Half Moon Theatre: Almost, Maine
Credit: Amy Lemon Olson
PAUL KASSEL (Director)
Paul Kassel (AEA, SAG) is currently Associate Professor and Head of Performance in the Department of Theatre Arts at SUNY New Paltz. Paul has played lead or supporting roles—Off-Broadway: Olympus on My Mind, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; Off-off B’way: Three Men on a Horse, Chaturanga, Starblast! Regional/Guest Artist: Our Town, Urinetown, How I Learned to Drive, Dinner with Friends, Wit, Richard III, The Kentucky Cycle. In addition to his professional performing and directing credits, he also has had published: Acting—An Introduction to the Art and Craft of Playing (Allyn & Bacon, 2006). “The Four Fundamental Verbs” (Theatre Topics), “Random Acts” in Method Acting Reconsidered (St. Martin’s Press). Current project: “Mirror Neurons and the Method of Physical Actions” for EvoS–the journal of Evolutionary Studies. Paul received his M.F.A from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Professional Actor Training. Paul appeared earlier this year in Half Moon Theatre’s Seven Stories.
DONALD KIMMEL
Donald Kimmel began his acting career at the age of 4, playing a Munchkin in THE WIZARD OF OZ. By the age of 17 he had performed over 30 roles when he was cast as “Billy Harris” in the 20th Century Fox film TAPS with George C. Scott, Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, and Timothy Hutton. Donald has since worked extensively in theatre, film, and television in New York, Los Angeles, across the USA and abroad. Favorite roles include ‘Petruchio’ in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, ‘Orlando’ in AS YOU LIKE IT, ‘Friar Lawrence’ in ROMEO & JULIET, ‘Master Ford’ in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, ‘Malvolio’ in 12TH NIGHT, ‘Charles’ in BLITHE SPIRIT, ‘McKeever’ in MOONSHINE, ‘John Procter’ in THE CRUCIBLE, and ‘Lady Bracknell’ in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. FILM: TAPS, LITTLE KINGS, RUBOUT, DEATH.COM, AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, CHANCE ENCOUNTER, AUGUST. TV: ALL MY CHILDREN, MY DAYS AS A YOUNGLING, and commercial spots for MTV-PUNK’D, NJ LOTTERY, AUDI INTERNATIONAL, and AUDI USA.
AMY LEMON OLSON
Amy Lemon Olson has acted on stage in New York and Los Angeles in many different roles and theatre companies. Her favorites were playing Joanna in Lanford Wilson’s “Home Free” Off- Broadway and Jean in “The Early Girl” by Caroline Kava at the Skylight Theatre in LA, for which she won a Drama-Logue Award. She appeared on television in the comedy series “Life Goes On” and can be seen on film falling in love with an alien in “The Arrival.” She suggests you can miss this film and still have lived a full life. She trained with Uta Hagen, Geraldine Page, Milton Katselas, Susan Batson and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Amy is on the board and executive committee for The Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Poughkeepsie and is the advisor for the Youth Council for the Center. She is also on the Reader Advisory Board for the Poughkeepsie Journal. Her very favorite role in life is acting like a wife and mother.
GEOFF TARSON (Artistic Director)
Geoff Tarson’s regional theatre credits include Indiana Rep., Bay Street Theatre Festival, Penguin Rep. and NYC’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, of which he is a member. Geoff has performed Improv comedy for almost twenty years and has taught improvisation in New York and Los Angeles. After several years as a working television writer in Hollywood on such shows as Suddenly Susan, Half & Half and That’s So Raven, Geoff is thrilled to be back on the East coast and working with the talented performers at Half Moon Theatre. Previous Half Moon Theatre shows include Three Viewings and Little Red Riding Hood.
SHONA TUCKER
Shona Tucker recently performed in “Eclipsed” at Yale Repertory Theatre. She was a three-year company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, acting in such plays as Fences, A Midsummer Night¹s Dream, Gem of the Ocean and Bus Stop. Her Off Broadway theater credits include: New York Theater Workshop, The Actors Center, Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, The Public Theater, Circle in the Square, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and La MaMa, ETC. She has worked at numerous regional theaters including Williamstown Theater Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Stageworks/Hudson, Arena Stage, The Acting Company, and American Conservatory Theater. She can be seen in the upcoming television show, Lights Out”, a movie short, “North Country” and the short WALK THE FISH which in the feature film Cosmopolitan. Other television and film credits include: Preaching to the Choir: On the One, Third Watch, New York Undercover, Law and Order, One Life to Live, and Trinity. Ms. Tucker is the Acting Professor at Vassar College. A Schomburg Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, Shona earned a BS from Northwestern University and MFA in Acting at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.