FPAC keeps very good "Company"

Company is one of those shows where Stephen Sondheim's lyrics and music so outshine George Furth's script that many productions are more of a song-fest than a story with songs about the pros and cons of marriage.

Case in point: The recent New York Philharmonic concert version of Company, stripped down to its tunes with little connective tissue.

Not so with the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory's production at the Mayfield Village Civic Center. This is a Company chock-full of talented actors who can sing, dance and generate rich, interesting characters, brought together by a director who marries Sondheim's style with Furth's storytelling.

In fact, director Fred Sternfeld places the story in this musical comedy center stage-literally-by keeping the central character, Bobby, center stage on what is the equivalent of a large Lazy Susan. The mechanism rotates and vacillates along with devout bachelor Bobby's shifting perception of the institution of marriage. It also serves as different locations-a New York apartment terrace, a bed, a couch-as Bobby encounters through a series of vignettes his array of overly protective married friends and assorted of lovers.

The mechanism crowds the performance space, but scenic designer Trad A Burns surrounds the stage with illuminated glass panels through which the ensemble can sing to Bobby. This keeps the intimate stage from getting cluttered.

So too does Bebe Weinberg-Katz's very clever choreography. She manages to both avoid and creatively incorporate the mechanism into the ensemble numbers, which is no small feat given so many feet.

Conner O'Brien is an immediately endearing, absolutely adorable Bobby. He has the wherewithal to find all the lyrical and melodic complexities in Sondheim's work and the voice to effectively express them. He manages to milk the music and lyrics for all they are worth. His "Someone is Waiting," "Marry Me A Little" and "Being Alive" are captivating.

O'Brien is surrounded by an exceptional cast of players who form a rich, robust and balanced collective. They play their roles broadly, to establish the premise that they are figments of Bobby's reflections, but are not so broad as to undermine the rather complex issues the play addresses.

Despite its strong ensemble, this production is at its best when individual performers step forward and take on one of Sondheim's brilliantly conceived songs. These songs become showcases for performers willing to take creative risks; they become showstoppers when performers dare to go out on an emotional ledge. This FPAC production is filthy with showstoppers.

Ursula Cataan, as Amy, takes the pre-nuptial panic attack "Getting Married Today" and turns it into a full-blown meltdown. She throws herself completely into this comedic number and delivers a performance that would be the pinnacle of her professional career if not for so many other memorable performances. She is brilliant.

So is spark plug Natalie Green as Marta, a street-smart native New Yorker who is one of the three lovers/sirens in Bobby's life. In "Another Hundred People," Green beautifully captures the adrenaline rush that is NYC and the improbability of any one of the multitudes connecting with any other in that environment.

Tracee Patterson, as Joanne, delivers-no, expectorates-the biting, inebriated anthem to affluent housewives, "The Ladies Who Lunch," which became the signature song for its originator Elaine Stritch. Patterson not only makes the song her own, but adds an astringency that exposes more pain and raw nerve than Stritch ever managed to muster. This is a song that is both hard to watch and impossible to take your eyes off of.

Even with these superb individual performances and a fine off-stage orchestra directed by Jonathan Swoboda, FPAC's Company is greater than the sum of its magnificent parts and more than just the songs. It never loses sight of the story and it never loses its audience's undivided attention.

"Company” is a musical for the angst-ridden modern age.

Set against the backdrop of the late 1960s and the Vietnam War, when the show first premièred on Broadway, it captured a new era of cynicism and discontent, replacing the complacency and optimism of the previous decade. It was a period of social and political upheaval, when time-honored institutions like marriage were being questioned and challenged by young 30-somethings, educated affluent urbanites for whom matrimony was no longer the be-all and end-all of living.

How well does the musical hold up more than 40 years later?

The solid, first-class production of “Company” presented by the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory proves that the landmark musical remains strikingly contemporary in its examination of modern-day marriage. Fred Sternfeld’s sterling direction, a prime cast and innovative staging deliver a show worthy of legendary composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s genius. It’s at Mayfield Village Civic Center through May 14.

“Company” was created by George Furth (book), who wrote it as a series of 11 vignettes on marriage, which Sondheim (music and lyrics) turned into a musical. It received mixed notices when it hit Broadway in 1970 (some critics found the characters disagreeable) but garnered universal praise for its music and lyrics. It bagged six Tonys including best musical.

The story centers on the commitment-averse Robert (Bobby to friends), a seemingly confirmed bachelor living among the five married couples who are his close friends and his three girlfriends. It’s his 35th birthday, and his friends are throwing him a party.

The titular opening number sets the stage for what follows, a series of scenes in which Bobby visits his married friends to observe firsthand the state of their relationships. The action takes place both in real time and inside Bobby’s head.

Set designer Trad A Burns conveys this dichotomy with a large, asymmetrically square-shaped turntable that pivots around a fulcrum, in the same way Bobby’s relationships revolve around each other. In the opening scene, Bobby is fast asleep while his friends and girlfriends appear through glass doors, like images in his dreams.

Benjamin Gantose’s lighting shifts from the dreamlike state to the real, as Bobby interacts with each of his friends in his search for the meaning of marriage.

The show is almost too big for the small, compact stage. The band is situated in the basement. When the strains of musical director Jonathan Swoboda’s orchestra filter through strategically placed speakers on stage and the high-energy cast turns up the volume on the rousing opening number, the fourth wall separating audience and performers virtually disappears.

Abigail Allwein (Susan) is relatively new to Cleveland. Since her arrival in August of 2010 she has been seen in as Grace in Annie at Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, and as Susan in Don’t Call Me Fat at the Cleveland Public Theatre. Previous to her arrival in Cleveland, Abigail performed in Chicago, and enjoyed touring with Emerald City Theatre’s production as Wendy in Peter Pan. She was also featured as Mary Jane u/s in Stephen Foster Productions’ Big River:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as Gussie in Stephen Foster the Musical, and as Vocal Soloist in Smokey Joes Café. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Huntington University where she was seen as Cathy Hiatt in The Last Five Years, Marian Paroo in The Music Man, Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors, and Meg March in Little Women: The Musical. She enjoys teaching Voice and Violin, as well as doing Print and Commercial work in Cleveland.

Trad A Burns (Scenic Designer) Mr. Burns is a lighting and scenic designer based in Boston, Massachusetts. His career has spanned theatre, dance, amusement parks, as well as architectural and retail lighting. Designing over 400 productions during the last two decades, his varied work has been seen around the world. His extensive credits include designs for Boston Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet British Columbia, Washington Ballet, Spectrum Dance, Verb Ballets, New York Theatre Workshop (NYC), La Mama ETC (NYC), HERE (NYC), Classic Stage Company (NYC), The Public Theatre (NYC), The Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cedar Point, ValleyFair, Knott’s Berry Farm, Kings Island, Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Japan, Disney Sea, Disney Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Lines, Universal Studios Florida & Japan, Woodstock Ice Productions, and The Family of Charles M. Schulz. Mr. Burns recent theatre designs include the revival of Altar Boyz at The Hanna Theatre, Jerry Springer The Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Wings, My Fair Lady, The Producers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Fiddler on the Roof, Altar Boyz, The Farnsworth Invention, Urinetown, Song & Dance, The History Boys among others for the Beck Center for the Arts. Inherit the Wind and Doubt for the Cleveland Play House, Assassins, Death of a Salesman and Sweeney Todd at Lakeland Theatre. At Cleveland Public Theatre Mr. Burns has designed Fever/Dream, The Book of Grace, Open Mind Firmament, The Alice Seed, Goldstar Ohio, Our Town, Sleep Deprivation Chamber, Fefu and Her Friends, The Secretaries, Venus, Stone Cold Dead Serious, Bright Room Called Day, Nickel and Dimed, Dojoji, The Confessions of Punch & Judy, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Discordia, Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, Summer and Smoke, The Fugitive Pieces, and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.

Ursula Cataan (Amy) was last performing her one woman cabaret Down and Out in Cleveland as part of Playhouse Squares 101 Cabaret Series. She has performed for the past two summers at CSU Summer Stages and has played a number of roles from Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man to Maggie in The Shadowbox and a crew member aboard a wacky space ship in Return to the Forbidden Planet, just to name a few. She also played the role of Ellie Bachman in The Great White Hope at Karamu and Weathervane Playhouse. Other Cleveland credits include Playhouse Square's production of I Love You Because, Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House at The Cleveland Play House and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She has performed regionally and off Broadway at 59E59, HERE Arts Center, Center Stage, The Brick, Walnut Street Theater, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Kitchen Theater, and many more. Other favorites include three world premiere plays by Nilo Cruz among them originating the role of Marela in the Pulitzer Prize winning drama Anna in the Tropics. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

Sarah Clare (Kathy) has a B.A. in Dramatic Arts from Cleveland State University. She has worked as an actor, director, choreographer, makeup artist, costume designer and stitcher for the Cleveland Institute of Music, Dobama, Cuyahoga Community College Western Campus, Karamu Theatre, Cleveland State University, Cassidy Theatre, The Beck Center, Royalton Players, The Cleveland Black Box Theatre, The Cleveland Opera, North Central College, Holy Name High School, Valley Forge High School, and The Arts and Theatre Workshop. Sarah has studied vocal jazz performance in Chicago with John McLean, Larry Kohut and Blue Note© recording artist Janice Borla at North Central College. Sarah previously worked as the Starworks! Teen theatre instructor, Box Office Manager and Artistic Director for the Cassidy Theatre. She currently serves as the choreographer for Lake Catholic High School including their annual musical and the LC Singers. Sarah directed & choreographed the FPAC production of Honk, Jr. in 2010 and choreographed Joseph...Dreamcoat in 2008. Previous Directing and Choreography credits include A Year With Frog and Toad, Children of Eden, Oklahoma, Aladdin Jr., The Wizard of Oz, Seussical, The Music Man, The Boyfriend, No No Nannette, Alice In Wonderland, Murder Lies and Other things!, and Jack and the Beanstalk. As a performer some of her credits include Sally Brown in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Rapunzel in Into the Woods, Martha in 1776, Tiger Lilly in Peter Pan, Rumpleteaser in CATS, Marela in Anna in the Tropics, Maggie in Lend Me A Tenor and Glinda in The Wizard of Oz.

Erin Diroll (April) is a junior Musical Theatre major and Dance minor at Kent State University. This past summer she was seen as Julia Guglia in The Wedding Singer. Other favorite roles include Marla in the regional premiere of 14 directed by John Cameron, Helen in Jane Eyre, Miss Dorothy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and a Daughter in Quilters.

Aaron D. Elersich (Harry) is making his first appearance with FPAC, and is proud to be included with such a talented and committed group of people. Aaron has been seen on many local stages, and extensively with the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. Favorite roles include Leontes, King of Sicily in The Winters' Tale at CSF, The Baker in Into the Woods at Tri-C West, Master Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor at CSF, Richard Burbage in William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead at CSF directed by Dusten Welch, and Son in Dividing the Estate at Ensemble Theater and his most recent brush with Sondheim, The Balladeer in Assassins at Lakeland Civic Theater. Aaron, as always, would like to thank his loving, supportive, and long suffering wife Carrie, and his two amazing daughters London and Cate.

Megan Elk (Sarah) Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Megan Elk has appeared onstage regionally with Porthouse, Cain Park, Actor's Summit, Opera Cleveland, Opera Circle, Squonk Opera, Cleveland Public Theatre, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and The Cleveland Ingenuity Festival. While completing her undergraduate studies in Theatre Arts at The University of Akron, Megan served as an ensemble artist in residence with the internationally renown New World Performance Laboratory. In the course of her tenure with NWPL, Megan assisted in the facilitation of voice and movement workshops throughout Europe and the United States, toured extensively with their original performances, composed original choral works for four world-premiere performances, and developed her own solo cabaret performance, Stairway to Paradise. In addition to her extensive performance biography, she currently maintains a thriving private studio of exceptional young singers at The Aurora School of Music. Megan is the recipient of the Gene Kelly Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre,The Kennedy Center ACTF Award for Meritorious Achievement in Music, and numerous awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Shawn Galligan (Peter) has acted, directed, and stage managed in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Chicago credits: Navy Pier Players (singer); director / actor / stage manager with Tremont Avenue Productions; Brighton Beach Memoirs (Eugene). Pennsylvania credits: King Lear (soldier); The Civil War (choir); Little Red Riding Hood (Henry von Snoot). Ohio credits: Ten Nights in a Barroom (Harvey Greene); Jekyll & Hyde (Proops); You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Snoopy); the Ten Minute Play Festival at CPT; My Favorite Year (Benjy); Freakshow (Aquaboy); Don't Hug Me (Kanute), Are We There Yet?, Guys on Ice (Ernie), I Love a Piano, A Murder, a Mystery, & a Marriage (Hugh), and A Christmas Carol (Fred) at Actors' Summit: Princess and the Pea for Magical Theater Company. Production credits: Romantic Fools for Actors' Summit (director), Children of Eden for Sandstone Summer Theatre (stage manager), The Fantasticks for Stow Players (director); Cuyahoga Falls M&Ms show choir (co-director); various plays and three film projects for Tremont Ave. Productions (director, production manager); company stage manager for Chicago Tap Theatre; The Mikado for Akron Lyric Opera Theatre (stage manager). Shawn is a proud company member of Actors' Summit and convergence-continuum. When not involved in the theater, Shawn is a bicycle mechanic at the Wheel and Wrench Bike Shop in Cuyahoga Falls.

Benjamin Gantose (Lighting Designer) grew up in Berea, OH and attended the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where he studied Theatrical Design and Production with an emphasis on Lighting Design. During school and since Benjamin has been involved in both scenic and lighting design for works spanning ballet and modern dance, theatre, musical theater, opera, and theme parks. Highlights include Steel Magnolias at TrueNorth Cultural Arts; 13, the Musical at FPAC; Joseph, Producers, Altar Boyz, at Beck Center; Don’t Call Me Fat, Open Mind Firmament at Cleveland Public Theatre; Passion, Swan Lake at CCM; and various productions at Cincinnati Ballet including multiple world premieres, Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, Verb Ballets, and Inlet Dance Theater. Visit his portfolio on the web at www.bentose.com

Michael Glavan (Paul) is a sophomore Musical Theatre major at Kent State University where he recently appeared as Jeff in Brigadoon and will be performing the role of Kenickie in Grease this February. Michael is enthused and elated to be making his first appearance on the FPAC stage surrounded by such a wonderfully talented group of artists. Some other favorite credits include: John Jasper in Drood, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Don Pedro in Palo Duro Shakespeare Festival’s Much Ado About Nothing, and Father in Children of Eden.

Natalie Green (Marta) is a 2005 graduate of Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts with a degree in Theatre Arts – Musical Theatre Concentration. Prior to attending Point Park, she studied Classical Vocal Performance, Theatre and Education at Mount Union College. Onstage, Natalie is best known in the Cleveland area for her portrayal of Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Beck Center (2005-2007). Since returning to Cleveland, she has been seen as Eve / Mama Noah in Children of Eden at FPAC, Lizzie in Baby at TrueNorth Cultural Arts, Seada in Necessary Targets at Fine Arts Association, Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice at Lakeland Theatre, Laverne Andrews in Boogie Woogie Baby at the Cleveland Play House Club, and as Hanna in A Shayna Maidel with the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland. She has also worked in the Cabaret Shows at Pickwick and Frolic. As a singer, she was the Lead Vocalist with Collision Jazz and was a Semi-Finalist on American Idol, Season 3.

Carlton Guc (Sound Designer) Part of Stage Research, developers of award winnning theatrical software for Lighting and Sound, Carlton has designed sound for the Titanic exhibit, Dialog in the Dark exhibit and recently assisted on the tour of Handel's Messia Rocks. He recently designed Steel Magnolias and Baby at TrueNorth. For FPAC, Carlton has designed the Ohio premiere of Eat (It's Not About Food), Children of Eden, Honk Jr., Pride and Prejudice, Into the Woods, the Ohio premiere of Thirteen, and will design the upcoming productions of Pippin, Les Miserables: School Edition, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Big, the musical.

Rick McGuigan (David) is thrilled to be making his FPAC debut and to work with this outstanding cast, crew, and Company. Rick’s most recent stage experience was the autobiographical role of "Jon Larson" (writer of RENT) in tick...tick...BOOM! last spring at Cassidy Theatre. No stranger to the stage, Rick has performed in numerous venues around northeast Ohio, where he was born and raised. Favorite roles to his credit include Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell, Joe in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Beast in Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, Tony & Riff in West Side Story, Pippin in Pippin, and Adam/Noah & Cain/Japeth in Children of Eden. Rick’s stage experience is complimented by having served on the executive theatre board of the Mt. Carmel Players, actively serving on the board of Silhouette Productions, who currently calls the historic Euclid Shore Theatre their home, as well as special effects, sound, light, and general technical/production director for several local venues. He attended GMI Engineering & Management Institute (Flint, MI) and Cleveland State University, having studied mechanical engineering and business management/marketing. Rick is president of Pine Ridge Cleaning & Restoration, Inc., a cleaning and disaster restoration firm serving the greater Northeastern Ohio area. His company provides professional consulting and services related to the flood, fire, and smoke damage insurance industry. Most recently he partnered with a colleague to form Grand Rock Properties LLC, a real estate holding and rental management company. Rick would like to thank his cast mates and staff who have warmly and graciously accepted him into their tight-knit family. He would also like to extend many thanks to friends, family, and colleagues who continue to support this time-consuming hobby by attending performances, assisting with rehearsals, and rearranging schedules for the betterment of the show. As always, Rick's beloved friend Chuck is with him on stage each and every performance -- shadowing his "silhouette" -- and has somehow quietly re-instilled the excitement and therapy that live theatre provides. For Sea-Jay.

Connor O'Brien (Robert) studied opera at the Eastman School of Music in New York, and has since toured the country as a professional performer. Other notable theater performances have included leading roles in Miss Saigon (Chris) at The Beck Center, and at The Erie Playhouse in Erie, PA; Sweeney Todd (Anthony) at Lakeland Civic Theater, The Last Five Years (Jamie) at The Ashtabula Arts Center, as well as returning to The Beck Center for Little Shop of Horrors (Orin, “The Dentist”), and the 2010 holiday production of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Joseph). He was seen most recently in downtown Cleveland at the Pickwick & Frolic Cabaret in Forever Plaid (Sparky), as well as the long running rat-pack themed Martini Show Dinner Spectacular, and most recently at Playhouse Square’s Hanna Theater in Altar Boyz (Abraham). Connor has been a featured soloist with both the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, served as executive music supervisor to the Discovery Channel for the series, The Kustomizer, charted a number one radio single in France, and has traveled the country to support his three full-length pop/rock albums. Along with his band, he has performed with over 20 national tours, including Ashlee Simpson, Huey Lewis and The News, Edwin McCain, Richard Marx, Rick Springfield, Hall & Oates, and Mariah Carey.

Tracee Patterson (Joanne) most recently appeared as Lettice in Lettice and Lovage at Coach House Theatre in Akron, and as Jean in Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Dobama Theatre last fall. She also played Stevie in Dobama’s critically-acclaimed production of The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? Other credits include Gloria/Science Officer in Return to the Forbidden Planet at CSU Summer Stages; the Baroness Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music, Woman 2 in Songs for a New World and Luisa in Nine at Cain Park; Frances in Breakup Notebook: The Lesbian Musical, Emma in Song and Dance, Arkadina in The Seagull, Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical at Beck Center for the Arts; Zlata in Necessary Targets at Willoughby Fine Arts; Yentl in Yentl and Aldonza in Man of La Mancha at the JCC Halle Theatre; Susannah in The Upstart Crow at Ohio Shakespeare Festival; Tracey in Unbeatable (staged reading) at Journey Productions at WVIZ IdeaCenter; Holly in Nickeled and Dimed at Great Lakes Theatre Festival/Cleveland Public Theatre; and in Cally’s Tally, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Staged Reading Festivals at the Cleveland Play House. Tracee is particularly excited about joining Dorothy Silver in Fred Sternfeld’s fall 2011 FPAC production of A Little Night Music. Tracee is a proud member of Actors’ Equity, the labor union that represents more than 48,000 Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Fred Sternfeld (Director – Company; Artistic Director - FPAC) most recently directed Steel Magnolias at TrueNorth Cultural Arts. At Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory he directed productions of Children of Eden, Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Eat (It's Not About Food) and The Odd Couple. Fred is widely represented on Northeast Ohio stages through diverse projects, garnering numerous honors and awards. Recently he directed the award-winning productions of Baby at TrueNorth, Yellowman at Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast & at Beck Center and Ragtime, the musical at the JCC. He previously served as Artistic Director at Lakewood Little Theatre - Beck Center for the Arts and the Cleveland, Seattle & Dallas Jewish Community Centers. Other selected credits: Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver! & The Sound of Music at Cain Park; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife & The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at Dobama Theatre; A Shayna Maidel, Jolson and Company, Man of La Mancha, Modern Orthodox, Rags, From Door to Door, South Pacific, The God of Isaac, Beau Jest, Crossing Delancey, The Twilight of the Golds, The Immigrant & Conversations With My Father for the Cleveland JCC; Bad Seed at Ensemble Theatre; Amadeus at Willoughby Fine Arts; Table Settings, Isn’t It Romantic, The Diary of Anne Frank & Broadway Bound at JCC Center Stage in Seattle; Peter Pan (1987 & 2008), On the Town, Of Mice and Men, La Cage aux Folles, Saturday Night, Foxfire, Noises Off, Children of a Lesser God & The Importance of Being Earnest at Beck Center; Proof at GLTG and All My Sons & Enter Laughing at the Dallas JCC. His next directing projects will be at Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory - Les Miserables: School Edition and A Little Night Music. For pictures and reviews for any of the shows listed here you can go to this link.

Jonathan Swoboda (Music Director) currently serves on the acting faculty of the Kent State University School of Theatre and Danceas music director. He is a graduate with High Distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music and holds a Masters degree from the University of Nebraska. Jonathan has music directed over 75 productions throughout the country including numerous national tours. He was an Assistant Director for Purdue Musical Organizations at Purdue University directing numerous vocal and instrumental ensembles. As a pianist, Jonathan is equally at home in the classical world as both a soloist and accompanist. Immediately prior to coming to Kent State, Jonathan spent three years as a Resident Music Director for PCPA Theaterfest in California, and he has toured as the Featured Keyboard Artist for the “18th Century Rock ‘n’ Roll” group Mannheim Steamroller. Jonathan is excited to be working on his first production for FPAC!

Craig Tucker (Costume Designer) is an adjunct professor at Lakeland Community College and is also the supervisor of Tri-C Western's costume department. His professional work includes costume designs for Sea World of Ohio's shows such as Clyde and Seamore's Fools with Tools, Shamu's Spooktacular and New Orleans Nights. He was the designer on the Ohio premiere of Pride and Prejudice and world premieres of American Hero and Optimus Prime for President. Other local designs:Sweeney Todd, Noises Off, Sunday in the Park with George, Private Lives, Eurydice, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Peter Pan, Born Yesterday, Other Peoples Money, Putting it Together, Barrymore at Lakeland Community College; Peter Pan, Crucible, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Lone Star, Laundry and Bourbon, This is Where we Came in, 1776, Our Town, Antigone at Tri C Western. Mr. Marmalade, and Quake at Convergence Continuum; Into the Woods, Thirteen, the musical, Eat (It’s Not About Food), Children of Eden, Honk Jr and Pride and Prejudice at FPAC and Man of La Mancha, and The Maltese Bodkin at CVLT.