2006-2007 Season: A Christmas Story
CAST:
Nancy Carlin (Mother/Miss Shields) previously appeared with San Jose Rep in The Immigrant, Hannah and Martin, and Holiday. Carlin is an associate artist of the California Shakespeare Theater and an affiliate artist of the Foothill Theatre Company. A former company member of the American Conservatory Theater, she has also performed with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, TheatreWorks, and just completed a run of Arthur Miller’s The Ride Down Mount Morgan for the SF Playhouse. Ms. Carlin has directed productions for the Aurora Theatre Company, PlayGround, A.C.T.’s Master of Fine Arts program, and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival where last summer she directed Twelfth Night. She is featured in the films Jon Jost’s Frameup and Night of Henna, and co-produced the film Haiku Tunnel. Ms. Carlin has a B.A. in comparative literature from Brown University and an M.F.A. in acting from A.C.T.
Evan Coleman (Randy Parker) is ten years old and was in two plays last year, The Jungle Book and Dr. Doolittle. Everyone in Evan’s family is creative, but he’s the funniest. Evan loves to exercise his inner comedian with all the characters he studies, and to feel in touch with the audience’s feelings. When Evan grows up, he wants to be both an inventor and an actor. For now, believe it or not, Evan enjoys math, also time with his friends, playing online games, listening to alternative rock, baking pie, eating pie, reading adventure books, and especially the opportunity to make people laugh.
Ty Doughty (Scut Farkas/Black Bart) is 12 years old. He is a sixth grader at Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos. This is his first professional production with the San Jose Repertory Theatre. He has done six productions with Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose. His past roles include; Jafar in Aladdin, Louie in The King and I, Charles Cratchet in A Christmas Carol and Liver Lips Louie in Guys and Dolls as well as ensemble parts in CMT’s productions of The Boyfriend and Adventures of Tom Sawyer. When not in the theater, Ty loves to play soccer as his team’s half back and is a strong center for basketball. Ty aspires to be a professional actor and producer of film and theater.
Zachary Freier-Harrison (Ralphie Parker) is a 7th grader at Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto. His first theatre experience was in How to Eat Like a Child in Estes Park, CO, where he sang “Today it is My Birthday” on the day he turned eight years old. Since that time, most of his theatre experience has been with the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre where he has appeared in 12 shows. He has most enjoyed playing JoJo in Seussical the Musical; the Pauper in The Prince and the Pauper; Alexander in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth; Michael in Peter Pan; and, most recently, Willie in Cocoanuts. As a singer, Zach has appeared as one of the Sprites in the West Bay Opera’s Magic Flute and this fall he sang the boy soprano solo in Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Symphony Silicon V alley at the California Theatre. He was a member of the Ragazzi Boys Chorus and now sings with the Cantabile Youth Singers.
Dan Hiatt (Ralph/Cowboy/Tree Lot Owner/Delivery Man) has appeared at the Rep in The Immigrant, Enchanted April, Hannah and Martin, Noises Off, A Flea in Her Ear, Cyrano, Sylvia, and Mirandolina. Other credits include Happy End, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Othello, and The Matchmaker, at American Conservatory Theatre; Dinner with Friends and Menocchio at Berkeley Rep; Nicholas Nickleby, Arms and the Man, As You Like It, and more at California Shakespeare Theatre; Spinning into Butter at TheatreWorks; and Life x 3, and The Real Thing at Marin Theatre Company. Regional theatre credits include performances at Seattle Rep, Arizona Theatre Company, The Huntington Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Stage West in Toronto.
Lindsey Meyer (Helen Weathers) is excited to be making her San Jose Rep debut. Favorite shows include American Musical Theater’s Wizard of Oz, Anne of Green Gables with Sunnyvale Community Players (Josie Pye), and A Christmas Carol with CMTSJ (Tiny Tim). She has also appeared in Fiddler on the Roof, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Velveteen Rabbit, The Music Man, A Pocketful of Rhymes, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Bye Bye Birdie, all at CMT-SJ. She has studied with A.C.T. and San Francisco Acting Academy. Lindsey feels blessed to be part of this wonderful company.
Nick Perry (Flick/Desperado One), age 14, is an eighth grade student at Moreland Middle School, and is thrilled to be making his debut at San Jose Rep. Nick was last seen at Children’s Musical Theater San Jose in Godspell playing several roles. He has appeared in ten productions at CMTSJ where his favorite credits include: Wind in the Willows (Rat), The King and I (Louis), Tom Sawyer (Joe Harper), and Bye Bye Birdie (Harvey Johnson). Nick enjoys playing guitar and hanging out with his friends. Nick would like to thank everyone who helped him get to this point as, well as his friends and family.
Hector David Pleins (Schwartz/Desperado Two) recently performed the role of Prince Chululongkorn in the King and I with American Musical Theater San Jose. He has also appeared with AMT as the Barrister in The Wizard of Oz. Other credits include the lead in Dr. Dolittle and John in Peter Pan at Washington Open School. Hector has also appeared as a soloist with the Chapel Choir of the Catholic Community at Stanford University. In addition to acting, Hector has a love for costume design.
Howard Swain (The Old Man/Santa Claus) was last seen at San Jose Rep as Dr. Finache in John McCluggage’s production of A Flea In Her Ear. At the Rep he has also appeared in A Servant Of Two Masters, Holiday, The Seagull, The Tempest, The Baby Dance, The Matchmaker, Sideman and The Odd Couple. Other recent credits include Love, Janis at The Marines Memorial Theatre, Lee Sankowitch’s production of Killer Joe in San Francisco, and an East Coast tour of a show he helped develop called Horizon by Rinde Eckert. In the Bay Area he has worked at A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, The Post Street Theatre, The Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, The Eureka Theatre, The Aurora Theatre, San Jose Stage, and TheatreWorks, as well as theOregon, California, Marin, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festivals. His television credits include appearances on Nash Bridges, Midnight Caller, Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love, KissShot, Bed Of Lies, and Hill St. Blues and has had roles in such films as Cherry 2000, Miracle Mile,Teknolust, Metro, Golden Gate, Night Of The Scarecrow, Just One Night, and Valley Of the Heart’s Desire.
Noel Witcosky (Esther Jane Alberry), age 12, has been acting, singing, and dancing since the age of five. Noel has performed in two independent films, as well as 10 productions with Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose where she was recently seen as Toad in Wind In The Willows. She sang for two years with Note-Ables performers and is now involved in music and performing arts at her school. Noel’s favorite hobbies are unicycling, wakeboarding, and spending time with her friends. Noel thanks John McCluggage and her fellow cast members for a memorable experience on stage with San Jose Rep!
Artistic Collaborators:
Philip Grecian (Playwright) is familiar with bringing holiday classics to the stage. His adaptation of A Christmas Carol has become an annual tradition in many communities around the United States. The script of his radio adaptation of Dracula (produced and syndicated in the 1970s) has found new life as a stage production, complete with an onstage sound effects crew. Several of Grecian’s plays have been published including his widely popular The Velveteen Rabbit (Dramatic Publishing). The Dragon of Nitt (Dramatic publishing) and Lion and the Lyre have been translated and performed in Russia.
Jean Shepherd (Writer) is a humorist, actor, radio raconteur and television and film personality. He spun his life into tales and told the world of his experience with the obscure and infamous, his childhood in Hammond, IN, and his adventures in the Army Signal Corps. Mr.Shepherd’s entertainment career began in Chicago as a performer at the Goodman Theatre. He then moved onto radio and television with live radio broadcasts from the Limelight and PBS’ Jean Shepherd’s America and Shepherd’s Pie. He passed away on October 16, 1999 at the age of 78.
John McCluggage (Director) is the Artistic Director at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, NH. From 1989-2006, John was the Associate Artistic Director of San Jose Rep, where he directed over 20 shows including The Immigrant, Enchanted April, Humpty Dumpty, A Flea in Her Ear, Old Wicked Songs, Communicating Doors and Over the Tavern. In addition, his work has been seen locally at San Jose Children’s Musical Theatre and Cabrillo Stage. In 1992, he initiated and implemented the Rep’s unique Red Ladder Theatre Company, which is an award-winning, nationally recognized community outreach program that is a model of its kind. Owing to his ground-breaking outreach work, John was selected to serve as a member of Arts Professionals Youth and Community Development, a national steering committee sponsored by the Packard Foundation to explore the need for educational opportunities and training for future youth leaders as well as the development of arts education programs nationwide. He was elected to participate as one of 14 United States youth program experts in the US/UK Exploratory Learning Partnership to help cultivate international partnership and collaborations with youth development leaders from the United Kingdom. John was also named a semifinalist for the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award.
Robert Mark Morgan (Scenic Design) is thrilled to be back at San Jose Rep after designing Major Barbara and Bad Dates. He just finished designing Ordinary Nation for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other design credits include: Jesus Hates Me, Lobby Hero, Almost Heaven, Behind the Broken Words, Bernice and Butterfly, and Copenhagen at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Arms and the Man at American Player’s Theatre, A Christmas Story for Studio Arena (Buffalo), The Ice-Breaker at the Magic Theatre, The Subject Tonight is Love for the Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), The Dazzle and A Moon for the Misbegotten (selected as part of the U.S. exhibit at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial) for American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and A Christmas Carol, Dirty Blonde, and Bus Stop for Portland Center Stage.
B Modern (Costume Designer) is delighted to return to The Rep. Previous productions here include The Immigrant, Hannah and Martin, Bad Dates, Rounding Third, Mary’s Wedding, Humpty Dumpty, ‘ART’, Las Meninas, Ctrl+Alt+Del, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award and Dean Goodman Choice Award), Enter the Guardsman (Dean Goodman Choice Award), The Drawer Boy, Side Man, Having Our Say, Desire Under the Elms, Over the Tavern, Legacy, Three Days of Rain, Mizlansky/Zilinsky, Cole!, Old Wicked Songs, Nixon’s Nixon, The Lady’s Not for Burning, Wallflowering, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Sylvia, Mirandolina, Redwood Curtain and The Caretaker. She is an Associate Artistic Director at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, where she has received four DramaLogue Awards, and is an Associate Artist at Geva Theatre in Rochester, N.Y. Other regional theatre credits include productions for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Globe Theatres, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Magic Theatre, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Center Repertory Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Sacramento Theatre Company, American Musical Theatre of San Jose. Opera Credits include productions at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Opera San Jose. B shares a home and studio in Santa Cruz with several cantankerous cats.
Laxmi Kumaran (Production Stage Manager) is enjoying her second season at San Jose Repertory Theatre. Before moving to San Jose, Laxmi spent nine years in Chicago stage managing for a variety of theatres including The Goodman Theatre and The Court Theatre. Some of the directors she has had the pleasure of working with are Timothy Near, John McCluggage, Michael Butler, Robert Falls, Mary Zimmerman, JoAnne Akalaitis, Robert Woodruff, Karin Coonrod, Gary Griffin, and David Cromer. Laxmi has taught stage management classes at Northern Illinois, DePaul, and Northwestern Universities and is currently teaching at UC Santa Cruz and San Jose State University.