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 Todd
Avery (Douglas Panch) is thrilled to finally be working with
Penny Notter while making his Civic debut after sixteen years in the
Grand Rapids area teaching theatre at Jenison High School.
Todd has toured the United States
with the Missoula Children’s Theatre and worked with several theatre
companies around Michigan.
Acting credits include
The Big Bang for Bay Musical Arts, Inc.
in Bay City;
Circle Theatre’s productions of The
Laramie Project; and Disney’s Beauty
and Beast (for which Todd received a Grand Award for his
portrayal of “Lumiere”); The Secret
Garden and Candide with Grand Valley State University
Opera. Todd has served as the
2007 and 2008 co-host of the Grand Awards and has also performed with
the Grand Rapids Symphony Children’s Series as a narrator in The Composer is Dead, Billy
and the Carnival, and most recently performed Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address for July’s Picnic
Pops series. Directing credits
include Circle Theatre’s Bingo
the Musical and Oliver, plus dozens and dozens of productions for the AWESOME Jenison High School thespians. Thanks to Penny,
Ben, and Zach and the rest of my family for supporting me and for giving
me a chance to do what I love. Thanks, too, to all the great actors
and techies at Jenison HS for their love, laughter and energetic support.
 Jolene
Frankey (Marcy Park) returns to the Civic after a long hiatus, first appearing
in The Velveteen Rabbit at
age twelve, directed by Penny Notter.
Other local credits include Sweet
Charity (Nickie) and Jesus
Christ Superstar (Soul Girl) with Circle Theatre. With Cherry County
Playhouse, Jolene has appeared in The
Music Man, A Chorus Line, South Pacific, and Bye
Bye Birdie. Other Acting Credits are: Pirates
of Penzance, The Who’s Tommy, Sound of Music and Carousel with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera,
and an appearance on NBC’s Saturday
Night Live. Jolene has been a member of two original casts: Red as the Red Spy Queen with Point Park
University, and
Crash Club with Cherry County Playhouse.
She is a graduate of Point
Park University,
a Conservatory for the Performing Arts. “L-O-V-E to the red flags.”
 Will
Hoyer (Leaf Coneybear) is no stranger to GRCT having last appeared
in The Miracle Worker as James.
He also has been seen in other Civic shows, including Peter Pan, Oklahoma! and The Wizard of Oz. Other stage credits include Altar Boyz (Mark) and Oliver!
at Circle Theatre. He is a sophomore in Theatre Performance at Western Michigan University.
“Thank you to Mom, Dad, and family, Penny, Charles, Lisa, Kylie, roommates,
and The Boyz and understudies!”
 Rob
Karel (Chip Tolentino) is
making his Civic Theatre debut, though he has been highly active in
other local theatres. With Circle Theatre, Rob appeared in Joseph…Dreamcoat, Moby Dick! The Musical, The
Full Monty, and Sunday in
the Park with George and The
Frog Prince; with Actors’ Theatre, Rob was a part of Assassins,
Side Show and Kiss of the
Spider Woman. Summer of 2008, he also made his debut at Mason Street
Warehouse in their production of Evita.
A Senior of Theatre at Aquinas
College, Rob has
been seen in The Arabian Nights;
Forbidden Broadway, for which he received a Grand Award nomination;
and The Misanthrope, the last of which earned
him an Irene Ryan Nomination. "Special T-H-A-N-K-S to my parents
for all of their love, my Redheads for their un-ending support and to
Penny, Charles, Lisa, Kylie, Caroline and Heather for this awesome experience!"
 Travis
Knoll (William Barfee) helps
open the Civic season once more in this production of Spelling Bee. He was last seen at the Civic
in The Producers as Jason
Greene/Ensemble, as well as A
Wonderful Life as Bert and 1776
as the Leather Apron. He has appeared in numerous productions elsewhere,
including Guys and Dolls as Rusty Charlie at Circle
Theatre. Neil Tilden in 1940’s
Radio Hour, the title role in Joseph…Technicolor
Dreamcoat, The Herald in Cinderella,
Lun Tha in The King & I,
Sasha in Fiddler on the Roof,
and Simon in Cotton Patch Gospel. He also appeared as
The Boss in Side Show and
as Lefou in Beauty and the Beast.
Travis was also a Tenor soloist in the Muskegon Chorale’s performance
of Handel’s Messiah.
In the fourth grade, Travis won his elementary school Spelling
Bee and moved on to regional competition and received tenth place, all
because of the word “benevolent.”
 Kelsey
Kohlenberger (Olive Ostrovsky) returns to the front of the stage as Olive in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling
Bee. She first joined us in 2007 as a Nun in The Sound of Music. Since then she has tried a few backstage roles
including deck crew for Going
to St. Ives and Lieutenant
of Inishmore at Actors’ Theatre and Board Op for Lonestar/Laundry
and Bourbon at Heritage Theatre. Kelsey is no stranger to the lights
of the stage, though, as she has also appeared in various shows including
Pirates of Penzance as Ruth, and The Secret Garden as Martha with GVSU as
well as Get Smart as Mary
Wong with Caledonia Community Players. Kelsey also worked as Music Director
for the Caledonia Community Players for both You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Joseph….Dreamcoat. A Graduate of Grand
Valley State University in music Kelsey is also a private Voice teacher. “Thanks to every single person in my life.
You helped put me here. Every moment has been a learning experience.
Also, a special thanks to my husband, Michael.
I never thought the theater experience could be better until
you were by my side at every show.”
 Sarah
LaCroix Wepman (Rona Lisa Peretti) returns to the Civic Theatre after
an eight-year hiatus. She first made her appearance with Annie in 1995, and then continued on with
Singing In The Rain, Scrooge:
The Musical, The Sound of Music, and The
Wizard of Oz. With Circle Theatre, Sarah appeared in Nine, Merrily We Roll Along, Sweet Charity, Steel Pier and Into The Woods as a Stepsister. While in
school, Sarah continued to indulge her love of theatre with Crimes of the Heart, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Oklahoma, Once Upon a Mattress, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Blithe Spirit,
Dracula, My Fair Lady (Eliza Dolittle), and A Chorus Line (Sheila). Sarah is a precinct delegate for Grand Rapids, Ward 2, Precinct
31 and was a Neighborhood Coordinator in 2008 for the Obama Campaign.
She teaches Social Studies for the Kentwood Public Schools. Sarah would like to thank her husband Luke,
their dog Sophie, and their rabbits Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon for their
support.
 Brian
Lauer (Mitch Mahoney) returns
to the Civic theatre after being seen as Richard Henry Lee in 1776.
He has recently appeared in Circle Theater’s production of Guys
and Dolls as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, as well as The Apple Tree. Brian has also been a member of the quartet in Forever Plaid as Smudge with The Theater Project at the B.O.B.
Brian gives a big thanks to his girls at home for letting him
spend time away and for making sure he gets to auditions.
 Chelsea
Swanderski (Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre) comes back to the Civic after being
seen in A Chorus Line as Maggie,
as well as Grease and Oklahoma! Chelsea
recently closed a stint on the National Tour of Hairspray in which she played Shelley as well as the cover for Tracy. Other credits include
The Mistress in Evita at Mason
Street Warehouse, Tricia in Dog
Sees God at Actors’ Theatre, The
Apple Tree and Pippin
at Circle Theatre, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie and Rosemary in How
to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Chelsea holds the title of Miss Spirit of The
State Teen 2005 and was first runner up to Miss Michigan Teen in 2003.
She is a special education major at GVSU.
All of Chelsea’s performances are
dedicated to her amazing Dad (Carl) and her angel, her Mom (Michelle).
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