Meet the Cast of [title of show]

Ellie Frances (Heidi)

Ellie was most recently seen on the Actors’ Stage in Next Fall. Her past Actors’ credits include: The Sweetest Swing in Baseball,Distracted, Mr. Marmalade, A New Brain and Side Show. Her Circle Theatre credits include: Hair, Rumors, Aint’ Misbehavin’,RENT, Annie, TOMMY, Oliver! (Lead Actress Grand Award winner) and Moby Dick! as well as performing with Civic Theatre in The Producer’s. In addition to her theatrical performances Ellie can be seen regularly as a vocalist at The SpeakEZ Lounge.

Jolene Frankey (Susan)

Jolene is thrilled to be back on the Actors’ Theatre stage after most recently being seen as Dana in 2011’s The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, as she is also currently starring in the sold-out and infinitely-running “Overworked Mom.” The latter show boasts a myriad of award-winning supporting characters including Mike Frankey as The Dutiful Husband, Kathy Huffman as The Doting Nana, and Hudson Michael as The Center of the Universe. Jolene also moonlights as a Casting Director, an acting teacher, and the lone lady in the local band Sex Coffee. She has worked in front of/behind the curtain/camera in NYC/Grand Rapids/Pittsburgh/Paris/Chicago/[insert city here].

Rob Karel (Hunter)

Rob is thrilled to finally get to do this show after he and Ellie have been following it since they were in Side Show together.  He has performed at a few places around town, including Circle, Civic, Jewish, Heritage, Aquinas College, Mason Street Warehouse and Opera Grand Rapids.  He won Grand Awards for wearing a dress and blonde wig in both Forbidden Broadway and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  He lost a Grand Award to his more talented partner, Dylan, for Mr. Marmalade (should have worn the wig).  He will also admit to being in the following shows: Moby Dick!, The Full Monty, Assassins, Sunday…George, The 25th…Spelling Bee, Honk!,  and Next Fall.  He most recently finished directing Based on a Totally True Story for GRCC Players and will begin rehearsals soon for The Marvelous Wonderettes: Caps and Gowns at Circle Theatre.

Michael Shansky (Larry/Music Director)

Michael has music directed many shows for Grand Rapids’ theatres in the past 23 years, as well as composed incidental music for over 40 productions and a full length dance for the West Bank Dance Ensemble.  His music directing credits for Actors’ Theatre include (but are not limited to) Floyd Collins, Urinetown, A New Brain, Assassins, A Man of No Importance, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and Tick Tick Boom just to name a few!  In 2010, he gave a solo piano concert as part of the Ferris Festival of the Arts, including classical, jazz and Gershwin’s American in Paris.

George Toles (Jeff)

George was most recently seen in the 2011 Actors’ production ofSpring Awakening and at Circle Theatre in last summer’s production of Hair. George has also appeared at Mason Street Warehouse as Mary Sunshine in Chicago. A few others of George’s favorite roles he has played include Candide inCandide, The Mysterious Man in Into the Woods, Joseph inJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Troy Bolton inHigh School Musical, Lt. Joseph Cable in South Pacific, and Schroeder in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown. George is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University where he studied vocal perfromance under Dr. Kathryn Stieler.

[title of show] opens at Actors’ Theatre on March 28th. Get more information and order your tickets at www.actorstheatregrandrapids.org