En Avant Playwrights

grieving for genevieve: company bios and production staff

Derin AltayDERIN ALTAY (Danni, until 7/28/05) Broadway credits include the title role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita and Julie in the revival of Show Boat, both directed by Harold Prince. She toured extensively throughout the United States, Scandinavia and Europe in Evita. Her favorite regional theatre roles include Desiree in A Little Night Music, Jenny in The Three Penny Opera, Dresser in Enter the Guardsman and Gretta in James Joyces The Dead. She can be seen in such films as Bruno, directed by Shirley MacLaine, and Bastard Out of Carolina, directed by Anjelica Huston. Some of her television credits include Norman Lears The Baxters, The Awakening Land, American Gothic, and As the World Turns. She occasionally joins her musical conductor husband in concerts. Derin has one son in the Navy and one stepson in show business.

PETER BLOCH (Director) won SpotlightOn's Best Director of a Short Play award for Ed Valentine's Snipe Hunt, part of "Monster in the Closet," which won the SpotlightOn Award for Best Evening of Short Plays. Among his other directing credits are Bent, Sophistry, Beyond Therapy, and The Space Between Heartbeats. For En Avant, he has directed Kathleen Warnock's Rocks in the Bed, A Bushel of Crabs, Not at Home and Tom Dillehay's Blue Glass, Tina Howe's Divine Fallacy, David Marrero's Glass Highways and Dan Shore's Travel. He directed "Audience Favorites" Mrs. B. and I'm Gonna Run Away at the Turnip Theater Festival, and won a directing award from the Double Image Theater for Tony Howarth's Out of the Blue. He directed Kathleen Warnock's The Space Between Heartbeats at the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival. Peter is a Director in Residence at the National Arts Club and in the T. Schreiber Studio directors' unit. As an actor, he has appeared Off- and Off-Off-Broadway, in regional theater and in films. He is also an acting teacher. He is a member of the Mirror Repertory Company.

Jo Anne BonnJO ANNE BONN (Genevieve) Credits include Love Letters opposite Cliff Robertson, The VIPs opposite Cliff Robertson, The Glass Managerie at the National Arts Club, There Must Be A Pony opposite Joan Hackett, Versus the IRS opposite Jean Smart, The Elephant Man, The Night of the Iguana at the Comedy Club, The Octette Bridge Club at The Edinburgh Festival, The Cherry Orchard, Tartuffe at Stages Theatre, A Delicate Balance at Stages Theatre, The Miracle Worker at The Brick Church, The Betrothal at The National Arts Club, Black Comedy and And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little at the Sharon Playhouse. She has played several parts in the "Food For Thought" readings series.

Meghan CaryMEGHAN CARY (Danni after 7/31/05) is excited (and nervous!) to be jumping into Kathleen Warnock's latest creation mid-stream. You may have seen Meghan in Kathleen's "Bushel of Crabs" or "The Audience". She has originated roles in numerous other NYC and regional premiere's including Katie Bell in Horton Foote's "Talking Pictures". Other roles include: Claire in "Proof", Helena in "Midsummer Night's Dream", Aemelia in "Othello", Vivie in "Mrs Warren's Profession", Catherine in "The Foreigner" and Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors". Meghan earned her MFA in acting at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory and her BA at Duke University. She is a founding member of the NJ based Actor's Shakespeare Company. When not acting, Meghan tours the country as a performing songwriter. She recently released her third CD of original music, "Live at Your House". For more info or to hear her music, please log on to www.meghancary.com. A voice over and on-camera commercial actress, if you havenft caught her singing her stories or bringing Willfs words to life, you have probably seen or heard Meghan in your living room selling you everything from Cambell's soup to cellular service.

Karen StanionKAREN STANION (Delilah) is thrilled to be part of this production and most recently played the role of Amy in Mark Finley's The Mermaid with TOSOS2. Some of Karen's other favorite roles include Kiki Whitney Preston in the Wings theatre production of African Nights, Sophia in Tango Masculino (2002 OOBR award) at Wings, Ruthie in Baby Steps at Theatre Row, the Swing in The Gay Naked Play with Emerging Artists, and Hannah in Come Light the Menorah with the 4th Unity at the Bank Street theatre. Film roles include, Lisa, in the soon to be released independent feature Deadly Obsessions and Honey Ganes in the all improvised mockumentary UFO Fever. You can see Karen as Lisa the teenage prostitute in Wicked City, which recently premiered on the Independent Film Channel. Karen wishes to dedicate her performance to her gorgeous fiancée.

Susan Barnes WalkerSUSAN BARNES WALKER (Angel) is thrilled to finally be in a Kathleen Warnock play, and to work yet again with another angel, Peter Bloch. Peter has shepherded her through numerous productions, including the NYC premiere of Tina Howe's The Divine Fallacy and Hunter's Tina Howe Tribute this past May; the title roles in Mrs. B. (Honorable Mention, Best Actress, 2004 Turnip Festival) and The First Lady, both wrought by another brilliant student of Miss Howe, Ed Valentine; and Starved For Purple for The Mirror Repertory Company in last year's Samuel French One-Act Festival. Other credits include an assortment of roles in both The Fairy Playz (2004 SpotlightOn Award, Best Actress) and a U.S. tour of The Rosa Parks Story; Volumnia in CORIOLANUS and The Duchess of York in RICHARD OF YORK (York Shakespeare Company); etc., which can be found at www.therightcast.com/act/susanbarneswalker. She dedicates this performance to her own beautiful mother.

KATHLEEN WARNOCK (playwright) is a founding member of En Avant, which has produced her plays Not at Home, Rocks in the Bed and A Bushel of Crabs. She is also a member playright of TOSOS2 Theater (NY) which presented a staged reading of The Audience in May 2005. Her other plays include The Space Between Heartbeats (HomoGenius 2002; Short & Girlie, London, 2004), I'm Gonna Run Away (winner, Audience Favorite, Turnip Theater Festival, NY), To the Top (winner, South Carolina Playwrights Festival, Trustus Theater). Rocks in the Bed (Dramatic Publishing) and Around the Horn (New Work from the 2004 Festival) are published in anthologies. Some of her other plays have been performed recently in New York, Provincetown, Tampa, Boiling Springs, NC, Washington, D.C., and Dublin, GA. Forthcoming productions are in San Francisco and Somerville, MA. She is a winner of the John Golden Award at Hunter College. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

production staff

SPECIAL THANKS TO: John Chatterton, Bob Ost & TRU, Judd Hollander, Jack Aponte, Tina Howe, Jonathan Kalb, Donna J. Bungo, Bettie Haigler, Kevin Brofsky, Vanda, Doric Wilson, Mark Finley, Barry Childs, Mary Louise Mooney & the other members of the TOSOS2 Theater.