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John Alexander (Weston Hurley)
John, a 1991 graduate in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, is making his debut in a St. Mark's Players production with this show. He has acted frequently at Drama Tech, appearing in Seduced, Tartuffe, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He has also appeared in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Lake Braddock Secondary School, and in Ladies in Waiting at the Little Theater of Alexandria. John finds that the most difficult part about his role is trying to remember his lines and play guitar at the same time. Getting his first bicycle is his favorite memory of the 1970s.

Louis Bayard (Jed Jenkins)
Louis is appearing in his third St. Mark's Players production, having sung the glories of Copenhagen in Hans Christian Anderson and appeared as George Gibbs in Our Town. A member of St. Mark's Church, when he is not being a thespian, Louis works for the World Wildlife Fund. On playing Jed, Louis observes that "having played a series of man-children, I welcome the chance to play a grown-up." He feels that Jed is the character he would most want for a friend. Louis has many fond memories of the 70s: Breakfast Squares, Barry Manilow's "Copacabana," wide paisley ties, streaking, Big Wheels, the $10,000 Pyramid, and Land of the Lost.

Stephanie Deutsch (Sally Friedman)
This is Stephanie's third appearance with the St. Mark's Players having played Lady Alice More in Man for All Seasons and Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town. She studied acting in college, and has more recently played Karen in The Children's Hour, and appeared in The Stronger as well as in several productions for the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.  While at first she did not even want to audition for the part of an "old" person, she prepared for her role by observing "sixtysomething" women - and was overwhelmed by how dynamic so many of them are. Memories of her mother and mother-in-law have been especially helpful. Stephanie has lived on Capitol H ill for many years and is a member of St. Mark's. Her favorite memories of the 70s are falling in love with David Deutsch and marrying him wearing Earth shoes (David, not Stephanie), and of having their first child.

Joan Frans (Assistant Director, Stage Manager)
Jean has been active in Washington area theater for the past ten years and is a veteran of more than 20 professional and community productions. She last performed with St. Mark's Players as Mrs. Webb in Our Town, and stage managed the productions of The Crucible (in which she also played Sarah Good), Lion in Winter, and Oklahoma!. She has also performed at the Source Theater Festival, the Little Theater of Alexandria (Whose Life Is It, Anyway?) and with the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (Dining Room,The Children's Hour). Jean performed professionally for two years with the Takoma Players, and has studied with Fran Dorn of the Shakespeare Theater. She is an active member of the Actors' Center.

Greg Gay (Director)
Greg has been either acting or directing in the theater for most of his adult life. At overseas posts as a Foreign Service Officer, he could usually find a theater group to work with. In the Washington area, he performed with the Hexagon Club and directed many shows at the Montgomery Playhouse. A member of St. Mark's Church, Greg has directed the Players' productions of The Crucible, The Lion in Winter, Equus, and Our Town. For other theater groups he has directed Hot L Baltimore, The Miracle Worker, Departure, The Oldest Living Graduate, and The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia. Currently working as a trial consultant, Greg feels that "helping to prepare people to perform – whether on stage or in court – is always a challenge, and almost always rewarding." Greg is a member of the St. Mark's Vestry.

Aimie Hunt (Shirley)
At Johns Hopkins University, Aimie played leading roles in Curse of the Starving Class, Squirrels, Spoon River Anthology, and Midsummer Night's Dream. She also acted for two semesters in Edward Albee's student plays, co-developed and directed an improv comedy show, developed and led a two-semester theater workshop, and produced freshman one-acts. A member of St. Mark's, Aimie was the Assistant Director for the St. Mark's Players' production of Our Town. She has found playing Shirley, "a kid who tries to act adult," to be challenging – especially "trying to describe an erotic dream without going into flirty schtick." Aimie's favorite memories of the 70s are discovering pop music that her aging hippie parents could not relate to, and the huge crowd on the Mall for the Bicentennial celebration.

John Hutson (Lighting)
This is John's ninth season with the St. Mark's Players. Trained in theater arts at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, John has lighted shows for several community groups and dinner theaters. John does video and audio production professionally, and computer consulting. He also designs and flies kites.

Jan Lower (Producer)
While debuting as a producer for the Players, Jan brings experience on both sides of the footlights to the job. For the Players, she was Mercy Lewis in The Crucible, and elsewhere she has appeared in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Chamber Music, and The Lover. Her performance in The Only Jealousy of Emer was broadcast on Japanese television. She played Mistress Ford (Merry Wives of Windsor) in an educational videotape for the Folger's Teaching Shakespeare Institute. Jan also studied with Michael Tolaydo and Floyd King at the Folger. She has been the Assistant Business and Box Office Manager for the Dorset Summer Theater Festival in Dorset, Vermont. She holds an M.A. in Jacobean Theatre from McGill University, where she co-founded and acted for Mykill Mirthe Productions, which recorded mystery plays from the York Cycle in Middle English for distribution to university audio libraries. Jan is a member of St. Mark's Church.

Sarah Nichols (June Talley)
This is Sara's first appearance with the St. Mark's Players. She has appeared in Dangercave at the Oracle Theater in Portland, Oregon, and The Dilettante's Ball at the Echo Theater in Buffalo, New York. Also for the Echo Theater, she wrote, directed, and acted in Missa Meese, a choral interpretation of the Meese Commission's Report on Pornography. She also appeared in Buried Child, Picnic, and many other productions at Reed College, and in several productions for the San Diego Junior Theater and the San Diego Starlight Opera. Sarah finds it a challenge to play June, a character whose values are so like her own, but whose personality is so different. Sara's favorite memory of the 70s is Richard Nixon resigning on national television. Sara is from California, considers herself basically happy, and notes that she used to like pigs.

Jeff Obermiller (Kenneth Talley, Jr.)
Jeff makes his second appearance with the St. Mark's Players, having played El Gallo in The Fantasticks last season. He has also appeared in many other productions, including Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? at Springfield Community Theater, Sunday in the Park with George for the Arlington Players, and Art Against Aids and 1776. He has also taken the Realism Class at the Studio Theater. Jeff works as a statistical analyst for the American Petroleum Institute, and in his spare time coaches in the Alexandria Soccer Association and teaches an elementary school drama class in Alexandria. One challenge he finds in his role is having to sit for most of the show. His favorite memories of the 70s include lemon curd, E.M. Forster, and Chuckie D.

David Ortmann (John Landis)
David is "elated" to be in his first production following his graduation from The American University. Making his debut with St. Mark's Players as John Landis, David has appeared as the psychotic Dr. Rance in What the Butler Saw, Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Clitandre in The Learned Ladies, and Orlando in As You Like It. David will be leaving the country in May to teach English in Czechoslovakia and to explore opportunities to write, act, and teach there. He sends thanks to all his "Fifth of Julyesque" friends for their support and encouragement, and very special thanks to Chris Dilley, for everything

Carol Sanford (Gwen Landis)
The role of Gwen Landis marks Carol's debut with the St. Mark's Players. As the daughter of a Foreign Service Officer, Carol grew up in Thailand, Venezuela, Turkey, Greece, and England. After teaching English as a second language in Spain for two years and studying acting in Oxford, England, for a year, Carol returned to Washington, where she has continued to teach and act, Carol finds that the intriguing part about her role is "understanding the background that made Gwen what she is." Her favorite memories of the 70s include moving from a small town in North Carolina to Washington, and President Carter's Mideast achievements.

Andy Wenchel (Set Design)
Andy has designed the sets for the Players' productions of Lion in Winter, A Man for All Seasons, Equus, and Our Town. He began designing theater sets in college and worked extensively for theaters in Oregon. Professionally, he is both an architect and a landscape architect. Andy is a member of St. Mark's.

St. Mark's Players Production Archive