Dirk van Allen * (Sorin) is a founding member of the Austin Playhouse Company and past president of its board. His most recent appearance was in the Austin Shakespeare Festival production of As You Like It. He is a member of Actors' Equity and was the recipient of its Lucy Jordan Award for the year 2005.
Sarah Bayne (The Maid)
Casey Caldwell (Vladimir)
Tom Coiner (Konstantin) is a recent transplant to Austin, and he is intoxicated. With the city, that is. This past year he's been honored to work on ASW's Hybrid, Teatro Vivo's Boiler Room, and on Shrewd Productions' Trash Anthems. He'd like to thank Robin bringing him here, and he raises his glass to you, your health, and a wonderful show.
Liz Fisher (Masha) was last seen on stage as Sophie in Hyde Park Theatre's Featuring Loretta and is a company member of The Bedlam Faction . Other acting credits include: The Pillowman (Mother) for Hyde Park Theatre, Minus Tide (Allison, B. Iden Payne nomination) for the Rude Mechs and Bayou Radio; Dog in the Manger (Marcela, BIP nomination), Will Power: Your Imaginary Forces (Ensemble), and Othello (Ensemble) for Austin Shakespeare Festival; Reefer Madness (Mary), Reefer Madness: Rehashed (Mary), and Love's Labour's Lost (Rosaline) for The Bedlam Faction; The Sweetest Swing in Baseball for Unlimited Automotive (Dana); and Elephant's Graveyard for UT Department of Theatre and Dance (Ballet Girl).
Babs George * (Arkadina) is a professional actress and has been a member of AEA and SAG, (stage and screen actors' unions), for almost 30 years. She recently completed her M.F.A. in Classical Acting at The Shakespeare Theatre and The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Ms. George has worked in regional theaters across the country, and played Lady Macbeth in Scotland at the world renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has studied with such prestigious teachers as Uta Hagen, Ann Bogart & S.I.T.I. Co. members, (Viewpoints & Suzuki), Tina Packer and Dennis Krausnick, (Shakespeare and Co., Lennox, MA), and Master teacher, Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Theatre and head of drama at Juilliard. In addition to her work in theatre, Ms. George has worked steadily in film, TV, commercials and industrials. Most recently she was featured in NBC's Friday Night Lights, and will appear in the upcoming feature film Fireflies in the Garden starring Willem Defoe and Julia Roberts. A longtime resident of Austin, TX, she has been a company member at The Austin Playhouse for 18 years, and has often been a Guest Artist at The Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward's University. She was also a company member of The Austin Shakespeare Festival. Ms. George is Director of The State Theatre School of Acting which she founded in 1994, and where she also teaches. She is currently instructing Acting Majors in the Theatre Departments at University of Texas and St. Edward's University.
James Loehlin (Dorn) is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Shakespeare at Winedale program. His book Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard was recently published by Cambridge University Press. He has also published books on the performance history of Shakespeare's Henry V and Romeo and Juliet. He has directed over half of Shakespeare's plays, and has directed, acted in, or advised productions of all four of Chekhov's major plays. He is a native Austinite and a graduate of the University of Texas. He also holds an M.A. from Oxford and a Ph.D. from Stanford.
Robert Matney (Medvedenko) was last seen in Austin Shakespeare Festival's Will Power: Your Imaginary Forces. Previous local acting credits include Bob Acres in The Rivals (Austin Critic's Table Award, B. Iden Payne Nomination), Marquis Ricardo in Dog in the Manger, Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet (all for Austin Shakespeare Festival); Randy Thatcher in Pageant for Hyde Park Theatre; Baliardo in Emperor of the Moon (B. Iden Payne Nomination), Sorenzo in Tis Pity She's A Whore, Ned Ramble in London Cuckolds, Sir Would-Be in Volpone (all for Bedlam Faction). Directing credits include Richard III and Will Power: The Course of Love for Austin Shakespeare Festival, and The Empty Bowl for the Artspark Festival (Grand Prize Winner). Voice credits include Gunbard in Petite Princess Yucie for ADV. Robert is currently a founding co-Artistic Director for the Bedlam Faction, and a former founding co-Artistic Director for the Austin Free Shakespeare Society. Robert is a former student of Shakespeare at Winedale under Dr. Ayres and Loehlin, and studied Philosophy at The University of Texas.
Ellie McBride (Polina) made her way from Chicago to Los Angeles to Austin, where she has lived, raised a family, and established a professional and theatrical career. In Spring 2002, she was invited by the dirigo group to become an Artistic Company Member, and then a Co-Producing Artistic Director in Winter 2003. She is also an artistic member of Rude Mechanicals.
In addition to her performance as The Mother of the Teenage Cypberpunk Seperatist Wannabe in Human Interest Story and Abby in The Mercy Seat and Cindy in The Gypsy Chain for the dirigo group, her local stage performances include "Y" in 300 Plays about Vladamir Putin and The Neighbor in Cherrywood (Rude Mechs), Heron in The Butcher's Daughter for Refraction Arts, various roles in Cyndi Williams' Flawed (Refraction Arts), Calpernia in Julius Caesar and Various roles in Will Power (Austin Shakespeare Festival), Clytemnestra in Agamemnon and Allegra in Terrance McNally's Noon (Different Stages), Dasha in Terezin (UT New Works Festival), Finnwoman in The Snow Queen (Second Youth), and Manuela in Baruch of Amsterdam (Rare Creations).
Ellie's favorite productions have been her daughters, Jazz and Morgan.
Matt Radford (Trigorin) has been a professional actor and director in Britain for nearly two decades. As well as numerous television and film appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, his theater credits range from the classics to award-winning world premieres (he was recipient of national acting awards for two new works, Our Boys and Misconceptions). As a Shakespearean, he co-adapted, directed and starred in Venus and Adonis for the world-renowned Citizens. Theatre in Glasgow, and has taken title/lead roles in Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, All.s Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night.s Dream (twice) and Measure for Measure. He is an associate director of Actors From the London Stage, a company formed by Patrick Stewart, that for the past thirty-five years has toured colleges across America. In Austin he has performed three roles for Austin Shakespeare Festival: Claudius in Hamlet, Buckingham in Richard III (Best Supporting Actor, Austin Chronicle), and Jack Absolute in The Rivals (the latter two also receiving Critics Table nominations); while last summer, he had the opportunity to tackle King Lear with the nationally acclaimed UT program, Shakespeare at Winedale. He recently directed Much Ado About Nothing for Baker Shakespeare at Rice University in Houston, and was the Director of Text on Love.s Labour.s Lost and Moliere.s The Learned Ladies for the professional Summer Shakespeare at Notre Dame, Indiana. He is currently enrolled in the PhD program in English Literature at the University of Texas, Austin.
Annalee Sweet (Nina) graduated from the University of Texas in May with a B.A. in English and Plan II Honors, after completing her thesis on the Chekhov theatre. She has been acting on the UT campus for four years with the theatre troupes The Broccoli Project and Poor Tom Productions. She is also a graduate of both the Shakespeare at Winedale spring and summer programs.
Tom Whiteside (Yakov) comes to us from Lubbock, TX, which he wants you to know was the birthplace of Rock n' Roll. Tom cut his teeth at Winedale in the Spring and Summer of 2003. After a stint overseas, in New York, and a pit stop back in Lubbock, Tom is back in Austin, eager to tackle the subtleties of Chekov's favorite character, Yakov.
Tom's more memorable roles include Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing, Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew, Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice, and McCann in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.
Paul Mitchell Wright * (Shamraev) was most recently seen in Monika Bustamonte's Stillborn (Clay) at Hyde Park Theatre, How I Learned to Drive (Uncle Peck), You Can't Take it With You (Mr. DePinna), and Dead Innocence (Samuel Smith) at the Cambridge Drama Centre, England. Other theatre acting credits include That Championship Season (Phil Romano), Well of the Saints (Martin Doul), Our Town (Doc Gibbs), The Crucible (Giles Corey), Macbeth (Banquo) for ASF, Uncle Vanya (Serebryakov) and Down the Road (Dan Henniman), Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Senator Wingwoah) for Austin Musical Theatre, and A Ballad of the West (Nat Fitzgerald) in Wyoming.
Film acting credits include Rock Opera, James Michenor's Texas, The Underneath, Ballad of the Sad Cafe, American Outlaws, The Wendell Baker Story, Friday Night Lights, and Infamous. The short, Just Another Day, written, directed and produced by Mr. Wright was recently completed. Mr. Wright received his training at The University of Houston, under the direction of Cecil Pickett.