Stay tuned for more information about the 2009 Acting Company, including audience favorites Eileen Ward and Bob Ader!

2008 Acting Company

BOB ADER (Pickering, My Fair Lady) Broadway: All the Way Home, Rainbow Rainbeam Radio Roadshow. Regional: Over the River and Through the Woods at the Northeast Theatre in Pennsylvania, Olympus on My Mind at the Florida Studio Theatre, The Tin Pan Alley Rag at Cleveland Playhouse, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine at the Phoenix Theatre Company in New York. Film and Television: Life with Mikey, When Harry Met Sally, Get Shorty, Law and Order, Unsolved Mysteries, Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live.

KENSINGTON BLAYLOCK (Clown/Bianca, Othello; Chick, Crimes of the Heart, Ensemble/Eliza understudy, My Fair Lady) New Harmony Theatre: Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, Katherina Cavallieri in Amadeus, and Abigail in The Crucible (The Repertory Project). University of Southern Indiana: The Threepenny Opera, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well…, Eleemosynary, Quilters, The Birthday Party, Little Shop of Horrors, The Laramie Project, Charley’s Aunt, and A…My Name is Alice. Kensington is a 2008 graduate of the University of Southern Indiana Department of Performing Arts.

CLIFF CAMPBELL (Montano/Lodovico, Othello) New York: The Winter’s Tale, On the Verge, Sure Thing, and The Laramie Project. Regional: Einstein’s Dreams, Laughing Wild, and The Marriage of Bette and Boo, among many others. National Tour: Encore! for Boston-based Chamber Theatre Productions.

JIMMY DAVIS (Duke/Cassio, Othello) Off-Broadway: Hamlet (Pearl Theatre Company). Other New York: What Happened When (Rising Phoenix Rep), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Poortom Productions). Regional: World premiere of White Christmas at the Muny in St. Louis. Juilliard: Romeo and Juliet, The Greeks, Good Person of Szechwan, Pericles, A Bright Room Called Day. Training: BFA, Juilliard School.

SUSAN DERRY (Desdemona, Othello; Meg, Crimes of the Heart; Eliza, My Fair Lady) played Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest and Agnes in I Do! I Do! at New Harmony Theatre last season. Broadway: Wonderful Town (Eileen, performing understudy). International: Christine in Phantom of the Opera, Hamburg, Germany. Regional: Fiona in Brigadoon, Maria in West Side Story, Betty Haynes in White Christmas, Susan in Company, and Mame at the Kennedy Center. Opera: False Angèle in Kurt Weill’s The Tsar has his Photograph Taken, Alexandra in Regina, Adèle in Die Fledermaus, Jessica in Portland Opera’s world premiere production of Reynaldo Hahn’s The Merchant of Venice, and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw, among others. City Center Encores!: Ten appearances, including the recent revival of Applause!, and two cast albums. Concert: Guest soloist with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall: An Evening of Frank Loesser, My Fair Lady at Avery Fisher Hall with Kelsey Grammer, Joe’s Pub, and the University of Southern Indiana Community of Scholars Lecture Series with Lenny Leibowitz. Training: Northwestern University, Manhattan School of Music. www.susanderry.com.

BRANDON ECK (Ensemble, My Fair Lady) New Harmony Theatre: Reverend Hale in The Crucible, George Hastings in She Stoops to Conquer (The Repertory Project). USI Theatre: The Threepenny Opera, 12 Angry Jurors, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well…, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

JOY FRANZ (Brabantio/Emilia, Othello; Mrs. Higgins/Mrs. Pearce, My Fair Lady) has worked with Stephen Sondheim on Into the Woods (original, revival, PBS, national tour), Assassins (original), A Little Night Music, Company, and Merrily We Roll Along. Other Broadway: Pippin, Musical Chairs, Bernstein's Mass, Open Admissions, Sweet Charity, Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant. Favorite tour: Damn Yankees (Meg Boyd) with Jerry Lewis. Other national tours: The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Man of LaMancha (Aldonza) with John Raitt, and Hello Dolly. Regional: Major roles at regional theatres across the country including LaJolla Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera, Paper Mill Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Barrington Stage. Television: Law and Order, Central Park West, Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Guest roles on all major New York soap operas. Currently on Horrible People on MyDamnChannel.com. Film: Under Red Lantern (Grace) and No Picnic for Penny (Penny's mother).

KEN JENNINGS (Iago, Othello) originated the role of Tobias in Sweeney Todd on Broadway, for which he won Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards. Other Broadway: Urinetown, Grand Hotel, Side Show, A Christmas Carol, Present Laughter, London Assurance, All God’s Chillun Got Wings. Other New York: New World Stages, Irish Rep, Theatre for a New Audience, and many others. Regional: Major roles at regional theatres across the country including Cleveland Playhouse, Denver Center Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Center Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodspeed Opera, Syracuse Stage, Indiana Rep, Playmakers Rep, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Television: Ed, Hack, Third Watch, Law and Order, Another World, One Life to Live, All My Children.

FRANZ JONES (Othello, Othello) Broadway: Original production of Big River. Regional: Major roles in The Comedy of Errors, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Art, Waiting for Godot, The Seagull, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Avenue X, Bartholomew Fair, and Driving Miss Daisy at regional theatres across the country including Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Hamptons Shakespeare Festival, Tulsa Repertory Theatre, and Cornell University. Training: MFA, University of Delaware.

CHRIS KIPINIAK (Higgins, My Fair Lady) Broadway: Original company of the Tony Award-winning production of Metamorphoses. Most recent: Critically-acclaimed productions of Mary Zimmermann's Argonautika at Berkeley Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and McCarter Theatre Center. Off-Broadway: Kit Marlowe at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, Wanderer at The Flea Theatre, Silence with Roundtable Ensemble, and his own play Stalled at the Kraine Theatre.  New York and London: How to Act Around Cops (Singularity Theatre Company in New York and Soho Theatre in London; won the Fringe First Award at the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Regional: LaJolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Hartford Stage, Seattle Rep, Goodman Theatre, Next Theatre. Television: The Black Donnellys, Law & Order, All My Children, Guiding Light. Playwriting: Save the World with the Roundtable Ensemble.  Training: Northwestern University. Chris is a playwright and a freelance writer for Marvel Comics.

JARRED KJACK (Roderigo, Othello; Doc, Crimes of the Heart) New York: Kent in Edward II. Regional: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Christmas Carol, Witness for the Prosecution, Alice in Wonderland, Stone My Heart, and Reviving Ophelia, all at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Henry V at Texas Shakespeare Festival. Television: The Professional, As the World Turns, Guiding Light. Training: MFA, Cal State Fullerton.

STEVE LUKER (Doolittle/Karpathy/Lord Boxington, My Fair Lady) Broadway: 42^nd Street. Regional: Damn Yankees at North Shore Music Theatre, West Side Story at Theatre Under the Stars, Best Little Whorehouse at Gateway Playhouse, Evita at Theatre-By-The-Sea, and many more. Tours: Footloose, 42^nd Street, Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Film and Television: Law and Order, One Life to Live, Cosby, The Sweet Life, and Painted Lady. Training: B.F.A from the Boston Conservatory of Music.

J. MAX MILLER (Barnette, Crimes of the Heart; Freddy/Ensemble, My Fair Lady) City Center Encores!: Irish Tenor in Juno. Other New York: Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, Lord Carnavon in The Mystery of King Tut. Regional : Matt in The Fantasticks at Paradise Valley Theatre; Fleance in Macbeth and Edmund in King Lear at Sedona Shakespeare Festival; Tobias in Sweeney Todd, Jefferson in 1776, and Jack in Into the Woods at Desert Stages Theatre.Concerts: Tours with Bobby McFerrin and Kronos Quartet, Uriel in Haydn’s The Creation with the Berlin Philharmonic, soloist in The Messiah at The Promenades, London. Training: Arizona State University.

RACHEL SCHENK (Ensemble, My Fair Lady) New Harmony Theatre: Amadeus. The Repertory Project: The Crucible, She Stoops to Conquer. USI Theatre: Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well…, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

BRANDON LEE SEARS (Othello understudy, Othello; Ensemble/Freddy understudy, My Fair Lady) Tours: Get Up N' Dance featuring K.C. and The Sunshine Band, The Pointer Sisters, and other disco greats. Norwegian Cruise Lines: Hey, Mr. Producer!Theatre: Eddie in The Wild Party (John LaChius and Andrew Lippa) Man 1 in Songs for A New World , Lamar in Elegies for Angels Punks and Raging Queens, Amusa in Death and The King's Horseman. Concert Dance: Keith Martin's Cain and Abel, Nutcracker, and Estancia with Evansville Dance Theatre. Michael Pink's  Nutcracker, Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet with Milwaukee Ballet. Cinderella with Midland Festival Ballet.  Four Brubeck Pieces, Magritte Magritte. Opera: Susannah (Mr. Hayes), Trial By Jury (Edwin), Cosi fan tutte (Fernando), Carmen (Raimondo). Training: University of Evansville, Boston Conservatory, Boston Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, and Evansville Dance Theatre.

CYNTHIA SHAW (Mrs. Eynsford-Hill/Ensemble/Musical Director, My Fair Lady) New York and Regional Theatre: A Little Night Music at St. Jean’s Players, Six at Three at Don’t Tell Mama, The Caffeine Cabaret at Upstairs at Rose’s Turn, Fiddler on the Roof and Bye, Bye Birdie at Centennial Players, CO. Concert: performances as soprano soloist at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and other venues. Cynthia has also participated in two Grammy Award-winning recordings, including On The Transmigration of Souls and The A Capella Singer. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Denver.

ADAM VONALMEN (Ensemble, My Fair Lady) Ohio Northern University: Lumière in Beauty and the Beast, Hero in A Funny Thing Happened…, Prince Dauntless in Once Upon A Mattress, Charlie in Brigadoon, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and many other musical theatre and opera roles. Adam received his B.M. in Vocal Performance from Ohio Northern University this spring.

EILEEN WARD (Babe, Crimes of the Heart) National Tour: The King and I (Anna, understudy). Off-Broadway: Moll Flanders. Regional: Abigail Adams in 1776 and Rose in The Secret Garden at Olney Theatre, Anna in The King and I at Merry Go Round, Marsyas in Philemon at Wilma Theatre, Down at the Old Bull & Bush at Arena Stage, Guenevere in Camelot and Julie Jordan in Carousel at Stages St. Louis. Nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards and a Best in Philly Award. Training: University of the Arts.

MARNYE YOUNG (Lenny, Crimes of the Heart) New York: Waxing West at La MaMa e.t.c., Carrie at Theatre Couture, Big Times at W.E.T., Eve’s End: The Feast of 2012 and Fucking Ibsen Takes Time in the New York Fringe Festival. Regional: Man of La Mancha and Free to Be at Hope Rep; Arms and the Man and Street Scene at Chautauqua Theatre; Steeplechase the Funnyplace: The Musical at New Harmony Project. Yale School of Drama: Rosalind in As You Like It, Hamlet in Hamlet, Maria in Twelfth Night and many others. Training: University of Evansville, Yale School of Drama.