Proudly Presents
STARRING Jeffrey Arias Max Cervantes Salvatore Covello Michael Leon Eric Loughlin Vincent Soto FEATURING Joel Camden Cat Davidson Arley Gonzalez Lane Halverson
Directed by Christopher Audain & Dante Joseph Orfei
Scenic Design by Michael Nedza
Costume Design by Ashley Ann Woods
Lighting Design by Dante Joseph Orfei
Multimedia Design by Micheal Kott
Produced by Eddie Sugarman Produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, IL Jedlicka Performing Arts Center 1
SET TING The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit takes place in various locations around a city neighborhood. There will be one 15-minute intermission. The use of flash photography and video recording devices without the written permission of the management is prohibited. Please remember to silence or turn off your cellular phones and other messaging devices. F R O M T H E D I R E C TO R ’ S C H A I R Every now and then, we focus on something which we think will make some major difference in our lives. We set into action a plan which will eventually lead us to our goal. We work tirelessly on each step of our plan. Along the way, we make sacrifices – some of which we should not make. We take risks which no prudent person would take. Sometimes we even compromise things which we never would have imagined could be compromised. Finally, our unceasing efforts, our relentless struggles, our concentrated determination and unflinching focus lead us to the attainment of our goal. We relish the moment of our triumph and celebrate our success and achievement. But afterward, as the excitement wanes, we begin to realize the most valuable asset was not the acquisition of our goal, but rather the journey which brought us to it. The journey which created new and lasting friendships. The journey from which we learned a new depth of appreciation for all of those jewels in our lives, our friends and our families – Simply Priceless. Enjoy the show, Dante
2 Jedlicka Performing Arts Center
CAST Michael Leon...................................................................................................................... Villanazul Eric Loughlin........................................................................................................................Martinez Salvatore Covello............................................................................................................... Vamenos Max Cervantes.........................................................................................................................Gomez Vincent Soto................................................................................................................... Dominguez Jeffrey Arias............................................................................................................................ Manulo Lane Halverson........................................................................................................... Mr. Shumway Joel Camden......................................................................................................................Leo, Intern Cat Davidson.........................................................................Celia Obregon, Ruby Escuardrillo Arley Gonzalez.................................................................................................................... Toro Ruiz
CAST BIOS Michael Leon (Villanazul) is thrilled to be making his Chicago debut with this production. Born and raised in Miami, he graduated from Florida International University with a BFA in Theater. Some of his credits include Den of Thieves (Unhinged Theatre), Gaslight (Unhinged Theater), Silence (Wertheim Performing Center), and Shape of Things (Distinguished Monkey Productions). He would like to thank his family and his love, Ashley, for all their support and encouragement. Eric Loughlin (Martinez) is thrilled to be returning to JPAC for The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. Frequent patrons will remember him as ‘Max’ from A Year in the Death of Eddie Jester. Eric recently performed as ‘Orpheus’ in moon come as part of K.I.S.S Fest by The Simple Theatre, and also played piano for The Better Doctor, a live silent movie by Bootstraps Comedy Theatre. Other credits include ‘Shylock’ from The Merchant of Venice, ‘The Professor’ from Tracers and ‘The Admiral’ in The Persians. Eric also had a chance to play ‘Trigorin’ from The Seagull at the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia where he studied abroad for three months.
Salvatore Covello (Vamenos) Chicago born and raised. This is Salvatore’s first performance with JPAC Theatre and he is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the production. He would like to thank his family and wife, Diane, for all their love and support. Max Cervantes (Gomez) is thrilled to be back on the Jedlicka stage. Having been part of past JPAC productions including Peter Pan, Nefertiti, Sound of Music, and Copacabana, he is excited to return and play the role of Gomez. Max is a senior at Fenwick High School and will continue to pursue musical theater in college. Other credits include Fame (Joe Vegas), Grease (Danny), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Les Miserables (Valjean), and Chicago (Billy Flynn). Max would like to thank his family for their constant love and support. Vincent Soto (Dominguez) is thrilled to be back on the JPAC stage in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. Vince graduated from Nazareth Academy in 2008 after performing in Joseph and the Jedlicka Performing Arts Center 3
B I O G R A P H I E S ( c o n t .) Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Wait Until Dark, and Grease! He is currently studying Finance at DePaul University and was recently seen as ‘Link Larkin’ in JPAC’s production of Hairspray. Special thanks to Mom and Dad, the rest of his friends and family, and everyone at JPAC for all their love and support. Jeffrey Arias (Manulo) has graduated from Morton College where he was last year’s Student Trustee. He is currently taking more courses here to obtain more credits to transfer to Columbia College. He graduated from Morton East High School in 2008, where he received the Outstanding Performance and Leadership Award. This is his fifth show with JPAC where he has been seen in Tommy, Promises Promises, The Nutcracker Sings! and A Tale of Two Cities. He wants to thank JPAC for the opportunities that they have given him. Lane Halverson (Mr. Shumway) has played many roles on the JPAC stage, and is happy to be adding Mr. Shumway to his resume in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. Regular JPAC theatre-goers may remember him as ‘Drosselmeyer’ in The Nutcracker Sings!, ‘Sam Silver’ in Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, ‘Charles W. Browning III’ in 45 Seconds from Broadway, and ‘The Rabbi’ in Fiddler on the Roof, to name a few. BIG ups to Audrey and Madeline and to Dorothy in that DE-LUXE APARTMENT in the SKY.
in Promises, Promises. A native of the Philippines, he is a graduate of Missouri State University - Springfield where he was a member of Chamber Singers, Concert Chorale, and Opera Workshop. Other credits include Chad Morton’s TV Christmas Miracle (Jay) with The Village Players Theater; Rent (Angel) at The Paramount Theater in Aurora; Man of LaMancha (Sancho Panza), Many Thousand Gone (‘Lil Robert Acres), Oliver Twist and Pirates of Penzance. He’d like to thank his partner Craig and loyal friends for all the love and support. Cat Davidson (Celia Obregon, Ruby Escuardrillo) is delighted to make her Jedlicka Performing Arts Center debut with The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. She is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA and The Accademia Dell’ Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Recent credits include ‘Venus’ in Suzan-Lori Parks Venus; ‘Mayhem The Clown’ in a revised version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI, and ‘Domina’ in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Special thanks to the entire ‘Ice Cream Suit‘ company for their warm welcome. Thanks to my charismatic family and friends for their continual love and support and from whom all my best material is derived!
Arley Gonzalez (Toro Ruiz) was working here over the summer when he heard about auditions and decided to take a Joel Camden chance on his dream (Leo, Intern) is thrilled of being an actor. This is his first play to be returning to and he is thankful to be a part of it. JPAC for his third He hopes that this experience is the show. He was last beginning of a long journey in the seen on the JPAC stage in several roles theatre and he would like to thank in A Tale of Two Cities, Dante, Chris, Eddie and Mike and the and before that, as ‘Mr. Eichelberger’ whole JPAC team. Enjoy the show. 4 Jedlicka Performing Arts Center
C R E AT I V E S TA F F P R O F I L E S Dante J. Orfei (Director, Lighting Design) has been the Artistic Director at the Jedlicka Performing Arts Center for over 25 years. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has produced and directed a travel documentary titled European Sojourn, which aired on PBS. Dante also directed the U.S. Premiere of the musical Metropolis and worked closely with the show’s creator, Academy and Grammy Award-winner Joseph Brooks on the development of the show. This past fall, Dante directed the national regional theatre premiere of Brooks’ most recent Broadway show, In My Life. He has studied with Tony Awardwinners Harold Prince and Jules Fisher. He recently directed the Midwest Regional Premiere of the Queen rock musical, We Will Rock You, and has also directed the World Premiere of Nefertiti – The Musical, as well as Premiere Chicago Productions of Little Women, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love, Blood Brothers, Jekyll and Hyde, The Baker’s Wife, and numerous plays by Olivier Award-winning playwright Ray Cooney, including the U.S. Premiere of Cooney’s It Runs in the Family. Dante has directed well over 125 stage productions on the professional, dinner theatre and academic levels. Christopher Audain (Director) is thrilled to again work with the JPAC team to tell Ray Bradbury’s incredible story of friendship, camaraderie, and community. Hailing from Nashville, TN, Christopher majored in political science and minored in music at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH. His early Chicago theatre experience has included producing and stage-managing at the former Theatre Building Chicago, writing, acting, and now assistant directing. Thanks to JPAC for this opportunity. Moreover, thank you to all my family in friends who continue to believe in me and support me--without you I am lost! Michael Nedza (Scenic Designer/ Technical Director) has been designing throughout the Midwest for over 20 years. He has designed over 50 shows here at the JPAC. His favorites include, 6 Jedlicka Performing Arts Center
Tommy, In My Life, We Will Rock You, Jekyll and Hyde, Two into One, Joseph…, Me and My Girl, and 1776. Michael is a Theatre Arts faculty member here at Morton College. Previously, Michael was the Technical Director at Moraine Valley College. While there he was recognized with the “Award of Merit” from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for his set designs of The Middle Ages (2001) and Picasso at the Lapine Agile (2006). Ashley Ann Woods (Costume Designer) is a freelance scenic and costume designer in the Chicago area. Her most recent credits include costume designs for The Sticky Forest, Part 1 at Brain Surgeon Theatre and The School of Performing Art’s 13; and scenic designs for The Good Harvest with Polarity Ensemble Theatre and Twenty Percent Theatre’s Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. She is also an artistic associate with Brain Surgeon Theatre. Ashley would like to thank Dante, Chris, Eddie and the entire cast and crew of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit for allowing her to join in the exploration of this beautiful show.
Micheal Kott (Multimedia Design) has directed numerous plays and musicals both stateside and in Europe, including his critically acclaimed production of Murderer, by Anthony Shaffer. His JPAC directing credits include Doubt, Lilies of the Field and The Boys Next Door. Michael is also a veteran performer at the JPAC having been involved in 18 shows over the last 12 years. Among his favorites are Blood Brothers, Moonlight and Magnolias, Peter Pan, and Tuesdays with Morrie. He is very grateful to Dante Orfei for his friendship, support, encouragement and trust. Micheal played the scenestealing Psychic in Brain Damaged Film’s 2008 release Secrets of the Clown, available at www.blockbuster.com! Micheal is the founding director of the Green Door Theatre in Garlstedt, West Germany. Currently he is the Artistic Director of Master’s Backstage Players in Carol Stream, Illinois. Micheal was also an ensemble member of Cenacle
C R E AT I V E S TA F F P R O F I L E S ( c o n t .) Theatre in Chicago, where he acted and directed numerous productions. Mike is the multimedia specialist for Morton College by day and at night divides his time among the various theatres in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. He is very thankful to Dr. Felicity Thoet for her guidance and direction. She is a wonderful director and I thank her for her knowledge. Eddie Sugarman (Producer) is Morton College’s Theatre Manager and Managing Director of the Jedlicka Performing Arts Center. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Eddie appeared on Broadway in the original cast of the Tony award-
winning musical Ragtime. As a writer, his musical Meet John Doe (written with Andrew Gerle) has been produced at theatres across the country. The Ford’s Theatre production of Meet John Doe in Washington D.C. received seven Helen Hayes Award nominations and won two. He is also very proud of his new musical The Nutcracker Sings! (written with Jihwan Kim) which was first seen here at JPAC! Eddie has also won a Jonathan Larson Award and an ASCAP Foundation grant and recently had the honor of serving on the Musical Theatre Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Western Springs with his wonderful wife Kara and his beautiful, crazy kids Sam and Lucy.
T H E AT R E S TA F F Ushers/Concession..................................................................Bob Jadach, Margie McGowan Theatre Technical Staff...................................................... Peter Chorzepa, Michael Goeble, Arthur Stepanek, Karl Ziegler Theatre Office Staff..................................................................... Alfonso Guerrero, Diana Visk
Jedlicka Performing Arts Center 7
Once the show is over… what do you do for fun? Footlights is where you are – on Facebook, Twitter, the web, the blogosphere. Keep up with what’s happening in the arts and get special offers and giveaways!
Become a fan: facebook.com/footlights Follow us: twitter.com/footlightschi Make plans: footlights.com/chicago/events
iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Inc.