Wordstage Company


		Tim Tavcar Artistic Director Tim Tavcar began his musical and theatrical education at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston, IL with a concentration on opera direction. For many succeeding years he spent most of his time as a singer/actor/director touring across the country in a variety of venues including Washington DC’s Kennedy Center and a the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. Following that peripatetic career, he turned to arts management and held a variety of positions in that varied field including General Manager/Artistic Director of Vermont’s Vergennes Opera House and as an administrative and artistic company member of Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater since 1997. He is a FY-09 recipient of a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment of the Arts for his Chamber Music /Readers Theater Project – WordStage Vermont, presenting its third season of programs about things literary and musical. He is currently serving as Director of Special Events and Public Relations for the T.W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center.

Wordstage Vermont Company

		G. Richard Ames G. Richard Ames is an actor and activist from Burlington. He has appeared most recently as Fred/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate, and as Michael Cassio, in Othello both at QuarryWorks, where next summer he will appear as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz and as Nick in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Rick has also been seen in several productions at Lost Nation Theater, where he emceed their recent Edgar Allan Poe Spooktacular and will be portraying George Bailey in the staged radio show of It's a Wonderful Life. When not onstage, he is a props designer, stage manager, writer of song and lyric poetry, and an activist for human rights, world peace and litter eradication.

		Lisa Jablow Lisa’s checkered career as a performer began at age three, when she played a character named Mrs. Buttonnose in a community theater production in Shrub Oak, NY. Her elementary school debut came at age seven, when she played a library book. Other roles followed and in junior high school, she entered the preparatory division of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. She arrived at college as a theater major; but received degrees in choral conducting with a minor in voice. During this time, she performed a great deal of opera and musical theater, mostly on stage, but sometimes conducting in the pit. After graduate school, Lisa spent nine years at New York City Opera also performing with Opera Orchestra of New York, Skylight Opera, Boise Opera, the Milwaukee Symphony, Long Wharf Theatre and Lost Nation Theater. She also joined the music faculty at Johnson State College where, among other things, Lisa directs the musical theater program.

		William Pelton Bill, a Syracuse University graduate with a degree in Visual and Performing Arts, has worked many times with Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater in, among others Mother Courage, Othello and the award-winning Stone. Some favorite shows and roles include Bruce in Beyond Therapy, Constable Dull in Love’s Labors Lost, Antonio, Feste and Andrew Aguecheek in multiple productions of Twelfth Night, and company member in the musicals Sweeny Todd, A Little Night Music, Threepenny Opera, Working, The Cradle Will Rock, Side by Side by Sondheim, Cole and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, as Tyrone in O’Neill’s poignant, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Escalus in Measure for Measure. Presently studying with Cameron Thor Studios and auditioning for film, Bill has worked locally on Nora Jacobson’s, Nothing Like Dreaming, and George Woodard’s, The Summer of Walter Hacks presently in post-production.

		Linda Radtke Linda Radtke, mezzo-soprano, is a founding member of Robert DeCormier's professional vocal ensemble, Counterpoint. She also sings with a vocal quartet, Ah!Capella, sponsored by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, which brings music to Vermont schools, and has been the principal alto soloist with the Vermont Mozart Festival and the Oriana Singers. To share her research on Vermont song, she toured the state with a Vermont song recital sponsored by the Vermont Historical Society, and now presents the Vermont Civil War Songbook and Vermont History through Song for the Vermont Humanities Council's Speakers' Bureau. Favorite roles are Carmen and all the mean ladies in Gilbert and Sullivan. Radtke first presented an all-Schumann recital for the Onion River Arts Council on his birthday in 1980 with baritone Paul Ohman. She works for Classic Vermont, WCVT 101.7 and 102.5 FM, hosting Vermont Notes, a radio program focusing on the Vermont classical music scene.

		Mary Jane Austin-Reynolds Mary Jane Austin-Reynolds earned her bachelor's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Olga Radosavljevich and Vivian Weilerstein. She then pursued her graduate studies in vocal coaching and accompanying, studying both art song and opera at Duquesne University with Warren Jones and Claudia Pinza. In the field of opera, she has worked as an accompanist and coach for six summers at the EPCASO opera program in Oderzo, Italy, where she worked with mezzo soprano Vivica Genaux and baritones Richard Bernstein and Michael Chioldi, among others. Closer to home, she co-founded the Sky Meadow Chamber Players in 2003, has worked at the Green Mountain Opera Festival as the pianist for their Young Artist Program, and played with the Mad River Chorale, Onion River Chorus, Vermont Opera Theater and Echo Valley Community Arts. She has also played for several silent films at the Vergennes Opera House. She currently teaches private piano lessons at the Monteverdi Music School in Montpelier. Mary Jane is married to violist Paul Reynolds. They are the proud parents of their two daughters, Chloe and Mia.

		Eliza Thomas Eliza Thomas studied piano accompaniment with Margo Garrett at the New England Conservatory. Since moving to Montpelier in 2000, she has worked as an accompanist with a number of organizations, including Echo Valley Community Arts, Vermont Opera Theater, the Vermont American Opera Project, and participates regularly in workshops given by Dalton Baldwin and Lorraine Nubar at the annual Fall Foliage Art Song Festival, sponsored by the Vermont Opera Theater. She teaches piano at the Monteverdi Music School in Montpelier and freelances as a writer and editor.

Wordstage Ohio Company

		String Quartet for The Musical Circle of John Singer Sargent CHARLES MOREY is an active soloist, orchestral player, and composer. As a soloist he has performed multiple times with the West Virginia Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and many other orchestras. He has performed as concertmaster with numerous orchestras including the Suburban Symphony Orchestra and the Lexington Bach Festival Orchestra. He is founder of the CODA Mountain Academy of Music, a summer music program, and is currently the concertmaster of the Solon Philharmonic. Having recently completed his Master's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the guidance of William Preucil, he currently maintains a balanced career of solo, chamber, and orchestral music. JENNA ANDERSON , 24, born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music pursuing her Master’s in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy. Her principal teachers include David Updegraff, Zvi Zeitlin, Lynn Blakeslee and David Russell. She received her Bachelor’s degree with Distinction from the Eastman School of Music in 2009. She has been a soloist with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra and the Erie Pops Orchestra. She has concertized in Italy, Switzerland, California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. Jenna performs with the Akron Symphony Orchestra, and performed with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, the Southern Tier Symphony, Mercury Opera of Rochester, NY, and the Erie Philharmonic. In addition to being an avid chamber musician, TIM MAUTHE is an internationally recognized composer. His compositions have been featured in performances in North America, Italy, and the UK. Locally, Mr. Mauthe is engaged in community outreach and the staging of new classical music performances. He is a founding member of the Northeast Ohio Music Exchange and the International Composers Collective which are dedicated to creating opportunities on a regional and international level for composers and performers of new music. Mr. Mauthe is currently a doctoral candidate in composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music. CARLOS JAVIER is originally from Las Vegas, NV. He recently attended the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Stephen Geber. Carlos has also played in masterclasses for musicians such as Andres Diaz, Paul Katz, and Timothy Eddy. He has been a participant of the National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, and Adriatic Chamber Music Festival. Carlos has performed with members of the Cavani and Takacs String Quartets, and has also been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today.” Carlos is currently a faculty member of the Chamber Music Connection in Columbus, OH, and a member of the Hudson Chamber Players and Ensemble 39.

		Deborah Magid Deborah Magid's career has spanned most areas of theatrical experience. She has sung and acted on Broadway with The Santa Fe Opera, and in venues worldwide. Her direction credits span new works, musicals, operas, and comedies. The Sommersault Company, which she founded in 1971, produces mostly chamber opera and musicals; she is Theater Editor of the ezine JUiCYHEADS; and the plays and operas she writes and composes are winning grants, readings, workshops, and productions all over the place. Deborah sits on the Board of the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and is a member of the Cleveland Play House Playwrights Unit, Dobama Playwrights GYM, American Composers Forum, and the Dramatists Guild. http://DeborahMagid.com

		Michael L. Mauldin Michael L. Mauldin is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Cleveland State University. He has been with CSU since July of 2006 and brings with him a long and diverse background in performance, directing, and academia. Spending nearly 20 years in New York City as a professional actor and director, he appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, numerous regional theatres across the country, and in several national commercials. At CSU he has taught classes in Theatre History and Literature, Directing, and Shakespearean Acting, as well as directing The Laramie Project, She Stoops to Conquer, The Alchemist, The Fantasticks and Everyman. In the summer of 2007, he founded CSU’s Summer Stages, a professional summer repertory company combining theatre majors with professional actors and directors from New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. For Summer Stages he directed The Robber Bridegroom, Return to the Forbidden Planet and Curtains, and appeared in Booth and Rough Crossing. In other local theatres he appeared as Duke Vincentio in Cleveland Public Theatre’s M4M, and Capt. Hook/Mr. Darling in the Beck Center for the Arts’ Peter Pan. He has performed his solo play An Evening With Mark Twain since 1976 in over 40 states, and airings on PBS and a one-hour ABC special called Mark Twain: Sketches From Life. In 2009, Dr. Mauldin was named a “leadership fellow” by the International Conference of Fine Arts Deans. He received his B. A in Theatre Arts from the University of West Florida , his M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University and his Ph.D. in Theatre History, Criticism, and Literature from the Ohio State University. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, the American Society for Theatre Research, and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

		RICHARD SHIREY – Organist for the Edgar Allan Poe Spooktacular Richard Shirey is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Akron. He is also Organist/Choirmaster at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Akron. Mr. Shirey serves as piano accompanist for professional and student performances in the Akron area and has begun his 19th year as accompanist for the Akron Symphony Chorus. He also was an Assistant Accompanist for the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus for 3 years. Richard earned music degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Illinois. He also studied in London, Salzburg and Vienna, Austria and Cologne, Germany. He has presented recitals and workshops throughout the United States and has played organ recitals at Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral in London.