The Last Resort

Van Wilmott

Artistic Director

Welcome to the Mayfield Dinner Theatre and welcome to The Last Resort! The Last Resort is a madcap, murder mystery musical comedy written by Canada’s favourite writer of comedies, Norm Foster with music and lyrics by Leslie Arden. A New York restaurateur is on the run from the mob and the FBI hide him somewhere that no one would think to look for him – a run-down hotel in Saskatchewan, where everyone who checks in could be the hit-man who’s out to get him. There are two things you know for sure: 1) someone is going to die, and 2) everyone is a suspect! Telling the tale is a tremendous cast of comedic actors that director Kate Ryan has assembled for this production. The characters couldn’t be more bizarre; the jokes will either make you laugh or groan. Maybe you will want to figure out who did it or maybe you will just sit back and enjoy the ridiculousness of it all. Either way, I guarantee you will enjoy your stay at The Last Resort! We are dedicated to making your evening of live theatre a memorable one and welcome any feedback on your experience! Thank you for your patronage and for supporting live theatre.

Kate Ryan

Director

Kate is thrilled to be directing at the Mayfield with this wonderful company. Kate has been performing, directing and teaching in Musical Theatre for over 20 years. At the Mayfield, she has performed in Boeing, Boeing, 9 to 5, Saturday Night Club, Carousel, Oklahoma and Sound of Music (and goes as far back as performing in the first productions of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar). Other performances include 13 years of Citadel Theatre’s A Christmas Carol, Mary Poppins, True Love Lies and It Takes Two-An Evening with Sondheim. Kate is also the Director of Plain Jane Theatre Company receiving Sterling Awards for her direction in the musicals It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman and Bells Are Ringing. Other musicals include Mack and Mabel, Drat! The Cat! Little Fish and A New Brain. Kate is also an instructor at Citadel Theatre’s Young Company and MacEwan University’s Theatre Arts program directing Nice Work if You Can Get It and Sondheim on Sondheim. Enjoy the show!

Cindy is thrilled to be part of the artistic staff bringing this delightful comedy to the Mayfield stage. It has been an absolute pleasure working with this amazing cast and crew. As an instructor/choreographer for the Theatre Arts Department at MacEwan University, Cindy has choreographed over 30 musical productions for the program. She has also choreographed for a variety of theatre companies including Leave It to Jane Theatre, Plain Jane Theatre Company, The Citadel’s Young Company, Alberta Touring Opera, L’Uni Theatre and The Winter’s Tale Project (Orange Bus Productions) for the New York Fringe. Previous Mayfield Theatre credits: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Saturday Night Club, Gypsy, Mile High Madness, Singin’ In the Rain and Forever Plaid. 

Steve Thomas

Musical Director/Piano

An award winning graduate of the Humber College Music Program, Steve has been involved in Music Theatre for almost twenty five years. As composer, arranger and musical director, he has worked on musicals throughout Canada and the U.S. Steve’s most recent musical direction credits include The Little Mermaid, The Music Man, Pirates Of Penzance, Damn Yankees, South Pacific, Sound Of Music and Spamalot (Drayton Entertainment); One Moment and Rum Runners (Lighthouse Festival); The Full Monty and The Buddy Holly Story (Charlottetown Festival, Theatre Aquarius). Steve has also collaborated with award winning playwright Norm Foster writing the musicals Jasper Station, Race Day, Sitting Pretty and One Moment. Visit Steve at sthomasmusic.com Enjoy!

Rachel Bowron

Angela

Rachel is thrilled to be returning to the Mayfield after appearing here last season in Don’t Dress for Dinner! Select theatre credits include Avenue Q (Citadel Theatre); Barefoot in the Park, The Nutcracker Unhinged, Eros and the Itchy Ant, The Hoof and Mouth Advantage (Teatro la Quindicina); It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman (The Plain Janes); The Surrogate (Lunchbox Theatre); An Almost Perfect Thing (New West Theatre). Rachel is a co-host and co-producer of the monthly info-variety show That’s Terrific! at the Varscona Theatre, and has been music director of the St. Albert Children’s Theatre since 2008. Next up, she will be performing in Teatro La Quindicina’s pocket-sized musical What Gives? at the Edmonton Fringe. 

Tom Edwards

Inspector Closely

Tom appeared as Mr. Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors in his last Mayfield play and as one of the poker buddies in The Odd Couple before that. He recently appeared as a magically conjured Elvis in Jubilation Theatre’s Once Upon a Time in Graceland and just before that as Lucius Van Guilder in Plain Jane Theatre’s Drat, the Cat. In Christmas 2014 he played Nostril De Pancake, an ugly stepsister, in Capital theatre’s Cinderella Pantomime, in repertory with a staged radio play version of It’s a Wonderful Life, where he aped Jimmy Stewart in the role of George Bailey. In some recent Edmonton Fringe Festivals he starred in two of David Belke’s plays; he was Professor Damon in The Minor Keys, and Heinguist, a border guard, in The Crimson Yak. Tom is very pleased to be working with Kate Ryan again and with an extremely funny bunch of actors here at the Mayfield. Enjoy!

Jeff Haslam

Sid

Jeff is in his ninth season as Teatro La Quindicina’s artistic director. Recent appearances include Saint Albert, Happy Toes, and Lucy and Mr. Plate, which he also co-wrote. He directed Wilder and Wilder this past Fringe, and co-directed The Hothouse Prince with Belinda Cornish. Jeff is a five-time Sterling Award Winner for acting, most recently for Witness to a Conga, a role he will reprise at Teatro this fall. He’s a core company member of the live, improvised soap opera Die-Nasty, which plays every Monday night through the end of May. He is also the Director of programming at Teatro and Die-Nasty’s home, The Varscona Theatre, where he and his colleagues are nearing the end of a long awaited multi-million dollar rebuild. Jeff has appeared many times at The Mayfield, most recently as Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret. Some other favourites include The Rocky Horror Show, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Dial M for Murder. He is a self-confessed musical theatre junkie.

Ryan Parker

Nick

Ryan is overjoyed to be back at the Mayfield working with this amazing group of friends on The Last Resort. Ryan is an actor/writer/musician/photographer, with a BFA in Acting from the University of Alberta and a Theatre Arts Diploma from MacEwan University. Selected credits include; Nevermore (Off Broadway: Catalyst Theatre/Radio Mouse), As You Like It/Coriolanus (Freewill Players), One Man, Two Guvnors (Citadel Theatre), It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Superman! the Musical (Plain Jane Theatre), Barefoot in the Park, East of My Usual Brain (Teatro La Quindicina), Mesa (Globe Theatre), Dark Star/Buddy/ Wedding Singer/Spelling Bee (Mayfield Dinner Theatre). Ryan is a co-creator of the ukulele comedy band The Be Arthurs and a Gemini/Canadian Screen Award nominated writer for the sketch comedy television series Caution: May Contain Nuts. When he’s not on stage, Ryan can be found at home in his photography studio, www.pkphotography.tv. Love to his wife Claire and son Jackson

Chelsea Preston

Julia/Jessica/Dance Captain

Chelsea is excited to be back in Edmonton and thrilled to be working with such an amazing cast, crew and creative team on her fifth show at the Mayfield. Selected theatre credits include: Prom Queen (Theatre Aquarius, workshop), Spamalot (Citadel Theatre), One Touch Of Venus (Off-West End: All Star Productions), Cabaret, Hairspray, Chicago and The Wedding Singer (Mayfield Dinner Theatre), and Bells Are Ringing (Plain Jane Theatre Company). Selected performer/choreographer credits include: The Hoof and Mouth Advantage (Teatro La Quindicina, Sterling nominated for Outstanding Choreography), Friends of the Forties (Kaybridge Productions, co-choreographer) and Letters and Words (Synaethesis Dance Theatre, associate choreographer, Sterling nominated for Outstanding Fringe Production). Chelsea is a graduate of the Grant MacEwan University Theatre Arts Program. She is originally from Vancouver Island where she studied at the Parksville Ballet School and then continued her training on the mainland at the Richmond Academy of Dance. Love and thanks to her incredible family, and the TH team!

Garett Ross

Freda Heitz

Garett Ross is a graduate of the Grant MacEwan Theatre Arts Program and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from the University of Alberta.  He’s very excited to be returning to the Mayfield, he was last seen here in Hairspray and previously in Chicago and Sheer Madness.  Some of the other shows he’s been in include: Nevermore, The Soul Collector, Vigilante (Catalyst Theatre), Jack Goes Boating (Sage Theatre/Shadow Theatre), Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet (The Citadel Theatre), The Best Brothers, A Year in Winter, That Darn Plot, Beginning of August (Shadow Theatre) Uncle Van, and The Old Curiosity Shop (TheatRepublic/ Poorman’s classic Co-op). Garett has been nominated for Sterling Awards for his work on Jack Goes Boating, That Darn Plot (Shadow Theatre), The Old Curiosity Shop (Poor Man’s Classic Co-op), and The Raven and the Writing Desk (Acme Theatre).

Stephanie Wolfe

Liz

Stephanie has had many a madcap adventure here at the Mayfield, most recently in Boeing Boeing. She is a founding member of Edmonton’s Canadian Comedy Award winning Improvised Soap Opera, Die-Nasty now in its 25 season. Recently Stephanie appeared in Burning Bluebeard for Edmonton Actor’s Theatre. Some of her favorite shows include Angels in America Part 2 Perestroika, and How I Learned to Drive for the Citadel, Mad Forest for The Phoenix Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing for The Free Will Shakespeare Festival, The Rules of Irene for Teatro la Quindicina, and Some Assembly Required for The Globe. Stephanie has a recurring role in the TV series Tiny Plastic Men. Recent Film credits include 40 Below and Falling and A Louder Silence both being screened at film festivals across North America and Europe. Her newest hobby is training with Firefly Theatre and Circus in aerial silks and ropes. This spring you can see her in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe for Teatro la Quindicina. Stephanie has received numerous nominations and is the recipient of both an AMPIA and an Elizabeth Sterling Hayes Award for her work.

Mike Zimmerman

Trent

Last seen at the Mayfield in History of Rock ‘n Roll: Stars & Stripes, it’s no mystery that Mike is thrilled to death to be sharing the stage with such multitalented suspects! His love for performance has grown through varied experiences in stage, television, radio, a cappella ensemble and touring theatre. Selected credits include: The Super Groovy 70’s Part 2: Keep On Truckin’, BUDDY The Buddy Holly Story, The Super Groovy 70’s, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Peace, Love & Rock N Roll 2 – The Beat Goes On, The Full Monty, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Golden Age Rocks On!, The Golden Age of Rock, Pop & Doo Wop, The Wizard of Oz (as Tinman), Only In Canada, Eh? and Rockin’ Vegas (Mayfield Dinner Theatre); Jailbait (Northern Light Theatre); and Drat! The Cat!, Little Fish and Bells Are Ringing [Sterling nominated] (Plain Jane Theatre Co.). See you in Saskatchewan!

Kim Cousineau

Piano (select performances)

Kim received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Victoria, and studied privately with Anna Cal, student of Russian pianist Pavel Egorov. He has been involved in numerous productions, including Bizet’s Carmen and the world premieres of MacDonald’s Mary’s Wedding and Stokes’ Rattenbury (Pacific Opera Victoria), Candide and Baby (Opera Nuova), Bernarda Alba and The Light in the Piazza (MacEwan Theatre), and The Best Little Newfoundland Christmas Pageant…Ever! (Whizgiggling Productions). Kim was a staff pianist and coach with Victoria-based summer music programs In The Key Of Glee and A Voce Sola, and with Singspiration in Edmonton. He is in high demand as a choral accompanist in the Edmonton area, working with many groups including Concordia Concert Choir, Da Camera Singers, Vocal Alchemy, and Chronos Vocal Ensemble. Kim maintains a busy schedule as a collaborative pianist and coach in the Edmonton area.