Gavin Donnellan - "Schroeder" This is Gavin's first production with Falderal. He graduated this spring from HSU with a B.A. in Scriptwriting and Musical Theater with a minor in History. This past year, he played Tom in the The Glass Menagerie, Stanley in Brighton Beach Memoirs, both at North Coast Repertory Theatre. He will portray Jud in Oklahoma! at Ferndale Repertory Theater in August. Gavin won the "Ten by Ten" national playwriting contest this past year for his 9-11 piece entitled "After the Dust Settles." He is a member of the BS players, HSU's live improvisational comedy team, and plans to relocate to Seattle or Chicago within the year to pursue improv professionally. Special thanks to Grumpy, Champ, Bedtime, Tenderheart, Wish, Goodluck, Charmander, and Dragonite. Thanks for the dance tips, Bedtime!       Gabriel Groom - "Charlie Brown" "Charlie Brown" marks Gabriel's fifth stage role with Falderal. He was last seen on stage as Hans in Falderal's December production of Moulin Scrooge. He is also happy to be once again playing opposite his girlfriend Elisa, who he met while performing the role of Nick in last year's Falderal production, Baby. In addition to performing, Gabriel is a prolific sound designer for local theatre. Recent sound design credits include Ferndale Rep's Honk!, Macbeth, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Currently, he is sound designer for FRT's Mr. Roberts. In his spare time, Gabriel enjoys staying home, mixing records, and writing music -- hobies which he hopes will someday land him a job in the commercial music industry. Gabriel graduated from HSU with a degree in art and currently works at his family's business, Bold Images. Special thanks to the two most important women in his life -- his mother and his girlfriend -- for conspiring to drag him back onto the stage one more time.       Heath Houghton - "Snoopy" This is Heath's first show with Falderal. He has been seen in Camelot (Mordred), Time Flies (Ives), The Complete Works.., and Frozen (Belt) in Humboldt. Other credits include: Chicago, Bedroom Farce, Hello Out There (Saroyan), Damn Yankees, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Assassins, Auto Du Fe (Williams), and Fire in the Mirrors (Devere-Smith). He will be seen this summer in Oklahoma! at Ferndale Repertory Theatre. Born in Seoul, Korea, he grew up in Michigan. He is currently pursuing his B.A. at HSU.       Leo Roehrich - "Linus" Leo graduated this May from HSU with two degrees: Musical Theater and History. This is his first comunity theater performance. At HSU, he originated (thanks, Heath) Cecil Q. Penguin in Frozen, Frederick in Next Year In Jerusalem, and his crowning achievement, Jimmy the grocery clerk in 10 Minute Musical. He has performed improvisational comedy at the very mobile Klamath River Room Stage with B.S. Players and at NCRT with and without R.A.T.S. Leo hopes to go to Chicago to learn more about improv from Improv Olympic and his friends at KOKO. First and foremost, Leo would like to thank Linus, who was a true inspiration to him since childhood, helping Leo to become, as his improv teammates say, "You're funny, five minutes later." He would also like to thank the 80's and my mom, Denise Smith, for rasing me; my brother, Luke; Gavin for dealing with my obnoxious habits; the B.S. Players; the rest of the Peanuts Gang (Jessi, Elisa, Gabe and Heath) for making the production fun; the musicians and crew that made this show possible; and my non-nuclear family for funding me. Also, thank you to Camio, Lobsters, Pokemon and the Care Bears.       Jessi Shieman - "Sally" Jessi has lived in Eureka all her life. She works at her dad's auto shop, Shieman Transmissions. This is her third Falderal production, the first two being A Wonderful Life and last year's Baby. She also appeared as Mrs. Webb in Teen Production of Our Town at Ferndale Repertory Theatre and in the dual roles of Clarius and Tom of Warwick in Camelot at Humboldt State University. She will be performing in the chorus of this summer's Oklahoma! at Ferndale Rep. She is a member of HSU's vocal jazz ensemble, Mad River Transit and sings with the University Singers. Jessi plays viola in her spare time.       Elisa Woodruff - "Lucy" Elisa is thrilled to be returning to the stage (after a year-long break) to portray her first comic strip character. Other highlights of her stage "career" include portrayals of a pinball wizard's alcoholic mother, a singing guardian angel (in two different shows!), a millionaire's secretary, and with Falderal, an infertile basketball coach. In February, Elisa directed Ferndale Repertory Theater's I love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! She has also served as musical director and vocal coach for such local favorites as Honk!, Annie, Grease, and How to Eat Like a Child. This summer, she looks forward to directing Oklahoma! at FRT. In December, Elisa will graduate from HSU with a BA in theater directing and hopes to go on to do "this sort of thing" for a living. Elisa loves the fact that theater has allowed her to view so many individual experiences of this thing we call "life." Thanks go out to Pam, Charity, and the BORDERS staff for their continual patience with her schedule, Lori Ann for being the left (and sometimes right) side of her brain, the Groom's for being her family-away-from-home, and especially to Gabriel - the love of her life and artistic soul-mate. She would like to dedicate this performance to her "little baby brother", Alan, who is in Africa on a research grant - changing the world, one person at a time.       Shirley Groom - Director Shirley's roles in musicals include Bloody Mary in South Pacific, Jack's Mother in Into The Woods, Princess Puffer in Drood, Nimue in Camelot, Mad Margaret in Ruddygore, Bell in the Fantasticks and the angel, Clara, in A Wonderful Life. Her operatic credits include Delilah in Samson and Delilah, Desdemona in Othello, Santuzza in Cavalaria Rusticana, Mere Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. Her most recent roles have been Arlene in Falderal's production of Baby and as MaraLee Jacobs in Moulin Scrooge this past Christmas. Besides producing Falderal shows, she is the CEO of Bold Images, the family's business. Shirley has been married to her college sweetheart, Larry for more than thirty years. Their daughter, Tiffany, (who many audience members will remember from past Falderal productions) moved to New York City and just graduated from college this spring! Shirley has enjoyed a wonderful experience directing son, Gabriel (Charlie Brown). He is an accomplished composer and he, Shirley, and Larry are planning to write an original musical set in Humboldt County. The person she thanks most, is her darling husband, for putting up with all this.       Angela Carbiener - Music Director / Keyboard This is Angie's sixth Falderal production, but her first time as Musical director. She was the Associate Musical Director for A Wonderful Life and has performed on stage and as a pianist for Falderal. Angie has been singing and playing piano since she was eight years old. Since then she has toured in ensembles around the country, as well as playing piano for her church worship team and Messiah School of the Arts. Angie is a second grade teacher at Morris School and eight grade girls' volleeyball coach at McKinleyville Middle School. Her latest project is promoting physical education and proper nutrition in elementary schools. She has two terrific and talented sons: Derrick and Dillon. She wants to thank her biggest fans, other than her family, the staff members, parents and students at Morris. "Thank you, Derrick and Dillon, for allowing me to spread my wings and try something new. I love you!"   Falderal hits a homer with 'Charlie Brown' Although the title character in Falderal Musical Theater's current production is famous for always "stricking out" (both at the plate and in life), this is one instance where he actually hits one out of the park. Or, in this case, out of the theater - Redwood Curtain Theatre in Eureka. That's where you can catch all of Charlie Brown's winning and loser moves, in the witty, family-friendly musical, "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown." This feel good summer show is chock full of "Peanuts," those classic, little-kid cartoon characters created by Charles Schultz - and, the Peanuts Gang is all here! You'll meet the chronically insecure round-headed kid himself (perfectly played by his almost mirror-image, Gabriel Groom). Groom's Charlie is uncannily attuned to every nuance of the growing up paranoia that any failure faced kid ever experienced. He captures every facet of Charlie Brown's innate charming clumsiness (and chronic fear), reacting accordingly: Trying uncessfully / naturally to fly a kite; or, screwing up his courage (in vain) to speak to his unseen romantic interest - the always unattainable Little Redheaded Girl. This reults in the shy, terrified Charlie putting a paper bag over his head, so that she can't see him. The experienced Carbiener also impresses as a first-time musical director for the show, backed by an excellent band made up of Elizabeth Olson on clarinet and flute; Michael Ruud on bass; Dillon Savage on percussion; and The Peanuts Gang on kazoo. Now, back to Donnellan as Schroeder. For someone as big and tall as this talented actor/singer is, he shomehow manages to make you believe that he's much smaller - and not just because director Shirley Groom and husband Larry have clevery over-size the colorful cartoon set to shrink their twenty-something actors. It's because the actor makes u sbelieve that (inside) he's a little kid. That's the simple key to the success and charm of this production: Because the actors believe, we believe. That's obviously understood by Leo Roehrich; he brings a sweet, natural depth to his portrayal of the intellectual, gentle Linus - a little boy who cannot function without the companionship of his beloved blanket. But, in spite of the taunting and testing of others (mostly by his mean sister Lucy), he still loves them. The final, and one of the most important members of the Peanuts Gang brought to life by the Falderal cast, is Charlie Brown's sassy pet beagle, Snoopy (Heath Houghton). Although he doesn't have much to say, when he does, he really commands your attention. Make no mistake, this is a cast of strong, accomplished singers who handle Clark M. Gesner's tricky, entertaining score with understanding and ease. With the poignant wit and wisdom of Schultz always beating at the heart of the material, these recognizable kids will bring a joyful smile to your face, and an unexpected "I remember" tear to your eye. Assisted by Dave Hamilton as her co-producer, director Groom's production is also well served by the considerable expertise of: Tim Moore (production stage manager/sound op); Michael Burkhart (lighting designer/light op); and assistant stage manger, Shirley Moulton. If you're looking for a terrific family musical to see, you've found it! Falderal's "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" is sheer delight for kids of all ages, but please leave the little ones under 5 at home. There's also Charlie's angest-ridden litle sister, Sally (portrayed with salty spunk by Jessi Shieman). Sally alternates coming to grips with her problems by either compulsively jumping rope, or by complaing about her unfair bad grades to an unseen grade school teacher. However, since she's constantly chaing her philophies to deal with situations, it's hard for her to relax. Another tense tyke is Lucy - the ultimate crab queen of the universe. Even she is suprised at the level of crabiness that she has attained, when she quizzes the rest of the gang about her behavior. Expertly captured by Elisa Woodruff, Lucy is the epitome of a cranky, meddling, self-righteous, power-mad ruler, who loves to give people unsolicited (or paid for) advice. Lucy particularly delights advising and/or tormenting Charlie Brown. Smugly basking in the glow of her own splendor, she can't understand why everyone doesn't adore her as much as she does. She certainly can't imagine why the object of her romantic fixation, Schroeder (Gavin Donnellan), worships beethoven - and, is much more intersested in playing the piano that he is in paying court to her. By the way, Donnellan does a fabulous job of miming his numbers, precisely matching the actual performance of the music by keyboard player, Angela Carbiener. Snoopy might suddenly leap up to go rabbit chasing with Sally; but, this pursuit never lasts very long since this opinionated, out-spoken canine would much prefer: a) Sleeping in his dog house; b) Sleeping on his dog house; c) "Flying" on top of his dog house, as he pretneds to be a World War I flying ace pursing Germany's infamous Red Baron; d) Suppertime - his favorite time - that is, when his forgetful master remembers to feed him. Houghton's apparently boundless energy and skill is downright remarkable, embodying Snoopy with some break-neck tumbling/dancing moves that are a cross between a crazed Gene Kelly and The Karate Kid. He sings and dances and roars in and out of the set as though it was a winding mountain road, and that he knew every curve. Houghton's super-charged Snoopy is a brilliant, funny and dazzling performance that must be seen to be believed! Shirley Groom's costumes for all of the well known charaters are righton; you know exactly who they are as soon as they hit the stage. It's hard to turn people into recognizable cartoon figures, but she's done it. The choreography for the show was created by Mary Ann Loch, and it couldn't be better. She has given the adult actors the perfect way to look like the little kids having a wonderful time playing during their musical numbers. The show continues through June 13th at the Redwood Curtain Theatre (on the north side of the Eureka Mall) with 8 p.m. performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Matinees are at 2 p.m. on June 6th, June 12th, and June 13th (closing show, and a special benefit performance for the Kiwanis Club; all tickets are $17.50). Tickets for all other performances are $17.50 for preferred seating and $12.50 for general, with a $2.50 discount for Saturday / Sunday matinees and Thursday evening performances. Doors open 30 minutes before curtain. Tickets for "Charlie Brown" are available at Bold Images in Arcata and at the door. For information, call 822-7910, or go to the website: www.falderal.org