The cast of
Don’t Talk to the Actors at the Laguna Playhouse features Emily Eiden as Arlene, Chris L. McKenna as Jerry, Denise Moses as Lucinda, Joel Polis as Mike, Ellen T’Kaye as Bea, and Steve Vinovich as Curt.
EMILY EIDEN most recently appeared at South Coast Repertory in the Alan Ayckbourn farce Taking Steps (directed by Art Manke). Other favorite theater credits include Tonight @ 8:30 and Mother Courage and Her Children at The Antaeus Company, The Crucible and A Christmas Carol at International City Theatre, Charlotte’s Web and Miss Nelson is Missing at Mainstreet Theatre Company, and The Cradle Will Rock and Twelfth Night at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Emily earned a degree in Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean History from Pomona College and currently narrates Griffith Observatory’s planetarium show, Centered in the Universe.
CHRIS L. MCKENNA began his acting career at age seven when he was cast as Dopey in a community theatre production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. McKenna made the transition to TV and film at age 11 and has since worked consistently including an award-winning three-year stint on “One Life to Live,” and appearances on “The Practice,” “That 70’s Show,” “The District,” “That’s Life” and “Touched By An Angel.” He was a series regular on WB’s “Opposite Sex” and has been featured in many films including In & Out, King of the Ants, and Art School Confidential. Chris has also appeared in over 40 stage productions, most recently in the role of Tony at The Geffen Playhouse production of You Can’t Take It With You.
DENISE MOSES originated the role of Grandma Nunzio in the off-Broadway production of Tony ’n Tina’s Wedding, a role she reprised in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has toured the U.S. with her original one woman multi-character comedy show. Previous Rick Sparks directed productions: Highballs Ahoy, Tallulah, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They, A Charlie Brown Commercial Christmas, and Dead Bride Running. Other stage credits: The Wizard of Oz (Santa Barbara CLO), The Foreigner (Grove Theater Center), Lend Me a Tenor (Grove Theater Center). TV credits include: “Gilmore Girls,” “General Hospital,” “Passions,” “Almost Perfect,” “Totally Hidden Video,” “The New America’s Funniest People” and “My Talk Show.” Commercial roles include: housewives, office workers, nun, wicked witch, school cafeteria lady, spontaneously combusting spinster & the Mona Lisa. Denise earned her Equity card playing Porky Pig and her SAG card as a dancing egg.
JOEL POLIS most recently appeared in the West Coast premiere of Defiance at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Rubicon Theater production of The Diary of Anne Frank, and Odyssey Theatre production of Pound of Flesh. A former USC gymnast and circus performer, Joel received his MFA from Yale Drama School before moving to New York where he acted off Broadway and in regional theaters, in such plays as Family Business at the Astor Place, The Baby Dance (the original production directed by Jenny Sullivan) at the Lortel, Pasadena Playhouse and Long Wharf. In Southern California Joel played Cassius in Dan Sullivan’s Old Globe production of Julius Caesar, Clarence in Richard III at the Odyssey Theatre, Wolf in Riga at the John Anson Ford, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. His numerous TV credits include “CSI,” “CSI NY,” “CSI Miami,” “Law and Order,” “The Unit,” “Seinfeld,” “Cheers,” “Northern Exposure,” and “Chicago Hope.” Film credits include The Thing, The Rookie, It’s My Party, and Tumbleweeds. Joel lives in Venice Beach, where he teaches and produces theater.
EILEEN T’KAYE most recently appeared as Paulette in the world premiere musical Gulls for The Theatre@Boston Court, which followed her critically-acclaimed portrayal of Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret at International City Theatre. The recipient of a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award as well as two L.A. Weekly and three Drama-Logue Awards, Ms. T’Kaye has had the pleasure of performing such diverse roles as Tess in The Credeaux Canvas, the dual role of Mattie/Mrs. Higby in the world premiere of Rick Sparks’ They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Miss Furnival in Black Comedy, Phyllis in Death Defying Acts, Maxie in June Moon, Rebecca Felderman in Morning Star, Penny Sycamore in You Can’t Take It With You, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, and many more. Screen appearances include the Deputy Mayor of New York on the PBS series “The Eddie Files,” and the evil Drake Queen in the films Magic in the Mirror and Fowl Play. Ms. T’Kaye is the Founding Producing Director of the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena.
STEVE VINOVICH appeared last season at The Laguna Playhouse in Art. Broadway credits include Loose Ends, Lost in Yonkers, The Magic Show, The Robber Bridegroom, Jerry Herman’s The Grand Tour, and David Hare’s The Secret Rapture. Steve has played the lead in The Foreigner and Special Occasions at the Pasadena Playhouse, The Price and On Golden Pond with Charles Durning at The Laguna Playhouse, The Robber Bridegroom at the Mark Taper Forum, as well as Bells are Ringing, Strike Up the Band and Babes in Arms for Reprise, and Awake and Sing, Golden Boy, Divorcons and All My Sons at Pacific Resident Theater. He played George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf and Uncle Peck in How I Learned to Drive at the Nevada Conservatory Theater, and did the Broadway tour of Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party. Steve’s films include The Santa Clause, Awakenings and Mannequin, and he was the voice of Puffin in the animated feature The Swan Princess. He has done hundreds of commercials and TV shows, including “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Cold Case” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” He is a graduate of the Julliard Acting School under John Houseman, and is a three-time winner of the LA Drama Logue Awards.
RICK SPARKS (Director) has won numerous awards for his work as a Director, Writer, Producer, Actor, Sound Designer and Choreographer. Favorite productions include his adaptation and staging of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They, and the rock n’ roll epic, A Clockwork Orange, which garnered a LA Drama Critics Circle award for Direction. Other favorites include the Colony Theatre’s production of Clutter, the original LA premieres of Charles Busch's Psycho Beach Party and John Patrick Shanleys’ Where’s My Money? Sparks directed the well-reviewed Off-Broadway subversive comedy smash, Down South, and the long-running Hollywood theater hit, Dead Bride Running. As an actor, he appeared on Broadway in Cats, Les Miserables, and Sunset Blvd.
TOM DUDZICK (Playwright) has created a series of semi-autobiographical comedies that have been performed in theatres from New York to Los Angeles and dozens of cities in between. His plays have broken box office records at Buffalo Studio Arena, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Chicago’s Northlight Theatre. His first big hit, Greetings!, a Christmas-themed family comedy produced by the legendary Arthur Cantor and starring veteran film and television actor Darren McGavin, was produced on Broadway. For his next play, Tom semi-fictionalized his family and renamed them the Pazinski’s, called the play Over the Tavern and turned it into what the Chicago Tribune called, “one of the biggest grass-roots successes in American regional theatre of the last few years.” He wrote two popular Over the Tavern sequels: King o’ the Moon and The Last Mass at St. Casimir's. Tom’s most recent play, Don’t Talk to the Actors, had its World Premiere in September 2007 at Buffalo’s Studio Arena Theatre, and receives its West Coast Premiere at The Laguna Playhouse.
Performance & Ticket Information:
Ticket Prices: $25 to $65
Previews:
September 9 – 12
Regular Performances
September 14 – October 12, 2008
Tuesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
Sunday evening, October 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Special Half Price Tickets for Students, Teachers and Military with ID
FOR INFORMATION & TO PURCHASE TICKETS:
CALL: 949.497.ARTS (2787) - GROUP SALES: 949.497.2787 ext. 229
VISIT: www.LagunaPlayhouse.com
MOULTON THEATRE: 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, California
The Cast: Chris L. McKenna, Emily Eiden, Eileen T'Kaye, Steve Vinovich, 
Director Rick Sparks and Emily Eiden as Arlene 
Joel Polis as Mike and Chris L. McKenna as Jerry
Artistic Director Andrew Barnicle and Playwright Tom Dudzick
