It’s official: The Gene Pool has a cast! Meet the talented folks that will bring the Gray family to life.
Colleen Carey (Claire)
Colleen has studied theater at Los Angeles County School for the Arts and North Carolina School of the Arts. Locally, she has appeared in Edmond (Balagan), Café Nordo (Theo Chocolates/Ripple Productions), The Cherry Orchard (Theater 9/12) and Shoreditch Madonna (Gesamtkunstwerk). Film and television credits include: Ticket Out, with Ray Liotta and a television pilot at The Showbox.
Amelia Meckler (Mira)
Amelia left New York with starry eyes and a BFA degree in 1997. Thirteen+ years later, she considers Seattle ‘Home Sweet Home’. Part of what makes it so sweet is the passion of people like Roy Arauz, to whom many thanks are owed for trusting me with Mira. Amelia has worked with several other Seattle theaters such as GreenStage, where she is also the Communications and Casting Director, Theater Schmeater, Ghost Light, Balagan, Macha Monkey, Taproot and others. Love to family and Matthew! Amelia believes live theater is a vital part of community and the human condition. Go see a play.
Kyle Johnson (Peter)
Kyle is thrilled to be making his debut with Arouet in the role of Peter. Kyle is a class of 2011 graduate from the Cornish College of the Arts Acting Program. At Cornish, Kyle has appeared in a number of roles including Slim in Sam Shepard’s Cowboy Mouth, Michael in a staged reading of The Better Radio, Bert in Arthur Miller’s A Memory of Two Mondays, James in Charles L. Mee’s Summertime, Claudio in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, and an ensemble member of Anon(ymous) by Naomi lizuka. Thank You for coming and enjoy the show.
Zandi Carlson (Paige)
Zandi is thrilled to be playing Paige in The Gene Pool. She was most recently seen as Willi in The Firebugs with STAGEright, and Kate in Quiet Productions’ Taming of the Shrew. She has worked locally with Theatre Northwest, GreenStage, StoryBook Theater and Theatre Schmeater. Thanks to Charles Waxberg for his teaching and support. She holds a BFA Acting from Oklahoma City University.
Bruce Erickson (Harold)
Bruce is very happy to finally be given the chance to work with Roy, and to again work with Teresa and Colleen. He is a native of the Pacific Northwest, having appeared in regional theatre for the past 35 years. Most recently Curtain Call Theatre in Bothell and Edmonds Driftwood Theatre along with time at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Bruce has been involved with film and television work. At one time starring, writing, and producing his own television production. Besides the arts, Bruce is the father of a very active 9 year old, and is employed as a system analyst for Swedish/Edmonds Hospital. At this time Bruce would like to thank the cast and crew for their support and understanding. And finally thank you to my supportive friends and family especially CRD3 for 31 years, and of course my son Noah for allowing Papa to play dress-up with the grown-ups!
Christi Stewart-Brown (Author)
Christi Stewart-Brown has had over 40 productions of her plays across the U.S., in Canada, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Stewart-Brown is a four-time Helen Hayes Award nominee and her plays include: Morticians in Love, which ran Off-Broadway in 1995 at the Perry Street Theatre, The Gene Pool, Three More Sisters, Sweet Land of Liberty, Full of Grace, Steak! (co-author), a country-western musical about cattle-rustling vegetarians, and Do Not Use if Seal is Broken, which was made into a film entitled Loungers.
Loungers, directed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball, The Kite Runner), was featured at the 1996 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where it won the Audience Award and placed second for the Jury Award.
Stewart-Brown has also written a work of young adult fiction, entitled Kin. (Links to Amazon.com)
Roy Arauz (Director/Producer)
Roy Arauz is a producer, director, choreographer, and stage manager. Directing credits include Chess at Redwood Theatre, Annie at Driftwood Players and The Butler Did It at Valley Community Players. He has choreographed for Microsoft Theatre Troupe, Redwood Theatre, SecondStory Repertory, Studio East, and Snoqualmie Falls Forest Theatre; and stage managed for ArtsWest, Balagan Theatre, Redwood Theatre, and Theatre 9/12, where is he Company Stage Manager. In 2010 he created Arouet, to present works that speak of civil rights, tolerance, freedom of and from religion, social justice, and celebration of our differences.
Teresa Widner (Assistant Director)
Teresa received her Bachelor of Arts degree from of Western State College of Colorado way back in the early 90’s. She has worked with Valley Community Players, Renton Civic, Greenstage, Straight Edge Productions, Driftwood Players, Theatre Schmeater, Breeder’s Theatre, Stone Soup Theatre and Redwood Theatre, as well as directed and stage managed. Big thanks to the cast for being talented, Roy for including me, Alan for keeping us on time and to Nathan for loving me. Live, laugh, love and enjoy!
Alan Parsons (Stage Manager)
Alan is pleased to be working on The Gene Pool. You may have noticed his name in recent programs at Renton Civic Theatre, in various technical capacities. He also stage managed for the latter half of Valley Community Players’ final season. He has been known to act as well, though not for a number of years. Alan has an Associate’s degree from South Seattle Community College. When he isn’t doing theatre things, he spends his time running his own tech-support business, Pocket Protector Productions.
J.S. Epperson (Sound Design)
J.S. Epperson is an audio engineer and recording artist. His work appears on more than a dozen solo albums and countless compilations as well as television, film and video games. Epperson previously worked with Arouet, described in the post Music and Sound Design of “Frankie and Johnny”. Epperson has also sound for ArtsWest, Redwood Theatre and Theatre 9/12.
Nate Dewey (Lighting Design)
This is Nathan Dewey’s debut as a lighting designer. He has assisted in lighting design at the Driftwood in Edmonds but this is his first show in the drivers seat. Nathan is from Edmonds, Washington and has been involved with Theatre there for a little over a year. Nathan is happy to contribute to this production and is especially thankful to Roy for allowing this opportunity.