BEAUTIFUL STAR WHO'S WHO
| Cast | Creative Team |
| Eugene Stoneman / Brad Brown | Playwright & Director / Preston Lane |
| Paul Sparks / Justin Emmanuel Harrington | Composer/Music Director / Laurelyn Dossett |
| Shelley Ledbetter / Patti Hazlett | Scenic Designer / Branden Tucker |
| Myrtle Ledbetter / Penny Hazlett | Costume Designer / Kelsey Hunt |
| Ethel Green / Erica Honeycutt | Resident Lighting Designer / John Wolf |
| Rev. Roy Ledbetter / Carroll "Chip" Johnson | Sound Designer / Ryan J. Gastelum |
| Vernon Sparks / Junious Leak | Original Sound Designer / David E. Smith |
| Vestina Ledbetter / Cinny Strickland | Stage Manager / Catherine Hagner |
| Franklin Duncan / Michael Tourek | |
| Tidence Ledbetter / James Tunstall | THE BAND |
| Musician / Stephanie Coleman | |
| Musician / Andrew Eversole | |
| Musician / Rhiannon Giddens |
CAST
Brad Brown (Eugene Stoneman) Triad Stage: Brother Wolf, The Matchmaker, Beautiful Star. Regional/Local: The Comedy of Errors (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival); Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Sleeping Beauty or Coma, Carolina Jack’s Last Adventure, Uncle Ulysses and The Mythic Sword (Theatre 232); ART, Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Seaside Repertory Theatre). UNCG: Holy Ghosts, Macbeth, The Foreigner, The Firebugs. Education: MFA Candidate (2008), University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Justin Emmanuel Harrington (Paul Sparks) is a 4th grader at Jesse Wharton Elementary. He loves to dance, sing, play basketball and study Tae Kwon Do. This summer, Justin participated in the Children's Academy for Life Transformation Music and Arts camp where he picked up a serious love for playing violin. Other performance experience includes dancing with his Aunt's band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. This is Justin's first production.
Patti Hazlett (Shelly Ledbetter) is a sixth grader at Greensboro Day School. Patti has been performing since the first grade when she made her debut as “Gretl” in UNCG’s production of The Sound of Music. Since then Patti has performed in Bugz the Musical!, Chicken Little, Peter Pan, Children of Eden, Rogue of the Railway and Kiddleywinks…all at GDS. She is currently studying voice with Cheryse McLeod Lewis. Patti enjoys spending her free time reading, drawing, napping and surfing the web.
Penny Hazlett (Myrtle Ledbetter) is a second grader at Greensboro Day School. Penny made her theatrical debut at the age of four as the ugly stepsister “Rubella” in Storybook Theatre’s production of Cinderella. Penny has performed with CTG, City Arts Drama Camp and Sonny Willis’ lower school drama program at GDS. Penny is currently starring in the second and third grade musical The Magic in Me as “Do-Nothing Dale”. In her free time, Penny enjoys reading, talking and memorizing the score to High School Musical.
Erica Honeycutt (Ethel Green) Professional: Charlotte's Web, Once on This Island, Gypsy (Lake Dillon Theatre Company), Exodus (Informall Theatre Company), The Tragic End of Lust (John Gamble Dance Theatre). University: Nancy (Holy Ghosts), Bird Girl (Seussical). Education: Graduating in May '08 as BFA Acting Major and Dance Minor.
Carroll “Chip” Johnson (Rev. Roy Ledbetter) Triad Stage: A Lesson Before Dying, The Rainmaker, North Star. Local: Dearly Beloved, Moon Over the Brewery, American Buffalo, True West, A Poster of the Cosmos, Dearly Departed, The Magic City (Broach Theatre); Wait Until Darkness, The Norman Conquests, The Mousetrap, Catch Me If You Can (Barn Dinner Theatre). Education: MFA, UNCG. Other: Adjunct professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Elon University.
Junious Leak (Vernon Sparks) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star, The Matchmaker, “Master Harold”…and the boys, North Star. Regional/Local: Paul Robeson (National Black Theatre Festival); Tuesdays with Morrie, The Fantasticks (Open Space Cafe Theater); Fences, Zooman and the Sign (Kennedy Center); The Piano Lesson (Troy State University); And Still I Rise (Maya Angelou Productions); Poetry Alive! (Iambic Productions National Touring Co.); You Can’t Take It with You (UNCG, guest artist). Film/TV: The Color Purple, The Patron Saint of Liars (CBS), Shift (PBS). Education: BA, NC A&T State University.
Cinny Strickland (Vestina Ledbetter) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star. Other NC credits: NC Shakespeare Festival, Charlotte Repertory Theatre, Blowing Rock Stage Company, The Actors’ Ensemble, The Broach Theatre, Wilmington’s Dog Eat Dog Theatre. Regional: Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Cape Cod’s Monomoy Theatre, Pennsylvania’s Bristol Riverside Theatre. Education: BFA-Drama, NC School of the Arts; AB-Political Science, Princeton University. Other: guest artist, NCSA School of Music; guest artist, Princeton University’s Theatre Intime.
Michael Tourek (Franklin Duncan) Triad Stage: Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star. Off Broadway: Romeo’s Dream (One Arm Red), Calthropia (West End), On the Open Road (Boulevard Arts). Regional: Fiddler on the Roof (Lincoln Amphitheatre, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Over the River and Through the Woods (Cumberland County Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival), Jesus Christ Superstar (Mill Mountain Theater). Film: Citizen Ruth, The Producers, Frog on a String (48 Hour Film Project), John Adams Project (HBO Films).
James Tunstall (Tidence Ledbetter) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star, Das Barbecü. Off-Broadway: Don’t Remind Me, Walking Behind (La Mama Experimental Theatre Club); The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore (Light Opera of Manhattan). Regional/Local: Olympus on My Mind, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Royal Palm Theatre); Gypsy (East Carolina Theatre); Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Elephant Sighs, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, The Boys Next Door, Big Bang (Broach Theatre). TV: Guiding Light, As the World Turns. Education: The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; studies with Uta Hagen and Stella Adler.
CREATIVE TEAM
Preston Lane (Playwright & Artistic Director, Co-Founder, Playwright & Director) is beginning his 7th season at Triad Stage, having directed over 25 productions including: the Grand Opening production Suddenly Last Summer, the award-winning Hedda Gabler and A Streetcar Named Desire, last season's acclaimed Tobacco Road and the return of Brother Wolf for An Appalachian Summer Festival, and this season's The Little Foxes. He was formerly Artistic Associate at the Dallas Theater Center where his productions included the US premiere of Inexpressible Island (Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards: Best Director, Best Production) and The Night of the Iguana (Dallas Morning News: 2002 Top Ten Theatre List). Other productions include: A Tuff Shuffle (National Black Theatre Festival), Overruled (Off Broadway), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Stage One), and the world premieres of If Only and Get It While You Can (Summer Cabaret). As a playwright, he is recipient of a grant from the Fox Foundation to develop Wondrous Love. Other adaptations and original works include Hedda Gabler, Dracula, Mirandolina, Julie's Dance, Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star, and the upcoming Bloody Blackbeard (Triad Stage), A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center, Sonoma County Rep, Kids Who Care), Three Weeks After Marriage and Helen! (Summer Cabaret). He has taught at UNC Greensboro, N.C. A&T University, NC School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, and the Professional Actors Workshop at the Dallas Theater Center. He is an alumnus of the Drama League of New York's Director's Project. A native of Boone, NC, Preston received his BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Laurelyn Dossett (Composer/Music Director) Singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in a hymn-singing family. Laurelyn’s other collaborations with Preston Lane include the upcoming June 2008 premiere of Bloody Blackbeard, and Triad Stage’s 2006 world premiere production of Brother Wolf. One of the songs from Brother Wolf, “Anna Lee” appears on Levon Helm’s 2007 release Dirt Farmer. She is the 2004 winner of Merlefest’s Chris Austin Songwriting Contest for her gospel song, "Come by Here," and has taught songwriting at the Augusta Heritage Center. In 1997 she founded the band Polecat Creek with singing partner Kari Sickenberger; they have three CDs: Ordinary Seasons, Salt Sea Bound and Leaving Eden. Leaving Eden’s title track, about the loss of textile jobs in Eden, NC, has been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and on the BBC. She lives in Greensboro with her husband and three daughters.
Branden Tucker (Scenic Designer) has been the properties master and scenic painter with Triad Stage since the theatre’s first show. He previously designed the set for The SantaLand Diaries at Triad Stage. Other designs include The Piano Lesson and Vanities at North Carolina School of the Arts. Branden holds a BFA in Scenic Design from the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Kelsey Hunt (Costume Designer) is resident designer and costume shop manager at Triad Stage. Past productions include Tobacco Road , Noises Off , Beautiful Star , The Old Settler , The Diary of Anne Frank , The Matchmaker, Brother Wolf , On Golden Pond , A Streetcar Named Desire (honorable mention, best production design, Independent Weekly), Das Barbecü , A Moon for the Misbegotten and Bus Stop . Kelsey has worked with UNCG Theater, New York’s Glimmerglass Opera House, Firebrand Theory Theater Company, The Lortel Theater, and Lisa Zinni (associate designer for Broadway’s Rent.)
John Wolf (Resident Lighting Designer) Triad Stage: 18 productions including the world premieres of Brother Wolf, Debunked and Beautiful Star. Regional: North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Mill Mountain Theatre. University Theatre: UNCG, University of Florida, University of Tennessee, University of Alabama, University of Nebraska Opera, plus designs at Trinity Theatre, Symphony Space and Lincoln Center in New York. John is Associate Professor of Theatre at UNC Greensboro. Education: MFA, University of Alabama; The Julliard School of Music.
Ryan J. Gastelum (Sound Designer) Triad Stage: Sleuth, The Diary of Anne Frank (Assistant Sound Designer). Regional/Local: The Tempest, As You Like It, King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); Cats (The Little Theater of Winston Salem); West Side Story (NC School of the Arts, Assistant Sound Designer). Education: BA, UC Santa Cruz. Other: Sound Intern, The Guthrie Theater.
David E. Smith (Original Sound Designer) is director of the North Carolina School of the Arts theatre sound design program. David spent eight years at the Royal National Theatre in London, England. He has designed sound at Arena Stage in Washington DC, North Shore Music Theatre in Massachusetts, Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island, Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, and locally at the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem. He was sound designer for The Little Foxes, Tobacco Road, last season’s Beautiful Star, The Diary of Anne Frank and A Streetcar Named Desire and helped create the sound for Dracula at Triad Stage.
Catherine Hagner (Stage Manager) Triad Stage: 33 productions from The Rainmaker through Sleuth. She joined the company after serving as Production Stage Manager for American Stage in St. Petersburg, Florida, for four seasons. Ms. Hagner received a BA in Theatre and English from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and completed an apprenticeship in Directing/Dramaturgy at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
THE BAND
Stephanie Coleman (Musician) has been playing traditional Appalachian music on the fiddle, banjo and guitar for the last thirteen years. She has performed and taught at dances, festivals and workshops around the United States and Ireland. She is a regular finalist in the renowned fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival. A senior at Duke University, she will graduate in May with a degree in American Studies.
Andrew Eversole (Musician) was born in Harlan, Kentucky and began playing banjo at the age of fifteen when Santa Claus (his mother), brought one home for Christmas. Since that fateful day, he has never wavered on his quest to become a masterful musician, songwriter and human being. Andrew received a degree in Philosophy at Guilford College in 2002 and has since been pursuing a career in the musical arts. His debut record, Creature, out in late 2007, marks the beginning of his solo recording career. More information at: www.myspace.com/Andreweversoleband
Rhiannon Giddens (Musician) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star (Musician). As part of the band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon has performed all over the United States and Canada, been featured on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion, and been reviewed in Rolling Stone. Look for Rhiannon as one of the musicians in the upcoming movie The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington. More information at: www.rhisong.com
THE MUSIC OF BEAUTIFUL STAR
Composer Laurelyn Dossett weaves a number of delightfully memorable bluegrass and folk songs into the stories of Beautiful Star. Click here for a sample from the soundtrack.Play Your Part
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