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Return to Always...Patsy Cline
 Ted Swindley (Author and Original Director) has directed and/or produced over 200 plays for over 20 years. Some of his outstanding directorial credits include world premieres, classics and musicals including Carnal Knowledge, Pacific Overtures, Follies and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, along with rotating repertory projects such as Havel’s The Memorandum with Giradoux’s The Madwoman of Chaillot, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Les Liaisons Dangereuses with The Importance of Being Earnest. Ted was named to Esquire magazine’s register of Americans for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Letters, and was featured in Southern Living Magazine. In 2007 he was a keynote speaker at the Southwestern Theatre Conference. He was also the recipient of the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for outstanding direction and nominated for the Los Angeles Critics Award for his work at the Pasadena Playhouse. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Stages Repertory Theatre, the second largest theatre in Houston, Texas. There he implemented such diverse programming as the Texas Playwrights Festival, for which he won national recognition in 1986 from the Wall Street Journal and Backstage Magazine. Best known for creating the hit musical Always…Patsy Cline, which was one of the top ten shows produced across the country in 1998, he has also directed in over 60 theatres. The Honky Tonk Angels is his latest hit, and he has completed the trilogy The Honky Tonk Angels Holiday Spectacular and Bubba’s Revenge, (which all can be done independently of each other). He has just recently premiered his latest work, Bachelor Pad in New York City, and completed a Southern adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest, entitled The Importance of Bein’ Earnest, and a play, Stories My Grandmother Told Me, which had it’s premiere in Kansas City, MO, January 2008. He is an active member of the Dramatists Guild and The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and is a member of the Playwrights/Directors Workshop at the famed Actors Studio in New York City.
 Richard Hopkins (Artistic Director) Artistic Director of Florida Studio Theatre since 1980, Richard Hopkins has guided the company from a small touring group to a professional regional theatre. Mr. Hopkins began his professional theatre career as a resident actor with Asolo State Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. In 1974 he founded the Palisades Theatre Company in Washington, DC, which subsequently moved to St. Petersburg to become American Stage. He served as its Producing Director from 1974-1980. Additional experiences include: President of the Florida Professional Theatres Association (1983-1985), Panelist for Theatre Program of Florida Arts Council, and Director/Instructor for Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus’ Clown College (1981). His many directing credits include: Metamorphoses, The Bully Pulpit, God’s Man in Texas, Hysteria, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 2: Goering at Nuremberg, Six Degrees of Separation, Execution of Justice, Death by Misadventure, Hi-Hat-Hattie, Invictus, Agnes of God, Beyond Therapy, True West, La Ronde, and Betrayal and numerous other plays and Cabaret projects including Sophie Tucker, Inspired Lunacy, and Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, Over the Rainbow.
 Joy Hawkins (Director) is the Artistic Director of Key West's Red Barn Theatre now in it's 28th season. Directing favorites at the Barn include Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Opus, Seascape and The Spitfire Grill. She has also directed for The Tennessee Williams Theatre (Sweet Charity, Carnival, South Pacific), Tucson's Invisible Theatre (I Love You, You're Perfect..., Swimming in the Shallows) and The Allenberry Playhouse (Honky Tonk Angels). Joy has a degree in Theatre from Northwestern University.
Vince DiMura (Music Director) Jazz Pianist/Composer Vince DiMura has performed on concert stages throughout North America, Canada, and Latin America. His first two commercially released CD’s, "Imperfect Balance" and "A Darker Shade of Romance" are available at iTunes.com and CDBaby.com. Mr. DiMura holds fellowships from Meet the Composer, The Puffin Cultural Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts and The Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.
He has conducted seasons at The Bethesda Nederlander Theatre, The Augusta Barn Theatre, Artpark, Tennessee Repertory Company, The Asolo, American Stage, The Arden Theatre Company, Flat Rock Playhouse, Western Michigan’s Cherry County Playhouse, The Barter Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Company and The Muhlenberg Summer Theatre Festival. Mr. DiMura has fulfilled commissions for Rutgers, Princeton, and Rider Universities, The Scioto Society, Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, and a host of theatre scores for People's Light and Theatre Company.
He is best known for his arrangements of "My Way: A Sinatra Cabaret," and "I Left My Heart: A Tribute to the Music of Tony Bennett;" both revues are licensed by Summer Wind Productions and have had over 300 productions nation wide since 2001.
CAST
Joy Hawkins (Louise Seger) For the past 11 years, Joy has played Louise in major regional theatres across the country as well as touring Scotland and England. Other credits include Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (Waterfront Playhouse, Key West), Boo in Bark! and Woman #2 in Showtune (Red Barn Theatre, KW). Eons ago, Joy was the resident comedienne and the Tiger Girl on The Dean Martin Show and a Golddigger. She also starred in The Gene Kelly Show in Las Vegas.
 Christine Mild (Patsy Cline) is happy to make her FST debut while returning to a favorite role! She first played Patsy at the Carousel Theatre in Ohio last summer. Other credits: Young Gertrude Stein in Galati/Flaherty’s Loving Repeating (About Face/MCA, Chicago – Jeff Nomination, Original Soundtrack Jay Records), Grizabella in Cats (Maine State Music Theatre, Carousel Theatre), Factory Girl/Fantine u.s. in Les Miserables (Marriott Theatre), Connie/Petula in Beehive (Carousel), Fran in Promises, Promises (Wagon Wheel Theatre), Kathy in The Last 5 Years (Strawdog Chicago). Graduate of Northwestern University. Actor’s Equity member.
BAND
 Chad Dance (Bass) Chad Everett Dance is a native of Richmond Va. and has been playing electric bass for over 20yrs. He has played styles ranging from Rock, Pop, Reggae, and Contemporary Christian while also studying Jazz and Classical upright bass at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Chad is currently a bass instructor in the Venice area and is also working on original material to be released later this year through a independent label.
Skip Ellis (Pedal Steel, Lead, & Rhythm Guitar) Skip has been heavily involved in the Florida West Coast music scene for more than 40 years, lending his unique guitar stylings and knowledge of different musical genres to numerous recording projects and performing groups throughout the area. While he enjoys performing in clubs and at various festivals and benefits throughout the area, theater is by far his favorite and most challenging workplace. Skip has provided musical support for, among others, The Manatee Players (Evita, Little Shop of Horrors), Venice Little Theater (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Sarasota Players (Jesus Christ, Superstar), and last, but not least, Sarasota Studio Theater, where the current production makes the fourth time he has performed Forever, Patsy Cline.
 Peter Leon (Drums) Drummer Peter Leon has performed for 25 years throughout the Austin-San Antonio-Helotes, Texas areas. As a young musician, he learned to play authentic Texas Swing in smoky Honky Tonks and Dance Halls such as Flores Country Store, where the street sign even today says “Willie Nelson Every Saturday Night”. He studied music at The University of Texas, and graduated from the University of Phoenix. He played drums while in the US Navy onboard the USS America CV-66. Most recently he performed in “Dancing With The Celebrity’s” at the Tampa Performing Arts Center with The Bonnie Lynn Band. He is a Cultural Arts Instructor for a Florida state program designed to help teach “at-risk” youths learn social tolerance and self-identity.
 Jim Prosser (Piano) This is Jim’s eleventh season in the FST Cabaret, for which he has developed and performed in numerous shows, including European Cabaret, The British Invasion, The Flip Side, Piano Men, Three Friends, GI Jive, and Too Darn Hot. He has also worked extensively for FST’s Education programs, writing scores for the WRITE A PLAY programs, children’s shows, and most recently The Princess and the Pea. In addition, Jim enjoys playing “on the spot” for the FST Improv Troupe.
Production Staff
Production Manager...........................................Bruce Price
Company Manager.............................................Melody Ann Mora
Production Stage Manager.................................Karin J. Ivester
Scenic Coordinator
...........................................Lauren Feldman
Costume Designer..............................................Marcella Beckwith
Lighting Designer...............................................Colleen Jennings
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