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Synopsis

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Meet Ben. Ben is a 26-year-old investment banker. Ben likes beer, sports and Emily … and Chris. Straight is a provocative new play that deals with fidelity, sexuality and identity in “post-equality” America. Funny, sad, sexy and surprising, this three-character drama takes a hard look at the moral complex of a generation that prides itself on the pretense of acceptance.

Meet the Cast

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John Wells III (Ben)

John Wells III, is an actor, writer, and founding Member of Loud Fridge Theatre, in Southern California, and is  thrilled  to participate In the San Diego Premier of STRAIGHT! Previous credits include Stage: Cardboard Piano, The Mystery of Love and Sex (DiversionaryTheatre), Dogfight, A Chorus Line (Chance Theatre) The Taming of the Shrew (Method Actors Theatre), Sister Act  (Musical Theatre West, Performance Riverside), Monsters in the American Cinema, Communicating Doors (Scripps Ranch Theatre). Staged readings & Workshops: Les Switch (Diversionary Theatre), Swimming While Drowning (Amigos Del Rep), Top Gun/Underdog (Carlsbad Players) Froggy, FOB: Folsom, SLAM (La Jolla Playhouse). www.johnwellsiii.com

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Bryce Gerson (Chris)

BRYCE GERSON is thrilled to make his Loud Fridge Theatre Group debut in the role of Chris. A native of San Clemente, CA and a graduate of the University of Oregon, Bryce currently resides in LA. Regional credits include Charley’s Aunt (Charley Wykeham) & Bat Boy (Bat Boy). Film credits include Ruth, Somewhere East, If I Had a Dream, I Choose Her, & Audition. TV: "Do it Better."  Bryce has studied at Speiser/Sturges Acting Studio & Upright Citizens Brigade. Special thanks to my family & friends for their continuous love & support. www.brycegerson.com

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Arielle Siler (Emily

Arielle Siler is a passionate theatre maker who is a proud member of the cast of “Straight.” She is not only an actor but she is also an applied theatre facilitator and producer. She is devoted to supporting, performing in, and facilitating spaces of empowerment through theatre. Arielle’s performance credits include What to Send Up When Goes Down written and directed by Aleshea Harris (Boston Court Theatre), The Blacks: A Clown Show by Jean Genet and directed by Craig Gibson (The Actors Company Theatre), and Founding Families devised with Marissa Chibas of CalArts’ Center for New Performance and directed by Nataki Garrett (The Pico House). Arielle’s producer credits include The Blacks: A Clown Show and Alive & Well: A Night of Black Voices. Arielle received her Master’s in Applied Theatre from Goldsmiths University of London and her BFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts. 

Meet the Artistic Team

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Kate Rose Reynolds (Director/Lighting)

Kate Rose Reynolds is an actor/director/designer, and founding member of The Loud Fridge Theatre Group, who returned to San Diego last year after living in NYC and San Francisco. She has most recently directed readings of Jettyand Ripped as part of the Bristol Valley Theatre New Works Initiative in upstate New York. As a designer, she has worked most recently with Theatre for Young Professionals, lighting designing their production of Ever in the Glades/The Complete History of Theater, Abridged. Recent performance credits include: Move Over Mrs Markham, Communicating Doors (Scripps Ranch Theatre); Twelfth Night, Hamlet (Arabian Shakespeare Festival, SF); and Cardboard Piano (Diversionary Theatre). She also stars in a feature horror film, Soul to Keep, available now on all streaming platforms. katerosereynolds.com

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Andrea Agosto (Director/Marketing)

Andréa Agosto (Co-director) is an award winning filmmaker (Kansas City Film Fest) and actress (International Model & Talent Association). Ms. Agosto is thankful for each performance opportunity. She is excited to provide assistance toStraight. Her favorite credits include:Bull in a China Shop (Pearl), The Magic in This Soul (Grant/John), Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley: From Slavery to Modiste (Elizabeth Keckley), Cardboard Piano (Adiel/Ruth), Homos, or Everyone in America (Laila), Avenue Q (Gary Coleman), The Best Goodbye (Sabina), Cell (Gwen), You Can’t Take it With You (Rheba), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Nina), Bare (Tanya), Flyin’ West (Minnie), Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (Manyara), Working (Maggie Holmes), Big River (Alice), High School Musical (Taylor), and Grease (Rizzo). For more information, please visit: www.andreaagosto.com

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Kellen Gold (Stage Manager/Sound)

A San Diego transplant from Washington, Kellen is pleased to join 'Straight'.  She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from San Diego State University, and is an associate artist at Lamb's Player's Theatre.  Previous SM credits: Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights(SDSU);  American Rhythm, Shadowlands, Big Fish, Once, Persuasion (ASM, Lamb's Player's Theatre); Angel's Arms (Emergency SM, LPT), Tuesdays with Morrie (Trinity Theatre Company).  As an actor, she was most recently seen as Margot in American History Theater's production of 'The Diary of Anne Frank'. Favorite acting credits: June in Smoke on the Mountain (LPT), Laura in Year of the Woman (SD Fringe Festival), and Laurent in Tartuffe (Coronado Playhouse), among many others.  Kellen formerly taught karate at Martial Arts America in Coronado, where she received her black belt in 2014.  Enjoy the show!

Meet the Playwrights

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Drew Fornarola 

Drew Fornarola is a playwright and songwriter from New York City. He has written about antisocial ogres, bisexual investment bankers, singing Christian vegetables, racist prosecutors, and a homicidal purple platypus. He's excited for what comes next. FILM: VeggieTales Noah's Ark (DreamWorks Animation, Starring Wayne Brady); 1 Night in San Diego (Starring Alexandra Daddario). THEATER: Straight (NY TImes Critics’ Pick, notable prods in New York, Mexico City, Vienna, Berlin, and Atlanta among many others); Claudio Quest (winner of 6 NYMF Awards for Excellence, Ovation Award Nomination for Best Score, in development with ARShowPro as an augmented reality theatrical experience); Shrek The Halls: The Musical (DreamWorks Theatrical); Molly Shannon's Tilly the Trickster (Atlantic Theater Company, collaboration with SNL's Molly Shannon) and Thucydides (winner of the Samuel French Festival, pub Samuel French). HERSHEY'S UNWRAPPED, a 30-minute immersive theatrical experience, is currently running 13 times per day at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. Drew has headlined concerts around the world including at Lincoln Center, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway au Carre (Paris), London Theatre Workshop (London), Bar Fedora at Au Lac (Los Angeles), and The Duplex (New York).  He holds a BA from Princeton, a JD from Fordham, is a graduate of the BMI Workshop. Drew is the founding artistic director of Starring Buffalo.  www.drewfornarola.com 

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Scott Elmegreen

Scott Elmegreen is a Brooklyn-based playwright, composer, and author.  His play STRAIGHT was a New York Times Critics’ Pick for its “smart, bracing writing brimming with clever wisecracks and thought-provoking observations”; it premiered Off-Broadway and has been translated into four languages for productions around the United States and the world, including a 12-week sold-out run in Mexico City and a European tour (pub. Dramatic Publishing Company). His music and orchestrations have premiered on Broadway and HBO in the Drama Desk- and Emmy Award-nominated COLIN QUINN LONG STORY SHORT, directed by Jerry Seinfeld, as well as in numerous national tours, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows, and the PHD COMICS MOVIE.

Scott wrote the book, music, and lyrics for theatrical adaptations of THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS (national tours in the United States and China), the NY Times Bestselling series IVY + BEAN (“A wry, rollicking show with infectious spirit and a breathless energy that thoroughly enchants” – NY Times; Atlantic Theatre, Off-Broadway; national tour; Bay Area Children’s Theatre; South Coast Rep; Oregon Rep; Orlando Rep; pub. Theatrical Rights Worldwide), and the NY Times Bestselling LADYBUG GIRL AND BUMBLEBEE BOY picture books (Bay Area Children’s Theatre premiere; national tour).

 

His other shows include VOTE FOR ME: A MUSICAL DEBATE (Roy Arias Stages, Off-Broadway; London Theatre Workshop, UK), COLLEGE THE MUSICAL (NYMF   Award – Best Lyrics; Hippodrome State Theatre; pub. Dramatic Publishing Company), THUCYDIDES (Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Play Festival Winner; pub. Samuel French), and AWESOME ALLIE, FIRST KID ASTRONAUT (pub. Theatrical Rights Worldwide), which premiered Off-Broadway and is now performing in planetariums and museums across the United States.

 

 Scott is a graduate of Princeton University. www.scottelmegreen.com

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