Around The World In 80 Days

by Laura Eason

adapted from the novel by Jules Verne

directed by Robert Smyth

Playing thru November 18 

LAMBS PLAYERS THEATRE 

1142 Orange Ave, Coronado CA 92118 
 

It is 1872 and the mysterious, brilliant, mathematically precise Englishman Phileas Fogg has wagered his considerable fortune that the world can now be circumnavigated in 80 days. Will bandits, buffalo, winter storms and Scotland Yard prevent him and his wily valet, Passepartout, from completing this daunting task? Jumping between trains and steamships, even employing an elephant, this magical journey leads Fogg to discover a wider world as well as his own heart.

Laura Eason’s adaptation was commissioned and first produced at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre in 2008.

Featuring Lance Arthur Smith as Fogg and Bryan Barbarin as Passepartout, with Jesse Abeel, Kaja Dunn, Caitie Grady, Jon Lorenz, Brian Rickle and John Rosen

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS is recommended for everyone ages 8 and up. 

Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes, including one Intermission 

Jesse Abeel
Ensemble
Jesse Abeel is a graduate from CSU Fullerton with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Lamb’s credits include: The Servant of Two Masters, The Music Man, Till We Have Faces, The Book of the Dun Cow, The Glory Man, Smoke on the Mountain, several seasons of Lamb’s annual holiday celebration An American Christmas, and several seasons of Lamb’s Educational Outreach (The Road Crew). CSUF: Miss Saigon (Chris), As You Like It (Orlando), Romeo & Juliet (Paris).

Bryan Barbarin
Passepartout
Bryan's credits at Lamb’s Players include Around the World in 80 Days, The Music Man, The Book of the Dun Cow, The Glory Man, Harvey, An American Christmas, Godspell, The Fantasticks, Hello, Dolly!, Mix it Up and Hip Pocket (Lamb’s Educational Outreach) Regional: Man of La Mancha & Parade (Cygnet Theatre), The Threepenny Opera (Crooked Finger Jake), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Judah), Sideshow (Jake), Dreamgirls (Jerry), La Posada Mágica (Eli/Buzzard), Christmas is Coming Uptown (Christmas Past), Ragtime (Gang Member), The Wizard of Oz (Winkie), and Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey 2). Voice-Over: Legends, Spellforce 2, and Runaway 2. He would like to thank his family and friends for their constant support.

Kaja Amado Dunn
Kamena Aouda
Kaja Amado Dunn has performed in over 40 shows and is currently on faculty in the Theatre Dept of Cal State San Marcos. Previous Lamb’s work includes Brownie Points, the Educational Touring Company, One for the Road, and the Best Christmas Pageant Ever. She was also recently seen playing Benethea in Moxie Theater’s A Raisin In The Sun . Other favorite roles include Gibson Girl (Moxie), West LA’s Vagina Monologues, playing a blues singing chicken in Canada, and performing in a circus. Kaja’s other credits include World Vision, NASA, Princess Cruises and most recently she was the face of an international Western Union campaign. Kaja has her MFA in acting and directing . She also teaches for Playwrights Project, Young Audiences, and has toured with Ya Tong Theatre in Taiwan. Offstage Kaja enjoys the role of wife to Matt and mommy to her "Favorite Boy" Ian.

Caitie Grady
Ensemble
Caitie Grady is a happy member of Lamb’s Players’ 2013 Acting Company. LPT: Around the World in 80 Days, Mixtape, Joe vs the Volcano, The Servant of Two Masters, The Book of the Dun Cow, The Glory Man, Festival of Christmas: The Spirit of Christmas Present, An American Christmas. Elsewhere: Emancipated (reading - The Old Globe); Voices of Ireland (Write Out Loud); A Day in the Life (Playwrights Project); The Children’s Hour (Carlsbad Playreaders); Working (Metro Stage Company, Boston); The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (6th @ Penn). Caitie received her BFA from The Boston Conservatory.

Jon Lorenz
Inspector Fix
Actor, Director, Composer, Music Supervisor. LPT Resident Artist: Amadeus, Voysey Inheritance, Inspector Calls, Winslow Boy, Detective Story, Hamlet, Joseph, Secret Garden, Smoke On the Mountain, Chaps, Festival of Christmas(12 and counting!). Co-creator of MixTape (book, musical arrangements). Alice (book, music, lyrics) - part of the 2005 ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater Workshop & staged at NYU in 2010. Original songs/arrangements: Festival of Christmas 2007-12, Traditions of Christmas (CCT). Score/sound design: Ideal Husband, The Hit, Room Service. Composes music/lyrics for youth musicals produced nationally. LPT Musical Direction/Supervision: Mixtape, Guys & Dolls, Joe Vs the Volcano, Fantasticks, Hometown Christmas and Festival of Christmas 2007-12. Directing: Mix It Up, Athens High (LPT), Love's Fire, Scaffolding (CSU Fullerton), Alice, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Annie Get Your Gun, Bye Bye Birdie (CCT). Old Globe: A Room With a View, Scottsboro Boys (Music Assistant). Special Love and Gratitude to Maestro Hudson Fox and my Swell Queen Julie. "Lov-ah!"

Brian Rickel
Ensemble
Brian is excited to be back on stage with the Lambs Players family. Previously seen as Baw in Joe vs. The Volcano, he is happy to be on another great adventure. Favorite roles include Martin Dysart in Equus, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, John in Sailor's Song and William Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. With love and thanks to Jasmin for her patience and undying support. Brian is on faculty at Grossmont College in the Theatre Department. CSU Fullerton (BA, MFA).

John Rosen
Ensemble
John Rosen is happy to be back performing at Lamb’s Players with so many good friends. Lamb’s: Pete ‘n Keely, Joe Vs. The Volcano, Guys & Dolls, The Music Man, Harvey, The Fantasticks, Room Service, The Winslow Boy, American Rhythm and Charley’s Aunt. REGIONAL: A Catered Affair and The Constant Wife for The Old Globe; LOCAL: Ella and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for San Diego Rep; Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 and To Forgive, Divine for North Coast Rep; Bunbury, The Long Christmas Ride Home, and Looking for Normal for Diversionary; and other shows in the distant past for Sledgehammer, Bowery, and Gaslamp Quarter Theatres.

Lance Arthur Smith
Phileas Fogg
Lance Arthur Smith trained under Swordplay LA's Tim Weske and Brian Danner, Mark Ivie (protégé of famed fight director Bob Anderson), and Miguel Martinez and Paul Bolles at the University of New Mexico. He has also worked with veteran fight master Dan Speaker on projects for New Line Cinema and 20th Century Fox.
As Fight Director, his film/tv projects have included SHAKESPEARE'S MERCHANT and Richard Hatch's (Battlestar Galactica) GREAT WAR OF MAGELLAN. His fights have been seen on Los Angeles stages for African-American Theatre Ensemble, ARK Theatre Company (including the LA Weekly Award-winning A CLOCKWORK ORANGE), and Piece O' Pie People sketch, and in San Diego in several productions for Lamb's Players Theatre, OLEANNA at Intrepid Shakespeare, and Sea World's TERRORS OF THE DEEP Halloween event.
As a Performer, Mr. Smith has been seen onscreen and as fight reference for Walt Disney Productions, the Discovery Channel, 20th Century Fox, and in a Lord of the Rings Burger King commercial scrapping over collectible goblets.
An Educator, he has served as the Combat Faculty head for Firespark! Theatre Festival (Gainesville, GA), Fencing/Combat staff at Swordplay Fencing Studio (Burbank), and a Guest Combat Instructor for Strauss Youngstage (Monroe, LA), the University of New Mexico, LPT Summer Drama Academy (San Diego), and Lemon Grove School District (San Diego).

Danny Campbell
Understudy
Danny Campbell: LPT: Room Service, An American Christmas. Other San Diego appearances: The Norman Conquests (Cygnet Theatre); Richard II, King John, An Enemy of the People, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Musical, Macbeth (Intrepid Shakespeare Company); Fiddler on the Roof, You Never Can Tell, Ring Round the Moon, Sweeney Todd, 1776, West Side Story (Moonlight Stage Productions); My Fair Lady, 1776 (Starlight Musical Theatre); Last Night of Ballyhoo (SRT); Dancing at Lughnasa, Hamlet, The Odd Couple; Much Ado About Nothing (Octad-One). In 2013: Polonius in Hamlet at Intrepid Shakespeare Company.

Patrick J. Duffy
Understudy
Patrick has most recently been seen on stage in Pete N Keely. Other stage credits here include The Book of the Dun Cow, Smoke on the Mountain ‘10 & ‘04, Festival of Christmas ‘08, The Voysey Inheritance, An Ideal Husband, Cold Comfort Farm, South Pacific, and Rehearsal for Murder (which he also stage managed and sound designed). As a resident Sound Designer, his sound credits here at Lamb’s are MIXTAPE, Pump Boys & Dinettes, Godspell, Boomers, The Fantasticks, The Light in the Piazza, Joseph ‘07, American Rhythm ‘06 at the Lyceum, The Secret Garden, and Enchanted April. When not on stage or designing, he can be found building sets or as Lamb’s Audio Master. Patrick is thankful for all His blessings in his life, and wishes you the same. Thanks for coming by, enjoy!

Laura Eason
Playwright
Laura Eason is the author of more than fifteen full-length plays, both original work and adaptations, and numerous short plays. They include: Area of Rescue, The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, The Vast In-Between, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Around the World in 80 Days, and A Tale of Two Cities. Productions: Sydney Theatre Company, Australia; New Victory, Steppenwolf Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Hartford Stage, Humana Festival, KC Rep, St. Louis Rep, Denver Center, and Baltimore CENTERSTAGE, among others. Current and past commissions include Ambassador Theatre Group (UK), Denver Center, Arden Theatre, Two River, and Writers Theatre. Her plays are published by Smith & Kraus, Playscripts, Broadway Play Publishing and DPS. In New York, Laura is an Affiliated Artist of New Georges and an alumna of the Women’s Project Playwright’s Lab. For six years, she was the Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre Company, recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and is still an active Ensemble Member. Originally from Chicago, she lives in Brooklyn, NY. More information is available at her website: www.lauraeason.com.

Brendan Farley
Technical Director
Brendan has been on the Lamb's technical staff for 5 years. His career in theatre has spanned the world, working as an actor and carpenter on shows for small theatre companies in Chicago, building sets for Broadway with Showman Fabricators in New York City, and working with Global Scenic Services and Chicago Flyhouse installing scenery and rigging on cruise ships. Brendan and his wife Katherine, co-owner of Coronado's premier floral design shop Root 75, are loving life as the uber-proud parents of their son Wren.

Deborah Gilmour Smyth
Sound Design
has been a member of the Lamb’s Players resident ensemble since 1979 and is now an Associate Artistic Director. Originally from the East Coast, she has lived all over the United States and went to school at San Francisco State University where she studied music and theatre. One of San Diego’s most active performers with over 120 productions to her credit, she is a two-time recipient of the San Diego Theatre Critics’ Circle’s Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Female Performance in a Musical: for her performance as Mother in Ragtime at Starlight Musical Theatre, and for her role of Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza at Lamb’s Players. She has performed in over 120 productions here. She recently played Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Cygnet Theatre. Deborah enjoys the opportunity to be involved in an ensemble that promotes the integrity of story and the craft of the art over the celebrity of the individual. Deborah and her husband, Producing Artistic Director Robert Smyth, make their home in Coronado.

Maria Mangiavellano
Stage Manager
has stage managed the world premiere of mixtape, in addition to An Inspector Calls; Enchanted April; Godspell; The Glass Menagerie; Room Service; Boomers (x 2); The Voysey Inheritance; The Secret Garden; An American Christmas (x 6); American Rhythm; Metamorphoses; Dial M For Murder; South Pacific; The Great Divorce; 1776; Dr. Faustus; The Glass Menagerie; Room Service; The Fantasticks; Joyful Noise; Hello, Dolly!; An Ideal Husband; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; and Festival of Christmas. Elsewhere she has stage managed Travesties, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cabaret, Pageant, and Man of La Mancha for North Coast Repertory Theatre and six productions for Moonlight at the Avo Playhouse and Moonlight Amphitheatre. She has also stage managed for San Diego Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company, and the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival. She holds an MFA from UCSD.

Michael McKeon
Scenic and Prop Design
is an avid Photographer, Videographer, Painter, Sculptor and “maker of things.” Since 2008, Michael has had the honor to work with Lamb’s as a Craft Master, Scenic Designer, Scenic Artist, Properties Designer, Multimedia/Video Designer and Technician, Stage Manager and Front of House Associate for various shows and special events at LPT. Other scenic design credits include: Killer Joe - San Diego Theater Critics Circle Award (Compass), Side Man (Diversionary), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Intrepid Shakespeare Company)

Nathan Peirson
Lighting Design
A graduate of Biola University, Nathan is Lamb’s Director of Production. He has designed lights for many productions including The Book of the Dun Cow, The Light in the Piazza, The Secret Garden, Enchanted April, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Life X 3, Metamorphoses, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Boomers, Till We Have Faces, The Great Divorce and Dracula. He is also a busy actor, photographer and musician. As a performer Nate has been seen in such productions as Tintypes, The Wind In The Willows, Alice In Concert, Festival of Christmas, and An American Christmas.

Jeanne Reith
Costume Design
Fiddler... marks Jeanne’s 135th production in 22 years as an Associate Artist & Resident Designer at Lamb’s. Jeanne’s creative work has achieved Theatre Critics Awards such as the Craig Noel, KPBS Patte, and Billie Awards, the most recent being a Craig Noel for Servant of Two Masters. Other award-winners: An Ideal Husband, A Woman of No Importance, Till We Have Faces, The Boy Who Fell Into a Book, Joyful Noise, Tarantara! Tarantara!, Dr. Faustus, The Winslow Boy, and Metamorphoses. In 2008 Jeanne was presented a Patte Award for for her entire season of productions including Hello, Dolly!, The Voysey Inheritance, The Hit, Boomers, The Light in the Piazza, Festival of Christmas: Angel’s Arms and An American Christmas. “Theatre is a collaborative art. The team wins awards.” -Jeanne Reith

Robert Smyth
Director
is the Producing Artistic Director of Lamb's Players Theatre. Moving to San Diego from the East Coast in 1976, he joined the staff of Lamb's Players (at the time a touring performing arts company based in El Cajon) with a vision to build a professional resident repertory company. Lamb's Players opened its first resident theatre in National City in the spring of 1978. In 1994, the company moved its resident stage to Coronado. Now San Diego's third largest professional theatre, it continues to maintain one of the region's few resident acting ensembles. The company's mission is "to tell good stories well." As Artistic Director and CEO, Smyth's hats include that of administrator, director, actor, and occasional playwright. He has directed over 100 productions, including many world and regional premieres. He has also toured internationally with a one-man performance of Aldyth Morris's Damien, the powerful story of the renegade priest who stood up to the church and the government for the lepers confined on the island of Molokai. He and his wife, actress/director Deborah Gilmour Smyth, recently received a joint "lifetime achievement" Patté Award.

"True to his name, Phileas Fogg is one mystifying character — a quietly genial but highly by-the-book gentleman of leisure who not only has no family but little discernible interest in other human beings whatsoever. Lance Arthur Smith plays him with such delicious precision and offhand valiance, though, that you wind up rooting for him through every plot contrivance.

His Fogg is like a savant of nonchalance, and in that way Smith matches up beautifully with the marvelous Bryan Barbarin as the excitable, passionate French valet Passepartout, who tries to mimic his boss’ cool demeanor but can’t hide his excitement at the exotic sights along the way.

They’re on this journey because Fogg has made a bet that he can circumnavigate the globe in a bit over 11 weeks. One complication: The police Inspector Fix (an archly funny Jon Lorenz, doing winning work) has got it in his head that Fogg has robbed the Bank of England.

Fix’s dogged pursuit waylays the travelers, but their troubles become worthwhile for Fogg when he rescues the persecuted young Indian widow Kamana Aouda (Kaja Amado Dunn) and finally finds some human connection. Dunn is pretty wonderful in the part with an especially impressive accent.

Strong supporting-cast work by Jesse Abeel, Brian Rickel, John Rosen and Caitie Grady also puts comic lift in this modest yarn, one that might not tax the brain but still tickles the heart."
Jim Hebert - San Diego Union Tribune

"I have been dying for a vacation and seeing AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS satisfied my desire! In this classic adventure story by Jules Verne, Phileas Fogg (Lance Smith) of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout (Bryan Barbarin) attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a large wager (equal to millions these days) The whole cast was wonderful. A great adventure!"
- Art Rocks 247

"It’s no easy task to stage a journey around the world but director Robert Smyth and his ultra-talented cast of eight succeed!"
Jenni Prisk - Center Stage, Actors Alliance of San Diegoc

"Jules Verne’s stories are all about imagination, so it seems fitting that Lamb’s Players production of Laura Eason’s adaption of “Around The World In 80 Days” sports the most ingenious staging ever from a company that routinely offers clever design.

You know the story: Phileas Fogg plays whist with his friends the same way he lives his life – by the clock. One day in 1872, he asserts that progress has been such that one could circumnavigate the globe in 80 days.

His buddies at the London club are sure he’s crazy and bet 20,000 pounds (around $2 million in today’s money) that he can’t do it. Fogg, an extremely precise man, takes that bet.

There probably isn’t a person over 20 who doesn’t know how this story ends, but in this case it’s the journey that counts, and thanks to sprightly direction, a terrific cast and a crack design team, “Around The World In 80 Days” is a winner on all counts. Don’t miss it! "
Jean Lowerison - SDGLN

"Jules Verne’s story, Around the World in 80 Days, has been dismissed as an adventure tale aimed at boys, but it has proven to hold appeal for audiences of all ages. That appeal continues as Lamb’s Players Theatre mounts the West Coast premiere of Laura Eason’s adaptation of the novel.

The characterizations leap off the stage under Robert Smyth’s taut and fast-paced direction. There’s Phineas Fogg (Lance Arthur Smith), a bachelor whose life is so regimented that his whist buddies at the Reform Club jump at the chance to bet him that he can’t circumnavigate the globe in the time allotted. There’s Passepartout (a buoyant Bryan Barbarin in a role tailor-made for his talents), Fogg’s new manservant and former circus performer. There’s Kamana Aouda (Kaja Amado Dunn), a widow who Fogg rescues from being thrown on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. And there’s Inspector Fix (Jon Lorenz), who’s after a bank bandit who fits Fogg’s description. An ensemble consisting of Jesse Abeel, John Rosen, Brian Rickel, and Caitie Grady provide equal parts energy to the secondary roles.

Jeanne Barnes Reith does her usual fine job of creative costumes that look great on the actors. Deborah Gilmour Smyth worked with composer Kevin O’Donnell to create effective scene change music. And choreographer, April Henry, does a bang-up job with the circus scenes that feature Passepartout returning to his former profession. Going to one place and seeing versions of sights that one might encounter on a round-the-world trip is perhaps as fun as visiting similar sights on the Las Vegas Strip. And, it’s a heck of a lot less expensive."
Bill Eadie - SanDiegoStory.com

"What makes the Lamb's production so very special is the fact that regardless of the means of transportation it’s the imagination that drives this adventure. It's a whimsical, playful and clever romp, both different and smart!"
Carol Davis - Examiner.com

"Director Robert Smyth has a splendid ensemble at his disposal, an impressively malleable cast of eight who create dozens of characters, in Jeanne Reith’s superb, culture-crossing costumes. The accents change as swiftly as the clothes, and that’s one of the production’s greatest delights!"
Pat Launer - Jazz88