Joan Shepard
Evan Thompson
Stephen Kunken
Edwin Cahill
Michelle Federer
Jenn Thompson and Michael Halling
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2000)
Elisabeth S. Rodgers
Michael McCoy
Don Stephenson and Warren Kelley
in The Mousetrap (1990)
Jean Tafler
in Present Laughter (2004)
Jeff Talbott with Owen Thompson
in The Comedy of Errors (2003)
Adina Verson with Kristopher Lowe
in The Mikado (2005)
David Christopher Wells
Karen Ziemba
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Together, RRTC company members and alumni have appeared in nearly 80 Broadway shows, in countless national tours, and at the finest regional theatres across the country. This season alone will see River Rep represented on Broadway in Tom Stoppard’s extraordinary Coast Of Utopia, the hot British transfer Frost/Nixon, Kander & Ebb’s final collaboration Curtains, and the new Hal Prince musical LoveMusik. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Warren Kelley (Artistic Director) starred as David O. Selzick in Moonlight and Magnolias last spring at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. (Cincinnati Entertainment Award nomination) Then, four shows Off Broadway/New York: Elvis and Juliet (with Fred Willard), River’s End (American Musical Theatre Award), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (playing The Chairman with Sally Struthers and Brian d’Arcy James), and Strings (starring opposite Keir Dullea). This winter and spring: the world premiere of Bookends at Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and then returning to Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati for Michael Hollinger’s Opus.
Stephen Kunken (Artistic Associate) recently completed a run of Ariel Dorfman’s NYC premiere of Speak Truth to Power at The Culture Project. He also wrapped shooting on a new film by David Auburn entitled The Girl in the Park. Currently Stephen is starring in the three character play A Very Common Procedure for the esteemed MCC Theater Company at the Lucille Lortel Theater, directed by Michael Grief (Grey Gardens, Rent). In April, Stephen will return to Broadway as Jim Reston in the highly anticipated Frost/Nixon opposite Frank Langella and Michael Sheen.
Joan Shepard (Managing Director) had a great time playing opposite her husband Evan Thompson in The Subject Was Roses for the New Harmony Theatre in Indiana last summer. Back in Manhattan, she starred in Kind Lady for TACT (directed by daughter Jenn Thompson) and most recently had the unusual experience of playing Malvolio in an all-female version of Twelfth Night at the l2th Night Club in NYC.
Evan Thompson (Producing Director), having completed a sold-out run of Noises Off for the Portland (Maine) Stage Company, is heading back to the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton Ohio, where he won a DayTony Award for his 2005 portrayal of nuclear physicist Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. This time, Evan will play poet Gardner Church in Tina Howe’s Painting Churches.
Jenn Thompson (Producing Director) has been busy directing this past year. Following last summer’s sold-out run of the critically-acclaimed Big Doolie at the 10th Anniversary NYC Fringe Festival, Jenn went on to direct Kind Lady for The Actors Company Theatre and The Brilliance of Bernstein for the American Musicals Project at the New York Historical Society, starring Phyllis Newman and featuring River Rep couple Michael Halling and Natasha Harper. Next up: Rain for The Actors Company Theatre in March. Jenn is also enrolled at NYU, where she hopes to complete her Certificate in Arts Administration this spring.
Owen Thompson (Producing Director) most recently directed The Mystery of Irma Vep at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury. Owen received the 2006 Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical for the River Rep Theatre Company’s 2005 production of The Mikado.
Michael Barra (The Comedy of Errors, Intern Company 2003) continues to tour nationally in the Man of La Mancha.
Edwin Cahill (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) recently returned from a production of The Musical of Musicals, for which he was nominated for a Kevin Kline award. He will soon be making his Broadway debut appearing in the new MTC musical LoveMusik, starring Donna Murphy and Michael Ceveris.
Michelle Federer (The Importance of Being Earnest) is currently starring in the Off-Broadway hit Anon with the Atlantic Theatre Company. Recently, Michelle was featured in the Broadway company of Three Days of Rain, starring Julia Roberts.
Michael Halling (A Few Good Men, etc.) has just finished working with his wife Natasha Harper and Jenn Thompson on The Brilliance of Bernstein for the American Musicals Project at the New York Historical Society. This past fall, he played half of the title role in Beauty and The Beast for Atlanta TOTS after finishing a run on Broadway in the 2006 Tony-award winning production of The Pajama Game. Next up: Enjolras in Les Misérables at the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City, a role he recently played on the National Tour.
Natasha Harper (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) recently appeared opposite her husband Michael Halling in The Brilliance of Bernstein for the American Musicals Project at the New York Historical Society. Earlier this fall, she appeared in Beauty and The Beast at Atlanta TOTS.
Michael McCoy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, etc.) is currently touring nationally in the legendary musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Tracy Liz Miller (The Good Doctor, etc.) can currently be seen as Viola in the Improbable Fiction Company’s production of Twelfth Night in New York City.
Gretchen Mol (Cinderella) continues to light up international movie screens, most recently in the critically acclaimed independent film Puccini for Beginners.
Jan Neuberger (The Robber Bridegroom, etc.) recently followed up her appearance in the original company of the TONY-winning smash Wicked with another turn on Broadway as Grandma Who in the holiday hit How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Elisabeth S. Rodgers (All My Sons, etc.) is on her way to the American Shakespeare Center (formerly Shenandoah Shakespeare) where she will be in residence this season playing Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra and Hermione in The Winter’s Tale.
Jackie Sidle (How the Other Half Loves, etc.) has been creating a cabaret show which will have its debut at CHOW cabaret in New Haven this April. The show will include the songs of Randy Newman, Fats Waller, Christine Lavin, and Andrew LLoyd Weber, among others.
Don Stephenson (The Mousetrap, etc.) followed his star turn as Leo Bloom in the Broadway smash The Producers by appearances on Broadway in the companies of Private Lives and Dracula, the Musical.
Jean Tafler (Dinner with Friends, etc.) recently played Toinette in Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid at Orlando Shakespeare. She can be seen in the upcoming production of Dr. Doolittle at New York City’s Town Hall.
Jeff Talbott (Sherlock Holmes, etc.) is off to do the new play King Lear: The Storm at Home at Virginia Stage and has just finished filming an upcoming episode of The Sopranos. Last fall, Jeff was part of the Carbonell-nominated ensemble of the new play Opus at Florida Stage after starring opposite Andrea McArdle in Cabaret.
Todd Thurston (Follies, etc.) continues his stint in New York City’s long running Off-Broadway hit The Perfect Crime.
Adina Verson (The Mikado, Intern Company 2005) was recently featured in the critically acclaimed new play Big Doolie, which was part of the 10th Anniversary NYC Fringe Festival and directed by Jenn Thompson. Adina also received a nomination by the Connecticut Critics Circle for Outstanding Debut for her performance as Yum Yum in River Rep Theatre Company’s 2005 production of The Mikado.
David Christopher Wells (Proof, etc.) is currently appearing in Tom Stoppard’s Broadway sensation The Coast of Utopia.
Karen Ziemba (Annie Get Your Gun, etc.), the TONY award winning veteran of River Rep’s first production of The Foreigner, will open soon on Broadway in the hotly anticipated new musical Curtains, the final collaboration of the legendary Kander and Ebb.
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