Aleda Bliss began her theatrical training at the New England Youth Theatre in 2004. She went on to perform in over 20 NEYT productions, including Mary Stuart, Wait Until Dark, Scapin, The Taming of the Shrew, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Miracle Worker, Oliver!, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Harvey, Little Women, Buried Child and Antony and Cleopatra.
Ben has been involved with NEYT since its very first show in 1998, "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Though young, Ben is a seasoned director in his own right: He became NEYT's first student director in the summer of 1999 and he directed the well-received "Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)" in 2002 and "Harvey" in 2006.
Carolyn Wesley has felt a strong connection to the New England Youth Theater since age 11, when she appeared as a fairy in the first NEYT production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." She watched with joy as the theater found a home next to the Latchis, and she came to support dear friends as they appeared in show after show.
Colin Hinckley was first introduced to NEYT in 2007 when he played Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls." He has been in over twenty shows, cabarets and festivals since including Jim O'Connor in "The Glass Menagerie," Grandpa Joe in "Willy Wonka," and Gaston in "Picasso at the Lapin Agile."
Dory has recently been teaching with NEYT's Actour program. He is a student of massage currently as well. In 2013 he spent the year at the Gifft Hill School in the US Virgin Islands on St. John helping build a theatre program there. Last summer he helped Stephen with the directing of our summer production of Hairspray.
Genna has been doing theatre in various settings since she was only three, but didn't join up with NEYT until early high school when she acted in a production of Harvey. Since then, she has performed in numerous NEYT and NEYT Alumni productions, including the role of Bet in Oliver!, Perdita in The Winter's Tale, Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington in Murdered to Death, and Hermia in Midsummer Night's Dream: Unrehearsed.
Ilsa's Resume
Though James "Jay" Gelter started teaching and directing at NEYT summer camps in 2006, he did not appear on the NEYT stage until he played Tom Wingfield in "The Glass Menegrie" in 2008.
Jay teaches classes regularly at NEYT and serves on the Alumni board.
Jess Callahan was a relative latecomer to NEYT. At the age of 16 she saw the performance of Henry lV and, inspired, soon after became involved in shows: As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet as Juliet, and in the Good Person of Szechuan with Eric Bass. Even when she wasn’t in a show, she says she pretty much lived at NEYT, helping backstage, stage managing, composing music and helping put together costumes.
Julianne Kaplan performed in one show at NEYT as a teenager, playing Frieda in Charlie Brown’s Christmas. She was nevertheless involved in theater for two years through the career center at BUHS with Bob Kramsky. After high school she studied folk music in Bulgaria and the Republic of Georgia with Village Harmony, and upon returning worked for three years in a school for kids with special needs.
Kara worked with the New England Youth Theater from 1999-2004. She remembers way back when NEYT didn't have a home and met in the bottom of the Center Congregational Church. She also remembers the horrors of the "Green Room" before it was renovated Wow. Her first role with NEYT was the Parrot in Treasure Island and from there went on to star in many shows such as
Hello All, Kario here!
Let's see, where to begin? My very first experience with NEYT was when I was 11 or 12 years old, when my dad took me to see NEYT's summer production of Jack and the Three Golden Hairs. I had two immediate reactions upon seeing that show. The first was, "What fun!", quickly followed by the second of, "I can do that."
I can still remember my first audition at The New England Youth Theatre. It was held in a giant, empty high school auditorium (in the days before NEYT had a home,) and my footsteps echoed in the silence as I descended from the back of the room to the piano in front of the stage.
Lynn Mahoney Rowan did numerous productions with NEYT including Much Ado About Nothing way back in the early years when it was performed (I don't remember the exact year but you can probably look it up), The Fantastics, and King Lear which traveled to and performed in England. She has performed in the NEYT aumni shows Tartuf and Red Noses.
Nathaniel has been a member of NEYT for seven years, debuting as Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Since then he has been involved in a number of NEYT productions, both on and off-stage. Nathaniel is pursuing degrees in both Russian and trumpet performance at Oberlin College and Conservatory.
Nick is at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, double majoring in Italian Studies and theatre. Nick has been part of NEYT since its first show, A Midsummers Night Dream, in which he played Snug the Joiner at age 11. Nick participated in every show he could, including a memorable run in the title role of The Music Man in 2004.
Noah started at NEYT in The Fantasticks in 2000, and went on to perform in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and A Midsummer's Night Dream. Since NEYT, Noah has rocketed into the crafts of acting and music at Vassar College, and has attended two acting training institutes at Shakespeare & Co.
Noel started working with Stephen Stearns when he was in fourth grade, in NEYT's first production of A Midsummer's Night's Dream. Since then Noel has taken several clown and acting classes, and acted in plays both at NEYT and at BUHS. Noel has directed Melodrama Camp for three years.
Rosa Palmeri is pursuing a BFA in Theatrical Performance at the University of Evansville in Indiana. She began her acting career at the New England Youth Theatre in 2003 as Uncle the Pig in Charlotte’s Web. Since then she has appeared in many productions including The Glass Menagerie, A Night at The Opera, Scapin, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Macbeth, The Miracle Worker, Harvey, and Bye Bye Birdie.
I started working with NEYT when I was about 12 and was cast as Titania in the first show Midsummer Nights Dream, such a blast. I was driven away from NEYT for a while with life blowing me in other directions and now am so delighted to be back acting in the recent alumni productions with all my friends I began acting with years ago!
Sam Perry has been a part of NEYT from the start. Cast as Bottom the Weaver in NEYT's first production, A Midsummer's Night's Dream, Sam grew up experiencing theatre his whole life. He's is now attending Boston University studying Theatre Arts.
Though she had been acting long before then, Shannon Ward first became involved with NEYT in 2000. Her first show was a melodrama production of Aladdin when she was ten. Since then, her roles have included Hero in Much Ado About Nothing,
