Friday, April 25, 2014

Do You Tartuffe? Meet the Cast That Does

THE CAST:  Gregory Linington, Nick Slimmer, James MacEwan, Callie Prendiville, Cate Scott Campbell, Lenne Klingamen,
Steven Epp, Becca Lustgarten, Luverne Seifert, Suzanne Warmanen, Chrisopher Carley, Nathan Keepers,
Brian Hostenske and Michael Manuel.
The rehearsal room at South Coast Repertory is packed: fourteen actors comprise the cast for Tartuffe. SCR’s final production of the 50th season is a new adventure for some; for others, it’s a return to a play they love (and four of them have been in previous productions of Tartuffe at other theatres). Some are new to SCR; four are graduates of SCR’s Theatre Conservatory—the Acting Intensive Program—and have supporting roles in Molière’s classic. One actor even has studied clowning. Find out more about our cast for Tartuffe.

Cate Scott Campbell (Elmire) previously appeared at SCR in Pride and Prejudice. Her other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Jolla Playhouse and several productions with Chalk Repertory Theatre, including the world premiere of Mommune. In New York, Campbell appeared in The Contrast (Mirror Repertory Company) and produced and starred in an evening of short plays at The Barrow Group. Her television credits include “One Life to Live” and the final season of “How I Met Your Mother.”

Christopher Carley (Valere) is working at SCR for the first time. His New York theatre credits include, on Broadway, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (directed by Gary Hynes); off-Broadway in A Skull in Connemara (Roundabout Theatre Company) and Once in a Lifetime (Atlantic Theater Company); and off-off Broadway in On the Nature of Religion (Atlantic Theater Company) and Suspicious Package (Wordmonger Productions). Regionally, he has appeared in The Cripple of Inishman (Portland Center Stage) and Poor Beast in the Rain (directed by Wilson Milam). In film and television, his credits include Gran Torino (directed by Clint Eastwood), Lions for Lambs (directed by Robert Redford), Garden State (directed by Zach Braff), Agent Orange (directed by Tony Scott), American East, Miss Nobody, Homecoming, “The Sopranos,” “House,” “CSI: NY,” “The Crazy Ones,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “ Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Num3ers,” “Veronica Mars,” “Ro,” “Ed” and “Campus Ladies.”

Steven Epp (Tartuffe) is making his SCR debut. Epp is an actor, writer, director and was co-artistic director at Theatre de la Jeune Lune, winner of the 2005 Tony award for Best Regional Theatre, from 1983-2008. His acting credits include title roles in Tartuffe, Crusoe, Hamlet, Gulliver, Figaro, The Miser, The Servant of Two Masters and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. He co-authored Children of Paradise, winner of the 1993 Outer-Critics Circle award for best new play. His regional credits include productions at Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Theatre, The Spoleto Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley Theatre, Intiman Theatre, CenterStage, The Shakespeare Theatre, PlayMakers Repertory, Seattle Repertory Theater, and The New Victory Theatre, off-Broadway. Epp is the co-artistic director of The Moving Company based in Minneapolis. He was a 1999 Fox Fellow, and a 2009 McKnight Playwrights Center Theatre Artist Fellow.

Brian Hostenske (Damis) appeared at SCR previously in Pride and Prejudice, Noises Off, The Brand New Kid and Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business. His theatre credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at Center Theatre Group; Edith Can Shoot Things And Hit Them with Artists at Play (Los Angeles Ovation and GLAAD Media Award nominations), Playboy of the Western World at A Noise Within; The Winter’s Tale and Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Santa Cruz; and Mother Courage at La Jolla Playhouse. 



Nathan Keepers (Laurent) is making his SCR debut. He co-runs The Moving Company in Minneapolis, where he has co-conceived, written, directed and performed (respectively) in For Sale, Out of the Pan Into the Fire, Werther and Lotte, All’s Fair and Come Hell and High Water. Keepers was with Theatre de la Jeune Lune for 11 seasons, where he co-created and performed in many productions including Chez Pierre, The Little Prince, Amerika, Fishtank, The Deception, The Miser, Tartuffe, The Little Prince and many others. In Minneapolis, he has been seen on stage at The Jungle Theater (Waiting for Godot, Fully Committed, The Swan), Ten Thousand Things, Guthrie Theater and Children’s Theatre Company. Nationally, Keepers has worked at PlayMakers Repertory, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and The Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. He studied with Pierre Byland in Switzerland and Philippe Gaulier in London. 



Lenne Klingaman (Mariane) is making her SCR debut. Her recent credits include Juliet in Romeo & Juliet (Denver Center Theatre Company); Rita in Elvis’ Toenail (Sidewalk Studio Theatre), Viola in Twelfth Night, The Three Musketeers, Henry IV, Part 1, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); Richard III (Intiman Theatre); Flight (P3/east); The Rehearsal, Richard III, Noises Off (A Noise Within); and Measure for Measure, The Fantasticks (Colorado Shakespeare Festival). Her television and film credits include “Cold Case,” Dear White People, Twenties, Love: As You Like It and The Exchange. She recently starred in “The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” spin-off “Welcome to Sanditon.”

Gregory Linington (Cleante) is making his SCR debut. He recently understudied all three roles in the world premiere of Discord: The Gospel According to Jefferson, Dickens & Tolstoy (and performed two of them). A 12-year company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2000-11), his favorite roles there include Berowne, Cassius, Gratiano, Edgar, Proteus, King Henry VI, Diomedes, Demetrius, Sebastian and Ferdinand; Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard; Mr. Marks in Intimate Apparel; Damis in Tartuffe; and Jack Rover in Wild Oats. He has been part of world premieres at Oregon Shakespeare Festival including Equivocation, Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter and Throne of Blood with tours to the Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory, Arena Stage and Brooklyn Academy of Music. His television appearances include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Shameless,” “Major Crimes” and “The West Wing.” He worked extensively with Misery Loves Company in Prague, CZ (1995-99) and trained at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts (Class of 1993). In 2013, he completed the Summer Intensive with SITI Company and Anne Bogart. He volunteers at Los Angeles High School, teaching Shakespeare.

Michael Manuel (Madame Pernelle/Officer) is happy to be returning to SCR where he appeared as Big Stone in Eurydice, Francis Flute/Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in numerous readings and workshops since 1994. Manuel was last seen in Impro Theatre’s Unscripted Shakespeare at the Pasadena Playhouse. He has worked in regional theatres across the country including The Empty Space Theatre, Seattle Repertory, Group Theaters, Yale Repertory, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival and Theatre For a New Audience on the East Coast. In Los Angeles, he has worked with the Mark Taper Forum, Cornerstone Theater Company, A Noise Within, Shakespeare Festival LA, Geffen Playhouse, Interact Theatre Company, Upright Citizens Brigade, Main Street Players, About Productions and Parson’s Nose. He has appeared in numerous television programs and films. 



Luverne Seifert (Orgon) is making his SCR debut. His performance credits include The 39 Steps, Servant of Two Masters, The Government Inspector, The Ugly One (Guthrie Theater); The Music Man, Measure for Measure, Vasa Lisa, Man of La Mancha, My Fair Lady, Othello, Raskol, Richard the Third, Little Shop of Horrors, Antigone (Ten Thousand Things); and For Sale (The Moving Company). His other theater credits include Polonius in Hamlet, (off-Broadway, New Victory Theater); Tartuffe, Amerika, The Three Musketeers, Chez Pierre, Children of Paradise, Gulliver, Twelfth Night, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Yang Zen Froggs, Germinal, Don Juan Giovanni (Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he was an artistic associate); The 39 Steps (Arizona Repertory Theater); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Tales of a West Texas Marsupial Girl, Antigone (Children’s Theater Company) and productions at La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory, ArtsEmerson and Spoleto Festival. He is currently head of the bachelor of arts actor training program at the University of Minnesota. He received a 2003 McKnight Fellowship for Theater Artists and a 2009 Ivey Award. Training Augsburg College, Burlesque Center for Clown, Switzerland. 



Suzanne Warmanen (Dorine) is making her SCR debut. Her theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice, The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest, A View From the Bridge, Lost in Yonkers, Pirates of Penzance, Hedda Gabler, The Playboy of the Western World, Summer and Smoke, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Rover, A Doll’s House, Top Girls, Tone Clusters, Naomi in the Livingroom and A Christmas Carol—all at Guthrie Theater; A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur at Gremlin Theatre; All’s Fair/The War Within at The Moving Company; Amerika, or the Man Who Disappeared at Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Measure for Measure at Ten Thousand Things Theatre. Her recordings include the vocal CD “All Around Woman.” She appeared in the film Herman, U.S.A. She is the recipient of the 2009 Society of Promethians award.



Becca Lustgarten (Servant) is thrilled to be returning to the SCR stage this season, where she recently portrayed Letta in Death of a Salesman, directed by Marc Masterson. Her favorite credits include Three Sisters at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Michael Greif, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Hangar Theatre, directed by Kevin Moriarty, and a number of new plays developed and produced by the Actors Studio NYC and Primary Stages ESPA* Drills. Lustgarten received her BFA in theatre arts from Boston University and studied at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. She is a graduate of the South Coast Repertory Acting Intensive Program. In addition to her theatrical work, she is a musician and singing bartender.

James MacEwan (Soldier/Officer) was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a graduate of South Coast Repertory’s Acting Intensive Program and is thrilled to return to SCR after appearing in A Christmas Carol in 2013. Some highlights from his South African credits include Mamma Mia, The Rocky Horror Show, Grease, Don’t Drink the Water and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. He has appeared on international television in “Wild at Heart” and the HBO series “Generation Kill.”

Callie Prendiville (Servant) is a graduate of the SCR Acting Intensive Program, and has also studied at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum and Queen Mary College in London. Recent credits include Mary in The Car Plays at La Jolla Playhouse; Cecily in The Odd Couple at North Coast Repertory; Abigail in The Crucible at MOXIE Theatre; Emma in The Language Archive; and Mayella in To Kill a Mockingbird. She is also an actor with the Story Pirates, a sketch comedy troupe that encourages literacy by performing stories written by children. Prendiville holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of San Diego and an MFA in Performance in Theatre, Television, and Film from CSU Los Angeles.

Nick Slimmer (Servant/Officer) is thrilled to be returning to SCR’s Segerstrom Stage for his second show of the season, previously appearing as Thomas Shelley in A Christmas Carol. Slimmer is a graduate of South Coast Repertory’s Acting Intensive Program as well as a graduate of SCR’s Teen Acting Program. He plans on attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the fall on a merit scholarship. Some of his favorite past roles include Peter in Peter Pan (Arts and Learning Conservatory), Matt in Dog Sees God (Garage Theater), Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods (SCR Youth Conservatory), Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park (SCR YC) and Cat in the Hat in Suessical (SCR YC).

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