Alley Acting Company

JEFFREY BEAN is in his 17th season as an Alley Company Artist and has appeared in over 100 Alley productions since 1989. Recently he has appeared in Ether Dome (Dr. Charles Jackson), Amadeus (Salieri), August: Osage County (Bill Fordham), Peter Pan (Smee), Boeing-Boeing (Robert), and The 39 Steps (Man #2). Previous Alley highlights include The Farnsworth Invention (David Sarnoff), Mauritius (Philip), Cyrano de Bergerac (Cyrano), The Scene (Charlie), Doubt (Father Flynn), Subject to Fits (Prince Myshkin), Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick), Journey’s End (2nd Lieutenant Trotter), The Pillowman (Michal), Hapgood (Ridley), Twelfth Night (Feste), The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), Billy Bishop Goes to War (Billy Bishop), Gross Indecency (Oscar Wilde), Arms & The Man (Bluntschli), The Crucible (Deputy Gov. Danforth), The Foreigner (Charlie Baker), and Stones in His Pockets (Charlie Conlon, et al). Broadway credits include Bells Are Ringing (Francis) and Amadeus (Kappelmeister Bonno). Television credits include Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and All My Children. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts and a Princess Grace Award winner. www.jeffreybean.com

JAMES BELCHER is in his 23rd season at the Alley Theatre. As an Alley Company Artist he has appeared in Ether Dome, Amadeus (Baron Van Swieten), August: Osage County (Charlie Aiken), Peter Pan (Cecco), The Mousetrap (Major Metcalf), Intelligence-Slave (Fritz Engelhardt),  Harvey (Judge Omar Gaffney), Our Town (Joe Stoddard), The Farnsworth Invention (Leslie Gorrell), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Milan/Waiter), The Man Who Came to Dinner  (Mr. Stanley), Mrs. Warren’s Profession (The Rev. Samuel Gardner), Cyrano de Bergerac (Ligniere and The Capuchin), Othello (Brabantio), Arsenic and Old Lace (Teddy Brewster), Treasure Island (Squire Trelawney/Bailiff/Job O’Brien), To Kill a Mockingbird (Heck Tate), Subject to Fits (Lebedev), Much Ado About Nothing (Antonio), Witness for the Prosecution (Sir Wilfred Robarts), Journey’s End (The Colonel), Glengarry Glen Ross (Dave Moss), The Crucible (Judge Hawthorne), Black Coffee (Sir Claud Amory), Dial “M” for Murder (Captain Lesgate), Our Lady of 121st Street (Victor), Twelfth Night (Antonio), and A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) [five seasons]. He has a BFA in Drama Production from the University of Texas at Austin and a MFA in Directing from the University of Houston. In 1999 he received a BackStage West Garland Award for his role as Peter in the Alley’s production of The Zoo Story.

JAMES BLACK is proud to be celebrating his 24th consecutive season at the Alley, where as an actor and occasional director he has been involved in over 100 productions. Recent appearances include Dividing the Estate (Lewis Gordon), Pygmalion (Colonel Pickering), Amadeus (Count Orsini-Rosenberg), August: Osage County (Steve Heidebrecht), Peter Pan (Captain Hook/Mr. Darling), St. Nicholas, Boeing-Boeing (Bernard), Harvey (Elwood P. Dowd), Mrs. Mannerly (Jeffrey), Our Town (Stage Manager), The Farnsworth Invention, Rock ‘n’ Roll (Max), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Sheridan Whiteside), A Christmas Carol (Mrs. Dilber/Jacob Marley), Cyrano de Bergerac (Le Bret), Othello (Iago), Arsenic and Old Lace (Jonathan Brewster), Treasure Island (Long John Silver), Hitchcock Blonde (Hitch), A Moon for the Misbegotten (James Tyrone Jr.), Orson’s Shadow (Olivier), Journey’s End (Lieutenant Osborne), A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), The Crucible (Proctor), After the Fall (Quentin), Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Marcus Lycus), Twelfth Night (Sir Toby Belch), Sherlock Holmes (Moriarty), Hamlet (Claudius), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (George), One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (McMurphy), How I Learned to Drive (Uncle Peck), A View From the Bridge (Eddie Carbone), and Not About Nightingales (Butch O’Fallon), among others. He has also directed A Behanding in Spokane, Doubt, Death on the Nile, Glengarry Glen Ross, Deathtrap, Dial “M” for Murder, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Foreigner, Of Mice and Men and As Bees in Honey Drown. His film and television credits include Olympia, The Man with the Perfect Swing, Houston: The Legend of Texas, Fire and Rain, Challenger, Night Game and Killing in a Small Town. He received a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actor for Not About Nightingales and a BackStage West Garland Award for his appearance as Eddie Carbone in the Alley’s production of A View from the Bridge.

ELIZABETH BUNCH has appeared in more than 30 shows at the Alley Theatre since 2002 and recently served as Assistant Director for Amadeus. Performances include Ether Dome (Elizabeth Wells), Pygmalion (Eliza Doolittle), August: Osage County (Karen), Peter Pan (Wendy), Boeing-Boeing (Gabriella), Harvey, The 39 Steps, Our Town (Emily), The Farnsworth Invention, Mauritius, Cyrano de Bergerac, Othello, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Scene, Doubt, Death on the Nile, Treasure Island, Steel Magnolias, Proof,and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? New York theatre credits include The Voice of the Turtle produced by The Keen Company and The Mint Theater; The Water Children at Playwright Horizons; Museum with The Keen Company; The Light Outside with Bat Theater Company; and New World Rhapsody, The Motel Plays, and The Hospital Plays at HB PlaywrightsFoundation. Other theatre includes Little Foxes at The Denver Center; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Guthrie Theater; Goosebumps national tour produced by Feld Entertainment; A Streetcar Named Desire (Stella), Twelfth Night (Viola), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Measure for Measure (Isabella), Big Love, and Arcadia with Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble. Television appearances include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Elizabeth is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

PAUL HOPE is a native Houstonian and an Alley Company Artist who has appeared on the Alley stages for 18 seasons in a wide range of roles, including The Santaland Diaries (Crumpet), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Beverly Carlton), The Unexpected Guest (Julian Farrar), Arsenic and Old Lace (Officer O’Hara), The Clean House (Charles), House & Garden (Gavin), Hay Fever (Richard), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Arthur), Art (Serge), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Miles Gloriosus), Twelfth Night (Malvolio), I Hate Hamlet (Barrymore), Noises Off (Frederick), and The Foreigner  (Sgt. “Froggy” Le Seuer) among many others. His musical theatre roles include Rohna in Grand Hotel (with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi) and Col. Lockert in Dodsworth (with Hal Linden) at Casa Mañana in Fort Worth; Beauregard in Mame (with Juliet Prowse), Bienstock in Sugar (with Robert Morse) and M. Renaud in La Cage (with Lee Roy Reams) at Theatre Under the Stars. He has also performed as Steve Baker in Showboat (with Eddie Bracken) at Houston Grand Opera and most recently took over for John Lithgow as the narrator of Carnival of the Animals for Houston Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet. He is the Artistic Director for Bayou City Concert Musicals, which has presented concert stagings of Follies, Falsettos, A Little Night Music, She Loves Me, 70 Girls 70, Assassins, Fiorello, The Secret Garden, Pal Joey, On the Town, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,and Finian’s Rainbow. Paul directed The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Zombie Prom for the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Rice University. www.paul-hope.com

CHARLES KROHN is in his 27th season with the Alley. He has played a great number of roles including Amadeus (Von Strack), August: Osage County (Beverly Weston), Our Town (Professor Willard), The Farnsworth Invention (Justin Tolman), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Dr. Bradley), Othello (Gratiano), Arsenic and Old Lace (The Rev. Dr. Harper/Lieutenant Rooney), Treasure Island (Billy Bones), Subject to Fits (General Ivoglin), Much Ado About Nothing (Leonato), Witness for the Prosecution (Mr. Justice Wainwright), The Miser (Anselme), The Crucible (Francis Nurse), A Christmas Carol (Priest), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Senex), Our Lady of 121st Street (Father Lux), Twelfth Night or What You Will (Sea Captain/Priest), Sherlock Holmes (Sir Edward), Hamlet (Gravedigger/Player), You Can’t Take It With You (Martin Vanderhof), The Trip to Bountiful (Second Houston Ticket Man),and The Invention of Love (Charon and Postgate). Charles also appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank, an Alley collaboration with the University of Houston, and has toured the U.S. for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. His local theatre credits include Barrymore at Theatre LaB; All Over, A Kind of Alaska, A Delicate Balance, Old Friends, A Man from Alaska at Stages Repertory Theatre; the title role in King Lear, The Merchant of Venice (Shylock), and Hamlet (Claudius) with Houston Shakespeare Festival; and performances in Beauty and the Beast, Scrooge, Oliver, Camelot, The Wizard of Oz, and A Little Night Music with Theatre Under The Stars. When he is not on stage, he is a Professor of English at The University of St. Thomas.

EMILY NEVES (Miss Forsythe) is returning for her fourth season as an Alley Company Artist. She was last seen at the Alley in Amadeus, August: Osage County (Jean Fordham), Peter Pan (Michael/Jane), A Behanding in Spokane (Marilyn), Boeing-Boeing (Gloria), Harvey (Ruth Kelly, R.N.), Our Town (Rebecca Gibbs), The Farnsworth Invention (Pem), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Esme/Alice), The Man Who Came to Dinner (June), Cyrano de Bergerac (Prostitute/Musician/Sister Claire) and understudied the role of Janis Joplin (speaking) in Love, Janis. Other theatre credits include The Emperor’s New Clothes (Princess Liane) with The Houston Children’s Theatre Festival, Broadway 2000 and Broadway 2001 (Featured Performer, both directed by Ann Reinking at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center). Film credits include Starship Troopers: Invasion (Trig), MagCrew (Addison) and Apart (young Julie Gates). As a singer, Emily was featured as a Hollywood semi-finalist on season four of American Idol and was recently featured on the spin-off series American Idol: Rewind. She is a voice artist with Seraphim Studios, most notably appearing in Halo Legends (Spartan in “The Babysitter”), Angel Beats (Angel), Clannad (Kotomi) and High School of the Dead (Yuuki). She recently graduated cum laude from the BFA Pre-Professional Apprenticeship Program at Texas State University. While at Texas State, Emily performed at the 2012 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington D.C. as part a national finalist team in the Irene Ryan acting competition. Emily is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

MELISSA PRITCHETT is an Alley Company Artist recently appearing in Ether Dome (Elizabeth Whitman Morton), Pygmalion (Clara Eynsford-Hill), Amadeus (Constanze Weber), Boeing-Boeing (Gretchen), Harvey (Betty Chumley/Miss Johnson), The Farnsworth Invention (Agnes), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Gillian/Magda), Eurydice (Little Stone), Cyrano de Bergerac (Lise), Othello (Bianca), Death on the Nile (Louise), Treasure Island (Jim’s Mother/Anne Bonny), Hitchcock Blonde (Blonde), Much Ado About Nothing (Ursula), Black Comedy (Clea), Witness for the Prosecution (The Other Woman), The Miser (Servant), The Pillowman (Mother), After the Fall (Nurse/Ensemble), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Panacea). Other theatre credits include Broadway 2003, directed by Ann Reinking at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center; Beauty and the Beast and Brigadoon at Theatre Under the Stars; and Footloose at Great Caruso. As a dancer, she was a principal dancer for Longview Ballet Theatre and locally with Sparacino Company Dancers. Her training includes the Broadway Theatre Project 2003 with Ann Reinking and Ben Vereen. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Sam Houston State University.

DAVID RAINEY is in his 12th season as an Alley Company Artist. Recent roles include And Then There Were None (Rogers), Amadeus (Giuseppe Bonno), Peter Pan (Noodler/Cookson), Our Town (Constable Warren), The Farnsworth Invention (Harlan Honn/Lennox), Mauritius (Sterling), Eurydice (Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld), Cyrano de Bergerac (Cuigy), the title role in Othello, A Christmas Carol (Ebenezer Scrooge), Death on the Nile (Steward), To Kill a Mockingbird (Tom Robinson), Subject to Fits (Paryfon Rogozhin),  The Miser (Master Jacques), The Pillowman (Ariel), The Crucible (Giles Cory), The Exonerated (David Keaton), Topdog/Underdog (Lincoln) [Best Actor by the Houston Press, Best Actor Nominations by the Jeff Awards in Chicago and Black Theatre Alliance Awards in Chicago], Of Mice and Men (Lenny),and You Can’t Take It With You (Donald). He has performed with The National Actors Theatre, Joseph Papp Public Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Acting Company, New York Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep (with Theatre de la Jeune Lune), Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Hartford Stage Company, Dallas Theatre Center, The Guthrie Theatre, Crossroads Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, among others. Film and television credits include Cosby, Law & Order, Vengeance Unlimited, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, Lowball, North Starr, Hell Swarm, Starforce, Multifacial and The ‘M’ Word. He holds degrees from Eastern New Mexico University and Juilliard where he received the Drama Division’s highest honor, the Michel and Suria Saint-Denis Prize. He is Artistic Director of The Landing Theatre Company, is on the drama faculty of the University of Houston-Downtown and also teaches professional acting classes.

JAY SULLIVAN is an Alley Company Artist having previously appeared in Agatha Christie's Black Coffee (Richard Amory), Red (Ken), Peter Pan (Peter), Our Town (George Gibbs) and Eurydice (Orpheus). Jay recently made his Broadway debut in Jerusalem (Lee). Other theatre credits include the original productions of Durango (Red Angel/Bob) at The Public Theatre and Longwharf, DogSeesGod (Matt/Pigpen) at Soho Repertory Theatre, Orestes: A Tragic Romp (Orestes) at The Folger and Two River Theatre, Afternight Seating (James) at Abingdon Theatre, and The Bilbao Effect (Grole Andacht) at The Center for Architecture, as well as The History Boys (Dakin) and Rock ‘n’ Roll (Stephen) at The Studio Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio) produced by As Written Productions, and Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio) at Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Film and Television credits include The Good Wife; Law & Order: SVU, The Unidentified. He is a graduate of Florida State University.

TODD WAITE is in his 11th season as an Alley Company Artist. He has appeared in over 60 productions including four Christmas seasons of the one-man show: The Santaland Diaries. Other shows include:  Pygmalion (Henry Higgins), Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Jan), The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (Martin), Arsenic and Old Lace (Mortimer Brewster), Hapgood (Kerner), Deathtrap (Sydney), Art (Ivan), Stones in His Pockets (Jake), The Devil’s Disciple (Burgoyne), The Mousetrap (Christopher Wren), and The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay). Previously, Mr. Waite spent six seasons with the renowned Shaw Festival, played Enjolras in the Canadian premiere of Les Miserables, and guest-starred on all major U.S. and Canadian networks. Awards include the Critic’s Choice Award for Intimate Exchanges at Dallas Theater Center and a Best Actor nomination for his performance in the world premiere of The Coronation Voyage. He has directed several Canadian premieres and was the resident director for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘O’ in Las Vegas. A recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship for master actor/teachers, Mr. Waite holds a BFA in Acting and a MFA in Directing, and is currently an adjunct professor for both the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Theatre Education and BFA Theatre Program. His private students attend Juilliard, Yale, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Stella Adler School, as well as Stage Door, Interlochen, and Houston’s High School for the Performing Arts.