2019 Season

Sep162019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

The Crew of Women in Jeopardy!

Richard Pallaziol (Director) studied theatre at CSU Long Beach and the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. As actor, director, dancer, and fight choreographer he has worked in over 400 shows from San Diego to Michigan. He has also lectured on prop construction, period style and Elizabethan textual analysis. He is the author of The Textbook of Theatrical Combat. He is a proud member of the Valley Players board of directors, and hopes that many in the audience tonight will join us in the fun of putting on live, vibrant theatre in this glorious space. Rhonda Bowen (Stage Manager/Set Designer/Scenery Painter) stage-managed numerous Sonoma County productions “way-back-in-the-old-days,” and is enjoying getting back on that bicycle for Valley Players’ production of Women in Jeopardy. Additionally, she has the privilege of designing this set following…

Sep62019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

The Cast of Women in Jeopardy!

Women in Jeopardy

Miles Ainley (Trenner) is thrilled to be working with Richard and Valley Players. He began his acting career at Napa Valley College where he worked consistently on the stage playing roles such as le Beau, Silvius, Hymen (As You Like It), Angelo (A Comedy of Errors) Sphinx (Kalos Kai Agathos) and D'artagnan (Three Musketeers - choreographed by Richard Pallaziol). Miles studied acting in New York City at William Esper Studio which focuses on the work of Sanford Meisner. Most recently Miles worked with Michael Ross at Sonoma Arts Live playing Officer Klein in Arsenic and Old Lace. Cassandra Anderson (Amanda Takin) is ecstatic to be working with Valley Players for the first time. She began pursing her passion for theatre with Shakespeare Napa Valley two and a half years ago.…

Aug302019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

Who is Wendy McLeod?

Women in Jeopardy

Wendy McLeod's play The House of Yes became an award-winning Miramax film starring Parker Posey, and was produced by many theaters including The Magic Theater, Soho Rep, The Washington Shakespeare Company, The Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, and The Gate Theater in London. Her other works for the stage include Sin and Schoolgirl Figure, both of which premiered at The Goodman, Juvenilia and The Water Children, both of which premiered at Playwrights Horizons, and Things Being What They Are, which premiered at Seattle Repertory Theatre, had an extended run at Steppenwolf in Chicago and was produced by The Road Theatre in LA. She was the first writer selected for The Writer’s Room residency at the Arden Theater in Philadelphia, where she wrote Women in Jeopardy! which was selected for The…

Aug272019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

Review: ‘Hardball’ is brilliant commentary on television ‘journalism’

Hardball, In the News

Napa Valley Register Review by John Henry Martin Aug 7, 2019 Valley Players’ latest production, Victoria Stewart’s “Hardball,” about a young journalist who becomes a right-wing talk show pundit, is a stunningly produced, vitriolic take-down of today’s industry of entertainment journalism. It is yet another winner, cementing Valley Players’ reputation as a serious theater company known for the highest quality production of its shows. Beverly Wiles Shotwell is Virginia Eames, a young reporter at The Washington Post. In an attempt to prove that the reporters she works with are partisan, despite the directive not to be, she wears a George W. Bush pin to the newsroom, knowing that everyone she works with is voting for John Kerry. The dirty looks she gets proves her point, but she ends up losing…

Aug52019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

The Crew of Hardball

Hardball

Our undying thanks to this awesome group of people! June Alane Reif (Director) fell in love with the stage as a toddler and studied theater as a young adult at Louisiana State University where she made her directorial debut with an adaptation of Kay Boyle’s The Astronomer’s Wife. Once bitten by the directing bug, she has certainly not been shy—directing shows in playhouses from Baton Rouge, LA to Napa, CA. Some of her most memorable directorial achievements include Biloxi Blues, On Golden Pond, Laura, Seascape and God of Carnage for Dreamweavers and last year’s world premiere of Lorraine Midanik’s Ordinary Day for Valley Players. June is a veteran actor, director and board member of Valley Players. She is delighted to have had the honor to direct this powerful play and…

Jul152019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

The Cast of Hardball

Hardball

Beverly Wiles Shotwell (Virginia Eames) is delighted to be working with such a talented cast and crew. She feels fortunate to be under the direction of June Alane Reif, having appeared on stage with June in the cast of “Dinner with Friends” at Dreamweaver’s Theatre. Her most recent role was that of Dr. Charlotte Wallace in “Beyond Therapy” at Lucky Penny Productions. Beverly studied Theatre and Improv in Los Angeles and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the West Coast Ensemble Theatre. She considers one of her most notable thespian achievements to be the production of her own one-woman-show that she performed at the Gardner Stage and the HBO Playhouse in Hollywood. Cata Parkhurst (Irene Shay) is excited to be performing with Valley Players for the first…

Jun222019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

Who is Victoria Stewart?

Hardball

Before graduating from the Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa, Victoria was a professional stage-manager, working with David Rabe, Anne Bogart and Peter Sellars among others. She has received the Francesca Primus Award, a McKnight Advancement Grant, the Helen Merrill Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award (finalist), and the Jerome Fellowship as well as residencies at Ucross/Sundance, Hedgebrook, Hermitage, Tofte Lake, Sewanee Writer’s Conference and the Donmar Warehouse. Her plays include RICH GIRL (George Street Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Lyric Stage, The Old Globe), MERCY WATSON TO THE RESCUE! (Children’s Theatre Company, Marin Theater Company, Magik Theater), THE MEANING OF MAGGIE (Rose Theater), HARDBALL (Live Girls Theatre!, SPF), FISSURES (LOST AND FOUND) (Actors Theater of Louisville), CLANDESTINO (Mixed Blood), LIVE GIRLS (Urban Stages, WHAT, Stage Left, Eternal Spiral Project), NIGHTWATCHES…

Feb272019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

Review: ‘Farce of Habit’: ‘Community theater saved my life!’

Farce of Habit, In the News

Napa Valley Register Review By John Henry Martin, February 20, 2019 Last fall, I went to Valley Players production of “Ordinary Day” about a couple in their 70s, one of whom was facing impending deterioration from Alzheimer’s disease. They hatch a plan which includes stockpiling sleeping pills for a “final solution” that doesn’t succeed. It was a prescient comment on a critical issue that many Americans are facing, now that Alzheimer’s is the third most common form of death in the aged, after cancer and heart disease. The play was powerful, emotional and well acted, with a rotating set designed by an architect, giving the production a feel that belied the conservative resources to which the Valley Player’s have access. I left the theater edified, but exhausted, with a heightened…

Feb82019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

The Crew of Farce of Habit

Farce of Habit

Megan Palagi (Director) is a director and actor based in Napa, California. She is happy to join Valley Players for a second time, having previously directed Anton in Show Business in 2017. Megan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from San Francisco State University. She has performed both onstage and in film, and she has enjoyed stage direction all through high school, college and beyond. Outside of theatre, Megan works as an event coordinator and also trains and performs aerial silks. Thank you to the cast and crew of Farce of Habit for the energy and heart they have brought to this production. Many thanks to Megan’s wonderful friends and family for their love and support! Ariel Loraine (Stage Manager) is a transplant to the Bay Area from Toronto,…

Jan172019 by June Alane ReifNo Comments

The Cast of Farce of Habit

Farce of Habit

James Adams (Huddle Fisk) has been acting for about 8 years and received an Arty Award for his portrayal of Lucky in Waiting for Godot. He has worked both behind the scenes and in the spotlight but prefers the spotlight light! His film and video work includes background work for 13 Reasons Why seasons 1 and 2 and two television commercials. He studied acting for four years at Academy of Art in San Fransisco and uses what he’s learned on a daily basis! Krisi Pilkington Adams (Maxie Suggs) hasn’t been on stage for a while but is thrilled to be back with such an awesome character as Maxie. She Learned her acting craft by performing many different colorful characters with Gibsonhouse Mystery performers. She’s truly excited to be back on…