4530 Colorado Ave., Sheffield Village, OH www.loraincountymetroparks.com/theatre (440) 949-5200
French Creek
Theatre
Ordinary Days Music and Lyrics by Adam Gwon
ORDINARY DAYS is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com
Welcome to Lakeview Park for our season opening performance of “Ordinary Days”, feel free to sit anywhere for this free performance one weekend only! The show runs an hour and a half with no intermission. Restrooms are located on the beach side of the café. Please remain socially distant from other households and enjoy the show. Follow along to the lyrics here: Ordinary Days the Musical Songs Lyrics (www.themusicallyrics.com)
–– PLEASE NOTE ––
The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited
A Note from the director “Welcome! Everything is fine.” Okay, maybe not everything. But live theatre is back, and that’s pretty cool. Thank you for joining us today! We’re so thrilled to share these characters with you, and grateful for the opportunity to do so in such a relaxed setting. The privilege of presenting a live show, the quality of the piece we get to present, and the accessibility this venue and French Creek Theatre’s relationship with the Metroparks provide are not lost on us! Whether you are a long-time theatre aficionado excited to enjoy an in-person production again, or a first-time theatre-goer who happened to be at the park and decided to pull up a chair and join us, I hope this is just one of many programs you’re able to take in, this year and beyond! We’re proud to say that we did our due diligence from the top-down for this process (from digital audition videos, to socially distant callbacks and original blocking, to temperature checks every step of the way), and overjoyed to share the fact that our actors are all at peak immunity, allowing our actors to remove their masks these past three weeks. On behalf of the cast, crew, and staff of Ordinary Days (and dare I say, the Greater Cleveland theatre scene), please get vaccinated so we can continue delivering live performances like this one. Enjoy!
Felix Grittner Director
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PRODUCTION TEAM Director.................................................................................Felix Grittner Assistant Director.................................................................Kevin Cline Stage Manager...........................................................Julie Billinghurst Sound Designer........................................................................Stan Kozak Set Designer.............................................................................Wes Carney Stage Hand.............................................................................Jessica Dupee Set Construction/Stage Hand..........................Gretchen Woods Cultural Arts Programmer..............................................Erin Moran
CAST David Rusnak.....................................................................................Warren Noelle Elise Crites..................................................................................Deb Douglas F. Bailey II..............................................................................Jason Amber Michalak..................................................................................Claire
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Actor/Actress Bios
CAST David Rusnak (Warren) is elated to make his debut at French Creek Theatre. Some of his favorite credits include Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour Krelborn), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (William Morris Barfée), Plaid Tidings: Forever Plaid (Jinx), and Ragtime (Father, Henry Ford). David has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron. He would like to thank his family, friends and YOU for supporting community theater. Noelle Elise Crites (Deb) is a recent graduate from SUNY Fredonia, where she received her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre with a minor in Dance, as well as holding the position of Business Manager with the student-run Performing Arts Company. She currently studies at the Houde School of Acting in Cleveland, OH. Past credits include The Last Five Years (Cathy), Stupid F***ing Bird (Emma), Anything Goes (Chastity), and Silent Sky (Margaret). In July, she will be working with
the Camden Shakespeare Festival as a featured vocalist. For more information, visit her website: https://noelleelise.weebly.com Douglas F. Bailey II (Jason) is happy to be returning to French Creek Theatre! He has performed on the MAD* stage in. Area credits include Memphis (Huey Calhoon), Rock of Ages (Lonny Barnett), and Godspell (Light of the World( at Cain Park, Big Fish (Will Bloom), Parade (Brit Craig), and ...Spelling Bee (William Barfee) at French Creek Theatre, Joseph... Dreamcoat (Narrator), Once Upon a Mattress (Minstrel), and Oklahoma! (Will Parker) at Mighty Goliath Productions, and Sweeney Todd (Sweeney), Shrek the Musical (Shrek), Hairspray (Edna Turnblad), and Into the Woods (Cinderella’s Prince/ Wolf) at *MAD Factory. Douglas currently serves as the Chair Person for the Center for Arts Inspired Learning’s Collective Engagement and Outreach Committee. He is very excited to join this wonderful cast and production team. Douglas calls Westlake, OH home with his wife Sarah Lynne, and kids, Matilda, Desmond, and Taso. He dedicates this performance to the memory of his late Pg. 5 father, The Silver Fox.
Actor/Actress Bios A m ber M i c h ala k (Claire) is beyond excited to be performing with this incredible cast! She is the executive director of the MAD* Factory Theatre Co. in Oberlin. She has a bachelor’s of music in musical theatre from Baldwin Wallace. Her favorite roles include the Witch in Into the Woods, Sandra in Big Fish, Amneris in Aida and Donna in Mamma Mia. She would like to thank her loving family, her amazing students, and all of you for your love and support! Enjoy the show!
Production Team: Felix Grittner (Director) is a Cleveland-based director and music director as well as a graduate of Baldwin Wallace Conservatory with a background in keyboard performance. They are so grateful to return to the live theatre scene with such a delightful piece and such delightful people. Some of their favorite credits include The Fantasticks (Strongsville Community Theatre, Director/MD), Urinetown: The Musical (Mighty Goliath Productions, MD), and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (The MAD* Factory, MD). They would like to thank their cast Pg. 6 and staff for trusting and
supporting them, not to mention being the only reason they’re able to direct a show in the first place! In the words of Marc Evan Jackson, “go do something good.” Kevin Cline (Assistant Director) is excited to return to French Creek after a long absence. He has performed at many theaters across Cleveland, including The MAD* Factory, Mighty Goliath Productions, Workshop Players, and Broadview Heights Spotlights. Some of his favorite roles include Roger De Bris in The Producers, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family, and J.P. Morgan in Ragtime at Broadview Heights Spotlights. He is incredibly excited to work with this incredible cast and crew, and to be doing it as an Assistant Director. It’s been a wonderful experience. Many thanks to his family and friends for their support, and for everyone who comes to see the show. Welcome back to live theater! Enjoy the show Julie Billinghurst (Stage Manager) is happy to be the SM for French Creek’s outdoor summer season! It’s so great to be back doing live theatre again! She has been stage managing for FC Theatre for the past 6 years. Some of her favorites include She Loves Me, The Drowsy Chaperone and The Last Five Years. She hopes you enjoy the show and join us for the rest of the season! Special thanks to her amazing crew: Jess, Gretchen, Wes and Stan. Teamwork makes the
Actor/Actress Bios dream work! Stan Kozak (Sound Designer), has more than 50 design credits including Bat Boy: The Musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Comedy of Errors, Amadeus, You Can’t Take It With You, Private Lives, Into the Woods and the Tom Hanks’ benefit performances. His work in 1979 and 1981 with Geraldine Fitzgerald on Streetsongs at GLTF led to the original cast album. Mr. Kozak was the resident sound designer for four seasons at the Porthouse Theatre Company, including productions of Driving Miss Daisy, Niteclub Confidential and a Nightingale Sang. His collaborations with Victoria Bussert at Baldwin-Wallace College include productions of Chess, Hair, Company, Cabaret, West Side Story, Tommy in Concert, Parade, the Ohio premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, and one of the first nonprofessional productions of Phantom of the Opera. For Cain Park, his design credits include Secret Garden, Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Bat Boy, Tick, tick… Boom, Nine, The Wiz, Harold and Maude and Pippin. Mr. Kozak has also designed sound for Wit and Last Five Years for the Dobama Theater, Iolanthe and Sweeney Todd for the Cleveland Opera, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change and Forbidden Broadway SVU for the Hanna Theatre and A Shayna Maidel, Brooklyn Boy and Pangs of the Messiah for the JCC. He has served as sound designer for the All-City Musical for the Cleveland school system for eight seasons.
He also had the good fortune to have worked with Bebe Neuwirth in her concert performance for the Ideastream Gala in 2005. Wes Carney (Set Designer) is ecstatic to be back to work on a show with French Creek! This is his fifth show at French Creek. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati, earning a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, and currently works as an engineer in Cleveland. He is a Lakewood High School alumni where he was heavily involved in the Barnstormers Drama Club and was inducted into the Thespian Society. While he has filled several acting roles in the past, Wes’s true passion lies in set construction, run crews, spotlight operation, and plenty of other backstage roles. During the pandemic, he has had lots of fun staying in touch with fellow French Creek crew members via weekly virtual game nights and movie nights! Wes hopes to take on technical theater as a bigger role in his life once it is safe to do so.” Jessica Dupee (Stage Hand) is excited to return as Assistant Stage Manager at French Creek Theatre! Previous French Creek credits include the cast of A Christmas Carol and Assistant Stage Manager for Gifts of the Magi, She Loves Me, Little Women, and The Drowsy Chaperone. Thank you to my family and friends for their endless love Pg. 7 and support!
Actor/Actress Bios Gretchen Woods (Set Constrction/Stage Hand) is glad things are getting back to “Ordinary” so she can be return for her 8th show at French Creek Theater! When she’s not building sets, making papiermâché cows, running a spotlight, helping with costume changes, or shooting confetti onstage, Gretchen can be found creating a makeshift chipmunk haven in her yard (or buying yet another bag of birdseed for the pampered pests). Many thanks to her family for putting up with all of the late nights and improvised meals that go along with (community) showbiz!
Thank You’s Special thanks to Nina Fisher and the MAD factory.
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French Creek
Theatre
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