BIOS
PAUL ADAMS (Director, Counter Girls) is the Artistic Director and Founder of Emerging Artists Theatre Company which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary with a Spring Festival of twelve new one-act plays.

JANE ALTMAN has extensive experience in Classical, Contemporary and Musical Theatre. She appeared at Lincoln Center in John Ford Noonan’s THE YEAR THAT BOSTON WON THE PENNANT, Walnut Street Theatre as Mrs. Higgins in MY FAIR LADY, Fallsburgh Shakespeare Festival as Lady M., Titania and Gertrude in repertory, and the Provincetown Repertory in NYC in roles ranging from Mrs. Peachum in THE BEGGAR’S OPERA through the title role in Shaw’s CANDIDA to the mezzo roles in most of the Gilbert & Sullivan Repertoire and Mrs. Alving in Ibsen’s GHOSTS. Some other favorites are Mme. Rosepettle in Kopit’s OH DAD POOR DAD…, Judith Bliss in Noel Coward’s HAY FEVER, Mrs. Marshall in IRENE, Lady Bracknell in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, Romaine in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION and Lady Hunstanton in A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE. She has played roles on THE GUIDING LIGHT and ALL MY CHILDREN, is active in Non-Broadcast Narrations and Role-Play, and is adept at various voices and accents.

BLANCHE CHOLET earned her Equity card in 1950. Since then she has worked regionally and in New York. Shakespeare, Shaw, Synge, Moliere and Claudel have provided many wonderful roles; most recently, and surprisingly, KING LEAR in a staged reading for the King’s County Shakespeare Company. Ten years with the Phoenix Ensemble and ten years with the Emerging Artists Theatre company in NYC have been very rewarding as well.

VICTOR MANNING trained for the theatre at London's prestigious Central School of Drama where, remarkably, one of his classmates was a youngster who would later become the well-known director, Vivian Matalon. After graduating, Victor went the traditional British route of working in repertory theatre; Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham; with occasional forays into television, playing leading roles for the BBC and Independent TV. Unfortunately, family circumstances intruded to such an extent that he was forced to relinquish his stage career to open and manage the American branch of his family's business--textiles. Victor retired two years ago and has now returned to his first love--the theatre. Even more remarkably, in an encounter that seems almost too strange to be true, he met up again with Vivian Matalon when they were re-introduced by a mutual friend in the Woodstock Bread Alone cafe. ON THE HARMFULNESS OF TOBACCO marks Victor's first acting assignment in the area. Hopefully, he says, it won't be his last.

VIVIAN MATALON (Director, Harmfulness) has worked extensively in London's West End and on Broadway and regional theatres in the United States. His West End productions include SEASON OF GOODWILL with Dame Sybil Thorndike. THE CHINESE PRIME MINISTER with Dame Edith Evans, SUITE IN THREE KEYS by Noel Coward with Sir Noel, Irene Worth and Lili Palmer, BUS STOP with Lee Remick and Keir Dullea, I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER with Raymond Massey, THE GLASS MENAGERIE with Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies and Anna Massey, and AFTER THE RAIN with Alec McCowen. He was artistic director for three years at the prestigious Hampstead Theatre, where his productions included Clifford Odets's AWAKE AND SING! and the European premiere of SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS by Tennessee Williams. Broadway productions include AFTER THE RAIN with Alec McCowen and Nancy Marchand, NOEL COWARD IN TWO KEYS with Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and Anne Baxter, and BRIGADOON in its last Broadway revival. He received a Tony nomination for his direction of THE TAP DANCE KID and the Tony and Drama Desk awards for the 1980 revival of MORNINGS AT SEVEN.

JONATHAN REUNING (Playwright, Counter Girls) is a graduate of NYU where he studied acting and playwrighting. Emerging Artists Theatre has produced many of his plays including: WILD ECHINACEA, COUNTER GIRLS, CREW NECK, ALIEN CORN, RUSSIAN SUBMARINE, EARTH TO JAPONICA and a workshop of NIGHT OF THE BEANSNAKE. Jonathan's work has also been included at Lincoln Center Director's Lab 10th Anniversary series and taped for PSNBC. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

NICOLA SHEARA has performed on Broadway in GRAPES OF WRATH (TONY Award - Best Play); in the National Tour of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Award - Cleveland Critics Circle); Regional Theatre - NJ Shakespeare Festival COUNTRY GIRL - BEST ACTRESS Nomination); Actors Theatre of Louisville - CRIMES OF THE HEART (World Premiere with Kathy Bates); Missouri Repertory Theater - BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS (Best Leading Actress Nomination), and in regional theaters across the country from the Alley to the Walnut. Daytime serials include LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, LOVING etc. Ms. Sheara records books on tape, several of which may found on the shelves of the West Hurley Library.

KEN THOMPSON (Narrator) has appeared in the Hudson Valley area in Performing Arts of Woodstock's WENCESLAS SQUARE, ZOO STORY at UPAC's Back Alley Theatre, Shadowland's Social Security and THE MOUSETRAP; and Law & Order: SVU.