THE LION, THE WITCH, & THE WARDROBE. CAST & CREW.
IAN HINZ (Aslan) is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Theatre holding a B.A. with an emphasis in playwriting. He has studied under Charles Smith, David McClendon, Robert Winters and Vince Cardinal. Ian’s most recent directing credits for Ensemble include Anna Christie, The Great Gatsby, The Iceman Cometh, The Colorado Catechism, Waiting for Lefty, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, & Miracle and Wonder. He has designed projections for Wating for Lefty, Lower Ninth, Song for Coretta, The Normal Heart, The Gospel According to James, Animals out of Paper, Prelude To A Kiss, Beyond the Hoizon, Voodoo Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, & Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at Ensemble as well as Pitmen Painters, 33 Variations, Carrie, and Young Frankenstein at Beck Center. He most recently graced the stage as Tom in Farragut North and as Musil in the CNPF 2015 Production of Run Kingsbury Run. He would like to thank his family and friends for their love. He is the newest Artistic Director for Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, as well as Facilities Coordinator and Stage Production Specialist for the Cleveland State University School of Music. For his family.
Ashley Bossard (White Witch) is a graduate of Ohio University; she received her BFA in Performance in 2012. She has done many shows including: “The Neverending Story” (Ygramul, The Troll, & Ensemble) with Ensemble Theatre and Don’t Dress for Dinner (Suzette) at Weathervane Playhouse as well as Beck Center’s, She Loves Me and Annie. Some of her favorite shows she has been in are War is Awesome(Grace) a new play created by Vampire Cowboy Theatre Company and Servant of Two Masters (Smeraldina). She is so thankful to work with such a fantastic group of individuals. As always love to her family and boyfriend. Let's go on an adventure!
Jade McGee (Lucy Pevensie) Jade is pleased to be making her Ensemble debut! Previous on-stage credits include Godspell (Day by Day Soloist) at Cain Park, Violet (Young Violet) at Lakeland Civic Theatre, The Boyfriend (Polly Browne) at Cassidy Theatre, Annie (Tessie), and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Youth Chorus) at Beck Center for the Arts, and Mary Poppins (Jane Banks) at Olmsted Performing Arts. Recent off-stage credits include Big Fish (Assistant Director, Swing) at TrueNorth, and The Spitfire Grill (Crew) at Beck Center. Jade is a junior at ECOT, and also works at Beck Center as a Front Desk receptionist and Youth Theatre student teacher. Jade will take to the Ensemble stage again in Jerusalem (Phaedra) next spring. Many thanks to Celeste and Ian for the opportunity!
Benjamin Ruiz (Edmund Pevensie) Benjamin was last seen on stage at Ensemble playing multiple roles in The Neverending Story, but his favorite was the Sasafranian Adult, “What are you doin’ in my lands?”. He has been acting for several years now, last year playing Rooster in Annie, Jr at Harmon Middle School. Besides theatre, Benjamin likes to explore Robotics and create complicated Lego designs. He is a freshman at Aurora High School. He would like to thank Ian and Celeste tolerating his insanity on and off stage.
Carolina Manfredi (Susan Pevensie) is excited to make her debut at Ensemble Theatre. She is a sophomore at Cleveland Heights High School. Other favorite roles include Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden (TrueNorth Cultural Arts); Fastrada in Pippin (My Mercury); Amaryllis in Music Man (Fairmount Performing Arts Center); Adele in Jane Eyre: The Musical (Kent State University Theatre); Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees (Happy Ending Lyric Players); Brigitta in The Sound of Music (Beachwood Community Theatre); and Young Yonkers in Gypsy (Brecksville Theatre on the Square). Thanks to Celeste and the entire cast for making this a great experience.
Andrew Keller (Peter Pevensie) Andrew is very excited to be returning to Ensemble Theatre having recently played Ben in Farragut North. Other recent credits include in Reverend Moore in Footloose at The Huron Playhouse, and the Narrator in Into the Woods at the Village Players in his native Toledo. He is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University, where he studied acting and directing. Credits there include: George inWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Gordon Lowther in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Freddie in Noises Off. Thanks to Celeste and Ian and Ensemble Theatre for this great opportunity!
Valerie Young (Mrs. Beaver). Other Ensemble Theatre credits include Urgl in The Neverending Story, Queen Marguerite in Exit The King, Cora in The Iceman Cometh, Bea Ball in The Gospel According to James, Mary Jo in Dividing The Estate, Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town, and Jessie Mae Watts in Trip To Bountiful. Most recently Valerie performed in Arcadia with Mamai Theatre Company and The Investigation at Cesear's Forum in Playhouse Square. Val will be seen this coming spring in Ensemble's highly anticipated Jerusalem directed by Ian Hinz.
Tyson Douglas Rand (Mr. Beaver) Tyson is thrilled to be Acting here at Ensemble Theatre! He proudly serves as the Artistic Director of The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival while also acting, designing and/or directing for numerous academic, community, semi-professional and professional theater companies in the greater Cleveland area. He most recently directed The Happy Sad for convergence-continuum in October. His most recent acting role was a featured cameo in CSF's Merchant of Venice directed by Scott Miller this past summer. His next projects will be directing Noel Coward's Private Lives for Cassidy Theater in Parma (running through February) and Stage Managing for Clague Playhouse's upcoming production of Miracle on South Division Street in March & April.
Kayla Davis (Unicorn/Ensemble) Kayla is excited to be back at Ensemble for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe! Kayla just recently appeared in Death of a Salesman as Jenny and also worked as an ASM on the production. She is grateful and excited to return to the ensemble stage with such a great cast and story to tell! Kayla was Cleveland born and raised and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hiram College. Some of her favorite roles include Gloria (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Widow/Duke (All’s Well That End’s Well), Hattie (Laundry and Bourbon). Kayla also worked as the costume designer for Karamu House’s production of Romeo and Juliet: Set in Africa. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Chris, and Augie for their unfailing love and support. Enjoy!
Kyle Huff (Centaur) is an actor, director, and recent graduate from Hiram College, getting his BA in Dramatic Arts, and is excited to be working with such a talented group of people. His past productions include Ensemble Theatre’s The Never Ending Story as Artax, The Great Gatsby as Mr. McKee/Chorus, Anna Christie as a Longshoreman, and The Iceman Cometh as Moran; Cleveland Shakespeare Festival’s Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Lucius in Measure for Measure. Kyle directed this seasons Playground space season opener, Farragut North. He also directed Doubt by John Patrick Shanley at Hiram College and recently stage managed Ensemble's production of The Mercy Seat. You can see him again on Ensemble's stage in Jerusalem this spring and he will be directing Ensemble's subscriber bonus TBA production this summer.
August Scarpelli (Tumnus) August is honored to return Ensemble Theatre for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! Fresh off of Howard (Death of a Salesman) August is in his final year at Hiram College to complete his Bachelor’s in Theatre Arts! At Hiram, August’s theatrical endeavors have been many; he has acted in many plays such as Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well (Bertram) and The Tempest (Prospero), Doubt (Father Flynn), and Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy (Bruce). He has acted and directed in Larry Larson and Levi Lee’s Illuminati (Brother Lawrence), directed Steven Dietz’s The Nina Variations, and Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles (scenic artist). He has most recently created a Lec-Dem on the works of Bertolt Brecht, and directed Shakespeare’s Pericles for Sheffield Lake’s Bicentennial, where he was born and raised. August also works at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights where he intendes to return for his fourth summer as house manager and carpenter. August is grateful for this opportunity with Ensemble and is looking forward to being a part of such great work!
Chris Bizub (Fenris Ulf/Ensemble) is honored to be returning his 6th production at Ensemble Theatre. You may remember him as Paul Zara in Farragut North, Lemory in Run Kingsbury Run, Hugo in The Iceman Cometh, or the Gmork in The Neverending Story. A Brooklyn resident, Chris currently works at Caruso’s Coffee as a delivery driver. He is also currently working to complete his Masters degree in Arts Administration at the University of Akron. His recent acting credits include Richard III in Richard III and John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest at Rubber City Shakespeare Company, Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at True North, Tito Merelli in Lend me a Tenor at Strongsville Community Theater, and Uncle Louie in Lost in Yonkers at Clague Playhouse. When he’s not acting, Chris’ also directs, some of his recent productions include: As You Like It at Rubber City Shakespeare Company, Wait Until Dark at Broadview Heights Spotlights Community Theatre, and No Sex Please, We’re British at Huntington Playhouse.
Brycen Hunt (Witches Dwarf/Father Christmas' Elf)
Timothy Young (Father Christmas/Ensemble) is excited to return to Ensemble Theatre for another production! . You may have seen him in Vodoo Macbeth (Murderer), The Great Gatsby (Policemen), The Never Ending Story (Cairon/Falkor), Twelfth Night (Antonio), Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo (Soilder), & Farragut North (Waiter/Frank). Get ready for a fun show! Wishing a very Merry Christmas to all!
Whit Lowell (White Stag/Ensemble) is excited to return to Ensemble Theatre after playing Stanley in Death of A Salesman, and is glad and to be working with this fantastic cast and crew. He was last seen in Dobama's Summer Shorts and in the Marilyn Bianchi Kids' Playwriting Festival. At Ensemble, Whit has been involved with Stagewrites and he was previously seen as Curly in Ensemble's production of Roadkill as part of The Colombi New Plays Festival . Other recent roles include Victor in Noël Coward's Private Lives and Bobby in Ken Ludwig's Postmortem, both produced by Chagrin Valley Little Theater. Recent film work includes Jenny's Wedding and the Lifetime movie With This Ring. A native Clevelander, he enjoys motorcycling, ice cream and playing jazz piano.
Pamela Harwood (Narnian/Ensemble) Pamela just loves to write on her professional resume that her job skills include being a Narnian. In The Neverending Story she was Morla the Ancient One and The Bookseller. Her human credits include Countess Rousillion in All’s Well that Ends Well at Akron Shakespeare Festival, and Lady Capulet and Tatania/Hippolyta for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival’s 2013 season. She would like to thank all of her precious children who have enjoyed Narnia with her for years. In all the shows she ever does, she does all in the name of Aslan.
Jordan Hunt (Narnian/Witches Minion)
Jordan Thomas (Narian/Witches Minion)
