More About the Lame Name Players

As promised, here's more info about the Lame Name Players, courtesy of my pal Stephen Vance:

Bil Neal and Stephen Vance have put together a 10-minute play night, featuring some of the usually unfeatured talent of the area. The idea was to give young intuitive actors the opportunity to design and perform pieces that aren't generally seen in the area. Thus, the Lame Name Players were formed. There will be pieces from famed comedic writers David Ives and Christopher Durang, and some very witty pieces by lesser known artists. The evening will be full of light-hearted and often clever humor.

Although Bil and Stephen will be performing in extremely limited measure throughout the evening (ie: segues and small bit parts), the true essence of the evening will be the performances given by the talented faces that most have not yet seen or didn't realize that they had. The Lame Name Players will feature: Nick Husted, Amelia Rapp and Stephanie Budrus.

Nick Husted is a third-year theatre major at Earlham University in Indiana. Nick is often considered top choice by local directors for any number of roles and has performed in several community theatre shows including: Oklahoma, 1776 and Neil Simon's The Good Doctor.

Amelia Rapp is a recent graduate of Huntington High and is a freshman at Pittsburgh. Amelia won two state championships for individual performance this year, including one for her work on The Miracle Worker where she portrayed all three characters in the piece.

Stephanie Budrus is a senior at Huntington High where she is the captain of their award winning Speech team. Stephanie recently finished 13th in the nation for her interpretation of pieces by Roald Dahl and Robert Penn Warren.

The concept has two levels to it. The first is to give these kids the experience as leads working with a very fast pace to develop very defined characters. The second is to provide an intimate and entertaining environment where an audience can be right in the midst of what is happening. Fortunately for us, ARTS has agreed to allow us to use their ballroom as the venue.

We also have baritone saxophonist Justin Cron and guitarist Sean Pauley for musical interludes. They were recently featured in HOT's preshow.

What an audience can expect is an evening full of fun and laughs, while ultimately discovering some of their new favorite performers.

Tickets will only be $10 with refreshments provided. The performance dates are Friday and Saturday, August 8 and 9 at 8 p.m.

For more information or tickets, contact 304-733-ARTS or email thelamenameplayers@gmail.com.

Sounds like fun! Mark those calendars, theatre fans!