MARCH 2008

CHRISTINE ANASTASIA MASON donated 87 volunteer hours in support of her Playhouse activities.

Christine was a cast member of the Playhouse's production of Children of a Lesser God.

Christine portrayed Mrs. Norman and served as a shadow interpreter in the production.

She is a Kent resident and recent graduate of the American Sign Language interpreter-training program at Kent State University, Mason now serves as an ASL interpreter for Beachwood City Schools. She received her formal training in fine arts at the University of Michigan, after which she worked as a studio artist and created large-scale paintings and Chinese dragons for the theater. Mason says that “a strange sequence of events” introduced her to the deaf community, which in turn inspired her to begin her formal training in ASL interpretation, which led to an expanded interaction with the local deaf community. Most recently, she interpreted a production of Alice in Wonderland at Twinsburg High School, consummating a perfect marriage of her passions for art and language. Thus, today she clambers happily into this weird and wonderful multi-cultural collaboration of theater friends with this production.

FEBRUARY 2008

KRISTEN BOWEN played Sarah in the Playhouse's production of Children of a Lesser God.

She is a Mayfield Heights resident who graduated from National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), the world's largest technical college for deaf students (and one of the eight colleges of Rochester Institute for Technology in Rochester, N.Y.). At present, she is working on an associate’s degree in personal-computer enterprising at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland. As a student at NITD, she helped with costume design on several theatrical productions and played Mrs. Van Daan in the NTID Performing Arts 2001 production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Says Kristen, “I would like to thank my mom and dad for all their help and patience during this production. I would like to thank my family and friends who helped me practice. I also want to thank everyone who came to see this show and tries to understand what it’s like being deaf.”

JANUARY 2008

KAREN BURRIDGE donated 137.5 volunteer hours in support of her Playhouse activities.

Karen is a former Weathervane Women’s Board president who has continued to pursue new Weathervane volunteer opportunities. She designed the costumes for this winter’s production of Moon Over Buffalo. Earlier this season, she designed the stage properties for Weathervane’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. Over the past several years at Weathervane, Karen has sewn dozens of costumes, assembled a multitude of stage properties, and she has also worked in a front-of-house capacity as one of the many friendly ushers and hostesses who welcome theater patrons to their seats. Retired from the United States Postal Service, she raised two children with her husband Pat. She works part-time at Curves in Tallmadge and answers the phones for the Sunday Oldies Jukebox on WSTB 88.9-FM. She lives in Brimfield.

DECEMBER 2007

JOHN BRUCE donated 111 volunteer hours in support of his Playhouse activities.

During this month, John rehearsed for his role as George Hay in the Playhouse's production of Moon Over Buffalo.

This production marks his first appearance on the Weathervane stage. He has previously performed with Dobama Theatre, the Beck Center for the Arts and Charenton Theater Company as well as Great Lakes Theater Festival. He thanks the actors and staff for making him feel welcome, and his wife, Andrea, for her infinite patience and support.

OCTOBER 2007

RICHARD WORSWICK donated 124.5 volunteer hours in October in support of his Playhouse volunteer activities.

During Richard's busy month, he rehearsed for our production of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and also worked in our Box Office each Friday morning.

Weathervane audiences last saw Richard on stage last spring in The Sisters Rosensweig.

Other Weathervane roles on his resume include Selsdon in Noises Off! (2004); Andre Donay in The Dinner Party (2004); Lord Edgar, Jane Twisden and the Intruder in The Mystery of Irma Vep (2004); several characters in The Laramie Project (2003), which won an OCTA Award for its ensemble; and Reuben Malter in The Chosen (2002), for which he won a Best Actor Chanticleer Award. In addition to his work as a model/actor for commercial, industrial, print and voice-over advertising, he has also taken on roles at other area theaters, including The Bang and the Clatter Theatre Company.

Richard, a former member of the Weathervane Board of Trustees, chaired the theater's 2005 gala fundraiser and hosted a dinner for last season's TheaterFest. He lives in Bath Township.

SEPTEMBER 2007

DAN "D.J." JANKURA donated 101 volunteer hours in September in support of his Playhouse volunteer activities.

D.J.'s area of theatrical expertise is in sound.

He is a student studying technical theater at Kent State University. He lives in Cuyahoga Falls.

AUGUST 2007

SUE SMITH donated 79 volunteer hours in August in support of her Playhouse activities.

A longtime Weathervane volunteer, Sue works in the Box Office two days a week, including a daylong stint on Mondays. She is the chair of the theater's auditions committee, responsible for greeting and signing in those who come to audition for all of our shows. She also co-chairs our Salon Reading Series and has worked on various theater comittees including Chanticleer and various fundraising galas. She is also a member of Weathervane's Women's Board.

This Altoona, Pennsylvania, native lives in Cuyahoga Falls.

JULY 2007

LEAH MAGNUS donated 106.5 volunteer hours in July in support of her Playhouse volunteer activities.

Leah has held backstage roles for almost every show at Weathervane since 2003, when she ran spotlight for Gypsy. For our production of All My Sons, she designed the lighting. In 2006, she worked on the lighting crew for Madeline's Rescue and served as assistant stage manager and properties designer for Joseph and the Amazing Tecnhicolor Dreamcoat.

At Firestone High School, Leah will be a senior in the fall of 2007. At Firestone, served as assistant stage manager for The Colored Museum and the school's One Act Play Festival. She was Weathervane's Erin Dillon Youth Award winner at the 2006 Chanticleer Awards and she took first place in properties design at the 2007 State Thespian Conference.

JUNE 2007

M.J. COULSON donated 152 volunteer hours in June in support of her Playhouse volunteer activities.

M.J. took an adult acting class at the Playhouse in 1990 and was instantly bitten by the Weathervane Bug! She created properties for our 2006 production of Lend Me a Tenor and she supervised props for the 2004 production of Nunsense. She has Chanticleer Awards for the props she designed for our productions of Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey, Little Shop of Horrors, Fiddler on the Roof, Noises Off and Lend Me a Tenor.

M.J. serves on the Weathervane Women's Board and has many tales to tell of tragedies and successes backstage at the theater.

She is the proud mother of two sons who call Florida home.

MAY 2007

ROBYN COOPER donated 96.25 volunteer hours in May in support of her Playhouse volunteer activities.

For our production of String of Pearls, Robyn was the co-designer of both costumes and stage properties as well as the offstage voice of Sister Susi! For our production of Smokey Joe's Cafe, she worked on props and spotlight crews.

Robyn has two sons, one of whom is her co-designer of sound for our summer 2007 production of The Frog Prince.

She is a title/escrow officer with Innovative Title Agency. She is part of Torque Improv and performs weekends at the Cleveland Jams Imrov.

APRIL 2007

JENNIVER SPARANO donated 251.5 volunteer hours

during April in support of her

Playhouse volunteer activities.

During Jenniver's busy month, she designed, constructed, and fitted the costumes for our production of The Sisters Rosensweig.

She is the co-producer and costume designer for our annual Community AIDS Network benefit productions. (Be sure to catch this year's show, Ruthless! The Musical, August 20 and 21!). With The Sisters Rosensweig, she is pleased to finally have the opportunity to work on a mainstage Weathervane production. An employee of KeyBank, she has designed costumes for theaters in and around the Cleveland area (the Beck Center for the Arts, Ensemble Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Clague Playhouse) and also for theaters in Albany, New York, and Sanibel, Florida. She is happy and proud to interpret the work of her alumna sister, Wendy Wasserstein -- "All years are as one, and our loyal pledge shall be, Mt. Holyoke forever!"