BENGAL T C&C

MEET THE CAST AND CREW:

CAST:

MICHEAL REGNIER (Tiger) gratefully and humbly returns to work at Ensemble, having appeared here most recently in Prelude to a Kiss, and previously, in The Iceman Cometh, Our Town, The Kentucky Cycle, Three Men on a Horse, and A Tuna Christmas.  He was a long-time resident company member both of Ken Albers’ Actors Company, and of Cleveland SignStage Theatre, and was once a Hermit Club Stage regular. He was just featured as Drosselmeyer in Talespinner  Children’s Theatre’s Clara and the Nutcracker, and was onstage lately in Cain Park’s The Frogs, May 4th Voices at the Maltz Museum, and convergence-continuum’s Lilies.  Michael is an MFA/Acting Graduate of CWRU, and has studied with Living Stage, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and National Theatre of the Deaf. Sunguidess beauty Juliette – mystic seer, songbird actress and burgeoning playwright and director – is his wife and life-unifier (and Grover-the-bullmastiff’s enabler!)  Beloved children are in Cleveland, Chicago, and Taos. Thank-you, Love, God of the Universe, and Mr. R. W., wherever you are!

LELANI BARRETT (Tom) An actor/ dancer/ choreographer and teacher, Mr. Barrett, a native of Cleveland, OH is a graduate of Cleveland School of the Arts and his acting career began by stumbling into the high school theater near his home at the age of 6. His persistent presence during rehearsals led the director to cast him in their show Bye Bye Birdie. He continued on to study and perform at the Front Row Theater, Cleveland Public Theater, The Cleveland Playhouse, Near West Theater and Karamu House. He began on camera hosting at age 14 for public television and local news stations while attending the Cleveland School of Arts with a double major of Theater and Dance. At CSA he won the privilege to represent the State of Ohio in the National Shakespeare Recitation Competition at Lincoln Center sponsored by the English Speaking Union. Some of his favorite roles have included Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar, Edmund the Bastard in King Lear, and the title role in Othello. In addition to his stage work, Mr. Barrett’s voice can be heard in commercials for Cincinnati Bell, Subway, McDonalds and First Energy. On camera work includes Host of the Ohio Lottery Cash Explosion, commercials for Nike, Beats Audio, Time Warner Cable, and Toyota. In film he has performed featured and background rolls in independent and studio works such as Dreaming on Christmas, My Soul to Take, True Bromance, Surviving Suburbia with Bob Sagat, Motor City Ref in Reel Steel with Hugh Jackman, and War Room Scout in Draft Day with Kevin Costner. Soon you will be able follow his journey into health and fitness with his original YouTube show “From Fat 2 FITion”.  Member of SAG and AFTRA.  

DANIEL MCELHANEY (Kev) is making his second appearance at Ensemble.  Most recently, he was seen in Convergence-continuum's production of The Pillowman (Michal).  He has also performed at Dobama Theatre, Charenton Theater Co., The Bang and The Clatter Theatre Co., Blank Canvas Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Willoughby Fine Arts, Clague Playhouse, Weathervane Playhouse, Solon Center for the Arts, Kent State University, Cleveland State University, Mapleleaf Theater, Royalton Players, River Street Playhouse, Brecksville Theater, and Dover Players.  Some past work includes roles in The Walworth Farce (Blake), The God of Hell (Welch), Orange Flower Water (Brad), True West (Lee), American Buffalo (Bobby), The Drawer Boy (Miles), and Suburbia (Buff).  "A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them." - Carl Gustav Jung  

TOM KONDILAS (Musa)  is grateful to return to Ensemble. You may have seen him in Our Town at the Brooks, 12th Night at the Cleveland Playhouse or convergence-continuum productions of References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Spawn of the Petrol Sexuals, Demon Baby, Lord of the Burgeoning Lumber, Buried Child, Mr. Marmalade, Quake, Dark Ride, Kimberly Akimbo, Hunter Gatherers, Aporkalypse!, The Internationalist, Kid Simple, Lobster Alice, or The Pillowman. Videographer for The List on channel 5 & LESS Productions Point Man by day, Tom is humbled to be part of such awesome theater. Tom thanks his fiancé for everything, and family and dogs for their support.

ASSAD KHAISHGI (Uday) is a transplant from Karachi, Pakistan to Lakewood, Ohio. He has been performing on stage for pretty much as far back as he remembers, and got back into it in the US as soon as he could. He is more commonly seen on the stages in the West side of town, and some of his more fun roles have included Cash on Delivery, Fox on the Fairway and The 39 Steps (all at Huntington Playhouse). This is his first production at Ensemble, and he is grateful for the opportunity! He is looking forward to exercising his Evil Muscles. Allons-y!

MICHAEL FADDOUL (Iraqi Man) is a Cleveland born actor, with aspirations for film and television. Mike is a local business owner, currently operating two restaurants in Downtown Cleveland. He has worked as a background actor (extra) in numerous feature films including The Avengers (2012), I, Alex Cross (2012), Underdogs (2013), and Miss Meadows (2014), and was a featured extra in Draft Day (2014). Mike is a current student at The Houde School of Acting (Cleveland Heights) since 2013, where he studies Meisner, Improv, Scene Study, and Audition Technique. He is represented by The Talent Group (Cleveland), and is currently appearing in a promotional spot on Fox Sports Ohio before Cleveland Cavaliers broadcasts. Bengal Tiger is Mike's first experience in the theatrical realm, and is proud and excited to add this to his body of work.

JULIETTE REGNIER*  (Iraqi Woman/Leper) Juliette's stage and film credits are numerous. Most recently, Juliette completed the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Paula Vogel's Civil War Christmas in the highest grossing production in Dobama Theatre's history. Recent roles include Ariadne Utterword in Shaw's Heartbreak House, an Equity Members Project Code produced last summer and at The Beck Center as Bananas in The House of Blue Leaves.  She was a company member of Kalliope Stage, Dobama Theatre, The  Cleveland Signstage Theatre, and has appeared on stage at Cleveland Public Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, Great Lakes Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, (and now again in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo alongside husband/actor, Michael Regnier) and the American Repertory Theatre.  She studied with the Moscow Art Theatre at Harvard University and taught undergraduate acting at Case Western Reserve University for nine years.  Juliette embarked on the path of original work in 1999 as a cabaret artist with the creation of her first cabaret, Shades of Blue. Since then she has developed, written and  produced three more cabarets, the most current,  Elsewhere,  traverses in story and song  the landscapes of Paris, Mother Courage's wagon, The French Quarter, the Birdcage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona  and the playground.  In 2000, she began to write plays. The first of four pieces  called "The S Plays", Shorn, debuted in 2007 at Dobama Theatre.  In 2013, she was chosen to be the Inaugural Nord Playwriting Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre to work on the second and third plays in the series,  Soiled and Sisters.  Soiled and Sisters were produced as staged readings and workshop productions during the fellowship year.  Her fourth, Superior, is underway and Juliette is a member of Dobama Theatre's Playwrights Gym. *(Member of Actors's Equity Association)

JUSTINE ZAPIN (Iraqi Teenager/Hadia) is thrilled to be back at Ensemble Theatre, having most recently played Mrs. McKee in The Great Gatsby as well as Justine, Righteous Woman/Ensemble in Frankenstein. A graduate in Classical Theatre and Acting from Marymount Manhattan College, Justine has worked at numerous theatres in New York, Chicago and Cleveland. In addition to her acting pursuits, Justine runs Stagecrafters Broadway Buddies: Share the Stage with a Friend. Love to Atticus, anybody want a peanut?

CREW:

CELESTE COSENTINO (Director)

ALI ALHADDAD (Arabic Consultant) was born in Iraq, and was raised in various sections of that country being exposed to all its dialects. He also developed a keen interest in the formal Arabic prose & poetry committing many poems to memory. After moving to Cleveland at age 28, he continued his dedicated study of the Arabic language being an expert in its obscure aspects. He has performed multiple Arabic recitals in cities in America and England.  His everyday speaking with his Iraqi wife, family and friends in Cleveland is in the Iraqi Arabic.

KENNETH SHAREEF (Arabic Consultant) is a Cleveland native, father, local community activist, and consultant. He received his Bachelors of Arts in International Relations with concentrations in Business and Middle East Studies from Cleveland State University. Intrigued by MENA (Middle East North Africa) region he spent several years studying the Arabic language at the collegiate level. He's consulted with small businesses, theater productions and nonprofit organizations, maintaining a foot in the arts with extra rolls in movies like Draft Day or productions on regional tours like Guilty Pleasures(Sweet Revenge). His roots in theater, he began producing and acting in local productions later working with the Cleveland Playhouse in several shows such as Federico Garcia Lorca's Yerma and Moon over Buffalo. Branching out to cities like New York,  Chicago, and Toronto he returned to Cleveland and worked in the legal field and university treasury department. Currently if he's not making the ladies look beautiful he's fundraising for nonprofits and involved in organizing community empowerment events with Making a Difference, Measured Speech, or because I said I would.

IAN HINZ (Projections/Lights/Set Design)

REBECCA MOSELEY (Stage Manager)