BIOGRAPHIES

Actors

	Chuck Deeter—(French) is a man with many identities. To some people he is an actor they have seen on stages around the Twin Cities area. To others, he is a commercial actor in television spots, print ads, and industrial videos. To theatre-goers up and down the east coast he has been Ebeneezer Scrooge. To folks who have seen How to Talk Minnesotan, the Musical he is Ed Humde of the Lost Walleye Lodge. To Best Buy employees, he is the tighted and tutued hero of their in-house television production, The Space Fairy. To meat lovers across the country he is the "No Name Gourmet." To three children in Colorado he is Grandpa Chuck. And to a long-suffering woman in Bemidji, MN, he is the husband who works away from home way too much and is not getting the bathroom rebuilt. If anyone out there can make sense of his schizoid life, let him know. It is a mystery to him!
	Sheldon Goldstein (Grover) appeared most recently on the JHT stage as Thor in Morning's at Seven. He was also seen here as Father James O'Hannon in Dear James. He has performed with the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, as the father in The Substance of Fire, Clarence Darrow in Never the Sinner, the father in A Shayna Maidel and Benny in The Value of Names. At Park Square Theater he was seen as Thor in Morning's at Seven, Polonius in Hamlet, and Wargrave in Ten Little Indians. He has also performed at several other Twin Cities theaters, in such roles as Harry Hope in The Iceman Cometh, Boyle in Juno and the Paycock, Levin in Glengarry Glen Ross, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, and the Old Man in Prelude to a Kiss. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, where he was director of the media department and taught courses in broadcasting.
	Marshall Hambro* (Chief Morehouse) was Carl in last fall's Morning's at Seven. Last year he was in Guys and Dolls at the Minnesota Festival Theater in Albert Lea. He has been seen at many Twin Cities venues, including the Old Log, Jungle, Illusion, Grand Garage, Playwrights’ Center and Mystery Cafe. He toured nationally in Troupe America's production of The Odd Couple, with Jamie Farr and William Christopher. He's appeared in several feature films, including With Honors, which starred Joe Pesci and Brendan Fraser. He has also worked on-camera in several television commercials and industrial films. He can usually be found on the golf course or behind his desk at the library of a large Minneapolis law firm. He lives in Saint Louis Park with his wonderful family and small menagerie of animals.
	Mike Johnson—(Bauer) most recently appeared as Willie in The Boundary at the Rochester Repertory Theater. Other Repertory credits include Defying Gravity, MacBeath, Keely and Du, When Angels Fall, Warm Wind in China, Lone Star, Homesteaders, The Boys Next Door, The Sea Horse, When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?, Thirst of Eden and Ten November. Michael also performed many times at the Rochester Civic Theater, including: Thespians, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, There Goes the Bride among others. He appeared as W.W. Mayo in The Young Mayo Brothers at the Mayo Center for the Humanities in Medicine, as well as numerous melodramas at the Mantorville Theater Company. Video and film credits include Federal Prison System Videos, Mayo Medical School, Mayo Clinic, St. Mary's Hospital and Methodist Hospital videos, and television commercials. Michael is a mortician at Mahn Funeral Homes.
	Jennifer Oman—(Penny Jean) is gratefully making her debut at the JHT in The Staggerford Murders, her first Minnesota stage appearance in over four years. Her hiatus was enjoyed in Boston where she earned a BA in Theatre from Emerson College, gained performance experience (favorites include Nunsense, Love's Fire, and Company) and began developing a voice for her self. Prior to her pursuit of higher education, she appeared regularly at The Children's Theatre Company (Madeline's Rescue, Cinderella, The Story of Babar, Animal Fables from Aesop) and Stages Theatre Company,. She has also performed with The Minnesota Dance Theatre, Benilde-St. Margaret's Drama Dept. and others. Jennifer is hopeful about an engaging future in the theatre community through the inestimable support of her family, Joel and Frankie.
	Larry Roupe (Dusty) has been associated with the Lyric Theater and Jon Hassler since 1991 when he played Simon Peter Shea in Simon's Night. He repeated that role in 1992 and then went on to other Hassler roles — Michael McMahon in Grand Opening, Myron Kleinschmidt in Dear James and Dusty in The Staggerford Murders, a role it is rumored (mainly by Larry) Jon wrote for him. Also for the Lyric, he has played George Bernard Shaw, Herbert Hoover, and Old Man Brunner and has directed Payments Due. For Troupe America he has toured nationally in 1940's Radio Hour, On Golden Pond and Moon Over Buffalo (with Gavin McLeod). Larry feels very much at home in Plainview.
	Nancy Plank—(Caledonia) was last seen at JHT in the role of Ida in Morning's at Seven which she also performed at the Park Square Theater in St. Paul. Nancy appeared in the Lyric Theatre's original production of Jon Hassler's Grand Opening. Twin Cities audiences may have seen Nancy at the Jungle Theater in Seascape and On the Verge, and Over the River and Through the Woods at the Old Log Theater. Nancy has a BA from the University of Iowa and studied acting at the HB Studios in NYC with Herbert Berghof. She appeared in a revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in NYC. She also played in regional theaters in Mempis, Detroit and Allentown, PA.
	Noalen Stampe (Imogene), a founding member of the Lyric Theatre in 1985, is thrilled to be reunited in a working relationship with Artistic Director Sally Childs. Noalen created the double role of Jean/Linda in the Lyric’s production of Simon’s Night in 1991 and then returned to Minnesota State University where she earned an M.F.A. in acting and directing. She also received an Acting Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London. Noalen has worked in summer stock and in several theaters in the Twin Cities area, including New Tradition, Red Eye Collaboration, The Playwrights’ Center and 15 Head. If Noalen should look or sound familiar to you, it may be because she also does voice-over, print and on-camera commercial work.

 

Production Staff

Alva Crom (Stage Manager) began working with Sally Childs and the Lyric Theatre in 1991 with the first Hassler production, Simon's Night, a production that featured Larry Roupe and Noalen Stampe! He has become familiar as Stage Manager in Plainview—The Staggerford Murders is his fourteenth production at the JHT. Al has a degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota, Morris. When not stage managing Al is a graphic designer in his family's commercial printing business where he creates many of the theater's postcards playbills.

Bryan Olson (Production Assistant)

Clark A. Cruikshank (Sound Design) managing director and actor-in-residence at the JHT since last September, has appeared on this stage in To Whom It May Concern, The Fantasticks, and Grand Opening. A member of the Twin Cities theatrical community since 1990, he has appeared in over 25 shows on such varied stages as the Great American History Theatre, Illusion Theater, Lake Pepin Players, and Park Square Theatre. He is pleased to be employed in promoting the JHT and Southeast Minnesota (don't get him started), and is very grateful to his son Ben and wife Maria for their continued support of his insidious “theater habit”.

Paul Epton (lighting designer) is a freelance lighting designer and technician from Minneapolis. He began his theatre career while an undergraduate at Carleton College. He then spent 11 years as an award winning lighting designer and master electrician for Detroit's Attic Theatre. In Minnesota since 1992, he now designs regularly for Mixed Blood Theatre, and the Minnesota Jewish Theatre, among others. He also programs intelligent lighting at The Children's Theatre Company and has run lights at the Guthrie. Summer stock experience includes Bemidji's Paul Bunyan Playhouse and Albert Lea's Minnesota Festival Theatre. His introduction to Plainview was lighting and running sound for Larry Roupe in Chief, and has designed lighting for Grand Opening, To Whom It May Concern, and Chin Music and Boxelder Bug Variations. Paul is also a year-round bicycle commuter and is pleased that one of his first professional designs was for Spokesong.

Susan Fick (Costume Designer) originally from Zumbro Falls(!). now spends most of her time as the Wardrobe Supervisor for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Susan has designed Costumes for such theaters as: Northstar Opera, Eye of the Storm, The Great North American History Theater and the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company and has had her hand in almost every other theater company in the greater Twin Cities area, from Chanhassen Dinner Theaters, to Park Square. Various tours and live industrials have taken her all across the continent and yet she now finds herself back in Plainview, the same town where she failed swimming lessons as a kid, 3 years in a row!

Sally Childs (Director/Barbara Shea) was a founder and served as Artistic/Managing Director of the Lyric Theatre and last summer became the Artistic Director for the Rural America Arts Partnership. After adapting and staging Bill Holm's Boxelder Bug Variations as a dance/poetry piece in 1987, the Lyric continued staging the work of Minnesota writers, including Carol Connolly, Paul Mohrbacher, Leo Dangel, and Jon Hassler -- over and over. Childs directed the Lyric's first staging of Simon's Night in 1991, produced Grand Opening in 1996 and adapted, directed and produced Dear James in 1997 and 1998. The Lyric is delighted to become The Jon Hassler Theater, an affiliate of the Rural America Arts Partnership in Plainview — home at last.

Erica Zaffarano (Set Designer) has designed for the Lyric Theatre since 1993, and now serves as Resident Designer for the Jon Hassler Theater. She has designed for theatres in Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Washington, California, Nevada, Utah, Iowa, Minnesota and last year designed work at Purdue University. Erica's wizardry on her Mac has led to her to editing the newsletter of the British group the king'singers and into designing commercial websites.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Small Professional Theater contract.

The Rural America Arts Partnership gratefully acknowledges Debra Loeser Small and Thomas P Small, Will Harrington, and Dean and Sally Harrington for providing housing for the actors and designers.