Play On!
Meet the cast of Play On!...
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Janet Van Well (Phyllis Montague, playwright)
Janet is delighted to tread the boards of the New Century Player's stage. While she has earned her living performing theatre, she has spent her time in Oregon teaching theatre arts to high school students in Hillsboro. (Go Liberty Falcons!) Shout out to Jo for telling her about this show and inviting her to be a part of it. |
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Molly McDevitt (Geraldine "Gerry" Dunbar, director)
Molly is thrilled to be back working with New Century Players. She last appeared on the NCP stage in Recipe for Murder in 2011. Molly works more often behind the curtain as a director. Past favorite directing credits include: Waiting for the Parade with NCP, The Philadelphia Story and Amadeus with HART, and The Hullabaloo: Princess and the Pea with Jane, A Theatre Company. Molly is excited to be working with old friends and new. Enjoy the show! |
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Sarah Fuller Williams (Aggie Manville, stage manager)
Sarah was born into a theater family; her big start as a kid was playing “the body” for It Was a Dark and Stormy Night by Tim Kelly… she continued to play bodies until she unfortunately sneezed during a performance while trussed up in a gunny sack. From that point forward she was relegated to back-stage work and eventually had to fall back on musical theater and dance. After a stint as the stage manager for the Foothills Theater Company, in college Sarah performed for the Elite Dance Company and played Margarita in West Side Story. Current credits include: Anything Goes, White Christmas, The Hot L Baltimore, and Spamalot. Sarah settled down in Portland with her husband Aaron to raise their beautiful feline daughter, and follow her dream of becoming the next Karaoke star. |
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Mary Weigel (Tina Larson, prompter)
Mary is thrilled to once again be appearing in a production with New Century Players. Since 2007 she has had the privilege of performing in Steel Magnolias (Ouiser), A Murder is Announced (Mitzi), Moon Over Buffalo (Ethel), Bad Seed (Miss Fern), The Odd Couple (Renee) and musical's Hairspray (PE Teacher) and Footloose (Ethel McCormick). Most recently, she has appeared in Suite Surrender (Claudia McFadden) at Sandy Actors Theatre. Mary has worked for the North Clackamas School District since 1999 and is currently the Principal's Secretary at Ardenwald Elementary School. She wishes to thank her family and friends for their unconditional love and support. |
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Angela Michtom (Louise Peary, technician director)
Angela is very excited to be in her first show with New Century Players. After doing theatre throughout high school, college and for many years after, she took a long hiatus to raise her own theatre loving kids. She kept her performance skills sharpish in that time period by being one of the original founders of Portland Comedysportz, where she still performs. She returned to the scripted stage a few years ago, in The Dining Room (Lumiere Players), Some Americans Abroad (HART) and Three TragiComedy Playlets (Comedysportz). She wants to thank her family for their support - especially her wonderful husband Glen, who promised in his wedding vows to help her run lines. |
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Arleen Daugherty (Henry-etta Benish "Lady Dudley")
Arleen is delighted to be a part of this talented and fun group. Since 2008 she has had the privilege of participating in over a dozen shows with a variety of wonderful local theatres but New Century Players is home. Some of her favorite roles include Ana in The Clean House, Mrs. Paddy in The Curious Savage, Truvy in Steel Magnolias, Angel in Entanglement, and Vera in The Odd Couple (The Female Version). Many thanks go to her ever-supportive family and friends for their encouragement of her theatre passion! |
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Susan Scovil (Polly Benish "Lady Margaret")
As the drama teacher at Clackamas High School for over 20 years, Susan taught three levels of theater classes and directed over 30 shows. She created a Children's Theater program that entertained hundreds of area grade school students every spring. She initiated an annual variety show for charity and an improv show called Comedy Cafe-- also for charity. Additionally, Susan was the advisor for the school's very active Thespian club. Then she retired to new adventures - travel, gardening, art... But, she missed theater, and she’s thrilled to be in Play On! In fact, when the cast had their first read through, when she joined the group at the table, if you could have heard her heart, you’d have heard it say, “Ahhhh.... my people! It’s good to be back.” Susan wants to thank New Century for this opportunity, her family and friends for their support, and her new friends in the cast and crew for their welcome home. |
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Scott Walker (Saul Watson, "Dr. Rex Forbes")
This is Scott’s first appearance on the stage since he played as the Blue Fawn/Prince Charming in Western Oregon University’s production of The Sleeping Beauty in 1987. He has filled his time since by teaching and directing full time at Milwaukie High School, serving multiple terms on the Oregon Thespians and Oregon Theatre Educators’ Association board of directors, and earning his MFA in theatre from the University of Portland. He is currently serving as a Board Director for the Educational Theatre Association and is passionate about the opportunities that theatre provides for people of all ages. His pipe dream is to retire, move to Puerto Vallarta, and start a Shakespeare company because, hey, they don’t have Shakespeare in Puerto Vallarta. He would like to thank Jo for pushing him, his students for encouraging him, and Gretchen for putting up with his crazy ideas and adventures. |
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Ashley Leap (Marla "Smitty" Smith, "Doris")
Actress, playwright and theatre enthusiast, I'm beyond excited to be apart of another New Century Players show. Currently, I'm attending Portland State University, majoring in English with a minor in Theatre. After college, I plan to backpack around the globe- starting in Ireland. As far as what I "want to do when I grow up," I just want to save the world. I aspire to enjoy life to the fullest and make every day count. |
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Ravyn Jazper-Hawkes (Violet Imbry, “Diana Lassiter”)
Ravyn is thrilled to be making her debut with New Century Players. Previous roles include Columbina in The Venetian Twins, Hester in George Washington Slept Here, Madame Jordaine in The Would-Be Gentleman, Virginia Merrye in Spider Baby: The Musical and Lizzie Borden in Republic County. Look for her in December as the title role in Masque Alfresco's production of Cinderella! |
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Sam Bennett (Billy Carewe, "Stephen Sellers" )
Sam Bennett is pleased to be purposely making mischief for his role as Billy. Previous parts include Tupolski in Mark McDonagh's The Pillowman, the Mayor in Friedrich Durrentmatt's The Visit, and countless roles from countless improv scenes. Sam would like to thank all the haters for their difficult work. |
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Shan Backer ("Assistant Stage Manager")
After being very active in theater while in high school and college (which was centuries ago), Shan decided it was time to get back to the fun when she was in the NCP production Recipe for Murder a couple of years ago. That was so much fun, she was part of the chorus in Oklahoma! a year later with Clackamas Repertory Theater. Well, life happens and it's been a couple more years, but she's really happy to be the stage manager for Play On! She is from New Mexico, but now calls Oregon home after spending the last 25 years here. Shan is married, has 3 grown kids and 7 fun grandbabes. |
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Patricia Rohrbach ("Costume Mistress")
Patty is very excited to be working with such talented new friends. She is recently retired from Clark College where she was Theater Program Coordinator/Costume Designer and a Director. Patty is honored to have won 5 Best Actress Awards and 4 Best Supporting Actress awards at the Clark County Theater Arts Awards. She was nominated for 2 costume design awards at the Portland Area Musical Theater Awards and has received 4 OTIS awards for her designs at Lakewood Theater. She has been busy working in the theater arena for over 30 years. Some of her favorite rolls are Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Doubt, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, Opal in Everybody Loves Opal, Hanna Mandelbom in Crossing Delancy and so many more too numerous to list. She would like to thank New Century Players and especially Jo Strom Lane for the opportunity to broaden her horizons. |
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Elizabeth Diaz ("Technician")
Elizabeth is really excited to be working on Play On! with all the cast and crew. Elizabeth attends Clackamas Community College and she started getting involved in theatre in September 2013. Once there, she took all the Acting classes that they offered. She also took Improvisation for 5 terms, and Stand Up Comedy for 3 Terms. Elizabeth was involved in three production doing different things. She was cast as Ensemble of Dead’s Man Cellphone, she helped during the production of The Laramie Project as running crew, and she helped with costume construction during the production of The Comedy of Errors. She also has taken classes in different dance styles, and starting at the end of the September, Elizabeth will be taking classes at Clackamas Community College to finish her associates degree and at the same time she will be starting at Portland State University working through a BA in Theatre Arts. |