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THE ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

Lora Lee Ecobelli is a classically trained actress, writer, teacher and the Artistic Director of Blue Horse Repertory Company. Co-writer and Producer with Brother Tom Ecobelli of the feature film "Chickadee," starring Oscar and Emmy winning actors Chris Cooper, Julie Kavner, Ellen Burstyn and International Italian star Raoul Bova. Broadway & Off-Broadway credits include: A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Trojan Woman, Antigone, Aurora Leigh, Hamlet.(*Winner of the Harold Clurman award for best leading actress for The Vise). Regional: The Cherry Orchard, Blithe Spirit, On Golden Pond, The Three Sisters, The Seagull, Our Town, A Street Car Named Desire, Spoon River Anthology, Talking With...  Television: Elmoplooza, MTV, Comedy Central, Upright Citizens Brigade. Film: The Lady of Larkspur Lotion,  Judy Berlin,  The Abolitionists, Speechless, The Veil, Jimmy's Cafe, Motion Sick, Dating a Zombie. *Member Actors Equity,   SAG-AFTRA , Member Hudson Air Radio Theatre.

Peggity Price has worked extensively in television and stage, both on and off-Broadway and in regional theatres for over 30 years.  She has performed in Australia and Poland and has directed plays for the Barter Theatre and the apprentice company for the Humana New Play Festival at THE ACTORS THEATRE OF LOUISVILLE.  Ms. Price, co-founder and artistic director of the Blue Horse Repertory Company,  has directed many shows for Blue Horse Rep over the years including: A Christmas Carol, Alms for the Middle Class, Small Potatoe's, The Foot Shooters and most recently The Stronger at Arts On the Lake.*Member actors Equity, SAG-AFTRA.

 COMPANY MEMBERS

PEGGITY PRICE

LORA LEE ECOBELLI

Sarah-Jane Fawcett performs and teaches, and combines the two whenever she can. She has performed at Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts (Colorado), Cohoes Music Hall, Saratoga Shakespeare, and Schenectady Light Opera. At local theatre camps and The King’s Dancers, she teaches acting and musical theatre. She received her BA in musical theatre from Anderson University, and completed internships at Fulton Theatre and Saratoga Shakespeare. Favorite credits include Cosette (Les Miserables), Pinkalicious (Pinkalicious), and, with Blue Horse Repertory Company, Juliet (Bard at the Lake). EMC and Irene Ryan nominee.

 

Nancy Rothman (AEA, SAG-AFTRA)is happy to be working with Blue Horse Repertory. She has acted on stages in NYC, regionally and abroad, as well as on film, television and radio. Trained at Emerson College, Harvard University, NYU in Paris and by many fine teachers, some of her past credits include Tribe, Antigone, The Lover, The Ruffian on the Stair,On The Line, Look Back In Anger, The Letters of Emily Dickinson, Lysistrata, The Puppetmaster of Lodz, 900 Dreams, Chopin and Candlelight, Three Viewings, Our Town, Eurydice, The Cherry Orchard, Long Ago and Far Away and The Lady of Larkspur Lotion. A founding member of Walking The Dog Theater's Improv Ensemble, OFF LEASH, and of Hudson Air Radio Theatre, she values laughter and mprovisation as meditation practices.

James Occhino is an actor, writer and producer. His early career began in improvisational theater and during a four year stay in London, he gravitated toward the classics, playing Horner in The Country Wife and Orlando in the Mercury Theater’s production of As You Like It. He taught stage combat for years both abroad and in Los Angeles where, in addition to taking on the challenges of Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet at ACT Tucson he did a variety of guest appearances on sit-coms and episodic TV dramas. Currently, in addition to voiceover work, he enjoys test driving new plays in staged readings as well as creating his own characters such as the slightly unhinged Seamus McNulty from last year’s End Times Salon at the Ancram Opera House. He is honored to be part of Blue Horse Rep and grateful for the chance it gave him to cut loose in Tennessee Williams’ The Lady of Larkspur Lotion. There’s something about a southern accent that just makes everything that much more fun! AEA & SAG/AFTRA and member of Hudson Air Radio Theatre.

Judy Allen has been a professional actress since the late 60's, a member of LaMaMa Plexus and veteran of regional theatre, summer stock and off & off-off-Broadway. She is one of the original founding members of The Blue Horse Rep having performed in many shows though out the years including A Christmas Carol, Dancing at Lughnasa, Spoon River Anthology, Bard at The Lake, In The Dead End and most recently; A Perfect Analysis of Given by a Parrot. Favorite roles include Sister Mary Ignatius, Grandma in The American Dream and Mother of the Bride in Plaza Suite. Judy is also the Artistic Director of Apple Tree Productions, a children's theatre company. Member Actors Equity*.

 

Elizabeth Breslin is a graduate of Kent State University with a BS degree in Therapeutic Recreation. She also holds a degree from the Dell’Arte School of Mime and Comedy (now the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theater) in Blue Lake, CA. She toured professionally with the Hippodrome State Theater in Gainesville, FL. for an Arts-in-Education program. She is currently on the Artist Roster for ArtsWestchester. Elizabeth conducts theater residencies in schools and community agencies throughout Westchester County NY., and specializes in working with individuals having special needs . She was on the instructional staff at the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts for 10 years, teaching classes in theater arts. She is currently a member of Apple Tree Productions and the Blue Horse Rep.

Roger Hendricks Simon is a graduate and founding member of Robert Brustein's Yale Repertory Company, Roger went on to direct and act for Joe Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, and also London's Royal Court Theatre, Dublin's Abbey Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, La Mama, Roundabout, Juilliard Opera, Los Angeles Theatre Center, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Folger Shakespeare Group, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, PBS, Metromedia and BBC-TV, and National Public Radio. Elected to Notable Names in American Theatre, Roger has directed in London, New York and international festival premieres by Tennessee Williams, Sam Shepard, David Hare, Michael Weller, John Guare, Terrence McNally, Lanford Wilson, Israel Horowitz, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Megan Terry and William Saroyan. He has directed John Lithgow, John Travolta, James Earl Jones, James Woods, Tovah Feldshuh, Samuel L. Jackson, Dick Shawn and Judith Ivey to name but a few. Roger has directed plays and taught all aspects of communications in India, Pakistan, Iran, Nigeria, South Africa and throughout Europe for the U.S.I.A. and U.S. State Department. In the United States he has taught at UCLA, Columbia University, Yale University, N.Y.U., Juilliard, Brooklyn College. Roger is the founding artistic director for both The Simon Studio. As an actor he recently played a role based on Hank Greenberg of AIG in Oliver Stone's WALL STREET2 opposite Michael Douglas and played the lead roles in the critically acclaimed indie feature THE SUBLET, in the film short JIMMY'S CAFE (Newport Beach Film Festival) and currently co-produces, directs and acts in THE SIMON STUDIO and Sarah Levine Simon's musical webseries BREAD TODAY! AEA & SAG/AFTRA.

Andrew Joffe : HRC: Boss; OCP: The Bonus Room; BTF: Made in the Berkshires, Moonchildren; New Stage Theatre: Blood Sky, Trial of FDR, Fahrenheit 451, The Dock Brief; A Thousand Clowns; Castle Hill Theatre: And Then There Were None, family theater; Mixed Company: April in Paris; Aglet Theater: Other People’s Money, Sin, Sylvia, The Waverly Gallery, Don’t Blame Me: I Voted For Helen Gahagan Douglas, The Dining Room, The Art of Dining, That Championship Season, Dance of Death, Chapter Two. Also: playwright, director, award-winning opera librettist and poet. Member of Hudson Air Radio Theatre.

Gayle Hudson  has acted with the Berkshire Theater Festival, Boston’s Chamber Rep, Seattle Rep’s Second Stage, Blueberry Pond Theater, Bluestone Actors Project and Summerfun Theater in Montclair, NJ.  She teaches, coaches and directs theater with children, youth and adults.  Gayle is published with Dramatic Publishing Company and has enjoyed numerous productions of her original musicals written with young people and recognized composers from the Hudson Valley.  A member of Actors Equity Association, the American Association of Theater Education and The Dramatists Guild, Gayle lives in Waccabuc, NY. AEA

James Shearwood was a member of the Theatre Faculty of Sarah Lawrence College for 18 years. Previously he was the Director of the Theatre Program at Manhattanville College and on the Faculty of the New School for Social Research in NYC. He was a founding Artist-Coordinator of the ground-breaking Project CREATE in Connecticut and developed arts-in-education workshops for the Department of Education in Puerto Rico. He received a B.A. from Amherst College; was an MCA Fellow at Smith College, where he received an M.A., and took further study at the University of Paris.As a writer, he has had plays produced at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in NYC, the Yale Cabaret in New Haven, The American Center in Paris and at Tulane University, Amherst College, Smith College and Howard University. He has created original material for multiple productions at Sarah Lawrence and Manhattanville Colleges. As an actor, he worked in NYC at the New Federal Theatre, Amas Rep, Women's Interart, NY Stageworks, Ensemble Studio Theatre and Playwrights Horizons. He was a member of the improvisational NY Team for Theatresports for two years and studied with Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, William Hickey and Wynn Handman. As a Theatre Director, he has mounted original productions at the Fleetwood Stage in New Rochelle and a wide range of classics at Sarah Lawrence and Manhattanville Colleges. At Arts on the Lake he has inaugurated the modern vaudeville of Open Mouth, recreated the lives of Kent residents in Kent Stories and, from time to time, created and performed The Further Adventures of Ralph. He is currently Executive Director of Theatre programing at Arts On The Lake. AEA & SAG/AFTRA.

 

Judy Landers is the Director of Programming and Marketing for the Acting School. A lifelong teacher, Judy recently retired as a Professor Emeritus at the Sage Colleges. She was a Full Professor in the Management Department and chaired the Department for more than 20 years. Judy's retirement from the College has enabled her to explore a new passion: acting and the theater. She has been a member of Blue Horse Repertory's "Discover the Actor Inside" since 2012 and has now taken over the administrative and marketing functions for the class. She has made professional appearances in "8 The Play," "The Vagina Monologues," as Agnes in "Agnes' Birthday" and as Eleanor Roosevelt and Coco Chanel in two versions of a "Famous Ladies Tea." She has also appeared in several independent films including "BRINK," "Future Stakes," and "Nyles." Judy's most recent role was Cammie Carpenter in "Man From Nebraska" at Albany Civic Theater.

 

Byron Nilsson has been writing about theater, music, dance, movies, restaurants, and more since 1984 for such area publications as Metroland, the Schenectady Gazette, the Albany Times-Union, the Albany Knickerbocker News, and Capital Region magazine. He also works professionally as an actor, including a decade with the NYS Theatre Institute, and as a playwright, with works performed in Manhattan at Ensemble Studio Theatre and the NY Fringe Festival. He is a member of Actors Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and the Dramatists Guild, and his blog Words and Music features writings old and new at banilsson.blogspot.com. Member of Hudson Air Radio Theatre.

 

 

Kim Sykes has performed for the Actors Shakespeare Company, Crossroad Theatre, La Mama and The Actor's Theater of Louisville, New York Theater Workshop and Stageworks, Hudson. She was a member of the First Amendment Comedy and Improvisational Company. Film credits include the features, Marcy, Coming Up Roses, with Bernadette Peters; the Sundance Independent film, Pariah; Herman USA and The Crow For television she has appeared on Person of Interest for CBS, the Unusuals; Law and Order; Law and Order SVU; The West Wing; Spin City. Kim is also a writer, having published several short stories for Akashic Books. She has also written for the stage. Her play Sex and Commerce was performed for Stageworks, Hudson in their 2012 Play by Play One Act Festival. AEA & SAG/AFTRA.

 

Eddie Allen (AEA, SAG-AFTRA) has had the good fortune of performing in theatre, film and television.  He co-wrote and performed Finding Fathers at Walking the Dog Theater with Rob Leo Roy.  Theatre credits include Chekhovek (Off-Broadway), Editor Webb in Our Town, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (Walking the Dog) and One on One (StageWorks/Proctors Theater).  Founding member of Off Leash, an improv group in NY and also a founding member of The Spolin Players in LA.   Film: Love Orchard with Bruce Dern & Kristanna Loken, Mumford, Monolith....  Television: Blue Bloods, PanAm, Bones, Seinfeld. Other credentials include: Directed Chatham High School Musicals The Sound of Music & Grease. Drama Club advisor at Chatham High School.Taught acting for commercials at Weist-Barron School in NYC. Taught acting and improvisation at Highland Hall Waldorf School in California.Numerous workshops.

 

 

Melissa Rao (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with Blue Horse Repertory Company! Credits include: Gypsy (Wardrobe, Capital Repertory Theatre), Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends her Life Tonight (2nd Production Assistant, WAM Theatre), Mac-Haydn Theatre 2013 Season (Wardrobe), The Cherry Orchard (Stage Manager, Walking the Dog Theatre), Hair (Wardrobe, Cohoes Music Hall), Menopause the Musical (Wardrobe, Charles R. Wood Theatre), Merchant of Venice (Ensemble/Intern, Saratoga Shakespeare Company), HamletIRAN (Bernardo/Guildenstern, Siena College).

Ed Kenney is a Hollywood Veteran and a long time member of Blue Horse Rep. He has performed in numerous film and television roles in his long career including staring roles in Dallas and Battlestar Galatica. Recent Blue Horse Rep roles include Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Mr. Lamb In The Dead, The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol and Spoon River Anthology.

Jeff Green is a long time member of Blue Horse Rep. He has stage managed and performed in numerous productions over the years. Recent roles include: Welcome to The Moon, A Tennessee Night, Tennessee at The Farm, In The Dead End and Spoon River Anthology. He is also a lighting designer and technical director.

 

Paul Coleman has appeared in dozens of shows across the Hudson Valley. Favorite roles include, Archibald in "The Secret Garden" and Selsdon in "Noises Off." His play, The Foot Shooters, had its off-off-Broadway debut in 2011. Paul is also the author of twelve books and has appeared nationally on shows such as "Oprah" and "Today." He and his wife Jody have three children.

Fred Rueck is from Brewster, NY; he currently resides in Patterson. Last Spring, Fred was in an extremely well-received run of Ray Cooney's farce, Run For Your Wife, having played the role of "Stanley". He is an accomplished actor, singer and has done voiceover work for the video game industry. Favorite roles include Claude [Hair], Gerry [Dancing At Lughnasa], Jack [Untethered] (here at A.O.T.L.), Perchik [Fiddler On The Roof], Faith [The Graveyard Shift] and Jean [in August Strindberg's Miss Julie].

Sam Reilly is a Native of Chatham NY, Sam holds a BFA from Purchase College and has worked on and off stage throughout Hudson Valley. Some of Sam’s Recent stage credits include: How The Other Half Loves (Tom), MY Cousin Rachel (James), School Game (mark), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 

(Leaf), Grapes of Wrath (Al). 

 

David Smilow is an Ulster County-based actor and writer.  Locally, he has appeared in such diverse productions as “Dog Stories” at the late Stageworks Hudson, “Good People” with Performing Arts of Woodstock, “Ladies Man” and “Bill W. and Dr. Bob” at Shadowland Theatre, and “The Tavern” at Bridge Street Theatre, while in New York City, he’s performed in productions ranging from Don DeLillo’s “Valparaiso” to Arthur Miller’s “The Price” and Paul Zimet’s “Marcellus Shale.”  David is a long-time member of Actors & Writers, a readers’ theater company also based in Ulster County, with whom he has appeared in countless staged readings over twenty-five-plus years, directed, and contributed original material as a playwright. David’s been a professional writer since 1975, having written for film, stage and television.  His TV work – specifically in daytime drama, where he served as a staff writer on “One Life to Live,” “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns” - has garnered two Emmys and three Writers Guild Awards, while his short plays have received productions literally across the globe.  His most recent writing a project, a new play titled “What You’ve Brought” will have its staged reading premier next month at Unison in New Paltz.

Jody Satriani -Jody is a stage, musical theatre and improvisational actor and has performed on Long Island, NYC, and internationally butt mainly in the Hudson Valley and surrounding area. She also is an award winning playwright. Jody has been involved in many productions through the years such as Good People (Kate), Clybourne Park (Francine/Lena), Doubt a Parable (Mrs. Muller), Broken Glass (Margaret), The Water Engine (Rita), Going to St Ives (May N’Kame) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Calpurnia). Her favorite musical theatre rolls are:  Liz (pop!) the merry murderess in Chicago the Musical, Sarah’s Friend in Ragtime the Musical, Mable in the Pajama Game and Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Solo performances include her interpretation of Savage/Love by Sam Shepard/J. Chaikin and Ruby in Ty Adam’s The Chain Thief.  Jody has done various short and industrial film pieces and voice acting projects; she has performed locally and internationally as a member of the Hudson River Playback Theatre improvisational group.   

Doris M Seipel, Doris has been on stage for over 40 years with Glens Falls Community Theater and Touring Groups  that created original works, did new things with old works and children’s stories: Kaleidoscope, a local Multi-media group and  a Syracuse Repertory Group that did one-acts and original plays,  has done Regional Theater and recently, film. 

 

Theater Education:  Numerous workshops, seminars, scene study  and classes over the years, Blue Horse Repertory Acting Classes, John Houser Film Workshops, Coaching and Voice lessons. 

Monica Brady-Born in Northern Ireland, Monica made her way to New York City where she worked as a platform artist For Vidal Sassoon and Bumble and bumble. While living in Manhattan she studied acting at the Irish Arts Center and HB Studio. After moving to the Capital District with her husband and now three sons, she continues to hone her craft under Lora Lee Ecobelli. Monica is honored and delighted to be performing with Blue Horse Repertory Theater.

 

In her free time, Monica enjoys singing, playing the Irish fiddle and making musical sounds with various other instruments. She also enjoys an active lifestyle including strength and circuit training.

 

Theater credits include: Dancing at Lughnasa, Don't Iron While The Strike Is Hot, Moon for the Misbegotten, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Outside Mullingar, Scrooge and Son, and The Weir.

 

Film Credits include: Lady of Larkspur Lotion

Olga N. Bogdanova is a Russian-born classically-trained actress, dancer and model with a passion for ballet and car racing. Olga got her first role in a play while still attending a kindergarten. Being in love with the stage, she didn't miss a single theatre production that was directed in her school, and was also cast for several roles in short student films. At the age of four Olga joined a ballet studio and never stopped dancing ever since. Being full-time college student didn't stop her from continuing to pursue a performing career, and in 1999 Olga has joined Primadonna Dance Company and soon became a Principal Dancer with them. In 2004 Olga came to the United States for the first time. Her first theatre role in America was Time Dervish in rock-opera "Rock-On, Genghis Khan!" by Carli and Tim Castellani. In 2009 Olga joined Libertina Modern Dance Company. As a Principal Dancer for the Company, she has performed on multiple stages through United States and abroad. In 2013 Olga has decided to concentrate more on her acting career and started taking classes from Lora Lee Ecobelli at Blue Horse Repertory Theatre Adult Acting School. She has also started working with dialect/accent modification trainer, auditioning for multiple projects and taking on every challenging role that would come her way. Just since March 2013 Olga has already starred in a commercial for The Hudson Valley Renegades and has been featured in several independent films. She will be featured in "Future Stakes" (Out of Mind Productions), "Things Unseen” (Three View Films), “Spit Boys” (B&C Studios) and “Eye of Hell” (E&H Productions

Ben is thrilled to be performing with Blue Horse Repertory Theater.  Favorite previous performances include M. Butterfly (Song Liling); The Lady’s Not For Burning (Tyson), Rashomon (Tajomaru), It’s A Wonderful Life (George Bailey), and The 39 Steps (Clown 2). Many thanks to Lora Lee Ecobelli for being such a wonderful collaborator and mentor; much love to his family, especially his dearest confidant and love, Book.

John Noble is pleased to be making his first appearance with the Bluehorse Repertory Theater. A recent student of Lora Lee’s, acting has been John’s life long avocation.  Since his retirement in 2001 he has pursued it with great passion having appeared at Capitol Rep, Cohoes Music Hall, The Theatre Barn, Machaydn , Saratoga Shakespeare, Schenectady Civic, The Schenectady Theater for Children, Theater Voices and Curtain Call Theatre. Favorite roles include Da (Da),  On Golden Pond  (Norman) and Anything Goes (Moonface Martin).  He will next be seen as Ben, the gardener, in The Theater Institute at Sage’s presentation of “The Secret Garden.”

 Stephen Jones has worked in all areas of theatre from writing to producing with an emphasis in set building. Having relocated to the hudson valley he has rekindled  his passion for acting. he has worked extensively with area companies. Steven recently he  played the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder's" the Long Christmas Dinner" and Pullman Car Hiawatha with Kaaterskill  Actor's Theatre, Clarence in It's A Wonderful Life  with the STS Playhouse, in Clybourne Park with the Performing Arts of Woodstock, in Grinder's  Stand with Bridge Street Theatre and in Brecht's The informer as the father with Blue Horse Rep and many other venues and roles in the area. 

Ali Doggette couldn’t be more excited to work with the Blue Horse Repertory Company! Ali holds a BA in Theatre Studies with a minor in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University and is a proud alumni of the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Some of her most recent credits include The Long Christmas Dinner (Leonora) with the Kaaterskill Actors Theater and The Tavern (Virginia) Coney Island (Patsy) at Bridge St. Theatre. Look out for Ali as the Russian Home-Health-Aid, Veronica, in Welcome Home Season 2 (Amazon Prime)!

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