The Cast

 

Dennis Bateman (Harry S. Truman) *

Dennis Bateman is a native of Midwest farm country, just like Harry Truman.  Dennis spent a season with The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and appeared in The Taming of the Shrew at the Alaska Repertory.  He recently played Butch in the Tony nominated drama, Next Fall, at South Florida’s Caldwell Theatre Company.  Around Seattle, Dennis has performed in The Prince and the Pauper and The Sound of Music at 5th Avenue Music Theatre; various musicals at The Village Theatre, including Anne of Green Gables and How to Succeed in Business… and as the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Seattle Children’s Theatre.  He can be seen in the films MEN OF HONOR with Robert DeNiro, THE BEANS OF EGYPT, MAINE with Rutger Hauer, and BODY LANGUAGE with Heather Locklear.  TV appearances include LEVERAGE (Guest Star), IN MY SHOES, NORTHERN EXPOSURE, THE FUGITIVE, PANDORA’S CLOCK, and TAKE MY ADVICE as newsman Edward R. Murrow.  Hear Dennis on KIXI Radio- AM 880 - each weekend evening in IMAGINATION RADIO THEATRE.

 

Gordon Coffey (James Byrnes) * 

Gordon Coffey attended the Yale School of Drama and was a member of the original acting company of the Seattle Repertory Theatre.  He founded the Port Townsend Festival Theatre, along with Marjorie Nelson and Victor Steinbrueck.  Gordon’s credits include appearances with the Los Angeles Repertory Theatre; the American Theatre Company and Store Front Theatre in Portland, as well as the Portland Civic Theatre; and ACT Theatre in Seattle.  At Edmonds Community College he has served as acting coach, director and Guest Artist actor.  Gordon played the Stage Manager in the Hit and Run Theater Company’s production of Our Town.

 

 

Narea Kang (Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki, Chorus)

Narea Kang was recently seen in The Clockwork Professor as Matilda James and will be starting her second year touring as Emi Yamada in Living Voices' Within the Silence.  She is the Managing Director for Pork Filled Productions and also an independent producer for local theatre and film.  Narea also serves as a proud Board Member of Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio. www.nareakang.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mimi Katano (Tomiko, Leo Szilard) * 

A native of Tokyo. Mimi Katano is the current Artistic Director of Youth Theatre Northwest, where she produces and directs. Previous to her time in Seattle, Mimi was a member of the award winning Beau Jest Moving Theatre in Boston, with which she performed at a number of theatre festivals including Piccolo Spoleto in South Carolina. Aside from her work for YTN, Mimi was a member of Living Voices, and a teaching artist for Seattle Children’s Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre.  Mimi has also done cultural consulting work for organizations such as Seattle Children’s Museum and Book-It Repertory Theatre. Mimi’s co-written play on Japanese-American internment during World War II, Justice at War, is published in the book And Justice for Some.  Mimi would like to dedicate her performance to her parents, both WW II survivors, who instilled strength and optimism in her.

 

Brandon Marino (Frank, Admiral William Leahy)

From the Issaquah area originally, Brandon Marino began martial arts at an early age, and in 12 years earned the rank of 3rd Degree Black Belt before departing to St. Louis for a career in professional wrestling.  Shortly after a knee injury ended that career, Brandon discovered acting, returned to the Seattle area, and never looked back.  He has recently portrayed Cassio in Othello, as well as performing in a number of independent films.

 

 

 

 

 

Greg Michaels (General George Marshall) * 

Mr. Michaels, in a long, ol’ run in professional show biz, has been privileged to interpret roles in Pinter, Rostand, Stoppard, Shakespeare and Chekhov.  He’s played good guys, bad boys, and once, a warrior elf!  Greg will launch his historical fiction mystery The Secrets of Casanova in November 2013.  Please visit him at Greg-Michaels.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Thomas Patrick (Secretary of War Henry Stimson)

Jim Patrick has appeared with Book-It Repertory and other theaters in the region.  Credits include Selsdon Mowbray in Noises Off, Jimmy Jack in Translations, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, Master Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Lt. Maryk in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial and Duncan in Macbeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel Rene (General Korechika Anami, Angry Ghost)

Rachel Rene appeared last year in the two staged readings of The Realm of Whispering Ghosts: If Truman Met Einstein. Other recent credits include extra and voiceover artist for GAMES 3: HANDS OF FATE, stage manager for PICNIC, Lady Thiang in THE KING AND I, and music director for YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. She is an actor, voiceover artist, director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager around the Seattle area and has worked with such theatres as ReAct, Renton Civic, Seattle Public, Driftwood, MSTT, Redwood, SPAF, UPAC, and VCP. 

 

Cathy Vu (Marquis Koichi Kido, Chorus)

Cathy Vu initiated her career modeling extensively for various fashion and corporate clients. Her career evolved to include acting and has appeared in TV and film, numerous industrials as well as regional and national commercials. She was featured on the second season of TNT’s television drama Leverage, opposite Oscar-winning actor Timothy Hutton and Star Trek’s Jeri Ryan.  Her film credits include The Details with Tobey Maguire, produced by The Weinstein Company. Currently, her lead role in The Strong Man is being circulated in the independent film circuit.

 

 

 

 

 

Stephan Weyte (Albert Einstein) * 

After graduating from Boston University and The London Academy of Music and Drama, Stephan served two years in the Army. While in Korea, he performed with Helen Hayes who was looking for an actor to do scenes with while she was visiting troops. He then came home to work on Broadway, Off and Off-Off Broadway, Syracuse Stage, Arena Stage in D.C., Studio Arena in Buffalo, Center Stage in Baltimore and GEVA in Rochester among others. In Seattle, he has worked at ACT Theatre, Tacoma Actors Guild, The Village and 5th Avenue Theatres. He also toured with Jack Albertson and Sam Levene in the National Tour of Sunshine Boys. Dennis has two running roles on KIXI Radio’s IMAGINATION THEATER, Lt. Butterfield in “Harry Nile” and Mentep in “Kerides the Thinker.”

 

Mike King (Dramaturg, Truman Understudy)

A member of the Seattle law firm of Carney Badley Spellman, Mike King represents clients before state and federal appellate courts around the country.  He has presented over 125 oral arguments -- appellate law’s equivalent of a show that runs for just one performance!  In recent years, Mike has developed a second life in local theater, working with Arne Zaslove’s Hit and Run Theater Company.  He first appeared as Francis Tasbrough, in a dramatic reading of Sinclair Lewis’s 1936 play, “It Can’t Happen Here.”  Mike followed up with reading the role of the Judge in Freddie Brinster’s “Dark Farce,” then played the role of Professor Willard in a new staging of Our Town.  Mike appeared in the original production of Hit and Run’s musical review of the songs of the noted satirist Tom Lehrer, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,” at the Marketplace Theater in November 2012, and reprised his work in the show’s just-completed second run at the West of Lenin Theater.  Mike read the role of President Truman in the first readings of the play in 2012, at the Bush School and the Bathhouse Theater, and played the role of Harry S. Truman in two public performances.

 

Sarah S. Mixson (Stage Manager) * 

Sarah S. Mixson has been a professional stage manager for over 30 years, here in Seattle and traveling with shows throughout Washington, the United States and Italy. She has also traveled to Russia as a caring clown with Patch Adams, MD. As the daughter of a nuclear engineer, Sarah is honored to be working on this production. She has also worked at the Seattle Children’s Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, ACT, The Seattle Rep, The Group, and Skid Road Theatre, among others.

 

William Deacon (Assistant Stage Manager) * 

William Deacon graduated from Evergreen State College with a degree in political science and has worked as an intern for the Washington State Senate. However, he is pleased to be back pursuing another of his passions, theater. He has worked backstage in numerous musical theatre venues, in particular the Early Music Guild’s opera productions with his father Theodore. Will is also a prolific abstract painter whose works have been displayed in galleries and coffee shops throughout Seattle.

 

* Appearing by permission of Actors’ Equity Association