Thursday, October 30, 2014

Romeo and Juliet Cast

Waterloo -The Black Hawk Children’s Theatre has cast 13 local, talented actors in roles for its upcoming production of Romeo & Juliet. William Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers is brought to life in this adaptation by BHCT Artistic Director, Anita Ross.

Romeo and his crew are up to no good when they crash the party of their rivals, the Capulets. One escapade leads to love with Juliet as this meeting sets up a series of events leading to a tragic ending for this star-crossed pair. With passion and poetry, share Shakespeare’s timeless tale of young love that brings unity to fighting factions.

The cast for the show is:

Austin Manross (ROMEO) is returning to the BHCT stage after his appearance as Schroeder in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Austin is a senior at Denver High School. He serves as a technical intern at WCP/BHCT. Austin enjoys reading and playing & listening to music.

Marjorie Gast (JULIET) studies harp, piano, voice and acting. She has been accepted at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts for the Fall of 2015. She is looking forward to pursuing a career in professional theatre. This past summer she placed second in the Bill Riley Talent Search at the Iowa State Fair.

Jonathan Kuehner (LORD CAPULET) is a junior at Cedar Falls High School. He is a Boy Scout and enjoys trapshooting. Previous appearances at BHCT include roles in The Hobbit, Treasure Island, and most recently, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. He also appeared this summer in WCP’s production of Les Miserables.

Madeline Nicol (LADY CAPULET/SAMPSON) loves to write poetry full of angst and play her ukulele. She says she always intends to do her homework-but somehow always ends up getting distracted by Broadway soundtracks. She is a sophomore at Cedar Falls High School. Madeline has an extensive resume at WCP/BHCT. She has appeared in over a dozen shows and worked backstage on an equal number of shows.

Dante Benjegerdes (MERCUTIO) also has a lot of experience at WCP/BHCT. You may recognize him from recent roles in The Hundred Dresses or A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He enjoys Legos, video games, reading, the theatre, and last but not least, Legos.

Lily Gast (LADY MONTAGUE) first made her debut at WCP/BHCT in the title role of Annie. She was most recently seen in BHCT’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Lily has been singing since the age of 4 and won the Bill Riley Talent Search at the Iowa State Fair twice, once at the age of 5 and then again at the age of 11. She would like to pursue a career in musical theatre and acting. She has also started seriously pursuing her photography hobby.

Sophie Vowels (BENVOLIO) has recently gotten involved in digital and graphic design. She enjoys the challenges that school presents. One of her favorite parts of theatre work is digging into the backgrounds of the characters she plays. Sophie is a sophomore at Waverly-Shell Rock High School. She has worked on crews for Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells and Steel Magnolias.

John Nicol (TYBALT/PAGE) is a senior at Cedar Falls High School. Jon has appeared in over a dozen shows here at WCP/BHCT. His parents, Tommy & Linnea, and his sister, Madeline are also very active here in the theatre. In his spare time he enjoys singing, dancing, playing the guitar and playing Xbox 360.

Shelby Davis (NURSE/ABRAM) is a senior this year. She works backstage regularly. She was in the OPUS Honor Choir for three years and is currently writing her first novel. She was most recently seen at WCP in this summer’s production of Les Miserables.

John Mardis (PRINCE ESCALUS) is the former mayor of Evansdale and currently serves on the Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission, the Black Hawk County Conservation Board and the Evansdale Economic Development Corporation Board. In his spare time, he also serves as President of the WCP/BHCT Board of Directors. In his excess spare time, he is the Director for the annual dinner theatre production of The Community Life Players of Evansdale.

Jeffrey Hansen (PARIS/FRIAR JOHN/BALTHASAR) is making his debut with BHCT. He is a late bloomer with a life-long passion for opera. He has taken theatre training at the University of Iowa and the Donna Reed Festival for Performing Arts. He is honored that his debut is with a great ensemble in a very timeless play.

Henry Edsill (FRIAR LAURENCE) is a lawyer with the McCrindle Law Offices. He is making his second appearance in a BHCT show after previously appearing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However he is definitely not a stranger to WCP audiences, having appeared in a dozen different shows including playing both CRATCHITT and SCROOGE in two different productions of A Christmas Carol.

Anthony Covington (APOTHECARY/GREGORY) is a barista from Cedar Falls who enjoys concerts, camping, traveling, movies and antiques. He has a long list of shows on which he served either as Assistant Stage Manager or Production Assistant. He previously appeared onstage in productions of The Pinballs, Arms & the Man and Miracle on 34th Street.

Romeo & Juliet is being produced by Dr. Kenneth De Nault and Life 101.9. Public performances are scheduled for November 14 & 21 at 7 PM and November 15 & 22 at 2 PM. All performances of this play will be held in the McElroy Youth Theatre located within the Waterloo Community Playhouse/Black Hawk Children’s Theatre’s Walker Building at 224 Commercial Street in Waterloo. For tickets contact the box office at (319) 291-4494 or visit www.wcpbhct.org. #EscapeWithBHCT


Source: BHCT Press Release

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