" his career! After 24 years as a professional actor, Darrin is thrilled to have the chance to finally work on "another" Stephen Schwartz show! P.S. He says it was well worth the wait!
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James Barbour* – Guest Artist, first season (Sydney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities) Mr. Barbour starred on Broadway in Jane Eyre, Assassins, Urinetown, Beauty and the Beast, and Carousel, as well as the National tour of Camelot starring as ‘Lancelot’ opposite Michael York (a role James also played opposite Jeremy Irons at the Hollywood Bowl). His film and TV credits include Alchemy starring opposite Tom Cavanaugh and Sarah Chalke, Twinkle Toes opposite Sally Kirkland, Ed, Sex & The City, The District, Just Shoot Me, That’s Life, E.I.S., PBS mini-series John & Abigail Adams and others. www.JamesBarbour.com
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Craig Bennett* – Guest Artist, first season (Jerry Cruncher, A Tale of Two Cities) Craig most recently appeared as Signor Naccarelli in the First National Company of The Light in the Piazza. He was seen in the Broadway Company of Miss Saigon (Schultz), and the National Touring Companies of Mamma Mia! (Bill Austin), Ragtime (Willie Conklin), and Les Miserables (Combeferre, Thenardier). Regional credits include the Goodman Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, American Musical Theatre, and North Shore Music Theatre. A proud Equity member, Craig sends love to Sala and Mako.
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David Breitbarth* – Associate Artist, twelfth season (Paul, Misery; Erskine, Smash; Kenny, Lady) Last season: Orsini-Rosenberg, Amadeus; Kling, Men of Tortuga; Weinberg, A Few Good Men; Mr. Collins, Pride and Prejudice; Huxley, Darwin in Malibu. Past Asolo favorites include: Laughing Stock, Anything to Declare?, Rounding Third, Peter Pan, The Front Page, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Diary of Anne Frank, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Immigrant, Hobson's Choice, Room Service, The Kentucky Cycle, Broadway, and Art. Off-Broadway credits: Short Change (Beckett Theatre), Perfect Crime (Clurman Theatre), Fluorescent Hunger (Ensemble Studio Theatre), This Hard Life (American Jewish Theatre). Los Angeles: Life in the Trees (Melrose Theater - west coast premiere) and David's Mother (Company of Angels). Film and Television: Frasier, Taken!, Law & Order, Fame, and Ena's Adventures, a PBS special. Locally, for the Banyan Theater Company (founding member): Sight Unseen, Betrayal, Don Juan in Hell and Otherwise Engaged. David trained with William Esper at his studio in NYC. He and his dog Koufax happily make Sarasota their home.
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Matt Brown – First season, third-year Conservatory student (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Bentley, The Play’s the Thing; Charles, Smash; Horse, Equus) Last Season: Lafonte, The Parisian Woman; Dennis, This is Our Youth; Penthius, The Bacchae; Griever, Blue Window. A native of Elko, NV he attained his B.F.A. from Southern Oregon University and has acted with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He would like to thank his family, friends and donors, Dr. Hautamaki and Dr. Caballero, for their support.
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Dee Byrd - First season (Mover, The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead) Dee is thrilled to be working with Asolo Rep for the first time. Most recently she played Alice & Mistress Quickly in Henry V (The Lost Nation Theatre). Regional credits: A Christmas Carol, Danton’s Death –u/s- (The Alley Theatre), Billion Dollar Baby (Stages Repertory), The Merchant of Venice (Houston Shakespeare Festival), The Most Massive Woman Wins (Asolo Late Night Series). New York credits: Adventures in Toyland, Public Places/ Private Lives (Expanded Arts), L S A (The Producers Club). Dee has directed many shows for the Asolo Late Night Series as well as new scripts for The New York Film Festival and Houston’s Diverse Works. Dee got her B.A. from the University of Houston where she had the great privilege of doing the first production of Lorca, written anddirected by Edward Albee. Other credits include: Comedy of Errors, Maiden Dismayed, Land of the Living & The Fox. She studied acting with Jose Quintero, movement in Argentina, and spent several years with The Edward Albee Playwright Festival in Texas. Dee is a proud member of the American Montessori Society & a Certified Montessori Teacher. |
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Richard Caldwell – First season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) Born and raised in Quebec, Richard has sung from Montreal to San Francisco and from Miami to Philadelphia. In Sarasota he sang live with world-renowned choreographer Eddy Toussaint’s dancers and played a leading role in The Player’s Theatre’s Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. He studied acting for the last two years at Florida Studio Theatre and is pleased to appear on the Asolo Rep stage for the first time. He dedicates his performance to wife Debra and eight year old son Richard.
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Juan Javier Cardenas - First season, third-year Conservatory student (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Albert, The Play's the Thing; Alan, Equus) Last season: Dionysus, The Bacchae. Performances include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Big Love, and The Dumbwaiter. B.F.A. in Acting, The University of Florida. Juan has toured through the U.S.A., Russi, and Greece. He thanks his sponsors Pat and Charlie Huisking, and his friends and family for all their encouragement.
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Joe Cassidy* – Guest Artist, first season (Ernest Defarge, A Tale of Two Cities)Broadway: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Les Miserables; 1776; Show Boat; A Christmas Carol. Other New York: Listen to My Heart; Feeling Electric; Solo evenings at Joe’s Pub; and Ars Nova. National Tours: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Regional: The Last Five Years; Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn; Dracula, the Musical; Jekyll & Hyde; Master Class; Children of Eden; Myths & Hymns. Soloist with the Indianapolis, Ottawa, Nashville, & Baltimore Symphonies. Love and gratitude to my family and Ashley.
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Ryan Clark - (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) Ryan Clark is currently a second year M.F.A. directing candidate at Florida State University. From 2002-2006, Ryan served as Performing Arts Director of the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City. Selected directing credits include, Measure For Measure, The Laramie Project, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Rooms, Sure Thing, Sessions, Inner Field Boxes, and Lift and Bang. As an actor, Ryan spent a year touring with The National Players Theatre Company's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Way We Live Now. Ryan holds a Bachelors Degree from Towson University. He is originally from Baltimore, Maryland.
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James Clarke*– Associate Artist, twelfth season (Mansky, The Play’s the Thing; Jansenius, Smash; Dalton, Equus; Graham, Lady) Past seasons: Amadeus, Men of Tortuga, A Few Good Men, Pride and Prejudice, Enchanted April, Anything to Declare?, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Rounding Third, Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror, The Front Page, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Crucible, The Millionairess, Murder by Misadventure, The Diary of Anne Frank, Inherit the Wind, You Never Can Tell, Filumena, A Flea in Her Ear, Born Yesterday, The Hollow, and Twelfth Night. James has toured the country, appearing at such theatres as Yale Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Geva, and numerous theatres in Manhattan (including Circle in the Square and SoHo Rep), Boston, and Los Angeles. He was in the FSU/Asolo Conservatory program in the 1970s and spent a year with Asolo Rep after graduating. TV credits include: Ryan's Hope (Pat Ryan), Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, a CBS series entitled Legwork, and Saracen, a series in England.
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Kris Danford* — Guest Artist, second season (Henrietta, Smash) Kris is so happy to be back at Asolo Rep for her second mainstage season! Last season: Cinderella, The Plexiglass Slipper; Ensemble, Expecting Isabel; Caroline Bingley, Pride and Prejudice. Kris was also seen on the Mertz stage as an understudy for the title role in Peter Pan. In the 05-06 Cook conservatory season, she performed roles in Five By Tenn, Marina in Pericles and the title role in Mirandolina. Locally, Kris has performed in the Banyan Theater Company's 2005 production of Sight Unseen. Most recently, she played the role of Cathy in The Last Five Years at Peterborough Players. Originally from Western New York, she holds an MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory and BFA in Musical Theatre from Fredonia State University. Kris thanks her parents, Warren and Margot Coville and her fiancée, Sam.
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Karis Danish - First season, third-year Conservatory student (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Sr. James, Doubt) Last season: Chorus, The Bacchae; Boo, Blue Window. Karis got her B.M. in Vocal Performance at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. She would like to thank her donors and her amazing supportive parents.
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Randy Danson* - Guest artist, first season (Sr. Aloysius, Doubt; Hester, Equus) Randy Danson most recently appeared at the Mint Theatre in New York in Tolstoy's Power of Darkness. Other theatre credits include Amanda in The Glass Menagerie at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the title role in The Good Person of Szechuan at the Arena Stage for which she won the Helen Hayes Award, and Vivian in Wit at the Philadelphia Theatre Company for which she won the Barrymore Award. She received an Obie for Sustained Excellence in New York in 1992. Film Credits include Martin Scorcsese's The Last Temptation of Christ and Libby in PBS's version of Blue Window a role she had originated on stage. She designs and makes jewelry for her company Maiden Lane www.roxlane.com.
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Janine DiVita* – Guest artist, first season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) a 2007 graduate of The University of Michigan's musical theatre department has performed at numerous theatres including The York, MUNY, KC Starlight, KC Lyric, and Heritage Repertory Theatre. Favorite roles include Dot in Sunday In The Park With George, Fania Fenelon in Arthur Miller's Playing For Time, Kathy in Company, Maria in The Sound Of Music, and Alaura in City Of Angels. Winner of the inaugural AEA/Alan Eisenberg Award. Thanks to God, family, friends, Brandon, Nicolossi, and Barry Moss Casting.
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Colin Donnell* – Guest Artist, first season (WORKING) was recently seen at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ originating the role of Otto in the World Premiere of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself and I starring Tyne Daly and Brian Murray. Before that was with the Broadway cast of Jersey Boys. Other NY credits include: Follies at City Center Encores! (Young Ben), Meet Me in St. Louisat Irish Rep (John Truitt), Almost Heaven at The Promenade Theatre. National Tour: Mamma Mia!. Regional theatres include: The MUNY in St. Louis, Stages St. Louis and The McCarter in Princeton. Thank you family, friends and everyone at BRS.
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Kim Fanok – First season(Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) is thrilled to be making her Asolo Rep debut with such an amazing cast and creative team in none other than the Sunshine State. Previous credits: Seussical (Gertrude McFuzz), High School Musical (Martha Cox) Laramie Project (Romaine Patterson), Odd Couple (Olive). Thanks to family and Ron & Barb.
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Ryan Fitts – First season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) graduate in Theatre, Palm Beach Atlantic University. Credits: Sheridan Whiteside, The Man Who Came to Dinner; Narrator, Our Town; Barry, The Boys Next Door; Dr. Stahlbaum and Mother Ginger, Nutcracker (Florida Ballet Arts Academies). He thanks God, his family and friends, and Asolo Rep for this opportunity.
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Jessi Blue Gormezano - First season, third-year Conservatory student (Martha, The Constant Wife; Jane, Smash; Jill, Equus) Last season: Agave, The Bacchae; Alice, Blue Window; Jessica, This is Our Youth. B.A. Greensboro College. Berkshire Theatre Festival, Project: Theater NYC, Theater WV. Jessi sends love and thanks to her family and donors - Sharon & Herman Frankel and Marjorie & William Sandy.
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Amy E. Gray – First season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) Regional: Jekyll & Hyde (Emma), Shape of Things (Jenny), Grace (Joni), Brigadoon (Fiona), Sound of Music (Maria), Side Show, Music of the Knight: Songs of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tours: A Wonderful Life! The Musical (Ruth Bailey), Stages Productions (multiple). University of Kentucky - BA Theatre, Vocal Performance minor. For Mikey.
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Danielle Lee Greaves* – Guest Artist, first season (WORKING) This native New Yorker has been blessed to perform in many productions in New York, across the United States and abroad. Most recently, she played Shenzi on the national Cheetah Tour of The Lion King. Broadway credits include: Rent (Joanne), Hairspray (Lorraine/us Motormouth Mabel), Sunset Boulevard (Katherine/Psychiatrist), ShowBoat (Ethel). Other credits: New York Shakespeare Festival’s revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona (Milkmaid), Purlie for City Center Encores! National: Rent Benny Tour (Joanne), Rent Angel Tour (Mrs. Jefferson and Others). International: Rent Asia (Joanne), ShowBoat Toronto (Ethel), Hair Europe (Dionne). TV: Damages, Whoopi on NBC (she did 12 episodes as one of Whoopi's poker playing friends) and 100 Centre Street. Voiceover: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. “Leap and the net will appear!”
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Dana Green* – Guest Artist, first season (Constance, The Constant Wife; Ilona, The Play’s the Thing) Dana is delighted to be making her Asolo Rep debut. She spent four seasons with the Stratford Festival of Canada where she appeared in Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Orpheus Descending, The Brother's Karamazov, Love's Labours Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Swanne: Queen Victoria. Chicago theatre credits include Measure for Measure (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Hay Fever (Court Theatre), Blood Wedding, The Cherry Orchard (Hypocrites Theatre), Ghetto (Famous Door Theatre), Zoyka's Apartment (European Repertory Theatre, and Another Part of the Forest (Eclipse Theatre). Regional theatre credits include All's Well That Ends Well (Yale Repertory Theatre), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Meadow Brook Theatre), Twelfth Night and Macbeth (Shakespeare Festival of Dallas). Television credits include Early Edition (CBS).
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Kevin Greene* – Guest Artist, first season (Gabelle, A Tale of Two Cities) This is Kevin’s Asolo Rep debut, and he is thrilled to be taking part in A Tale of Two Cities. As a recent Ithaca College graduate, Kevin is most known for his appearance on the NBC reality show Grease: You're the One that I Want. Other regional credits include: Frankie, Forever Plaid; Phil, The Shape of Things; and Patrick, Mame. Many thanks to my family and friends for their constant support and to everyone who cast a vote, God Bless.
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Tim Hartman* – Guest Artist, first season(Attorney General/Cronie, A Tale of Two Cities) Favorite roles include Don Quixote in …La Mancha, Warbucks in Annie, and Von Trapp in Sound of Music. Senex in …Forum, Falstaff in Henry IV, C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands, Ziegfeld in Funny Girl, and Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast. Movie credits include Silence of the Lambs, The Piano Lesson, The Mothman Prophecies and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh with Sienna Miller. Tim is also an award winning storyteller and political cartoonist. www.timhartman.com
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Michael Hayward-Jones* – Guest Artist, first season(Jarvis Lorry, A Tale of Two Cities)Michael debuts at Asolo Rep after a busy year of regional productions, two films, and a television guest spot. Broadway/National Tours: Les Miserables (Thenardier), Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol, The Sound of Music, Evita, The King and I, Me and My Girl, A Little Night Music, On the 20th Century, Brigadoon, and She Loves Me. Television: Conviction, Law & Order, The Cosby Show, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. After thirty-five years of continual theatrical experience his career remains one of the best kept secrets in show business.
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Alex Howley – First season (Seamstress, A Tale of Two Cities) Alex is a 16-year-old student who has been fortunate to perform on many stages including most recently The Papermill Playhouse stage. Favorite credits include The Secret Garden (Mary Lennox), The Fantasticks (Louisa), Seussical (Sour Kangaroo), Fiddler on the Roof (Hodel) and Into the Woods (Cinderella). Alexandria was a national finalist for FOX’s American Junior Idol. She would like to thank her mom and dad for their continuous support and the producers for this amazing experience. Alexandria is looking forward to many exciting Broadway opportunities in her future.
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Marcus Denard Johnson - First season, third-year Conservatory student (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Mell, The Play’s the Thing; Photog, Smash; Horse, Equus) Last season: Adolf, The Parisian Woman; Teiresius, The Bacchae; Norbert, Blue Window. He has worked professionally with such directors as Kenny Leon, Freddy Hendricks, and Kent Gash. An Atlanta native, he earned his B.A. in Theatre from Morehouse College. He thanks his parents and his donor Carolyn Michel for their support.
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Douglas Jones*– Associate Artist, twenty-second season (Mortimer, The Constant Wife; Turai, The Play’s the Thing; Frank, Equus; Dyson, Lady) Last season: Von Strack, Amadeus; Avery, Men of Tortuga; Markinson, A Few Good Men; Collins, Pride and Prejudice; Wilberforce, Darwin in Malibu. Past seasons: Laughing Stock, Enchanted April, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror, The Front Page, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Crucible, The Road to Ruin, The Millionairess, Hay Fever, The Corn is Green, You Never Can Tell, Art, A Flea in Her Ear, Golden Boy, Black Coffee, King Lear and many roles in Nicholas Nickleby and The Kentucky Cycle. Other favorites include directing The Zoo Story, Welcome to the Moon, Salt-Water Moon, Fred and Doog, and his award winning performance as Vanya in Uncle Vanya at the Banyan Theater. Doug has spent seasons at Baltimore's Center Stage, The Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Boston's Huntington Theatre, American Stage, The Playmakers, The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Florida Studio Theatre, and has appeared in four plays Off-Broadway. Doug holds degrees from Hobart College and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
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Nehal Joshi* - Guest Artist, first season (WORKING) comes to Asolo Rep after appearing in the original company Les Miserables (Broadway revival). He also appeared in the Tony-nominated revival of ThreePenny Opera (Roundabout Theatre Company). Favorite credits include: Mister Roberts (KennedyCenter), the World Premiere of the last Frank Loesser musical Senor Discretion Himself (Arena Stage), the World Premiere of Recent Tragic Events (Woolly Mammoth), Mother Teresa is Dead (City Theatre Co.), The 25th & 26th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays (Actors Theatre of Lousville) and Carousel (Olney Theatre Company). Film/TV credits include: HBO’s The Wire and Blackout, which had its premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Nehal also considers himself somewhat of a songwriter and is finishing demos for his first yet-to-be titled album of original material, some of which can be found on Myspace somewhere. He trained at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and JamesMadisonUniversity, Harrisonburg, VA. He thanks the creative team and cast for allowing a son of an immigrant to bring so many different Americans to life. He would never be here without the support of his family and his girlfriend, Erin Davie.
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Derek Keeling* – Guest Artist, first season (Charles Darnay, A Tale of Two Cities) is a native of WV, but has made NYC his new home. Derek went to Mars Hill College and studied musical theatre and holds a BA from the University of Kentucky where he studied theatre and opera. Highlights include: Two years as Danny in Grease (national tour) with Frankie Avalon and Chubbie Checker, Finding the Absent Crescent (World Premiere), Orlando in As You Like It, Howard in When Pigs Fly and Jerry in The Zoo Story. Most recently he was a finalist on Grease: You’re The One That I Want on NBC. Thanks to God, my parents, Erin, and Hollie. Proud member of Equity.
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Heather Kopp – First season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) Heather recently finished playing the role of Laurey in Oklahoma at the Manatee Players. Other roles include Maggie in A Chorus Line, Mayzie La Bird in Seussical, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical, Marian in Music Man, Celia in As You Like It, Olivia in Twelfth Night and Girl in Mother Hicks. Thanks everyone for their love and support!
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Julie Lachance - First season, third-year Conservatory student (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Marie Louise, The Constant Wife; Hotel Staff, The Play’s the Thing; Agatha, Smash) Last season: Adele, Parisian Woman, Chorus, The Bacchae, Libby, Blue Window. New York credits: That's the Ticket (Musicals Tonight!), Danton's Death and the Drama Desk nominated Pursuit of Persephone (Prospect Theatre). Regional: Grease (Frenchie), Godspell (Robin), Twelfth Night (Olivia) and Gigi (Gigi). Graduate of St.Olaf College. Love to Winnie, Mom, Dad and my fiancée!
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Jodie Langel* – Guest Artist, first season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) Broadway/National Tours: Les Miserables (Cosette), Martin Guerre (Bertrande), Joseph…Dreamcoat(Narrator), Cats(Grizabella), I Love You… Now Change. Regional: Evita(Eva), Funny Girl (Fanny), Smile (Robin), The Thing about Men, Chess, among others. Soloist for President Clinton, Patrick’s Cathedral, Colorado Springs Symphony, and the Mets/Yankees Subway Series, voted "Best National Anthem Singer." Co- author Making it on Broadway. Jodie teaches around the country with her acclaimed teaching program Making it on Broadway www.makingitonbroadway.net or www.jodielangel.com.
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Troy Lewis – Second season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Horse, Equus) BA in Musical Theatre, University of Tampa. Credits: Amadeus; Plexiglass Slipper; Pfc. Downey, A Few Good Men (Asolo Rep); Marco, A View from the Bridge; Marcus Lycus, A Funny Thing Happened…; Boy Gets Girl; Godspell. Thanks Asolo Rep and Mom and Dad for their support. “There is only one success, to be able to spend your life in your own way”–Christopher Morley.
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Jennifer Logue - First season, third-year Conservatory student (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities; Hotel Staff, The Play’s the Thing; Gertrude, Smash; Horse, Equus) Last Season: The Bacchae, Blue Window, and Parisian Woman. B.F.A. in Acting and Directing, Florida Atlantic University. In NYC, Jennifer worked at everything from the Fringe Festival to Broadway Stand-up. She thanks her family, her husband Conor, the lads in NY, her amazing donors Ted and Jean Weiller and Ed and Mary Lou Winnick, and her #1 fan Papa.
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Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris* – Guest Artist, first season (Mrs. Fawcett, The Constant Wife; Mrs. Muller, Doubt; Nurse, Equus) most recently played the wildly passionate Adriana in The Comedy of Errors. Fave NYC credits include: Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), As You Like It (Jaques), Fefu and Her Friends (The Culture Project), Three Days Later (Prospect Theatre Company), Come Back To Me (Cherry Lane Theatre), Safeguarding the Prime Minister of Grenada(The Public Theatre), Haunted (Abingdon Theatre), Body Work (78th St. Theatre Lab), It’s A Long Way(WOW Café Theatre). Regional/Tour: The Color of Justice (Theatreworks USA). Film roles: Medium Hot (Charles Krezell Productions), The Bitter End (Left Turns Productions), and Runaways on St. Mark’s Place (V. Bernard Productions). Enormous and endless thanks to the cast/crew~Amy & Michael. You are the ALL swe!
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Jay Lusteck* – Guest Artist, first season (Judge/Turnkey, A Tale of Two Cities) a proud member of Actor's Equity Association since 1995, is delighted to make his Asolo Rep debut! Recent Credits include: Off Broadway: Kismet, Of Thee I Sing City Center Encores! The Bells of Christmas, Beowulf (Grendel/King) Irish Repertory Theatre. National Tours: Deaf West's Big River (Pap/King/Silas), The Phantom of the Opera (Buquet/Firmin/Piangi). Regionally: The Full Monty (Dave), Sweeney Todd, The Mikado (Mikado), The Most Happy Fella (Tony), Fiddler on the Roof (Lazar Wolf), Die Fledermaus (Frank), Knickerbocker Holiday (De Vries), tons of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. All my love to Shevhan and Eliza! www.JayLusteck.com
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Liz McCartney* – Guest Artist, first season (Working) Liz most recently received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir at The George Street Playhouse and Ruth in the new version of Pirates at Paper Mill Playhouse. Liz is a veteran of many Broadway musicals: Mamma Mia (Rosie – featured on the commercial), Thoroughly Modern Millie (final cast), The Phantom of the Opera (Carlotta) and Les Miserables (Madame Thenardier). Originated Broadway roles include: Sue Tilley (Boy George’s musical Taboo) and Rebecca (Dance of the Vampires). Off-Broadway: Bingo. Regional: Into the Woods, Fifty Million Frenchmen, Paint Your Wagon, and A Vision. Recordings: Bingo, Taboo, A Vision, Carols for a Cure (1999 and 2003). Film and TV: Show Business, Saturday Night Live (with Antonio Banderas), Living it Up with Ali and Jack, Law & Order: SVU, The Prosecutors and Route 66. She is currently performing her show, Rosemary and Time, a musical tribute to the life of Rosemary Clooney, with much success. Liz resides in New Jersey with the three loves of her life: Tom Moynahan and their daughters Megan and Keira.
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Katherine McGrath* – Guest Artist, first season (Miss Pross, A Tale of Two Cities)Broadway: The Music Man (Widow Paroo), Night of the Tribades. Off-Broadway:A Man of No Importance, Indian Blood, Echoes of the War, The Real Inspector Hound, After Margritte, Dear Liar, The Bacchae, Enter a Free Man, The Perry's Mission. Old Globe San Diego - Associate Artist: Memoir, The Rivals, Romeo & Juliet, Shirley Valentine, Electra, Moon for the Misbegotten, Hamlet. TV: Frasier, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, General Hospital, Trying Times, Wonder Works, and Scandal in a Small Town.
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Bruce Merkle – First season (Young Man, A Tale of Two Cities) studied at Florida State University and New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Performances include: The Sound of Music (Rolf), Cats (Skimbleshanks), Seussical (The Cat in the Hat), Footloose, Thoroughly Modern Millie and singing at Disney World. Thanks Tale team! Love to Mom, Moe, Doug and Peggy.
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Carolyn Michel* - Associate Artist, seventeenth season (Mrs. Culver, The Constant Wife; Ms. Wilson, Smash) Past Seasons: Expecting Isabel; Pride and Prejudice; Laughing Stock, Enchanted April, String of Pearls, Broadway Bound, Morning Star, Hobson's Choice, The Smell of the Kill, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Millionairess, I'm Not Rappaport, The Corn is Green, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Hollow, Over The Tavern, Communicating Doors, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, The Immigrant, How the Other Half Loves. On Broadway: opposite Sid Caesar in Sid Caesar & Company. Off-Broadway: Sold to the Movies. Florida Studio Theatre: Four one-person plays: Ann Landers, The Lady with All the Answers; Rose; The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe; Dorothy Parker, One Foot in Scarsdale. Other: the dog Sylvia, Sylvia; Lillian Hellman, Cakewalk; Don't Dress for Dinner; The Triumph of Love; Learned Ladies. Has also appeared locally at the Golden Apple and at several regional theatres around the country.
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Devora Millman* – Guest Artist, eleventh season (Annie, Misery; Dora, Equus) Past seasons: String of Pearls, Smell of the Kill, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Crucible, The Diary of Anne Frank, Born Yesterday, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Communicating Doors, Golden Boy and The Stone Carver. Originated roles: Flo (world premiere of Inna Beginning – Denver Center Theatre) and Beth (Dinner with Friends – Humana Festival). New York: Desire under the Elms (Abby – Peccadillo Theatre) and Tovah Feldshuh’s one-woman show, A Fierce Attachment (Tovah Feldshuh’s stand-by). Ms. Millman is thrilled to be back with Asolo Rep after a sabbatical to pursue her second love: producing, directing and teaching. She has served as Visiting Professor at Oakton College and Colorado State University. Directing credits: Richard Strahle’s Live Girl (world premiere) and Relative Strangers (Asolo Late Nights); Italian American Reconciliation, and An Ideal Husband (OpenStage Theatre, Fort Collins, CO); and Cyrano de Bergerac (CSU, associate director). Founder and Producing Artistic Director for the non-profit theatre company “Marrow Productions” where she directed its inaugural production of Dinner with Friends. Now back in Sarasota, Ms. Millman plans to combine her acting career with producing, directing and teaching. Education: M.F.A., Yale school of Drama.
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Les Minski* - Guest Artist, first season (Marquis, A Tale of Two Cities) At age three Les opened his mouth, out came "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" and he hasn't stopped singing since. He has worked in theatres from Boston to Chicago playing all sorts of people. His finest work has been raising Elizabeth and Katherine with wife, Ann.
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Catherine Missal – First season (Little Lucie, A Tale of Two Cities) Catherine is excited to be making her Asolo Rep debut! Previous roles include Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, Lucy Pevensie in Narnia, Gretyl in The Sound of Music, and Molly in Annie. She has also performed in several commercials and short films. She thanks her family for all their support!
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Stephen Missal – First season (Ensemble, A Tale of Two Cities) Stephen Missal is happy to be appearing in this wonderful production at this beautiful theater. Previously he has played Abu and Iago in Aladdin Jr., The Barrister in The Wizard of Oz, and Sandy in Annie Jr.
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Paul Molnar* – Guest artist, second season, (Fr. Flynn, Doubt; Sidney, Smash). Last season: Venticello 1, Amadeus; Fletcher, Men of Tortuga; Lt. Jack Ross, A Few Good Men; Ensemble, Pride and Prejudice. Since graduating last year from the Conservatory, Paul has been in three Shakespeare productions: Macbeth, and two different productions of Henry V in which he played the title role. Selected credits include: Deception, Ghouls (Adobe Theatre Company), The Tempest (Epiphany Theatre Co.), Waiting For Godot, (Tangent Theatre Company), Henry V (FifthStreet Theatre). Regional credits: Henry V, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, (Michigan Shakespeare Festival), Romeo & Juliet, The Miracle Worker, Playing With Fire, The Heidi Chronicles, Tartuffe (The New American Theatre, IL), Henry V (Lost Nation Theater, VT), Art (Vermont Stage), A Doll House (12 Miles West Theatre Co., NJ), Othello (Theatre of the Seventh Sister, PA), The Blue Bird, Romeo & Juliet, Camino Real, Sweet Bird Of Youth, King Lear (The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale (Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, PA). Television credits: Early Edition, and Law & Order. Paul is a company member of Tangent Theatre Company in NYC and holds an MFA from The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.
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Walter Winston Oneil* - Guest Artist, first season (Cronie, A Tale of Two Cities) Broadway: Original Company of Wicked (Ensemble/Boq). Off Broadway: Yoko Ono’s New York Rock (Violence). International Tours: Hair (Berger/Woof), Jesus Christ Superstar (Jesus/Judas). Recordings: Wicked (Grammy/Platinum), The Prince of Egypt (Oscar/Grammy/Platinum), Hair (LA/European Casts), Western Star (w/ James Barbour). Numerous film & TV appearances include: The Black Rose, Killers, Babylon 5, & Mad TV. Many heartfelt thanks to Ron, Barbara, Jill, Warren & Michael for this amazing experience.
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John G. Preston* - Guest Artist, first season (Bernard, The Constant Wife) Mr. Preston comes to us from New York City. He most recently appeared as Valmont in the Syracuse Stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Other recent appearances include The Unexpected Guest at Syracuse Stage, Pure Confidence at The Cincinnati Playhouse, Othello at Georgia Shakespeare, As You Like It at the New York Shakespeare Festival, After Ashley at The Denver Center, The Real Thing at Syracuse Stage, and Ladies of the Camellias at Yale Rep. He spent most of his theatrical career as an Associate Artist and Resident Company Member of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) where he performed such roles as Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew), Caliban (The Tempest), Edmund (King Lear), Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Philip the Bastard (King John), Touchstone (As You Like It), Ajax (Troilus and Cressida), Berowne (Loves Labours Lost), Sergious (Arms and the Man), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), Hotspur (Henry IV part I), Gerry (Dancing at Lughnasa), and Antipholus of Syracuse (The Comedy of Errors). While at ASF he also directed MFA productions of Bill Erwin’s Scapin, and Triumph of Love. Other roles include: Enrico (Napoli Milionaria) at Milwaukee Rep, Coriolanus (Coriolanus), Elyot (Private Lives), and Master Ford (The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. He also appeared as Clay in the Samuel French Short Play Festival winner Feet of Clay in NY. TV appearances include Law & Order and As the World Turns. Mr. Preston received a BFA in acting from Florida State University and an MFA in acting from the University of Alabama/ Alabama Shakespeare Festival/ Professional Actor Training Program.
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Rob Richardson* - Guest Artist, first season (Gaspard, A Tale of Two Cities) National Tours: Showboat (Ravenal), and 1776 (Rutledge). Regional: The Beast in Disney’s Beauty And The Beast (Walnut Street Theatre), Jerry in The Full Monty (Artpark) Fred/Petruchio in Kiss Me Kate (Flat Rock Playhouse), Captain Walker in The Who’s Tommy (Media Theatre), Starbuck in 110 In The Shade (Mac-Haydn Theatre) and the title roles in Jekyll And Hyde (Trump Plaza Theatre in Atlantic City). Thanks and love most of all to my wife Barbara and daughter Haley. Please visit www.robrichardson.net.
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Rebecca Robbins* - Guest Artist, first season(Mrs. Cruncher, A Tale of Two Cities) Off-Broadway: Wallace Shawn’s The Music Teacher (cast recording). City Center Encores!: The New Moon (cast recording), Pajama Game. New York Philharmonic: My Fair Lady. Regional: Beauty and the Beast, Cats, She Loves Me at Walnut Street Theatre; A Little Night Music, Sound of Music, Pirates of Penzanceat Pittsburgh CLO; Candide at Prince Music Theatre, Sweeney Todd at Baltimore Center Stage. Much gratitude to Tale family. www.RebeccaRobbins.com
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Jessica Rush* – Guest Artist, first season (Lucie Manette, A Tale of Two Cities) Ms. Rush most recently appeared in Gypsy with Patti Lupone at City Center. National Tours: Mamma Mia, Cinderella with Eartha Kitt (Cinderella). Regional credits include leads in: Paint Your Wagon (Geffen Playhouse), Pilgrim (Ricardo Montalban Theatre), The Last 5 Years (B Street Theatre), and Why Do Fools Fall In Love? (Milwaukee Rep). Many thanks to KSA and the Tale production team. Love to her family. www.jessicarush.com
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Alex Santoriello* – Guest Artist, first season (Dr. Manette, A Tale of Two Cities) Originated roles on Broadway in Les Miserables, Chess & Three Penny Opera and starred in Broadway touring productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Cats. Film credits include Academy Award nominated, Far From Heaven. From 1997 to 2000 he operated the only parasailing company in NYC history. He recently opened Lexy Piano Bar, which quickly became the hottest nightspot on Barbado’s west coast, where he’s lived since 2001. Alex performs at dozens of charitable events each year and is actively involved in other community efforts, including serving as director of the Barbados National Boys Choir.
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Wayne Schroder* – Guest Artist, first season (C.J. Stryver, A Tale of Two Cities) Broadway: A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden (including performances as Scrooge). Off-Broadway: Prince and the Pauper (cast recording) and Mimi le Duck . Other NY credits: Waxing West and Big Shoot at the Lark Theater, Western Unidad at the Ohio Theater. Regional credits: A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing. . .Forum, Of Mice and Men, The Underpants, Matchmaker, 42nd Street, The Foreigner, and Forever Plaid. Film: The Producers, the Musical. TV: Guiding Light.
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Sharon Scruggs* - Guest artist, first season (Actress, The Blonde, The Brunette, and The Vengeful Redhead) Sharon Scruggs has appeared on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie as Mrs. Meers (Marriott Marquis), Mike Nichol’s production of The Seagull (NYSF Delacourt), and Welcome To The Club (Music Box.) Off-Broadway, she has appeared in leading roles at Theater for a New Audience - Richard III, The Vineyard Theater - Goblin Market, The Don Juan and the Non Don Juan, The Atlantic - Hellhound on My Trail, The York - Destry Rides Again, The West Bank Café’ -- Stand Up Shakespeare, What Cheer, and En Garde Arts -- Stonewall Night Variations, Orestes. She won an Obie Award for her performance as Cassandra in Tina Landau’s production of Chuck Mee’s Trojan Women, also for En Garde Arts. She was a company member at Bob Brustein’s American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she appeared as Jenny in The Three Penny Opera, Marie in Woyzeck, Cod in the American premier of Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City, and Aline Solness in The Master Builder. She has worked with directors Doug Hughes, Des McAnuf, Michael Maggio, Irene Lewis, Tina Landau, Tom O’Horgan, and Mark Lamos, appearing in leading roles at The Long Wharf -- Black Forest, La Jolla Playhouse and Ford‘s Theater -- Elmer Gantry, Baltimore Center Stage -- Happy End, American Music Theater Festival -- States of Independence, Mrs. Farmer’s Daughter, and Virginia Stage -- The Secret Garden. At Hartford Stage, she played opposite Richard Thomas in Edward Albee’s Tiny Alice. Film appearances include Last Days of Disco, Swimming, Scarred City, and The Story of a Bad Boy. On television: Law and Order and All My Children.
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Yasin Sheikh– First season (Nugget, Horseman, Equus) Yasin is a professional actor from Toronto, Canada with a B.F.A. in Drama and a degree in Musical Theatre. Stage roles include: John Proctor, The Crucible; Nazrul, Indian Ink; Romeo, Romeo and Juliet; Frank, Never Swim Alone. Musicals: Singin' in the Rain, Anything Goes, The King and I, On the Twentieth Century, Oliver , etc. Film/TV: Lead/Feature Film, Voyeur; Lead/Series, Metropia, Eleventh Hour; Newsroom, Bollywood Hollywood, Tiff. Yasin also teaches dance to kids across SWF. Thanks to his family, beautiful wife, and friends for their tolerance and support. OCANADA
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Owen Teague– First season (Little Gaspard, A Tale of Two Cities) Owen is delighted to appear onstage for the first time with Asolo Rep. His most recent roles have been “Oliver” in Oliver!; “Little Guido” in Nine, for which he earned the Sarasota Magazine 2007 Critics Choice “Up and Comer” award; and “Winthrop” in The Music Man. He is in third grade in Tampa.
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Bryan Torfeh*– Guest Artist, second season (John, The Constant Wife; Almady, The Play’s the Thing) Last season: Salieri, Amadeus; King, The Plexiglass Slipper. London and West End roles: Passepartout, Around The World; George, High Society; Mr. Sowerberry, Oliver!; Rico, Copacabana; Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro; Hamlet, The Reduced Shakespeare, and seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, notably Nicholas Nickleby (U.K. and Broadway). U.S. roles: Kerner, Hapgood (Ahmanson Season, L.A.); Jack, The Importance of Being Earnest (Indiana Rep); Salieri, Amadeus (Indiana Rep and Syracuse Stage); the twin Antipholi, The Comedy of Errors; the King, Loves Labour's Lost; and the Prince, Kean (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). TV: This is Dom Joly, Dead Air(BBC). Film: Velvet Goldmine. Bryan was Director of Drama at Jakarta International School in Indonesia, and Course Tutor at Drama Studio London. He directed the first production at Stratford-upon-Avon's Waterside Theatre, and London's first professional all-female Shakespeare. Degrees from UCSC and London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama have scarcely made a dent in his ignorance.
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Natalie Toro*– Guest Artist, first season (Madame Therese Defarge, A Tale of Two Cities) Performer Broadway/Tours: Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Les Miserables, CATS, A Christmas Carol, West Side Story. Off-B’Way: Zombie Prom, The Audience. Regional: The Fix, Everything’s DuckyFrances of Guernica, Blood Brothers, Zorba. Television: Law and Order, Law and Order (SVU), Santa Baby (animated). Concerts: Carnegie Hall, National Concert Hall (Ireland).
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Bradford Wallace*– Associate Artist, thirty-eighth season. (Dworn, The Play’s the Thing; Lumpkin, Smash) Since 1961, Brad has performed in over 150 productions at Asolo Rep. Favorite roles include Tartuffe, Estragon, Polonius, Nathan Detroit, Danforth in The Crucible, Marc in Art, the Stage Manager in Our Town, Chandebise in A Flea in Her Ear, Drummond in Inherit the Wind, and Lord Edgar in The Mystery of Irma Vep. He has also worked in a number of theaters across the country including the Colorado, Alabama and Utah Shakespearean Festivals, GeVa Theater, American Stage Company, the Cape Playhouse, the Barter Theater, Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Florida Studio Theater, and Sarasota’s newest Professional company, the Banyan Theater. Brad and his wife, Marian (Asolo Rep’s production stage manager), celebrated their 42nd anniversary in September.
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Paul Whitworth* – Guest Artist, first season. (Dysart, Equus) Paul Whitworth studied Spanish at St. Andrews and Oxford. His professional acting career began at the Royal Shakespeare Company (1976-1982). He has played leading roles in many regional theatres in both UK and USA. Recent roles include Higgins in Pygmalion(Seattle Rep and SSC); George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?(SSC/Syracuse Stage); Neils Bohr in Copenhagen (Syracuse Stage); George in Night and Day (ACT, San Francisco); Dr. Robert Smith in Blue/Orange (Aurora Theatre, Berkeley) and Hamm in Endgame (SSC). Whitworth has also directed professionally in UK and USA at: Crucible Theatre, (Sheffield) Lyric Hammersmith (London), Magic Theatre (San Francisco), and many productions at Shakespeare Santa Cruz where he was Artistic Director (1996-2007). In 1992, he translated and directed the English première of Tirso de Molina's The Rape of Tamar at the Lyric Hammersmith, London. His translation is published by Oberon Books, London, 1999.
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Richard B. Williams - Second season (Mover, The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead) Last season: Cpl. Jeffrey Owen Howard, A Few Good Men. He first started acting with the Source Teen Theater which is directed by K.T. Curran and Amanda Schlacter. With the Source, he traveled to middle and high school doing awareness plays for over 3.000 students. He then was given a role in a play entitled Grandma’s Little Helper written by Jeffrey Kin and performed at the Backlot Theater. He is currently attending Manatee Community College working on his A.A., then plans to transfer to the University of Texas to pursue a major in Hospitality Management. Richard aspires to be a cruise director for a major ocean carrier. |
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Nick Wyman* - Guest Artist, first season (John Barsad, A Tale of Two Cities) Broadway: Les Miserables (six years as Thenardier), Phantom of the Opera (the original cast), My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison (no, not the original cast), Sly Fox with Richard Dreyfuss, nine other shows. Film: Die Hard with a Vengeance, Maid in Manhattan, Igby Goes Down, and eight others. Television: sitcoms, dramas, miniseries, soap operas, commercials.
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MUSICIANS
Christine Allen-Bruno (Synthesizer III, A Tale of Two Cities) Christine played keyboards in the national touring productions of Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors and The Altar Boyz. Before that, she was the keyboardist with the Ringling Brothers Circus Band for a two-year tour of North America. She teaches piano, is a church musician and is raising a musical teenager.
Rosemary A. Barker - (Horn, A Tale of Two Cities) Ms. Barker is a native of Sebring and has been back in the Sunshine State for three years. Currently, she is the Horn professor at Florida Southern College in Lakeland and is a member of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra in Melbourne. Previously, Ms. Barker was on the faculty of Bowling Green State University and has performed with the Toledo Symphony, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Illinois Symphony and the Michigan Opera Theatre. Also, Ms. Barker has performed at the Vietnamese National Women’s Day Concerts in with the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Company (VNOB) and has conducted the Women’s VNOB Orchestra.
Kenneth Cooper - (Tech Pianist,A Tale of Two Cities)Ken is an active performer, accompanist, collaborative pianist, teacher, and Musical Theatre director. Since coming to Sarasota from Ohio where he taught at the University of Toledo, he has been employed by Piano Distributors. Ken is delighted to have been a part of this exciting project and wishes the cast and crew all the best on their way to Broadway.
Bryan Crook - (Woodwinds; A Tale of Two Cities) Bryan is thrilled to have made the trip to Sarasota from Brooklyn, NY where he lives with his wife and dog. He currently subs on Broadway shows (incl. Spelling Bee, Spamalot, Curtains) and composes music while learning the finer points of oboe reed making. Love to Hilary and Bosco.
Gil S. Katz – (Double Bass, A Tale of Two Cities) From classical to popular music, rock and jazz, Gil S. Katz's diverse abilities have led him to perform in a wide spectrum of music. Since his debut at the age of 14, Katz has performed with various symphony orchestras including Rhode Island Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, and Florida West Coast Symphony. During his Bachelor of Music degree at University of Southern California, Katz appeared as guest soloist with Deutsches Kammerorchester. He then went on to complete his Master of Music degree on a full scholarship at Boston University with Ed Barker. In the recording studios, Katz has worked with such artists as Barbara Streisand, Barry Gibb and John Secada. Katz has performed at numerous music festivals, including Tanglewood, and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Currently, Katz is Principal double bass with Sarasota Opera and Utah Festival Opera and is working on a new duo project with his wife, cellist Nadine Trudel.
Todd Lindamood – (Synthesizer II, A Tale Of Two Cities) Todd has served as music director for Wonderful Town at the The Golden Apple and several shows for The Manatee Playersincluding Les Miserables: Student Edition, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Bat Boy: The Musical which he received both the Sarasota Magazine Theater Award and The Handyfor best music direction. As an actor, and proud member of Actors’ Equity, Todd has performed at Arena Stagein DC, Westchester Broadway Theater, The Golden Apple, The Manatee Players, Venice Little Theater, several cruise lines, a National Tour of A Chorus Line and a European Tour of West Side Story. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Texas State University in voice and piano, and currently studies voice with the wonderful performer and teacher, Carlo Thomas, of Sarasota.
Victor Mongillo - (Trumpet/Piccolo, A Tale of Two Cities) Victor is happy to return to the Asolo Rep pit following last year’s role as the trumpeter in Plexiglass Slipper. Past Asolo Rep shows include 1940's Radio Hour, Swingtime Canteen and Beehive. Victor is currently Director of Bands at Pine View School for the gifted.
Milene Moreira - (Violin, A Tale of Two Cities) A native Brazilian, Milene Moreira started playing violin at the age of four. Her studies took her from Brazil to Germany to the United States. She received a B.M. degree from the State University at Rio Grande do Sul, a Performance Diploma from Musikhochschule in Freiburg and a M.M. degree from Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, she received a Performance Certificate in Chamber Music from the Hartt School where she studied with the members of Emerson String Quartet. Milene currently resides in Sarasota with her husband and fellow musician Matt hew Pegis, and performs with Florida West Coast Symphony, Florida Orchestra. Last year she became a member of the Sarasota Opera.
Ed Shea – (Timpani/Percussion, A Tale of Two Cities) Ed recently can be seen on the PBS Special Wonderful, Wonderful! with Johnny Mathis. Broadway shows include over 25 shows, most recent Fame Becomes Me starring Martin Short. Tours include Chicago, Urinetown, South Pacific, Molly Brown, Jesus Christ Superstar. Recorded with O’Jays, Spinner, Deniecie Williams, Lou Rawls, Temptations, Teddy Pendergast, James Ingram. T.V. specials from Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. Ed would like to dedicate these performances to his late teacher, friend and mentor Nick D’Amico.
Thomas E. Suta – (Electric Percussion, A Tale of Two Cities) B.M., M.M., The New England Conservatory of Music; Timpani and percussion studies with Everett Firth - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Kurt-Hans Goedicke - London Symphony Orchestra, Frank Epstein, Charles Smith and Thomas Gauger – Boston Symphony Orchestra. Timpanist with Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. Percussionist with Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra. Performed with Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, Key Chorale, Gloria Musicae, and local churches. Show experience includes working with Asolo Rep, Tampa Bay Performing Arts, Sarasota Players, Manatee Players, Theater Works, Florida Studio Theater. Compositions include several percussion ensemble and brass pieces for international competitions and high schools. Winner of PAS International Composition Competition for percussion ensemble. Commissioned to compose the musical, The Eye of Ra for the Sarasota Youth Opera - performed in 1998. Founder of the marimba ensemble, WoodWorks. Percussion faculty at Manatee Community College since 1985.
Nadine Trudel – (Cello, A Tale of Two Cities) Before moving to Florida to join the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000, Nadine Trudel held a position in the Boston Ballet Orchestra and performed with several New England ensembles as well as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. A native of Montreal, she attended the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal and with grants and awards from both the FCAR in Quebec and the USC School of Music, she went on to earn her Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California. Ms. Trudel enjoyed many summers as a fellow at music festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, and the Center for the Arts. She also has performed at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Utah Festival Opera. Ms. Trudel is currently performing as Principal cellist of the Sarasota Opera and with the Florida West Coast Symphony, and is working on a duo project with her husband Gil Katz.
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THE CREATIVE TEAM
Seth Barrish Director (Misery) Co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of The Barrow Group—a non-profit theatre company in New York City. Mr. Barrish has worked as an actor, director, composer, and musical director internationally, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and in regional theatres for over 25 years. Directing Credits include: David Edgar’s Pentecost (Drama Desk Nomination for Oustanding Play), Martin Moran’s Obie Award-winning, The Tricky Part (Drama Desk Nominations for Outstanding Play and Oustanding Solo Show), Waiting for Godot, Nicolette & Aucasin, Old Wicked Songs (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award & Garland Award for Best Direction), Thy Kingdom’s Coming, Lonely Planet, Good (Straw Hat Award for Best Direction), Ghost in the Machine, Tales From Hollywood, Greetings, BeauJest, Three Sisters, and When You Comin’ Back Red Ryder?. Theatres: The Intiman, The Promenade, McCarter, Long Wharf, Sundance Theatre Lab, The Geffen Playhouse, San Jose Rep., Shakespeare & Co., Playhouse 91, La Mama e.t.c., The Perry Street Theatre, Provincetown Rep, Capital Rep, Two River Theater Company, Miniature Theatre of Chester, and The Barrow Group. Mr. Barrish has made numerous film and television appearances and is a professional acting and directing teacher in New York City. He recently served as a Master Teacher at the International Director’s Symposium in Spoleto, Italy. He is author of the book An Actors Companion–99 Bits of Craft.
Nicole Bartet Costume Designer (Misery, Lady) Nicole is honored to be with Asolo Rep again this season after designing Darwin in Malibu last season. She has an M.F.A. in Costume Design from the University of South Carolina and a B.F.A. in Illustration from Ringling School of Art and Design. Recent designs include The Seagull, Sweeney Todd, Urinetown, and Arcadia. She has worked at venues including Mad Cow Theatre, The Orlando Rep, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, AmericanUniversity in Cairo, Egypt, Disney’s Creative Costuming Design Team, and Denver Center Theatre Company on Sir Peter Hall’s Tantalus. In 2001 she was honored with USITT’s national award for young costume designers. Nicole currently owns and operates Bartet Studios, providing artistic creative services, and Joli TouTou, manufacturing/selling elegant dog couture, featured in New York Dog Magazine.
Mark Barton Lighting Designer (Doubt) designed last year's production of Expecting Isabel, and is delighted to be at Asolo Rep with Annie & Kris again. Off-Broadway: All The Wrong Reasons; No Child...; Five Course Love; Thom Pain (based on nothing); Valparaiso. Other recent NY: Young Jean Lee's Church; Lisa D'Amour's BirdEye BluePrint; The Tristan Project at LincolnCenter. Productions of Elevator Repair Service's Gatz in Brussels, Amsterdam, Zurich, Minneapolis, Oslo, Vienna, Lisbon, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland. Many productions with many NYC companies: New York Theater Workshop, Target Margin, Salt Theater, New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, P.S. 122, HERE, Epic Theater, Edge Theater, Elevator Repair Service, Talking Band. Regional: Syracuse Stage; Asolo Rep, Southern Rep, Hangar Theater, Lookingglass Theatre. With Curtis Opera Theater: The Magic Flute; Albert Herring; L'Ormindo (also at Pittsburgh Opera); Postcard from Morocco. Member of Target Margin & Salt Theater.
Beowulf Boritt Set Designer (WORKING) Broadway: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (For James Lapine), Lovemusk (For Hal Prince), Jay Johnson: The Two and Only. More than 50 Off-Broadway shows including: The Last Five Years, The Other Side, Saint Lucy's Eyes, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Romeo and Juliet, Miss Julie, In-Betweens, Slut, I Love You Because, Emergence-See! (Public), Everything's Turning Into Beautiful, Roar, The Accomplices (New Group), In A Dark Dark House, Spain, The Wooden Breeks (Mcc), Theopholis North, The Maddening Truth (Keen Co.), Wonderland (American Place), Richard III, Cherry Orchard (Pearl). 2007-08 and 2008-09 Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. 2007 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Set Design.
Josh Bradford Lighting Designer, (Smash) is happy to be returning to Asolo Rep after designing A Few Good Men last season. He lives and works primarily in New York City where his recent designs include: The Dining Room, Tea & Sympathy and Theophilus North (Keen Company), Everything’s Turning Beautiful (The New Group), Birth and After Birth (The Atlantic Theater), The Children of Vonderly (Ma-Yi Theater Company), and History of the Word (The Vineyard). Josh also serves as the Resident Lighting Designer and Production Manager for The Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont. He began studying design at MiddleburyCollege and holds an M.F.A. from NYU’s TischSchool of the Arts.
Hal Brooks Director, (Lady) Hal Brooks is currently directing the regional tour of Nilaja Sun’s Obie Award Winning No Child…, having directed the show’s critically-lauded run at both the Barrow Street Theatre and Epic Theatre. Other recent productions include the premiere of Lee Blessing’s Lonesome Hollow at the Contemporary American Theater Festival and “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys at the Weston Playhouse. He also directed the acclaimed Off-Broadway hit and Pulitzer Finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Soho Theatre in London, and the DR2 in NYC. He was the Artistic Director of the Rude Mechanicals Theater Company of New York where he directed the Off-Broadway premieres of Don DeLillo's Valparaiso and Will Eno's The Flu Season (Oppy winner). Recent credits: Six Years (Humana Festival),) Rinne Groff's What Then (Clubbed Thumb), I Am My Own Wife (Weston Playhouse), Intimate Apparel (Southern Rep), Benefactors (PA Center Stage), Big Wyoming (NY Stage and Film). Other New York credits: Keith Reddin's Almost Blue, Beckett's Rough for Theatre #1, Caught (Don Quixote Project). Upcoming directing endeavors include Widows by Ariel Dorfman in New York. He has directed and developed work at NYTW, Primary Stages, The Public, Juilliard, Playwrights Horizons, New Dramatists, Naked Angels, INTAR, Magic Theater, McCarter Theater, Berkeley Rep, American Conservatory Theater, Syracuse Stage and the Virginia Stage Company. Hal is a proud member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and SSDC. He was a Drama League Fall Directing Fellow in 2003 and is a recipient of the 2007-2009 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors.
Warren Carlyle Choreographer (A Tale of Two Cities) Off-Broadway: Stairway to Paradise (Encores! At CityCenter), You Again (NY Fringe), Working (Zipper), Slut! (ATA), Roundabout Gala 2006. US Regional: Mame (Kennedy Center), The Pirates of Penzance (Goodspeed), The Baker’s Wife (Goodspeed), Pageant (Second City). In his native England, Me and My Girl (UK tour, director as well); The Goodbye Girl (1st Nat’l tour), Pageant, Moving On (Sondheim), Scrooge (European tour). Film & Television: The Tourist (20th Century Fox), Hope and Faith (ABC), An Evening at the Boston Pops (PBS), Elton John’s “Made in England” video. As Associate Choreographer: The Producers (Broadway & film), Oklahoma! (Broadway), Center Stage (film). As Resident Director/Choreographer: Jolson (London/Toronto), Fosse (London), Oklahoma! (London).
Carl Casella Sound Designer (A Tale of Two Cities) In a career that spans more then twenty-five years, he has designed theater systems, recording studios, and corporate complexes. Broadway credits include: Xanadu, Frankenstein, Moon for the Misbegotten, Sister Act, My Mother's Italian, A Mother A Daughter A Gun, Ring Of Fire, Little Shop of Horrors. A Member of Sound Associates Inc. Love to his family.
Andromache Chalfant Scenic Designer (Lady) Recent credits include designs for Jose Rivera's School of the Americas (Henry Hewes Nomination for Set Design), Stephen Adly Guirgus' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (LAByrinth and The Public Theater), Anne Washburn's Apparition (The Connelly Theater) and The Internationalist (The Vineyard Theater), Rinne Groff’s Orange, Lemon, Egg, Canary, The Civilians' (I am) Nobody's Lunch (PS122), Stephen Belber's Geometry of Fire (NY Stage & Film) and regionally: The Clean House (Cleveland Playhouse), Awake and Sing! (Arena Stage),Vigil (Westport Country Playhouse). Opera credits include: Semele (Opera Boston),The Abduction From the Seraglio (Opera Omaha), Postcard From Morocco (The Curtis Institute) Trouble in Tahiti, L’Elisird’Amore (The Berkshire Opera Festival) and the upcoming Faust (Minnesota Opera). Andromache received her MFA in set design from NYUTischSchool of the Arts.
Lap-Chi Chu Lighting Designer (Equus) Regional designs include work at Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, South Coast Rep, San Jose Rep, Indiana Rep, Syracuse Stage, Intiman Theater, Portland Stage Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, The Evidence Room and The Ordway Music Theater. New York City design credits include work at New York Theatre Workshop, Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, The Kitchen, Danspace, Primary Stages and Juilliard Opera. Mr. Chu was also the lighting designer for Chamecki/ Lerner (Costumes by God, Visible Content, Hidden Forms, I Mutantes Seras, and Please Don't Leave Me), performed in the United States and Brazil. He is the recipient of two Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and a “Drammy”. Lap is on the lighting design faculty at California Institute of the Arts.
Edward Cosla Sound Designer (Misery) Edward Cosla conceived the original sound design for the Tony-nominated Broadway musical It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues. Off-Broadway and experimental theater sound designs include works for The Wooster Group, Mabou Mines and Playwrights Horizons. For over a decade he has been a sound designer at The Vienna International Festival of the Arts (Austria). He has engineered sound for The Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out-OfDoors, The Joyce Theater (NYC), as well as for corporate clients such as The Ritz-Carlton, The United Nations, The Vatican (Mass in Central Park) and President George Bush (rally in Sarasota). International touring credits include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk and Diamanda Galas.
Jeff Croiter Lighting Designer (WORKING) Broadway: Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway; concerts at the New Amsterdam including Chess, Hair, and On The 20th Century. Other NY credits include: Jerry Springer The Opera; Rufus Wainwright’s Judy Garland ConcertatCarnegie Hall (London and Paris too); The Works (New Victory); The Voysey Inheritance; Things We Want; The Accomplices; The Internationalist (Lortel nomination);Burleigh Grime$; Drumstruck; Jacques Brel…; I Love You Because; Almost, Maine; Lone Star Love; Dedication; Trumbo; Matt & Ben; Cam Jansen; Barbra’s Wedding; Passion Play; The Eros Trilogy; Miss Witherspoon; Privilege; The Dazzle; and Fiction. National tours: Golda’s Balcony; The Sound of Music; South Pacific; Kids Bop Live. Regional credits include productions for ACT, Center Theatre Group, McCarter Theatre, The Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Trinity Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and NY Stage and Film. Other recent projects include Happy Days: The Musical and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
Jeffrey W. Dean Scenic Designer (Misery) Company Senior Property Master Jeffrey has designed well over 200 shows in Florida including designs for television and film. Asolo Rep shows include: Nobody Don’t Like Yogi; Laughing Stock; To Kill a Mockingbird; Broadway Bound; The Smell of the Kill; The Front Page; Inherit the Wind; The Corn is Green; Broadway; You Can’t Take it with You; Look Homeward, Angel; Much Ado About Nothing; The Diary of Anne Frank; I’m Not Rappaport; Sicilian Vespers; Ernani; Tales of Hoffman, and L’Ariesiana for the Sarasota Opera. Execution of Justice, Invictus, and The Sum of Us for Florida Studio Theatre. Anna in the Tropics, Dracula, and We Got Gershwin for American Stage. He is a nationally recognized sculptor and recipient of two Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Awards for Set Design.
Patricia Delorey Vocal Coach (A Tale of Two Cities, The Constant Wife, Doubt, Smash, and Equus) This is Patricia's fifth season with Asolo Rep. She is the Head of Voice, Speech, & Dialects at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training and is a Certified Associate Fitzmaurice Voicework teacher with her M.F.A. in Voice & Speech from the M.X.A.T./American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. Patricia has taught voice at the MoscowArtTheatreSchool in Russia, the University of Bologna at Forli in Italy, and at Texas State University. Ms. Delorey has worked extensively as a professional voice and speech coach both in the United States and internationally, including Phaedra 4.48 directed by Robert Woodruff, Enrico IV directed by Karen Coonrod, and the world premiere of Nocturne directed by Marcus Stern.
Kate Edmunds Scenic Designer (Smash) has designed throughout American regional theaters for twenty-nine years. Trained at the Yale School of Drama, she began her career designing at Manhattan Theatre Club (American premiere of Brian Friel’s Translations among others), Second Stage and the American Place Theater. A San Francisco resident, Ms. Edmunds has designed at both American Conservatory Theater (favorites: Uncle Vanya, The Rose Tattoo, Old Times, The Misanthrope and The Gamester) and Berkeley Repertory Theater (Blue Door, Twelfth Night, Homebody/Kabul and The Winter’s Tale). Recent designs include She Loves Me (Arena Stage), State of The Union(Ford’s Theater), Rabbit Hole (San Jose Rep.), M. Butterfly (Theatreworks), Engaged Shakespeare Santa Cruz) and The Triumph of Love (California Shakespeare Theater). She has also designed at Seattle Rep., the Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theater, Baltimore’s CenterStage, the Huntington Theater and the Alliance Theater. Ms. Edmunds teaches design at UC Santa Cruz.
Erik Flatmo Scenic Designer (The Constant Wife) Erik Flatmo recently designed The Imaginary Invalid for American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Other projects include Richard III at California Shakespeare Theater with director Mark Rucker and The Playboy of the Western World at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. His New York credits include world premieres at The Rattlestick Theatre, The Play Company, Danspace Project and The Kitchen. Upcoming projects include The Government Inspector at A.C.T. and The Magic Flute for Opera San Jose. He is a graduate of ColumbiaUniversity and the Yale School of Drama. He currently teaches set design at Stanford University.
Tiza Garland Fight Choreographer, (Misery) Tiza is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, a Senior Teacher with Dueling Arts International, a member of the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat, and Past-Chair of the Movement Committee of the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Tiza currently teaches acting through movement focusing on Laban and Grotowski based methods at the University of Florida. Her international credits include teaching at the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, Romania (2007 and 2004); training with and teaching stage combat with the Dah Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia; and participating in the Nordic Stage Combat Society Workshop in Parnu, Estonia. Prior to working at UF Tiza taught movement, voice and acting courses in both the graduate and undergraduate programs at the University of Alabama. She also taught Stage Combat at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
Gordon Greenberg Director, (WORKING) directed last season’s Pirates and Happy Days at Goodspeed Musicals and at Paper Mill Playhouse. Other credits include the acclaimed recent Off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel… at the Zipper Theatre, The Baker's Wife (Goodspeed & Paper Mill), Cam Jansen by Larry O'Keefe & Nell Benjamin (Lambs Theatre, Theatreworks USA), Assisted Loving (Daryl Roth), O. Henry's Lovers (Goodspeed), Theory of Three (NY Stage and Film), the U.S. National Tour of Peter Pan (Big League); Floyd Collins</ | |