Cast & Crew Bios

Jack Clarke-Parker

This is Jack’s first show with Footlights. He has sang in choirs for many years and likes to play the piano. While Jack is open to new experiences, he has no expectations that a situation will occur that will be worse the wear for the presence of chocolate. Jack likes to sleep long and hard, and to dream. His dreams take place in a better world. A world where his sewing needle is one step ahead of the holes that threaten the viability of his pants. Each meal that Jack cooks is slightly bigger than the last. One day soon he will need to build a bigger, sturdier table to withstand the monumental weight of his lentil wat stews. Jack has been friends with Russians for as long as he can remember, those whinging Yankees better watch it.

Abigail Helsby

Abigail Helsby asked Mike Bryant to write her bio for her. Mike is infamously lazy so he just decided to amass a collection of quotes about her without any sort of fact checking. (You're welcome Abi.)

"Abi taught me everything I know." - Florence Nightingale

"All of my sonnets were secretly about Abi.' - William Shakespeare

" I may have split the atom, but Abi split my heart." - Ernest Rutherford

"You know most of these quotes are anachronistic fabrication, right? Also, yeah, Abi's pretty cool." - George Washington

" I was going to name my baby after Abi... But I changed my mind." - Jacinda Ardern

Kevin Orlando

Kevin Orlando has been a member of the Wellington Footlights society since Legally Blonde and has loved watching the society grow and develop with each performance! Kevin is thrilled to be performing in Chess, however he wants to make it clear that even though he is American, he isn’t THAT type of American...(if you know what he means) so don’t be afraid to say hi when you inevitability see him sipping on a coffee around town! Kevin would like to dedicate this performance to his incredible friends here in New Zealand and to his spirit animal, the Takahē.

Mike Bryant

Mike Bryant is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941) and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.

Mike Bryant is a Gotham City mobster who fancies himself a "gentleman of crime", often wearing a monocle, top hat, and tuxedo. The character is a short, obese man with a long nose, and he uses high-tech umbrellas as weapons.

He is often portrayed as physically deformed such as when played by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns.

Chris McMillan

Chess is Chris’s first show with Wellington Footlights and his first foray into the Wellington theatre scene since moving here last year. Chris has previously performed in shows such as Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Grease while living in Dunedin.

He is very excited to be a part of the footlights family and would like to thank everyone involved for making him feel so welcomed being such an amazing group of people to work with.

Kate Boyle

This is Kate’s third performance with The Wellington Footlights Society, she feels privileged and excited to play the role of Svetlana, despite mustard not really being her colour. She’s currently completing the first year of a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and after a few, cough, years out of school has been shocked and amazed to discover that she actually takes to essay writing like, well not quite like a duck to water, more like a plum to a danish.

If Kate wasn’t spending her nights and weekends pretending to be a jilted Russian Chess-hater (probably), she’d be planning overseas adventures, hanging out with her seriously cute nieces or finding an excuse to buy a puppy. But realistically she’d still be humming Chess tunes. The brain takeover is real.

Eugene Wolfin

Eugene moved to Wellington five years ago to study Jazz Vocals at The New Zealand School of Music and now out of university has started to discover a passion for musical theatre. As well as performing with Footlights, Eugene also performs in Jazz bands around Wellington and teaches music.

Stacey O’Brien

Stacey O'Brien asked Mike to write her show bio for her. Mike wanted her bio to just be a picture of a PlayStation controller and half a pizza, but he wasn't allowed.

Stacey is particularly famous for her defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945.

Stacey has a man named Mr. Bimbo living in her finger. He's been to the moon. Twice.

Stacey would like to thank her life coach Grigori Rasputin for everything he's done for her.

Stacey probably also regrets asking Mike to write her bio for her.

Mike would like to say that he got tangled in his bedsheets while writing this, fell out of bed and hit his head on a bookshelf, ergo he cannot be held responsible for what he's has written.

Nicole Rush

Nicole trained in musical theatre at Dance World Studios Melbourne and is a teacher of the AJDA modern tap syllabus here in New Zealand.

She has performed in 42nd Street & West Side Story in Wellington, and Fame and Thoroughy Modern Millie in London. While living in London she choreographed productions of Thoroughly Modern Mille, The Wedding Singer and Sweet Charity for amateur theatre groups. Nicole has also choreographed for music videos, corporate events and even rugby fields!

One of her biggest dance highlights was dancing in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony in front of the Queen, and just a few million people!

Nicole is loving being back in Wellington and has really enjoyed working with Wellington Footlights!

Renée Iosefa Neil

Chess will be Renée’s second show with Footlights. She joined the society halfway through last year after a long period of studying and “finding herself”.

While doing this she discovered she LOVES axolotls, earl grey tea, and tea RuPaul’s Drag Race #missvanjie and DOES not like peas, studying, and “finding herself”.

It’s 2k18 and now she is found. She likes short walks on the beach and Piña Coladas, but getting caught in the rain is a damn nightmare. Enjoy the show!

Margaret Hill

Margaret joined Footlights in 2014 for Pippin, promptly deciding that these people were her kind of crazy, and has had a fantastic time on and off stage with them ever since. She has appeared in or been behind the scenes for all but one of the Footlights shows, sealing her position with cake, cookies and the ability to get everyone else to use the right foot or arm at the right time.

With a background in dance and musical theatre, Margaret has been performing in Wellington for many years. She has previously worked with WMT, Stagecraft, Wellington Rep, KAT, New Players, and PLT, most recently in last year's Rock of Ages.

Having previously performed Chess 20 years ago with PLT, she was amazed to find out just how much of the harmonies had (and hadn't) stuck in her brain all this time, and that she still knew the list of world chess champions.

When not rehearsing or performing, Margaret can be found staring down a microscope at work, hanging upside down in a dance studio (pole and/or anti-gravity), baking, or trying to make sense of her 2 boys' conversations about Minecraft, Fortnite, and the esoteric minutiae of the Marvel superhero universe.

As always, love and thanks to her patient and long-suffering husband, Ward.

Kirsty Moir

I am so happy to be working on sound/mics behind the scenes for Wellington Footlights after being away for two years in Canada. My last big show I performed in was WFLs Legally Blonde where I got to play Elle Woods. Since being back home I have volunteered here and there for various shows and sung for the Garibaldi society. It feels great to be back into the Wellington theatre scene again and I can’t wait to get back on stage.

Anna McBride

Anna has been based in Wellington and the Wairarapa since returning from the UK late last year. She aspires to be a ballet pianist and currently works at the New Zealand School of Dance on a casual basis - where a contact conveniently passed on that Wellington Footlights were looking for a rehearsal pianist! Anna also teaches music and dance (separately), does concerts at various rest homes, and plays for all the shows she can.

Previous musical theatre as a musician includes ‘Spring Awakening’ (Assistant Musical Director / Pianist, WITCH, April 2018), ‘Footrot Flats’ (Musical Director / Pianist, MATS, November 2017), and Spelling Bee (Synth Keys, Chilton Saint James, May 2018). Additionally, Anna has performed onstage in many musicals with highlights being ‘Mamma Mia’ (Taieri Musical Society, May 2014), ‘Hairspray’, and ‘Joseph’ (both Musical Theatre Dunedin, September 2013 and 2012 respectively).

Anna would like to thank Wellington Footlights Society for having her as their pianist. She has had a wonderful time working with everyone on this incredible show.

Ashleigh Dolling

Ashleigh is a Performance Design graduate (Massey University, Toi Whakaari) and lifelong lover of musical theatre.

She spent two years living in London, cramming in as much costume experience as possible! She earned her stripes working with such prestigious companies as the British Youth Opera, Royal College of Music, and Birmingham Stage Company, and even did a stint on the West End sewing for Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games.

These days, Ashleigh is a full time Mum and part time swim instructor who squeezes creative projects into any spare time she can find! She’s had a blast working on Chess - her first show with Wellington Footlights.

Catherine Gavigan-Binnie

Part-time adult and full-time bagel enthusiast Catherine has been performing in Wellington since 2013 when she campaigned for FREE PONIES in Right Dishonourable, directed by Cassandra Tse. She has been performing with the Wellington Footlights Society since its inception in 2014, including productions such as RENT, Heathers: The Musical, the Taking the... trilogy and The Heart and Music festval. The CHESS rehearsal process has been challenging and rewarding, but mostly just another excuse to reunite with long-time show spouse, Mike Bryant.

Ed Blunden

Ed has been a member of Wellington Footlights since the 2015 production of RENT and finds performing to be the perfect escape from the world of teaching. Ed is happy to be onstage performing once again with the fantastic Footlights ensemble following a brief stint at directing The Rising Sun as a part of the Heart and Music festival at the end of last year. In his spare time Ed enjoys playing football, playing guitar and eating jalapeno hummus.

Karen Anslow

Karen is a Libran with Scorpio rising, born in the year of the Ox. She is most likely to have belonged to Hufflepuff, and would have a Lynx as her patronus.

Karen quite likes being a part of Footlights and has lost count of how many shows she has been involved in (7? 8?). She has played nuns, prostitutes, mothers and a hairdresser, though not all at once. She has also dabbled in directing and quite enjoyed it.

She is relishing the opportunity to play a conniving Russian, especially as Molokov is normally a man.

Laura Loach

South Island born and raised soprano, Laura Loach, moved to Wellington to study at Te Koki New Zealand School of Music, where she gained both her Bachelor of Music and Post Graduate Diploma of Music in Classical Performance under the tutelage of Flora Edwards, who she continues to study with. Laura is also passionate about teaching and after completing her postgraduate studies she trained as a secondary teacher, gaining her Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) at Massey University. Laura also holds her ATCL in Performance Speech and Drama with Distinction from Trinity College.

Laura travels for vocal competitions regularly, she has been a finalist in the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Aria competitions in Wellington, Napier and Dunedin, and was awarded Judges Choice in the 2016 Dunedin Aria Finals.

This year Laura was the winner of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Christchurch Aria competition.

Laura’s roles as a performer have been wide and varied, she has worked in Musical Theatre, Opera, and Theatre as an actor as well as a director. Over the years some of her roles have included: Juno in Semele (Handel) with NZSM, Gianetta in The Gondoliers (Gilbert and Sullivan) with WGSLO, Claire in Ordinary Days (Adam Gwon) with Backyard Theatre Productions, Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) with Eternity Opera, and Bellaria / Queen in Cymbeline (Shakespeare) with Lonely Shakespeare Collective. She has also been a member of the NZOpera Freemasons Chorus since 2012. This year Laura will also appear as La Musica in Orfeo (Monteverdi) and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Puccini) with Eternity Opera.

Laura has spent many years directing high school students in plays such as; Revenge of the Amazons (Jean Betts), Children of the Poor (Mervyn Thompson), Sons (Victor Rogers), The Crucible (Arthur Miller). CHESS will be Laura’s Musical Theatre Directing debut.

Michael Stebbings

Originally from the U.K., Michael is proud to call Wellington his home and to contribute to its vibrant theatre community as a music director, composer and performer. Chess is his ninth show as MD with Wellington Footlights (and sixteenth as Chair); prior to this he was most recently found juggling performing, music directing and playing the clarinet in Heart + Music. Other highlights from 2017 included composing and music directing M'Lady with Red Scare Theatre and music directing Footlights' production of Spamalot.

Chess has been a challenge and a joy to work on. The complexity of the score, the range of musical styles and the richness of the its orchestration have all made it one of Michael’s favourite shows to conduct. He would like to thank his wonderful cast, who’s love and support he is eternally grateful for; and Laura, Nicole and Patrick for all making such a difficult show seem so easy.

Patrick Barnes

Patrick is the sound engineer for Chess, mixing the full cast and band each night. As well as thing, he was the stage manager during the rehearsal process.

His Wellington Footlights highlights include the Heart+Music festival (stage management), Heathers: The Musical (sound design and lighting co-design), and Spamalot (band member).

His other sound design work includes Red Scare Theatre Company's Movers and Yellow Face, Stagecraft's Wonderland, Young & Hungry's One Night Only, and WITCH's Carrie: The Musical. On top of this, Patrick produced the original cast recording for Red Scare's satirical original musical, M'Lady: A Meninist Musical in 2017.

Ellie Stewart

Ellie Stewart has been performing with Wellington Footlights since co-founding the Society in 2014.

Nothing is so good it lasts eternally, but playing Florence has been a dream for Ellie. “Wasn’t it good?” She’ll ask herself once the show’s over. “Wasn’t it fine?” Oh so good. Oh so fine.

By day, Ellie works in the little-known world of collectable stamps and coins. In her spare time she enjoys being a radical feminist and eating plums.

Ellie has also performed with Summer Shakespeare Wellington, Energy Theatre, Red Scare Theatre Company, The Bacchanals and Kapitall Kids Theatre. She is a proud member of Wellington choral sensation Supertonic.

Will Collin

Will has been an avid thespian and performer since an early age. He has performed in 30+ shows/concerts over the past 15 years and is stoked to have landed the plum role of Anatoly in Wellington Footlights production of Chess.

By day Will works at on complex competition and consumer issues at MBIE, which often helps him get into the world weary mindset of his character. Will likes games, his garment steamer and not following through on exercise commitments.

Chess has been a challenging but rewarding journey and Will is consistently in awe of the amazing abilities of his fellow castmates. Special thanks to all the people, especially his wonderful partner Madi, who have kept him (mostly) sane over the past few intense and crazy months!

Alex Rabina

Alex returned to the stage in 2015 in the LGBT documentary play Scene at BATS Theatre, his first show in five years. Following that, he channelled rock music legends in Backyard Theatre's Jukebox Heroes here at the Gryphon last year, opening the door to the coveted superstar life of being a guy in community musical theatre groups. This included Stagecraft’s Urinetown last year and their production of the original musical Wonderland earlier this year.

Alex joined Footlights last year, joining in for the madness of Monty Python’s Spamalot, the HEART+MUSIC festival. He recently starred as Hanschen in the WITCH production of Spring Awakening.

Alex is sitting out performing in Chess, but he’s been doing the publicity and will be back on stage soon!