Pioneer Theatre Company :: Cast Photos & Bios

	DON BURROUGHS* (The Old Man) is happy to return to the Pioneer family. Previously at PTC he played Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Most recently he played Elyot opposite his wife in Private Lives and wrote and performed music for As You Like It this summer at USF in Cedar City. He spent three years in the Las Vegas production of Mamma Mia! at Mandalay Bay. NY credits include Dessa Rose at Lincoln Center, Reunion at Theatre Row (cast album), and the First National Tour of The Full Monty. Additional credits include Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing (Cincinnati Playhouse); Tony in West Side Story (5^th Ave Theatre); Picasso in Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Denver Center); five seasons with Oregon Shakespeare Festival; three seasons with USF; and two seasons with California Shakespeare Festival. TV credits include All My Children and The Bronx Zoo. Love always to his wife Carol and daughter Linnea.
	BROCK HOLMAN (Farkas) is delighted to join the PTC cast of A Christmas Story. He recently played Motel in Fiddler on the Roof and Minstrel in Once Upon A Mattress at Bryant Intermediate where he attends school. Brock has also enjoyed roles in the film A Pioneer Miracle, and numerous radio and tv commercials. He’s excited to spend his Christmas season performing in A Christmas Story, one of our family favorites.
	ALEXIA “ALLY” IOANNIDES (Esther Jane) is thrilled to be making her debut at PTC! Ally has performed at the Egyptian Theatre in Charlie Brown (Lucy), Willy Wonka (Veruca Salt) and Once On This Island (Gossiper). Ally’s film highlights include The Alice Winter, The Wood and Park City Chamber and as well as ongoing work with an educational software company. Special thanks to her Mom.
	MASON JOHNSON (Ralphie) has had many adventures on the stage and in film, but his first professional theatrical experience was playing Winthrop in The Music Man at the Egyptian Theatre. He is thrilled to take on the role of Ralphie this year and to be part of a Pioneer Theatre production. He does not own a BB gun, nor does he sleep in bunny pajamas.
	JACK KOENIG* (Ralph) had the pleasure of working with Charles Morey in 2004 in Morey’s play Laughing Stock at Peterborough Players in New Hampshire. He returned to Peterborough this summer to play the demanding role of Heisenberg in Copenhagen. Prior to that, Jack was David Hyde Pierce’s standby in the Broadway revival of Accent on Youth, and played the Nazi major in the Off-Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy. He spent three years in The Lion King on Broadway, and received a Drama Desk Award as part of the Outstanding Ensemble of the Off-Broadway play Tabletop. Many regional credits, most recently A Moon for the Misbegotten (Virginia Stage). TV credits include Sex and the City and multiple appearances on all three Law & Order series. He is a member of The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) and of The Actors Center Company.
	CADEN MAYNES (Randy) has appeared in many productions at the Hale Centre Theatre, including Annie Get Your Gun, Phantom, and A Christmas Carol. His Children’s Theatre of Utah appearances include Curious George and Welcome Back, Ameila Bedelia. He was a top scorer in the Clogging Male Freestylists 2009 National West Competition, and has performed with the Salt Lake Children’s Choir for two years. This is his PTC debut.
	BYRON MELVILLE (Schwartz) is pleased to be involved in A Christmas Story. Productions Byron has been in include To See the Stars and The No Girls Allowed Club. Byron’s love for acting began with support from his fifth grade teacher Megan McGinley, who uses the arts to teach. Byron is grateful to his family for their support. Thank you to the director, Paul Barnes, for this opportunity.
	DYLAN REICHELT (School kid, u/s Randy/Flick) Dylan, a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Oakridge Elementary, is thrilled to be a part of his first professional play. He participated in plays at Oakridge and The Winner School. He first caught the acting bug when he and his family started going to plays to watch Kooper Campbell, a friend and local actor. Dylan loves football and was part of the Skyline Little League team this year. He dedicates his performance to his grandma who was recently admitted to a hospice facility. Thanks to Pioneer Theatre for this amazing opportunity.
	LIZZIE ROSEN (School Kid, u/s Esther Jane/Helen) is delighted to be onstage at PTC for the first time. She has appeared at the Desert Star Playhouse, Hale Centre Theatre, and Sandy Amphitheater, to name a few. Some of her favorite roles include Natalie in Miracle on 42nd Street, Jessie in Annie Get Your Gun, and Tessie in Annie, Jr. In her spare time she likes to dance, play the violin and babysit.
	LEO STILLINGER (School Kid, u/s Schwartz/Farkas) is 12 years old and a 6^th grader in the Open Classroom Charter School. He has attended Youth Theatre School at the U for three summers and has participated in numerous YTU productions including Honk Jr.! and Charlotte’s Web. He is also an avid soccer player and a budding pianist. A Christmas Story is his first professional theatre production.
	REGAN THOMPSON* (Miss Shields) is thrilled to be making her Pioneer Theatre debut. Off-Broadway credits include Theophilus North (Keen Company). Regional and other NY credits include Bad Dates (Hangar Theatre), The Elephant Man and The Crucible (Northern Stage), Crimes of the Heart (Playmakers Repertory Company), Theophilus North (Dorset Theatre Festival), As You Like It and Julius Caesar (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival), Vanities (Penguin Repertory Company), Déjà Vu (Caldwell Theatre Company), Dracula (Tennessee Repertory Theatre), Proof (Depot Theatre), I, Vermin (NYC Fringe Festival), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King John, and Julius Caesar (Alabama Shakespeare Festival). She has been seen on television in As the World Turns and Law & Order: SVU. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival P.A.T. Program/University of Alabama.
	JAXON M. WRIGHT (School Kid, u/s Ralphie) was introduced to theater by Meg McGinley at Indian Hills Elementary and performed in Zebra Swallowtail and Zinc at the Babcock Theatre. He has been a student of Youth Theatre at the University of Utah for the past 3 years and performed at Kingsbury Hall. He currently attends Wasatch Junior High.
	GAVIN YEHLE (Flick) has been in Youth Theatre at the U for four years and is currently part of Youth Theatre Conservatory’s production of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! He has also been in Inherit the Wind at the Grand Theatre, Zink the Zebra and Zebra Swallowtail. In his spare time, Gavin enjoys playing the saxophone, skiing, bicycling, cooking, building stuff, and likes math, isn’t that weird?
	ROBIN YOUNG (Helen) is ten years old. She was inspired to act when she saw Peter Pan here at Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre and thinks being cast in A Christmas Story is wonderful. She has participated in Youth Theatre at the U since she was four, and has performed in several of their shows. Some of her favorite roles include Lucy in The No Girls Allowed Club and Banderlog in The Jungle Book.
	GABRA ZACKMAN* (Mother) This is Gabra’s first show at Pioneer and she is delighted to be here! Regional credits include: Love Song (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); My Name is Asher Lev (Arden Theatre); Mary Zimmerman’s production of Metamorphoses (Hartford Stage and Kansas City Rep, and a new production at Florida Studio Theatre); Measure for Pleasure (also at FST); four seasons with The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival including Pericles, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, and Cymbeline; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Theatre, CT); and Taming of the Shrew (Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival). NY credits: On the Verge (John Houseman, NY and Edinburgh Fringe); Train Story by Adam Rapp; and new plays at Juilliard, Soho Rep, Lincoln Center Studio, The Harold Clurman, Premiere Stages and The Lake George Theatre Lab. She has been part of readings and workshops at Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop and EST. Gabra is a graduate of Northwestern University and earned her MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting in DC. She has been seen on TV in Law & Order and All My Children, and spends most of her spare time recording books on tape.