Edward Cating (Ghost/Ensemble) is looking forward to The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, which he is directing at the MAC. and that opens August 4th. Locally, Edward has performed in numerous Berkshire County productions including Judge Hathorne, The Crucible, Barrington Stage Co.; Vladimir, Waiting for Godot, Minerva Stage; Lord Capulet, Romeo and Juliet, Joe Keller, All My Sons, Reach, Down the Road, Engstrand, Ghosts, Sydney, Where’s My Money, at Main Street Stage; Aviator, The Little Prince, Ben, The Dumb Waiter, Mill City Productions. He created the title role in Joan Ackermann’s Bec and Rosemary, and performed in staged readings as William in Margot Connolly’s 1 John 4:20, Edison in Kendra Arimoto’s No Traveler Returns, Scientist in Sharon Wyrrick’s 900 Dreams all at the Berkshire Fringe Festival. Regional credits include: Josiah Bartlett, 1776, Westport Playhouse, St. Louis.

Memorable roles from college have included The Doctor, Too True to be Good, Jorgen Tesman, Hedda Gabler, Hamm, Endgame, Duke Orsino, Twelfth Night, Paddy, The Hostage, Mark, The Shadow Box, Mute, The Fantastiks, Jamie Tyrone, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Iago, Othello at Southwestern University; Vince Fontaine, Grease,  Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lenny, The Homecoming at Lindenwood College; and Father Brian Rivard, The Runner Stumbles at Clarke College. He studied acting with Angus Springer, Martin Fried, Wesley Van Tassel, Tom Skore, Yvonne Gharib, and Fred Goodson, and thanks them each for their valuable lessons.

Edward is the Executive Director of the Minerva Arts Center in North Adams.

Kane Robert (Eddie) has had the acting bug since he was a small child. Kane first appeared as a 2nd grader in a production of A Christmas Carol. Kane attended Hoosac Valley High School where he appeared in such productions as: Jesus Christ Superstar, The Music Man, Sweet Charity, and Flowers for Algernon. After graduating in 1997 he attended MCLA majoring in communications with a concentration in broadcast media. Post high school saw him in local theater productions starting with What the Butler Saw, when Kane was 19. Which was followed by Tony and Tina’s Wedding where Kane not only played a combined role with the most scripted lines but also did the sound and lighting design for the show. Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral, King Casmir’s Feast, Into Darkness, and Fool’s followed. Kane has also done much work behind the scenes in many theatrical, dance, and musical performances doing sound and lighting. Kane was a member of both the college and high school chorus. Rocky Horror is Kane’s first musical in 14 years, he is very happy to be a part of it as it has always been a dream of his.

Bill Flynn (Dr. Scott) is a single, devoted father who wanted his only daughter Brittney to be involved in theatre, then soon found himself not only behind the scenes, but sharing the stage with her in Berkshire Follies. Bill joined Minerva for the Little to Big production of Peter Pan last summer. His most recent leading role at Minerva was in The Subject Was Roses, directed by Broadway veteran Peter Russell. Bill made his musical debut at the MAC in Godspell as a player and Joseph. Not to sit idle, Bill operated the light board during this summer’s run of Hamlet. Now he is excited to return to the stage in the role of Dr. Scott, who, though wheelchair bound, is still a handsome devil.

Ali Mandelbaum (Dr. Frank-N-Further) is thrilled to be working with Minerva Stage for a second year in a row. In 2010, The MAC produced ALIZA, the musical, which Ali co-wrote and starred in. Ali is also a recording artist on AlmondTree Records, you can find her songs available on itunes, and music videos on youtube, under her full name, Ali Mandelbaum. Her first single, In The Eye, is starting to be promoted to Adult Contemporary Radio Nationally, so keep your ears out for it!! Ali has been working as a performer/writer in theatrical and pop music settings in New York and Los Angeles for many years. Thanks to all involved!!!

Daniel Weiner (Marcellus/Ensemble) grew up in Hancock, attended Mt. Greylock High School where he performed with Shakespeare & Company as a Murderer in MacBeth and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. In the “Food of Love” fundraiser for S & C, Daniel performed as Lysander in “A Midsummer Night Dream” and Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet”. He is now attending Clarkson University, majoring in mechanical engineering and has worked as a stage manager and set designer for their theatre club’s performances. Daniel is currently choreographing a Shakespearean style fight scene for the Schenectady Civic Theater as well as planning to continue community theatre in the future.

Dakota Garrity (Guildenstern/Ensemble). A Williamstown native, Dakota began acting in school productions at Mount Greylock High School. During her high school career, she performed for 5 years with the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, in cooperation with Shakespeare & Co. Dakota first became involved with Minerva Stage as a teenager through the company’s summer workshops. More recently, she has become involved with many aspects of the theatre department at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania where she is currently studying math and theatre.

Curtis Elfenbein Asch (Claudius) is a published poet and playwright whose work has appeared in print and on the stage in New York, Massachusetts, and California. A teacher at the Berkshire Arts and Technology charter school in Adams, MA, he has performed in a multitude of plays, including as Sylvestre in Scapin at the Hayward Community Theatre, Eddie in the world premier of Sweet Self at Berkeley’s Impact Theatre, Teach in American Buffalo at the Huntington Theatre, and Richard III in Richard III at ACT.

Jessica Robert Charron (Columbia) has been a fan of Rocky Horror since the age of 16 and has always wanted to play the role of Columbia now her dream has been fulfilled. Jessica’s whole life has always been based on song and dance. Starting at the age of 2 ½ she began taking ballet and over the years added pointe, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, and hip hop. From elementary school on she was always singing in the school chorus. In middle school she participated in the high school productions, The Music Man and Sweet Charity. Post high school she put her skills to use in the shows, Tony and Tina’s Wedding, Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral, and King Casmire’s Feast acting and choreographing dances. In Rocky Horror Jessica is realizing her dream of playing Columbia and also as the dance choreographer.

 

Christopher Beaulieu (Director) Chris is an Actor/Director/Fight Choreographer/Teacher with over 20 years experience teaching and directing students in various areas of theater.  Co-founder of the physical theatre company, Creatively Independent, Chris tours 250+ days/year performing and teaching the performing arts. He has taught internationally in Germany, Scotland, England, Portugal and Prague, as well as nationally. Chris has founded theater companies in Massachusetts and Germany. He has trained and taught with the internationally recognized Shakespeare & Co. education program. Chris has been a long term director/dramaturge for the nationally recognized Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Greylock Project. This sister program to NYC’s 52nd St. Project brings at risk children and professional artists together to create original theatre. Chris is an accredited Advanced Actor/Combatant  in 8 weapons with the Society of American Fight Directors. In 2009, the SAFD honored Christopher with the Patrick “Paddy” Crean Award for inspiring leadership and dedication to the craft. He graduated from the prestigious Physical Theatre Program at Dell Arte International School of Physical Theatre in 2005. This intensive training focuses on the actor-creator and the development of devised work for the theatre including stage movement, mask construction & performance, commedia, melodrama, clown and improv. Beyond the stage, Chris teaches at multiple conferences: Performing the World, Florida State Thespians, North Carolina State Thespians, Florida Assoc. of Theatre Educators and the prestigious Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (SE Region), as well as clown/performance skills under the Big Top for Circus Smirkus, a well established youth based circus school. For two years, Chris was a member of the select list of teaching artists working for ISTA (International Schools Theatre Association), from 2009-10. ISTA reaches students across the globe and is responsible for the IB Theatre curriculum. Chris taught and directed workshops in playwrighting & creative writing for Living Inside/Art in the Jail project. Living Inside was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts for its work with juvenile inmates in poetry, oral histories and character development while they practiced the skills of creative writing and conflict resolution. In 2008, Chris was asst. director to Dell’Arte’s Artistic Director, Michael Fields on the original production of The Hunting of the Snark. Currently, Chris is touring an original clown show, Training a Trickster, as well as opening Creatively Independent’s first artist retreat studio in Virginia.  He is scheduled to direct San Francisco clown duet, Kaluza & Coventry, in an original international street show called Sopa de Botas (Yum).

Chelsea LeSage (Hamlet) is a sophomore in the BFA Acting program at Marymount Manhattan College. Recently, Chelsea was seen at Marymount as May in A Fool for Love. Favorite roles include: the Witch in Into the Woods (Barrington Stage Company), Maureen in Rent and Natalie in All Shook Up (Taconic High) and, Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Berkshire Children’s Theater). Also, Isabella in Measure for Measure, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Sir Toby in Twelfth Night, and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (all at Shakespeare & Company). She will continue to pursue the dream in Manhattan in the fall.