Noises
Off
by Michael Frayn - July 2010
Sponsored by Michael J. and Mary Anne
Freeman in honor of their anniversary
Meet the
Cast:
 Dotty
Otley - Beth Ashton
Beth is a working actor, and therefore recognizes
her good fortune. (Albeit tongue in cheek!) She
studied a BA/MA at The University of Winchester, and
has worked with some of the world's most dynamic
practitioners, including The Living Theatre and Augusto
Boal. Besides the Theatre, she has many other
frivolous passions. Some of which include her joy
for music and travelling, good food, books, and
being politically incorrect at every moment
possible. Beth believes Theatre is a tool for
education as well as entertainment, and has enjoyed
working with Alabama's youth through various
programs - including MCAT's Summer Workshops. Some
of her accolades include roles in Steel
Magnolias, Romeo & Juliet, Machinal, Under Milk
Wood, Top Girls, Mother Courage, and most
recently in MCAT's The Laramie Project at
The Virginia Samford Theatre, and Much Ado About
Nothing with Park Players. Beth would like to
dedicate this performance to her Great Gran,
Jessamine. We miss your laughter, Little Gran, and
your pots of tea.
 |
Lloyd Dallas - Lee Fowler
Lee is excited to be making his
return to Park Players in the
hilarious
Noises Off.
Lee has recently been seen on
Birmingham stages in Bus Stop
at
Birmingham Festival Theater
(Carl),
The Spitfire
Grill with Theater JCC
(Eli), and in
Taming of the Shrew
with Park Players (Gremio). Much
thanks to Clay and this hilarious
cast for the chance to laugh and
make others laugh as well! |
 Garry
Lejeune
- Cris Morriss
Cris is excited to be working with
Park Players for the second time after appearing in their last
show, Much Ado about Nothing as Claudio. A graduate of
Homewood
High School in 1998, Cris
went on to get his BA in Theatre from Jacksonville State
University (2004). Recent
credits include The Wizard in
Wizard of Oz, Colonel
in Play to Win: A Jackie Robinson Musical,
and Professor/Aslan/Father Christmas in
The Lion the Witch and the
Wardrobe, all at Birmingham Children’s Theatre. Other local credits include
Pa Joad/Jim Casey in
Of Grapes and Nuts and
Boyd Graham in The Big Bang, both at
Terrific New Theatre. Cris would like to thank his family for all of their
support, and would like to dedicate all of his performances to his daughter,
Madeleine.
 Brooke
Ashton - Hannah Wilkerson
Hannah is excited about getting to play onstage
again, having just wrapped her directing debut with
Much Ado About
Nothing for Park Players. She most
recently appeared onstage in MCAT's production of
The Laramie Project. Other acting credits include
Proof (Claire), The
Sound of Music (Maria), Disney’s
Beauty and the
Beast (Mrs. Potts), The Taming of the Shrew
(Bianca),
Pride and Prejudice (Charlotte) and Parade
(Aide). This is Hannah's 2nd time to appear in
Noises Off, previously
playing the role of Poppy in ACTA's production. She holds a
BFA in Theatre from
William Carey
University and serves on the Park Players Board of
Directors. Hannah sends her thanks to Drew, this terrific
cast & crew and YOU for supporting theatre in the Birmingham
area.
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 Poppy
Norton-Taylor - Rebecca Yeager
Rebecca, a vegetarian and active supporter of sardine rights,
feels so blessed to be able to end her Birmingham area theatre
career by sharing the stage with sardines and some of her most
talented friends in
Noises Off! Rebecca received her BA in Musical Theatre from
Birmingham-Southern College and will begin graduate studies in
acting at The University of Southern Mississippi this fall.
Rebecca has preformed such roles as Aricia in
Phaedra, Kristine in
Dollhouse, Catherine
in Boston Marriage
and The Mute in The
Fantastiks, Shelby in
Steel Magnolias, Sophie in
The White Rose, Eva in
Kindertransport and
Theresa in Boy Gets Girl.
She also enjoyed performing in
Guys and Dolls, A Chorus
Line, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Into the Woods, Young Zombies in
Love, The Importance of Being Earnest, All I Really Need to Know
I Learned in Kindergarten, and
Children of Eden. She
would like to thank God for the gift and joy of theatre, Charles
for his constant love and belief in her dreams and talents, and
Mom, Dad and Marla for their never-ending support and
level-headedness. Thanks to her teachers, directors, and
mentors: Jack and Suzanne Mann, Roy Hudson, Michael Flowers,
Alan Litsey, and Patti Manning for believing in, challenging,
and guiding her. Thanks to Clay and Park Players for this
opportunity to spread the word about the plight of defenseless
sardines worldwide!
 Frederick
Fellows - David Coker
David loves
doing theatre in the summertime (and other times as well). He
considers himself blessed to be a part of such a talented
cast/crew and to work again with his great friend Clay Boyce.
This is actually David's debut with Park Players, although he
has worked previously under Clay's direction in Over the
River and Through the Woods at BFT. Coker has been seen on
and off again for several years in the
Birmingham
theatre community, working with various different companies in a
variety of roles. He last appeared at the VST in Norton Dill's
production of
The Buddy Holly Story,
and David's next turn will be in Red
Mountain Theatre's production of
The Drowsy Chaperone
this fall. Holding both BA and MEd degrees from the
University of Montevallo, Coker is a 6th
grade Language
Arts teacher with Hoover City Schools. He wishes to give
thanks and praise to God, his family and friends, as well as
give big ol' hugs to his theatre buddies. "It's so important,
to make someone happy."
 Belinda
Blair - Amanda Kramer
Amanda Kramer is a little bit in love with this show and
so glad to be a part of it. She is an alumna of
Birmingham-Southern
College, and has enjoyed acting in several shows around
town. Some of her favorite recent credits include Crimes of
the Heart (Babe,
South City Theatre),
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Susan,
Birmingham
Children's Theatre),
A Midsummer Night's
Dream (Helena, Texas Players),
You Can't Take It
with You (Penny, BSC),
Our Town
(The Stage Manager, BSC), and Alan Litsey's
Miss Julie (Kristin, BSC). She has also worked as
Production Stage Manager of
Texas Musical
Drama and as a Historical Interpreter at American
Village. She supposes she has come a long way since
understudying Juliet in Park Players' 2006 production of
Romeo and Juliet!
Tim Allgod - Steven Ross
Steven is a fixture of
Park Players since the beginning of time, or at least the
beginning of Park Players. A
Birmingham Native Steven fell in love with theatre in high
School. After a fifteen-year absence in theatre Steven returned
to the stage with the Canterbury players, playing Tito Mereli in
"Lend me a Tenor" in 1997. Since then he has been part of
several Canterbury productions and has also been seen on stage
with LJCC, Garden Variety Shakespeare, South City, Theatre
Downtown and five Park
Player Productions. Steven favorite role was Nick in Birmingham
Festival’s production of “Over the River and Through the
Woods”. Steven made his directorial debut with Park Players’ "A
Midsummer Nights Dream" in 2004, and directed Comedy of Errors
in
2007. He has worked as Assistant Director in Park Players
“The Complete Work of William Shakespeare (abridged), South
City’s “Driving Miss Daisy” and Leeds Arts Council "The Odd
Couple (female version). When not on stage he can be seen
running lights, sound and more often behind a camera taking
scene shots and headshots. On the board of Park Players Steven
has worked as Location Manager, Publicity, Box Office, Actor,
Grip, Sound tech, Lighting and all around Gofer.
 Selsdon
Mowbray - Jesse Bates
Jesse Bates is
fortunate to be back with Park Players. His last role with them
was C.S. Lewis in
Shadowlands. He has also enjoyed showing the
world his Bottom in Midsummer and playing yet another
dotty old man -
King Lear - in, well, King Lear. He is
Chair of Theatre Arts at
Alabama School of Fine Arts. If you want to see what he
does, your sitting in it as you read this. This year has been a
full one. He directed the musical Runaways and assisted
with Raisin in the Sun. Usually, though, he can be
found in the scene
shop. He considers himself very fortunate to be
this past year's recipient of the B'ham Area Theatre Alliance
Lifetime Achievement Award, to have a production of
Thoroughly
Modern Millie in his honor at his
alma mater,
Samford Univ. (sponsored by that generous couple Mike and Mary
Ann Freeman) and to have an annual award established in his
memory - wait, his honor - in their
Theatre Arts Department. His lovely and talented wife,
Mary Lynn, is suffering through another summer of listening to
him repeat lines. His proudest claim to fame is being "Ba-ba"
(granddaddy) to Sofia Anastasia Panayotopoulos. back to top^
 Director
- A. Clay Boyce
Clay will be scared
of sardines now until the day he dies! He is the president of the Birmingham
Area Theatre Alliance (BATA) and the Community Theatre Chair for
the Alabama Conference of Theatre (ACT). He just finished
directing Driving Miss Daisy for South City Theatre in
March and was last seen on stage as Don Pedro in Park Players
production of Much Ado about Nothing. Some of his favorite roles have
been George in Of Mice and Men, Hamlet and the Beast in
the Leeds Arts Council's production of Disney's Beauty and
the Beast. He would like to thank his wife, Vicki and
his daughter, Victoria, for all the love and support they give
him and this cast for letting him put them through hell during
the rehearsal process for this production! (No sardines
were harmed in the making of this play. Ok, maybe we
harmed a few of them...)
Asst. Director - Victoria Boyce
Victoria
thrilled to be back with Park Players.
Other shows she has done with Park Players are
Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet,
and
A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
Other theaters she has acted with are The Leeds Art
Counsel
(Beauty and the Beast),
The LJCC (The
Pajama Game and
High School Musical),
and Center Stage (Music
Man). She has
also done some tech work for MCAT (Pippin),
Center Stage (Thoroughly
Modern Mille, Guys and Dolls),
and BFT (Over
the River).
She would like to thank her mom for teaching her, her dad
for introducing her to theater, her best friends Aaron, Spenser,
and Noelle for supporting her, and her drama teachers Francie
Gardner and Sandy Dittmer.
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