Cast

Alan Bennett
Angie the Ox
Alan is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a proud Equity Member. He was last seen in the TUTS production of Hello Dolly! starring Leslie Uggams, and the Denver Center production of White Christmas (Bob u/s). He performed in the first national tour of The Producers (dance captain, Carmen u/s), as well as the Los Angeles Company with Jason Alexander and Martin Short. Other national tours include Beauty and the Beast and Cats. In New York, Alan has been seen in both The Radio City Christmas and Spring Spectaculars and at New York City Opera in productions of Semele, Die Tote Stadt and The Pearl Fishers. Regional favorites include Brigadoon (Harry Beaton), Carousel (Fairground Boy), Hello Dolly! (with Michele Lee) and Starlight Express (Germany). Love to EMO.

Carey Brown
Sarah Brown
Carey is pleased to be back at Portland Center Stage after having last been seen here in the Gerding Theater’s inaugural production of West Side Story. Some of her other credits include Candide (NYC Opera), Greenwillow (York Theatre), Master Class (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Once On This Island (Bay Street Theatre and Sacramento Music Circus), Man of La Mancha (John W. Engeman Theatre), Stormy Weather (Prince Music Theater), The Sound of Music (Paper Mill Playhouse), Jam and Spice and A Christmas Carol (Westport Country Playhouse), Corduroy (Theatreworks, USA), I Married Wyatt Earp (New York Theatre Barn), Ripper (New World Stages),The Trials of Repopulating the Earth (Theatre Row) and Stand By the River (Theatre at St. Clements and ASCAP presentation). Carey can also be heard as the voice of Margaret at 1812musical.com.

Christophe Caballero
Rusty Charlie / Manager / Hot Box Waiter / understudy Nathan Detroit
Christophe is so happy to perform at PCS in the neighbor state to Idaho, where he spent much of his childhood. His Broadway credits include the original companies of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and Ockrent/Stroman’s A Christmas Carol, as well as Beauty and the Beast. He assisted Gwen Verdon and Chet Walker on the reconstruction for Fosse. Christophe performed the role of Mary Sunshine in Chicago in the national tour and Paris companies. Other European credits include La Cage aux Folles (Chantal d’Avignon), Titanic, Kiss Me, Kate and Singin’ in the Rain (Moliere, Best Musical). He recently performed in the regional premiere of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Cape Playhouse, MA. TV credits include Fame (three seasons) and The Tracey Ullman Show with Paula Abdul. Christophe is the original voice of Odd in the children’s hit animated series Code Lyoko and can currently be seen on the web partnering Dita Von Teese for Wonderbra.

Scott Coopwood
Lt. Brannigan / Joey Biltmore
Scott is thrilled to be back in Portland and just as thrilled to be working on his first musical production since playing Snoopy eons ago. Regional favorites include the title roles in MacBeth, Hamlet (PCS ’99) and Cyrano De Bergerac; Iago in Othello, Orsino in Twelfth Night, Edmund in King Lear (PCS ’03); Angelo in Measure for Measure, Carl in Lonely Planet, Kippy in Take Me Out, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (PCS ’02); Jacques in As You Like It, Trigorin in The Seagull (PCS ’02); Benedick, Don John and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Bill in Lobby Hero, Goss in Bug, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Harry Brock in Born Yesterday and Brutus in Dirty Story. Appearances at regional theaters include Arkansas Rep., Capital Rep., Capital Stage, A.R.T., The Utah, Orlando and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals, The Arizona Theatre Co., The Marin Theatre Co., The Seattle and Marin Shakespeare Companies, Profile Theatre Project, Center REP and Borderlands Theatres, as well as work with the Toronto, Windsor and Oregon Symphony Orchestras. Scott has two Dean Goodman Acting Awards and a Seattle Footlight Award for his performance as Cyrano De Bergerac in 2006.

Veronica DiPerna
Mimi
Veronica is excited to make her musical theater debut at PCS! She was last seen in the productions of The Producers at North Shore Music Theatre and the Ogunquit Playhouse this past spring/summer. She spent 2007 touring Asia as Anytime Annie in the Broadway revival tour of 42nd Street. Favorite regional roles include Velma in Chicago, Bombalurina in Cats, Sheila in A Chorus Line, Magenta in Rocky Horror…, Texas in Cabaret, Ned/Ruthie in Batboy and Taddy Jo in Best Little Whorehouse…. Veronica is a Boston native and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire’s School of Liberal Arts. This show is dedicated to her parents and sisters. Special thanks to Kent Zimmerman, who really knows how to sesh!

Stacia Fernandez
Miss Adelaide
Stacia performed most recently on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperone, where she got to perform the Tony Award-winning role of Drowsy. Other Broadway credits include Swing, Tom Sawyer, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Beauty and the Beast. She appeared off-Broadway in Lonestar Love. National tours include Evita, Beauty and the Beast, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and Heartstrings. Regional theater credits include Death of a Salesman (the Woman), Cats (Grizz), the world premiere of Prince and the Pauper (Mrs. Canty), Kiss Me, Kate (Kate), The King and I (I), Anything Goes (Reno) and Dreams from a Summer House. Movie soundtracks include The Shaggy Dog and Enchanted. Stacia is an Atlanta native but now calls New Jersey home. Guys and Dolls is a dream role for her and she would like to thank Chris for inviting her into this world… and her manager, John Essay, for his support!

Buddy Hammonds
Calvin
Buddy is thrilled to be back in Portland, this time wearing significantly more clothing after understudying Cliff and playing Victor in PCS’ 2007 production of Cabaret. Appearances in national tours include the first national of All Shook Up (u/s Dean, Dennis), My Fair Lady (choreographed by Matthew Bourne) and Fiddler on the Roof (Sasha, u/s Fyedka). He has performed internationally with Disney Cruise Lines (u/s Tarzan) and regionally with Heritage Repertory, Geva Theatre Center and Portland Center Stage. Buddy earned his B.F.A. from Elon University and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Love and thanks to Mom and Dad.

Todd A. Horman
Nicely-Nicely Johnson
Todd performed on Broadway in Urinetown and the Urinetown and Victor/Victoria national tours. His New York theater credits include Of Thee I Sing (Encores), Nerds (NYMTF) and Dust and Dreams (York Theatre). Regionally, he performed in The Full Monty (PCLO), Les Misérables (North Shore Music Theatre), Wonderful Life (Papermill), Sweeney Todd (The Arden Theatre), Jumbo (the York Theatre), Falsettos (Kennedy Center), Roundheads and Peakheads (NY Fringe 1998), Closer than Ever (Fringe, Edinburgh 2001), Into the Woods and The Most Happy Fella. He has done numerous voiceovers for MTV/MTV2 and Nick Jr. He has an M.F.A. in acting from UNLV and a B.A. in music theater from Elon University. Thanks to family and friends for their support. For Mom.

Scott Leiendecker
Society Max / Drunk / Emcee / Havana Waiter / understudy Rusty Charlie
Scott, a native of St. Louis, is thrilled to be a part of Portland Center Stage. He has toured nationally in Camelot, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof with Theodore Bikel and with Tommy Tune in Dr. Dolittle. He will be collaborating again with Tommy Tune and the Manhattan Rhythm Kings in the semi-autobiographical Steps in Time in the new year.

Robert Mammana
Sky Masterson
Robert performed on Broadway in Les Misérables and in the Show Boat and Les Misérables national tours. His performances in regional theaters include Goodman, Alliance, McCarter, Victory Gardens, Musical Theatre of San Jose and ELA Classic Theatre in such shows as Cyrano de Bergerac, Never the Sinner, 1776, Old Wicked Songs, Beast on the Moon, The Substance of Fire and The Three Musketeers. Film credits include Just Say Love, Flightplan (with Jodie Foster), Bitch Slap (with Kevin Sorbo), Berkeley (with Henry Winkler), Between Blood and Sand and Menace. Television credits include Prison Break, The Unit, Numb3rs, Lincoln Heights, Vanished, The OC, Charmed and Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise. Robert has been nominated for two Joseph Jefferson Awards (Best Actor, Best Direction) and received an L.A. Ovation nomination for Best Direction.

Richard Mathews
Arvide Abernathy
In more than 50 years in the theater, Richard has been on Broadway in Blood, Sweat & Stanley Poole with Peter Fonda and in No Time for Sergeants with Andy Griffith. Vivat, Vivat Regina and Madwoman of Chaillot with Geraldine Page were among his off-Broadway appearances, and he toured in the national companies of 1776 as John Adams and No Time for Sergeants as Ben Whitledge. Richard was with the American Shakespeare Festival at Stratford, CT, for seven seasons, did two seasons at McCarter Theatre with John Lithgow, numerous productions at Long Wharf Theatre and at The Hartford Stage Company, including productions around the country. For PCS he played Herr Schulz in last season’s Cabaret, Polonius in Hamlet, and in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (both in 1999). In 20 seasons with Pioneer Theatre in SLC, UT, Richard performed in more than 90 productions, including Conor McPherson’s one-man show, St. Nicholas.

Leif Norby
Benny Southstreet
Guys and Dolls is Leif’s first show with PCS. Other theaters Leif has performed at include Third Rail, ART, Broadway Rose, Profile, Montana Rep., Lakewood, Triangle, NWCTC, OCT and Miracle Theater. Other roles include Javert in Les Misérables, Sam in Grace, Kit in No Way to Treat a Lady, Man 1 and 2 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Chris Keller in All My Sons, Lenny in The Homecoming, Michael in I DO! I DO!, Huck Finn in Big River, Malcolm in The Full Monty and the title roles in Will Rogers Follies, Henry V, Sweeney Todd and Hamlet. Originally from Montana, Leif now lives in Portland. He would like to thank Chris and PCS for this wonderful opportunity, you the audience for your continued support of live theater, and sends love to his wife (and doll) Susie.

Amy Palomino
Agatha / Associate Choreographer / understudy Adelaide
Amy is thrilled to be a part of another exciting musical at Portland Center Stage! Other PCS credits include Anybodys in West Side Story and Rosie in Cabaret. Amy also had the honor of assisting with the choreography in both musicals. Last holiday season, Amy performed with Portland’s extreme physical theater troupe Do Jump! at the Newmark Theatre, and she also choreographed A Christmas Carol here at PCS. She has performed lead roles at the Broadway Rose Theatre Company, including Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street, which won her a Drammy Award for Outstanding Performance. Before moving to Portland, Amy lived in NYC, where she danced on Broadway with her wonderful husband Tony.

John Plumpis
Nathan Detroit
John’s national company credits include Timon in The Lion King, directed by Julie Taymor; Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer, directed by Gene Saks; and Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor. He has worked at a variety of New York theaters including The Actors’ Company Theatre (company member), Primary Stages, Mint Theatre Company, NorthEastern Co. and Riverside Shakespeare. His regional theater credits include work with Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington DC), Capital Rep, Mason Street Warehouse, Fairfield Theatre Co., Missouri Rep, PlayMakers Rep, North Carolina Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Paper Mill Playhouse and Shakespeare festivals across the country. Internationally he has worked with the Suzuki Company of Toga. TV and film credits include Law and Order: SVU, 7th Heaven and the film ‘Til There Was You. John has an M.F.A. from the University of Delaware. He has conducted workshops at more than 50 universities, as well as at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. His lecture “Stories Make the World” appeared in the 2007 Northwest Theatre Review. He is married to Celia Smith, and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. For Mom and Dad!

Chrisse Roccaro
General Matilda B. Cartwright
Chrisse (SAG, AFTRA, AEA) last performed at Portland Center Stage as standby for the role of Fr. Schneider in Cabaret and most recently appeared as Fr. Schneider in Cabaret at the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY. Other favorite roles include Grandmother in Women and Wallace; Monica Murray in By the Bog of Cats and Mother in Da. She earned a 2003 Drammy Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit. She has appeared as a featured soloist and actor with the Oregon Symphony and the Cannon Beach Chorus. Chrisse adds private vocal instruction, directing, musical directing, conducting, arranging and 10 years of teaching and performing improvisation to her list of credits. She has been a volunteer facilitator at The Dougy Center for Grieving Children since 1997. She thanks her husband, Stephen Guntli, for his unwavering support. To learn more, visit www.roccaro.info.

Kristen j. Smith
Martha / understudy Sarah Brown
Kristen is delighted to return to Portland Center Stage, where she previously appeared as Velma and Francisca in West Side Story. She recently completed an incredible run of the world premiere of An American in Paris at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Regional credits include Kathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain, Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, Alice in You Can’t Take It With You, Kim MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie, Zanetta in The Music Man, Julie Jordan in Carousel, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Proud member of Actors’ Equity. To learn more, visit www.kristenjsmith.com.

Cat Widdifield
Hot Box Girl / Paper Doll Assistant
Cat received her B.F.A. from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts’ CAP21 musical theater conservatory. Cat was last seen onstage as Sarah Brown’s understudy and Mimi in Guys & Dolls at the Cumberland County Playhouse, TN. On the national tour of Mame she played Sally Cato, as well as understudied Mame. She has danced in Steps on Broadway’s ensemble and with the Ghana National Dance Company in Africa. Past shows include Music Man (Marian), Pirates of Penzance (Prudence), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and A Chorus Line. After seven years in NYC, Portland has been a refreshing place where this gypsy could see herself settling! “I love you, Andy! The best D.P. a girl could have!”

Wendell Wright
Big Jule
Wendell’s regional credits include Arena Stage, of which he became a company member in 1973 and toured with the first American theater company to the Soviet Union. Productions include Black No More, Uncle Vanya, Ghosts, Coming of the Hurricane, I Am a Man, Small World, The Odyssey, Tom Walker, The African Company and Trinidad Sisters, as well as many others. Other credits include Portland Center Stage’s Fences, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage and Ford’s Theatre, Washington DC. His film credits include All the President’s Men and The Onion Fields, and television credits include Soap, Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Benson, Taxi, Highlander, Frasier, The West Wing and Becker.

Kent Zimmerman
Harry the Horse / Assistant to the Choreographer / understudy Sky Masterson
Kent is happy to be returning to Portland; he was a part of the Gerding Theater’s gala opening performance of West Side Story. “I need to express my deepest thanks to my family and friends for their never-ending love and support. Where would I be without all of you?” Other credits include Annie Get Your Gun (Broadway), Thou Shalt Not (Broadway), The Producers (L.A., First National and Vegas), Guys & Dolls (50th anniversary tour), Footloose (First National), Show Boat (London and Third National), Sondheim Tonight (London), 42nd Street and A Chorus Line (Casa Mañana) and Randy Newman’s Faust (The Goodman Theater). Kent’s movie credits include The Producers and The Shawshank Redemption. He can also be seen on the PBS special, My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs. Psalm 91:11.

Creative Team

Frank Loesser
Music and Lyrics
Frank Loesser has been called the most versatile of all Broadway composers. His five Broadway musicals were each a unique contribution to the art of the American musical theater: Where’s Charley?, Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, Greenwillow and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He was also a popular song lyricist who supplied lyrics to such greats as Jule Styne, Hoagy Carmichael and Arthur Schwartz, among others, penning such standards as “Heart and Soul,” and his 1948 Academy Award winner, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Born June 29, 1910, in New York City, Loesser never studied music formally, although his father was a distinguished German-born teacher of classical piano and his older brother, Arthur, was a renowned concert pianist, musicologist and music critic. Loesser wrote his first song at the age of 6. He attended Townsend Harris High School and New York’s City College. During the Depression, he dropped out and supported himself with an array of jobs that included selling newspaper advertising, working as a process server and then as the city editor of a short-lived newspaper in New Rochelle. Intrigued by word play, he began to write songs, sketches and radio scripts. By the mid-1930s, he was playing gigs in nightclubs, writing lyrics to music by Irving Actman. They contributed five songs to The Illustrator’s Show, which opened January 22, 1936, and closed five performances later. It was a swift casualty on Broadway, but enough to land him a Hollywood contract. He wrote songs for more than 60 films, including Destry Rides Again, Neptune’s Daughter, Thank Your Lucky Stars and Fred Astaire’s Let’s Dance. Loesser spent World War II assigned to Special Services, providing lyrics for camp shows. He launched his own composing career with the wartime hit “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.” After the war, producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin convinced him to create a score for their projected Broadway musical of Charley’s Aunt called Where’s Charley? It became Loesser’s first smash hit. Loesser followed that show with Guys and Dolls, which opened November 24, 1950, and quickly became a theatrical landmark, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical. Loesser was married twice, first to actress Lynn Loesser, with whom he had two children, Susan and John, then to his Most Happy Fella leading lady, Jo Sullivan, with whom he had two daughters, Hannah and Emily. He died of lung cancer at the age of 59 on July 26, 1969.

Abe Burrows
Book
Born Abram Solman Borowitz in New York City in 1910, Burrows graduated New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn and later attended both City College and New York University. He began working as a runner on Wall Street while at NYU, and he also worked in an accounting firm. After he met Frank Galen in 1938, the two wrote and sold jokes to an impressionist who appeared on the Rudy Vallée radio program. Burrows became the head writer for the radio show Duffy’s Tavern in 1941, and he credited the experience with investing the Runyonesque street characters he fashioned for Guys and Dolls. “The people on that show,” Burrows once said about Duffy’s Tavern, “were New York mugs, nice mugs, sweet mugs, and like Runyon’s mugs they all talked like ladies and gentlemen. That’s how we treated the characters in Guys and Dolls.” He quit Duffy’s Tavern in 1945 to work at Paramount Pictures but soon returned to radio. Meanwhile, he became a popular guest on the Hollywood party circuit, performing his own satirical songs. Such informal performances led to a nightclub act and regular appearances as a performer on CBS radio programs, eventually hosting his own, The Abe Burrows Show, in 1948, a 15-minute weekly comedy Burrows wrote and directed himself. Both shows originated from CBS’ Los Angeles affiliate, KNX, whose program director Ernie Martin encouraged Burrows to think about writing plays. Eventually, Burrows wrote, doctored or directed such shows as Make a Wish, Two on the Aisle, Three Wishes for Jamie, Say, Darling, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Cactus Flower, Can-Can, Silk Stockings, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Good News (1974 revival) and many others. With his collaborator Frank Loesser, Burrows won a Pulitzer Prize for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. He also did some film and TV work, writing the screenplay for the 1956 film The Solid Gold Cadillac and TV shows Abe Burrows’ Almanac (1950) and The Big Party (1959). Burrows was married twice and fathered a son and a daughter. His son, James Burrows, became an influential television director whose credits have included The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Cheers, a show whose setting of a neighborhood bar populated with quirky locals was a direct descendant of the radio show that helped launch his father’s distinguished career. Abe Burrows died after a battle against Alzheimer’s disease in 1985.

Jo Swerling
Book
Jo Swerling was born in Bardichov, Russia, in 1897. Swerling was refugee of the Czarist regime who grew up on New York City’s lower East Side, where he sold newspapers to help support his family. He worked as a newspaper and magazine writer in the early 1920s, and then launched a playwriting career, including Street Cinderella and Humor Risk for the Marx Brothers. He scored a major success with the book and lyrics for the 1927 musical revue The New Yorkers and the 1929 play The Kibitzer, which he co-wrote with actor Edward G. Robinson. Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn brought Swerling to Hollywood to work on the screenplay for the Frank Capra picture Ladies of Leisure, the first of several collaborations with the director. Swerling’s dozens of screenplays in the 1930s and ’40s include Platinum Blonde, Behind the Mask, Once to Every Woman, The Pride of the Yankees (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), Lifeboat, Leave Her to Heaven and It’s a Wonderful Life. He returned to Broadway in 1950 to co-write the book for Guys and Dolls with Abe Burrows, winning a Tony and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for his effort. Swerling was the father of Peter Swerling, the world’s leading radar theoretician of the second half of the 20th century, and Jo Swerling, Jr., producer of such television series as Alias Smith and Jones, The Rockford Files, Baretta, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team and Profit.

Chris Coleman
Director / Artistic Director
Chris Coleman joined Portland Center Stage as artistic director in May 2000. Before coming to Portland, he was artistic director at Actor’s Express in Atlanta, a company he co-founded in the basement of an old church in 1988. In the 12 years of his leadership, the Express grew from a shoestring operation to one of the most highly regarded small theaters in the country. Last season, Chris directed Cabaret, The Beard of Avon and The Little Dog Laughed. He has directed at major theaters across the country, including Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, The Alliance Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Asolo Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Center Stage in Baltimore. A native Atlantan, Chris holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and a M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon. Chris has long been a public advocate for the arts both locally and nationally. From 1998 – 2004 he served on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for professional theaters; he chairs the Cultural Advocacy Network board and sits on advisory boards for the Eastern & Central European Theatre Initiative and Sojourn Theatre in Portland. He is a 2004/05 Fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Oregon.

Joel Ferrell
Choreographer
Guys and Dolls marks Joel’s fourth collaboration with PCS. He served as choreographer/ associate director for My Fair Lady and as choreographer for Cabaret and West Side Story. In 2001, Joel completed a six-year residency as the artistic director of Casa Mañana Musicals Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, where he directed more than 20 productions, including Big River, The Rocky Horror Show, Once on this Island, Sleuth and Carousel. Other credits include The Baltimore Waltz and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for Stage West and four seasons of A Christmas Carol for the Dallas Theater Center. In Portland, he has directed My Way and Sisters of Swing for the Broadway Rose Theatre Company. He is honored to return to PCS and work with Chris Coleman and his staff. Special thanks to Amy Palomino and Kent Zimmerman.

Rick Lewis
Music Director / Conductor
Rick is delighted to be back for his fourth production as musical director/conductor for Portland Center Stage. Previous PCS shows include Cabaret, A Christmas Carol (composer/arranger), West Side Story (Drammy Award for Musical Director), The Fantasticks and Bat Boy. He is the creator of the hit off-Broadway musical The Taffetas, with productions currently around the world. Rick has written Have a Nice Day! A 70’s Musical Flashback! (premiered at NYC’s Theatre East) and The Cardigans (New York Backstage Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Review). Rick has written industrials for Honeywell, MGM/UA Home Video and the Democratic National Committee. He was assistant conductor/vocal director for the pre-Broadway workshop of Cy Coleman’s The Life. He has served as musical director for Susan Egan, Michael Maguire, Jodi Benson and Debbie Gravitte, as well as the late Allan Jones. Rick has written musical productions for Disney Live Family Entertainment, American Hawaii Cruises, American West Steamboat Company and American Classic Voyages. He also developed and produced the Cinnamon Bear Cruise for the Portland Spirit. Rick is director of entertainment and marketing for Portland Spirit Cruises.

G.W. Mercier
Scenic Designer
Previous Portland Center Stage shows are West Side Story and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. In New York he designed Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Miracle Brothers, Five Course Love, People Are Wrong, Wilder, Eli’s Comin’, Dream True (Drama Desk nomination), True History & Real Adventures, You Don’t Miss The Water, The Waiting Room, Bed & Sofa (Drama Desk nomination), Por Knockers, The Party, Lady Bracknell’s Confinement, Hannah, 1939, Urban Zulu Mambo, Catch Me If I Fall, Groundhog, The Red Sneaks, The New Americans, Winter Man, The Loman Family Picnic, The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Lemon Sky, Evening Sky and Judgment. Recent regional work includes Party Come Here, Urinetown, Our Town, Rag & Bone, Measure For Measure, A Christmas Carol, Guys & Dolls, The Time of Your Life (Bay Area Critics Award), The Ballad of Little Jo, Vigil, Frame 312, Theopolis North and Fuddy Meers. G.W. thrives collaborating with amazing writers, composers, directors, partner designers and actors creating original work or making established shows seem new. He and his family live in Connecticut.

Jeff Cone
Costume Designer
Jeff, costume shop manager for Portland Center Stage, has designed Doubt, The Little Dog Laughed, Sometimes a Great Notion, A Christmas Carol, The Underpants, Cabaret, Bad Dates, The Pillowman, Act a Lady, Misalliance, This Wonderful Life, I Am My Own Wife and West Side Story since PCS opened the Gerding Theater at the Armory. Other PCS credits include the world premieres of Celebrity Row and Another Fine Mess, as well as Underneath the Lintel, Things of Dry Hours, Anna in the Tropics, King Lear, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, True West, Flesh and Blood, A New Brain, Closer, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Bus Stop and Dirty Blonde. Jeff received Drammy Awards for Best Costume Design for both Act a Lady and Dirty Blonde. Highlights of his 20-year career include the world premiere of Pearl Cleage’s Flyin’ West at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, with subsequent productions at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Long Wharf Theatre; an expressionistic Charlotte’s Web and 10 annual productions of A Christmas Carol at the Alliance; and the coordination of costumes for Seattle Opera’s productions of Andrea Chénier and La Traviata.

Daniel Ordower
Lighting Designer
Daniel’s designs for Portland Center Stage include Doubt, A Christmas Carol (2001 Drammy Award), Outrage, The Merchant of Venice, Things of Dry Hours, Celebrity Row (2006 Drammy Award), The Pillowman, Bad Dates and Cabaret. He has worked for operas and regional theaters including the Baltimore Opera, the Connecticut Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, San Jose Rep, Geva Theater Center, Coconut Grove Playhouse, American Stage Co., Actors’ Express and Writers’ Theater Chicago. Internationally he has worked with Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Lyon, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Daniel’s designs have toured nationally with I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Boston, San Diego, Reno, national tour), West Side Story and Beauty and the Beast (Baci Productions). Festival and installation designs include MAKOR II at Pace-Wildenstein Gallery for Michal Rovner, the Tribeca Film Festival, New York Musical Festival, the New York Fringe Festival and the Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS Gypsy of the Year and Nothing Like a Dame benefits. He received the 2006 and 2001 Drammy Awards for Best Lighting Design and the 2005 NY IT Award for Outstanding Lighting Design. Daniel is a graduate of Northwestern University and has been published in Social Policy magazine.

Casi Pacilio
Sound Designer
Casi is thrilled to work at the Gerding Theater at the Armory as the sound supervisor and resident sound designer. Her credits with PCS include Doubt, The Little Dog Laughed, Sometimes a Great Notion, The Beard of Avon, Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol, Cabaret, Bad Dates, The Pillowman, Act a Lady, Misalliance, I Am My Own Wife, West Side Story and Celebrity Row. Other credits include Squonk Opera’s Bigsmorgasbord-WunderWerk (Broadway, off-Broadway, regional, touring); I Am My Own Wife, I Think I Like Girls, Burning Deck (La Jolla Playhouse); Hair (Live On Stage); Playland, 10 Fingers and Lips Together, Teeth Apart (City Theatre). Her film credits include Creation of Destiny, Out of Our Time and Powerful Thang. Her recording credits include Squonk Opera, Abigail’s Attic and Jana Losey. She was the event production coordinator for Portland’s Village Building Convergence from 2004 to 2006.

John Armour
Fight Director
John is an actor, director and fight director. He has assisted or choreographed violence for Portland Center Stage in previous productions such as Sometimes a Great Notion, Twelfth Night, The Beard of Avon, Cabaret, The Pillowman, Misalliance, West Side Story, O Lovely Glowworm, King Lear, Bat Boy: The Musical, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, True West, Dirty Blonde, Closer and Hamlet. Twice his fight work has been recognized with Drammy Awards for Best Fight Design: Macbeth (1992) and Henry VI, parts 1-2 (1995). John has choreographed or assisted in choreography for many other Portland theaters, including Portland Repertory, Tygres Heart Shakespeare, Broadway Rose, Portland Opera and Artists Repertory Theatre. He also teaches workshops and choreographs productions at many colleges, middle, junior high and high schools in the Portland area and abroad.

Mark Tynan
Stage Manager
Mark is happy to be in his seventh season with Portland Center Stage. Previous PCS shows include The Little Dog Laughed, The Beard of Avon, Twelfth Night, Cabaret, Bad Dates, Act a Lady, The Thugs, This Wonderful Life, West Side Story, Celebrity Row, The Fantasticks, Pride and Prejudice, O Lovely Glowworm, Things of Dry Hours, King Lear, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Bat Boy: The Musical, Outrage, The Merchant of Venice and for colored girls…. Prior to PCS, Mark toured nationally and internationally with musicals including Dreamgirls, The King and I with Rudolf Nureyev, How to Succeed…, The Phantom of the Opera and Rent. Mark is grateful for the hard work and support of the PCS production assistants Zach Lifton and Kelly Cullom. The past several summers, Mark has enjoyed being a part of the Broadway Rose Theatre Company productions in Tigard with shows including Jekyll and Hyde, Chicago and 42nd Street.