Corned Beef

by Jim Strope

Directed by Nancy Lawson

Stage Managed by Rich Watkins

In Association with the San Francisco Fringe Festival 2003

Cast in Order of Appearance

Apartment in San Francisco

House trailer

On Location

Kerry Gudjohnsen is a local actor/filmmaker who has studied acting and directing with Dennis Duggan, Stephen Drewes, Ann Fajilan, Amy Mueller, and Philip Bennett. Kerry completed the Bennett TheatreLab's three-year Stanislavski-based training program, and is currently a member of the improvisation film collective, BareWitness. Kerry recently directed Spent, her first short film with the group. Kerry's film acting credits include the iFilm featured shorts, Beer and Art and Cave People, directed by James Mirarchi, and the upcoming feature 2400 Mission Street, directed by Daniel Gamburg. Her theater credits include Third Rail Power Trip’s production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, directed by Nancy Lawson, Benefactors by Michael Frayn, directed by Philip Bennett, The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman, directed by Amy Mueller, and Walk Like a Man by David Caggiano, directed by Nancy Lawson. Kerry is proud to be a part of this year’s Fringe, and is grateful to work in San Francisco’s inspiring theater and film communities.

Mark Samuel has studied with Phil Bennett, Ed Hooks, Amy Freed, and most recently with Full Circles Productions. His credits include Looka in the Boar, Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vinnie in Walk Like a Man, and as the Innkeeper in the Tragedy of MacBush. He is currently playing Mack in the film Phasing Scruples being shot locally. He is very happy to be working in the system in which he was taught and to be working with such a talented cast and crew.

Skyler Cooper is originally from Brooklyn, New York. She is pleased to have her acting debut in San Francisco at the Fringe. She has trained at the Bennett Theater Lab, ACT, and has taken private lessons with some of the Bay Area’s best. With her experience and a little luck, she hopes to fool the world into thinking she is the real McCoy tonight! And with even more luck and divine intervention she hopes to achieve her dream of becoming the first woman to play Othello at a major renowned repertory theatre. She would like to thank her supporters for gassing her head up to think she could put her butt up here! HI MOM! She sends her biggest thanks to Dyanthe.

Mark Rachel has been acting for eight years, taking his first improv class at EastBayImprov in 1995. He took classes at Bay Area Theatre Sports in San Francisco, became a member of the Hey You Theatre and Sunday Players improv groups and married his improv coach. Mark studied for three years at the Bennett TheatreLab, a Stanislavsky-based training program. He is a founding member of BareWitness Productions, a video improv film collective composed of fellow Bennett Theatre Lab students. Mark’s most recent credits include Angus in the film A Comic Book Story, Sam in the stage production of Too Many Balls in the Air at the Jon Sims Center for the Arts, and Third Rail Power Trip’s Betrayal, with Kerry Gudjohnsen, Matthew Gardner and directed by Nancy Lawson. Mark is editing and co-directing the film Crossroads Gallery with Matthew Gardner.

Matthew Gardner has lived in the Bay Area for the last 12 years, is a founding member of Third Rail Power Trip, and appeared in their inaugural production in April as Jerry in Harold Pinter's Betrayal. More recently he originated the role of Georgie MacBush in The Tragedy of MacBush at the Alice Arts Theater in Oakland. Other roles have included Alexander in Tom Stoppard's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Speakeasy Theatre in Berkeley, Peter in Prelude to a Kiss with the Actor's Ensemble of Berkeley, Mother/Father in Stoppard's Albert's Bridge at the Exit Stage Left, and various characters in Eugene Ionesco's The Killing Game at the Exit Theatre, as well as previous productions for the Fringe Festival and at San Francisco City College. Matthew is also a founding and current member of BareWitness Films LLC, a group of Bay Area filmmakers creating original improvisational films and has appeared in the short films, Telephone, H-Tour, Comic Book Story and Spent as well as the full-length feature, 2400 Mission Street. He is currently in the editing process with Crossroads Gallery in which he acted and co-directed. Other film credits include, Cave People, directed by James Mirarchi and BAR, directed by Kobie Lyons. He is a graduate of the Bennett TheatreLab in San Francisco with extensive work in Stanislavski's Technique of Physical Action and has studied Suzuki and character work with Jeffrey Bihr. He holds a B.A. in History from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Nancy Lawson has worked in Bay Area theatre since moving to San Francisco from the deep south in 1976. She studied Stanislavsky’s Technique of Physical Action with Philip Bennett and later taught acting, performed, and directed projects at the Bennett Theatre Lab. Nancy appeared in and directed productions as a member of the Noh Oratorio Society for almost ten years and she wrote and performed her own material in Amy Mueller’s Solo Performance Workshops at Bravo Studio. She helped establish an Arts Committee at All Saints Episcopal Church in San Francisco where she directed a staged reading of Heather McDonald’s Dream of a Common Language in the spring of 2002. Most recently, she directed Harold Pinter’s Betrayal for Third Rail Power Trip at Venue 9 in April and co-directed Donald Margulies Dinner with Friends with Daniel Gamburg for the Theatre and Film Lab of SF at the Traveling Jewish Theatre in August. She is very pleased to be working with Jim, Rich, and the wonderful cast of Corned Beef as part of the SF Fringe 2003. Thanks, as always, to Fred.

Rich Watkins has performed in the productions Pippin, Pal Joey, You Can’t Take it With You, All American, The Crucible, Noises Off, House of Blue Leaves, and Third Rail Power Trip’s Betrayal, with Kerry Gudjohnsen, Mark Rachel, and Matthew Gardner and directed by Nancy Lawson. Richard graduated from San Francisco State with a Bachelor’s in English and creative writing and studied with the advanced degree program Playwrights’ Theatre Workshop. Richard has collaborated on VTV-Virtual Television and God Talk, co-producing, co-writing, and starring in the latter.

Jim Strope is a poet, philosopher, and software engineer. He wrote and produced Catchy Name’s Something You Might Want for the 2002 Fringe Festival. He has worked with the Playwright’s Lab, the San Francisco Playwright’s Center, Theatre Artists’ Conspiracy, and Will Dunn’s Playwriting Workshop.