Cast
Susan Applewhaite
Mother, Grace, Sandra, Margery, Kate, Bertha, Ruth
Susan is a Hamilton based theatre creator, television and film actor, and teacher at WEST.
She is thrilled to be revisiting this wonderful play, especially with such a stellar cast and crew. Much love to her husband Bernard for his support, shoutout to Jason, he knows why. And thank you to her dearest friend, amazing director, occasional partner in crime, Yo Mustafa.
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Mischa Aravena
Arthur, Architecht, Kid, Paul, Chris, Richard
Mischa Aravena is an actor, singer and teacher. He holds an MFA from the University of Houston, Texas. For the past 6 years, Mischa has been performing with Disney all over the southern United States, Carribean and Europe. Shows and roles include: Cinderella (Grand Duke, Franco), Aladdin (Sultan, Jafar, understudy), and Tangled (Big Nose, Stabbington Brother). Other Professional roles include: Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice (Texas Shakespeare Festival), Boolie in Driving Miss Daisy (Hope Repertory theatre), Marco in A View From the Bridge (HRT), and Juan Peron in Evita (Lower Ossington Theatre). Amateur roles include: Ken in John Logan's RED (NorteSur) and MacDuff in Macbeth (Hart House Theatre).
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Lucy Ellis
Girl, Carolyn, Winkie, Nancy, Sarah, Meg
Lucy Ellis is an actor and singer/songwriter based in Toronto. Along with graduating from George Brown Theatre School in 2022, Lucy has studied contemporary and classical text at Stratford and Shaw, and has trained internationally at RADA and LAMDA in England. Selected theatre credits include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Sunbeam Theatre), Emily in Our Town (WEST Theatre), and the Toy Fairy in The Velveteen Rabbit (Rule of Three Theatre). Selected Film/TV credits include Murdoch Mysteries, Heritage Minutes and the upcoming Starfleet Academy on Paramount+. She had a blast rehearsing The Dining Room with this stellar cast, and can’t wait to share this story!
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Roxanne Hill
Sally, Ellie, Kid, Dora, Old Lady, Helen, Claire
Roxanne is excited to be making her debut with West End Studio Theatre alongside such a talented cast of actors. As an actor and musician, Roxanne led theatre arts classes and summer camps for a number of years at The Randolph School for the Performing Arts before it became a college. She has studied at WEST for the past several years, developing her skills in scene study, character development and ensemble performance. You can spot Roxanne performing with Oakville Improv in Theatresports and at the Moonshine Cafe. She is grateful to Yo and his creative team for the opportunity to help bring this witty and heartfelt production to life.
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Desmond Lazar
Charlie, Billy, Nick, Ben, Tony, Standish
Desmond Lazar (he/him) is an actor, writer and director based out of Toronto Ontario, who graduated from TMU (formerly Ryerson)’s acting program in ’22. His first play, The Fire, was workshopped by Precipice Productions in 2021 and he made his directorial debut the following year with Hunger, a new play by Ben Yoganathan. His most recent acting credits include: George, Our Town (Studio WEST); Nick, Fiji (Icarus Theatre); Snout, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tottering Biped Theatre); Hookman, Hookman, (TMU); and Romeo, Romeo and Juliet (TMU).
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Chris Reid
Father, Michael, Brewster, Grandfather, Stuart, Gordon, David, Harvey, Host
Chris is happy to return to this show with such a wonderful group of people. His previous acting credits include 12 Angry Men, ‘ART’, The Laramie Project (West End Studio Theatre), Glengarry Glen Ross (Nortesur Productions), Merchant of Venice (Tottering Biped) and the short film Food For Thought (Three Sisters Productions/Brightpixl Studios). Chris is a Kindergarten teacher who lives happily in Georgetown with his family, fish, bunnies and dogs. Thank you for supporting the arts in your community.
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Linda Spence
Agent, Annie, Aggie, Peggy, Beth, Aunt Harriet, Emily
Linda is thrilled to be working again with West End Studio Theatre and such a talented team, and under the direction of the uber talented Yo Mustafa. Linda is an Actor/Director for both stage and screen working in the GTA for 30+ years. Selected stage credits include Katherine in Taming of the Shrew with the City of Brampton, M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias with Theatre Etobicoke; the female roles in The 39 Steps with Galahad Theatre Productions; and with West End Studio Theatre Linda performed Mrs Linde in A Doll’s House, Mary in It’s A Wonderful Life and multiple roles in The Laramie Project. Most recently she played Maggy in Remember, Maggy with Theatre Burlington and performed a monologue in Talking With... here at the Oakville Centre. Thanks for supporting local theatre!
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Jason Swenor
Client, Howard, Psychiatrist, Ted, Fred, Jim
Jason has been acting in the Hamilton area for over 20 years and is making his WEST debut in The Dining Room. Favourite previous roles include Greg in Sylvia (Village Theatre, Waterdown), James in It’s Only a Play (Players’ Guild of Hamilton), and Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace (Peninsula Players, Grimsby).
Jason is grateful to be working with an incredibly talented cast, crew, and director in The Dining Room.
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Crew
Yo Mustafa
Director, Stage Design
Lorraine McVicar
Stage Manager, Props
There are few things as satisfying as watching actors and a director ply their craft. Talented people bring their ideas and experience to rehearsals and ultimately the stage, where remarkable things will happen. A stage manager watches the page numbers and the time, the entrances and exits, holds the script, keeps track of the props and calls cues. Not artistry, but support of artistry. Lorraine thanks Diane Brokenshire for bringing (dragging) her to the magic of backstage more than 40 years ago, and to Yo Mustafa for giving her a continuing place int he process. And thanks most of all to Guy Wallace who continuously shows up to help, not for recognition, but for the woman he loves.