Paul Melendy

Paul Melendy* (Russell)
Paul was seen on the Gloucester stage most recently in 2016’s The Last Schwartz (2017 IRNE nomination — Best Actor), and before that 2015’s Sweet and Sad. Recent productions include ongoing roles in Shear Madness at the Charles Playhouse, Regular Singing at New Repertory Theatre, and A Confederacy of Dunces with the Huntington Theatre Company with Nick Offerman of Parks and Rec.

He can be recognized locally on home TV screens as “The Naked Guy” in a popular Bernie and Phyl’s ad as well as various roles in other regional spots. Film credits include The Pink Panther Deux, The Makeover, Unfinished Business, and the upcoming Who Do You Think Would Win with David Spade.

Nael Nacer

Nael Nacer* (Tracey)
Nael returns to Gloucester Stage Company, having previously appeared in The Flick (IRNE Award, Best Actor). Other credits include: A Doll’s House; Bedroom Farce; Come Back, Little Sheba; Awake and Sing!; Our Town (IRNE Award, Best Supporting Actor); and The Seagull(Huntington Theatre Company), 45 Plays for 45 Presidents; It’s a Wonderful Life: a Live Radio Play (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play; Intimate Apparel (Elliot Norton Award, Best Actor); The Temperamentals; Animal Crackers (Lyric Stage Company), A Number, Pattern of Life, Lungs, and The Kite Runner (New Repertory Theatre), A Future Perfect; Tribesv (SpeakEasy Stage Company), Rhinoceros; Windowmen; The Farm; Gary (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Sila; Distracted (Underground Railway Theatre), and Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse).

Johnny Lee Davenport

Johnny Lee Davenport* (Dale)

GSC: Hoke, Driving Miss Daisy (2013; IRNE Award Best Actor); Sam, “Master Harold” . . . and the boys (2012).

Off-Broadway: White People Christmas (Cherry Lane Theatre); Revolutionary Moments (The Century Association); the title role in Gilgamesh (The 92nd Street Y); The Lysistrata Project (BAM); Harry and the Streetbeat (Working Theater); Maiden Lane (Ensemble Studio Theater)

Regional (select): Creon in Oedipus Rex (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre); Papa Shakespeare in The African Company Presents Richard III, Charlie in Death of a Salesman and Captain Brice in Arcadia (American Players’ Theatre); chutes&ladders in Water by the Spoonfull (TheatreSquared); Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Lord Hastings and others in Richard III, Prospero in The Tempest, the title role in Othello (Tennessee Shakespeare Company, 3 seasons); the title role in Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, All’s Well That Ends Well, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Orlando Shakespeare Theater, 6 seasons); Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, Richard II, title role in Othello, A Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, Richard III, Hamlet, Henry V (Shakespeare & Company, 16 seasons); Harold Loomis in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Gospel at Colonus, The Road (The Goodman Theatre, Chicago); the title role in Everyman, Nomathemba (Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago); Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (Milwaukee Shakespeare); Flight (ACT, Seattle); King Lear (Yale Repertory); The Oedipus Plays (Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, D.C., and Athens Festival); the title role and Iago in Othello (Second Age Theatre, Dublin, 4 seasons); Invisible Man (Studio Theatre, Washington, D.C., Helen Hayes Award).

Boston-area: Thurgood, The Whipping Man, and A House With No Walls (New Repertory Theatre); Akeelah and the Bee, It’s a Wonderful Life, and The Little Mermaid (Wheelock Family Theatre); Bootycandy (Speakeasy Stage); Beowulf (Poets’ Theatre); Walking the Tightrope and The Unbleached American (Stoneham Theatre); Pericles, Much Ado About Nothing, Love’s Labours’ Lost, and Hamlet (Actors’ Shakespeare Project);  Invisible Man and Vengeance Is the Lord’s (Huntington Theatre); Water by the Spoonful and Broke-ology (Lyric Stage Company, Elliot Norton Award and BroadwayWorld Boston Award); Neighbors (Company One, BroadwayWorld Boston Award); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It (Commonwealth Shakespeare); A Raisin in the Sun, Richard III (Trinity Rep).

Films & TV: Joy, Ascendants, Ted, Law & Order; The Fugitive, U.S. Marshals, Chain Reaction, The Package, and The Blues Brothers.

For complete information, see www.johnnyleedavenport.com

Shuyi Jia

Shuyi Jia (Jill)
Shuyi Jia is a Chinese-Canadian actor based in New York. Her recent credits include: original production of Things You Don’t Know About Asia/n…Or You Do (NY), original production of The Pirate Princess (ART), A Big Mess (ART Institute), As You Like It (ART Lab), Three Sisters (Moscow), The Lonely Voice (Moscow), A Profitable Position (Moscow), The Farnsworth Invention (Palo Alto Players), Farragut North (Opentab Productions). Previously a program manager at a tech company with a BA in Economics, she just graduated last year from the American Repertory Theater Institute for Advanced Training at Harvard with a MFA in acting.

Richard McElvain

Richard McElvain* (Francis)
Richard has been working in the Boston area as an actor, director, writer, translator and teacher for more years than he cares to count. He directed several premieres of plays by Israel Horovitz, including Lebensraum, Today I am a Fountain Pen and Captains and Courage. He played the title role in Brecht’s Galileo with the Underground Railroad Theatre Company. He won an Elliot Norton award for his performance in Conor McPherson’s Saint Nicholas with the Sugan Theatre. He played Roy Cohn in Boston Theatreworks award winning production of Angels in America Parts I and II. He has done his own adaptation of Sophocles Antigone in which he also played Creon at The Nora Theatre where he also directed an acclaimed production of A Moon for the Misbegotten. He has translated and then directed four plays by Moliere.

He is featured in the new David O’ Russell movie Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DiNero and Bradley Cooper. His other film and Television credits include Mermaids, What’s the Worst That Could Happen and Spenser for Hire. Along with Colleagues he has created an award winning Theatre Program At Fitchburg State University.

John Kolvenbach
Photo: Robert Caplin

John Kolvenbach (Playwright)
John Kolvenbach American playwright known for works including Sister Play, Gizmo Love, Love Song, On An Average Day, Goldfish, Marriage Play, Fabuloso and Bank Job.

Both Love Song and On an Average Day were performed on the West End in London. Love Song was directed by John Crowley and featured Kristen Johnson, Cillian Murphy, Neve Campbell and Michael McKean, and was nominated for an Olivier Award as best new comedy. On an Average Day was also directed by Crowley and featured Woody Harrelson and Kyle McLachlan.

His plays have been performed in London’s West End and all over the world, including productions in Rome, Sydney, Wellington, Seoul, Melbourne, Tel Aviv, Zurich, San Juan, Berlin and throughout the United States.

Robert Walsh

Robert Walsh° (Director/Artistic Director)
GSC: Songs For A New World, The New Electric Ballroom, North Shore Fish, Fighting Over Beverley, The Widow’s Blind Date, The Primary English Class, Our Town. GSC (Actor): Gloucester Blue, Sins of the Mother, The Subject Was Roses, The Barking Sharks, Two for the Seesaw.  Producing Artistic Director, American Stage Festival: Bus Stop, Intimate Exchanges, Jacques Brel…, and Lend Me a Tenor, among others.  Artistic Associate: Actors’ Shakespeare Project: As You Like It, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Measure For Measure. Other productions directed include: Othello (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Round and Round The Garden, Table Manners, K2, Later Life, Holiday Memories (Merrimack Rep); Rancho Mirage, Race, Speed-The-Plow, True West (New Repertory Theatre); The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, The Goatwoman of Corvis County (Shakespeare & Co.); Misalliance, A Life in the Theatre (Two River Theatre Co.); I Hate Hamlet (StageWest); The Little Foxes (Barter Theatre); and Of Mice and Men (Stoneham Theatre), among others. Roles in recent feature films include Black Mass, Patriot’s Day and the upcoming, Altar Rock.  Robert directed the on-field ceremonies for the ’99 All-Star Game at Fenway Park.  He is on the faculty at Brandeis University, where he also serves as Artistic Director.

Jon Savage† (Set Design)
Jon is happy to be returning to Gloucester Stage having previously worked in 2016 on Lettice & Lovage, The Last Schwartz and in 2015 on Out of Sterno. Other area credits include The Disappearing Number (Underground Railway); Imagining Madoff (New Rep Theatre); The Farm (Boston Playwright’s Theatre); All’s Well That Ends Well (Comm Shakes, Elliot Norton Award, Best Production, Large Company); Comedy of Errors (Comm Shakes, Elliot Norton Award, Best Design, Large Company) Ryan Landry’s M (Huntington Theatre).

Regional credits include A Grand Night for Singing (Bucks County Playhouse); State Fair (Walnut Street Theatre); Is He Dead (Olney Theatre); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Bay Street Theatre).

Jon was the Associate Set Designer for the Broadway production of Hot Feet and has worked in television and film for productions on the History Channel and the HBO Miniseries, John Adams and served as a curator for the US National Student Exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial, 2007. Jon is currently on faculty at Boston University and is a member of United Scenic Artists.

Russ Swift† (Lighting Design)
GSC: Resident Lighting Designer for the past 11 years. Productions include: Sweet and Sad; Out of Sterno; The New Electric Ballroom; The Flick; Jacques Brel; Fences; Spring Awakening; North Shore Fish; Carnival; “Master Harold” . . . and the Boys; The Most Happy Fella; Fighting Over Beverley; Table Manners; Trying; The Breath of Life; Sins of the Mother; Billy Bishop Goes to War; Going to St. Ives; Dear Liar; The Belle of Amherst; Ponies; The Widow’s Blind Date; The Secret of Mme. Bonnard’s Bath; The Price; The Heidi Chronicles, Long Day’s Journey Into Night; My Old Lady; Spinning into Butter. Boston-area (select): The Hobbit (Wheelock Family Theatre); Scarlett Letter (Worcester Foothills); It’s All True (Lyric Stage Company of Boston); Rags (The Boston Conservatory); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, 2010 and 1012 Gala (Boston Arts Academy). Other: Mr. Swift has designed for Tri-Cities Opera, the Jewish Theatre of New England, the Publick Theatre, Chamber Theatre Productions, Boston Lyric Opera, the Worcester Forum Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, the Theatre of Newburyport, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Bristol Riverside Theatre, American Ensemble Theatre, Stephan Petronio Dance Company, the Caldwell Theatre, KewPee Corporation and the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. Mr. Swift has been on the faculty or staff at Northeastern University, Emerson College, Endicott College, Westfield State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Salem State University, Community College of Rhode Island, and Groton School. He is currently the production manager for the Theatre Department at Boston College. Russ resides in Wilbraham with his wife, Mayre, and daughter, Michaela.

Linda Ross

Linda Ross† (Costume Design)
Linda Ross is delighted to be designing her first show at GSC. She has designed costumes for Salem Theatre Company and Marblehead’s Mugford Street Players, including favorite productions A Picasso, Alphabetical Order, The Crucible, and The Normal Heart. She has been a member of the drama faculty at Tufts University since 2007, where she designs costumes, hair and makeup for most of the department productions and currently serves as the director of undergraduate studies for drama and dance. Linda’s costume designs have been seen on New York stages and at regional theatres around the country, including 2econd Stage, The Alley Theatre, and Hartford Stage. While primarily focusing on costume design for theater, she has also designed lighting, and has designed costumes for dance, film, television, and web series. Her work can be seen at www.lindarossdesigns.com.

David Wilson† (Sound Design)
David Wilson has designed lighting or sound for over 350 productions of opera, theater, concert and dance. He has served on the faculty of Brandeis University, heading the graduate program in sound design, and has designed and taught at Boston College, Boston Conservatory of Music, Bowdoin, Emerson, New England Conservatory, Harvard, Suffolk, Tufts, and UMASS-Lowell. His designs for theater at other companies include Boston Playwrights, Central City Opera, Company One, Dibble Dance, Merrimack Rep, Moonbox, New Rep, Nora, North Shore Music Theater, Stoneham, Shakespeare and Co, WHAT and Wheelock Family Theater. Recent designs include sound and music for The Comedy of Errors at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (Elliot Norton Award); Edward II at Actors Shakespeare Project, and Barbecue at Lyric Stage. dw-design.com

Jenna Worden

Jenna Worden* (Stage Manager)
Jenna Worden is delighted to return for her third season with Gloucester Stage. Favorite GSC credits include Out of Sterno, The Flick, and The Totalitarians. In addition, Jenna has worked with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (Our American Hamlet), WGBH (A Christmas Celtic Sojourn), Childsplay AZ, and Phoenix Theatre. She recently signed on as Programs Coordinator of Brighter Boston, a non-profit partnership providing teenagers with professional internships in technical theatre and event production. Jenna earned both her BA in Theatre Studies and BSEd in History from Northern Arizona University.

Maura Neff* (Substitute Stage Manager)

Jackie Collet (Assistant Stage Manager)

Mary Sader

Mary Sader (Properties Designer)
Mary returns to Gloucester Stage after doing props and paints for The Last Schwartz in the 2016 season, as well as painting The Totalitarians and Lettice and Lovage. She is completing her MFA in Scene Design at Boston University where she has just designed Much Ado About Nothing. Other recent designs: Franklin and Memorial (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); New Rep Classic Repertory Company’s 2016/17 tour of Romeo and Juliet/The Scarlet Letter; Anthem Theatre Company; OperaHub. She earned her BA in Honors from Virginia Tech. www.marysader.com

“Combine a marvelous script, impressive cast and first-rate direction and you have a winner.” Wicked Local/Cape Ann Beacon

“Being a madcap comedy, The Bank Job demands a certain suspension of disbelief. In return, it pays dividends aplenty in the form of laugh-out-loud lines and more than a few plot twists along the way.” – Mark Sardella

“Given the state of the world right now, a light comedy like this may be just what we need.”– The Theater Mirror

Interview with John Kolvenbach at TheaterJones

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