Kristin Netzband (Actor 3) returns to a JCC production after performing as Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime, the Musical. Recent performances include Cabaret (Sally Bowles) and the 2005 & 2006 performances of Beauty and the Beast (Babette) at Beck Center for the Arts. Regional premiere credits include Ragtime, the Musical (Evelyn Nesbit), Reefer Madness (Lady Liberty/Ensemble), Miss Saigon (Ellen understudy, Tiger Dancer, Dance Capt.), Jane Eyre: The Musical (Jane Eyre) and The Fix (Ensemble). Other favorite credits include Seussical (Gertrude McFuzz), West Side Story (Anita), Little Me (Young Belle), A Chorus Line (Val), and Jesus Christ, Superstar (Mary Magdalene). Kristin has also worked with Mercury Summer Stock in Ruthless (Louise/Eve) and Babes In Arms (Billie), and will be seen in the upcoming feature film "Survival," due out this year. Cleveland area benefits include “Bad Girls and The Men Who Love Them” (Herself) at Cassidy Theatre and The Playhouse Square Foundation’s 2006 Cabaret Series. Choreography credits include Treasure Island, Footloose and 42nd Street. Many thanks to Fred, Deanna, Larry and the rest who helped put this together, and especially her family. A special thanks to Marc and George for being amazing acting partners. All my love to My P.C., Travis.

George Roth* (Actor 2) is thrilled to be back in a JCC production. He made his Cleveland professional theater debut in the 2001 JCC production of The Sunshine Boys, and he is delighted to be a part of Jolson & Company. Last year, George had the privilege of being a part of the Beck Center’s honored production of The Diary of Anne Frank. His portrayal of Otto Frank was dedicated to his mother, Edith Kann Roth, who survived the Holocaust. Other favorite local work includes A Man of No Importance (Beck Center for the Arts), Amadeus, You Can’t Take it with You and Nickel and Dimed (Great Lakes Theater Festival), Highway Ulysses (Dobama Theatre) and Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Cleveland Public Theatre). He trained at the Central School in London, and during his eight years in England, worked at repertory theaters in the provinces as well as a West End-run of Brighton Beach Memoirs for Britain’s Royal National Theatre. George’s film and television credits include Batman, The Russia House, Nightbreed, Doing Time on Maple Drive, Tailspin, Murphy Brown, Love and War, Get a Life, and Capital City. George is a two-time Jeopardy champ and a twenty-year cancer survivor. He lives in Mayfield Heights with his wife, Elizabeth, and their eight-year old daughter, Olivia.

*Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

MEET THE PRODUCTION STAFF

Fred Sternfeld** (Director, Jolson & Company; Theater Producer, JCC Arts & Culture Project) is widely represented on Northeast Ohio stages through diverse projects, garnering numerous honors and awards. Recently Fred directed the award-winning productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at Beck Center for the Arts and Ragtime, the Musical at the JCC. He previously served as Artistic Director at Lakewood Little Theatre - Beck Center for the Arts and the Seattle & Dallas Jewish Community Centers. Selected credits: Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music at Cain Park; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at Dobama Theatre; Modern Orthodox, From Door to Door, South Pacific, The God of Isaac, Fiddler on the Roof, Beau Jest, Man of La Mancha, Rags, The Twilight of the Golds, The Immigrant and Conversations With My Father for the Cleveland JCC; Bad Seed at Ensemble Theatre; Amadeus at Willoughby Fine Arts Association; Broadway Bound and A Shayna Maidel at JCC Center Stage in Seattle; On the Town, Of Mice and Men, La Cage aux Folles, Sondheim’s Saturday Night, Foxfire, Noises Off, Peter Pan, Children of a Lesser God and The Importance of Being Earnest at Beck Center; Proof at Geauga Lyric Theatre Guild; and All My Sons and Enter Laughing at the Dallas JCC. His next projects are Oliver! for Cain Park, opening June of '07, and an encore presentation of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for the Beck Center, opening this December. For more information about Fred you can visit his website at www.fredsternfeld.com.

Brian Zoldessy (Associate Producer) is Assistant Professor and Director of the Theatre Arts Department at Cuyahoga Community College, Eastern Campus. As a professional actor, Brian has worked in New York, L.A., Chicago, and Cleveland, and has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in television and films. Additionally, Brian performed stand-up comedy at many of New York’s famous comedy clubs. Brian has been a theater faculty member for the Special Studies Program at the Chautauqua Institution, the Beck Center Conservatory program, and the Fairmount Performing Arts Camp.

Martin M. Bluestein (CCC Eastern Campus Technical Director) is in his seventh year at CCC previously working as technical director for The Juilliard School in New York City, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Parkland College of Champaign, Illinois. He has shared ideas and concepts in technical design and production in the People's Republic of China (1997), the former Soviet Union (1998), Australia (2000) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam 2005). He has consulted on international tours to Canada, Mexico, England, and Israel, as well as domestic tours in the Midwest, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Southwest, and the West Coast….now he just needs to find something in the Northwest.

Martín Céspedes (Choreographer) is a proud member of both AEA and AGMA. He directed and choreographed Smokey Joe's Café and Five Guys Named Moe at Beck Center for the Arts as well as Ain’t Misbehavin’ and My Way (the Music of Frank Sinatra) at Weathervane Playhouse. He has appeared in several Broadway national tours and was nominated for Northern Ohio Live’s Theater Award in both 2005 and 2006. He has won numerous Times Tribute Awards and was named in Scene Magazine as Cleveland’s Best Choreographer of 2006. Martín's work can also be seen in the 2007 Cain Park productions of Oliver!, directed by Fred Sternfeld, Nine, directed by Victoria Bussert and Jeckyl and Hyde, The Musical at Beck Center for the Arts.

Sean Szaller (Music Director) is thrilled to be working on such a wonderful piece of theater! For the past 15 years he has appeared on stage at venues ranging from Great Lakes Theater Festival to The Cleveland Orchestra and even Dayton's LaComedia Dinner Theater. In addition to being a professional actor, he is also an accomplished choreographer, stage manager, vocal coach, teacher, and, of course, musical director. Up next, Sean will be stage managing Oliver! at Cain Park this summer as well as serving on the faculty of the Fairmount Performing Arts Camp (for the fourth consecutive year). Thanks to all the wonderful people in his life! Enjoy the show!

Trad A Burns (Lighting Designer). Mr. Burns’ career has spanned theater, dance and amusement parks as well as architectural and retail lighting. He is the resident scenic and lighting designer for Cleveland Public Theatre. Designing over 400 productions during the last decade, his varied work has been seen around the world: Cincinnati Ballet, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, La Mama ETC and the Public Theatre (New York City), Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cedar Point, Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland, Disneyland Japan, Disney and Carnival Cruise Lines, Universal Studios Florida and Japan, and The Family of Charles M. Schultz.

Larry Goodpaster (Conductor/Piano) is happy to be working back at the JCC with a wonderfully talented trio of actors in a project very special to him. As a child, he would listen daily to his father’s collection of 45 and 78 rpm records including a large number of Jolson titles. His father would often sing along, doing his best Jolson imitation (not very good). Those poignant memories of scratchy recordings and tender family moments have guided him through the rehearsal process and performances of Jolson and Company. Larry has been an active contributor in over 80 productions in the Cleveland area since 1998. Last year Larry was the recipient of four Times Tribute Awards for The Full Monty (Beck Center), Man of No Importance (Beck Center), Sunday in the Park With George (Lakeland Theatre), and Beauty and the Beast. Larry would like to dedicate this show to the audiences who continue to support great theater in Northeast Ohio. May Jolson and Company take you back to the time when the World’s Greatest Entertainer brought music into our homes and hearts.

Aimee Kluiber (Costume Designer) is a costume, fashion and millinery designer from Lakewood, Oh. She studied theatre and music at Wittenberg University and The Cleveland Institute of Music and fashion and millinery design at The Virginia Marti College of Art and Design. Her theatrical associations include: Lyric Opera Cleveland, The Cleveland Play House, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Cain Park, Case Western Reserve University, Cesear’s Forum, Red Hen Productions, Beck Center for the Arts, Willoughby Fine Arts Association and the Jewish Community Center.

Richard B. Ingraham (Sound Designer) is happy to be returning to the JCC as a member of the design team. His most recent work at the JCC was as the sound designer for Modern Orthodox. Richard is a freelance sound designer in the Cleveland area, the resident sound designer for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland Michigan, and a former resident sound designer at The Cleveland Play House. Richard has worked at several theaters in the area including Beck Center for the Arts, Dobama Theatre, University of Evansville, Shakespeare and Company, and Willoughby Fine Arts Association. www.rbicompaudio.20m.com

Deanna Caudill (Stage Manager) is excited to be back working for the JCC as stage manager. Previously she stage managed and propped Modern Orthodox this past fall. Deanna holds a BFA in theatre from Lake Erie College and currently works as the office manager for Master Consulting Group, a brokerage firm specializing in employee benefits. She has also worked for other area theatres including Beck Center for the Arts, Geauga Lyric Theatre Guild, Willoughby Fine Arts Association, Lake Erie College theatre department and Rabbit Run Community Arts Association. This summer she will be producing and propping Rabbit Run’s entire season as well as stage managing Forever Plaid and Fallen Angels. Thanks to the cast a crew for a job well done and to her husband who may not remember what she looks like!

**The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, an independent national labor union.