The Cast and Crew |
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Ron Bopst* (Dr. Einstein) is an actor and the Actors Company Manager for Emerging Artists Theatre (EAT) (www.eatheatre.org), a member of Handcart Ensemble (www.handcartensemble.org) and TOSOS (www.tosos.com). At EAT, Ron made his Off Broadway debut in Kevin Brofsky’s Claymont. Ron has also performed in numerous other plays with EAT including Bernadette and the Butcher of Broadway, which was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding NY Theatre and Tonylust! The Broadway Bloodbath of 2006!. Ron has appeared in three of the last four productions of Handcart Ensemble. In addition to his acting pursuits, Ron has also directed for Emerging Artists Theatre and is a Judge At Large for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards (www.nyitawards.org), which recognize excellence in Off-Off Broadway, or independent, New York theatre. Ron can be reached at ron.bopst@gmail.com and stay tuned for the debut of his website at www.ronbopst.com! Ron is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. Thank you for seeing live theatre and please consider supporting our endeavors with your tax-deductible donation! |
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Rob Brown* (Mortimer Brewster) joined Dysfunctional Theatre back in January of 2004 after doing Please Please Please Love Me. Since then he has performed in Hoover, A Love Story (Clyde Tolsen) Bite (Dr. Oliver Greenmeadow), The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Cupid, Comet, Dasher) and Chosen with Dysfunctional. Some of his favorite roles include Touchstone from As You Like It, Malvolio from Twelfth Night, Banquo from Macbeth, and Mr. Green in Clue - Live on Stage with Flying Blind Productions. Rob has recently been seen performing with the Fire Island Repertory Theater Company in their productions of Dogg’s Hamlet & Cahoot’s MacBeth and The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged. He has a BFA from Webster University in St. Louis. |
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Michael DeRensis (Officer Brophy). Michael is an out-of-work jockey who was tricked by the Horse Trade Theatre Company into taking the role. His past races include Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the title role in Pericles, and Jupiter in Amphitryon. He is currently raising a foal named Finnegan Kipp whom he fully expects will win the Kentucky Derby one day. |
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Marilyn Duryea (Abby Brewster) has appeared in many NY stage productions. Roles include the Duchess of York (Richard III), Teiresias (Antigone), Mary (Nasty Things, Murders), Countess Rossillion (All’s Well That Ends Well), Hadley (The Suitcase Chronicle), Dot (Fin de Circle), Mistress Ford (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Anfisa (The Three Sisters) and Juliette (Exit The King). Film credits include Burden, Waiting and Mildred Richards (Short Film Best Picture Award/2009 Boston International Film Festival, Best Short Drama/2009 Hollywood East Film Festival et al). In 2006 she received the Jean Dalrymple Award for Best Shakespearean Actress. |
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Greg Engbrecht (Mr. Gibbs) Greg Engbrecht (Assistant Director/Gibbs) is so grateful to be working with Horse Trade and Dysfunctional for the first time. He has worked in New York City as an actor, director, and stage manager for almost three years. He received his BA in Theater at Ithaca College and his recent credits include Mountain Jews (Isaac) Off-Broadway, King O'Neil (Major De Burgh), and the New York Premier of The Tragedy of John (Ben) at Theatre Row Studios. |
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Jennifer Gill (Elaine Harper) has been performing with Dysfunctional Theatre since 2003. In that time she's appeared in: Orange Murder Suit (Lynn), The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Vixen 2007, Blitzen 2006 and Dancer 2005), Bite (Annabelle), Hoover: A Love Story (Jackie Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, a Japanese Warplane and others), Please Please Please Love Me (Nina), and Untitled Farce (Ms. Guest). Earlier this year she directed, performed in and co-wrote The Dysfunctional Guide to Home Perfect, Marital Bliss and Passionate Hot Romance, which won an Audience Choice Award at the 2009 FRIGID New York Festival. 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 and English Literature from New York University. |
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Kurt Kingsley* (Reverend Harper/Mr. Witherspoon) is glad to be working with the Dysfunctional Theater Company. His New York City credits include Foreign Bodies, Woman with Coffee, Someplace Warm (winner of the Samuel French Competition) all with Emerging Artists Theatre; PIG with The New Ensemble Theater; Camp Holocaust and Midsummer Night’s Dream with the LITE Theatre Company and Selling Out at the New York Fringe Festival. Regionally, he has worked frequently with The Northeast Theatre Company in Scranton, PA appearing in their productions of Kringle’s Window, Three Tales for Winter (three Chekhov one-acts) and Lackawanna Rails, a series of original plays for radio, performed live and broadcast on WVIA-FM. Mr. Kingsley is a graduate of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s MFA/PAT Program. |
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Vivian Meisner* (Martha Brewster) has played a variety of classical & contemporary roles in N.Y., Regional & Stock Theatres. She was recently seen as Barbara in Old Flame, Dinah in Onions and Off Broadway in Elephant Girls for Emerging Artists (Company Member). Other credits include indie films, soaps, commercials, industrials, print and her newest venture Writer's @ 7, a workshop with seven wonderful women creating theatre for women over 40. |
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Craig Peterson (Officer Klein) a Seattle native, trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC under acting instructor Gary Kingston. He recently received his SAG eligibility on the final season of ER. Some of his past stage credits include, King O’Neil (TheatreRats), The Boy Who Ate The Moon (Neighborhood Playhouse), Baseball Stories (Book-It Repertory) and The Shadow of A Gunman (Gael Force Theatre). Thanks to Florence Kelton. |
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Justin Plowman (Jonathan Brewster) 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 and co-produced Clue - Live on Stage (Wadsworth the Butler), appeared in the 2008 production of Mastiphicus Megladon (MacDonald) and was a troupe member on the TV show Black Hole Television. Justin serves as Dysfunctional Theatre’s Director of Development and last fall made his directorial debut with the horror comedy Brew of the Dead. Thanks to his beautiful fiancée. |
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Mike Roche* (Lt. Rooney) Theatre: Night Over Taos (INTAR dir. Estelle Parsons), The Father (reading w/ Al Pacino), Fahrenheit 451 (59E59 & Edinburgh Festival), Church (The Public Theatre), Blindness (59E59), A Clockwork Orange (EST, 59E59 & Edinburgh Festival), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (attended by President Clinton & Senator Clinton), (Godlight Theatre Company dir. Joe Tantalo.) Billy the Kid (Flea Theatre dir. Jim Simpson), Room Service (The Actors Studio. dir. Arthur Storch), Octoberfest (EST dir. Curt Dempster), Psycho (Norman Bates dir. Thomas G. Waites), St. George and the Dragon (dir. William Carden, HB Playwrights), TV: All My Children, Training: Austin Pendleton, Marcia Haufrecht, Special Thanks: Eric Chase, family and Katherine
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Peter Schuyler (Teddy Brewster) is an actor, singer, producer, director, and writer working in NY’s indie theatre scene since 2001. He has worked with numerous companies in his tenure, including (but not limited to): La MaMa ETC, Immediate Theatre Company, The Tank, Alliance Repertory, 3Graces, and Bouncing Ball Theatre in DC. In NYC: King O'Neil, Titus X, The Punk Rock Musical (NYTE Nominee), Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist, (NYTE Nominee), Orestes 2.0, Romeo & Juliet, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, The Front Page, All in The Timing, Frankenstein. Regional: The King and I, My Fair Lady, Lone Star, Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Macbeth. Peter is a company member of Dysfunctional Theatre Company, and an associated artist of the Immediate Theater Company. Peter is a graduate of Northern Arizona University. Love and thanks to Dawn and Dad. |
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Yanni Walker (Officer O’Hara) is originally from Los Angeles; and has been a student of acting for about nine years now. Yanni first discovered his passion for the performing arts while attending Goldenwest College in Huntington Beach. After a semester of acting class he was encouraged to audition for the upcoming production of Of Mice and Men. After winning the role of George, he participated in several other plays including Our Town, and Clue. Soon after that he was accepted into the Carter Thor Studio in Hollywood; where he continued to develop his craft as a professional actor for five years, under the coaching of Cameron Thor. Since then Yanni has appeared in over 20 other theater productions and films, in both LA and NYC. Yanni just finished a performance in the upcoming feature Alien Uprising; and has recently worked on such television shows such as Guiding Light and the hit FX show Rescue Me. |
| Eric Chase (Director) is happy to be directing with Dysfunctional Theater Company, after appearing in last fall’s Brew of the Dead, as well as other Dysfunctional productions back in the 90’s. Eric is a member of Bakerloo Theatre Project, Emerging Artists Theater Company, and other regional and local companies. Thanks to his lovely wife. |
