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BIOGRAPHIES

CAST

Paul Bomba* In New York City, Paul has appeared in productions of Beirut, Three Sisters, Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, The Cherry Orchard, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Thieves Carnival, Picnic on the Battlefield, Blood Wedding, and The Philoctetes among others. Paul has appeared on Rescue Me, One Life to Live, and in over twenty independent film and video productions in the New York area, including the title role in Bono, an independent feature film, and as Joey Shovels in Vinny Vino, a multiple-award-winning short film. Founding member, Animus Theatre Company. Studied acting at Circle in the Square Theatre School, and policy analysis and management at Cornell University. www.paulbomba.com

Brian Harlan Brooks* was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey. He began his dance training at the Dance Theater of Harlem, and later moved on to Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre. Since then, Brian has performed with such companies as, Forces of Nature, Philadelphia Dance Company (Philidanco), Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre; the tour of Vinette Carole's Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, Donald Byrd/The Group, Williams/Henry Danse Theatre,  Earl Moseley's Diversity of Dance, and The Color Purple first National Tour. Brian has recently added TV and Film to his career performing in Across the Universe, Lifted a Fox Searchlight Film, and the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.  Brian's teaching, choreography, and artistic leadership are an important part of his career. He has had the pleasure of working as a leader in varying capacities such as, rehearsal director for Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Donald Byrd/The Group, Ailey Camp Missouri Site Director, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet; and Dance Captain for The Color Purple First National Tour, to name a few. Brian sees performing art as a privilege and a service, and is grateful to continue to serve in his art.

Peter S. Feliz* was in the Midtown Theatre Festival and the Cherry Pit Theatre last year in the Assembly Theatre production of Three Sisters  He has lent his voice to such films and TV productions as Four Friends, Dead of Winter, Penn and Teller Get Killed, W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult, Ultraman Tiga and Yu-Gi-O.

Sidney Fortner* was last seen at Metropolitan Playhouse as Rose Batholemmey in The Return Of Peter Grimm; other New York credits include:  Nell (Endgame), Margaret (Richard III), Katrine Stockman (An Enemy Of The People), Charlotte (The Cherry Orchard), Lady Fidget (The Country Wife), Golda (Fiddler On The Roof), Mistress Quickly (Henry IV, Part Two), Lady Bracknell (The Importance Of Being Ernest), Paulina (The Seagull), Gertrude (Hamlet); Regional credits include:  Mrs. Malaprop (The Rivals), Amanda Wingfield (The Glass Menagerie), Gabrielle (The Madwoman Of Chaillot), Lady Capulet (Romeo And Juliet).  MFA:  The Shakespeare Theatre Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University.  Between performances, Sidney directs, designs period costumes, and teaches.  She is the founder of Players Shakespeare.  Contact:  elsid14@verizon.net.

Brad Fraizer* is extremely happy to be back with the Metropolitan after a run of shows last season including: The Contrast, Under The Gaslight, and The Return of Peter Grimm.  Off Broadway: Three on a Couch (American Premiere), Soho Playhouse; New York Theatre: Road to Calvary (Reading), Playwrights Horizons; Behind the Sticks, NY Fringe Cherry Lane Theatre; My Expatriate, dir. Bill C. Davis and Likeness (NYC Premiere), Manhattan Theatre Source; Desdemona’s Dream, Schaden, Freude and You, (Co-Creator) Produced by Logic Limited Ltd. a Clown Collective, of which he is also a Co-Founder, with performances at The Brick Theatre, Dixon Place, P.S. 122.  Regional Theatre:  Alice by Whoopie Goldberg, Kennedy Center National Tour; The Matchmaker, Ford’s Theatre, dir. Mark Lamos; History Boys and How The Other Half Loves, Northern Stage.  Character Assassins (World Premiere), New Jersey Rep. Company. This summer, Brad will be traveling across the pond to Dorset, England where he will commence the Lyric Theatre’s first season with a run of TiVo La Resistance!, his latest collaboration with Logic Limited Ltd.  He holds a BFA from the University of Michigan, is a member of AEA and is excited to begin an MFA Acting program this fall at the University of Virginia.  Thanks to Alex; I couldn’t imagine a better family to be doing my last show in New York with before I head back into academia! Thanks to Brianne, my unwavering source of love and support through this crazy life I lead.

Leo G. Gitelman an eighth grader from Manhattan is excited to join the Metropolitan Playhouse.  Leo's stage debut was with TSP's Summer Shorties Series in 2009.  He also appeared in Dharma production film and Onion web video. Leo is a  graduate of NuStar II program and The Performing Options Television Intensive course.   He would like to thank his parents for making this opportunity possible.

Ben Gougeon*  is thrilled to be back on the Metropolitan stage after his turn as William Dowton in last fall's The Drunkard.  Other credits include Escanaba in da Moonlight (Farmers Alley Theatre), In My Own Words: Williams on Williams (Readers' Ensemble Company), Caligula (Horizon Theatre Rep) and My Heart in a Suitcase (ArtsPower, Inc.).  He would like to thank Alex and the rest of this talented cast and crew, along with you, the audience; you keep our art alive.

Meghan Hoffman* is thrilled to make her NYC debut with Metropolitan Playhouse. A recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, favorite credits include: Tartuffe, The Night of the Iguana (Triad Stage); Romantic Fools (Cape May Stage); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Christmas Carol (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival). Thanks to her family for their unwavering support, and to the One-Third team for such inspiring work.

Teresa Kelsey* is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.  Favorite Regional/NYC Roles include:  Annie Oakley, Annie Get Your Gun (Stagemasters, FWB, Florida), Polly Peachum, Threepenny Opera (Le Petit, New Orleans), Claire, Proof, Human Race Theatre Co., Dayton, Ohio, Katie in The David Dance, NYC Fringe Festival, Belle Starr in Missouri Legend and Tess in The City, both at Metropolitan Playhouse.  Film/TV:  City By the Sea, Rabbit Hole, Musical Chairs, All My Children.

Me’Lisa Sellers*  is a NYC transplant via Des Moines, IA, where she received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Iowa. Some of Me'Lisa's favorite theatrical credits include regional theatre productions of Sheila’s Day (ensemble player in US and S. Africa); A Raisin in the Sun (Mama); The Wedding Band (Fannie); Simply Heavenly (Madam Butler); The River Niger (Anne); and For Colored Girls… (Lady in Green); The Colored Museum (Ensemble). Television credits include Rescue Me, The Parkers, 3 Lbs., The Jury and multiple commercials.  Film credits include The Salon, About Ugliness and The Hebrew Hammer. Me’Lisa’s other creative talents include fashion and wardrobe styling, jewelry design--found exclusively at Sohung Designs in the East Village--and more recently, playwriting, where she is currently scripting both a play and one-person show.

Howard Thoresen* played Squire Cribbs in  The Drunkard last fall and is delighted to be back on the stage of the Metropolitan Playhouse. Howard has been an actor and director in New York downtown theater for many years. He lives in an old-law tenement in the East Village.



AUTHOR

Arthur Arent (1904–1972), was educated in the New York area and attended New York University. Arent supervised and edited and assisted in the writing of the scripts of Living Newspaper's  plays. In 1938 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and left the Living Newspaper Unit to travel to Europe, where he intended to write an anti-war Living Newspaper. Conditions in Europe caused him to change his views : he helped the French produce an enlistment film. In 1941 he went to Hollywood to work as a scriptwriter. Arent joined the Office of War Information when the United States entered the War and wrote several documentaries for the war effort. In 1943 Elia Kazan produced his documentary play It's Up to You. After the War, Arent worked as a writer for radio theatre programs.



BACK STAGE

Alex Roe (Artistic Director/Director/Set Design) Artistic Director of Metropolitan since 2001, his productions have included Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Return of Peter Grimm (5 NYIT Award nominations) The Contrast, Nowadays, Year One of the Empire, Margaret Fleming, Denial, The Octoroon,  The Scarecrow, Children’s Crusader, Metamora, Arden of Faversham, Pick Up Ax, Fashion, Bacchus, Dom Juan, and his own plays Haunted and Salem (published in 2006 by New York Theatre Experience).  As an actor, he has appeared here as Jesse James, Richard Dudgeon, and Blemie. Alex is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Katy Moore* (Stage Manager) is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Katy lost her finance job during the recent recession and decided to follow her dream of paying the rent as a stage manager. It’s almost working. Most recently, she was the PSM for Macbeth with Red Shark Productions and the SM for Parade at The Secret Theatre. Her recent favorite work includes the ASM for the summer hit musical With Glee with Prospect Theatre at Theater Row. In her spare time, she teaches knitting and crochet to anyone who will sit still long enough.

Christopher Weston (Lighting Design) At Metropolitan: Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Great Divide, The Drunkard, Under the Gaslight, Dodsworth, The Contrast, The Return of Peter Grimm (2010 NY IT Award Nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design).  Regional productions include Mrs. Mannerly (Penguin Rep), Logomaniacs (Actors Shakespeare Company), Proof, Having Our Say (Hangar Theatre), and The Color of Flesh (NJ Rep).  International: T.E.L.O.S. (European Biennial in Athens, Greece).  Recent and upcoming productions include To Carry On... (Cherry Lane), Fool for Love (Variations Theatre Group), What Happened in Ohio (NY Theatre Workshop), 300 Vaginas Before Breakfast (Blue Coyote Theater Group).  In NYC, his work has been seen at the Kitchen, John Houseman, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 59E59, 45th Street Theatre, Barrow Group, Center Stage/New York,  HERE Arts Center, the Connelly Theatre and many more.  For more information, please visit www.chriswestondesign.com.

Lena Sands (Costume Design) Metropolitan: Dodsworth. Off-Broadway: Trans-Euro Express (Irish Arts Center), Safe Home (Royal Family Productions) New York: The Last Dreams of Helene Weigal... (Panoply Performance Laboratory) Regional: Bad Dates, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow (Shakespeare and Company); Gypsy, Sweeney Todd (C-R Productions) Educational: Scapin (Juilliard); Swimming the English Channel (dance), Big River, Tales from Ovid (University of Michigan). She is currently the assistant costume designer for Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Measure for Measure, designer Elizabeth Hope Clancy. Lena is an alumnus of The Juilliard School Professional Internship Program in Costumes and holds a BFA in Costume Design from the University of Michigan.

Emily Inglis (Scenic Painting)  is excited to be back at the Metropolitan! Design credits include: Messed Up Here Tonight (current, Renovations Theater Company), Follow Me Down (Aporia Theater), Nance O'Neil (Blue Coyote Theater Group), The Gondoliers (Sinfonicron Light Opera Company), and Little Shop of Horrors (William and Mary Theatre). Assistant designs include As You Like It and A Man For All Seasons (Virginia Shakespeare Festival), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre), The Drunkard and The Great Divide (Metropolitan Playhouse). Emily is originally from the Washington, D.C. area and holds a B.A. in Theatre and Economics from the College of William and Mary.

Sarah Bacot (Assistant Costume Design) A native of Louisiana, Sarah is excited to be working with everyone at the Metropolitan Playhouse.  She is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School's Professional Internship Program in Costuming.  She is currently designing a short film titled My Butterfly set to be released in June.