[NEohioPAL] Local Actors to Share a Stage with Broadway Professionals at LCCC

[Kimberly Carrasquillo]

Local Actors to Share a Stage with Broadway Professionals at LCCC

Local actors will flex their thespian muscle alongside Broadway actors in the premier of Joanna Rush's newest play, "Home Sweet Homeland" at Lorain County Community College.      

Performances are at 7:30 p.m., January 29 and January 30 in the Studio Theatre at LCCC's Stocker Arts Center. Tickets for the play are $7 for adults; $6 for LCCC students, faculty, staff and seniors 65 and older; and $5 for groups of 15 or more. Tickets can be ordered online at www.lorainccc.edu/stocker <http://www.lorainccc.edu/stocker> , or by calling the Stocker Arts Center box office at 800-995-5222 (ext. 4040) from 12-6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets are also available at the box office, located in the lobby of the Stocker Arts Center.

An acclaimed actress and playwright, Rush wrote the play based on her experiences on and following September 11, 2001. Living in an apartment across the street from the World Trade Center, Rush saw the world she knew crumble. Directed by Tony Award nominated director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Broadway - "Swing!", film - "Footloose"), the play follows the lives of five neighbors as they attempt to make sense of the tragedy.

Local actors cast in the production include:

Joey Stefanko of Brooklyn Heights, will play bright and curious 10-year-old Frankie Devlin. Joey is no stranger to the stage and has filled several major roles in Northeast Ohio theater, including the lead role of "Ralphie" in "A Christmas Story" at The Cleveland Play House.

Shenal Hathurusinghe, an LCCC international student from Sri Lanka who now lives in Elyria, will play the role of Groundzero Newstand/Café manager Faisel Ahsan.

Timothy Kinzel, a former LCCC student from Cleveland, and Meryem Errouiam, an LCCC international student from Morocco who now lives in North Ridgeville, will play members of the National Guard.

David Shimotakahara of Cleveland Heights, will play Mr. Kosomoto and a tenant. Shimotakahara is the artistic director for Groundworks Dancetheater.

Members of the ensemble will include:

David Arrendondo (also understudy for Ben Friedlander and Faisel Ahsan), LCCC Coordinator of International Recruitment and Support Services from Lorain; Trevor Carter, LCCC student from Westlake; Kaitlin Lavella Kelly (also understudy for Ellen Fine and Paula Baines Friedlander), LCCC student from Lakewood; Colin McCauley, LCCC student from Avon; Lisa Palinkas, LCCC student from Avon Lake; Sara Rhodes, LCCC student from Elyria; and Aidan Wilson (also understudy for Frankie Devlin), 11-year-old from Olmsted Twp.

Rush will play a lead role as Paula Baines Friedlander, the manager of a comedy club who is married to Ben Friedlander, a composer. Ben will be played by Robert Cuccioli, who was the star of "Jeckyll and Hyde" on Broadway.

Broadway actress Erin Leigh Peck will play the role of Ellen Fine, the stand-up comic mother of 10-year-old Frankie. Leigh Peck appeared in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" on Broadway and is currently starring in "The Toxic Avenger" Off Broadway.

Local actors were selected based on audition videos that were reviewed by Rush, Taylor-Corbett and Stocker Arts Center staff.

The productions of "Home Sweet Homeland" are the culmination of a 10-day residency that Rush and Taylor-Corbett will hold at LCCC. Their stay will kick off with Rush's performance of her one-woman play, "Asking for It" at 7:30 p.m., Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23 in Stocker Arts Center's Studio Theatre. Tickets are $15 each and can be ordered online at www.lorainccc.edu/stocker <http://www.lorainccc.edu/stocker> , or by calling the Stocker Arts Center box office at 800-995-5222 (ext. 4040) from 12-6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets are also available at the box office, located in the lobby of the Stocker Arts Center. This production contains mature material and may not be suitable for children under 13.

Rush and Taylor-Corbett will discuss the realities of a career in the arts during a Meeting Great Minds event at 6:30 p.m. Monday, January 25 at Stocker Arts Center. The pair will also hold several workshops for LCCC students throughout the week. 

Taylor-Corbett and Rush's residency is sponsored by the Beth K. Stocker Trust, the LCCC Foundation Grants Program and with the support of the Meeting Great Minds Program and the Holiday Inn Elyria/Lorain. For more information on their visit, go to www.lorainccc.edu/stocker <http://www.lorainccc.edu/stocker> .

 

 

Kim Carrasquillo

Writer

Marketing and Outreach

Lorain County Community College

(440) 366-4822

kcarrasq at lorainccc.edu

 

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