Photographer Jenny Anderson (who shot our fabulous Classic New York Films and Tony Awards Parties photos) brings BroadwayBox backstage for an exclusive new series capturing Broadway companies getting ready to take the stage. For the latest shoot, Jenny switched it up a bit and captured the new stars of the Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning comedy The Play That Goes Wrong
in full character portraits. Scroll through to see the backstage photos and to read their character's fictional play-within-a-play bios. See the gang live at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre.Mark Evans as Chris Bean
Broadway debut! Chris is the newly elected head of the Drama Society. For tonight’s show, he served as the voice coach, dialect coach, fight choreographer, casting director and costume designer. He also plays the lead role and, of course, directed. The Society would like to thank Chris for his remarkable passion and efforts. Credits within the University: Hamlet in Hamlet, Macbeth in Macbeth and Othello in Othello.
Ashley Bryant as Annie Twilloil (stage manager)
Broadway debut! The unsung hero of the Society, Annie has designed, built, painted, stage managed and costumed every single Society show in the last three years. Her hard work and dogged determination behind-the-scenes lies behind so much of the Society’s success. After The Murder at Haversham Manor, Annie will begin an internship at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Clifton Duncan as Robert Grove
Broadway debut! A member of the Cornley Drama Society for three years, Robert uses the Stanislavsky method. Credits include: Lame Horse in Black Beauty, Victorian Policeman in Madame Tussauds Chamber of Horror – Live!, Dopey in Snow White and The Tall Broad Gentlemen and Augustus Gloop in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Robert’s next performance will be as Godot in a newly self-written sequel to Beckett’s classic.
Alex Mandell as Max Bennett
Broadway debut! Max is in his first year at Cornley University where he is studying human geography and crime. He is an avid fan of films, and his favourite is The Legend of Bagger Vance, which he’s seen 27 times. This is Max’s first production with the Drama Society, and he is very glad to have donated a large portion of his recent inheritance to help the show reach Broadway.
Jonathan Fielding as Jonathan Harris
Broadway debut! Jonathan works as a model and is therefore excited to learn transferrable skills by appearing in The Murder at Haversham Manor. He is no stranger to acting and appeared in Casualty when he was just five years old. Jonathan also performed with Emote, another local theatre company, in A Midsummer Night’s Stamina, which featured a cast of fourteen pedalling exercise bikes for the full 2-hour performance.
Amelia McClain as Sandra Wilkinson
Broadway debut! This is Sandra’s eleventh season with the Cornley University Drama Society, during which she has proudly performed roles such as Snow White in Snow White and The Tall Broad Gentlemen, Virginia Woolf in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Cow in Jack and The Bean. Sandra has been performing from a very young age, since her mother appeared in A Winter’s Tale pregnant.
Harrison Unger as Dennis Tyde
Broadway debut! After failing the tryouts for the football, cricket, volleyball and basketball teams, Dennis decided to join the Drama Society. Dennis does not live in the Cornley halls of residence and commutes in daily from his parents’ house. He hopes the Society will give him the chance to meet like-minded people. Dennis’ only stage credit dates back to 1995 when he appeared in his primary school nativity. Credit: Shepherd.
Akron Watson as Trevor Watson (lighting & sound manager)
Broadway debut! Trevor is only participating in The Murder at Haversham Manor to earn much needed extra credit for his electronics module in order to pass his engineering course at Cornley University. Once he has passed the course, he will not continue to work with the Drama Society. Trevor credits his success to his sunny disposition and his positive outlook on life.
Don't miss the new stars of The Play That Goes Wrong at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre.
