David Abad (Friar, Canon), a native of San Francisco, has previously appeared with Geoffrey Chaucer & Co. as the Canon in All That Glitters, and has performed all over Northern California with Keyhole Mystery Theatre, Theatre of All Possibilities (with his esteemed colleague Bill Badger*), Entrée to Murder, Sierra Repertory Theatre and Bus Barn Stage Company. He can also be seen on computer screens as the Chamberlain in Maxis’ CD-ROM game The Crystal Skull, starring Edward James Olmos. David has also been seen as Roderigo in Othello with Guerrilla Shakespeare Productions at the Phoenix II Theatre.
Richard Edwin Adamson* (Monk)is at home both in the world of musical theater and opera. Fortune & the Flattered Cock marks his debut with Geoffrey Chaucer & Co. Originally from Visalia, California, he studied voice at Pepperdine University, after which his career took him to Europe, where he received a graduate degree in music theatre production from the Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts in Hamburg. In Germany, he performed in the national touring companies of La Cage aux Folles and My Fair Lady. More recently, he performed the role of Andre Cassell in the West Coast Premiere of Victor/Victoria at the American Musical Theater of San Jose and played President Theodore Roosevelt in the Willows Theater production of Mountain Days: The John Muir Musical.
Ted Barton* (Pardoner) has been seen as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Paroles in All’s Well That Ends Well at California Shakespeare Festival. Other stage credits include Tappercoom in The Lady’s Not for Burning with Knightsbridge Theatre, Mosca in Volpone, and Mike in Summer Dresses. Ted performed numerous roles with Theatricum Botanicum, where he also served as a Master Teacher. He also holds film and television credits including roles in Guys-N-Women and The Buster Keaton Story.
Ellen Brooks (Wife) has extensive background in physical theatre with companies ranging from the internationally known San Francisco Mime Troupe (commedia del' arte) and Tuju Taksu (masked dance) to Theatre of Yugen (classical Japanese Kyogen and Noh). For 12 years she toured nationally with Theatre of Yugen performing Kyogen, American premieres of contemporary Japanese plays and fusion productions of Noh Christmas Carol and The Imposter (Tartuffe). She has studied with Yuriko Doi, Akira Matsui (Kita Noh), Haruyoshi Ito (Shintaido) and many other Japanese masters. In the Western repertory, recent roles include Claudius in the all-woman Hamlet, the Mother in Purgatory, and Mrs. Stella Campbell in Dear Liar. Ellen has considerable directing and lighting design credits as well and founded the West Coast Conference for Women in Theatre.
'Vid Buttaro*(Walter/Clerk) began his theater career in adulthood, bypassing humiliating performances in Annie and the unredeemable Paint That Chimney Sweep, wherein Dickensian waifs croon Blake poems. Ironically,
'vid's preliminary roles were pubescents with English dialects: Dickon in Secret Garden (TheatreWorks), Tobias in Sweeney Todd (Cinnabar), and Claudio in Much Ado (Marin Shakespeare). Alarmed that this trend would lead inevitably to Oliver!,
'vid substituted Ian McKellen's head-shot for his own and promptly performed Count Ludovic in Passion (TheatreWorks), the Baker in Into the Woods (Pacific Alliance), the title role in Shakespeare's Pericles (Oak Consortium), and Friar Laurence in Romeo & Juliet (Staged Hereafter). Elsewhere,
'vid has soloed at Eugene Opera, Boston's Lowell House Opera, Switzerland's Grand Hotel Victoria Jungfrau, and the Tahoe Summer Music Festival. Among his literary pursuits,
'vid wrote lyrics for the operetta Midas & Marigold, for which he also created the role of the Chamberlain on the premiere CD recording. Paradise Unzipped marks the first time his Harvard English degree has helped him cold-read in a musical audition.
Melissa Condren (May) received her BFA in acting from Brigham Young University. He as appeared
as Susannah in Joyful Noise by Tim Slover , and in MARCH TALE, with the Actor's Repertory Theatre Ensemble in Provo, Utah. She was most recently seen in the Bay Area playing Sunny in THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO at the California Conservatory Theatre. Favorite past roles include Varya in THE CHERRY ORCHARD and Beatrice in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
A. Donald Cross* (Reeve)has been playing the Bay Area stages for over 45 years, including the Magic Theatre, Marin theatre Company, TheatreWorks, Woodminster Amphitheater, CitiArts, California Conservatory Theatre, Pacific Jewish Theatre, the One Act Theatre, the Curran Theatre and San Jose Civic Light Opera. Don was a part of the historic Actors Workshop. He has also appeared on television in Eye of the Sparrow, King of Love, Midnight Caller, Jesse Hawkes and Divorce Court.
