L i g h t n i n g S t r i k e s

S t e p h e n A l o i

Stephen is proud to be making his debut for Lightning strikes as a guest artist in In the Parlance. He is a graduate of NYU where he received his BFA in Acting. He also received a certificate in Russian Theatre from the Nikitsky Gates Theatre in Moscow. Other recent stage roles include Brutus in Julius Caesar, Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie and Nevile Strange in Towards Zero. Thank you Diana for your love and support, and for bringing Sophie into our lives.

R o z i e B a c c h i

Rozie is a native New Yorker and always happy to be on stage. She has appeared on stage in New York and regionally. Recent theatre credits include: Octet (NJ Repertory Company), Don Quixote (National Tour), Naked (E.S.T), Gray Areas (The Cherry Lane Alternative), Selma's Break (All Seasons Theatre Group), The Indian Wants the Bronx (Chelsea Repertory Company). Fim and TV credits include: Summer of Sam (dir. Spike Lee), Girlquake (dir. Mike Randall), One Life to Live, Picture This (pilot), and several national commercials.

R o y B a c o n

Roy's recent theatre credits include: George Bernard Shaw's Village Wooing, Medea (Flatiron Playhouse), A.R. Gurney's Another Antigone (Houseman Theatre Too), 3 Comedies by Brecht (Brecht Forum), The Unbinding (Theatre Row Studios), Our Country's Good and The Playboy Stories (Lightning Strikes Theatre Company). Stock: Group 20 Players, U-Conn Summer Theatre, Gristmill Playhouse, Lucille Lortel's White Barn Theatre. Training: Eva LeGalliene, American Shakespeare Festival, HB Studio (with Uta Hagen and Anne Jackson).

M i k e B e n c i v e n g a

Mike has worked in the past with Lightning Strikes as a writer on Playboy Stories and as the director and one of the writers of last December’s Tannenbaum Tales. He is very proud to join the company and is looking forward to their production of his first full-length play in the Fall. Mike is currently directing Anthony LaPaglia in Happy Hour, a feature film he coauthored set in New York City. He can also be seen around town performing improv and sketch comedy as a member of The Chainsaw Boys.

A n n m a r i e B e n e d i c t

Before joining Lightning Strikes for the 2001 season, New York credits include: Twelfth Night (Viola); Dark Rapture (Julia) and My Head was a Sledgehammer with Pilot House; the title role in Henry V with Women’s Shakespeare Company, Here We Are at the Dramaleague’s Director fest, Notes from the Underground and (Silent) Metamorphosis. Regionally, Annmarie has performed with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company (Kate in Taming of the Shrew), the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Potomac Theatre Project (DC), and toured to over 25 states with National Players and National Theatre of the Performing Arts. She is a graduate of Middlebury college and the Actor’s Studio MFA program.

L e o B e r t e l s e n

Leo is a graduate of Rutgers Universityís Mason Gross School of the Arts Professional Actor Training Program. He has appeared in area productions of The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, An Enemy of the People, Rocket To the Moon, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew and Othello. This is his first season with Lightning Strikes Theatre Company and he is thrilled to be a part of such a vibrant and exciting group. He's also very tall and handsome.

T h o m a s B o l s t e r

Thomas' theatre credits include; Absurd person Singular, Sleuth, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, The Sum of Us,, all for the Depot Theatre. Other stage credits include; Lipschtick at the Arclight Theatre, Live on Tape at West Bank Cafe, Cereal at One Dream Theatre, Variorum at Manhattan Class Theatre and Strabismus at Gotham City Theatre. Film: Crimes and Misdemeanors, with Woody Allen, Narrow escape for Shanghai Films, China, Lie No 1 with the Wooster group, Game Day , Mercury Films, and Kissing Jessica Stein for K.J.S. Productions. Recent T.V.; Live on Tape, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU all for NBC, Sketch Pad for H.B.O. Other T.V. includes MTV, VH1, Comedy central. If you want to know more just ask Thomas.

J e f f B u c k n e r

Jeff recently returned from the forests of southern New Jersey where he was filming the role of the Sergeant in the feature film, The 13th Child. He has performed in the New York premieres of Woody Allen's God, Tom Stoppard's On the Razzle, and the award winning God's Country by Stephan Deitz. Most recently with LSTC, he performed several roles in Durang by the Dozen, Frank in A Flourish of Strumpets, Mr. Zero in The Adding Machine - directed by Will Pomerantz, and Jude Emmerson in Lydie Breeze. Regional credits include You Can't Take It With You, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. Jeff is happy to be a part of this ensemble. He is the secretary for Lightning Strikes.

J o h n B y r d

John recently formed BYRDNEST PRODUCTIONS to promote projects written himself and with others, Mr. Byrd has had options, pitch meetings, and development interests with several entertainment companies. Currently, there is particular interest in his screenplay Sepia Tone, on the career of pioneer black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, and Forever Mpeta, an Afro-Caribbean musical inspired by Peter Pan. Mr. Byrd has long credits in the theatre and films as an actor, with his early appearance on Broadway in The Great White Hope, and many Off-Broadway shows. He brings to his writing career the disciplines of actor, director, and now producer to his current projects listed briefly Mr. Byrd is co-author of Bricks & Straw, A Question of Family, and Sepia Tone, the story of Oscar Micheaux "The King of Independent Filmmakers". Let the Good Times Roll, a musical bio of rock 'n' roll pioneer Louis Jordan ("Five Guys Named Moe"), based on his stage book. Mr.Byrd's scripts include; Lucky Stars, Cafe Society, Konkolene. Mr. Byrd's recent work for the stage, Poles Apart, tells the remarkable story of Matthew Henson, Lieutenant Robert E. Peary's black assistant, who encounters hostility and suspicion to his lectures of his adventures in the Arctic. He is also upset by the estrangement of the friendship he once had with Peary, due possibly to the fact that he may have actually been the first to reach the North Pole. Mr. Byrd is also preparing the autobiography of jazz pioneer Sam Wooding for publication, as well as a documentary Dean of Jazz on Wooding's career. Photos from Mr. Byrd's archival materials will soon be seen on a Danish TV documentary on the subject of early jazz in Europe. He has been described by many as tall, dark, and handsome.

T o m C a p p a d o n a

A native of Jersey City and a refugee of the road, Tom’s New York stage appearances include The Heist, The Thing That Kills Me, Common Ground, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, and Golden Boy. The signature role of the agonized underworld kingpin Chaz Lupo was created especially for Tom by writer Richard Harland Smith, for whom Tom has played the character in Prelude to a Hit and In the Parlance, as well as in two dozen sketches as part of Dashboard Theatre, which ran for eight months at The West Bank Downstairs Theater in 1996-97 as part of the “Irwin Smalls Presents” late night comedy revue. Tom’s television credits include NYPD Blue, The Sopranos, Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Tom has made several appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and was “the weasel guy” in a popular commercial spot for the Target department stores. His films include Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead, Sue with Anna Thomson, True Convictions, David Salle’s Search & Destroy and the indie thriller The Orchard. Tom would like to dedicate his performance to the memory of Jerry Garcia - “The bottle was dusty, but the liquor was clean.”.

	N i c h o l a s C o l e m a n
	Nicholas has performed for the camera and the stage (for his most recent short film, visit his website). Favorite stage roles include: Mick Hamilton in Steel Pier; Claude in Hair; Wesley in Curse of the Starving Class; Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra; and the roles he has originated for several New York playwrights. For upcoming work, visit http://www.ncoleman.com.

J u l i e H e r a D e S t e f a n o

JulieHera is thrilled to be a member of LSTC where she was a part of the Durang by the Dozen cast directed by our own Martin Everall. Recent New York credits include: Kay Strange, in Towards Zero; Lina in Misalliance; Barbara in Major Barbara; and Diane in the world premier of Living with Dragons – all with the Pulse Ensemble Theatre. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon, favorite regional credits: several seasons with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, including Rose in Secret Garden; April in Company (Pittsburgh Playhouse); Maggie in Chorus Line (Byham Theatre). JulieHera can be seen on film as Young Cynthia in the First Wives Club and as the receptionist in The Preacher’s Wife. She is the Managing Director for LSTC.

M a r t i n E v e r a l l

The founder of Lightning Strikes Theatre Company, Martin directed its debut production: Christopher Durang's Baby With The Bathwater and has also directed for the company such pieces as Durang's Titanic, Landford Wilson's Home Free! and Richard Greenberg's The Maderati, and appeared in innumerable productions from John Leeds in The Wager to the hapless Narrator of Modern Love in The Playboy Stories. Most recently, he directed Durang By The Dozen: No Guns, No Sofas, an evening of 12 short plays seen to great acclaim at the first Midtown International Theatre Festival. In the eleven years of LSTC, he has acted in or directed over two dozen LSTC productions: other recent company appearances include Mengo in Crazyface, Ketch Freeman in Our Country's Good and Shrdlu in The Adding Machine. He also appeared recently with Troupers Light Opera as Jack Point in Yeomen of the Guard and with Crystal Opera as Koko in The Mikado. He is the comedian in Crystal Opera's Royal Evening of Gilbert & Sullivan, which will be revived this summer at the Leavitt Pavilion in Westport, Connecticut

L a r r y F l e i s c h m a n

Larry has been seen in many Off-Broadway shows such as Half Off, Beau Jest, The Sixth Stone, Dirty Prayers, The Boar, and many more back to his youth doing Enter Laughing. His TV credits include Law & Order, Criminal Intent, Dellaventura, ED. He is known for his role in All My Children as Benny Sago. Film Credits include Dogs Life (dedicated to his mom), It Had to Be You, Waldo Walker, Lesser Prophets, , Fats Horses, devil’s Express and Dalton Trunbo’s Johnny Got His Gun.

	S h e i l a H e a d
	Sheila is a founding member of the comedy group The Heartless Floozies. She has written for Garrison Keillor, ABC/Disney, and is currently writing "Cyberchase", a new animated series for PBS. Her Web series, "The Ruth Truth," which is based on her experiences as a PI in New York’s Chinatown, can be seen on Oxygen Media’s website and TV show X-Chromosome.

B a r b a r a H e r e l

Barbara is very happy to be a member of Lightning Strikes, joining the company for last season's production of Christopher Durang’s Durang by the Dozen in the 2000 International Midtown Theatre Festival. Barbara is also a segment host and writer/producer for Almost Reality, a comedy series for the Oxygen Network. She was a company member of gotham city improv, a premier NYC improv and sketch comedy group and, more recently a writer and cast member for NBC’s sketch comedy series Live on Tape.

J a y A u b r e y J o n e s

Jay has appeared on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Cats. He originated the role of the Crab man in the Metropolitan Opera’s historic production of Porgy and Bess. He toured the United States in The Pirates of Penzance in which he also performed at Wolf Trap. He was in the Sydney, Australia company of the Harold Prince/Susan Stroman Production of Show Boat. Off-Broadway he was seen in Oh Captain!, Inacent Black and the Brothers, Divine Hysteria, La Belle Helene, Sea Dream and The Cradle Will Rock. His regional and stock performances include: Cyrano, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Street Scene, Cole, Gotham!, Kiss Me Kate, The Crucifer of Blood, The Threepenny Opera, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Boesman and Lena. He will soon be seen with Alec Baldwin in the film The Devil and Daniel Webster. His other film and television credits include The Ripper, Guiding Light, All My Children and Whitewash. Jay is a graduate of Syracuse University.

	L o u K y l i s
	Lou is proud to be a founding member of Lightning Strikes and has appeared in numerous productions with this wonderful ensemble. Her favorite roles include, Marya in Platanov, Annie in Crazyface, and Antonia in the creative and clever production of Twelfth Night directed by Will Pomerance. “I am proud to be a part of the creative process of Off-Off Broadway in this fabulous city.”, says Ms.Kylis. “I have had the pleasure of working with artists of all kinds and cherish the relationships I have developed over the years.” Lou has also been an active member of Lifebeat and is working on a Drama Therapy program at Rivington House. She remains a strong advocate for volunteer work and recommends that everyone take a little time out to help others.

M i c h e l l e M a r y k

Michelle is thrilled to be entering her second year as a member of LSTC. In her first year, Michelle appeared in The Playboy Stories as Breda in Modern Love, Pretty in Good Blond, and the much-coveted role of Strumpet #1 in A Flourish of Strumpets. She recently played the lead role in the feature film, The 13th Child along with fellow LSTC members and Cliff Robertson, Christopher Atkins, Gano Grills and Lesley Anne Down. When Michelle has time, she also performs in various comedy venues around the city. She peddles many products as a voice-over artist and is also the Publicity Director for LSTC.

J o h n M c D e r m o t t

John's most recent work includes Carl The Piney in Lightning Strikes first foray into film in, The 13th Child this past fall. On stage he recently portrayed Chris in Durang by the Dozen at The Midtown International Theatre Festival, the Italian Knight/Spanish King/German Developer/Irish Pig Farmer in Clive Barker's Crazyface at FringeNYC Festival, Sideway in LSTC's award winnning prouduction of Our Country's Good, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and the anarchist Denver Parmenter in LSTC's award winning production of God's Country. Other New York performances include The Kentucky Cycle with The Roundabout Theatre Ensemble, The Adding Machine at Raw Space, Tons of Money at Sychronicity Space, the Ray Bradbury adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, and portraying Edgar Alan Poe in his own adaptation of The Tell Tale Heart. Directing credits include Richard Harland Smith's adaptation of the Jack Kerouac short story The Good Blond, and Mike Bencivenga's adaptation of Richard Matheson's Flourish of Strumpets in last seasons hit Playboy Stories. He has also enjoyed singing in musicals, cabarets, and clubs from Soho to the Shaw Festival in Canada. Originally having come to New York to study with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, he is proud to be a member of the Lightning Strikes ensemble and for having served as its Artistic Director since 1995. But he is most proud of his son Sam, his new daughter Annie, and his wife Rochelle who makes it all possible.

J. R i c h e y N a s h

Theater: Hoopz (Disney/Buena Vista); Boy Meets Girl (Playwrights Horizons); Joe Fearless (Atlantic Theater Company); Here We Are (Women’s Project); Burning (Rattlestick); Sophistry (John Houseman); Black, White, and Blue (Primary Stages); Whoa-Jack! (Worth Street); Much Ado About Nothing (Hamptons Shakespeare Festival); As You Like It (Expanded Arts); The Taming of the Shrew (American Globe). Indie Film: Fat Chance; Virgin Larry; A Pocket Full of Dreams; In Vino Veritas. Television: guest star on Lifetime’s Three Blind Dates; Another World; As the World Turns; Guiding Light. A Kentucky native, Richey is a graduate of Princeton University and a former professional baseball player with the San Diego Padres organization.

K e i t h O n c a l e

Keith directed the premier of John Byrd's stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's A Fine Son for LSTC Playboy Stories. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Actors Stock Company NYC for which he has directed Cozi Sa Wala at the New York International Fringe Festival. He has directed Echo Repertory's Times Unknown and The Tempest Project for the Judith Shakespeare Company and Elvirado at Expanded Arts. He will direct Pinter Pieces (The Black & White, Victoria Station and A Slight Ache) for ASC/ NYC this April. Keith holds a graduate degree from Southern Methodist University and served as an archeological assistant for the Etruscan dig at Poggio Collo outside Florence, Italy. He is a three time recipient of the Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award and the Dallas Theater League Award for his direction and adaptation of Euripides' Electra. Directing credits include The Lion and the Jewel, Saved, The Winter's Tale, Fen, Faith Healer and Global Village. If you look up the word handsome in the dictionary you'll find a picture of him.

B e t h a n y P a g l i o l o

Bethany is a graduate of NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, and has performed both musicals and plays with The Minneapolis Children's Theatre, Main Street Arts Festival, and Theatreworks USA. She has done comedy improv. on Disney Cruise Lines and is a member of The Chainsaw Boys. She recently played the Gravedigger in Hamlet at the St. Clements Theatre. Bethany is pleased as punch to be a member of Lightning Strikes.

R o b y n P a r s o n s

Robyn is thrilled to be a member of LSTC. She grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and studied theatre at LSU. She has worked in Chicago and New York and was a founding member of Third Eye Repertory Co. (New York) and Diamondback Theatre Co. (Chicago). Favorite roles include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania), Our Country's Good (Mary), Crimes of the Heart (Babe) and The Diviners (Jennie Mae). Robyn is also the Fundraising director for Lightning Strikes.

M i k h a i l P o g u l

Mikhail grew up in one of the oldest neighborhoods of Moscow, Russia. At an early age he was drawn to the theatre with passion. Starting with the Moscow Theatre of Drama and Comedy he played a wide range of roles in Pushkin, Chekhov, and Ray Bradbury's plays. After serving two years in the Russian Army he escaped to New York. With rather new energy Mikhail has hosted a cable tv show bringing together students from Russia and the USA. He is very excited to take advantage of the opportunity to be a part of In the Parlance and describes Lightning Strikes Theatre Company as "a perfect dramatic alliance, a smart and energetic group".

L a u r e n P y t e l

Lauren has been associated with LSTC since 1991, and has designed makeup for nearly twenty of its productions, including Our Country's Good, Crazyface, The Adding Machine and Fahrenheit 451. Lauren's costume designs have also been seen in a number of productions, among them Durang by the Dozen: No Guns, No Sofas, God/Chamber Music and Ring Round the Moon. In realms beyond LSTC, Lauren's makeup work has included productions of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, The Mikado and The Yeomen of the Guard. She helps make all the men in the Company handsome -- and boy is she a knockout redhead herself!

L o r i R o h r

Lori is thrilled to be a part of Lightning Strikes Theater Company. Her most recent New York theater credits include: Gretchen in Trust at the Pelican Studio Theater, Maggie in Brutality of Fact at the Creative Place Theater (both with the Loka Project), Eloise in The Years at the Flatiron Playhouse, and Helen of Troy in Myth at the Horace Mann Theater. Regionally, she most recently appeared as Belinda in Noises Off at the Shadowland Theatre. For the past 2 years, Lori has served as the Artistic Director of The Loka Project- a company formed to give actors more control and participation in the creative process, and do what they love best: act. Lori is a graduate of William Esper Studios where she studies with Maggie Flanigan.

J e r e m y S c h w a r t z

Jeremy originally came from Dallas. He has appeared in several shows at the Dallas Theatre Centre,as well as working extensively with Undermain Theatre. He is a recipient of several critics' forum awards for his work as Jacob Marley in DTC's Christmas Carol, Konstantin in Undermain's production of The Seagull (also top 10 performances of the year), and Stashu Okonsky in the world premiere of Shiner by Erik Ehn and Octavio Solis, also at Undermain he received a Theatre League award nomination for DTC'c production of How I Learned to Drive, and two theatre league awards for his work as Dimas in Triumph of Love and Shiner. He is very active in voiceover, and once killed a man for a shark tooth necklace.

D . L . S h r o d e r

D.L., a member of the Company for nine of its ten years, has appeared in numerous LSTC productions, including Durang by the Dozen (Mrs. Sorken, Joe Hardy, Marcus and Moishe) Playboy Stories ,Crazyface (Lenny, Alvin), Our Country's Good (Campbell), God's Country (Alan Berg), Largo Desolato (Leopold), and Angel Street (Detective Rough). Other NYC roles include Francis Lovell/2nd Murderer in Richard III with Austin Pendleton at Riverside Shakespeare Company, Jim Bob in Fundamentally Speaking at LaMama and Dean in Waiter, Waiter at Watermark Theatre; Regionally in Elizabeth Swados' The Beautiful Lady at New Playwright's Theatre as Khlebnikov world premiere), and the lead in Cornered at Kennedy Center Theatre Lab. Film/TV: The 13th Child (Cole), Third Watch (Davis), North (Fed Ex Guy), and Law and Order (Drs. Sefansky and Lavori), and, in an upcoming episode, (Dennis Burke). D.L is the Literary Manager of LSTC, and is the proud husband of Cathy and adoring father of Claire.

R i c h a r d H a r l a n d S m i t h

Born in 1961 in Beckley, West Virginia, Richard is a New York-based writer who reviews books and film for Video Watchdog magazine and moderates the Euro-Cult Cinema Discussion board at the Mobius Home Video Forum (www.mhvf.net). His plays have been produced at the 29th Street Rep, the Grove Street Playhouse, the Laurie Beachman Theater, The Sanford Meisner Theater and Synchronicity Space. His play Down Cellar was selected to be a finalist in the 1998 Samuel French One-Act Play Competition. RHS is the co-founder of Mutt Theatricals with documentary filmmaker Betsy Foldes and is the creator of "Dashboard Theater," which ran for eight months at the West Bank Cafe as part of the comedy reveue Irwin Smalls Presents and has been performed at such comedy venues as Catch A Rising Star and Surf Reality. He is currently working on his second, third and fourth screenplays all at once. Handsome barely describes how good looking this scribe is ...

R o c h e l l e S t e m p e l

Rochelle has been a member of LSTC since 1994 during which time she has appeared in numerous LSTC productions. Most recently she appeared as the Colleague in the film The 13th Child. Recent stage appearances include Blanche in Christopher Durang's Desire, Desire, Desire at the Midtown International Theatre Festival, and Midge the Waitress in Mr. Durang's Canker Sores and Other Distractions also at the MITF. Some of her favorite roles with LSTC include: Daisy Diana Dorothea Devore in The Adding Machine, Maria in Twelfth Night, The Woman in Laughing Wild, Jean Everard in Tons of Money, Mueller in the award winning God's Country and Dabby in the award winning Our Country's Good. Her most difficult and rewarding role to date has been her latest -- mother to Annie.

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