CASS KING [SHINE MIONNE,

CO-WRITER MUSIC AND LIBRETTO]

Cass King is a cabaret singer and writer. She is one of The Wet Spots, Vancouver's acclaimed musical comedy duo who recently won the 2009 "Best Cabaret" award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia. An international touring artist, Cass has performed at the Olivier Award winning variety show La Clique in London's West End, Toronto's Massey Hall, and two stints at the Sydney Opera House.  SHINE is Cass' first effort at writing and performing in a musical.

LUMINOUS PARIAH [ENSEMBLE]

The Luminous Pariah began his career on a dying star just past Orion's Belt.  Growing weary of the astro-go-go scene, Luminous set his course far past the hot fluffy nebula called home, to a moist cool planet named earth.  It was here that Luminous stumbled upon the fantastical world of neo-burlesque.  This artist draws upon his background of dance and physical theatre to bring you the freshest of innovative striptease.

INGA INGENUE [CHOREOGRAPHER]

Inga Ingénue, "The Little Blonde Bomb", infuses her bubbly personality with traditional bump 'n' grind, resulting in an adorable mix of sexy blonde ambition and innocent "ingenuity".  Ooh la-la!  Mlle. Ingénue was born and raised in Seattle, where beginning at age two she studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern dance and choreography for dance and theater.  Since joining the Seattle burlesque community in 2005, Inga has become an international burlesque star, and in 2008 was honored to compete for the title of Reigning Queen of Burlesque at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Competition in Las Vegas.  She performed in Lily Verlaine & Jasper McCann’s 2008 & 2009 productions of “Land of The Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker”, and played the lead role of Alice with Lou Henry Hoover in “Through the Looking Glass: The Burlesque Alice In Wonderland”.  In 2009 Inga was one of only five American performers accepted into the first annual Amsterdam Burlesque Festival, and also founded DANCE BELT with Waxie Moon and Lou Henry Hoover, Seattle's brand new burlesque/dance power trio, with whom she co-teaches pop-culture choreography classes for The Century Ballroom (CenturyBallroom.com). In addition, Inga is an instructor for the world-renowned Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque. Visit LittleBlondeBomb.com and AcademyofBurlesque.com for more info on Inga Ingénue and The Academy!

MELISSA BAYERN [ENSEMBLE]

Melissa Bayern is absolutely delighted to be part of this exceptional show and multi-talented cast and crew!  Although she is relatively new to the burlesque scene, she has been performing since she was out of the womb.  Recent graduate of Oberlin College where she got a B.A. in Theatre.  After a brief burlesque stint in college, she knew she had found another passion!   She has extensive credits in both theatre and film, and hopes to start building her burlesque resume as well.  If anyone can come up with a good burlesque name for her, they will be sufficiently rewarded.  She would love to thank her family and friends for their limitless support.  Endless thanks to the amazing people of Shine who have taken her under their wing and made her feel like a part of the family!  

SAM DULMAGE [CO-WRITER LIBRETTO]

is an award-winning scriptwriter and actor.  His produced writing output includes a dozen short films, three plays, a video game, a six-episode sitcom, and several hours of sketch comedy with “The Legend Of Bonefish” and “Long Hard Comedy Rocket”. His solo one-act musical “The Broken Gospel of Edward Gray” earned Audience Choice at Theatre Under The Gun. He is thrilled and honoured to be collaborating with The Wet Spots. “SHINE” is his third original musical.

JOHN WOODS [JANITOR,

CO-WRITER MUSIC AND LIBRETTO]

John Woods has been composing and performing for over twenty years. He began his career singing and playing guitar for punk and pop bands across Canada and England. In 2002 He formed the cabaret comedy duo The Wet Spots with Cass King. In 2003 The Wet Spots won a Georgia Straight Award for "Best Adult Entertainers". In 2004, they won Pick of the Fringe in Vancouver for their debut musical "Sing Your Way to Better Sex". In 2005 they won a Critic's Choice Award for their follow up "The Wet Spots' Big Ass Show". By 2006 the duo were performing at festivals around the world on the strength of their Youtube videos. The Wet Spots headlined at the Sydney Opera House in 2008 and again in 2009. On their latest tour of Australia they also netted the Best Cabaret Award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. When not working for The Wet Spots John Woods sleeps.

ROXIE MOXIE [FERAL, ASST CHOREOGRAPHER]

Roxie Moxie is a rockin’ streak of flash and sass. Standing 4’10” without the heels (and she is rarely without), this tiny, tenacious teaser commands the stage. Men and women alike stand on tip-toe to stare whenever she walks by.  Roxie burst onto the burlesque scene in August, 2006 when she co-founded the Lollie Bombs, Dallas’ first contemporary burlesque ensemble. Since then, this cute little bump-and-grinder has continued to experiment and test the limits of burlesque performance with dynamic acts ranging from the sweetly adorable to the tastefully disturbing. From 2006 to 2008, she performed in venues all over Texas and shared the stage with Kat Von D, Mixmaster Mike, and other unconventional personalities and performers who push the boundaries of their respective genres. In 2008 Roxie relocated to Seattle, where she co-founded Stripped Screw Burlesque – a burlesque dance troupe with a decidedly modern take on the art of the striptease.

SCOTT W ABERNETHY [FRANKIE AVID]

Scott Ward Abernethy is currently earning his M.F.A  in the University of Washington's professional actor training program. His most recent credits at UW include Doalty in Translations, Miller in Waiting for Lefty, Larry in Burn This, and Insp. Godet/ flight attendent in The Mystery Plays. This fall he will be playing Don Armado in Loves Labors Lost. He earned his B.A. in theatre with a minor in Musical Theatre from Kutztown University, PA where favorite roles include Jaques in As You Like It, Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagarie, and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. Scott is thrilled to be a part of this production, and to support Seattle's truly awesome burlesque scene. Some other professional credits include Cousin Kevin in The Who's: Tommy!, Jerry Lukowski in The Full Monty, and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance.

ANNA ALLEN [VIOLET]

Anna Allen is one of the only neo-burlesque performers in the country performing two solid burlesque personae; one female (Elsa Von Schmaltz) and one male (Ernie Von Schmaltz). As these two characters, Anna has performed in, created, produced and emceed countless burlesque and variety shows since 2004.  Recent performance highlights include Theatre Off Jackson's SPF 4 Solo Performance Festival, Golden Echo Films "AWink and a Smile" burlesque documentary, Ouch My Eye Films "Waxie Moon" boylesque documentary and the "Le Cabaret Noir Sin on Heels" Tour.  She can also be seen lending her hosting skills for Naked Girls Reading and Dr. Sketchy's Seattle.  Anna also recently joined the faculty of Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque.  With a strong background in physical theatre, dance, acting and singing (her original inspirations include Rocky Horror), Anna continues to delight burlesque audiences with her humor, wit, exaggeration and sexy absurdity.

PARIS ORIGINAL [ENSEMBLE]

Paris Original has been seen pirouetting across stages throughout the Pacific Northwest, but when a series of fouette turns went awry he stumbled upon the spectacle of Burlesque and knew he'd found a magical world. Since making his public Burlesque debut in House of Thee Unholy, this classically trained dancer has been featured in various benefits, fundraisers, and variety cabaret shows including Nightcap with Lily Verlaine, and Tamara the Trapeze Lady's Broadway Follies. Paris was also featured as a Meteor in The Atomic Bombshells: Lost In Space and the Seattle Erotic Art Festival's main stage production of Cabaret de Curiosites. Paris is really excited to be a part of SHINE: a Burlesque Musical!

parisoriginalboylesque.com

COLIN BUTLER [MURRAY]

Colin Butler (a.k.a. Captain Jakalof: The Knotty Seaman) Ran away from his family in Alaska to join the circus here in Seattle. While volunteering with Moisture Festival, parts of Circus Contraption and Orkestar Zirconium, he fell in love with the burlesque world. In October of 2009 he attended Miss Indigo's Academy of Burlesque's first ever Boylesque 101 course. Since then he has been working with Bella Bijoux, Wiggy Stardust, and Empe Roar Fabulous, primarily, to put together shows all over Seattle. The good captain's street gang of  burlesque, The Malcontents, debuted April 7th, and continues to delight and frighten folks when and where they are least expected.

JESSE BELLE JONES [ENSEMBLE]

Jesse Belle-Jones, "The Modern Sexual Intellectual," is a member, choreographer, and the Assistant Producer of the Sinner Saint Burlesque Revue.  She co-produces the Seattle chapter of Naked Girls Reading and is excited to be on her third year as an administrative lead for BurlyCon.  Performing up and down the West Coast, Jesse can be regularly spotted performing with Sinner Saint Burlesque at the Noc Noc and at Burlesque Behind the Pink Door.  She is thrilled to have recently performed in the third annual "BurLEZque" Pride show and to be a cast member of "Through the Looking Glass: a burlesque Alice in Wonderland."

Photo:  POC photo

ROGER BENINGTON [DIRECTOR]

Benington was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from the University of Utah and was awarded The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Young Artist Fellowship to study directing at The Juilliard School. Benington was a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors (2003-2005). He splits his time between his home in New York and Seattle.

Past productions include Strindberg’s The Pelican (Classic Stage Company, NYC), God’s Ear, Never Swim Alone and Sarah Kane’s Crave (Washington Ensemble Theatre); I Am My Own Wife (Madison Rep.); Skin In Flames (Salt Lake Acting Company) and several productions for Sundance Children’s Theatre. As the artistic director of Tooth & Nail Theatre in Salt Lake City, Benington directed Ibsen’s Little Eyolf, The Santaland Diaries, Crave, Fully Committed, The Pains of Youth, his own adaptation of Arabian Nights. Other projects for Tooth & Nail included two seasons of Project Fabulocity!, an original play by and about Queer youth in Salt Lake City and Shhh! Burlesque! which brought burlesque luminaries Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muse, and World Famous *BOB* to Utah to perform alongside burlesque legend, Dee Milo.

As director and playwright, Benington developed his adaptation of Paul Monette’s Sanctuary at the 1998 Sundance Theatre Laboratory. Upcoming projects include the premiere of Tommy Smith’s Sextet at Washington Ensemble Theatre and The Mormon Bird Play, which Benington developed over a seven-month period through weekly collaboration with six New York actors.  The play had its first public reading at New York Theatre Workshop last December. 

ADRABOO GREEN [LULU]

" Adraboo is a stage whore! She makes music with Sugar Water Purple (www.myspace.com/androidpurple) and Luxury A.K. (www.myspace.com/luxuryak), and can also be found on youtube doing an array of this and that, she has various theatre experience on stage and behind the scenes, she's somebody's mama, and she's got a God-given couple of tits!! She is not, however, a burlesque dancer, but is hoping to maybe achieve that too after being in Shine! She thanks everyone who is pushing her to be her best, and she thanks the creative team for seeing a sparkle in her! CLICK CLACK BAM!"

TROJAN ORIGINAL [ENSEMBLE]

Trojan Original is a professional contemporary dancer from Seattle who sporadically forays into the world of burlesque. He was introduced to this glimmering world in 2009 and has enjoyed a fantastic start to what looks to be a long and promising life in glitter. Thus far he has lent his masculine presence to Burlesque Macbeth, Lilly Verlaine's Nightcap, and the Atomic Bombshells' Lost In Space,

GEMMA ISAAC [GRACE]

Gemma hails from north of the 49th parallel, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she is a Theatre graduate of Studio 58, as well as the London Actors Equity Centre, in the UK. Gemma is absolutely tickled pink to be returning as the role of Grace in the US productions of Shine: The Musical. Favorite show credits: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond, Judith Marcuse’s Earth=Home, Polya in Crime and Punishment (NeWorld), and Esmeralda in Quasimodo (Boca Del Lupo). Other favorite roles: Princess Mulan, Mickey, Minnie, and, Donald for Disney Cruise Lines. When not tassel twirling, Gemma is working on her Bachelor of Music Therapy at Capilano University. Ever since she could remember Gemma dreamt of running away with the circus and performing on Broadway… being with such a sexy and brilliantly talented cast of Shine touring Seattle and New York, is like a dream come true. Gemma is also extremely thrilled in her latest role as wife to her leading man, Tallis Kirby.  www.gemmaisaac.com

DOUGLAS CRAWFORD [RICHARD SUIT]

Douglas Crawford (Richard Suit) A graduate of the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, Douglas made his Broadway debut playing  "Kenickie" in Tommy Tune's enormously successful revival of GREASE! (the role he originated for the show's First National Tour). He was an original cast member on the award-winning First National Tour of JERSEY BOYS and has now performed seven different roles in all four of the show's U.S. companies including two different stints on Broadway. In Las Vegas, Douglas originated roles in the English Premiere Company of NOTRE DAME de PARIS ("Quasimodo") and the North American Premiere Company of the Queen musical, WE WILL ROCK YOU ("Pop"). Regional theatre credits include leading roles in TOMMY (with Alice Ripley), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (with Ted Neeley, Ben Vereen, and Jack Black), JEKYLL & HYDE, BEN HUR, THE THREEPENNY OPERA, INTO THE WOODS, and ROMEO & JULIET. He received an L.A. Robby Award "Best Actor" nomination for portrayal of "Claude" in Michael Butler's 30th Anniversary L.A. Revival of HAIR, and won for his performance in the Rubicon Theatre's production of LIES & LEGENDS... Douglas has appeared in concerts around the world and was honored to be included on the all-star CD, KILLER QUEEN (Hollywood Records). Film and television credits include THE IN-BETWEEN, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, SUNSET BEACH, LINCS, CITY GUYS, VH-1's BEHIND THE MUSIC, THE TONY AWARDS, and numerous appearances on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO. His original rock-musical, THE EXISTENTS, had its world premiere in Hollywood this summer and he is currently preparing to present two other original works in New York City (WOULDN'T IT BE GOOD and LOST AND FOUND), as well as, shoot the pilot of his original series, THE WALLYRUS SHOW. Thanks to Cass, John, and the extraordinary SHINE company to this incredible opportunity to "Keep Humpin' the Dream!"