The Eight: Reindeer Monologues

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Sarah Eliana Bisman* (Dancer) believes in the power of the en-dash – she is an actress-singer-producer-speech/dialect tutor (and more!). Unlike Groucho Marx, she very much enjoys belonging to organizations that will have her as a member. To wit, she is a proud member of: The 24 Hour Company (www.24hourplays.com), New Voices Network, Actors Equity, and The Dramatists Guild. Favorite roles so far include Flora in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, Charlene in Adam Bock’s Thursday (Theater 151), Mrs Domik in Slavs! (59 E 59), and Irina in Space by Laura Jacqmin (The 24 Hour Plays/At Play Productions). Sarah holds a BFA from NYU-Tisch and an MFA from the New School for Drama, both in Acting. Last year, Sarah became the proud co-editor of 24 by 24: The 24 Hour Plays Anthology, and thinks it would make a great stocking stuffer for your loved one this holiday season (check out The Drama Book Shop or www.playscripts.com). For more information on doing accent reduction or dialect work with Sarah or her colleague Eleanor, please contact sarah@sarahbisman.com. P.S. This is the longest bio Bis has been asked to write in several years, though she has managed to shill in just about all of them.
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Rachel Grundy* (Vixen) A native Londoner, Rachel has been working in seedy underworld of NYC non-profit theatre since 2003. She’s delighted to be back among the Dysfunctional crowd, having played Blitzen in the 2007 production of Reindeer and, more recently, co-wrote and performed in the award-winning The Dysfunctional Guide to Home Perfection, Marital Bliss and Passionate Hot Romance in the FRIGID New York Festival earlier this year. She is the proud Associate Artistic Director of TheatreRats, winning an audience award for acting in their recent Fifth Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival and has performed in many of their mainstage productions as well. Other recent credits include originating the role of Tech in Guy Pride Production’s Nab-A-Date! and several credits with Medicine Show Theatre. She also drinks for the Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl and plays sax/flute/vocals in her awesomely funky band, Coyote Love (www.coyotelovemusic.com), who just released their debut album. Huge thanks to Amy O, Justin and all the Dysfunctional crew for nurturing her passion to be on stage and love always to my heart and soul, Vince. www.rachelgrundy.com
Amy Beth Sherman* (Blitzen) is very pleased to be making her Reindeer Monologues debut with this fabulous company and these fabulous actors. Previous Dysfunctional credits include The Dysfunctional Guide to Home Perfection, Marital Bliss, and Passionate Hot Romance (Ensemble); Brew of the Dead (Nexus); Chosen (Ensemble); and Vampire Stewardesses From Hell (Tatiana). She’d like to thank the academy, her family, and her fabulous husband. Happy Holidays!
Danaher Dempsey (Cupid) is pleased to be working with Dysfunctional again. Last time he worked for Dysfunctional, he played “The Big Fella” in Chosen.
Peter Schuyler (Comet) A proud company member of Dysfunctional, this is Peter’s fourth time in the antlers at the North Hole, having played Dasher, Donner, and Cupid previously. He can sum up his feelings about the show in the words of Garrison Keillor: “What price venison? Seriously, I need to make a lovely roast for well-adjusted-above-average family!” Most recently he was seen (very briefly) in DMTheatrics production of Titus Andronicus as Quintus, one of the idiot sons who crawls into a hole with a corpse. He played Teddy Brewster this past summer in DTC’s well reviewed yet abysmally attended production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and before that he played Captain Phaidrig O’Neill in TheatreRats revival of the completely unheard of King O’Neill, where he lived out a lifelong fantasy of being a drunken Irish soldier in a skirt for two hours. In NYC: Titus X (Titus Andronicus, NYIT nominee), Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist (Strom’s Father, NYIT nominee), Brew of The Dead (Craig), Romeo and Juliet (Nurse), Orestes 2.0 (Menelaus), The Front Page (Endicott), and Frankenstein (Clerval). Peter is a staff writer for NYtheatre.com and a director/producer for their Cable Access TV show Indie Theatre Now!. He is also a raconteur for the Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl (www.bakerloo.org). Peter has a BS in Theatre Performance from Northern Arizona University. Love and thanks to Dawn, best fiancée ever.
Jennifer Gill (Hollywood) has been hanging out with Dysfunctional Theatre since 2003. She became an official company member in 2004. In that time she’s appeared in: Arsenic and Old Lace (Elaine), The Dysfunctional Guide to Home Perfection, Marital Bliss and Passionate Hot Romance (Ensemble), Orange Murder Suit (Lynn), The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Vixen 2007, Blitzen 2006, Dancer 2005), Bite (Annabelle), Hoover: A Love Story (Jackie Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, a Japanese Warplane and others), Please Please Please Love Me (Nina), and Untitled Farce (Ms. Guest). Other favorite performances include Emelia in Comedy of Errors, Beatrice in The Voysey Inheritance and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. Jennifer has a BFA in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. You can find her at www.jennygill.com and also on twitter.com as nycjenny. Love and thanks to all the Dysfunctionals for the various ways you helped me out and held me up this year…again.
Rob Brown* (Donner) is very pleased to be returning for his fourth trip to the North Pole. His previous incarnations have included Cupid (’05), Comet (’06), and Dasher (’07). His most recent trip to the boards was this past summer, where he had the thrill of playing one of his dream roles (Mortimer Brewster) in Arsenic and Old Lace with Dysfunctional Theatre. He also had the honor of playing Andrew Rally in I Hate Hamlet this past summer as well with the Fire Island Shakespeare Rep. He would like to thank his friends and family for their support. And he would especially like to thank Nicole for all her love. Rob is a board member and secretary for Dysfunctional Theatre. Yeah, that’s right. Secretary.
Michael DeRensis (Dasher) is pleased to be working with Dysfunctional again after playing Officer Brophy in their production of Arsenic and Old Lace. He recently won a Honorable Mention Best Actor Award for playing an elephant in the Chester Horn Short Play Festival. He plans on playing every animal that was not invited on Noah’s Ark. Watch out unicorns, you may not like what you see. Other favorites include the title role in Pericles, Bottom in Midsummer, and Menelaus in Trojan Women. He sends his love to Maddy and Finn.