Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Craig Allen Mummey
Performance dates:
May 9 - May 31, 2014
Run time: 2h 30m
This poetic play tells the true story of four young women who began working in the Westclox Radium Dial Company near Chicago in 1922. Women had only recently won the right to vote and the license to work outside the home. For 11 years, the company employed over 1000 women to paint numbers on the faces of their clocks and watches using radium powder. Catherine Donohue and her co-workers develop deep, supportive friendships, but ultimately they must confront truths that both they and the company have been evading for years. The women are developing serious illnesses and their work with radium is the cause. Melanie Marnich’s play illuminates the lives and spirits of these ordinary women, shedding light that flares into incandescence as their story ends.
To download the production postcard for These Shining Lives to share with your friends, visit the Downloads page of our website and look under the Production Postcard heading. A PDF of the playbill is also available in the same location under the Production Playbills heading!
About the Playwright
Melanie Marnich is a playwright who also has extensive experience as a television producer and writer. She is best known for her work on the HBO drama Big Love, which earned her a nomination for a Writers Guild of America award in 2010. She also has been a writer and producer for The Big C, a Showtime television series. Seventeen of her plays have been produced in regional theaters across the United States and in England. These Shining Lives, which had its world premiere six years ago at Center Stage in Baltimore, was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Weissberger Award. Two of her plays, Quake and Tallgrass Gothic, were initially produced at Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, and her adaptation of Katie Couric’s book, The Brand New Kid, premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2006. Ms. Marnich’s awards include two McKnight Advancement Grants, two Jerome Fellowships, and the Samuel Goldwyn Award. She is married to playwright Lee Blessing, whose plays Two Rooms and Going to St. Ives have been produced by Colonial Players.
About the Director
Craig Allen Mummey has been working in theater since 1991 and directing since 1997. At CP: Lettice and Lovage, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Jekyll & Hyde, Assassins, Arcadia, Rebecca, On Golden Pond, Rumors. At Silver Spring Stage: The Pillowman (WATCH nomination for best play), Blackbird (Ruby Griffith Award), The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? (WATCH Award, Ruby Griffith Award), Dinner with Friends, The Cripple of Inishmaan. Elsewhere: The Glass Menagerie (Ruby Griffith Award, WATCH nomination), The Heiress (Ruby Griffith Award), The Nerd, Marvin’s Room – all at Bowie Community Theatre; Hair – Kensington Arts Theatre; Dancing at Lughnasa – Quotidian Theatre. Craig has also been an actor, stage manager, and set designer, among other things. He has been active in management roles as well, having served on the boards at three different theaters, as well as WATCH. He dedicates this show to his sister and her daughters.
Director's Notes
We heard the scientist in France, Marie Curie, could not believe “the manner in which we worked” and how we tasted that pretty paint a hundred times a day. Now, even our crumbling bones will glow forever in the black earth. – from the poem “Radium Girls” by Eleanor Swanson
The most important thing to remember about the characters you will see today is that they were real people, and their story was real. Though creative license has been used to imagine their conversations, the spine of the story is factual. Orange, NJ. Waterbury, CT. Ottawa, IL. Hundreds of women painted dials at clock factories in these towns in the 1920s and ‘30s. Women had recently gained the right to vote, and other new opportunities and freedoms were opening up for women all the time. It was an age of wonder, including a new substance – radium – that some people thought would be the greatest achievement of the century. Some of the women painted their fingernails or teeth with the glowing paint to amuse their friends and loved ones. It was funny. It was steady work. It was good money. It was folly. It was not long before strange health problems began cropping up among the dial painters. A few weeks ago, the New York Times reported the death of Mae Keane, at 107 “perhaps the last living participant in a particularly dark moment in American industrial history.” Mrs. Keane had worked one summer at the Waterbury Clock Company in 1924, but according to the Times, she didn’t care for the taste and texture of the radium-tinged paint, and management was not happy with her apparent lack of skill: “After a few months, she was gone. It was the summer of 1924. She was 18. Within two decades she had lost all her teeth.” Women who became ill from effects of radium poisoning sometimes lost not only their teeth but also their jawbones. They suffered from infections and cancer. And though Mrs. Keane lost her teeth and suffered through two bouts of cancer, she somehow managed to live on, most likely because her stint in the factory was so brief. With her passing, it seems the Radium Girls, as they were dubbed, are all relegated to memory. But they continue to inspire. These women live on now not just in photographs and old newspaper clippings, but in poetry, in books, and in plays like this one. These Shining Lives is not melodrama. It is not particularly polemical. The thrust of the piece is not about corporate greed, or labor reform, or the costs of pursuing – and achieving – the American Dream. Instead, it focuses on the relationships between Catherine and her husband, and among Catherine and her co-workers. What I find most compelling about these characters is that no matter what other qualities they display, above all else they illuminate the strength of the human spirit to stick together, to persevere, and to prevail. We tell their story not as a call to action, but simply because these women are worth knowing, worth remembering, worth honoring. Orange, NJ. Waterbury, CT. Ottawa, IL. Here’s to all the Radium Girls – may their memories continue to shine brightly.
– CRAIG ALLEN MUMMEY
The Cast
Ben Carr (Tom Donohue) - Ben is excited to be back performing at Colonial Players. Some of his previous roles at CP include Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman, Mike Conner in The Philadelphia Story, Michael Wells in Two Rooms, and Hertel Daggett in Dog Logic. He has also performed at Standing O Productions in Retreat From Moscow and Tracers and at Dignity Players in Stones in His Pocket. He would like to thank Craig and the rest of the cast for making this such a wonderful experience. "Most importantly, I would like to tell my wife, Cassie, that I love you and thank you for giving me the greatest treasure of all...twice!”
Dave Carter (Mr. Reed, Radio Announcer, Son, Leonard Grossman) - Dave is excited to be back performing at Colonial Players after playing the villainous Julian earlier this season in Communicating Doors and stage managing last season’s Taking Steps. He is proud to be a part of bringing the amazing story of These Shining Lives to the stage. He will also be involved as a director for the summer's One Act Play Festival. Most of his theater experience was on the West Coast, where he was involved with shows such as Lend Me a Tenor, Oedipus, and Our Country’s Good. His training began with Citrus College and extended to The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Dave feels that most of what he brings to the stage comes from the people he has worked with in the theater as well as the great thing we call Life.
Josette Dubois (Frances, Reporter 2) - Josette is pleased to be making her return to theater after a hiatus of more than two years. Previous credits on this stage include: A Christmas Carol (2006, 2007, and 2008), Moon Over Buffalo (Eileen), The Game (Life), Trifles (Mrs. Peters), She Loves Me (Customer), Les Liaisions Dangereuses (Emilie), The Curious Savage (Florence), and Sonata (Adult Beth). Other past credits include: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Interpreter) and Quilters at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, The Crucible (Abigail Williams) at Dignity Players, and The Rocky Horror Show (Phantom) with Factory Edge Theatre Works. Josette would like to thank her co-workers for covering her shifts during rehearsals and performances and her boyfriend for putting up with her many late nights.
Eric Hufford (Dr. Rowntree, Company Doctor, Dr. Dalitsch, Tom Donohue u/s) - Eric is happy to be back for his fifth production at Colonial Players. Previously, he has been seen as Leslie Bainbridge in Taking Steps, Thomas Jefferson in 1776, Fred and Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, and as Sheriff Joe Sutter in The Spitfire Grill. He got his start in theater in high school and portrayed Tom in Schoolhouse Rock Live! in college. He reconnected with his love for theater portraying Pharaoh in Drama Learning Center’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and appearing as Daniel Beauxhomme in Red Branch Theatre’s Once on This Island. He also portrayed Jesus in Opera AACC’s Jesus Christ Superstar. “I’d like to give a big thank you to all of my friends who continually come out and support my performance, and to Sarah for always supporting me in everything I do."
Krissy McGregor (Charlotte, Reporter 1) - After a five-year performing hiatus, Krissy is pleased to be returning to the stage and making her debut with Colonial Players. She has previously performed with the Little Theatre of Alexandria in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Helena), Into the Woods (Lucinda), and The Will Rogers Follies (Ziegfeld’s Favorite – WATCH nomination). She also enjoys directing and choreographing, having worked with 2nd Star Productions, Laurel Mill Playhouse, Little Theatre of Alexandria, Pensacola Little Theater, Pensacola Children’s Chorus, Fort Walton Beach High School, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, and HB Woodlawn. She sends her love and gratitude to her husband, Scott, for supporting her in this time-consuming hobby.
Aricia Skidmore-Willilams (Pearl, Daughter, Judge) - This is Aricia’s second performance with Colonial Players, and she’s thrilled to be back in the round! Previously, she appeared in In the Next Room, Or the Vibrator Play, and she’s excited to be taking on a very different role in These Shining Lives. Aricia resides in Baltimore, where she spends her free time doing puzzles, buying shoes, and entering unofficial dance-offs. She would like to thank Craig for giving her this opportunity and the cast and crew for making this another unforgettable experience. Aricia is forever grateful to her parents for being unwavering beams of support for all of her endeavors. She’d also like to thank her two brothers for being consistent rocks for her and her friends-especially her unofficial twin-for believing in her when she forgets to believe in herself. Enjoy the show!
Sarah Wade (Catherine Donohue) - Sarah is very pleased to be back on the CP stage after a brief run at Dignity Players as Lisa Morrison in Collected Stories. Prior to that, she appeared in CP's Annie as Star to Be, Communicating Doors as Jessica Welles, and Taking Steps as Kitty. She also performed in the 2012 short play festival Bits ‘n' Pieces as Ionesco in The Shepherd's Chameleon and The Girl in Starcrossed. She was also seen as the Widow Sowerberry/Bet in Compass Rose Theater's production of Oliver!, as well as sound designing their productions of The Miracle Worker and To Kill a Mockingbird. She sends tons of love to her family and friends and to Eric for always understanding that, "I can't, I have rehearsal." “Special thanks to Lois Evans and Carol Cohen, without whom I wouldn't be here.”
The Production Staff
Danny Brooks (Stage Manager) Danny has performed in four Craig Mummey-directed productions, three here at CP (Arcadia, Assassins, and Lettice and Lovage), and is happy to be working with him again, this time in a different "role." He last stage managed CP's 2012 Chapter Two. “Break legs, cast.”
Alex Brady (Lighting Designer) Alex has been designing lighting locally in Annapolis and Baltimore since 2002. Over the last 15 years, he has worked with diverse companies such as Everyman Theater, the Annapolis Opera, and the AACC Dance Company. His recent lighting design credits include Peter Pan at St. Mary’s High School, Anything Goes at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, and Flying by the Seat of Our Pants with the AACC Dance Company. Alex is a proud alumni of the Graduate Institute at St. John's College and teaches for the Humanities Department at Anne Arundel Community College. Alex is also a student and practitioner of the 14th century German longsword, the arming sword and buckler, and the 17th century Italian dueling saber with the Mid-Atlantic Society for Historic Swordsmanship. He will happily present his skills (and bruises) for any interested parties.
Joann Gidos (Properties Designer and Set Decoration) JoAnn is so very pleased to be working with Craig again. This theater season she has worked on Bad Dates at Bay Theater and Look Homeward Angel and Romeo and Juliet at Compass Rose Theater, and is helping with 39 Steps at Dignity Players. She was one of five people nominated last season for a WATCH award for properties design for her work on the Colonial Players production of Shipwrecked.
Barbara Marder (Producer) Barbara has been associated with Colonial Players for more than 25 years. She has served on the board as Education/Special Projects Director and has been a member of a variety of committees, including Play Selection and Promising Playwrights Play Selection. She has also and been a play consultant for many short plays. Barbara directed last season’s Taking Steps. Prior directing assignments for Colonial Players include Splendour and a full-length staged reading of the Promising Playwright winning script Coal Creek. Barbara retired as chairman of Performing Arts at Anne Arundel Community College, where she directed a wide variety of plays and musicals over a 35-year career. She served as an adjudicator for the American College Theatre Festival for many years, as a board member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and as a theater panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council. Currently, she enjoys working part time as a standard patient and role player for local medical schools.
Laurie Nolan (Set Designer) Laurie has been working on sets at Colonial Players since the late seventies, when she had the great pleasure to work with Beth and Dick Whaley on Royal Gambit. A favorite set was for Road to Mecca, which was about an artist. Most recently, she has designed sets at Dignity Players, including Art, and Collected Stories. Laurie enjoys the challenge of the more "abstract" sets that involve lots of painting and color. She owns Art Things, Inc. in West Annapolis, a business founded by her mother, Lydia, in 1966. Both parents were supporters of Colonial Players, so she caught the theater bug early.
Keith Norris (Sound Designer) Keith has produced and edited sound effects and tracks for the local theater circuit since 2005. His work has been experienced by audiences attending Annie, A Christmas Carol, Damn Yankees, 1776, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, and Jekyll and Hyde. He is excited to be working with Colonial Players and such a dynamic and outstanding cast.
Beth Terranova (Costume Designer) Beth is pleased to be on her second costume outing with Craig Allen Mummey, having previously designed costumes for his production of Lettice and Lovage. Last year Beth was honored with two WATCH nominations for costume design for Going to St. Ives and Cinderella Waltz. Her costume designs have also been seen on the CP stage in Moon Over Buffalo, Hauptmann, She Loves Me!, The Philadelphia Story, The Lion in Winter, The Diviners, and just this past January in Coyote on a Fence. Most recently, Beth stage managed Superior Donuts, and directed 1776 for Colonial Players last year. Other work behind the scenes at CP includes producer, set designer, play consultant, and tech crew. An award-winning Director (Hauptmann) and award-nominated actor (Two Rooms), Beth is the current Production Director on the CP Board of Directors, produces the News and Cues newsletter, and serves CP as a Costume Consultant/Wardrobe Curator, Bylaws Committee Member, and WATCH Judge.
Written by Keythe Farley
& Brian Flemming
Music and Lyrics by
Laurence O'Keefe
Directed by Beverly van Joolen
Performance dates:
March 28 - April 19, 2014
Run time: 2h 20m
This off-beat musical is a mix of gothic horror and big-hearted satire of small town personalities set to a peppy melodic pop rock score. Captured in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia, Bat Boy, a terrifying half human, half bat mutant, is taken into town and put in the care of the family of Dr. Parker, the town veterinarian. Even though Bat Boy becomes eminently civilized, the townspeople cannot overcome their revulsion and suspicions, and ultimately tragic mayhem ensues. The musical is a hilarious send-up of traditional musicals and all the love-overcomes-all themes you've ever witnessed in theater or the movies. As the New York Times said, "Big laughs... It's remarkable what intelligent wit can accomplish-- a jaggedly imaginative mix of skewering humor and energetic glee."
To download the production postcard for Bat Boy to share with your friends, visit the Downloads page of our website and look under the Production Postcard heading. A PDF of the playbill is also available in the same location under the Production Playbills heading!
Content Warning: Bat Boy depicts violence, sex, drug use, and loud rock and roll music, along with gun shots, strobe lights, and fog. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Bat Boy Creative Team
Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming, and Laurence O’Keefe constitute the creative team that took a typically outlandish story from Weekly World News and turned it into a successful off-Broadway, regional, and community theater hit. Farley and Fleming co-wrote the book for Bat Boy, imagining how residents of a rural mountain community might have responded to the presence in their town of the supermarket tabloid’s half bat, half human creature. O’Keefe joined them to write the music and lyrics for the show, which won several awards, including the Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel awards as best Off-Broadway musical for 2001.
Farley is a graduate of UCLA and was a member of the Actors’ Gang in Los Angeles, where his play had its original production. He has written, produced, and/or voice directed episodes of Rugrats, As Told By Ginger, and The Wild Thornberries.
Flemming got a job as script reader for New Line Cinema immediately after graduating from the University of California, Irvine. To promote his first low-budget movie, he co-founded a “punk” film festival called “the Slumdance Film Festival.” He then turned his attention from indie movies to live theater, linking up with Farley and O’Keefe to develop their cult hit about a bat boy.
O'Keefe won the 2001 ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award for his music and lyrics for Bat Boy. He has written songs for The Cat in the Hat and The Daily Show. He has performed his songs at clubs in New York City, Boston, and elsewhere and once conducted the Harvard University Pops Orchestra in an evening of his songs, including the world premiere of his short opera The Magic Futon.
About the Director
Beverly Hill van Joolen’s artistic career has taken her from California to Germany and from club singer and writer to actress, theater and film critic, and director. She says she could never choose a favorite venue, and adds, “Even though I love being on stage, directors live in a constant state of combined terror and exhilaration, which makes it addictive.” Since moving to Annapolis, Beverly has directed for The Colonial Players (The Philadelphia Story; Kiss Me, Kate; Jake’s Women; and Little Women), Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre (Nunsense), and Merely Players (Narnia, Little Women, and The Little Princess). When she’s not acting or directing, Beverly teaches theater and music at Severn School Chesapeake Campus, and she dabbles as a playwright. Beverly thanks her family for their unwavering belief that creativity trumps housework. She dedicates the incredible talent and spirit of the Bat Boy cast and crew to all people who celebrate the brilliant uniqueness of each individual and who embrace, especially, those whom society all too frequently tries to either suppress, ignore, or destroy.
Director's Notes
Things are not always what they seem to be. Good isn’t always completely good, and bad is never just all bad. When I first read Bat Boy, I cringed at some of the scenes, wrinkled my nose at others, laughed at a few, and cried a time or two. I was intrigued but not sure I wanted to spend a year with the characters and their story until I heard the music, and then I was hooked. I’ve explained the show as being Edward Scissorhands meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a touch of Beauty and the Beast thrown in. It is by turn uncomfortable and loveable, unbelievable and too often too close to the truth. Occasionally, it even goads us into pointing the finger inward. My cast, staff, and crew have been brilliant at bringing these characters to life in a very real way while staying true to the absurdity of the story. Our Bat Boy created a monster that is to be feared and loved, but we also can see in him a bit of ourselves. Therein is the source of the most discomfort. At any given moment on any given day, judgments are being made, and any one of us can be a target based on the way we dress, the color of our skin, who and how we chose to love, what we do and don’t believe in, what side of a political line we won’t cross, and a myriad of other factors. Conversely, we can also be those who stand in judgment, and we all have our secrets to hide. Fair warning: you may find this show bawdy and offensive; I certainly did. On the flip side, it broke my heart. Things aren’t always what they seem; then again sometimes they are. The point is, what do we do about it?
The Music Director
David Merrill is humbled to be the musical director of this fabulous production with such a dedicated and talented cast along with an amazing production crew. This is his first opportunity to be musical director with The Colonial Players, and he gives thanks to Kaelynn Miller for her outstanding help and assistance. Previously, David has been active both on and off the stage in a variety of roles. Most recently you may have seen him as Robert Livingston in 1776 at Colonial Players, Everett in Swing at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, the Minstrel in Once Upon A Mattress at Maryland Hall, Adam/Noah in The Children of Eden, Lamar in Godspell, Mr. Snow in Carousel, and Jamie Lockhart in The Robber Bridegroom. David has had the pleasure of working with the Victorian Lyric Opera, Loudoun Lyric Opera, the Annapolis Chorale, Pasadena Theatre Company, Kensington Arts Theatre Company, and Calvert Memorial Hospital in its Spotlight Concert Series. David teaches Middle School music and works with the technology team at Severn School in Severna Park. He is the tenor section leader and soloist at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis. David received his Bachelors in Music from Methodist University and his Masters of Voice from Shenandoah Conservatory. He is grateful to Beverly for the opportunity to be a part of this “wonderful and wacky adventure.” And, as always, David expresses his love to his family and girlfriend for their boundless love, support, and encouragement.
The Choreographer
Jamie Erin Miller is thrilled to be working with such a talented group of people and some of her very dear friends on this production of Bat Boy. Most of Jamie’s theatrical work has been done on stage, but she also really enjoys creating dances for shows. Most of her work as choreographer was in her home state of Florida, but she has worked locally as well. A few of the local productions Jamie has choreographed are Songs for a New World (Dignity Players), Something’s Afoot (Second Star Productions), and Bette and Barry at the Baths (Standing O Productions). Some of Jamie’s favorite roles on stage include Maureen in RENT; Woman 1 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (which earned her a Washington Area Community Theatre Honors award nomination); Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie; Lois in Kiss Me, Kate; Judy Denmark in Ruthless: The Musical; and Izzy (a WATCH Award nominee) in Rabbit Hole. When Jamie is not in the wonderful world of theater, she is busy playing the other roles in her life: wife, mother, daughter, and teacher. She would like to thank her extremely supportive family and friends for all of their love. Also, thank you to Beverly and Judi for those persistent phone calls. “I am so happy I said yes. It feels good to be back!”
The Cast
Wendy Baird (Meredith Parker) - Wendy is delighted to be back at CP among this fabulous bat crew where she's also enjoyed playing in Little Women (Marmee), Enter the Guardsman (the actress), Assassins (Sara Jane Moore), Blood Brothers (Mrs. Johnstone), as well as Jacques Brel is Alive and Well, Is there Life After High School? and Picasso at the Lapine Agile. Last year, she performed her one-woman cabaret, Stumbling on Happiness II, at Red Branch Theatre Company and was featured in Theater 11's production of Soprano. Other favorite roles include: Diana in Next to Normal at Red Branch; Rona in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at ASGT; featured player in Songs for a New World (Kensington Arts Theatre), the witch in Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd’s Mrs. Lovett. She is the proud mom of George Mason University senior Adam and president of Insight180, a brand consulting and design firm in Ellicott City.
Debbie Barber-Eaton (Mayor Maggie, Animal) - Debbie holds a degree in musical theater from The Catholic University of America. A director and a performer, she has worked in local and regional theaters and has a particular interest in the genre of cabaret. Favorite roles include Queen Aggravain in Once Upon a Mattress, Rose in Gypsy, Pam in Baby, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Pistache in Can-Can, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and the delicious Lady Macbeth, for which she won a CP Acting Award. She had the honor of receiving the last Directing Award that Colonial Players gave for her direction of The Robber Bridegroom. “Love and thanks to Eddie and Neal Andrew, and all of my friends and family, always and forever. In loving memory of Tom Ammon, I miss you, my Faboo.”
Shannon Benil (Daisy, Animal, Doctor #1) - Shannon is happy to be back at Colonial Players after a brief hiatus to have her now 16-month-old son. Some of her favorite roles here include those in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Company, Jake’s Women, and five reincarnations of A Christmas Carol. She also recently performed in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Dignity Players. During the day she is the Director of Accounting at an advertising agency. Much love to her parents, and as always to her partner, Marcy, for flying solo with their son, Nilsson, on so many occasions while she is at rehearsal or a show. She never takes for granted having a partner who supports her theater addiction!
Nathan Bowen (Rick Taylor, Animal) - Nathan is confused. He auditioned for the part of Mr. Freeze (Arnold being his acting idol) in what he presumed was the musical telling of Batman's youth, and ended up as a teenage punk in West Virginia. If you expect DC Comics characters today, you too will be confused. Nathan is employed as a budget analyst for the State of Maryland. You might have seen him at CP as Richard Henry Lee in 1776, George in She Loves Me, and Paul/Gremio in Kiss Me, Kate. Other local roles have included Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Will in Oklahoma!, Hero in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Samuel in Pirates of Penzance, all at 2nd Star Productions. He also appeared at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre as Moonface in Anything Goes, Billy in Chicago, Smudge in Forever Plaid, Tony in Copacabana, a soloist in Smokey Joe’s Café, Dennis in All Shook Up, and Gabey in On the Town. He lives in Annapolis with his cat/best pal, Oscar.
Sam Cush (Ned, Young Parker voice) - Sam is a senior at Severna Park High School. Recent credits include I Never Saw Another Butterfly and In The Heights, both at Severna Park High School. Sam has also appeared in Get Smart and The Witches at Children's Theatre of Annapolis. He would like to thank all who encouraged him to audition.
Lynn Garretson (Reverend Hightower, Townie, Animal) - Lynn first performed at Colonial Players as a Kit Kat Girl in the 1998 production of Cabaret. Favorite roles include Julie in Showboat at the Chesapeake Music Hall and Connie Wong in A Chorus Line at both CMH and Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. Most recently, she played Sister Margaretta in Compass Rose Theater’s production of The Sound of Music. Heartfelt thanks to Beverly, David, and Jamie for this wonderful opportunity. Thanks to Jeff for everything!
Ron Giddings (Bat Boy) - Ron is thrilled to be performing one of his dream roles. It is certainly a departure from his last appearance on the CP stage playing the economically- minded delegate Edward Rutledge in 1776. “The creation of Bat Boy has taken a village, and I could not have done it without any of these awesome supporters: Dave T, Highley T, Rob T, David T, Debbie B-E, Tom C, Kathryn E, the fantastic cast, crew, and production staff, and my biggest fans, my parents.”
John Hamli (Pan, Bud, Doctor #2, Young Parker video) - John is excited to return to Colonial Players, where he played the title role in Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself), Bobby in Company, and Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Other credits include Once Upon a Mattress (Dauntless) and Anything Goes (Evelyn) for Live Arts Maryland, The Last Five Years (Jamie, Dignity Players), and Mr. Marmalade (Bradley, Standing O Productions). John has performed in several productions with City Center’s acclaimed Encores! Series in New York and has also been seen at Carnegie Hall, the Goodspeed Opera House, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and on London’s West End. He is a graduate of The University of Michigan’s musical theater program. He teaches mathematics at Severna Park High School, where he also assists with the annual Rock n Roll Revival. John would like to send thanks to his family, friends, and, of course, David, for their incredible support and love.
Corey Jeweler (Ron Taylor, Townie) - Corey, a junior in high school, is very excited to be in his first production with Colonial Players. He recently appeared as Benny in Severna Park High School's production of In the Heights. He'd like to thank everyone who's supported him for the length of this show, or pushed him to audition with just an hour's notice.
Paige Miller (Shelley Parker) - Paige is thrilled to be playing the role of Shelley as she makes her return to the Colonial Players stage in this production of Bat Boy. Her most recent roles include Marcy in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at James Madison University and Clarissa in Little Women at Colonial Players. Paige is extremely excited to be sharing the stage with her beautifully talented stepmother, Lynn, for the first time. Paige would like to thank her friends and family for being so supportive of her decision to pursue her love of performing. Paige would especially like to thank David Merrill for his dedication and his patience in teaching the cast the numerous musical numbers in this show. Lastly, Paige would like to thank Emily Corey, whose direction and inspiration led her to this stage today.
Scott Nichols (Sheriff Reynolds, Animal) - Scott is excited to be performing in a musical production again, having last done so as Wigs in Colonial Players’ Enter the Guardsman. Previously at Colonial, he appeared as Max in Lend Me a Tenor, Olf in Incorruptible, Birdy in Terra Nova, and various roles in Under Milkwood. More recently, he was seen at Dignity Players in the two-person show Stones in His Pockets and in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. He has also performed at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre as Linus in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and Little Mary Sunshine in Chicago. Other favorite roles include Phillip in The Lion in Winter, Don in Butterflies Are Free, and various roles in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well. Scott has also performed with Under the Hood Productions, Anne Arundel Community College’s Moonlight Troopers, Maryland Hall’s Story Theatre and the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Scott would especially like to thank Jason for always being there to provide love, patience, and understanding.
Emma Panek (Ruthie Taylor, Townie) - Emma is delighted to be joining Colonial Players for this production of Bat Boy. She has previously appeared in Alice in Wonderland at Children's Theatre of Annapolis and Little Women at Colonial Players. Emma is so grateful to be working with such a talented team. She is a freshman at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and enjoys all things musical. She is a part of her school's all girls a cappella group, Pearls. A zillion and more thanks to the fang-tastic cast and crew. Much love to Mom, Jeff, Drew, Dad, and Mira. Enjoy the show!
Chris Patton (Dr. Parker) - Chris, a native of Houston, is very excited to be making his Maryland theatrical debut in Bat Boy. Credits include roles in RENT, Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Romeo and Juliet, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, multiple productions of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show (playing both Frank n Furter and Riff Raff), and Bob Cratchit in a world-premiere production of A Christmas Carol at Houston's Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre. Other world/regional premieres include: Asylum, Laurence Fishburne's Riff Raff, and the title role of Saucy Jack De'ath in the campy, gothic, electro musical Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens. By day, Chris is a voice actor, having voiced over 200 Anime titles (Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist, etc), over sixty audiobooks, lots of commercials, video games, and more. He sends much love and thanks to RAD and all his amazing fellow cast members.
Kendra Penn (Clementine, Roy) - Kendra is thrilled to be doing her first show with Colonial Players. For her, it has been an amazing experience, and she hopes to be able to do more with CP. Kendra has done many shows with the Annapolis High School Drama Company as both an actress and a stagehand. Shows include Guys and Dolls, Once Upon A Mattress, and Working. She also appeared in Kaleidoscope last summer with the Annapolis School of Performing Arts. When not on stage, Kendra enjoys volleyball, reading, and shopping. She would like to thank her family and friends for coming to support her and all of her acting teachers who have inspired her and helped her become the actress she is today. “It takes a special kind of crazy to be an actor.” And Kendra would like to thank her cast mates for being crazy with her, and hopes you all will enjoy the show.
Alicia Sweeney (Mrs. Taylor, Animal) - Alicia is extremely grateful to be a part of the wonderful community of artistic and creative people in the Baltimore/Annapolis/ DC area. She received a BFA in Performing Arts from Emerson College in Boston. Since moving to Annapolis in 2001, Alicia has had the opportunity to choreograph, sing, and perform with the Annapolis Chorale and Chamber Chorus, Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, Dignity Players, Standing O Productions, the Young Victorian Theatre Company, Bay Theatre, Rockville Musical Theatre, and Winter's Lane. Alicia was last seen at Colonial Players as the identical sextuplets in Wonder of the World and is so happy to be back performing with some of her favorite people she is blessed to call friends.
Bronwyn van Joolen (Lorraine, Animal, Young Meredith voice) - Bronwyn is ready to rock the house with her fellow cast mates in this production. Other characters at Colonial Players include Beth March in Little Women, Dinah Lord in The Philadelphia Story, Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, and Young Molly in Jake’s Women. Other favorite roles include Martha Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theatre), Fantine in Les Miserables (Severna Park High School), Red Riding Hood in Babes in Toyland (Atlas Theatre), Wendy in Peter Pan (Children’s Theatre of Annapolis), and Mercy Lewis in The Crucible (Dignity Players). Bronwyn works as a standardized patient with Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland medical schools. There are so many people she’d like to thank, but overall, her mother, Beverly Hill van Joolen, has been the one clearing paths to let her go any direction in life. Without that support, she wouldn’t be on her way to Berklee College of Music come Fall 2014! Enjoy the show and beware of the bats!
The Production Staff
Terry Averill (Set Designer) Terry is active in many areas at Colonial Players including acting, directing, and designing lights and sets. Earlier this season he designed the sets for Annie. He previously was set designer for Kindertransport and Earth and Sky at CP and worked with Edd Miller on set design for I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which he also directed. Other directing credits at Colonial Players include Romantic Comedy, Sunlight, and Kindertransport. Terry won a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for his lighting of Earth and Sky. He has acted in a number of productions at Bowie Community Theatre and directed their productions of Language of Angels and Love, Sex, and the IRS. He is an architect and is in his second term as president of Colonial Players.
Lois Banscher (Properties Designer) Lois recently participated in CP’s production of Coyote on a Fence, directed by Edd Miller, as the props collector. She has also had the good fortune to work with Edd in The Diviners and Going to St. Ives. She was nominated for a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for last season’s production of 1776. After retiring from the hospitality industry, Lois began her association with Colonial Players in 2009 working on The Curious Savage with JoAnn Gidos. Her next venture was Mrs. California in 2010, which earned a WATCH nomination for best props for her and Grace Baumgardner. Other credits include I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Sunlight; Little Women; Lettice and Lovage; and Taking Steps, all at Colonial Players. In her spare time, Lois lends a helping hand to other theater projects, including arranging the lobby display of shows from previous seasons and seeking potential partnerships with local businesses. Lois awaits her next adventure and thanks Colonial Players team members for their support.
Wes Bedsworth (Technical Director, Sound Designer) Wes has been involved with nearly 40 productions at Colonial Players since he joined in 2007. He won the 2010 Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for outstanding sound design for Earth and Sky and has been nominated for sound design for Hauptmann, Kindertransport, The Diviners, and, most recently, 1776. He is proud of his incredibly talented girlfriend (and our Treasurer) Kaelynn for her two WATCH nominations this year. Wes serves as Operations Director on the CP Board, Technical Director on the Production Team, and as one of the CP Webmasters. Love to Mom, Dad, Susan, and Abby. Kaeti - this one's for you!
Elizabeth Chapman (Costume Designer) Elizabeth trained in fine art, costuming, and metalsmithing at Towson University. After completing her degree in 2012, she spent a year at Centerstage in Baltimore as a costumes intern. Currently, she is finishing a second year at Centerstage, this time as a fellow in the props shop. This is her first time designing for Colonial Players.
Frank A. Florentine (Lighting Designer) Frank’s background stretches over a wide array of lighting projects from ballet to museums to special events to show caves. He has designed lights at Colonial Players for Coyote on a Fence, 1776, Sunlight, and Chapter Two, which was nominated for best lighting design in the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors competition. Frank retired in 2009 after 25 years as the lighting designer for the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He also designed the lighting for three show caves over the past 10 years in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Montana. Frank resides in the Annapolis area and has designed lighting for a sailboat in the Eastport Yacht Club's annual Christmas Parade of Lights for the last 21 years. Most recently, he designed the lighting for the 9/11 Memorial of Anne Arundel County. Frank worked in professional theater as a Production Manager, Stage Manager, and Associate Lighting Designer.
Kaelynn Miller (Assistant Music Director) Though she’s been seen on the CP stage singing and dancing in the last three musicals, Kaelynn is delighted to step behind the scenes to assist the incomparable David Merrill with the music for Bat Boy. She has been involved in many productions over the last five years, in a variety of roles from actor to smushed banana cleaner to set painter to last-minute button sewer to usher to costume designer. Kaelynn serves as Treasurer on CP’s Board of Directors. By day, she works in the music industry as a customer service representative for an orchestral instrument accessory distributor, where some days she actually gets to use her bachelor’s degree in music. Kaelynn thanks the cast and production staff for their complete devotion to this production, and thanks (and only slightly blames) Wes for dragging her back into this crazy world of theater.
Shirley Panek (Stage Manager) Shirley was last seen as Ofc. Randy Osteen in Colonial Players' recent production of Superior Donuts, but is taking a backstage role this time as stage manager. Previous production credits at CP include stage manager (1776) and lighting designer (Communicating Doors, Moonlight and Magnolias, and Trying). She was co-designer of lighting for Chapter Two, which was a nominee for best lighting in the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors competition. Shirley would like to thank Bev for her creative enthusiasm for the show and the cast for their fun and laughter. Break a leg, Emma! Love to Drew, Emma, and Jeff.
Andrew Pecoraro (Stage Combat Choreographer) Andrew is excited to return to Colonial Players after previously working on Communicating Doors. Other fight direction credits include Romeo & Juliet (Pantheon Theatre, Glasgow), Killer Joe (Maryland Ensemble Theatre), Count of Monte Cristo (SCENEgineering, Glasgow), Picnic (Bay Theatre Company), Oliver! (Theatre on the Hill), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Theatre on the Hill), The Tempest (McDaniel College), and Threepenny Opera (McDaniel College). Directing credits: Into the Woods (Stock*ing Productions), Romeo & Juliet (Pantheon Theatre, Glasgow), Frogs (University of Glasgow), Lysistrata (University of Glasgow), and Count of Monte Cristo (SCENEgineering, Glasgow). Thanks to the cast and crew for all their hard work.
Judi Wobensmith (Producer) Judi has been involved in over 200 productions in the Annapolis/DC area both on and offstage. She has produced shows at Colonial Players, Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, and Petrucci’s, to name a few. Previous directing credits include, among others: A Christmas Carol (four times at CP), The Music Man, Gigi, The King and I, Carnival, Marriages, Something’s Afoot (at Colonial Players and 2nd Star Productions), The Sunshine Boys, and Mrs. California. She has served on the Board of Directors at CP, Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, and Children’s Theatre of Annapolis and has appeared in various TV commercials and documentaries. Judi spends her spare time working at the House of Delegates in Annapolis.
Bat Boy: Our Most Technically Intensive Show Yet!
Our spring musical, Bat Boy, is a unique rock ‘n’ roll musical. In addition to having very catchy music and some physical theater for our lead actor, this show is the most technically intensive show Colonial Players has produced to date! Our designers have incorporated 4 different types of LED lights, colored strobe lights, center stage floating projections, several moving LED lights, simulated fire and smoke, low lying fog, moving sound, additional speakers...and even a mirror ball, all of which are electronically controlled from our tech booth! The Dry Tech process took 4 full days instead of our standard 1 day due to all of the specialized technical programming! And this was all before we even brought in our cast! We can’t wait to show you our hard work, so here’s a sneak peek of a tech rehearsal so you can see what you’ll be in for!
At right is a photo from Tech Week looking out over our sound and lighting rig.
The Colonial Players would like to thank the following outside individuals and organizations for their assistance with the preparations for Bat Boy: Sasha and Electronic Theater Controls (ETC) for extensive consultation on advanced programming of our light board; Scott, Mark, Danielle, Katie and 4Wall Entertainment Lighting for consultation on Martin Mac Aura moving LED instruments and fog; Walt,Tammy-Lynne, and Parlights for consultation on Showline LED PAR instruments and DMX signaling; City Theatrical for consultation on wireless DMX controllers; and Right On Cue Services for providing our music.
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The technical elements of our production of Bat Boy were also featured on 4Wall Entertainment Lighting's website. The spotlight article was also submitted by 4Wall to Stage Directions magazine, Studio Live Design, and Lighting & Sound America!
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Tom Newbrough
Performance dates:
June 13 - June 28, 2014
Run time: 1h 45m
This second ARC offering is an odd comedy about human isolation, especially in this world full of more tightly connective devices than ever before. Jean, a young woman eating a bowl of lobster bisque in a café, picks up the ringing cell phone of a man who has just died at the next table. Stunned by the happening, she allows herself to be drawn into the lives of his family and others who call him while the phone is in her possession, seeking to make them feel better and to express the unspoken thoughts of the dead man. Not quite absurdist, unsentimental and quirky, the play takes us into a swirling exploration of our inability to really know others, even those we work near, live with or marry.
To download the production postcard for Dead Man's Cell Phone to share with your friends, visit the Downloads page of our website and look under the Production Postcard heading. A PDF of the playbill is also available in the same location under the Production Playbills heading!
About the Playwright
Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room was a big hit with Colonial Players audiences a year ago. Now she is back with another comedic romp, Dead Man's Cell Phone. She wrote her first play in 1995 while a student at Brown University and is one of the most respected playwrights in contemporary American theater. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005 for The Clean House and again in 2009 for In the Next Room, also a Tony nominee for best play. Among Ms. Ruhl’s prestigious honors are the Helen Hayes Award, the Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her plays have been produced at six theaters in New York City along with major regional theaters across the country and have been translated into seven languages and performed in five countries.
About the Director
This is the fifth show that Tom Newbrough has directed at Colonial Players, along with Strange Snow, A Shayna Maidel, Incorruptible, and Rabbit Hole. He also was assistant director under Dan Higgs for The Boys Next Door. Tom has worked with CP since 1986, and has appeared onstage in Crimes of the Heart; Dial M for Murder; The Elephant Man; Terra Nova; Kiss Me, Kate; A Little Night Music; Jaques Brel; Is There Life After High School?; and Assassins. Recent appearances elsewhere include Urinetown at ASGT, On the 20th Century, and A Christmas Story at Standing O Productions, and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Art with Dignity Players. Tom is an attorney at law with Cohen, Snyder, Eisenberg & Katzenberg. He thanks CeCe & Donovan for their patience and support. As always, it is a privilege to work with so many talented, creative people who inspire the art that we call theater.
Director's Notes
Has the relatively recent explosion of technology and social media brought us closer together than in the not-so-distant past, when two strangers in a carriage would choose not to engage each other, or has it created an artificial sense of belonging to something that really doesn't exist? Does connecting electronically as opposed to interacting in person advance our relationships, or hinder them? Where is this "cloud" that people speak of where everything is stored or backed up? Has "The Man" got us all under constant surveillance via our cell phones? Even with all of our iPhones, thinkpads, gadgetry, and wizardry, aren't many people still alienated and alone? Does author Sarah Ruhl actually attempt to answer these inquiries in this quirky, kinetic, down-the-rabbit hole comedy? Don't you wish I would stop asking questions? Jean's fateful decision to answer the ringing cell phone of a dead man inexorably alters her life... and death in this mysterious homage to the art of Edward Hopper and the suspense of film noir. I truly appreciate the opportunity to share with you the sublime and shocking reality of Dead Man's Cell Phone.
– TOM NEWBROUGH
The Cast
Jean Berard (Hermia) - Jean has many passions, among them her husband, her dogs, and teaching Spanish at Severn School in Severna Park. But before those, there was theater. She is delighted to be back on stage with The Colonial Players, where she has been previously seen in The Unexpected Guest, The Spitfire Grill, and Bismark Comes Back. Everyone should be so lucky as to share a life-long passion with such professional enthusiasts. “Thank you to all involved, and especially to my husband, Jim, for sharing life and love.”.
Nick Beschen (Dwight) - Nick has performed in many shows at Colonial Players over the last 20 years, most recently as Harold in Communicating Doors and as Dr. Lyman Hall in last season’s production of 1776. He appeared nine or ten times in CP’s ever-popular version of A Christmas Carol. Favorite roles include Martin Chalmers in the award-winning Between Mouthfuls at Colonial Players, two roles in Almost, Maine at Dignity Players, and Horatio in Pasadena Theatre Company’s Hamlet, Nick is thrilled to be on stage again with such a great cast. He would like to thank his wonderful partner, Leigh, for all her love and support!
Darice Clewell (Other Woman, The Stranger) - Darice has performed with The Colonial Players and has served on our board of directors several times over the past 25 years. Roles at CP include Lottie in Enchanted April, Lotte in Lettice and Lovage, and various roles in Steel Magnolias, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Splendour, The Road to Mecca, and Rumors. Other local stage roles include Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie at Bowie Community Theatre and, at Dignity Players, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible and various roles in The Vagina Monologues and Sordid Lives. Her directing credits at CP include last year’s WATCH-nominated Trying, Copenhagen, Is There Life After High School?, and Isn’t it Romantic?. Choreographic endeavors include nine shows at CP, including A Little Night Music, She Loves Me, Cabaret, and six other shows. She directed Art, Stones in his Pockets, and The Shadow Box at Dignity Players. “Tom, thanks for letting me join in on the antics with my favorite playmates. And thanks for the introduction to the dead guy.”
Heather Quinn (Jean) - Heather has worked on numerous theater projects in the DC-Annapolis area both on the stage and behind the scenes. She is happy to be back onstage and working with a splendid creative team. Most recently at Colonial Players, she appeared as Dr. Cora Gage in Going to St. Ives (WATCH nomination) and Lanie Wells in Two Rooms (WATCH nomination). Other CP roles included: Rose Arnott in Enchanted April, Hannah Jarvis in Arcadia, and Killaine Farrell in The Clearing. Locally, she has also performed in several Dignity Players productions (The Laramie Project, Dead Man Walking, Six Degrees of Separation). She thanks the cast, director, and AD for all those inventive antics seen in rehearsal. “Rehearsing a play is a great way to learn new skills…how to use a little sign language, tell laughable lies with a straight face, use a cell phone....(that’s right, guess who never had one?).”
Jim Reiter (Gordon) - Jim most recently directed The 39 Steps at Dignity Players, where he appeared in Sordid Lives, The Crucible, and The Shadow Box, directed by tonight’s Mysterious Stranger. Jim designed the music for Dignity’s Art and Collected Stories, and is doing the same for Colonial’s upcoming Rocket Man. He appeared in the Annapolis Chorale’s Once Upon a Mattress, Theater 11’s A Storyteller’s Season, Annapolis Shakespeare’s Pride and Prejudice, and Bay Theatre’s Becky’s New Car. At Colonial Players he played Ben Hecht in Moonlight and Magnolias, Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Dale in Dog Logic, Mr. Maraczek in She Loves Me, Robert in Proof, and Boolie in Driving Miss Daisy with the esteemed and greatly missed Beth Whaley. Jim received the 2008 Outstanding Featured Actor Award from the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors for his multiple-character performance in Colonial’s Hauptmann. At Bowie’s 2nd Star Productions, Jim directed 1776, The Music Man, Once Upon a Mattress, and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.
Mary Fawcett Watko (Mrs. Gottlieb) - As an actor and director, Mary has worked with numerous theater groups and has been with Colonial Players since 1981. Two CP favorites as a director: Enchanted April and Angel Street; as an actor, Rumors and The Lion in Winter. Mary received a Ruby Griffith Award from the British Players for her direction of Dial M for Murder for Bowie Community Theatre. With Dignity Players of Annapolis, she directed Death and the Maiden, Sight Unseen, and one of her favorites, Blue Orange. Theater continues to be a passion and has been since she appeared on BBC TV at the age of 11 years – oh so long ago! Working with the director of Dead Man's Cell Phone – Tom Newbrough – has been a special treat. “He has wonderful energy and a great sense of humor, which makes the rehearsal process more fun than you may possibly imagine! Thank you, Tom!”
The Production Staff
Richard Atha-Nicholls (Sound Designer) Richard is happy to be back at Colonial Players designing sound for Dead Man's Cell Phone. He previously engineered or designed sound at Colonial for The Spitfire Grill; Kiss Me, Kate; Jekyll & Hyde; Jake’s Women; A Christmas Carol; The Piano Lesson; Over the River and Through the Woods; Pippin; and two summer One-Act Festivals. In addition to designing sound, Richard has appeared on area stages and can be seen in July in Colonial’s summer One-Act Festival. Occasionally, he has been known to direct and directed CP’s 63rd Season opener, The Unexpected Guest. Love to C&A.
Brigette Marchand (Stage Manager) Brigette Is happy to be back at CP after recently working on Dignity Players’ production of The 39 Steps. Other recent credits with Dignity Players include Collected Stories and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She has worked with several other theater companies, including Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, Vagabond Players, Bowie Community Theatre, and Churchill Theatre. Other theater credits include Hauptmann, Dearly Departed, A Shayna Maidel, Sly Fox, The Battle of Shallowford, Rumors, Robber Bridegroom, A Christmas Carol, Good News, and The Butler Did It, to name just a few. When not in theater, Brigette loves to bake, cook, watch sports, and go to the beach. She is an avid knitter and a certified pastry chef. Brigette thanks her family and friends for their love and support. Special thanks to her mom and dad for everything they have done. “Love to you both.”
Christina R. McAlpine (Costume Designer) Christina is glad to be back doing costumes for Colonial Players. The Curious Savage was her last costume design with Colonial Players. She has also helped with costumes for In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, 1776, The Lion in Winter, and Mrs. California. Her Bay Theatre Company credits include: The Price, The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All, Wit, Becky’s New Car, Love Letters, and Mauritius. She has also worked locally with Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, Anne Arundel Community College, and the University of Maryland. Christina holds a BFA in Theatre from the University of West Florida. She hopes you enjoy the show and thanks all those who keep this wonderful art form alive.
Edd Miller (Set Designer) Edd has a long history with Colonial Players as a director, actor, set designer, and volunteer in other areas. He designed sets earlier this season for Annie and Coyote on a Fence, which he also directed. Edd was nominated for a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors set design award for Chapter Two and won a 2012 WATCH award for best direction for Going to St. Ives, which also won awards for best play, out of 83 plays judged, and best lead actress. Other set designs for CP include last season’s productions of Sunlight, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, and Taking Steps. He also has acted in and directed many shows since joining CP in 1964.
Shirley Panek (Lighting Designer) Shirley is pleased to be back behind the light board for Dead Man's Cell Phone. Normally seen on the stage, she is thrilled to be working with such a dynamic director and amazingly talented and funny cast. In 2013, she was chosen as one of DCMTA's Best of 2013: Favorite Designers of 2013 for her lighting design for Communicating Doors. Other lighting designs include, Trying, Moonlight and Magnolias, and Chapter Two (2012 WATCH nominee) at The Colonial Players, and Art at Dignity Players. Shirley would like to thank Tom for his enthusiastic vision for the show. Thanks also to the cast and production staff and crew for their patience during tech week. “Love to Drew, Emma, and Jeff - the lights that shine in my life every day.”
Constance Robinson (Properties Designer) Connie recently worked as properties designer for Collected Stories with Dignity Players theater. She previously enjoyed being the properties designer at Colonial Players for the Victorian-era In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play, which earned a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors nomination for best properties, and Annie, set in 1933. In previous years, Connie volunteered as marketing assistant and graphic designer for Colonial Players. In addition to collecting props for Dead Man's Cell Phone, Connie enjoyed helping decorate the set along with set designer Edd Miller. Connie thanks her husband, John, for his continued support.
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Kristofer Kauff
Performance dates:
February 14 - March 8, 2014
Run time: 2h 30m
In the Uptown section of Chicago, the scruffy side, Arthur Przybyszewski still runs the donut shop his father founded before he was born. Arthur is besieged by a new Starbucks across the street, his aged hippie sensibilities, and the recent death of his ex-wife. His store reflects the state of his mind, ill-tended, marred by the vandalism of a disgruntled ex-employee and slipping into bankruptcy. A new employee, Franco Wicks, urges him to revitalize the store by opening evening hours, encouraging poetry readings, cultivating a writers’ enclave. Franco is a young, enterprising writer whose intelligence and energy nudges Arthur’s torpid spirit into new life, especially when Franco is nearly killed by thugs seeking to collect his gambling debts. You’ll find this lively play uplifting and deeply funny as you meet Arthur, Franco and the people around them struggling to make something good of their lives.
About the Playwright
Playwright Tracy Letts said in a recent Showtime television interview that he would have to be “a real churl” to complain about the life he is living now. During the last six years, Letts won the 2008 Tony Award and 2008 Pulitzer Prize for writing August: Osage County, won the 2013 Tony for best actor for his role as George, the drunken college professor in the Broadway revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff?, and has a recurring role in the popular Showtime cable television series Homeland. And in January, Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances in the movie version of August: Osage County. Letts is the son of an actor father and a mother who was a successful novelist. He grew up in Oklahoma and at age 20 moved to Chicago, where he began a long association with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Letts’ plays typically deal with dark subjects and dysfunctional characters. His mother was quoted as saying that while she wrote light, entertaining novels, everyone wound up naked or dead in her son’s plays. Superior Donuts, written a year after August: Osage County, is a departure from Letts’ usual fare. It is funnier and lighter, with characters who are mostly good guys. It features at its core a warm if sometimes difficult relationship between two disparate characters.
About the Director
Kristofer Kauff is thrilled to have directed Superior Donuts for The Colonial Players. Most recent directing credits include Orlando the Television Show... On Stage, Little Shop of Horrors, Pippin, Seussical The Musical, Anastasia, Inherit the Wind, Comedy of Errors, The Land of Counterpane as well as a series of staged readings and workshops for D.C. playwrights. In June 2014, he’s directing The Producers, presented by SSTG, which opens at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn. Thank you Carol, Beth, my production team, and the entire community of The Colonial Players. It has been an absolute joy to collaborate with you. To the cast: You are a talented, intelligent group of actors, and I loved every minute of working with you. Thank you to family and friends for your continued love and support. And to my, my love...
Kristofer Kauff
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Director's Notes
Community... The first note I took while reading Superior Donuts. As I read on, I took many more notes: friendship, facing fears, family, loss, love, hope, and once again... community. Obviously that would be the central theme for my development of a vision for this production. Our community, and how we are all affected by it, for better or worse. This play was written by Tracy Letts as a love letter to Chicago, but this Uptown block is really a microcosm of America. Immigrants and first-generation Americans, people who chose to come to this country and, through all obstacles, would do whatever it took to make a better life for their families. A time when people knew each other by talking, by doing, by experiencing reality together... community. Our world now is going through a change. Are we losing our community or are we re-defining it? Enter Arthur and the personification of a past that is fading. Enter Franco and the embodiment of hope, energy, and what can be.
What I love most about this play is how relatable the characters are to ourselves. Through each person portrayed onstage we see our own flaws, mistakes, and even strengths. We draw parallels in the characters’ failures and triumphs. We’ve all been in that “place” Arthur is when we first meet him. Many of us have seen ourselves in others, as he sees himself in Franco. And we have all faced moments in our lives that challenge us to fight back. The question is, when life takes its swings and beats us down, what do we do?
When an author writes a play with characters this personal, you realize the responsibility you have as a director to ensure that audiences have a completely realistic experience and a journey that they can call their own. I began my journey focusing on what makes a community and the diverse nature of the one represented in this play. I’ve now shifted my focus to how I affect those around me and the importance we all have to helping those in our own community. I’m sure once the lights go down and the show goes up, I’ll have a few more “shifts in focus.”
So, tonight we are going to be good members of a community the best way we know how. I truly hope you enjoy every moment you experience while taking the journey with us.
The Cast
Terry Averill (Arthur Przybyszewski) -- Terry hasn’t been seen on the Colonial Players stage for a few years, unless you caught his portrayal of James Wilson in 1776 last Spring. He’s been pretty busy as president of CP, but has continued acting at other venues during his tenure. He has appeared as Marc in Art and as John in The Cocktail Hour at Bowie Community Theatre and as Mr. Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank at Dignity Players. Of late, he has been spending summers at the Smithsonian’s National History Museum, where he has been portraying abolitionist John Brown in The Trial of John Brown. Acting has been his passion since elementary school. He loved portraying George at CP in Of Mice and Men in 2000 and hopes his rendition of the enigmatic Arthur is as compelling as George. Thanks go to Kris for his great teaching and all the other cast members for their artistic dedication and for making the process such great fun. And of course, particular thanks go to Dirk Geratz for his infinite patience, not only during this show but all the shows Terry has taken part in over the years.
Ben Carr (Kiril Ivakin) -- Ben is excited to be back performing at Colonial Players. Some of his previous roles at CP have included Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman, Mike Conner in The Philadelphia Story, Michael Wells in Two Rooms, and Hertel Daggett in Dog Logic. He has also performed at Standing O Productions in Retreat From Moscow and Tracers and at Dignity Players in Stones in His Pocket. He would like to thank Kristofer and the rest of the cast for making this such a wonderful experience. “Most importantly, I would like to tell my wife, Cassie, that I love you and thank you for giving me the greatest treasure of all...twice!
Rick Estberg (Max Tarasov) -- Is very good for me to be again in CP show! Rick knew that his Army Russian training decades ago would somehow pay off! This marks Rick’s third show with CP. Most recently he played Bert Healy and Harold Ickes in Annie and last spring portrayed Charles Thomson in 1776. Earlier work with the Pasadena Theatre Company included King Pellinore in Camelot, Uncle Billy in It’s a Wonderful Life, and all the ghosts in various performances of A Christmas Carol. Rick’s daytime job is with the Defense Department, which gave him the chance to spend 14 years in Germany and Belgium. He extends huge thanks to Kris, Carol, and the others for giving him this fantastic opportunity to play with accents and butcher the English language.
Chris Haley (Officer James Bailey) -- Superior Donuts marks Chris’ debut full production with Colonial Players, although he has been involved with several readings and other events produced at CP over the years. Locally, he has performed most often at Dignity Players, where recently he tossed a variety of flavored juice boxes in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A 2012 graduate of The Honors Acting Conservatory at The Theatre Lab, Chris is an actor, performer, writer, and public speaker who has appeared on HBO’s The Wire, the PBS Special “Partners of The Heart,” and in productions of Ain’t Misbehavin’, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Six Degrees of Separation, and Godspell, among others. He has performed in local and regional theaters throughout the East Coast including Washington DC’s Arena Stage and Studio Theater, Pennsylvania’s Bucks County Playhouse, and Atlantic City’s Claridge Casino. He dedicates his performances to Carol Youmans, who continues to be a cherished friend, colleague, adviser, and mentor.
Gerald Inglesby (Kevin Magee) -- Gerald Inglesby is excited to be back onstage after a long hiatus. His most recent show was Hamlet, Act VI, in which he played Laertes for Colonial Players in its short play festival. In the past, he was in Flower Drum Song, Oklahoma!, and Carousel. Although his education is in environmental science and his past profession was in renewable energy, his full time job now is being Mr. Mom for his 3-year-old twins. So he’s forever grateful to his wife, Amy, for letting him out of the house for a few hours each week for some adult interaction!
Mary MacLeod (Lady Boyle) -- Mary is very excited to be back on stage at Colonial Players, where she was last seen as Lettice Douffet in Lettice and Lovage. Her other shows at CP include: Frozen as Nancy Shirley, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife as Marjorie Taub, as well as The Busie Body and Incorruptible. Mary has also appeared as Sister Aloysius in Dignity Players’ production of Doubt and other Dignity productions including The Diary of Anne Frank, The Crucible, and Stop/Kiss. Other favorite productions include A Saroyan Celebration (American Century Theater), A Comedy of Errors (Montgomery Playhouse), Who Will Carry the Word? (Jewish Repertory Theater), Round and Round the Garden (Northstar Productions), and Macbeth (Chevy Chase Players). She sends a big thank you to director Kristofer Kauff and the rest of the talented cast, as well as her husband, Alan, and her daughter, Carter, for all their patience and support.
Darius McCall (Franco Wicks) -- In his debut at The Colonial Players, deaf rapper Darius “Prinz-D The First Deaf Rapper” McCall takes to the stage as Franco. He is well respected as a newly minted actor at the Studio Theatre Conservatory in Washington DC. An experienced colleague admired McCall’s breakthrough end-of-semester performance as “Polo” in A Hatful of Rain and recommended him to director Kristofer Kauff to be cast in Superior Donuts. Audience members, including the Studio Theatre’s director, have been impressed with his work. McCall trained at the Studio Theatre Conservatory and contributes the ability to connect his role to the emotional memories tied to experiences in the past. “The best thing about theater is the ability to create a human spirit aside from my own,” he said.
Shirley Panek (Officer Randy Osteen) -- Shirley is excited to be back onstage at Colonial Players. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and Superior Donuts brings back the flavor of home. Shirley has spent more time backstage than onstage recently: lighting designer for Communicating Doors, Trying, Moonlight and Magnolias, and Chapter Two (2012 Washington Area Theatre Community Honors nominee); and stage manager/costume seamstress for 1776. But performing is still her favorite, and this show is no exception. Some favorite roles include Laura Warwick in The Unexpected Guest and Kaye in Dog Logic at Colonial Players. Other favorites include Grete in Sight Unseen (Dignity Players), Monica Welles in Rehearsal for Murder and Lucia Armory in Black Coffee (Bowie Community Theatre); Lucy in Dracula and Lois in Cahoots (Riverfront Playhouse); and Suzy Hendrix in Wait Until Dark (Tallahassee Little Theatre). Love to Drew, Emma, and Jeff. Thanks for all your love and support.
Timothy Sayles (Luther Flynn) — Tim has spent a lot of time on the Colonial Players stage in the past few years—as a fire-breathing liberal academic in the ideological drama Sunlight in 2012, as the cool and considerate John Dickinson in last year’s musical 1776, and most recently as Daddy Warbucks in the theater’s 2013 sellout production of Annie. On other local stages he’s played everything from Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof to British army sergeant Froggy LeSeuer in The Foreigner. Tim has been editor in chief of Chesapeake Bay Magazine since 1996 and lives in Annapolis. He has three grown children, two sweet grandchildren and two reasonably well behaved-cats.
The Production Staff
Jean Berard (Costume Coordinator) -- Jean has been hooked on theater since high school. While usually seen onstage, she is just as familiar with offstage duties. She designed (and made) all the costumes for several productions while serving as assistant director at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, IL, including The Wizard of Oz and Quilters. She also organized costumes for the Hearthside Dinner Theater group in Illinois for several years. She teaches at Severn School in Severna Park and plans to continue working with The Colonial Players for as long as they can put up with her.
Ben Cornwell (Sound Designer) -- Ben has been with CP since the 2000-01 season, when he operated the sound board for Of Mice and Men. Since then, he has designed sound for multiple shows including Frozen for Colonial Players, which earned him a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors nomination for best sound design. He considers CP to be his home away from home and is glad to be back amongst the best in community theater!
Brittany Rankin (Lighting Designer) -- Brittany has been involved with Colonial Players since 2011, when she had her first experience as an assistant stage manager for Little Women. Since then, she has worked on numerous productions in the tech booth and backstage including 1776; In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play; Communicating Doors; and Annie. This is her first show as a lighting designer. Her mentor, Jennifer Dustin, has been great in helping her learn the ins and outs of lighting a show. She would also like to thank the director, Kris Kauff, for letting her know exactly what he wanted in the show.
Theresa Riffle (Properties Designer) -- Theresa designed sound for Coyote on a Fence and was musical director for 1776, and is happy to be back at CP to try her hand at properties design. Her mantra for this show...”It’s time to fake the doughnuts.” Theresa has worked with several area theater companies in a variety of roles. She appeared onstage at CP in two performances of In the Next Room..., as well as Hauptmann, Kindertransport, and Romantic Comedy. Theresa is Secretary on the CP Board of Directors and a music teacher in Bethesda. She would like to thank Kris and Carol for letting her be a part of this production along with Beth and JoAnn for helping her learn the ropes as a properties designer. As always, a big thank you goes to Jem and Josh.
Beth Terranova (Stage Manager/Costume Coordinator) -- The prospect of working with an awesome director, cast, and crew on a great show brought Beth back to stage management after a several-year hiatus. But she has not been idle in between! Among other recent backstage credits at CP, she designed costumes for Coyote on a Fence, directed 1776, and earned Washington Area Theatre Community Honors nominations for costuming Going to St. Ives and Cinderella Waltz. A WATCH award-winning director (Hauptmann) and award-nominated actor (Two Rooms), Beth is Production Director on the CP Board of Directors, produces the News and Cues newsletter, and serves CP as a Costume Consultant/Wardrobe Curator, Bylaws Committee Member, and WATCH Judge. She is thankful to have a “happy place” at Colonial Players.
Carol Youmans (Producer) -- Carol has been an active member of Colonial Players for over 30 years, starting as a set painter and learning how to design lights and sound, working toward directing. Since 1985, she has directed many shows at Colonial Players. Among her favorites are In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play last season, Dog Logic, Macbeth, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Colonial Players, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Jim Gallagher at ASGT. Having served many times on the Board of Directors, she is currently Artistic Director, planning the new season between working on Annie (costumes) and Superior Donuts (set).
Coyote on a Fence: The Origin
edited from the original article published in The Independent (UK) Thursday, March, 25 2004
American playwright Bruce Graham can pinpoint the exact moment of conception of Coyote on a Fence. At home one day in 1997, he read a story in The Philadelphia Inquirer about James Beathard, a convicted killer and editor of the Texas Death Row Journal, a tabloid published by an anti-death-penalty group, in which Beathard wrote obituaries of his fellow inmates at the prison in Huntsville, Texas. The obituaries always looked for the positive and never referred to the men's crimes, Beathard told journalists. "Everyone, even your worst enemy," he said, "deserves some honor and respect after they die."
Graham had spent most of the previous two years working on film and TV scripts dominated by short scenes and had been looking for a story that would allow him to write long, uninterrupted stretches of dialogue. "So when I read about James Beathard trying to find something good to say about people that we all consider monsters, sometimes rightly so," he explains, "the drama of it just jumped out at me."
He wrote to Beathard, enclosing two earlier plays - Minor Demons, about a lawyer trying to win back his wife, and Moon over the Brewery, an upbeat family comedy - and by chance they got through the prison vetting system. "I used stationery from a theatre I was working in, and for some reason they thought I was a publisher. Publishers are allowed to send things to prisoners, but a stranger off the street, like me, can't."
The Huntsville authorities would not let Graham visit Beathard, who had already been on Death Row for more than 12 years, or speak to him on the phone, so letters were their only means of communication. "James was very wary because he'd been burnt in interviews before," Graham says, "and his first couple of letters were very formal." Gradually, Graham won Beathard's confidence, and their correspondence became more personal. Graham sent Beathard pictures of his four-year-old daughter, Kendall (the prisoner's response, "She's an absolute angel! How can you discipline someone with a face like that?", is featured in Coyote on a Fence), and Beathard revealed more about life behind bars and his own story:
In 1984, Beathard was unemployed and desperate to raise the cash he needed to fight a child-custody battle with his ex-wife. A friend, Gene Hathorn, duped him into taking part in a non-existent drug deal. While Beathard waited nearby, Hathorn shot dead his own father, stepmother and stepbrother. A complex series of plea bargains and double-crosses, with Beathard refusing to perjure himself to face a lesser charge, ended up with both men sentenced to death. When Hathorn subsequently retracted his false testimony, Beathard's conviction stood on a technicality: new evidence had to be introduced within 30 days of a trial, and that deadline had passed.
Such a clear-cut miscarriage of justice is perfect documentary material, and indeed Beathard's case attracted the attention of a BBC television team, but it lacks the moral ambiguity that fuels the best prison drama. So, once Graham felt that he had done sufficient background research on Death Row and had Beathard's voice in his head from the letters, the time came "to push those things out of the way, separate myself from the truth and play make-believe." He wanted "to make the audience feel repulsion and sympathy" for Death Row inmates, whereas Beathard inspired only the latter emotion.
In Coyote on a Fence, therefore, Beathard becomes John Brennan, a former prison drug-and-alcohol counsellor, sentenced to death for killing a drug dealer, and now penning obituaries for the Death Row Advocate. His next subject will be his new neighbor, Bobby Rayburn, an illiterate, anti-Semitic racist who has burnt to death 37 black churchgoers. The surrogate for Graham, whose wife and daughter are Jewish, is Samuel Fried, a Jewish New York Times reporter with a young daughter, who comes to interview Brennan. The play follows the months leading up to Rayburn's execution, and Graham switches between Brennan-Fried conversations, Brennan's increasingly paternal relationship with Rayburn and retrospective observations by a prison guard, Shawna, addressed to another, unseen journalist.
When Graham sent the script of Coyote on a Fence to Beathard, he received a card saying: "Great job. Reviews to follow."
Written by Bruce Graham
Directed by Edd Miller
Performance dates:
January 10 - 25, 2014
Run time: 1h 45m
Coyote On A Fence is a play about men on death row in a maximum security prison. Young Robert Alvin (Bobby) Reyburn, resigned to his execution for a hate crime, occupies a cell next to John Brennan, a seasoned veteran of many appeals, who writes and edits the prison newspaper, The Death Row Advocate. John writes obituaries of the executed. In the stories and exchanges between these distinct personalities, as well as their sardonic female guard, we are introduced to a world and people we may never have visited before.
Coyote on a Fence: The Origin, discusses the inspiration for the play and some of the research and correspondence that went into its writing.
About the Playwright
Bruce Graham is a native Pennsylvanian and a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania who teaches film and theater courses at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is the author of almost 40 scripts for the stage, movies, and television and has written episodes for television series and soap operas. The New York production of Coyote on a Fence won The Rosenthal Prize as well as two Drama Desk Nominations. It also was produced on London’s West End. His play Something Intangible won seven Barrymore awards, Philadelphia’s equivalent of the Tony Awards, in 2009. Graham has received grants from the Pew Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. He is a two-time winner of an Edgerton Foundation award for new plays.
About the Director
Coyote on a Fence is the 14th show Edd has directed at Colonial Players since he joined the Annapolis theater group in 1965. His most recent directing stint at CP was Going to St. Ives, which won awards for best play, best direction, and best lead actress in the 2012 Washington Area Theatre Community Honors competition. His first directing job for CP was The Apple Tree in 1971. Other directing credits here include I Never Sang for My Father, winner of the 1973 Ruby Griffith Award for best play presented by the British Embassy Players of Washington. Edd has appeared on stage in 12 plays at Colonial Players and has been set designer for many shows, including Coyote on a Fence and recent productions of Annie and In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. He also has acted in and directed plays at other community theaters in Maryland and Florida.
Edd thinks of Colonial Players as a second home. He thanks CP for the friendships of a lifetime, but most of all for bringing his late wife, Dolores, into his life. Edd is a retired interior designer and buyer for a large furniture company. He keeps busy as a standardized patient working with teaching hospitals in the Baltimore-Washington area.
Director's Notes
What is an ARC show? An opportunity!
An opportunity for you, the audience, to gain perspective and insight on a life situation not familiar to you. An opportunity to be moved or stimulated or provoked on a subject of significance. An opportunity to share a heightened awareness or a mind--expanding experience.
Theater is an art, and art, as defined in the Random House Dictionary, is: "The quality, production, or expression according to aesthetic principles of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” Colonial Players has always worked to entertain, amuse, intrigue, mystify, and even transport an audience to a fantasy world. With the addition of the ARC shows (two per season since 2009), we have had the opportunity to pay greater attention to the plays "of more than ordinary significance.”
Coyote on a Fence is an ARC show, the fourth one I have had the privilege to direct. I love delving into the backgrounds of the strong characters who inhabit these plays. I feel it is my job, my challenge, to ferret out everything I can, along with each actor, to create the human being that will grip the attention of an audience. To make the characters live as real people is a joy. You may not necessarily like them, but if we succeed, you will want to know about them. With any luck, you will talk about these people on the way home or even over dinner the next night. Their language may be different from what we deem acceptable, but it is how they express themselves. These are people outside our comfort zone. To be able to look into what makes them who or what they are is what holds our interest.
The ARC shows should start conversations or debates. Historically, art has often been the impetus of movements or protests or even revolution. I just hope that we can start a small controversy. I won't say enjoy the show, but please try to appreciate the characters and listen to what they have to say. We have been living with them for a few months, and although difficult and draining, they deserve to be heard.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Edd Miller
The Cast
Kecia A. Campbell (Shawna DuChamps) -- Coyote on a Fence is Kecia’s debut with The Colonial Players. She is pleased and honored to be a part of the talented cast and crew of this production. Kecia’s acting credits include Mrs. Mi Tzu in The Good Woman of Setzuan (Theatre Lab); Nurse O’Neil in The Sunshine Boys (Keegan Theater); Mrs. Botticelli in J.B., and Technician in Visit to a Small Planet (American Century Theater); Theater J/Theatre Lab Staged Reading Series: The Visit (School Master), The Balcony (Carmen), Six Characters In Search of an Author (Madame Pace, Young Actress), The Motor Show (Salesman); Queen Factor in Princess Problem It's Time to Wed (Studio Theatre/DC Black Theatre Festival); Elizabeth in The Old Settler (African Continuum Theatre); Mickey in The Odd Couple - The Female Version (PGLT); Michael in Daddy’s Girl (BCT); and Chorus in Lysistrata (Run of the Mill). Kecia has trained at Theatre Lab, Everyman Theater, and Shakespeare Theatre Company. She has an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and is the Director, Grants Administration for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. A special Thank You to Edd for the opportunity as well as to Lieutenant Humphries and Yolonda Evans at the Prince George’s County Detention Center for their guidance.
Eddie Hall (Bobbie Reyburn) -- Eddie is thrilled to return to Colonial Players in Coyote on a Fence. He made his CP debut as Ferris Layman in the 2011 production of The Diviners. When not on stage, Eddie enjoys directing and writing. His favorite directing gigs include Guys and Dolls, 13!, The Wedding Singer, The Wizard of Oz, Noises Off, and Steel Magnolias. In 2011, Eddie directed a version of Clue, which he adapted for the stage. Currently he serves as the drama director at Southern High School, where he will be directing 9 to 5 in the Spring. He is also Drama Director at Studio 180 Dance in Annapolis. “Bravo to Edd Miller for being a fantastic teacher and director.” Eddie would like to thank the hundreds of drama students he has been lucky enough to work with over the years who continue to inspire him to stay on stage, and the loving and supportive friends and family he loves dearly! Special shout outs to JM, ES, and SS. “Your contributions to the theater world continue to keep me in awe.” Enjoy the show!
Thom Sinn (John Brennan) -- Thom is a Baltimore-area actor who is making his debut with Colonial Players in Coyote on a Fence. Previous stage appearances include the role of Robert in Proof at Tidewater Players in Havre de Grace, a townsperson and a drunk in An Enemy of the People at Centerstage, Juror #7 in Twelve Angry Men and Harold in The Full Monty at Dundalk Community Theatre, The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland at Pumpkin Theatre, and Sam Byck in Assassins at Spotlighters Theatre in Baltimore. Oh, there are many more, but you get the idea. Thom also finds enjoyment in popping up on crime reenactment shows such as Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? and on supernatural investigation programs such as When Ghosts Attack. Most importantly, Thom enjoys the role of father and of husband. If you look closely, Thom’s daughter Naomi makes a cameo “appearance” in this production of Coyote on a Fence. Many thanks to Edd Miller for his quiet yet inspired direction, to Tom Wyatt and to Ms. Annie for their encouragement and insight, to Mom for teaching me the difference between right and wrong, and to my wife, Robin, for her patience, persistence, commitment…..and full-time employment!
Jeff Sprague (Sam Fried) -- Jeff is, as always, happy to be back at CP. Most recently, he appeared here as John Adams in 1776. He has done many other musicals and plays for the theater and won a 2007 Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for his role in Kindertransport. Jeff has additionally appeared in several productions with Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, Dignity Players of Annapolis, and Second Star Productions of Bowie. Some favorite all-time roles include the aforementioned John Adams, Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, Bruce in Blue/Orange, and various parts in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. By day, Jeff is an attorney for the federal government. He sends his thanks to the cast, crew, and production staff, and sends his love to his beautiful bride, Kathleen. "The profound moral question is not, 'Do they deserve to die?' but 'Do we deserve to kill them?' "--Sister Helen Prejean.
The Production Staff
Carl Andreasen (Sound Designer) -- Carl returns to Colonial Players after composing and performing music for CP’s award-winning production of Going to St. Ives in 2012. For Coyote on a Fence, he created a background sound track of noises and voices that underscores the scenes in the prison. Carl is a Chicago native who moved to Maryland in 1969 to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His involvement with community theater began at Belair (now Bowie) Community Theatre. He also worked with Colonial Players and Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. “It’s always a pleasure working with Edd Miller and watching how he pushes limits. One of my challenges this time is to use sound in ways that hint rather than being obvious.”
Lois Banscher (Properties Designer) -- How minor I feel entering my fifth season while Colonial Players is celebrating its 65th year! Each season may deliver a classic favorite such as Annie or thought-provoking, controversial dramas such as Coyote on a Fence; regardless of the topics, I jump in when asked with a big “YES” and work to solve whatever challenges are presented. But I’m always thinking props when I enter a resale store or antique shop or eye those country barns as I travel to the Shore during the summer months, thinking there must be some goodies in there for CP. I am pleased to work with this creative team once again, as well as the other volunteers on special projects throughout the “quiet” summer recess. It was an honor this past season to be recognized by the theater for my contributions to Colonial Players. Many thank yous to everyone.
Herb Elkin (Stage Manager) -- Herb’s most recent CP stage managing credits include Trying (2013), Going to St. Ives (2012), The Diviners (2011), Dog Logic (2010), The Lion in Winter (2010), Over My Dead Body (2009), Two Rooms (2009), and Enchanted April (2008). Prior to becoming active behind the scenes he appeared on stage in several CP and other area productions. Herb serves on CP's Finance Committee and works at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Frank A. Florentine (Lighting Designer) -- Frank’s background stretches over a wide array of lighting projects from ballet to museums to special events to show caves. He has designed lights at Colonial Players for 1776, Sunlight, and Chapter Two, which was nominated for best lighting design in the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors competition. Frank retired four years ago as lighting designer of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, where he was responsible for lighting all exhibitions in its facilities on the Mall in D.C. and near Dulles Airport. He has also designed the lighting for three show caves over the past ten years at Kartchner Caverns State Park in Arizona, Alabaster Caverns in Oklahoma, and Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Montana. Frank resides in the Annapolis area and has designed lighting for a sailboat in the Eastport Yacht Club's annual Christmas Parade of Lights for the last 21 years. Most recently, he designed the lighting for the 9/11 Memorial of Anne Arundel County. Frank worked in professional theater as a Production Manager, Stage Manager, and Associate Lighting Designer.
Theresa Riffle (Sound Designer) -- After serving as Musical Director for The Colonial Players production of 1776 earlier this year, Theresa is excited to design sound for Coyote on a Fence and to work with this fabulous production staff and cast. She has worked with several area theater companies in a variety of roles both on and off the stage. She was last seen on the CP stage as Annie in two performances of In the Next Room or the vibrator play. You also may have seen her as Anna Hauptmann in Hauptmann, Evelyn in Kindertransport, and Phoebe in Romantic Comedy. Theresa is Secretary on the Colonial Players Board of Directors and works as a music teacher in Bethesda. She would like to thank Edd for letting her be a part of this fantastic production and Wes for encouraging her to learn sound design and for agreeing to be her guru. As always, a big thank you goes to Jem and Josh for their boundless love and support.
Tom Stuckey (Producer) -- Tom is back as producer after filling the same role for Colonial Players’ enormously popular production of Annie that played to sold-out houses during November and December. He began his association with Colonial Players in 1969 as a member of the chorus in Carousel. After a few more appearances on stage, he realized he was more of a behind-the-scenes person. Tom has produced a number of plays at CP, including Going to St. Ives and Hauptmann, both of which won awards for best play and best direction as well as acting awards in the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors competition. He has served in several positions on the CP board, including president, and works frequently on set painting, hanging lights, and ushering. He compiles and edits programs for all plays and handles print media publicity as a member of the marketing team.
Beth Terranova (Costume Designer) -- Beth is pleased to be on her fourth costume outing with Edd Miller. Last year, as part of his team for the award-winning Going to St. Ives, Beth was received a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors nomination for costume design. She previously designed costumes for Edd’s productions of The Diviners and Moon Over Buffalo. Beth earned a second WATCH costume nomination last year for the quirky fairy tale Cinderella Waltz. Her costume designs have also been seen on the CP stage in Lettice and Lovage, The Lion in Winter, The Philadelphia Story, She Loves Me!, and Hauptmann. An award-winning director (Hauptmann), Beth most recently directed 1776 for Colonial Players. Other work behind the scenes at CP includes producer, stage manager, set designer, play consultant, and tech crew. Also an award-nominated actor (Two Rooms), Beth is Production Director on the CP Board of Directors, produces the News and Cues newsletter, and serves CP as a Costume Consultant/Wardrobe Curator, Bylaws Committee Member, and WATCH Judge.
Book by Thomas Meehan
Music by Charles Strouse
Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Directed by Joe Thompson
Performance dates:
Nov 8 - Dec 7, 2013
Run time: 2h 30m
Based on the Harold Gray comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” this heartwarming musical in two acts takes place in the beginning years of the 1930s which were some of the hardest years in American history due to many economic events -- the stock market crash; the Dust Bowl; the Great Depression. Americans needed hope and a reason to believe that things were going to get better, and a young red headed orphan name Annie showed that optimism could be contagious. With the help of the other girls in the Orphanage, Annie escapes to the wondrous and magical world of NYC. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan's evil machinations and befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She finds a new home and family in billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.
About the Annie Creative Team
Martin Charnin is an actor, composer, lyricist and director who conceived the idea of writing amusicalbasedonHaroldGray’s“LittleOrphan Annie.” He persuaded composer Charles Strouse and librettist Thomas Meehan to join his improbable quest to turn a comic strip about an orphan girl into a Broadway hit.
Charnin began his show business career as one of the Jets in the original production of West Side Story. He began writing lyrics during the run of the show, and his first composing partner was Mary Rogers. After 1,000 performances on Broadway plus a national tour of West Side Story, Charnin wrote music and lyrics for many Off-Broadway and cabaret revues, working with stars such as Julius Monk, Dionne Warwick, Mary Travers, and Leslie Uggams. He received one of his two Tony Award for his lyrics for Annie. He also has won seven Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, three Gold Records, two Platinum Records, six Drama Desk Awards, and a Peabody Award for Broadcasting.
Annie was Thomas Meehan’s first Broadway show, and it resulted in the first of his three Tony Awards for best book of a musical. He also won with collaborator Mel Brooks for The Producers and with collaborator Mark O’Donnell for Hairspray. Other Broadway writing credits include Young Frankenstein, Cry-Baby, Elf the Musical, Bombay Dreams, and I Remember Mama. In addition, Meehan is a long-time contributor of humor to The New Yorker and Emmy Award-winning writer of television comedy. He worked with Mel Brooks on motion picture scripts for Spaceballs and The Producers.
For half a century, Charles Strouse has been one of America’s most prolific composers, writing music that ranges from opera to “Those Were the Days,” the theme song that opened more than 200 episodes of the popular television series, All in the Family. He is the composer of more than 30 musicals, including 14 that played on Broadway. Among his musicals in addition to Annie are Bye, Bye Birdie, Golden Boy, Applause, and It’s A Bird... It’s A Plane... It’s Superman. Strouse composed film scores for movies such as Bonnie and Clyde and The Night They Raided Minsky’s. He is the winner of three Tony Awards and two Grammy Awards.
About the Director
Joe Thompson got his start at Colonial Players in 1968 when Tom Stuckey told him that CP’s production of Carousel needed more guys in the chorus. Since then he has done a bit of everything at the theater -- working backstage, acting, directing, serving on the board, playing in a show band, designing sound, and writing plays. He appeared in last season’s 1776 as McNair, congressional custodian, and also performed in Over My Dead Body and The Diviners. At Colonial Players, Joe directed Company (2011), The Battle of Shallowford (2006), Dearly Departed (2001), and A Christmas Carol (1999). In 2008, his production of Beauty and the Beast for Children’s Theatre of Annapolis was 1st runner- up for the British Players Ruby Griffith Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Musical. Other directing credits include Inspecting Carol (2008) for Bowie Community Theatre and Footloose (2002) for Annapolis High School. Joe has won awards for his music and his plays. His song “PU” was chosen best children’s song by the Songwriters’ Association of Washington. He also won first place in the children’s category in a national competition sponsored by Just Plain Folks Music Organization for “Pirates in the Bath.” Joe’s original songs written for Bowie Community Theatre’s production of Dearly Departed earned him a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for best sound design.
Director's Notes
Golly, I love this play. It has everything -- a plucky young heroine, catchy songs, dastardly villains, a dog, and a whole lot of love.
In this age of cynicism, Annie is a play that speaks to that very special part inside us that is still optimistic and has an innocent faith that even in the face of impossible odds, dreams can still come true and hope can be triumphant. We Americans have rarely faced a time as seemingly hopeless as the Great Depression. But somehow, we managed to overcome even that. Or at least our grandparents did. During the recent government shutdown, my cynical side doubted if we could still pull together regardless of our politics and solve our problems. But then my inner Annie spoke up. “Leaping lizards Joe, of course we can. That’s what this whole play is about. It’s not just about the 1930s. People of good faith always find a way.”
Okay. The truth is, I need my inner Annie. I think we all do.
One of the reasons I asked to direct this play was because of my own personal family history, which in some ways is similar to Annie’s -- complete with songs, of course, but no choreography. (Too bad. I might be a better dancer if only. . .) The other reason was, I love to see children excited and happy. Heck, I like to see grown ups excited and happy. Annie, the musical, makes people feel good. There is nothing wrong with that. I also thought that The Colonial Players stage with its intimate arena space would allow us to see the characters close-up and personal, providing a different perspective on the show. As I write this, the show hasn’t opened yet, but from what I see so far, I think I was right.
I have to end by pointing out what is extremely obvious to anyone involved in theater. It is always a group effort -- but especially when I direct. There are so many talented people involved In a show like this, and I try to be guided by the plethora of imaginative spirits that surround me. Thank you to all who have designed, produced, stage managed, crewed, teched, built, music directed, choreographed, performed or edited video. Thank you as well to the parents who have allowed me to borrow their talented kids till late in the evening. A special thank you has to go to my assistant director Sandy, who has worn a zillion hats on this production. (Sandy do you have the figures on the exact number of hats?)
So I guess the moral is “the sun will come out tomorrow,” but what tomorrow looks like depends on what we all pull together and build. Call me naive if you want to, but Annie and I don’t mind at all.
~Joe Thompson
About the Music Director
Roger Compton is serving as musical director for his second show at Colonial Players since returning to Maryland from Glen Cove, NY, where he was academic dean of one of America’s best kept college secrets, Webb Institute of Naval Architecture. Last year, Roger was musical director and his wife, Jill, was director of A Christmas Carol. The couple met when they appeared in CP’s inaugural production of the beloved Christmas story and performed in the show 15 times before moving away from Annapolis. While in New York, Roger celebrated his love of musical theater by founding the Webb Family Singers -- a mixed chorus of students and staff numbering as many as 30 singers from a total student body of about 80. He also handled music for two shows directed by Jill. Roger sings with the Annapolis Chorale and, with Jill, has founded a community chorus in Prospect Bay, where they reside and enjoy boating on the Chesapeake Bay and golfing.
About the Choreographer
Natasha Joyce is thrilled to be back for her second Colonial Players production, having choreographed Company in 2011. She was trained at the Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Design in Motion Studio, Annapolis High School Senior Dance Company, and the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Natasha recently returned from a semester at the University of Ghana, Accra, where she learned Ghanaian traditional dance. She is currently studying for her B.A. in Theatre and Voice at the University of Maryland College Park.
The Cast
Tom Bethards (Mr. Bundles / Cordell Hull / Ensemble) -- Tom is thrilled to return to Colonial Players for this production. You last saw him as Mr. Morris in 1776. He has made many appearances with the Washington Revels, including the past four May Revels. While not making a fool of himself onstage, he enjoys studying jazz piano, jazz singing, folk singing, cooking, and the outdoors. He would like to thank Joe for casting him, Sandy for all of her great advice, and his fellow cast members, friends, family, and everybody at Colonial for their support.
Lizzy Dixon (Annette / Ensemble) -- Lizzy is a freshman at Annapolis High School, where she was cast as Mary in the fall production of Pride and Prejudice. She is absolutely thrilled to be a part of this amazing cast for her first performance with Colonial Players. She was most recently seen as Charlotte in 13 the Musical at Studio 180. In the rare moments when she’s not acting or singing, Lizzy loves yoga, fashion, film, and art. She would like to thank all of the people who made this possible, including her family for listening to her constant singing, the amazing directors, and Corinne for supporting her through everything. “Enjoy the show, everybody!”
Annalie Ellis (Pepper) -- An accomplished actor, singer, and dancer, Annalie has been performing non-stop for the past three years. Most notably, Annalie played Helen Keller in the professional production of The Miracle Worker at Compass Rose Theater in Annapolis. Other roles and productions include Once On This Island (Erzulie), Lil’ Abner (Scragg), and holiday shows with The Talent Machine Company. She also appeared in The Little Mermaid (Princess) with Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. Annalie also has several on-camera credits including Nickelodeon, Investigation Discovery, School Court TV (Champion Season 2), and commercial work. Annalie dances at Stageworkz Theater Arts Studio and is a member of their performance group, Starworkz. In addition to theater, Annalie loves to sing current music, play piano, and is learning guitar. Annalie would to thank Joe and all of the production staff at Colonial Players, Ms. Aly and Ms. Cyndi for their guidance and encouragement, and her family and friends for their support.
Daphne Eckman (Annie) -- A home-schooled sixth grader, Daphne is thrilled to be performing in her first show with Colonial Players. Daphne’s previous stage experience has been with the Annapolis Musical Theatre Co., where she was featured in Seussical as Gertrude McFuzz, Oliver! as The Artful Dodger, and Into the Woods as Little Red Riding Hood. Besides singing and theater, Daphne loves to produce stop-motion videos, play the piano, and study Latin, too! “I’d like to thank my friends and family for their support, and also a special thanks to my awesome voice teacher, Priscilla Smith, for always challenging me and reminding me that I‘m never fully dressed without a smile.”
Georgia Eckman (Kate) -- A lively home-schooled fourth grader, Georgia is very excited to be in her first production with Colonial Players. Georgia has been in various shows with the Annapolis Musical Theater Company at Maryland Hall such as Into the Woods, Seussical, and Oliver! In her free time she especially enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, but also finds time to write stories and play the piano. “Thank you to my voice and musical theater teacher, Priscilla Smith, for encouraging me, and to my family and friends for coming out and supporting me. Leapin’ Lizards!”
Rick Estberg (Bert Healy / Harold Ickes / Ensemble) -- Maybe having multiple personalities is not all bad, as Rick demonstrates by playing numerous roles in this show. He’s thrilled to be back with CP, having first appeared in its recent production of 1776. In earlier days he performed in several shows with the Pasadena Theatre Company. His favorite roles include King Pellinore in Camelot, Uncle Billy in It’s A Wonderful Life, and any and all ghosts in A Christmas Carol. He recently completed a four-year assignment with the Defense Department at NATO in Belgium. While there, he helped direct an American middle school production of The Canterbury Tales, playing Chaucer as the oldest member of the cast...by 40 years. Rick extends great thanks to Joe and his crew for giving him this marvelous opportunity, and humblest apologies to anyone and everyone who helped him to attempt to “dance” in this show.
Rebecca Feibel (Miss Hannigan) -- Rebecca is thrilled to return to the Colonial Players’ stage as Miss Hannigan. Rebecca is president of West Arundel Creative Arts and a mom to two awesome redheads. Favorite roles include Morgan LeFey in Camelot and Aunt Eller in Oklahoma (both at 2nd Star Productions), Matron Wick/Royal Lady in The Christmas Doll (Colonial Players), and Sonia in Godspell (ASGT). It’s been a pleasure working with my “little girls” in Annie. Big thanks to the entire production team, especially our fearless leaders: Joe, Sandy, and Roger.
Anna Grace Keller (Duffy) -- Anna Grace began her acting training at birth and has been fine tuning her skill set for years. Anna Grace was just 5 years old when she appeared in her first musical, School House Rock. The cast consisted of all sixth graders except for Anna Grace. Throughout elementary school, she continued acting and appearing in musical performances, including Annie JR and Mulan JR. She is an accomplished pianist and flutist. Anna Grace enjoys playing goalie for her field hockey team and is an avid skier. She would like to thank her family and friends for their support.
Tami Howie (Boylan Sister / Cecile / Perkins / Ensemble) -- Tami is thrilled to be back on the stage again. She is a corporate lawyer and lives in Crofton. Tami’s stage credits include Annie, Oliver and various shows at Kings Dominion. She currently is the lead singer in the band Better Off Red and is the acting coach for two award-winning Destination Imagination teams. Tami thanks Walter, Richie, Catherine, and Johnny their support and directors Joe Thompson and Sandra Rardon for giving her this opportunity.
Rachel Kalafos (July) -- Rachel is in the eighth grade at Severna Park Middle School. She is very excited about her first Colonial Players production. Her theater include Charlie in Willy Wonka JR and Belle in Beauty and the Beast JR at Jones Elementary School. Her roles at AACC Kids in College include Sharpay in High School Musical, Marty in Grease, Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and Wendy in Peter Pan. She has also participated in the SPMS shows Seussical and School House Rock Live. Rachel is an accomplished pianist and stays busy in soccer and summer swimming and diving. Rachel is excited about her third year in Pop Choir at SPMS.
Sarah Kalafos (Tessie) -- While this is Sarah’s debut with Colonial Players, she is very excited to work with director Joe Thompson again. She is in the sixth grade at Severna Park Middle School and loves the theater and all things musical. She has appeared at Jones Elementary School as Rooster in Annie JR and Mushu in Mulan JR. In addition, she has been active in AACC Kids in College Summer Theater, where her roles include Jaycee Squires in The Music Man, Charlie in Willy Wonka, and an ugly stepsister in Cinderella. Sarah stays busy in soccer, summer diving and Pop Choir at Severna Park Middle School. She would like to thank the cast and crew at The Colonial Players for making all this possible.
Vivien Kaplan (Molly) -- Six-year-old Vivien has had a passion for musicals since discovering Singin’ in the Rain when she was 2. She has been performing with Annapolis Musical Theatre Co. since age 4 and has also performed at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. She currently attends the lower elementary program at Montessori International Children’s House. She loves reading, singing, dancing, and making videos. She loves watching classic movies with her mom, especially silent film comedies and Busby Berkeley musicals. She is very excited to be a part of the Annie cast and thanks the directors for choosing her to be Molly!
Charlize "Char" Lefler (Molly) -- A fourth-grade student at Shipley’s Choice Elementary School, Charlize is so excited to be performing in Annie, her first Colonial Players production. This past summer she appeared in The Talent Machine’s production of Once on this Island. Charlize has studied voice at the Priddy Music Academy, where she is currently a lead singer in two rock bands, Gray Skies and Mistaken Identity. She also performs at various venues across Maryland and competes with her bands at The Priddy Battle of the Bands competition. In addition to her absolute love of singing, Charlize enjoys tap dancing, playing the violin, art, and reading. “I would like to thank all of my teachers, directors, family, and friends for their support. I have learned so much from all of you. Thank you for supporting my dream to be in musical theater. Performing is what I love to do!”
Alessandra "Sandra" Lopez (Tessie) -- Alessandra is so excited to be in her first show with Colonial Players! Sandra is a seventh grader at Bates Middle School, where she is focusing on vocal studies in their Performing and Visual Arts program (PVA). She is also starting her first year in Children’s Theatre of Annapolis’ traveling theater troupe, Second Stage! At CTA, Sandra has been cast as Baby Bear in their upcoming production of Shrek the Musical. Past shows include Les Miserables (Columbia Conservatory for the Theatrical Arts) and South Pacific (United States Naval Academy).
Isabella "Bella" Lopez (Duffy) -- Isabella is thrilled to be in her first production with Colonial Players! Bella is in the ninth grade at Broadneck High School, where she is extremely active with the Drama Club. Most of her free time is spent at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis (CTA), where she has been a member of their traveling theater group, Second Stage, since its inception last year. Bella is currently in rehearsals for their upcoming production of Shrek the Musical, portraying the roles of Peter Pan and the exploding bird! Past shows have included Les Miserables (Columbia Conservatory for the Theatrical Arts), The Little Mermaid (CTA), and Annie (CTA).
Stevie Mangum (Rooster Hannigan / Ensemble) -- A college senior pursuing his B.A. in Theatre at UMBC, Stevie is thrilled to be finally portraying the smarmy con artist in his Colonial Players debut. He first auditioned for Rooster in his elementary school production of Annie JR, but was heart-broken when cast instead as Daddy Warbucks. Recently you may have “seen” him as a puppeteer of Audrey II in 2nd Star Productions’ Little Shop of Horrors. Favorite roles include Motel in Fiddler on the Roof, Prez in The Pajama Game, Nick Piazza in Fame, and Charlie Cowell in The Music Man. Additionally, Stevie portrays a very rewarding role through Tiffany Shannon Productions as assistant instructor in the musical theater workshop program at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. Stevie would like to thank Joe, Sandy, and Roger for this marvelous opportunity, the cast and crew for being so welcoming, and his family for giving him another chance to live the dream.
Rob Meek (Lt. Ward / Howe / Judge Brandeis / Ensemble) -- Rob, in his acting debut, is joining his daughters Yasmeen and Zarah in the Colonial Players production of Annie. Rob is a physician practicing otolaryngology in Annapolis. He specializes in voice and sinus disorders. He frequently treats singers and actors for voice disorders when they are unable to perform. Rob comes from a musical background. He studied as a classical pianist through high school, played in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and has played and sung in multiple bands. “I would like to thank my acting and voice coaches, Yasmeen and Zarah Meek.”
Yasmeen Meek (Radio Sound Effects / Ensemble) -- This is Yasmeen’s first time performing at Colonial Players, and she is thrilled to participate in their production of Annie. She is in the eighth grade at Severn School. Yasmeen was introduced to musical theater in elementary school. At Chesapeake Academy, she performed in Geppetto and Son and Anastasia. Her other acting experience includes The Witches at CTA, Hansel and Gretel with the Washington National Opera, and Peter Pan with the AACC Theater Program. Yasmeen’s hobbies include lacrosse, piano, skiing, and, of course, musical theater. “I would like to thank Beverly Van Joolen for introducing me to the theater world, Ryan Shookman and Polly Parr for honing my musical and vocal skills, and the cast and directors of Annie for making it such a fun show!”
Zarah Meek (July) -- Zarah is excited to be part of the Colonial Players production of Annie. She is a fifth grade student at Severn Lower School. Zarah has starred in her school’s production of Jungle Book, AACC’s Theater Program’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Seussical at Maryland Hall. Zarah enjoys lacrosse, singing, skiing, and reading. “I would like to thank Beverly van Joolen for introducing me to theater, Ryan Shookman and Polly Parr for coaching me in voice and piano, and the cast and directors of Annie for making it such a fun show!”
Kaelynn Miller (Grace Farrell) -- Fresh off producing Communicating Doors, Kaelynn is delighted to get back to singing and dancing in her favorite pair of shoes. She has been involved in many productions over the last five years, both on the stage and off in a variety of roles, from actor to smushed banana cleaner to set painter to last-minute button sewer to usher to costume designer. Kaelynn currently serves as Treasurer on The Colonial Players Board of Directors. To pay her pesky bills, she works in the music industry as a customer service representative for an instrumental accessory distributor, where some days she actually gets to use her bachelor’s degree in music. Kaelynn sends love and thanks to her friends and family for their lifelong support, especially to Wes, for sharing and dragging her back into this wonderful, completely crazy world of theater all those years ago.
Natalie Nankervis (Boylan Sister / Ensemble) -- Natalie is appearing in her first Colonial Players Production. She is a sophomore at St. Mary’s High School and has appeared in productions of Almost, Maine (Ginette) and The Wizard of Oz (Core Dancer). Natalie is a member of St. Mary’s a capella ensemble, Nothing But Treble. She would like to thank Mr. Martelli and Mrs. Ruttum for giving her the courage to branch out. Also, Natalie would like to dedicate this performance to Monique because she told her to, to Simone because she’s magnificent, and to MK because she buys her Starbucks. “Love you Mom and Dad!”
Catherine Osikowicz (Kate) -- Catherine is an active 4th grader at Nantucket Elementary School and is extremely proud to be joining the cast of Annie. Earlier this year Catherine performed Annie with the Pasadena Theatre Company. She enjoys singing, dancing, and acting and has appeared in dance recitals at SBE dance and summer camp productions at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. Catherine was named a Maryland State Champion with her Destination Imagination acting team this year and placed in the top 20 in the world at the global competition. Catherine also enjoys playing lacrosse and swimming and is currently learning to play the saxophone. Catherine thanks her family for their support and directors Joe Thompson and Sandra Rardon for giving her this opportunity.
Maddie Poole (Lily St. Regis / Ensemble) -- Maddie is a senior at Broadneck High School. This is her first time to perform with Colonial Players, and she’s honored to be a part of this amazing cast. She’s previously performed with Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, Broadneck High School, Merely Players, Annapolis Opera, and the Talent Machine Company. She thanks Joe Thompson for being such a great director and giving her this opportunity, the entire artistic and production staff, Stevie for making this so much fun, and everyone who has helped make this show a success. Maddie also thanks her family for all of their support, and her wonderful voice teacher, Ms. Deborah Brown. “Thank YOU for coming, and happy holidays.”
Lisa Rodvien (Mrs. Greer / Boylan Sister / Ensemble) -- Lisa is happy to be returning to the musical theater stage aftera decade-plus-long hiatus. Her professional musical theater career began in the early 1980s with, among others, Annie. Over the years she has sung and danced as Hope Harcourt in Anything Goes, Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street, Maggie in A Chorus Line, and many other cherished roles. In her free time, she teaches choral music and global music at MacArthur Middle School. An avid ukulele player, she loves any and all things Hawaiian, and in recent years has begun learning the dance form and art of hula. She wants to thank her family and friends for supporting her return to the theater and her wonderful new pals at Colonial Players for being such a welcoming band of thespians.
Timothy Sales (Daddy Warbucks) -- Tim has spent a lot of time on the Colonial Players stage in the past few years—as a Chicago wiseguy in Earth and Sky, a fire-breathing academic in the ideological drama Sunlight, and, most recently, a cool and considerate John Dickinson in the musical 1776. On other local stages he’s played everything from Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof to British army sergeant Froggy LeSeuer in The Foreigner. He is thrilled to be part of Annie and cannot find the words to properly thank Joe and Sandy for trusting him with such a marvelous role. “Break legs, my wonderful, talented cast mates! Daphne, I’m sorry I can’t actually adopt you--your mom and dad won’t hear of it, though Georgia thought it was a pretty good idea.” Tim has been editor in chief of Chesapeake Bay Magazine since 1996 and lives in Annapolis. He has three grown children, two sweet grandchildren and two reasonably well behaved cats.
Eric Small (Franklin D. Roosevelt / Ensemble) -- Eric is excited to perform with The Colonial Players for the first time. He began acting in 2011. Memorable shows are One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Unnecessary Farce. Eric directed the play Murder Can Be Habit Forming. He also acts on TV for Investigation Discovery. He enjoys Renaissance and Pirate Festivals. Eric thanks Kate and Brandon for their love and support.
Katherine Small (Mrs. Pugh / Sophie / Ensemble) -- Kate takes pleasure in her first production with Colonial Players. She was bitten by the theater bug at age 10 when she was cast in her first Shakespeare play. Since then, she has been in many productions for the screen and stage, most recently working in productions for Discovery Channel: “House of Cards,” “A Christmas Carol 2.0,” and “Be My Baby.” Through the years she has also done many behind-the-scenes jobs including production design, directing, stage managing, costuming, makeup, lights, and sound. She hopes you enjoy this program as much as she has enjoyed being a part of it. 831 egs. You make it all possible.
Sarah Wade (Star to Be / Ensemble) -- Sarah most recently appeared as Jessica in Communicating Doors at Colonial Players. Before that, she was seen in CP’s Taking Steps as Kitty and as the Charwoman in A Christmas Carol. She also played Bet in Oliver! at the Compass Rose Studio Theater, as well as sound designing their productions of The Miracle Worker and To Kill a Mockingbird. Other credits include Lola Heart in the Benevolent Man’s Society’s Blank Spaces and Ionesco in The Shepherd’s Chameleon and the Girl in Starcrossed for the festival of short plays at Colonial Players. She thanks her family and friends for their endless patience and love because, “I can’t tonight, I have rehearsal!”
Camille White (Pepper) -- Camille is ecstatic to be working at Colonial Players for the first time. She also will appear as Young Fiona in Shrek in January at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, where she has been in eight shows including The Little Mermaid as Scuttle and Alice in Wonderland as Tweedle Dum. In her free time she enjoys dancing and talking. She would like to shout out to the orphans in this cast for being great friends. Thanks to the directors and everyone who helped out. Have a great show!!
Ed Wintermute (Drake / Ensemble) -- Annie is one of Ed’s favorite shows. He has appeared in two previous versions, as Warbucks at ASGT and multiple small roles (Bundles, Lt. Ward, Butler, etc.) at Burn Brae Dinner Theatre. At Colonial Players, Ed has appeared in every production but one of the popular musical, A Christmas Carol. He has also performed recently at CP as Uncle Willie in A Philadelphia Story and as Mr. Laurence in Little Women.
The Production Staff
Terry Averill (Lighting Designer) -- Terry is active in many areas at Colonial Players including acting, directing, and designing lights and sets. He won the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for his lighting of Earth and Sky in 2010. Most recently, he designed the complex set for our previous show, Communicating Doors. He also designed sets for Kindertransport and Earth and Sky and worked with Edd Miller on set design for I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which he also directed. Other directing credits at Colonial Players include Romantic Comedy, Sunlight, and Kindertransport. Terry is an architect and is in his second term as president of Colonial Players.
Wes Bedsworth (Sound Designer / Technician) -- Wes has been involved with more than 30 different productions at Colonial Players since he joined CP in 2007. He won the 2010 Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for outstanding sound design for Earth and Sky and has been nominated for best sound design for Hauptmann, Kindertransport, and The Diviners. Wes serves as Operations Director on the CP Board, Technical Director on the Production Team, and as one of the CP Webmasters. He works as a senior systems engineer in Washington, D.C, and also sings in two choirs at his church. Wes would like to thank his parents, sister Susan, and girlfriend Kaelynn for their love and support.
Susie Collins (Stage Manager) -- Susie perceives the backstage life as being part of a team within a team. The backstage crew lives a parallel life that swirls around the players and the audience. Together, everyone involved in the show creates a sort of seismic wave of creativity that lives for a few hours, then subsides back onto the shores of everyday life. She wishes to thank the following for inviting her along for the jaunt: Colonial Players, Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, the Annapolis High School Drama Club, and, most recently, Marley Elementary School, where together with her husband, Joe Thompson, she has created a drama club called Marley Players. Twenty-four very lively kids, 8 to 11 years old, transforming a school cafeteria into a place of creativity and joy. Talk about a tidal wave!
Edd Miller (Set Designer) -- Edd has been designing sets for many years for Colonial Players, including sets last season for Sunlight; In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play; and Taking Steps. He also has acted in and directed many shows since joining CP in 1964. Edd won the 2012 Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for best direction of a play for Going to St. Ives, which also won awards for best play among the 83 plays judged and for best lead actress. Edd also was nominated for a WATCH award for best set decoration for his work on last season’s production of Chapter Two.
Sandra Rardon (Assistant Director) -- Sandra’s previous experience at Colonial Players has been on the stage with appearances as Abigail Adams in 1776 last spring and as Shelby Thorpe in 2012 in The Spitfire Grill. Some of her other favorite roles include Diana in Lend Me A Tenor (2011) with Pasadena Theatre Company, Songs For A New World (2011) with Dignity Players, and, with Timonium Dinner Theatre, Miss Sandra in All Shook Up (2009), Vi Moore in Footloose (2009), and Maria in The Sound of Music (2006). Sandra also appeared in the U.S. premiere of Girlfriends by Howard Goodall (2003). In addition, her voice may be heard on The Music Man JR. soundtrack produced by Music Theatre International, and on the original U.S. cast recording of Girlfriends.
Constance Robinson (Properties Designer) -- Connie recently worked as the properties designer for the Colonial Players’ Victorian- period production of In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play. She previously worked as props assistant to JoAnn Gidos at CP, and will be the properties designer for Dignity Players’ production of Collected Stories next January. Connie also volunteered as the marketing assistant and graphic designer for Colonial Players for 2003-05, designing newspaper ads, rack cards for advertising, and a CP patron survey card. Connie has enjoyed finding props for Annie that are appropriate for the 1930s. Always a challenge! She thanks her husband, John, for helping to modify props and for his on-going patience.
Tom Stuckey (Producer) -- Tom began his association with Colonial Players in 1969 as a member of the chorus in Carousel. After a few more appearances on stage, he realized he was more of a behind-the-scenes person. Tom has produced a number of plays at CP, including Going to St. Ives and Hauptmann, both of which won awards for best play and best direction as well as acting awards in the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors competition. He has served in several positions on the CP board, including president, and works frequently on set painting, hanging lights, and ushering. He edits programs and handles print media publicity as a member of the marketing team.
Carol Youmans (Costume Designer) -- Carol has been an active member of Colonial Players for over 30 years, starting as a set painter and learning how to design lights and sound and working toward directing. Since 1985, she has directed many shows at Colonial Players. Among her favorites are In The Next Room, Dog Logic, Macbeth, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at CP, and, with Jim Gallagher, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. Having served many times on the Board of Directors, she is currently Artistic Director. Costuming has been a design component she has always enjoyed guiding as a director. It’s fun to have been able to design costumes for Annie without having to direct! Thanks to all the seamstresses!
Written by Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by
Michelle Harmon Bruno
Performance dates:
Sept 20 - Oct 12, 2013
Run Time: 2h 45m
CP opens its 65th season with an intriguing comic mystery by Britain’s master of farce, Alan Ayckbourn. The action takes place in the same suite of hotel rooms in 2014, 1994, and 1974. A young woman, a timid professional dominatrix, inadvertently redirects her fate when an old man begs her to be a witness and courier. She must sign and deliver his confession of terrible past deeds - the murders of his first and second wives among them - to his lawyers before he dies. Attacked by his menacing partner, she escapes into a hidden room in the suite and amazingly emerges into the same rooms 20 years before. There she meets the second wife, Ruella. As the women struggle to understand what has happened and what will happen if they cannot stop the events of the confession, Ruella abruptly time-travels back to the suite 20 years before, accidentally interrupting the first wife, Jessica, on her honeymoon. Sound confusing? In Ayckbourn’s hands, the twisting plot is spiced with comedy and at the end, a heart-warming turn that will leave you smiling, wondering, and happy.
About the Playwright
Colonial Players ended the 2012-13 season with the highly entertaining production of Taking Steps, and now we begin a new season with another play by Alan Ayckbourn, one of the world’s most successful and prolific modern playwrights. He wrote his first full-length play in 1959 and completed his 77th play this year. In between, Ayckbourn’s fertile imagination produced such hit plays as How the Other Half Loves, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, and Bedroom Farce. Ayckbourn’s theatrical home, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, England, is, like Colonial Players, an arena theater, making his plays especially suitable for our space. Most of his plays have their premiere in Scarborough and then move on to the West End, London’s equivalent of Broadway. For more than 30 years, at least one of his works has been in production at a West End theater. Ayckbourn is considered a master of comedy with an emphasis on farce, a genre noted for mistaken identities, quick exits and entrances, confusing situations, and slamming doors. Ayckbourn’s awards are numerous. In 2010, he was honored with a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater. He won two Tony awards for writing and directing Bedroom Farce in 1979 and collected six other American awards for writing or directing five other plays. In England, he won 10 Oliviers for his writing and one for direction.
About the Director
Michelle Bruno is thrilled to be directing again at Colonial Players! Directing credits include Inventing van Gogh at CP, School House Rock at Red Branch Theatre and direction/music direction with The Drama Learning Center’s school program in Columbia, MD. At home both on and off the stage, Michelle lists as some of her more memorable roles a WATCH-nominated role as Armelia in Ain’t Misbehavin’ with Elden Street Players, as Mama Euralie in Once on This Island with Red Branch Theatre, and as Hattie in Kiss Me Kate at Colonial Players. She is staggered by the talent that has been evident from the first day of auditions. Michelle thanks everyone involved with this production for their professionalism, which made this a great experience. Everyone’s flexibility from the cast to the crew to the production staff helped to create this fantastic endeavor. This was one of the most memorable theater moments that Michelle has ever had. Last, but definitely not least, she also thanks her family and friends for their unending support. Special love to her husband, Ron Bruno, for all that he is and does.
Director's Notes
Communicating Doors is a thrilling time-travel ride that includes redemption, humor, and suspense. Alan Ayckbourn gave us a brilliant play that, while complicated in the delivery, delivers a simple message of hope and perseverance. As the play begins in 2014 in war-ravaged London, we meet Poopay, “a certified sex specialist.” She is called to an appointment with Reece Welles at the Regal Hotel, an appointment that will change everything. As this appointment goes from bad to worse, Poopay ends up fighting for her life. She unintentionally travels back in time, finding herself face to face with other characters who will be a part of a murderous plot that plays out over 40 years. As the story wound down to its unforgettable end, I was left with a thought. There are unlimited possibilities. Unlimited potential. Every day we come to a fork in the road, and while it may not seem significant, we make choices that define and shape our lives. This understanding of the potential that exists every day is monumental. Our production’s process was amazing. From the crew to the cast, they all poured their heart and soul into this project. I hope that you feel this heart as the show plays out. I’m hoping that the fork you take in the road exposes your own unlimited potential.
~Michelle Bruno
The Cast
Nick Beschen (Harold) -- Nick is excited to have another opportunity to work with such a talented cast in Colonial Players’ production of Communicating Doors. Nick’s most recent roles include Dr. Lyman Hall in CP’s 1776 and multiple roles in Dignity Players’ Almost Maine. Among Nick’s favorite roles have been Bobby in Run for Your Wife and Horatio in Hamlet with Pasadena Theatre. When not on stage, Nick runs his own home improvement business in Annapolis. Nick would like to thank Leigh for all her love and support!! Enjoy the show.
Dave Carter (Julian) -- Communicating Doors is Dave’s second project with Colonial Players, but this time he emerges from behind the scenes to appear on stage after a long hiatus from acting. He was stage manager for the June production of Taking Steps, his first experience with Colonial Players, and he is extremely excited to be back as a player. Most of his theater experience was on the West Coast, where he was involved with shows such as Lend Me a Tenor, Oedipus, and Our Country’s Good. His training began with Citrus College and extended to The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Dave feels that most of what he brings to the stage comes from the people he has worked with in the theater as well as the great thing we call Life.
Jeff Mocho (Reece) -- Jeff is thrilled to to return to Colonial Players after appearing as the unexpected guest in 2010’s The Unexpected Guest, when he met and fell in love with the leading lady, Shirley Panek. Recently he played Brad, a plain man with A Devil Inside; a Nazi in a film called Madeline; a bully stepfather, Toobie; and a card-carrying Klansman cop in In the Heat of the Night. Despite all this he swears he isn’t being typecast. Thanks to Shirley, Drew, and Emma for being your fantastic selves and putting up with Mr. Jeff’s eccentricities. Lots of love to Mom and Dad, who I know would be here if they possibly could.
Lilian Oben (Ruella) -- Communicating Doors is Lilian’s first production with Colonial Players, and she is humbled to be a part of such a talented, committed, and welcoming cast and community. A corporate and legal marketing communications professional by trade and an avid painter, photographer, and writer of short womanist fiction when time allows, Lilian is enjoying rediscovering a passion for theater that was first ignited during her boarding school years in England, Wales, and Kenya. She is thankful to find this passion undiminished - despite the interruptions of “grown-up” responsibilities and global relocations - in the adult world. Lilian’s theater experience includes roles such as The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could in The Vagina Monologues, Calpurnia in To Kill A Mockingbird, Mademoiselle/Ms. Granville in Daisy Pulls It Off!, and even a stint as Willy Wonka in a production of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Her professional training includes study at The Barrow Group, New York, and The Studio Theater Acting Conservatory, Washington, D.C. When she isn’t acting or fighting writer’s block, Lilian is also a volunteer peer counselor at Whitman- Walker Health in Washington.
Sarah Wade (Jessica) -- Sarah returns to the Colonial Players stage after performing the role of Kitty in last June’s Taking Steps, another Alan Acykbourn comedy. She appeared as Lola Heart in the Benevolent Man Society’s production of Blank Spaces. Prior to that, she was the Charwoman in CP’s 2012 production of A Christmas Carol and appeared in the Bits ‘n Pieces festival of short plays as Ionesco in The Shepherd’s Chameleon and as the Girl in Starcrossed. Sarah played the roles of Bet and the Widow Sowerberry in Compass Rose Theater’s production of Oliver! and worked as sound designer for The Miracle Worker and To Kill a Mockingbird for Compass Rose. “Much love to my family and friends for understanding that I can’t tonight, I have rehearsal.”
Pamela Woodward (Poopay) -- Pamela is so excited to make her way back to the stage as a part of the team here at Colonial Players! Prior to her four year “retirement’” (during which she became a chiropractor), Pam was involved in theater at La Salle University in such roles as Abby Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, The Witch in Into the Woods, and Hope Cladwell in Urinetown: The Musical. She is so honored to be working with such a talented cast and crew as she shakes off the cobwebs. “You all are amazingly talented, and I am so grateful for your patience and support as I tripped, stumbled and rolled (purposely or not) across the stage.” When she’s not on stage, Pam loves working with her patients, being back in the Mid-Atlantic area, and assembling Ikea furniture. She would like to thank especially Beth Terranova for making auditions less of an option and more of a requirement, her family and friends for traveling farther than usual to see her as another dominatrix (“just trying to make you proud, Dad!”), and, of course, Patrick. Now on to our next production: the wedding!
The Production Staff
Terry Averill (Set Designer) -- Terry is active in many areas at Colonial Players including acting, directing, and designing lights and sets. He previously was set designer for Kindertransport and Earth and Sky at CP and worked with Edd Miller on set design for I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which he also directed. Other directing credits at Colonial Players include Romantic Comedy, Sunlight, and Kindertransport. Terry won a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors award for his lighting of Earth and Sky. He has acted in a number of productions at Bowie Community Theatre and directed their productions of Language of Angels and Love, Sex and the IRS. He is an architect and is in his second term as president of Colonial Players.
Wes Bedsworth (Sound Designer) -- Wes has been involved with over 30 productions at Colonial Players since he joined CP in 2007. His favorites include Moon Over Buffalo, Kindertransport, Enchanted April, Mrs. California, The Diviners, Little Women and 1776. He won the 2010 WATCH award for outstanding sound design for Earth and Sky and has been nominated for best sound design for Hauptmann, Kindertransport, and The Diviners. Wes serves as Operations Director on the CP Board, Technical Director on the Production Team, and as one of the Webmasters on the Marketing Team. Wes graduated with a B.A. from McDaniel College. When he’s not doing electrical work, plumbing, fixing something broken, or automating something at CP, Wes works as a Senior Systems Engineer in Washington, D.C. (This is so he can afford to play at the theater in his free time.) Wes also sings in two choirs at his church. He would like to thank his parents, his sister Susan for occasionally putting up with her older brother, and Kaelynn for allowing him to have a second love: playing with power tools at the theater.
Vicki Goutzoulis (Costume Designer) -- Vicki is excited to be working with The Colonial Players. Her previous costuming credits at other theaters include The Brides of March, Ragtime, The Pajama Game, The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood, Our Town, and The Music Man.
Kaelynn Miller (Producer) -- Kaelynn embarks upon her fifth season of involvement at Colonial Players in the new-to- her role of producer. She has been involved in many productions over the last five years, both on the stage and off in a variety of roles, from actor to smushed banana cleaner to set painter to last-minute button sewer to usher to costume designer. Kaelynn currently serves as Treasurer on The Colonial Players Board of Directors. To pay the bills, she works in the music industry as a customer service representative for an instrumental accessory distributor, where some days she actually gets to use her bachelor’s degree in music. Kaelynn sends many thanks to the Communicating Doors production team, cast, and crew for being so dedicated and excited, and sends love to her friends and family for their lifelong support, especially to Wes, for sharing and dragging her back into this wonderful, completely crazy world of theater all those years ago.
Emily North (Stage Manager) -- A new face to the Annapolis theater scene, Emily (Miz to her good friends) has been stage managing for several years. Before her foray into the Colonial Players, she worked at Anne Arundel Community College as a student, at the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre in Rochester, NY as an intern, Roane State Community College in Harriman, TN as a jack- of-all-trades, and anywhere else she could be meddling backstage. She is engaged, and her fiance, David, hopes she will actually marry him this November and not make him wait even more, as he has currently been waiting for five years and counting. She has worked at many jobs and is currently a flower delivery driver for Blooms Florist in Edgewater. Emily is incredibly grateful to her parents for their never-ending support, to David for letting her pursue her dreams no matter where they lead, the Colonial Players for this incredible opportunity, her actors for not causing her to develop any more gray hairs, and her director Michelle for helping her to have the most fulfilling stage management experience of her career. She sincerely hopes you love the show just as much as she does.
Shirley Panek (Lighting Designer) -- Shirley is back as lighting designer in the first show of the season. Normally seen on stage, she was very excited to take on the challenge of lighting this unique show. Other lighting designs include Trying, Moonlight and Magnolias, and Chapter Two (2012 WATCH nominee) at The Colonial Players, and Art at Dignity Players. Shirley would like to thank Michelle for her inspiration and vision for the show. Thanks also to the cast and production staff and crew for their patience during tech week. “Love to Drew, Emma, and Jeff - the lights that make my life brighter.”
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