Lakota West Theatre

2009-2010 Students on Stage Executive Board

Christian Carey (President, Assistant Business Manager) • Jake Hamilton (Assistant Business Manager) • Megan Marshall (Assistant Business Manager) • Kaylen Baker • Jessica Dukes • Ellie Fisher • Nicole Gonthier • Max Jansen • Mitra Jouhari • Theo Kofron • Melinda Lee • Emily Lindberg • Sabrina Nucci • Taylor Ourada • Taylor Pramuk • Stephanie Rampton • Jeremy Simpson • Jessica Sinsabaugh • Marisa Steinbach • Adam Willke

2009 - 2010 West Theatre Staff

Kim Eldridge (Artistic Director) • Paula Dolloff (Business Manager) • Cindy Gregory (Technical Director) • Larry Hirth & Jason Holt (Technical Advisers) • Christy Munafo (Musical/MTR Choreographer) • Anthony Nims (Vocal Director) • Andrew Carr (Music Director) • Bob Tansy (Master Carpenter)

Student Bios

Christian Carey (President/Assistant Business Manager/Senior) West Theatre: Thorougly Modern Millie (Ching Ho), As You Like It (Jacques), Broadway Bound 2008 (Performer), Check Please! (Brandon/Mark) Little Women (Sound Crew), and A Christmas Carol (Young Scrooge). He represents Lakota West as a Cappies critic, and is in his third year of Musical Theatre Revue. He is a graduate of the High School Certificate Acting Program at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

Jake Hamilton (Assistant Business Manager/Senior) West Theatre: Broadway Bound 2009 (Performer), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jimmy), As You Like It (Charles/Silvius), Broadway Bound 2008 (Performer), Check, Please (Guy), Little Women (Rodrigo), A Christmas Carol (Caroler/Dick Wilkens), Beauty and The Beast (Chorus), Anne Frank and 42nd Street (House Crew), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Children's Chorus). Jake is also a member of Musical Theatre Revue as well as Lead Cappies Critic. He is currently taking voice lessons from Karl Resnik at The Musical Arts Center. He has loved West Theatre since its founding and is proud to be a part of our tradition of excellence.

Megan Marshall (Assistant Business Manager/Senior) West Theatre: Broadway Bound 2009 (Performer), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Miss Flannery/ Dance Captain), As You Like It (Pheobe), Uncool (Jenny), Little Women (Dancer), A Christmas Carol (Townsperson). Other roles: Clearstage Cincinnati's Othello (Clown), Fairfield Footlighter's The Diviners (Darlene), and the Cincinnati premier of Only When I Bleed (Sheila/Gina). She is a two year member of Musical Theatre Revue and is a dance captain. She is a graduate of the Certificate Acting Program at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

Kaylen Baker (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Queen of the Silent Scream. Kaylen has also danced at West Chester Dance Academy. She has been dancing there for two years, and she is looking to start her third year dancing at the Academy. She is extremely excited about being a SOSOff.

Jessica Dukes (Board Member/Senior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Lights/Sound Crew), Broadway Bound (Lights/Sound Crew), Christmas Carol (Costume Crew). Jessica loves working behind the scenes, and being apart of all the hard work that goes in to putting on a show. She is looking forward to next year's season, and can't wait to help out in any way she can.

Ellie Fisher (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Broadway Bound 2009 (Performer), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Ensemble), Little Women and Christmas Carol (House Crew). Other Roles: CCCT’s Hello Dolly (Irene Malloy), ActingUp’s Thoroughly Modern Millie (Dance Captain). This is Ellie’s third year being involved with West Theatre. She was a semi-finalist in the 2008 Overture Awards Competition and is a two year member of Musical Theatre Revue and Chamber Choir. She’ll be in Acting I this fall and is very excited for upcoming shows!

Nicole Gonthier (Board Member/Senior) West Theatre: Broadway Bound (Performer), Night Of the Livid Dad (Dorothy), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Gloria), As You Like it (Hair and Makeup Crew), Little Women (Troll), A Christmas Carol (Running Crew).Other affiliations: Loveland Stage Company, Acting Up Community Theatre of Mason. Studying Voice with Lincoln Chapman at Musical Arts Centre.Also Third Place finalist in the Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition 2009 at Miami, Ohio. Two time award winner at the Ohio Community Theatre Assocation Fesival in 2008. Two year Musical Theatre Revue member, also a member of Chorale and Chamber Choir at Lakota West.

Mitra Jouhari (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Mathilde/Ensemble), As You Like It (One Act) (Rosalind), As You Like It (Costume Crew), Little Women (House Crew). Other: LFS's Romeo And Juliet (Tybalt), Acting Up's High School Musical (Kelsi Nielson), CCCT's Hello Dolly (Ernestina), Cincinnati Opera's Carmen (Super). She's currently taking Acting II and is on the business staff. Besides acting, Mitra writes, is involved in JCL, and... acts.

Melinda Lee (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Running Crew), As You Like It (House Crew). This will be Melinda's second year as a part of the Lakota West Theatre, and she will be in Acting II. She loves working backstage and hopes to be a part of the theatre as much as she can.

Emily Lindberg (Board Member/Senior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Lucille), As You Like It (First Court Lord/Forrester), Check Please(Linda/Mime), Little Women (Lights/Sound Crew), A Christmas Carol (Maid/Ensemble). Other roles: Children’s Theatre of Mason’s Beauty and the Beast (Babette), Music Man Jr. (Ensemble). Emily is involved in Acting Class and is currently involved in the Certificate Acting Program at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She hopes in pursuing a career in Theatre in college.

Sabrina Nucci (Board Member/Senior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Sound Crew Cheif), As You Like It (Sounds and Lights Crew), Little Women (Sound and Lights Crew), A Christmas Carol (Sound and Lights Crew), Broadway Bound (Sound and Lights Crew), Romeo To Go (Cecile/Mercutio/Lady Capulet). Sabrina loves to be involved with the backstage action. She has been on Sound and Lights Crew for 4 shows and is the Stage Manager this year. She represents West Theater as a Cappies Critic and will be directing a One Act, as well as Student Directing for Noises Off. She believes that the real magic doesn't happen on stage, but behind the scenes.

Taylor Ourada (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Stage Crew) As You Like It (Stage Crew). She just became a part of West Theatre last year, but loved it. She is taking Acting I this fall and is excited to be involved in the upcoming shows.

Taylor Pramuk Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Musical Theatre Revue (Dance Captain), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Dancer/New Modern), As You Like It: A Modern Interpretation (Celia), Little Women (Dancer), Lakota West Theatre Camp (2007). She has been dancing competitively for 13 years, competing in jazz, lyrical, hip hop, tap, acro and musical theatre. She has been on the Lakota West Dance Team for two years. Other than dance, her favorite things are tumbling and acting. She is in Acting II. She plans on pursuing a career in dance or musical theatre.

Stephanie Rampton Board Member/Senior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Special Effects), As You Like It (Sound and Lights Crew), Little Women (Maid/Hag), A Christmas Carol (Charitable Person), Stephanie is in Chorale, Chamber Choir and MTR. She plans to attend BYU for music education and vocal performance.

Jessica Sinsabaugh (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Ensemble), As You Like It (House Crew), Freshman Theatre: Romeo & Juliet a modern version (Princess). Jessica fell in love with theatre when she saw her first musical, Jekylle & Hyde at a local theatre. She is involved in Acting two class and hopes to help out as much as she can with West theatre. Jessica also hopes to pursue theatre later on in life and is very excited to be a part of Lakota West Theatre.

Marisa Steinbach (Board Member/Junior) (Board Member/Junior) West Theatre: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Running Crew), As You Like It (House Crew). This will be Marisa’s second year as a part of the Lakota West Theatre, and has taken Theatre Arts. She loves everything about theater and hopes to contribute as much as she can artistically and in other ways to West Theatre.

Adam Willke (Board Member/Senior) West Theatre: Broadway Bound (House Crew), Oh, What A Tangled Web (Mr. Quigley), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Kenneth/Ensemble/Running Crew), As You Like It (Courtier/Forester), Check, Please (Louis/Sophie), Little Women (Light Crew). Other Productions: This is a Test (Pat), Hard Candy (Linda), A Snake in the Grass (Matt). This is Adam's third year in acting and his first year in Musical Theatre Revue. Adam is honored and proud to be a part of Lakota West's tradition of live theatre.

Staff Bios

Kim Eldridge (Artistic Director) Ms. Eldridge founded the Lakota West Theatre Program in 1997. She has directed two to three productions a year since that time. Her favorite projects have been Little Women, The Diviners, Miracle Worker, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Anything Goes. This season, Ms. Eldridge will direct Noises Off and Godspell. She teaches five sections of theatre at Lakota West, including Acting I, Acting II, and Acting III and Musical Theatre Revue. Ms. Eldridge has held a variety of performance jobs such as a radio disc jockey, model, actress, director and teacher. She holds a BA in English Education with an emphasis in Theatre and an MA in Directing from the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University. Contact Kim Eldridge.

Paula Dolloff (Business Manager) Ms. Dolloff is in her thirteenth season with West Theatre, where directing credits include A Christmas Carol, The Diary of Anne Frank, Dearly Departed, The Taming of the Shrew and Play On! This season, Ms. Dolloff will direct The Glass Menagerie. Additionally, she is in charge of all business aspects of West Theatre. A teacher of 16 years, Ms. Dolloff works full time in the English Department at Lakota West High School. She has performed as both a singer and actor with various theatre groups in the tri-state area and is currently studying voice with Lincoln Chapman of the Musical Arts Center. Ms. Dolloff holds a BS in Education from Miami University and an M Ed from the University of Cincinnati. Contact Paula Dolloff.

Cindy Gregory (Set Designer/Technical Director) Mrs. Gregory is honored to be entering her twelfth year with West Theater. She has worked hard to win over audiences with her innovative set designs and decors, working with the current (and some past) theater students to teach them the skills and vision from set design to construction. Her favorites include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Anything Goes, Beauty and the Beast and The Diary of Anne Frank. Mrs. Gregory's other skills include scenic painting and set and prop construction as well. Before working here at West she was a scenic artist at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for several years and has freelanced throughout the Cincinnati area. She has also designed sets for Loveland Stage Company, Loveland High School, private parties and for groups in her home state of Maine. She has won several Orchid Awards from ACT Cincinnati for her set designs. Along with designing for West, she also developed and currently instructs Theater Arts classes at West. She currently resides on the coast of Maine with her husband Nick and her brown lab Payton, but journeys to West Chester to teach and to design and build the main stage shows. She is often a guest teacher in West's advanced acting classes. She is very grateful to all her students and peers at Lakota for giving her the opportunity to work with them.

Larry Hirth (Technical Adviser) Mr. Hirth is in his twelfth year with Lakota West High School Theatre as a technical consultant for sound and lighting for West Theatre, having been with the program from its founding. As a fifth generation descendant of composer Franz Schubert, he enjoys music, both listening and playing. Other interests include good sci-fi movies, musical theatre, computer toys and electronics where audio and video are concerned. Mr. Hirth help with audio and video productions with his church. He has conducted the pit orchestra for two summer musicals with Mason Community Players, and played as pit drummer in this summer's musical My Fair Lady. A graduate of Lockland High School (Class of 1966), Mr. Hirth served in the U.S. Navy September 1967 to August 1972, played in the Service School Command Band, Great Lakes Illinois. His discharge rank was Electronics Technician 2nd class. He is a member of the Southwest Ohio Symphonic Band since September 2001 and serves as the percussion section leader. Mr. Hirth is also the drummer for the Blue Moon Jazz Group.

Christy Munafo (Choreographer) Ms. Munafo is only in her fourth season at Lakota West Theatre, but is no stranger to this wonderful program. As a graduate of Lakota West's class of 2000, she was involved in theatre during her high school career. She has been on crew as well as performed on stage. Ms. Munafo was a student director, dance captain, and a D-honoree. She has been trained in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, and modern dance for over twelve years by AllThatJazz Dance Center, West Chester. Her choreography credits include Disney's Beauty and the Beast and co-choreography for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Ms. Munafo was the Lakota West Dance Team Coach for three years and is now pursing a Masters Degree in Education. She holds a B.S. in Education from Miami University. She is in her fourth year teaching fifth grade at Fairfield Intermediate School and is very excited for this upcoming season of Lakota West Theatre.

Anthony Nims (Vocal Director) Mr. Nims is in his fourth season with West Theatre. As the choral director at Lakota West and formerly at Anderson High School, Mr. Nims has conducted choirs which have consistently earned superior ratings at District and State Adjudicated Events and have performed with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. While at Anderson High School, Mr. Nims served as vocal coach for the musicals Les Miserables and Carousel. He was also assistant conductor for Ohio Wesleyan University's production of Sweeney Todd. Additional stage experience includes appearances in Don Giovanni and La Bella Dormente at the American Spoleto Festival as well as in Ohio Wesleyan productions of The Gondoliers, Little Mary Sunshine, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Medium, The Magic Flute, and Gianni Schicchi. Mr. Nims holds the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College. His Bachelor of Music degree is from Ohio Wesleyan. Mr. Nims' conducting teachers have included Joseph Flummerfelt, James Jordan, Andrew Megill, and Tim Brown. He has sung under such renowned conductors as Charles Dutoit, Neeme Jarvi, Lorin Maazel, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Helmuth Rilling, Joseph Flummerfelt, and Anton Armstrong.