Friday, June 16: Red Carpet Premiere!
SOLD OUT
7:30 PM
The red-carpet premiere will take place on Friday, June 16, with champagne and appetizers beginning at 6:00 pm. The doors will open at 7:00 pm and the show begins at 7:30 pm. Cash bar available.
Walk the red carpet in your Leelanau County finest and join us on opening night!
Saturday, June 17
7:30 PM
Doors open at 7:00 pm. Cash Bar open under the tent at 6:30 pm.
Sunday, June 18 - Matinee
3:00 PM
Join us on Sunday, June 18 at 3:00 pm for the matinee performance. The doors will open at 2:30 pm. Meet the cast and directors following the show!
Setting: an upscale lakeside village populated by the 1% and those who serve them. DIANA actively avoids friends and family by attending workshops with strangers. All’s well until her longtime “frenemy” SYBIL shows up at “Breathing Space,” a de-cluttering class at…you guessed it…the Old Art Building. The morning session goes to hell faster than a Marie Kondo meltdown, as old wounds are kept, donated or thrown away like last year’s Lululemon Bucket Hat. #SparkJoy
An All-Star Cast
LAURA AMES MITTELSTAEDT (Sybil)
Professional acting credits include Proof (Catherine) at New Paltz Summer Repertory, A Mid-Summer Night's Dream (Helena) and King Lear (Regan) and As you Like It (Phebe) at Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet) with the Trinity Repertory Summer Shakespeare Project in Providence, Rhode Island. Chicago credits include work with TimeLine Theatre Company and Chicago Dramatists. Laura is an Artistic Associate and founding member of the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival, where she directed the 2014 production of The Tempest and has played roles including Kate in Taming of the Shrew and Portia in The Merchant of Venice. Laura earned her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Pennsylvania State University and her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance from Rhode Island College.
KAREN CROSS (Diana)
Over the last 50 years, Karen has performed in, choreographed and/or directed numerous plays for community theaters, schools and regional theater productions in Michigan and Alaska. She most recently directed “Academia Nuts" for the Northport Performing Arts Center and performed as “Mama Morton” for the Old Town Playhouse production of "Chicago". Karen is a graduate of Detroit’s Cass Technical High School and Wayne State University.
SUSAN FAY (Lydia)
Susan's acting and dancing career has taken her from St. Louis to Toronto to Hartford to Chicago. She has performed in everything from several world premiers (such as Plantation at Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago) to Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Comedy of Errors in Chicago) and everything in between (Night of the Iguana at Hartford Stage Company). And after too many years away, it is such a pleasure to be performing at the OAB once again!
DREW MCCONNELL (Elliot)
Drew was born and raised in Leland, He has lived and worked in NYC for the past 11 years where he has performed Stand Up and Improv. His TV/Film credits include The Girl on the Train, Dead of Winter and Evil Lives Here (Discovery ID) as well as Off-Off Broadway productions of Energy Ex-Chains, If/When, Under the Knife: A Farce and The Messenger. He is repped by The Talent Express and Crystal Ship Artists.
ALEXANDRA ZENN (Tina)
Alex most recently appeared in Cry It Out and Something Rotten at Traverse City’s Old Town Playhouse. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Theatre Arts and Ithaca College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drama with a minor in Communications. At Ithaca College, Alex appeared in Metamorphoses and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Other credits include Karen in the webseries Seeking Sublet and Lauren in Prohibition. Alex has also worked in various capacities in Film and Television, including Field Coordinator for Impractical Jokers and Production Coordinator for Great Performances: Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett.
BEATRIZ ADRIANA MORENO (Yara)
Bea was born in Mexico and moved to Texas as an infant. Her family later moved to Leelanau County where they have lived for over 30 years. Bea took an acting class in college. Since then she has had a variety of professional roles, starting as a Home Visitor for Parenting Communities serving Spanish-speaking families. Since 2013 she has served as the EL/Migrant Specialist at Suttons Bay Public Schools and as liaison for our migrant population at TBAISD. Bea continues to advocate for the migrant community, helping us all learn, grow and work together. She is the proud mother of three boys--her all time favorite role!
ELENA SICA MOSHER (Allegra)
Elena was born and raised in Northport and participated in theater, voice and dance throughout her time at Northport School and Traverse City West Senior High. After pursuing other interests in college and traveling abroad, Elena reignited her passion for theater as Hunyak in the Old Town Playhouse’s 2022 production of Chicago. She is thrilled for the opportunity to be onstage in Breathing Space at the Old Art Building, where she performed in her first dance recital at age 6! By day, Elena is the Farm to School Coordinator for the region's elementary schools, where she educates students about food and gardening.
JANET M. STIPICEVICH (Betsy)
A transplant from CA, Janet now calls Traverse City home. (She moved for love...not the weather!) On the west coast she studied acting at San Jose State University and American Conservatory Theatre. She worked for numerous theatre companies performing everything from Melodrama to Musicals to Shakespeare (her true passion). Janet spent 20+ seasons performing in repertory for the Central Coast Shakespeare Festival (favorite roles include: The Fool in KING LEAR, Lady Macbeth in MACBETH, and Kate & Petruchio in TAMING OF THE SHREW). Since moving to MI she has performed with Glen Arbor Players, Old Town Playhouse and Riverside Shakespeare. Janet is excited beyond words to "trod the boards" at OAB!
Playwright/Co-directors
MCADOO GREER (Playwright/Co-director)
McAdoo is an alumna of The Groundlings, the improv troupe she credits with teaching her she can write her own lines and act at the same time. Plays include The First Human Impalement Act in These Here Parts (Dramatic Publishing Company), Titty Bars (Ingram New Works Festival, Nashville Repertory Theatre), and How Come That Blood (National Playwright’s Retreat in Creede, Colorado). She has been a featured performer at the Southern Literary Festival, The Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans, and even here on the Old Arts Building stage for three seasons with Stage Turner. McAdoo is currently collaborating with composer Ned Ginsburg and lyricist Sherry Landrum on the musical version of her play Titty Bars and she’ll be happy to stage it anywhere but her hometown cause, you know, people will talk. When McAdoo first met Rebecca Reynolds at the West Kentucky Playwrights Festival the two suspected they might be second cousins twice-removed and that hunch prompted their collaboration on several southern-fried comedies. But tonight’s offering, Breathing Space, is a tribute to Becky’s northern home, Leland.
REBECCA REYNOLDS (Playwright/Co-director)
Reynolds has worked in film, TV and theatre in NYC, LA and points in between. Most recently Reynolds co-created/produced the hit true crime podcast "Hollywood and Crime" on Wondery. She co-founded 8180 Films serving as producer for the company’s four award-winning indie films. Screenwriting credits include the psychological thrillers "Backfire" and "Overexposed", co-written with Larry Brand. Reynolds served as writer/producer for the long-running hit HBO comedy series "Arli$$" starring Robert Wuhl. She and Wuhl co-wrote the stage version of their two HBO comedy specials "Assume the Position", which played in theatres around the country including NYC’s Ars Nova, LA’s El Portal Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse. Reynolds also produced Wuhl's play "Hit-Lit" at the Queens Theatre in New York City. Locally Reynolds directed the staged reading series "Stage Turner", which ran for three summers at the OAB. She was also a member of the producing team for the Beyond the Bay Film Series at the Bay Theatre. She met fellow playwright McAdoo (Bobbie) Greer in 1989 at the West Kentucky Playwrights in Murray, Kentucky, where they both agreed they occasionally enjoyed a cold Co-Cola, fried catfish and caramel pie. They have worked together and supported each other’s projects ever since. Reynolds earned both a BFA and an MFA in theatre, which made her mother very proud.