WORKSHOP PERFORMANCE
OCTOBER 1, 2024
TICKETS
STEVE PERRY LOVES ME
BY LESLIE C. LEWIS
Directed by Susan Lyles
Assistant Director Colby Bleicher
Dramaturg Heidi Schmidt
Starring Billie McBride*
Arabella Beaubrun (VO)
Angie, an experienced trauma therapist for refugees, walks out of her office and into seclusion after one too many encounters with the horrors of genocidal violence. An inspired fascination with lead singer Steve Perry, whom she believes is a reclusive kindred spirit, sparks six-months of letter-writing to Perry and a period of introspection in which Angie draws on her past, her friendships and her family to come to terms with the cruelty in the world.
This is a rehearsed on your feet script in hand reading, the next step to production. Join us and be a part of this wonderful play’s journey.
PLAYWRIGHT
LESLIE C. LEWIS
Leslie C. Lewis is a writer and producer whose short and full-length plays have been performed across the United States. Her work has been produced and/or developed by Denver Center Theatre Company, Paragon Theatre Company, And Toto too Theatre Company, Millibo Art Theatre, Capital Stage Theatre, and Lakeshore Players Theatre among others. She is a co-founder, co-producer and emcee of Rough Draught Playwrights, a live performance venue presenting Colorado playwrights’ works-in-progress, and was a founding member of Dirtyfish Theater, a playwrights collective creating and producing original work in Denver. Leslie is the author of non-fiction essays and articles for the academic and popular press, receiving awards for subject matter on the environment and contemporary culture. Radio credits include a series of essays addressing contemporary social issues which she wrote and broadcast for Connecticut Public Radio. Leslie is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and lives in Longmont, Colorado with her husband, daughter, and assorted critters.
CAST
BILLIE MCBRIDE*
ANGIE
Billie McBride recently have the privilege of doing the play Heartbeat of the Sun by Melissa McCarl at Cherry Creek Theatre. Prior to that she played Joan in The Year of Magical Thinking at the Aurora Fox Theatre, directed for The Denver Center Academy’s One-Act Play Festival and directed the musical Memphis at the Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton. She spent 20 years in NYC prior to moving to Colorado doing theatre and Television. Her NY theatre credits include Torch Song Trilogy (Helen Hayes), Safe Sex (Lyceum) and The Kurt Weill Cabaret (Bijou Theatre). Since moving to Colorado she has worked in many of the theatres as a director and actress including the DCTC, The Arvada Center, Curious Theatre, Miners Alley Playhouse, And Toto too, The Denver Children’s Theatre, CSFAC, Cherry Creek Theatre and Theatreworks. TV and film includes All My Children, Secret Storm, The Return of Ironside, Perry Mason, The Shining and The Laramie Project. Billie has won 3 Henry Awards for acting and directing, The True West Award for Theatre Person of the year (2016), the Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award in (2014) and a True West Award (2021).
*"Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract."
ARABELLA BEAUBRUN
HIBA (VO)
Arabella Beaubrun is originally from New York. She attended the Eubie Blake Theatre Company in New York to further her acting skills. She sang backup for Shirley Caesar in the McDonald's Gospel Choir in New York. Arabella performed in ten showcases at the AMTC (actor, models, talent for Christ) Summer Shine. For the past nine years, she has been building her theatre career in Colorado with several notable performances. Arabella is currently playing Hubert in Nunsense at The Schoolhouse she also was a swing/understudy in Raisin for Lena, she has played Sylvia in All Shook Up at Town Hall Art Center, and has had her own show called The Sounds of Arabella at the Vintage Theater. She also played Shelly's understudy in Dot at Vintage Theater and Asaka in Once on this Island" at Town Hall Art Center. Arabella has also performed as a singer in the Center Stage Series at the Clock Tower Cabaret. She played Bloody Mary in South Pacific and Dynamite in Hair Spray at the Pace Center.
DIRECTOR
SUSAN LYLES
Susan Lyles is an award winning director, actor and producer, holding a BA from Wichita State University, and received certification from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Shakespeare. Susan is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of And Toto too Theatre Company, and has directed more than 20 plays, including the award winning Naked in Encino, Car Talk, The Glider, Pardon My Dust, and Heads.She has worked on stage as an actor nationally and internationally. ACTING CREDITS: International Credits UK/Canada: Gertrude and Ophelia in Hell(Gertrude) Denver Credits: Gertrude and Ophelia in Hell (Gertrude) Whacking the Turkey (Hildegard); The Playground (Omni, Rachel); Swimming in Seuss (Fox, Cindy Lou Who, The Lorax. Ensemble); Chicago Credits: Ordering Lunch (Sarah); Wichita Credits: Hay Fever (Sorrel); Present Laughter (Daphne); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator). Film Credits: Primogeniture; Solemates; 5 Minutes; How Ariel Got Her Muse Back;Blameless; Shattered; Second String Villains; Son of Spies and Whispers, B.O.B. and Night Screams. She has also worked in commercials, print, industrial, and voice over. She has designed costumes for more than 50 plays, including Lion in Winter (Denver Victorian Playhouse), 12th Night (Denver Victorian Playhouse), and Greater Tuna and Christmas Tuna (Denver Victorian Playhouse, Town Hall Arts Center). Susan is also producer and writer for the award winning film production company Ruff, Ruff, Dog Productions.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
COLBY BLEICHER
Colby Bleicher (Assistant Director) is delighted to continue with And Toto too’s development of Steve Perry Loves Me, especially since her first project in Denver was its staged reading one year ago. A recent transplant to Denver, Colby co-founded Anchorage, Alaska's critically-acclaimed Blue Chair Productions, where her directing credits included Nick Payne's Constellations, Bess Wohl's Small Mouth Sounds, and Duncan Macmillan's Every Brilliant Thing, winner of Anchorage's 2023 BroadwayWorld Award for Best Play. Colby is passionate about developing new work and amplifying underrepresented voices. With recent credits at Benchmark Theatre and Vintage Theatre, upcoming projects at Town Hall Arts Center, and a day job at the Aurora Fox, she has fallen in love with the Denver area's vibrant theatre scene. Big thanks to Susan for the opportunity! BFA: NYU, Theatre/Directing.
HEIDI SCHMIDT
DRAMATURG
HEIDI SCHMIDT is a dramaturg, director and teacher. Her dramaturgy credits include Colorado Shakespeare Festival (King Lear, One Man, Two Guvnors, The Comedy of Errors, Pericles, Coriolanus, All’s Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, King Charles III, King John, Julius Caesar, Equivocation, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, Richard III, Inspector General), Denver Center Theatre Company (Rattlesnake Kate, Oklahoma!, Disgraced, The Christians, Tribes), Local Theater Company (Faith), Curious Theatre Company (Roe, Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures). Directing: CU Boulder (Picnic, Melancholy Play), Dirtyfish Theater (Wedding Cake Vodka), CSF Education (Romeo and Juliet, Measure for Measure, King Lear, As You Like It), readings for Curious New Voices, Athena Project, and Paragon Theatre Company. Administrative positions: CSF, Local Theater Company, Repertory Dance Theatre (Salt Lake City), Women and Theatre Program. As an all-around theatre maker, she has designed props for Curious Theatre, presented pre-show talks at the Arvada Center, served as voice coach for CSF’s Camp Shakespeare and performed in a devised ensemble piece on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Schmidt holds a PhD in Theatre History, Criticism, and Dramatic Literature from CU Boulder. She serves as CSF’s Outreach Specialist and Resident Dramaturg and regularly teaches after-school Shakespeare classes for kids, teens and adults.
STAGE MANAGER/SOUND/LIGHT DESIGN
Darren Smith serves as Secretary as well as technical director for And Toto too, he is responsible for the technical operations of the theater, determining technical staffing and equipment requirements for productions, and acts as the central coordinating point for the designers, the stage management team, the craftspeople, etc. – throughout each production. With more than 30 years of experience both on-stage and in almost every capacity behind the scenes, he brings a wealth of ideas and best practices to And Toto too. Mr. Smith is not, despite what a 'vanity search' on the internet may lead you to believe, an editor and writer specializing in travel directories and feature magazine stories, an Australian rugby league player, the 1997 World Irish Dancing Champion, a football player for the Grand Valley State University Lakers, a new age composer living in Texas, or a Christian comedian and illusionist. He lives in Denver with his wife, sons, and their two dogs, and is also the co-founder of the leading B2B customer reference company Point of Reference.
