(Cast In Order of Appearance)
Brandon Kline (The Little Boy) appeared here previously in Gypsy, Madeline’s Rescue and The Frog Prince. He has also performed at Carousel Dinner Theatre in The Music Man, Carousel, Beauty and the Beast and The King and I. A sixth grader at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, he appeared there in Seussical, Pinocchio and flew as John in Peter Pan. He is also a part of the Miller South show choir and has sung at St. Mark Basilica in Venice, Italy, for Cleveland Indians and Akron Aeros games and performed in London and Paris this past spring. Brandon is an award-winning dancer and has been a featured dancer at National Dance Championships. “Thanks to Terry, Wendy, Kelli and my family and friends for your encouragement!”
Russ Harris (Father) appears in his first show at Weathervane, and he says it has been a wonderful experience with such great people and with the wit and passion of our director. He has previously performed in Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Oklahoma and Annie throughout Cuyahoga County. He is General Counsel for the Ganley auto dealerships (including Ganley Ford!).
Stephanie Newport (Mother) is delighted both to be making her debut here at Weathervane and to be representing Mother on her journey in Ragtime. Stephanie has been seen on stages throughout Northeast Ohio in a variety of roles. Some of her favorites have been Vivian Bearing in Wit, Luisa in The Fantasticks, Maria in The Sound of Music, and Mary Jane in Big River. Also seen backstage, she has been a musical director for a number of productions, including Honk! and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! Her most challenging and rewarding productions by far, however, have been her five children, who continue to make her proud.
Jason Leupold (Mother’s Younger Brother) is a sophomore Musical Theatre major at Kent State University. This is his second show at Weathervane Playhouse, last having being seen as Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. He has performed in shows in a variety of theatres in Northeast Ohio. Most recently, he was in productions of Blood Brothers (Mr. Lyons), Wonderful Town (Ensemble), Les Miserables (Grantaire, Joly, ensemble, male understudy) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Huck). He is incredibly excited to be a part of Ragtime and looks forward to being a part of many great shows like it in the future.
Henry Bishop (Grandfather/J.P. Morgan/Ensemble) Henry has played at Weathervane Playhouse previously. He lives in Wayne County with his wife, Karen L. Wood.
Tom C. Barnes (Coalhouse Walker, Jr.) was recently seen in The Morrison Playmakers production of Forever Plaid. He also appeared in The Bang and the Clatter Theatre Company’s The Long Christmas Ride Home and The Late Henry Moss. Weathervane audiences have enjoyed his performances in The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, A Lesson Before Dying, Of Mice and Men, Little Shop of Horrors, The King of the Kosher Grocers, The African Company Presents Richard III and The Piano Lesson. A fervent sound designer as well, he designed the sound for our production of String of Pearls among many other shows. For BNC, he designed sound for Closer and Beggars in the House of Plenty and for Tree City Players, The Diary of Anne Frank and Biloxi Blues. Tom is employed by State Farm Insurance as a structural estimator.
Natasha R. Williams (Sarah) last appeared on the Weathervane Mainstage as a member of the ensemble in The Wiz. At Firestone High School, she appeared in the ensemble of Evita and played the Witch in Into the Woods. She is home on break from her studies at the University of Northern Colorado, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s of science in psychology.
Ansley Valentine (Booker T. Washington) attended Wabash College and completed a Master of Fine Arts at Indiana University. He is an accomplished actor, director, designer, arts administrator and teacher, working in many venues across the country, including Indianapolis Civic Theatre, the Cleveland Play House, Buffalo United Artists, Cleveland Public Theatre and Karamu House. Currently, he serves as Co-Vice Chair of Region III for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. His directing and acting credits include To Kill a Mockingbird, Once on This Island, Charley’s Aunt, The King and I, Crazy for You, Me and My Girl, Big River and Six Degrees of Separation.
Greg Emanuelson (Tateh/Baron) Greg is excited to be back at Weathervane, having last been seen dropping his pants as Freddie/Philip in the hilarious 2004 Chanticleer Award-winning production of Noises Off. Greg has performed in several Canton-area productions including Assassins, Jesus Christ Superstar, Art and, most recently Glengarry Glenn Ross. “Thank you to the Crisis Recovery Center staff and my family and friends for all of their support during the past six weeks. And a special thanks to Dr. Mark Grubb for fixing my back so I can stand up proudly on the stage again!”
Shea Lee (The Little Girl) is a seventh-grader at Miller South School for the Visual and performing Arts, where she is an honors student, was recently inducted into the National Junior Honor Society, and has performed in The Kingdom that Forgot How to Read, Seussical the Musical, The Prince and the Pauper and Give and Take. Her stage credits include Winnie the Pooh, The Sound of Music, and The Frog Prince, all at Weathervane. She also co-hosted smARTS, a Time-Warner Cable TV show. Shea looks forward to participating in Fairmount Performing Arts Camp this summer, where she will be performing as Judah in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. “Hellooo out there to Mom and Dad (aka chauffeurs) and the Trappies!”
Mark D. Stoffer (Harry Houdini/Child Buyer) is pleased to return to the Weathervane stage, where he has previously appeared in Dracula, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Grapes of Wrath. In addition to performing in various local community theatres, he is the Administrative and Technical Director of the Heavenly Light Players of Stow Presbyterian Church. By day, he is the Supervisor of Database Administration for InfoCision Management Corporation in Fairlawn. He lives in Cuyahoga Falls with his wife, Sherri.
Alfred Anderson (Henry Ford) has performed a variety of roles locally with Porthouse Theatre, the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, Akron Symphony Orchestra and The University of Akron Opera/Musical Theater.
Marie Smith (Emma Goldman) is pleased to be appearing back at Weathervane. An avid performer in Northeast Ohio, she was most recently seen in Playhouse Square's production of We Gotta Bingo (Birgit/Swing). Some of her favorite credits include Seussical the Musical (Gertrude McFuzz), Nunsense II: The Second Coming (Sr. Mary Leo), Annie (Grace Farrell), Rumors (Cassie Cooper), Red, Hot and Cole (Bricktop) and The Full Monty (Susan Hershey). Other credits include Bad Girls on Broadway, Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, Our Town, A Christmas Carol and Blame it on the Movies. She also choreographed Honk!, Nunsense II: The Second Coming and Blame it on the Movies. Marie Studied voice and theater at The Ohio State University. “Many thanks to the cast and my family for their love and support!”
Rachel Fichter (Evelyn Nesbit) was last seen at Weathervane as Eileen in Moon Over Buffalo. Most recently, she played The Kid in The Emperor’s Groovy New Clothes at the Cleveland Play House and one of the Silly Girls in Beauty and the Beast at the Beck Center for the Arts. Her past summer was spent working with the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, where she appeared in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Comedy of Errors, and Othello. Rachel recently received her B.A. in Theatre and English from the College of Wooster. Favorite undergraduate roles include Cordelia in King Lear, Asaka in Once On This Island, and Constance in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).
Mark Judy (Stanford White) shares the stage with his wife, Beth Judy, in this production. This Kent State University graduate currently serves as the president of Hudson Players, where his onstage appearances include roles in Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Forever Plaid, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Grease, My Favorite Year and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He’s also appeared with Stow Players in Guys and Dolls and The Fantasticks. A resident of Stow, he works for Sterling Jewelers, Inc.
Timothy Mark Adkins (Harry K. Thaw/Charles S. Whitman/Doctor) is making his first appearance at Weathervane and is thrilled to be in this wonderful production of Ragtime. An Ohio native and no stranger to the stage, his credits include A Christmas Carol , The Rocky Horror Show, Bad Girls on Broadway, Mame, Dreamgirls, Oklahoma!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Li’l Abner and various other stage and musical productions throughout Ohio and Florida. He is excited to be working with a wonderfully talented cast and director and looks forward to making new friends along the way. Mark dedicates his performance to his beautiful daughter (Brittany Nichole), his handsome grandson (Blake) and his beautiful late mother, Fanny, who has always been his inspiration.
Steve Ryan (Admiral Peary/Judge/Policeman) is a familiar face at many local theaters, most recently as an over-the-hill actor in Laughing Stock at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, Stephen Hopkins in 1776 at Tri-C West, and Senator Hedges in Born Yesterday at Actors’ Summit. Some of his favorite roles include a cavalry soldier in Custer, Willie Clark in The Sunshine Boys, Abbott Costello in Monky Business, Rabbit in Winnie The Pooh’s Christmas Tale, Poole in Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical, the Barber in Man of La Mancha and the Innkeeper in Fiddler on the Roof. Steve also plays a variety of good and bad guys in audience-participation murder mysteries. Steve enjoys traveling, playing the banjo and clarinet, and shares his life with his wonderful wife, Linda, with whom he delights in spoiling their grandchildren.
Nichole M. Strong (Sarah’s Friend) is a Toledo native and this is her first performance on Weathervane’s Mainstage. Classically trained in vocal performance, she has also studied dance with Sheila Gibson of Toledo, Kelli Berrick (Firestone High School) and Halifu Osumare (Bowling Green State University). Some of Nichole’s theatrical credits include Guys and Dolls (1997), The King and I (2000) and Crowns (2006).
Quincy J. Scott (Porter) is a graduate student at The University of Akron who arrived in Northeast Ohio by way of Hawkins, Texas, where he graduated from Jarvis Christian College with a bachelor’s in music and voice. He lives in Medina.
Karen Wood (Brigit/Reporter) retired on June 1 after 37 year as an intervention specialist in the North Central Local Schools. Now that she does not have work to interfere, Karen hopes to spend more time onstage. Karen has appeared on many stages including Music Fair, the College of Wooster, Weathervane, Coach HouseTheatre, the late Goodyear Community Theatre, the Ohio Shakespeare Festival and Cleveland Public Theatre. Karen also enjoys appearing in “Mysteries by Moushey.” Favorite roles include Adelaide (Guys and Dolls), Amalia (She Loves Me), Fraulein Schneider (Cabaret) and Mazeppa (Gypsy). Karen is married to the dashing Henry C. Bishop, with whom she shares a rustic home and a vast quantity of cats in Wayne County.
Ben-Zion Sneed III (Little Coalhouse) is four years old and is a pre-schooler at All About Children. The son of Chanell and Ben-Zion Sneed II, he is a very outgoing and inquisitive young man. Ben is a member of the Tiny Tots basketball league and also enjoys reading, learning Spanish, going to parks, kite flying, coloring, collecting model cars and spending time with friends and family. When Ben grows up, he aspires to become a police officer like his grandpa. Ben’s first theater experience came through his grandmother, Lucille Humphrey, when she took him to one of our annual puppet shows.
Brian Armour (Ensemble) is 22 years old and was recently seen in our production of Children of a Lesser God. He has been a musician for 13 years and is thrilled to be in this show. Brian thanks God for blessing him with the chance to do what he loves. He also sends thanks to his mother (Diane Armour) and his brothers (Michael Armour and David Jones). He thanks his best friend (Natasha Williams) for pushing him to do this show, John Hedges for continuing to support his endeavors in acting and Terry Burgler for giving him the opportunity and for being so encouraging.
Lisa M. Belopotosky (Ensemble) is a frequent Northeast Ohio performer who makes her Weathervane debut in Ragtime. Some of her recent stage credits include roles in Bad Girls on Broadway, Mame, A Christmas Carol and Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical, all at the Players Guild of Canton. She holds a bachelor’s in strategic communications from Miami University, where she appeared onstage in Company, West Side Story and Into the Woods. Off the stage, she is the director of communications for St. Stephen Martyr Lutheran Church in Canton, volunteers for the Special Olympics and teaches students in acting and vocal instruction. The next “production” on her slate: her September wedding to Sean Knight.
Jean Blair (Ensemble) is an Adjunct Professor of Voice at The University of Akron, where she has performed in recitals, operas, oratorios and musical-theater productions. Her most recent appearances at the university were as the Narrator/Soloist in Side by Side by Sondheim and as a member of the ensemble in Sweeney Todd, both directed by Alfred Anderson. Weathervane audiences saw her last December as the Mother in Gian Carlo Menotti’s Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. In 2006, she played the Mother Abbess in Weathervane’s production of The Sound of Music, one of her favorite roles, and was awarded a Chanticleer for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She lives in Akron and is soprano soloist for the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour.
Amanda K. Davis (Ensemble) will be familiar to Weathervane audiences who saw her on our Mainstage earlier this spring as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. In the fall, she played the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Alais in The Lion in Winter. Last spring, she was the Nurse in the Playhouse’s Young Actor Series production of Romeo and Juliet. In her 10-year involvement with Weathervane, she has also played roles in Lend Me a Tenor, Much Ado About Nothing, The Wiz and Stuart Little: The Musical. She is a senior at Kent State University.
Marc Jackson (Ensemble) makes his Weathervane debut in this production of Ragtime but is no stranger to the glow of the footlights. He holds a bachelor’s of theater from the The University of Akron, where he acted in such productions as A Dream Play, Cabaret, Inherit the Wind, Noises Off, Macbeth and The Trojan Women. He was the recipient of the university’s Paul A. Daum scholarship and received a University Park Alliance Award for his theatrical direction of students at Akron’s Leggett Elementary School. At present, he works the run crew for the Cleveland Play House. His future goals include acting professionally and to pursuing the study of massage therapy. He lives in Bedford Heights.
Adreinne Jones (Ensemble) will be a senior at Crestwood High School this coming fall. She has appeared in many shows throughout Northeast Ohio, playing Biondello in the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival's The Taming of the Shrew, Elma in Bus Stop with the Hudson Players and Amy in Little Women at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. Other memorable roles include Lefou in Beauty and the Beast and the Artful Dodger in Oliver! She sends many thanks to Terry and love to those who have always supported her!
Beth A. Judy (Ensemble) shares the stage with her husband, Mark Judy, in this production. Her acting resume includes roles at Hudson Players (Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Once Upon a Mattress, Noises Off and I Hate Hamlet), at Stow Players (Guys and Dolls) and at Aurora Community Theatre (Bye, Bye Birdie and Anything Goes). This Hiram College graduate works in management for Progressive Insurance and lives in Stow.
Shawn Kinser (Ensemble) is excited to return to Weathervane Playhouse and to be part of this amazing show. He was last seen on our Mainstage as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2003. He is a graduate of Kent State University with a B.A. degree in music having studied both voice and bassoon. Some favorite roles include the Baker (Into the Woods), Car (Honk!) and Harold Bride (Titanic). He thanks all of his family, friends and co-workers for their continued support. “Enjoy the show!”
Jennifer Ledyard (Ensemble) is thrilled to be performing in her first show at Weathervane. She has also performed at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens and at the Players Guild of Canton. She is currently pursuing a degree from The University of Akron. When not there, you can usually find her working at Wal-Mart. (The irony of being in this show and working there does not escape her, she says). Jennifer thanks her family (all of whom have been so supportive!) and her friends (because they rock!). “And,” she adds, “to all the kids down at the Albatross Club: I am lucky to have all of you in my life.”
Danielle Parker (Ensemble) is currently a junior at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, where she performed in such shows as Meet Me in St. Louis, While Shakespeare Slept and The Music Man and for which she was inducted into the Royal Thespian Society. In addition, she recently performed in her school’s spring show, Oliver!, in which she held featured dance and vocal roles. For Weathervane, she played the Butler in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She is a member of her school’s concert, gospel and show choirs and sings on her church’s worship team and in the youth choir.
Veronica O. Parkman (Ensemble) A native of Texas, Veronica Parkman performed in several plays with Wiley College and Jarvis Christian College including roles in A Rasin in the Sun, The Colored Museum and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. She has also starred in Dracula as Dr. Quincy and The Piano Leason with the Misonla Children's Theater in Montana, where she also appeared as the Lion in The Wizard of Oz and as an evil stepsister in Cinderella. Her favorite role was Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird. Veronica is married to husband LeCedric Parkman; the couple has a baby boy named Josiah.
Annie Kate Raglow (Ensemble) is very happy to be in this play! “It has been so much fun!” she says. Annie was one of the schoolgirls in Weathervane’s Madeline's Rescue and appeared as Strawberry Shortcake in The Tale of the Three Little Pigs (at the Playhouse’s recent TheaterFest fundraiser). She also played Gretl in The Sound of Music at Walsh Jesuit High School. She sings in ETC show choir and her church’s choir. Annie has two brothers and one sister, with whom she sings all the time. Besides singing, acting, dancing, and performing, Annie enjoys tumbling as well as playing with her friends. She is 10 years old, in the fourth grade in St. Hilary School and is a straight-A student.
Christine Stewart (Ensemble) is happy to be making her stage debut at Weathervane. Currently, she is a vocal-music director at Cuyahoga Falls High School and serves as Director of Music at First Christian Church in Cuyahoga Falls. She is also a member of the professional chamber choir, Singers Companye. Christine graduated from The University of Akron with a Bachelor and Masters of Music, where she performed in The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, Cosí fan Tutte, Carmen and The King and I. She was also cast as Clara’s Aunt in the Children’s Ballet Theatre production of The Nutcracker. Christine thanks her mom and dad for the piano and ballet lessons that started it all.
Tina Thompkins (Ensemble) was last seen in the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival’s The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III. Her other credits include ECT’s production of Secret at Sugarcourt, The Bang and The Clatter Theatre Company’s The Late Henry Moss, Karamu’s production of Johnny Taylor’s Gone. At the Scotland Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, she was in Intensive Care. She was also in Weathervane’s production of A Lesson Before Dying and Strongsville Playhouse’s production of To Kill a Mockingbird. A few of her favorite shows were The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars and A Raisin in the Sun. Keep your eyes out for the new films, Big Foot, which she shot two summers ago, and Expect a Miracle, which was shot last summer. Her dream is to visit Floyd’s Knob to eat turtle soup. “Thank you for your support!”
Courtney Kay Vatis (Ensemble) is proud to be a senior theater and English major at Baldwin-Wallace College. In the past year, she has played Lady Macduff in Macbeth at Baldwin-Wallace and, at The University of Akron, she played Sister Amnesia in Nunsense and Sarah Siddons in The Actor’s Nightmare. She will be graduating in May 2009.
Ricardo Young (Ensemble) is making his first appearance at Weathervane and is proud to be in this production of Ragtime. An Ohio native, Ricardo’s credits include A Christmas Carol, Bad Girls on Broadway, and Mame. He is excited to be working again with Lisa Belopotosky and Timothy Mark Adkins, two of his closets friends and former co-stars. Ricardo is elated to be working with a wonderfully talented cast and director. He plans on attending acting school in Los Angeles this coming fall and dedicates his performance to his beautiful mother, Dephanie, and his late Aunt Diane, who has always been his true inspiration. Ricardo is also proud to be the new uncle of baby Serenity Young, whom he absolutely loves and adores.
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