With the midterms less than four weeks away, the upcoming election is on everyone’s mind – including The Studio Players in Golden Gate. They’re performing a dark comedy called “Election Day.” It’s about a guy who is planning to vote just to please his overzealous girlfriend. But when his sex-starved sister, an eco-terrorist, and a mayoral candidate willing to do anything for a vote all show up, he realizes that making that quick trip to the polls is going to be harder than he thought.
It's onstage through Sunday (Oct. 18).
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“Election Day” was written by Josh Tobiessen.
The characters are outlandish. The action is fast (the show is just 80 minutes, including a 10-minute intermission), frenzied and unfiltered.
Paula Keenan directs the play, which stars Melissa Hennig, Danny Cancio, Alex Gonzalez, Lindsey Ambrose-Kimmel and Gregg Birr.
This is Keenan’s 11th season directing for The Studio Players. Her directing credits include “The Cottage,” “The Waverly Gallery,” “Agnes of God,” “The Cocktail Hour,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “Over the River and Through the Woods,” “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Other Desert Cities.” She also directs for Art Center Theatre on Marco Island, where her credits include “Private Lives,” “Plaza Suite,” “Come Blow Your Horn,” “The Odd Couple” and “California Suite.” She started directing in the mid-1990s in Central Florida and has directed in Southwest Florida since 2016.
Melissa Hennig plays the sex-starved sister, Chloe. Her stage credits include the role of Jeremy/Brother Venerius in “The Devine Sister” and Mrs. Peacock in “Clue: On Stage” for the Arts Bonita Actors Theatre; “The 39 Steps,” “Vanities” and “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then some!)” for Arts Center Theatre on Marco Island; and “Vanities" and Anabella Byron in “Ada and the Engine” for The Naples Players.
Danny Cancio plays Jerry Clark, a mayoral candidate who will trade anything, including sex, for this constituents’ votes. Cancio has been acting for 10 years. His extensive stage credits include Father Flynn in “Doubt: A Parable” for The Studio Players, the title role of Larry Shue’s “The Foreigner” at Arts Center Theatre on Marco Island, little brother Trip in “Other Desert Cities,” “Art,” “The Mogul, The Missionary & The Mustang,” attorney Aaron Levinsky in “Nuts,” “The Waverly Gallery,” Jerry in “The Zoo Story,” the bartender in “Speed Dating,” the owl in “Where is Man?,” Senator Charles Whitmore’s campaign aide in “Church & State,” and Jerry in “Don’t Talk to the Actors” – all for The Studio Players in Naples. He also played Bear in Ghostbird Theatre Company’s production of “Orbs!” and Jonah in Laboratory Theater of Florida’s 2016 production of Joshua Harmon’s “Bad Jews.”
Alex Gonzalez plays Adam, who’s promised his girlfriend he’ll vote for the candidate of her choice come hell or high water. This is Gonzalez's third production at The Studio Players. He’s been a theater kid since high school.
Lindsey Ambrose-Kimmel plays Adam’s girlfriend, Brenda, an overachieving attorney and political operative who’s seeking to get Jerry Clark’s opponent elected as mayor. Ambrose-Kimmel received an associate's degree in theater from Santa Monica College and studied acting at William Esper Studio in New York City. This is her second show with The Studio Players.
Gregg Birr is eco-terrorist Edmund. His stage credits include “November” for The Studio Players, Kiril in Tracy Lett’s “Superior Donuts” (which he stage managed), “Beer for Breakfast” for The Studio Players, the delivery man in Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” (which he also stage managed), “Same Time Next Year,” “An Evening of Ten-Minute Plays,” “Emotional Baggage” and “High Noon in Boom" and "How They Talk in South Boston.”
Birr is a familiar face on Marco Island. For Arts Center Theatre, he has appeared as George in “You’ve Got Hate Mail,” Bill in “Hollywood Arms” “Queen of Bingo,” “Odd Couple” and “Four Old Broads.” He had also been a frequent participant in the Marco Players Reader’s Theater, including roles in “Words, Words, Words,” “Silver Alert,” “What the Dickens,” “Buford and Leroy,” “Biff and Blanche,” “The Story of a Very Good Catch,” and “Matterhorn and the Wedding Story.” Gregg took his first role with the now defunct Marco Players in “Old Ringers,” followed by the lead in “On the Farce Day of Christmas” and roles in “With This Ring” and “Silver Alert.” He also appeared in “The Golden Charm of Marco Island” for the Island Theater and “Provenance” for The New Plays Festival at The Naples Players.
He has also stage managed “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Beer for Breakfast” and “November.”
Birr became involved in community theater after attending an acting class with Verona Walk’s Performing Arts Center, after which he read and acted in several of its local productions.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
