FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (3/01)
Contact: Robert Buseick, Marjorie Lyons Playhouse
318-869-5242

Centenary College’s Marjorie Lyons Playhouse Announces Cast for The Cripple of Inishmaan Opening March 29

SHREVEPORT, LA -- Opening at Centenary College's Marjorie Lyons Playhouse on Thursday, March 29 is Martin McDonagh's comedy-drama The Cripple of Inishmaan. 

Performances will be held at 8 p.m. on March 29, 30 and 31 and April 5, 6 and 7 and at 2 p.m. on April 8. There will be a special preview performance on Wednesday, March 28 at 7 p.m. with tickets priced at $5 each. Regular performance tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for senior citizens, $8 for students (over 12) and $6 for children. 

The box office will be open from noon to 4 p.m. starting March 22. Tickets may also be reserved for the play by calling 318-869-5242 during those hours. Performances are free to Centenary faculty, staff and students.

Robert Buseick, a multiple TDA Director and chairman of the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance at Centenary,  is directing the production. Set and light design is by Don Hooper, costume design is by Patric McWilliams and sound design is by Michael Tooke. Assistant director/stage manager is Andrew Farrow. Heather Peak will handle properties.

The cast of nine is headed by senior theatre major Thomas Welch as Cripple Billy. Welch has appeared at MLP in productions of Big River, subUrbia, God's Country, The Devils and  As Bees in Honey Drown and received TDA nominations for his performance in The Diary of Anne Frank and Dracula.

Cripple Billy's aunts, Eileen and Kate, will be played by Peggy Byers and Earleen Bergeron. Byers appeared last at MLP in the musical Nine. Her other credits include the national tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Doatsy Mae and at the Ally Theatre in A. My Name is Alice. Locally she has appeared in Zorba, Noises Off and received TDA nominations for her work in My Name is Still Alice, The Foreigner and Agnes of God. Bergeron has appeared at Shreveport Little Theatre in Beyond Therapy, the company's production of Come Back Little Sheba and at MLP in Nunsense, Nunsense II: the Second Coming, Brighton Beach Memoir, Broadway Bound and Steel Magnolias and received a TDA nomination for her creation of the role of Ethel Rosenberg in Angels in America.

Nathan Thomas plays Johnnypateenmike, the town gossip. He has appeared at MLP in Gross Indecency: the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, As Bees in Honey Drown and Pride's Crossing. He is the visiting assistant professor of speech at Centenary. His other acting credits include roles in Educating Rita and I Ought To Be In Pictures with the Repertory Theatre of America.

Dot Hall plays the role of Mammy, the 90-year-old poteen-drinking mother of Johnnypateenmike. Hall was last seen at MLP in Pride's Crossing and Nine. Her other credits include How I Learned to Drive and Oliver! at MLP. She received a TDA nomination for her role as Mrs. Savage in The Curious Savage and won a Best Actress TDA for Foxfire and a Best Supporting TDA for her performance in Anastasia, both at East Bank Theatre.

Doctor McSharry, the local doctor on Inishmaan, is being created by theatre major Matthew Nicholas, who received a TDA nomination for his performance in Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Nicolas also appeared at MLP in Gross Indecency: the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, As Bees in Honey Drown, 42nd Street, A Perfect Ganesh and The Tempest.

The role of Slippery Helen, the girl that everyone in Inishmaan fears, is being played by Abbey Broussard, a junior communications major at Centenary who was last seen as Pru in Pride's Crossing. She received a TDA nomination for her performance as Little Bit in MLP's production of How I Learned to Drive

Centenary senior English major Rolin Moe, making his MLP debut, is playing Helen's younger brother Bartley, a young man with intense interests in sweets.

Josh Porter, a sophomore theatre major, plays BabbyBobby Bennett, a local tough in Inishmaan. Porter has appeared at MLP in productions of Pride's Crossing, As Bees in Honey Drown, Gross Indecency: the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Peter Pan, 42nd Street and received a TDA nomination for his role as Gigolo in Grand Hotel.
-30-