The popular Neil Simon play Biloxi Blues will be staged at GVSU this week by an all-student cast and crew. The student group STAGE, Student Technical and Actors Guild for Entertainment, will perform the play December 9-12 in the Louis Armstrong Theatre on GVSU's Allendale campus.
The Tony Award winning play follows the adventures of Eugene Morris Jerome, alter ego of the youthful Neil Simon. Jerome is a young Army recruit going through basic training, learning about life, and developing his sensibility as a writer during boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943.
Trinity Bird, a junior Theatre major from Bronson, Michigan, is directing the production. Bird has been involved in five previous productions at Grand Valley. His most recent contribution was playing Antonio in the Shakespeare Festival mainstage production of Much Ado About Nothing. Bird has done about 50 shows with Bronson High School, Coldwater Community Theatre, Hillsdale Civic Theatre, Tibbits Summer Theatre and Grand Valley. He is also president of STAGE.
This production is unique because students are running the entire production, Bird says. In addition to playing all the roles, Bird and his fellow students are doing everything from technical direction to costumes for the production. Freshman Theatre major Daniel Kennedy, of Traverse City, is playing the lead role.
Biloxi Blues Cast and Crew
Eugene Morris Jerome - Daniel Kennedy (Traverse City, MI)
Arnold Epstein - Jay Thompson (LaPorte, IN)
Donald Carney - Dustin Foster (Edwardsburg, MI)
Joseph Wykowski - Ben Hope (Petoskey, MI)
Roy Seldridge - Ryan Betzler (Madison Heights, MI)
James Hennesy - Bryant Osikowicz (Livonia, MI)
Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey - John C. Owens (Grand Rapids, MI)
Daisy Hannigan - Amanda Hall (Mattawan, MI)
Rowena - Betsy J. Loomis (Traverse City, MI)
Director - Trinity Bird (Bronson, MI)
Assistant Directors - Heather Hartnett (Holland, MI), Dustin Eaton (Grand Rapids, MI)
Producer - Katherine Mayberry (Grand Haven, MI)
Assistant Producer - Samuel Kraut (Clarkston, MI)
Technical Director - E. Brad Moore
Costumes - Joel Schindlbeck (Grand Haven, MI)
Stage Managers - Joe Yanos (New Baltimore, MI), Christina Witt-Dobski (Detroit, MI)
