Dysfunctional Theatre Co @ Horse Trade

The Dysfunctional Theatre Company was founded in 1997 by artistic director Paul Wells. A director and playwright who had relocated to New York City after many years in regional community and experimental theater, Wells established a collective dedicated to producing light-hearted yet political work that challenges the status quo without taking itself too seriously. The company officially incorporated in 1998, achieving non-profit status in early 1999.

A driving force behind Dysfunctional Theatre is our desire to reach and influence people that have had little or no exposure to theater, or those
that have written it off as "dull and old-fashioned".
Dysfunctional does this by...
(1) producing fast-paced, pop culture-based shows
(2) developingintelligent, complex yet generally comedic scripts
(3) making our showseasily accessible by setting ticket prices low (generally $10 to $15, oraround the price of a movie ticket)
(4) experimenting with structure of theater, often incorporating elements of film, television andpopular music in order to give novice theatergoers multiple points of reference

Hoover: A Love Story was Dysfunctional's 21st and latest production Otherrecent productions include Please Please Please Love Me (by Rick Vorndran);Untitled Farce (by Matt Grzybowski); Whispers in the Wood (by AndrewShepherd); Come Back to the 7/11, Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley; Real Live Sex On Stage; and Vampire Stewardesses From Hell!! (by Paul Wells). Dysfunctional has also produced a staging of Dario Fo's We Won't Pay, We Won't Pay, directed by Robert Mooney; I Am Star Trek, How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time and Control Freaks In Love (by Rick Vorndran); Sodom or the Quintessence of Debauchery by Sir John Wilmot, and other plays by Paul Wells, including Il Duce: The Rudy Guiliani Story, Mr. Rogers Y2K, Alien Sex Cult Clones Madonna! and Princess Di's Brain Kept Alive in Graceland!

The Company

Robert Brown joined Dysfunctional Theatre back in January of 2004 after doing Please, Please, Please Love Me. He has sinced played Clyde Tolsen in Hoover, A Love Story and Dr. Oliver Greenmeadow in the workshop of Bite with Dysfunctional. Some of his favorite roles include Touchstone from As You Like It, Malvolio from Twelfth Night, and Banquo from Macbeth. He has a BFA from Webster University in St. Louis.

Jennifer Gill has been performing with Dysfunctional Theatre since 2003. She has appeared with them in Untitled Farce (Ms. Guest), Please Please Please Love Me (Nina), Hoover, A Love Story (Jackie Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, a Japanese warplane, and others) and Bite. Other favorite performances include Emelia in Comedy of Errors, Beatrice in The Voysey Inheritance and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. Jennifer has a BFA in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Amy Overman has appeared in the Dysfunctional productions: Bite (Millie), Please Please Please Love Me (Linda), Whispers in the Wood (Lucy), Real Live Sex Onstage (Maggie), I Am Star Trek (Paramount) and How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time (The Redhead). Other NYC credits include: Clue - Live Onstage (Miss Scarlet) for Flying Blind Productions, I'm Just Saying (Christine) for Point Of You Productions, Running (Denise) for Over the Edge Theater, several staged readings with W-WOW Radio and the touring children's show, On the Road to Reading, in which she played a singing pig and a dancing book. Amy has a BFA in Acting from Syracuse University.

Justin Plowman has appeared in the Dysfunctional shows The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Donner), Bite (Dr. Bruce Marone), Untitled Farce, How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time, We Won't Pay, We Won't Pay (Luigi), Mr. Rogers' Y2K (Neil), Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery (The Prince), Il Duce: The Rudy Giuliani Story, and Princess Di's Brain Kept Alive in Graceland. He has also appeared in Clue - Live on Stage as Wadsworth the Butler and was a troupe member on the TV show Black Hole Television .

Jason Unfried has been involved with Dysfunctional both technically and as an actor. He has been seen in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues as Comet, Bite as Parker Lyman, and Untitled Farce as Ralph. Jason directed Please Please Please Love Me in 2003. He has been a set designer for both Untitled Farce and The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. And lastly, he has been the sound designer for Please Please Please Love Me and the lighting designer for The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. His other New York acting credits include Macbeth in the Shakespeare in the Parking Lot production of Macbeth, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein with The Heights Players. Jason has a BS in Theatre Performance from Northern Arizona University.

Theresa Unfried (Goehring) has been working with Dysfunctional since she first moved to New York in 2001. She has been seen in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Blitzen), Bite (Natalie O'Reilly/Mistress Corbeaux), Please Please Please Love Me (Def girl and various roles), Untitled Farce (Angie Conroy), Whispers in the Wood (Jude Ascot) and I Am Star Trek (DC Fontana and various roles). Her other New York credit includes Clue - Live on Stage (Mrs. White) with Flying Blind Productions. Theresa has a BS in Theatre Performance from Northern Arizona University.

Rick Vorndran (producer) has worked with Dysfunctional Theatre as a playwright and director since 1999. Plays he's written (and sometimes directed) include: I Am Star Trek, How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time, Control Freaks In Love, Michelangelo, Renaissance P.I., and Please Please Please Love Me. Other plays he's directed include Suzanne Bachner's workshop of Bite; Paul Wells' Hoover, A Love Story and Vampire Stewardesses From Hell!!; Larry LaJoie's Goodbye My Brother, Matt Grzybowski's Untitled Farce, and Andrew Shepherd's Whispers in the Wood. I Am Star Trek was staged to critical acclaim at the 2000 New York Fringe Festival and the 2001 & 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festivals (by Skullduggery Theater). Rick was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, where he performed, directed and wrote for Broom Street Theater, and is happily married to his beautiful wife Kathleen.

Orange Murder Suit

The Company