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Carroll "Chip" Johnson* (Rev. Roy Ledbetter) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star (2006 and 2007), 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 Dark, 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. |
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Cinny Strickland* (Vestina Ledbetter) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star (2006 and 2007).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. |
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Steven Roten* (Ferlin Hamblin) Triad Stage: Suddenly Last Summer, Mirandolina, August Snow, Baby with the Bathwater. Regional: All the King’s Men (Burning Coal Theatre Company, directed by Adrian Hall), Rocky Horror Show (UNCG). Film/TV: Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, Special Day. Education: Artistic Director for Still Water Theatre Company www.still-water-theatre.org. Assistant Professor of Theatre at Meredith College. |
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Patti Hazlett (Shelly Ledbetter) is a seventh 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, Kiddleywinks, and Narnia, 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…but mostly napping. |
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Penny Hazlett (Myrtle Ledbetter) is a third 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 working on her songwriting and learning the guitar from Greensboro musician Sam Frazier. In her free time, Penny enjoys reading, talking and memorizing Taylor Swift songs. |
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Junious Leak (Vernon Sparks) Triad Stage: Beautiful Star (2006 and 2007), The Matchmaker, “Master Harold”…and the boys, North Star. Regional/Local: Paul Robeson (National Black Theatre Festival); Tuesdays with Morrie, The Fantasticks (Open Space Café 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. |
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Justin Emmanuel Harrington (Paul Sparks) is a fifth-grader at Jesse Wharton Elementary. He officially fell in love with theater in his first role as Paul Sparks in Beautiful Star (2007) and is excited to reprise that role in 2008. Justin has continued to explore his love for the stage with a recent role as the White Rabbit in Greensboro Children Theatre’s production of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, the Musical. |
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Michael Tourek* (Franklin Duncan) Triad Stage: Bloody Blackbeard, Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star (2006 and 2007). 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, John Adams. |
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Ashley Marie Ortiz (Esmeralda Garza) This is Ashley’s Triad Stage debut. UNCG: The Rimers of Eldritch, Love’s Fire, Our Lady of 121st Street, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Lady in Blue, Death and the King’s Horseman. Education: BFA Candidate, UNCG, 2009. |
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Joshua Yoder (Ricky Eggers) Triad Stage: The Night of the Iguana, Bloody Blackbeard. Regional/Local: Mere Mortals, Redbeard’s Revenge (Triad Stage/UNCG THTR 232); Ruth (Blue Shift Theatre Ensemble); Here There Be Dragons (Man-In-The-Moon Theatre); Holiday, Love’s Fire, The Taste of Sunrise (UNCG). Education: MFA Candidate, UNCG. |
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Preston Lane (Artistic Director/Co-Founder & Director) is in his 8th season at Triad Stage, having directed over 30 productions including: the Grand Opening production Suddenly Last Summer, the award-winning Hedda Gabler and A Streetcar Named Desire, 2007’s acclaimed Tobacco Road (Wall Street Journal: Best of 2007 Theatre). Preston was recently honored with the 2008 Betty Cone Medal of the Arts. He is also the Artistic Partner for Theatre for An Appalachian Summer Festival. 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, his adaptations and original works include: Hedda Gabler, Dracula, Mirandolina, and Julie’s Dance (Triad Stage); A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center, Sonoma County Rep, Kids Who Care), Three Weeks After Marriage and Helen! (Summer Cabaret) and with Laurelyn Dossett: Brother Wolf (Triad Stage, An Appalachian Summer Festival, Upcoming: Human Race Theatre Company), Beautiful Star (Triad Stage, Upcoming: WaterTower Theatre) and Bloody Blackbeard. He has taught at UNCG, NC A&T, NCSA, Greensboro College, SMU, 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 MFA from the Yale School of Drama. |
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Laurelyn Dossett (Composer/Music Director) Singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Her other collaborations with Preston Lane include the summer 2008 hit 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 Grammy-winning 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. |
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Branden Tucker (Scenic Designer) returns to Triad Stage where he served as Properties Master and Scenic Charge for several years. He previously designed the set for The Santaland Diaries. 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. |
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Kelsey Hunt (Costume Designer) is Resident Designer and Costume Shop Manager at Triad Stage. Past productions include: Bell, Book and Candle, The Night of the Iguana, Bloody Blackbeard, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Sleuth, The Little Foxes, 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). |
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John Wolf (Lighting Designer) Triad Stage: 21 productions including the world premieres of Bloody Blackbeard, 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 Nebraska Opera, plus designs at Lion Theatre, Center Stage, Trinity Theatre, Symphony Space and Lincoln Center in New York. John is a Professor of Theatre at UNC Greensboro. Education: MFA, University of Alabama; The Julliard School of Music. |
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David E. Smith (Sound Designer) is director of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts BFA and MFA theatre sound design program. David spent eight years at the Royal National Theatre in London, England. Triad Stage: The Night of the Iguana, Bloody Blackbeard, The Little Foxes, Tobacco Road, Beautiful Star, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Streetcar Named Desire and Dracula. Regional: Arena Stage, North Shore Music Theatre, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre. Local: Little Theatre of Winston-Salem. David lives in Clemmons, NC with his wife and artist, Diane Demers-Smith. |
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Drew Barker (Dramaturg) is a former Theatre and English teacher and is pleased to have joined Triad Stage as Artistic Associate. Regional: Assistant Director of five shows with Preston Lane at Triad Stage. Education: UNCG, BFA Theatre Education & English, Study Abroad at the University of Hull, and Undergraduate Research Assistantship in Greensboro Theatre History. |
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Eric Tysinger* (Stage Manager) Triad Stage: Angel Street, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Old Wicked Songs, North Star, Bloody Blackbeard, The Night of the Iguana and Bell, Book and Candle. Off-Broadway: Elvis People. Regional: Dreamgirls, Annie Get Your Gun, Peter Pan (North Carolina Theatre) A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, As You Like It (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival); Elvis People, Great Expectations (both world premieres, Mill Mountain Theatre). Education: BFA, UNCG. |
