Meet The Crew!!!!

Well, friends. We are at the end of our crazy Reservoir Dogs journey. We wanted to take a quick moment to acknowledge some Behind the Scenes fuckers who have made this all possible. 

pug Bujeaud (Director Cat)

"You either do what the fuck we tell you, or I'll bury this axe in your collaborating skull."

Vanessa Postil (Bitch in Charge)

"Okay, I'm leaving now, go smoke some pot or something. I'll be there soon."

Laura O'Neill (Bitch who Dressed these Fuckers)

 

Don't pussy out on her now.  They don't know. They don't know shit. She isn't going to get hurt. She's a fucking Barretta. They'll believe every fucking word, cause she's super cool.

Stephanie Yarton (ASM/Backstage Bitch)
"I love rumors! Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, true or false, are often revealing."

George Dougherty (Bastard pushing the buttons in the booth)

"I must warn you, young lady, I am susceptible to flattery."

 

Samantha Camp (Blogging Bitch)

"Normally, both your asses would be dead as fucking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this shit while I'm in a transitional period so I don't wanna kill you, I wanna help you."

 

Christy Reed (Special FX and Making Yo Ass look fabulous!)

"What the fuck happened to you, man? Shit, your ass used to be beautiful!"

Marko Bujeaud (Fucker who Designed that BadAss Set and Coordinated the Fucking Tunes)

"Hamburgers. The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast."

Christian Doyle (Fight Choreo Fucker)

"The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps."

Thanks, Bitches, for all of your hard work. Now get to partying!!

Meet the Nashes

Isaac Sterner (Marvin Nash - male cast)

Isaac is a super-friendly sort (which makes his treatment in this show that much more shameful).

This is Isaac's second TAO production - including the infamous Cannibal the Musical. Even though he is a relative newbie to the ways of the stage, he is anxious to let everyone kick him around a bit to show the world exactly what kinds of sterner stuff he is made of (did you see what I did there?).

He was born in Centralia, WA, where he still currently resides due to his inability to escape and is breeding in captivity along with the one who managed to tie him down, Monica.

His son Teagen just turned one in February and Isaac is already looking forward to teaching him the joys of house arrest.

He wants to thank everyone around him who has his back and lends him an ear of support and he is thankful to be a part of this fine group of crazies.

Excelsior!

Jamie Jenson (Marlene Nash - female cast)

Jamie was raised in the Bay Area, California, in the mid 50's. In the 1960s, her family moved to a small town in Sussex, England. Her big "claim to fame" is that she met the Beatles (OMG!!) and the actor David Niven (OMFG!!) during a couple of visits to London with her family.  

They moved back to the Bay Area in 1966 - a perfect time to experience an amazing explosion of culture change in the Bay Area.  Her last year in high school was in an experimental education program that was similar to what was happening at TESC (The Evergreen State College) in the 1970s. She moved to Washington and lasted one year before meeting her husband through a motorcycle maintenance class that she took at OVTI (now SPSCC). She dropped out and they were married a year later. They both raced motorcycles for several years in the NW. 

She worked for a local motorcycle company for a couple of years before taking a 180 degree turn and studying ballet with The Johansen School of Ballet. She ended up dancing with Ballet NW for a few years as well as acting here and there with local theater groups. (She was assistant set designer for My Fair Lady for Harlequin Productions -pre-Scot Whitney -in the late 1970s).

She FINALLY graduated from Evergreen with a degree in Communications in 1986 after her two daughters were born. She became involved with their various interests – horses, dogs, cats, chickens, 4-H, etc. Her youngest was interested in theater and dance, so she became active behind the scenes doing makeup, costumes, sets or whatever for Ballet Northwest and Black Hills High School. 

She needed money for horse hay and applied for a courier position at the Timberland Library. 18 years later, she now supervises the new material Processing and Collection Maintenance Departments at the Administrative Service Center. As part of her job, she has been lucky enough to put some of the video skills she learned at Evergreen to work on PSAs and other shorts for the library.

More recently, her passion for Jazz has gotten her involved and enjoying the many local venues in the area. Now that her girls have spread their wings and are on their own, she has become involved in local theater again.  She feels amazingly lucky to work with Pug and this splendid cast!

Meet the Sheriffs

Ken Luce (Sheriff #1 - male cast)

When it comes to Ken, then the best place would be to start at his passions. As an avid student of performance art since he was younger, Ken would slowly spend the last couple of years doing something he truly loved and enjoyed. From the excitement of getting the acceptance call to the very last curtain, he knows that with the strong talent on and off the stage, it will be a show to remember.

His past performances include The Clown in Titus Andronicus(TAO) Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (OLT) multiple roles in An Improbable Peck of Plays (Prodigal Sun) and Alfred David in Welfarewell (OLT)

“Living in the now” is something that holds much appeal to Ken as he realizes that all he controls is what is in front of him right here and now. It is this saying that provides the passion within him to go the extra mile when it comes to doing something that he loves. A Northwest native for the last 20 years or so he enjoys the hidden beauty of the Northwest compared to his birth state of California. Living up here has given him the intricate appreciation of coffee, cigarettes and cheap wine.

He believes that you will enjoy this show because aside from seeing amazing performances and fantastic direction he hopes that you will just enjoy the passion each of these amazing people have put into the show every single day since we have started this crazy journey. Enjoy yourself because what you're about to watch is simply magical.

Rae Simpson (Sheriff #1 - female cast)

Rae is thrilled to join TAO and be part of this great production!! She has been performing for over 30 years with her most favorite roles as Sylvia in The Women with the Standing Room Only (SRO) Theater group in Yelm, WA and as Katisha in The Mikado with Opera Pacifica in Centralia, WA. She is a Registered Nurse with Providence Health and Services where she serves as th e Behavioral Health Director for the region. She would like to thank her amazing husband, Guy, and her three beautiful children, Taylor, Katie and Guy III, for their never-ending support and unconditional love in whatever theater production she drags them to. Oh, and she apologizes to her parents, Ron & Jo, for all the F-bombs that she may drop during the show.

Meet the Blues

Ryan Hendrickson (Mr. Blue, Sheriff #2 - male cast)

Ryan is thrilled to be making his Olympia Theatre debut! His most recent achievements include: The Play’s the Thing (Phillip Wickstrom Studio Theatre), Ywayne and Gwayne (Camlann Medieval Village), The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Corbet Theatre), Shipwrecked (Phillip Wickstrom Studio Theatre), Dracula, The Untold Story (Corbet Theatre), As Is (Corbet) and the ninth mask in Skyrim. He is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this production and is humbled by such a wonderful cast. As a side note, Ryan would also like to thank the wonderful people of San Fernando Valley Juvenile Hall who kidnapped him from his wild youth and introduced him to Theatre. His greatest aspiration is to be in this moment, in the immortal words of Ms. Doss, “Don’t deviate from the program!” 

Brenna Kristine (Blue, Sheriff #2 - female cast) 

Brenna fled middle earth in a 1997 Buick Le Sabre. She landed in Olympia in 2012. She graduated from Concordia University in St. Paul with BA in Theater. She interned at Theatre de La Jeune Lune in Minneapolis. She has been sound designing for the last ten years including a recent internship with Key City Public Theater in Port Townsend. She appreciates turkey sandwiches and loud sunglasses.

or

Brenna Kristine "I hate writing these."

Meet the Holdaways

Nicole Galyean (Holdaway - female cast)  Originally from Las Vegas NV where she was employed to do photography for selected celebrates who maintained contract on the Vegas strip, Nicole relocated from the Big City to Small Town Olympia after high school graduation. After purchasing her first home, she decided it was time to add new and fun adventures into her life. She started modeling, running marathons, picked up a home decor hobby, quad riding and participating in live theater productions. Since 2011 she's been a part of: Bell, Book & Candle, Distracted, Much Ado About Nothing and Goodbye Charlie all at Olympia Little Theatre; Little Shop of Horrors and Vagina Monologues at Evergreen Playhouse and now Reservoir Dogs.

Theater has provided her a wonderful gateway to meet new amazing people.

She wants to thank the audiences who continue to support local theaters and the shows because it's those individuals who keep us working hard.  She started off  this journey just trying something new, but theater will be something she keeps in my life for many years to come.

Tim Samland (Holdaway - male cast) Tim was born in the Philippines into an Air Force family. After he was about a year old, his family moved to Louisiana where most of his early childhood was spent.  

One of his earliest memories was going to see Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  His parents took him for his fourth birthday and as part of the show experience the theatre company passed out Gobstoppers to all the Kids.  “Free Candy”!  This had to have been the most exciting thing that had ever happened to Tim.  He sat thru the first half of the show totally excited with what he had just seen on stage, still buzzing from the sugar high.  And that is when he heard his name being called. “What is going on?” he asked his parents.  Willie Wonka was on stage calling his name.  Without even the slightest thought in his head, he leaped out of his seat and ran up to the stage.  Willie got Tim to come join him and presented Tim with a small cake for his birthday.  

“WOW”!

The whole audience sang him happy birthday as he bounced around and jumped up and down with a huge smile on his face.  So he blew out the candle, took his cake and started back to his seat when Willie called him back and said “Willie has even more surprises in store for your special day”.  MORE CANDY!   

Once the show was over and the family were in the parking lot, Tim started bugging his parents to bring him back to see another show.  (We all think he wanted to come back for the free candy)

After a few months of pestering them, the family returned to the theatre.  The show this time was Peter Pan.  What boy can’t identify with wanting to fly around Never Neverland chasing adventure.  He recalls how excited he was!  Seeing those people on stage, they looked like they were having so much fun!  

“I want to have that much fun,” Tim said to his mother, who was amazed that he stayed in his seat and actually paid attention to something for more than 3 minutes.  The entire show was so exciting, that he hadn’t even notice that there was no candy passed out.  Afterward, he talked and talked and talked about the show for the whole week following.

By the time Kindergarten came around, Peter Pan was a distant memory.  But one day the teacher told them that they were going to do a school play at Christmas time called Charlie Chipmunks Christmas.  Tim's eyes lit up and all he could think about where the memories of Willie Wonka and Peter Pan.    He was so excited that he couldn’t wait to get home and tell his mom. The next day, the teacher asked the class if there were any volunteers to play the part of Charlie Chipmunk.  “Me, me, me, me” Tim said as his hand shot up so fast that he didn’t realize even it was in the air.  Unfortunately, his hand was not the only one up.  

So the best way to settle such disputes is with an audition!  

Now at the time he was just learning how to tie his shoes, so he had not mastered the bow tie yet.  His sweat pants, of course, had a tie string in them.  Part way through the audition, Tim felt this tap on his shoulder.  He turned and saw the girl next to him giggling and pointing to the floor ... which is where his pants ended up without him noticing. So Tim pulled them up and kept going. Back to the floor they went. So he pulled them up…And down they went again…and again.  The teacher was laughing so hard.

Well, time be told, it is almost Christmas and Santa would be bringing Tim lots of presents because he was so good!...  As the title character.

And that is how Tim was bitten by the “Bug”.

Since then he has gotten older, wiser and much more skilled at life (and keeping his pants up).  But he still gets just as excited as that little boy, when he gets to play onstage!

Tim would like to thank his parents for their love and support over the years and dedicates his life work to his late mother Kathy.

Meet The Browns

Christopher Rocco (Mr. Brown - male cast) Christopher aka "Rocco" was born way over on the east coast in Philadelphia where he grew up and spent his formative years in the city of Brother "Love" (in the biggest quotations possible). He actually started off wanting to pursue a career in the sciences, more specifically computer science as the years went one, but four years of high school programming classes quickly taught him how terribly dull life can be sitting behind a computer screen. He didn't actually begin studying theatre until his junior year of high school when he auditioned for the role of Johnathan Brewster, the lead villain in Arsenic and Old Lace, for the school play. He was cast as Policeman #2 with the role of Johnathan still unfilled. So he tried again. And again. And after about his fourth or fifth attempt he landed the part whether to the credit of his developing acting talent or his director's mounting frustration with his persistence.

Onward to college where Christopher hadn't yet realized the difference between a BA Drama Major and a BFA Acting major. Being the former but mistakenly declaring himself the latter didn't help to ingratiate him with the . . . let's go with "socially specific" . . . members of his department. With this stunning start to his college career - parts were few and far between, but he still managed a few underground plays and the part of Dalton in Equus, but the bulk of his study came from student film projects from the unaffiliated communications school. Coupled with Ithaca College's (which is by the way where this adventure in higher learning took place) study abroad program in London he managed a rather fulfilling theoretical education in the theatrical arts, albeit not as practical a one as he would have hoped.

With the halls of academia behind him Christopher took up the pioneer spirit of his forefather and followed manifest destiny out west to find his fortune. 

Thus we find him in Olympia where he's found work in the local theatrical community. For the Olympia Fall Arts Walk 2011, he was a part of The Barbed Wire Whipping Party project: bringing sound and movement to one of the Grateful's Dead's more peculiar tracks. The following Spring he joined Olympia Family Theatre in teaching children about the dangers of communist dictatorships in George Orwell's Animal Farm portraying The Old Major (AKA Karl Marx) and Benjamin (AKA A Surly Jackass).

Last Summer Christopher made his Shakespearean debut as Chiron in Theatre Artists Olympia's production of Titus Andronicus set in the gritty world of circa 1970's biker clubs. And it is to TAO he returns, this time as Mr. Brown in Reservoir Dogs.

And now a word on Madonna's pussy . . .

Jacqui Martin (Brown - female cast) Jacqui Martin moved to Oly 2.5 years ago from Kentucky and is not going to leave anytime soon. She started performing on stage at age 4 in ballet recitals and hasn't been away from the theater for long since then. More times than not, she prefers to be backstage working tech. In Olympia, she was the stage manager for The Secret Garden and Fame! at Capital Playhouse. Most recently, she was the FX tech for Titus Andronicus, which introduced her to Pug and TAO and was the most fun (albeit messiest) show she's ever done... but maybe this one will top it. Reservoir Dogs marks her first acting role in 4 years.

When she isn't working on a show, Jacqui is working at Burial Grounds Coffee in downtown Oly with her best friends, listening to punk rock and jumping around while being really, really, really amped on caffeine - but it's okay because it's her job. Otherwise you'll usually find her working on a craft project that will ultimately go unfinished, attempting to cook a vegan version of her favorite foods, or "researching" special FX (aka watching horror movies and shows) at home with her boy.

Get a Sneak Peek at the cast

Our amazing Stage Manager, Vanessa Postil, created these awesome credits for the show. Check them out!
Reservoir Dogs Women's Credits from vanessa Postil on Vimeo.

Reservoir Dogs Men's credits from vanessa Postil on Vimeo.

Meet the Pinks

 Brian Wayne Jansen (Mr. Pink - male cast) Brian was born in Norfolk, NE on August 8th 1980. He grew up on a farm. His childhood was tumultuous. He wrote children's stories, comic books, rap albums, reenacted sporting events, made up movies in his head while on long walks acting out all the characters by himself. He wrote short stories and shredded his mom's guitar on his bed in a concert he held for nobody.In high school he made trouble. Drama saved his life when a speech coach told him he could be on the team as long as he cut it out. He cut it out, and he excelled. After high school,  he was in Godspell in the Norfolk Community Theater. Afterward he  attended Chadron State College where he focused on making art and playing music. He decided college was not for him, so he traveled. He lived in California, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon, Mexico and landed in Olympia, WA. At age 24 he began theater again. He was a drag queen in SPSCC's production of Southern Baptist Sissies. He played Bassanio in TAO’s production of The Merchant of Venice, then Francis Flute in Harlequin’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At age 27, he had his first art showing at the Capital Theater. He has enjoyed success making art work; showing it and selling it. He is currently working toward landing a gallery show in Seattle.At age 30, he began playing out with many of the songs he has written. Currently he is working toward lining up a tour and getting recordings released for free on the internet.

Heather R. Christopher (Pink - female cast) Heather was one of the founding members of TAO.

By day, Heather is a Pilates Instructor at the Pilates Center of Olympia so all that exercise she gets is really helping her with the role of a spaz.  She is also currently working with OFT On the Move, Olympia Family Theater’s touring program which performs a new short play every month and all of that acting for children has prepped her for working with ammunition. 

She's also worked with almost every theater company in Olympia.  Molly Gilmore in the Olympian once called her “The ubiquitous Heather Christopher”. No one is sure if that was a compliment or a dig...

She met her husband, Michael (Mr. Blonde in the Male cast) when they were both cast in the play Anastasia at Olympia Little Theater (where they later got married). 

The largest audience they’ve ever played to together was either at Disney World on their honeymoon when they were selected as volunteers for the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show, or at an industry conference for Heather's former employer, a GIS Software company, playing utility workers for a software demo. Both of these experiences scarred her for life and sent her running to the soothing arms (and teeny audiences) of Fringe Theatre.

Meet the Eddies

Heather Cantrell (Nice Guy Eddie - female cast) Heather is greatly enjoying her role as Nice Guy Eddie. Her last role with Theater Artists Olympia was as Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew. (Going from the one of the bitchiest characters in literary history to a character named "Nice Guy" has given all involved multiple giggling fits.) Please remember to use cold water and ammonia on blood stains, don’t forget to test for color fastness and then wash it right way (Eddie’s tip). Heather also wishes to thank her husband Chris and their furbabies for all their support and patience. Lastly, she thanks her mother and promises that next time she does a show it will have less cursing!

Gabriel McClelland (Nice Guy Eddie - male cast) Gabe has been performing in the South Sound area for the better part of 18 years. He has done productions with Lakewood Playhouse, Tacoma Little Theatre, Pierce College, and with several gypsy theatre companies. He has been seen recently as Fred Gayley in Miracle on 34th Street, as Marcus Andronicus in Titus Andronicus, as David Sarnoff in The Farnsworth Invention, as James Reston in Frost/Nixon and as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath to name a few.

To be painfully honest though, his favorite shows have all been with gypsy theatre companies - companies who live without fear and do the best work they can. Theatre that trusts that the audience can see something new, something bold and something unfamiliar and still feel at home. He has learned innumerable lessons from salt of the earth masters who teach a form of theatre that may not be consumable to the masses but are satisfying on a deeper level. The word that comes to mind most readily is fuck. When playing Conrad Birdie (in Bye Bye Birdie for those of you who were curious) the musical director informed him of his duty as an Elvis-type character to make it more realistic by "going out there and fucking the audience." When worried about how the audience would react to his performance, a mentor said to him to peer through the curtain at the audience and say to them in a whisper "you fucking sons of bitches!" And most importantly when recreating a scene many times he was told "don't fucking act that moment. Find it again."

Gabriel is an uncensored and foul mouthed performer with a love of language and spoken words that borders on obsessive. He makes no apologies and has learned that the work involved in theatre is its own reward. The actor must be willing to make a journey inside themselves and find the most horrific, most wonderful, most touching things about humanity and parade them around for all to see. It is about truth, vulnerabilty, and unbridled lust. It's about love. His love and affection go out to those who have taught him the most. Doug Kerr, Marc Englehorn, Maria Jensen, Stephen Borsuk, Henryk Wrosynski, as well as those whom we have lost such as the late Les Price, Doug Saxby, Marcus Walker, and Mary Kay Flint. He feels privileged to be working with a great group of performers in this cult classic. Much love as always to his supportive friends and family as well as his lady love, Kate Lick

Meet the Oranges

Cheyenne Lorraine (Orange - female cast) Cheyenne is a nomad who has found a comfortable home in Olympia for the past three years studying performance art and social justice at The Evergreen State College. She caught the acting bug at age ten when she sat in a dark theater for three hours, mesmerized, while watching the first Lord of the Rings film. She was sitting between her mother and sister, who both fell asleep before the fellowship even reached Rivendell, but Cheyenne had been transported directly into the journey across Middle Earth. The spell broke when Mount Doom loomed and credits rolled, but she became determined to make those fantastical situations a reality in her life.

She has enjoyed provocative theatre ever since getting to deliver the line, “Is this a dagger I see before me, or are you just happy to see me?” as Lady MmmBeth in her middle school parody production of the Scottish Play. She is incredibly theatrically superstitious and asks anyone who even thought the real name of that show to turn around three times, spit, and swear. Even if you’re not in a theatre. And maybe knock on some wood, too—just for good measure.

She is incredibly grateful to have been a part of numerous theatre tribes throughout her life, but none more so than her vagina sisters from the last two years of The Vagina Monologues at TESC, which she had the great fortune of directing this last February.

She is also incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with another full cast of inspiring, talented, and experienced females whose collective level of badassery will never be surpassed.

She looks forward to living the rest of her “real” life gunshot wound free and would like to remind everyone that nothing rhymes with Orange.

Christian Doyle (Mr. Orange – male cast) Christian is a Tacoma native who has made his home in Olympia for the last two years. In that time, he's been responsible for staging most of the violence TAO has presented. This show is no exception. In addition to fight direction, Christian has appeared on both the TAO stage as Packer in "Cannibal" and the Harlequin stage in multiple productions. His claim to fame is appearing in a few "Gamers" films as well as the web series “Journeyquest.” When not acting, directing, writing, or teaching theatre arts, Christian enjoys smoking cigarettes on sidewalks and talking about how awesome he is. He is also ridiculously slow about getting bios in – not that anyone really cares.

 

Meet the Blondes

Jenifer Rifenbery (Blonde - female cast)  Jenifer was actually born and lived in Santa Ana, which is right next to Tustin, California, however, she lived in over 12 locations before she graduated high school, including California, Japan, New Jersey, Washington, Costa Rica and Spain since her father was military. Her parents were both active in community theatre and she fell in love with acting at an early age.

Although she would have liked to do theatre professionally, in real life she studied medicine, and currently takes care of students’ health needs at University of Puget Sound. Ironically, she is probably one of the few actors who actually performs surgical procedures, so she pretty much knows how to cut an ear off, although she hasn’t ever actually had to do it. She fairly frequently removes toenails and has sewn up a kid’s tongue in the ER.

Her husband cuts people up for a living and actually repaired hernias on two cast-mates during rehearsals for “The Rocky Horror Show.” No Reservoir Dogs castmates volunteered to have her husband cut them up though. She has three sons in college, as well as two dogs, a cat and apparently some rats in the walls.

Last year she was seen as Sister Leo in “Nunsense” at WWCA, as one of the Gemini Courtesans in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Lakewood Playhouse, a confusing ex-wife in “Summerplay” One-Acts in Bremerton, Blanche in “Nightwatch” at Tacoma Little Theatre, and Music-Directed “A Rented Christmas” at Trinity Lutheran Church. Favorite roles include “Nurse Ratched” in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at Lakewood, “Denise” in “The Baker’s Wife”, “Juliet” and “Lady Capulet” in different productions (obviously) of “Romeo and Juliet”, and “Vi Petty” in “The Buddy Holly Story”. She also enjoys playing keyboards and has music-directed and accompanied many shows.

AND her best friend is Samantha Camp!

Michael Christopher (Mr. Blonde - male cast)  Born long ago, but not too far away, Michael Christopher is happy to be returning to the stage with TAO.

After a long break, it took Reservoir Dogs to get him back on the boards.
Michael's theater experience did not start until College. It was a production of "The Fantasticks" and he was the lightboard operator. And then someone figured out he could build too. So he started designing and building sets.And designing lights. And then running them too.
Finally he decided that being on stage might be worth trying too, so he auditioned for a production of "The Tempest."
It was all downhill from there.
Since that time, Michael has worked with most of the theater companies in Olympia in one capacity or another.
After spending a few years as Vice President of Olympia Little Theater, Michael was a founding member of The Vestpocket Traveling Theater.
After learning how to produce shows, Michael got together with a few good friends and founded Theater Artists Olympia with two goals in mind:
to produce the types of shows he wanted to see and to work with the people he enjoyed spending so many hours with.
So far it seems to be working.