Native Gardens

January 24, 2018 - March 25, 2018 | Gompertz Theatre

Stately gardens and cultures clash turning friendly neighbors into feuding adversaries. Pablo, a high powered lawyer, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, are realizing the American dream when they purchase the house next door to community stalwarts, Virginia and Frank. But a disagreement over a longstanding fence soon spirals into an all-out comic battle of taste, privilege, and entitlement. In this battle of the backyard, no one comes out smelling like a rose.

Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías. Native Gardens features mild language in some instances, and is suitable for adult and mature student audiences.

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Native Gardens

CREATIVE

CAST

Tania Del Valle | Alicia Taylor Tomasko*
Pablo Del Valle | Alex Teicheira*
Virginia Butley | Carolyn Popp*
Frank Butley | John Thomas Waite*

* Denotes member Actors’ Equity Association. The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

CAROLYN POPP (Virginia Butley) is grateful to be in sunny Florida this winter. She performs mostly along the east coast in NYC & Regional productions including: Death of a Salesman, The Clean House; Pride & Prejudice; Steel Magnolias; Romeo & Juliet; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; The Last Night of Ballyhoo; Harvey; Footloose; Our Town; Cabaret; Dancing at Lughnasa; The Miracle Worker; Defiance; Gigi; An Inspector Calls; Carousel; and I Do! I Do!

ALEX TEICHEIRA (Pablo Del Valle) is thrilled to make his FST debut with Native Gardens. Theater NYC Credits: Signature Theatre Company, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Access Theater, NY Fringe Fest, Hip to Hip Theatre Company, and The Flea. Regional: Guthrie Theatre, Yale Rep, Cal Shakes, Long Wharf, Yale Cabaret, and Elm Shakespeare Company. TV: Blacklist: Redemption, and “Alexander the Great” on The History Channel. Film: Into Bridge. MFA: Yale School of Drama.

ALICIA TAYLOR TOMASKO (Tania Del Valle) is thrilled to be back in FL with FST! After 7 years in NYC performing in In The Heights on Broadway and If/Then on tour, Alicia will next be heading west to Los Angeles to continue the acting journey! Other favorite credits include Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors (Starstruck), Sylvia in Sylvia (McAplin Fine Arts) and Amy in Trouble the film. Follow her on Instagram: @ aliciataylornyc

JOHN THOMAS WAITE (Frank Butley) Broadway: Dracula, Amadeus. Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks, Beyond the Horizon (Irish Rep). London: MacBeth (Independent Shakespeare Theatre). Regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Virginia Stage, Syracuse Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Asolo Rep. Film: After Louie starring Alan Cumming (Best LGBTQ Film Award - Key West Film Festival 2017). As Director: Call Fosse at the Minskoff (Best Production - 2016 United Solo Festival).

KATE ALEXANDER (Director) is the Associate Director At-Large of FST and the Founder of the FST Theatre School with its acting method of training. Ms. Alexander has directed numerous productions and premieres on the FST stages including Heisenberg, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey; brownsville song: (b-side for tray); Clever Little Lies; Alabama Story; Outside Mullingar; Over the River and Through the Woods; Chapatti; Dancing Lessons; Becoming Dr. Ruth; Freud’s Last Session; Thurgood; South Beach Babylon; The Columnist; Talley’s Folly; Jericho; Next Fall; The Savannah Disputation; Ghost- Writer; Two Jews Walk into a War...; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Sylvia; Shotgun; The Miamians; Brooklyn Boy; The Exonerated; Wit; Proof; Lobby Hero; and Ten Unknowns. Ms. Alexander has also been a resident actress for over 25 years. Some of her leading roles were in the plays: Edward Albee’s The Goat; Filumena; Master Class; Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, The Occupant, The Play About the Baby; Golda’s Balcony; and Taking Shakespeare. Ms. Alexander is the recipient of numerous acting, directing, and public service awards, including FAER, She Knows Where She’s Going Award (Girls, Inc.), The Woman of Light Award, National Council of Jewish Women Award, The Woman of Power Award, the Sarasota County Arts Leadership Award, Education Award, Sarasota Manatee Jewish Federation, and most recently, The Unity Award. Ms. Alexander leads the FST Forums Series and developed the Blue Butterfly Theatre Program, a program for teens suffering from grief through loss. She created the Art of The Gesture program at Ringling College of Animation and is the co-author of The Animated Short, with Karen Sullivan, now in its 2nd edition.

ROY JOHNS (Stage Manager) is pleased to be back for another season at FST. He has had an exciting and varied career both on stage and behind the scenes from Tokyo Disneyland to the White House. Past credits at FST include: Once; Doublewide; The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey; Burt & Me; Rich Girl; brownsville song (b-side for tray); Million Dollar Quartet; The God of Isaac; The Roommate; The Fabulous Lipitones; Alabama Story; Outside Mullingar; One Man, Two Guvnors; The Hound of the Baskervilles; Chapatti; Hairspray; and Taking Shakespeare.

ISABEL & MORIAH CURLEY-CLAY (Scenic Designers) are award-winning scenic designers whose theatrical work can be seen on regional stages across the U.S. Recent credits include: The Magic Negro and other Blackity Blackness, as told by an African-American man who also happens to be Black (Alliance Theatre); Lumberjacks in Love (Penobscott Theatre); Constellations (Horizon Theatre); Exit Strategy (Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre). Past designs at FST include Doublewide; Rich Girl; Clever Little Lies; The God of Isaac; The Fabulous Lipitones; Alabama Story; Outside Mullingar; Butler; Taking Shakespeare; Chapatti; Inspired Lunacy; Dancing Lessons; Hairspray; and One Man, Two Guvnors. Isabel and Moriah’s designs were recently featured in American Theater Magazine’s “Roll Call,” “7 Theatrical People To Watch,” and are both members of USA 829.

K. APRIL SOROKO (Costume Designer) Off-Broadway- Scenery: Napoleon (NYMF). Costumes: Mariage Blanc (Playwrights Horizons). Regional- Costumes: The Fabulous Lipitones; Das Barbecü; and Beehive: The 60’s Musical. Scenery: Pump Boys and Dinettes. Scenery and Costumes: The Last Romance; Talley’s Folly; The Savannah Disputation; Race; and The 39 Steps (FST). Scenery: Collected Stories; A Long Day’s Journey Into Night; and My Old Lady at Palm Beach Dramaworks. MEMBER: USA Local 829. Scenery and Costumes, MFA: Yale School of Drama. Ms. Soroko is Assistant Professor of Scenic Design at Florida Atlantic University and is Professional Chair of the Board of Directors for the Florida Theater Conference. www.aprilsoroko.com

THOM BEAULIEU (Lighting Designer) is an award-winning lighting and sound designer. His work has been experienced throughout the eastern US including Once, Blue Suede Shoes, Mack the Knife: The Bobby Darin Songbook, and Burt & Me (Florida Studio Theatre); The Waltz, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Carrie: the Musical, and The Lord of the Flies (The Winnipesaukee Playhouse); A Chorus Line, Floyd Collins, Sweet Charity, and Singin’ in the Rain (Aurora Theatre). He holds a BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, and an MS in Physics.

THOMAS KORP (Sound Designer) a former FST intern, is excited to be entering his second season as staff. Sound design credits include Once; Burt & Me; The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey; The Columnist; Talley’s Folley; A Chorus Line; Spamalot; and The West Side Waltz. Mixing Credits: Next to Normal; Das Barbecü; Smokey Joe’s Café; The World Goes Round; Tango: Buenos Aires; and We Will Rock You. Sound engineer with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2014 – 2016.

GREG LONDON (Fight Director) National tours: Hairspray (Edna Turnblad); West Side Story (Doc); Fiddler on the Roof (Lazar). International tours: Hairspray (Edna); The Fantasticks (Bellamy). Off-Broadway: Spurn. Regional: Hairspray (Edna, Florida Studio Theatre); The Drawer Boy (Angus, Cortland Rep); Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.). Created role of “Peter” in world premiere of Lanford Wilson’s Los Alamos, directed by Marshall W. Mason. L.A. Critic’s Choice Award: Best Actor in a Touring Production: Edna, Hairspray. Greg was the 2007 national winner of the Eugene O’Neill Award for Dramatic Writing.