Alan H. King - Lead Actor

Alan has worked in many productions around the Portland area for over 25 years and not regretted as single moment. Well … maybe a couple of moments.

Most recently Alan performed as the Sheriff in The Trip to Bountiful with Profile Theater, and it’s great to be back in the saddle in A Tuna Christmas. Some other favorite characters include: Father Mark in Tony & Tina’s Wedding (for nearly two years); Ray in Lone Star; Harry Brock in Born Yesterday; Uncle Stanley in Smoke on the Mountain; Eddie in Pump Boys and Dinettes; Claudius in Hamlet; Parolles in All’s Well That Ends Well; and many more.

It’s good to be back in Tuna again.

Torry Bend - Scenic Designer

Torry Bend is a Set designer and Puppet artists her set design includes: Are They Edible, Incubator Arts Project, New York; Circle Course, Katmandu; Pygmalion, Southwest Shakespeare Co.; Stephen Wadsworth's Agamemnon, Getty Villa; References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Empty Space Theatre Seattle.

In Portland, OR: Omnium Gatherum, The Bald Soprano/The Lesson and Brilliant Traces, for which she received a Drammy.

She created and directed the toy theater piece Nesting: Great Small Works International Toy Theater Festival, Brooklyn, NY, The Port City Puppetry Festival, Wilmington, NC and Open Eye Figure Theater, Minneapolis, MN. The Elephant, premiered at Disney Music Hall's International Toy Theater Festival and performed with Jumbo Shrimp Circus, Los Angeles. She created and directed Loser, Prague, New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

Her most recent work, The Paper Hat Game, opened at Duke University. As a puppeteer she has performed in Ronald Reagan a Love Story, A Henson Grant supported project in Los Angeles, The Saint Plays: Open Eye Figure Theater, Minneapolis and Son Of Semele, Los Angeles. Bend is an Assistant Professor at Duke University.

Jessi Walters - Lead Dresser

Jessi has called Portland home for the better part of a year and a half and has loved every minute of it. She received her B.A. in Theater, Film & Dance from Humboldt State University, and has also trained at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater.

Jessi is currently a core company member of Post5 Theatre and their Prop Master. Although primarily a performer, she enjoys hair, makeup, mask work, coaching, designing, moving, crafting, and is thrilled to add dressing to her list!

Most recently Jessi did props for Post5 Theatre's Henry IV, Part 1, played Beedle in their A Midsummer Night's Dream, and appeared as the sassy Veronica in NWCTC's Much Ado About Nothing. Teaching credits include acting workshops at Catlin Gabel School, and Northwest Children's Theater.

Jessi is thrilled to be working with some wonderfully familiar faces, and is honored to join Oregon Repertory Theatre for A Tuna Christmas.

Jeff Woods - Lighting Designer

Jeff Woods has been designing lights in Portland for over fifteen years, and has worked with many local favorites including Theatre Vertigo, triangle! Productions, Lakewood Theatre Company, Oregon Children's Theatre, Miracle Theatre Group, Profile Theatre Company, and CoHo Productions.

Recent designs include Locomotion for Oregon Children's Theatre (Drammy Award), On Golden Pond for Lakewood Theatre Co. (OTAS Award), Measure for Measure at Northwest Classical Theatre Co., and Gracie! at triangle! Productions.

Jeff lives in Portland with his wife and a menagerie of animals.

Jeffrey Jason Gilpin - Lead Actor

Jeffrey Jason Gilpin has played various roles in India, SE Asia, London, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, and Salem. His recent theatre work includes:

• Chekhov in The Cherry Orchard, Solyony in Tracy Lett's world premiere of Three Sisters, Eros/Ensemble in Metamorphoses, Peter in Bug, Sonny in Appalachian Ebeneezer (Artists Repertory Theatre)
• Dromio (Guest Artist) in The Comedy of Errors, Officer (Guest Artist) in We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! (Portland Actors Conservatory)
• Solyony in Tracy Lett’s world premiere of Three Sisters, Eros/Ensemble in Metamorphoses, Peter in Bug, Sonny in Appalachian Ebeneezer (Artists Repertory Theatre)
• Arles Struvie, et. al in A Tuna Christmas (Oregon Repertory Theatre)
• Orchestro in A Lovely Day (Upon These Boards)
• Musician/Big Mike in Boxcar Children (Oregon Children’s Theatre)
• Marty Sterling in Isn’t It Romantic (Profile Theatre Co.)
• Miles in The Drawer Boy (Salem Repertory Theatre)
• Blake in Manna, Bobby Blin in Another Fine Mess, Alcibiades in Outrage (Portland Center Stage)
• Woody in Woody Guthrie’s American Song (American Heritage Theatre Co.)
• Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar (Mt. Hood Jazz and Theatre)
• Dionysus in The Bacchae (Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon)
• Ivanov in Ivanov, Giovanni in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art)
• Octavius in Julius Caesar (Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company)
• Laertes in Hamlet, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing, Philip in The Lion in Winter, Feste in Twelfth Night, and Lord Hastings in Richard III (Washington Shakespeare Festival).

Jeffrey holds an MFA in Acting from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, an MA in Teaching and BS in Theatre Arts and Psychology from Willamette University in Salem, OR.

He was recently the Arts Director for Portland Public Schools and is presently the Artistic Director for Oregon Repertory Theatre.

Paul J. Susi - Stage Manager

Born and raised in Portland, Paul J. Susi trained as an EMT-Basic and certified as a Sawyer for the US Forest Service, and has worked as a Detox Worker for Hooper Memorial and a Page for the Multnomah County Library.

Onstage, Paul has appeared as Bamboo in A Lovely Day (Upon These Boards), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (NW Children’s Theatre), Orpheus/Bacchus in Metamorphoses (Artists’ Repertory Theatre), Red Mare/Father/Owl/Various Trolls in Ride the Red Mare (Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre), Ortuno/Leonelo in Fuente Ovejuna (Miracle Theatre), the title role in Othello (Portland Actor’s Ensemble), Miles in The Drawer Boy (Vermont Stage Company), and Stone Ghost/Bear/Elijah the Prophet in Project Blue (Stacja Szamocin/Hand2Mouth Theatre).

Paul trained as an Actor with the American Conservatory Theatre’s Summer Training Congress and the British-American Youth Festival Theatre. He now works as the Adult Residential Medical Case Coordinator for DePaul Treatment Centers.

Margaret Chapman – Costume Designer

Margaret Louise Chapman (Costume Design) has a MS in Theatre Arts from Portland State University.

She was resident costumer/designer at Portland Civic Theatre for 17 years. She now freelance costumes with several theatre companies in the Portland area.

Her positions include resident costumer for Oregon Children's Theatre Company, past resident costumer/instructor for Portland Community College/Sylvania Campus and Costumer/Faculty at Portland State University. Margaret is a multiple Willie, Drammy, OTAS, and PAMTA recipient.

She is past president of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild and current Endowment Chair. When not costuming Margaret is an active Scouter in the Cascade Pacific Council/Boy Scouts of America.

Guild addition: Active member status 1995

Philip Cuomo - Director

Philip is the Executive Director of Portland Actors Conservatory and a member of the Conservatory faculty teaching movement and clown. Philip is a Third Rail core company member an actor, director and the company's grants manger.

For Third Rail he directed Penelope; acted in Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Fabuloso, and The Wonderful World Of Dissocia; and was the choreographer for Number 3, Chickens and Skull in Connemara. Directing credits include Reckless, The Comedy of Errors, Big Love, Kimberly Akimbo, The Mail Order Bride The Blue Room, Our Town, The Late Christopher Bean, Mere Moments, God's Ear, American Heroes, Treasure Island, Hermes Mother. He created and directed the clown shows Pas Deux Bits, Box O' Briefs and Exaggeration On A Theme.

He created and directed La Carpa Del Ausente and La Carpa Calavera (Drammy winner for outstanding achievement in directing) for Miracle Theatre in Portland. He was choreographer for Hand2Mouth's Blue and From A Dream to a Dream (a co-production with the Polish theatre company Stacja Szamocin). Philip's work in play development includes Stay for Cake, Time Pieces and Thunder City by Scott Rogers Farm Story by Jacklyn Maddux, Renaissance, and Good Citizen by George Taylor, which included staged readings at Artist Repertory Theatre and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

He is presently working with Susan Mach developing her play A Noble Failure which he will direct in a production for Third Rail in January 2013. As an actor he has appeared at Lincoln Center, The Hartford Stage, The Civic Theatre of Central Florida, and in Portland with Artists Repertory Theatre, and Imago Theatre.

Sam Kusnetz – Sound Designer

Sam Kusnetz has been designing, composing, stage managing, and solving all manner of theatrical problems for over fifteen years.

He has toured nationally and internationally with Imago Theatre and Do Jump!, designed sound Off-Broadway at the New Victory (Do Jump's Ahh Ha!; Broadway Asia's Brazil! Brazil!), the Duke on 42nd Street (AENY's Wearing Lorca's Bowtie), and the Jean Cocteau Repertory (Arms And The Man, Small Craft Warnings); regionally at Portland Center Stage (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Frost/Nixon) and Provincetown Repertory (A Girl Called Dusty, world premiere), and in Portland, Oregon with Third Rail Repertory (The Wonderful World of Dissocia), Insight Out Theatre Collective (On The Verge, ONE: The Musical, The Yellow Boat), and many others.

At Brown University, his alma mater, Sam designed sound for the world premiere of Jordan Harrison's Kid Simple.

Sam is a co-creator of Anonymous Theatre, and a founder of Team Sound.

Maria Aparo - Stage Manager

Maria Aparo is a professional actress, stage manager and producer currently living in NYC. She received her training from the Portland Actors Conservatory.

She is very excited to be re-joining the cast and crew here in PDX for her 2nd trip to Tuna, TX. Special thanks to her husband Mark for holding down the fort back in Brooklyn as well as Oregon Reperatory Theatre for the wonderful opportunity.

Enjoy the show! www.mariaaparo.com

Aaron Zinder - Production Assistant

Aaron Zinder has been a stagehand in the live-event production industry for over two years. He is a member of IATSE Local 28 Stagehands Union and is currently studying Theatre Arts at Portland State University.

He holds a certificate in Music Technology from Clackamas Community College.

Joanna Tyler - Stagehand

Joanna Tyler made the great move to Portland about three years ago.

Since then she has had the honor of stage managing and acting with Lunacy Stageworks and Post 5 Theatre.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Theatre Arts from Southern Oregon University, and is currently enrolled in the National Personal Training Institute. An honor to be a part of this Tuna Christmas!

Maria Aparo - Stage Manager

Stage Management

• We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! - Portland Actors Conservatory
• Kids on Broadway! - The Atlanta Lyric Theatre
• The Fantasticks - The Atlanta Lyric Theatre
• A Chorusline - Shorter College*
• Honk! - Shorter College
• West Side Story - Shorter College**

*Stage Management Award Nomination Region IV ACTF
**Showcased at Region IV ACTF

Charge Artist

• Jekyll and Hyde - The Atlanta Lyric
• Theatre Kids on Broadway - The Atlanta Lyric Theatre
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Shorter College
• Proof - Shorter College

Caitlin Fisher-Draeger - Stagehand/Dresser

Caitlin Fisher-Draeger is a recent graduate of Lewis and Clark College, with a double major in Theatre Performance and International Affairs.

She's given herself two years to get the theatre bug out of her system before graduate school in International Business. She is currently the Director of Outreach for Post5 Theatre and has played an active role in every production since it's conception in 2011.

Most recently, she served as the director of its first summer show of the 2012 season, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

She is grateful for this opportunity to work with such a fun and inspiring group of people.

Nathan Burks - Stagehand

Nathan is excited to be working on this fourth production of Tuna Christmas at the Winningstad! Nathan holds a B.S. in Theater Arts from Portland State University (2000) and has extensive experience within the Portland theater community as an actor, lighting designer, and technical director.

When he is not fixing barbed-wire fences and guarding Pearl's chickens, he works for Portland Public Schools as a special education teacher (Language Arts and Drama).

Being a "Tuna Helper" is part of his holiday tradition with much less sodium than that little glove guy.

Stephanie Gaslin - Dialect Coach

Stephanie Gaslin is an actor, dialect/voice coach, teaching artist and a Founding Member of Third Rail. She has a BA in Theatre from Southern Oregon University and an MFA in Acting from Ohio University.

Third Rail Repertory Theatre (Dialect): The Pain and the Itch,The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Kiss Me Like You Mean It, The Lying Kind, Fabuloso, A Skull in Connemara, Dead Funny, Nobody Here but Us Chickens, Shining City, Grace, A Lesson from Aloes, The Lonesome West, and Recent Tragic Events

Regional (Dialect Coach): Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory, Profile Theatre, Public Playhouse, Oregon Repertory Theatre, Sojourn Theatre, Clackamas Repertory Theatre, Coaster Theater, Light's Up Productions, Portland Actor's Conservatory, and George Fox University

Stephanie has taught acting, playwriting, improvisation, voice and movement to children from kindergarten thru high school, adults and senior citizens. She has had the opportunity to serve as a teaching artist for the National Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Ohio University, Young Players, Artist's Repertory Theatre, and The Haven Project. Most recently volunteering to run Drama Club at Camp Quest for adolescents with High Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.