It also takes an entire village to put on a show. Ours is growing…

David Antscherl	David Antscherl has been involved with theatre ever since he can remember. He was scripting and putting on shows with his sister for his long-suffering family, providing the lighting (only blowing the fuses once!) and makeup – all before the age of ten. A career in theatre was destined. David has been a professional set and costume designer for well over 100 shows in the past thirty years. He has also done makeup for stage, TV and film, stage managed, constructed and painted scenery and properties, and directed. Directing credits have included a number of comedies, an opera and, most recently, a one-act play by Charmian Christie in The Record NewWorks Festival. When not designing, David writes, cleans and conserves paintings, teaches and builds commissioned scale ship models. He is a member of Associated Designers of Canada, Theatre Ontario’s Talent Bank and is Adjunct Professor in the Theatre Arts Department of Redeemer University College in Ancaster. David lives in Waterloo with his indulgent wife Carol and the world’s friendliest watch-cat, Kit Kaboodle. David will be Directing LUKE MEETS CHARLENE AT A REALLY NICE BAR & ALLEN FUNT IS DEAD
Samuel Liam Bentley	Sam is nearly finished grade ten. He emerged from the womb looking for the stage. He had his first agent by five, much to the horror of his mum. He has been in several films and television shows. He has taken several drama courses, including a three week Shakespeare intensive with Prof. Leslie O’Dell, when he was eight. His favourite performances were in Due South (Paul Gross is really cool!), The Spreading Ground with Dennis Hopper and Witch Blade. His live performances include playing Puck and Macbeth in ‘A Midsummer’s Afternoon Nap’. But what he really wants to do is direct………………….film! Sam will be our Everything Man.
Meny Beriro	Meny Beriro was born in Gibraltar and raised in Queens, New York. Meny studied playwriting at PLAYWRIGHT’S HORIZONS THEATRE SCHOOL. His works include Grosso Is In Jail (presented at the Samuel French Short play Festival in 2005), A Love of Music (Creative Mechanics Stage This! Semi-Finalist 2005), Climbing the Unisphere (public reading October 2006 at Queens Theatre in the Park) and Twenty Broken Legs (staged reading by Mid Life Productions, March 2006). Most recently his monologue, Worn was presented by This Woman’s Work Theatre Co. in January, 2007, and in February 2007, The National Anthem of Mercury was presented by EndTimes Productions. Meny’s play is SHOCK - a World Premier!
Michael Burgan	As a freelance writer, Michael Burgan has written more than 100 non-fiction books for kids. He studied playwriting for one year in Emerson College's MFA writing program and is currently a network playwright with Chicago Dramatists and a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Playwriting Center. Credits include: Alternate selection, 1999 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival (GIGO) Curtain Players 2005 Playwrights’ Festival, Westerville, Ohio (Mayor Mac) Appetite Theatre 2005 Bruschetta Festival, Chicago (Bob’s Head and Toys in the Attic) Theatres Against War 2005 Freedom Follies, New York (Truth, Justice, and…) Around the Coyote 2006 Play Reading Series, Chicago (Last Refuge) Michael’s play is CAN CAN’T, and this will be its Canadian Premier!
Lea Daniel	Lea Daniel was a founding member of Theatre & Company’s Writer’s Bloc and PlayLab and is currently a member of Pat the Dog playwrights’ collective. Her short play Highway Robbery was produced as part of Theatre & Company’s May Playfest (1999); Burn was part of May Playfest (2002); Heretic, a full-length play was chosen for the Off-The-Page Series at Equity Showcase Theatre, Toronto (2003), for a reading at The Cobblestone Festival, Paris, Ontario (2004) and was workshopped in 2006. Lea is an award-winning illustrator and writer of books for children. Lea’s play, IN THE EAST A GLASS OF WATER, will receive it’s World-Wide Debut with Asphalt Jungle Shorts.
Paddy Gillard-Bentley	Paddy has been involved in one aspect of theatre or another since her Mother, Tessa, was four months pregnant with her performing in Time Out For Ginger. Her full-length play, SHAKING THE DEW FROM THE LILIES, had its debut in Kitchener, Ont. Canada, in November 2002 and received its American premier in May - June, 2005, in Denver, Co. at The Playwright Theatre, directed by Cynthia Davies. WHITE NOISE, directed by Stuart Scadron-Wattles, and SANGUINE SONATA, directed by Gary Kirkham were produced with Theatre & Company, COMIC STRIP appeared in a festival of shorts in Toronto with The Cabbagetown Theatre Company, & QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT, 8-0-8 Productions, Calgary, AB. Several short plays have been produced: FRAILTY THY NAME IS WOE & EXTERNAL MUSING – Gone in 60 Seconds, 2006/07, Brooklyn, NY, ONE TENDER LIE, IN TENSE CITY & CYNTHIA'S STORY, by Java Theatre, Providence, RI, IN TENSE CITY, 'Picking up the Pieces' - Grand Forks, ND, ONE TENDER LIE, Sacramento, CA. HUNTING THE PENUMBRA, HOWARD AND THE SNAKE, THE DELICATE ART OF BREATHING & OPAQUE have all received stage readings. Paddy is the President of ICWP (International Centre for Women Playwrights), was in Writer's Bloc, a playwright's group affiliated with Theatre & Company for four years and was a member of The Alumnae Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Most recently, Paddy performed in The Vagina Monologues, Leave Taking, Pamphilia, and She Speaks, a night of women’s readings.. Paddy is the producer. She will be directing COSMO AND GIGI & SHOCK.
Gary Kirkham	GARY KIRKHAM is a playwright, actor, filmmaker, et al. His play, Queen Milli of Galt, won the Samuel French Canadian Playwriting Competition and will be part of the 2007 Blyth Festival Season. His one act play, Look, was adapted into a short film staring Mike Peng and Alan Sapp. His newest play, Falling: A Wake, will premiere at the Registry Theatre March 15-24, 2007! Gary is a member of Lost & Found Theatre. He has also acted with Theatre & Company and most recently, MT Space, touring in their version of The Season of Immigration. Gary spent years as an improviser with several comedy troupes including Mental Floss and was in The Second City’s Master class. And, if you didn’t blink, you might have seen him in several sketches on The Kids in the Hall. As a filmmaker, Gary will be going to Africa to film a documentary about Aids orphans. He is also filming Bard on the Street, a series of Shakespearean monologues performed on locations throughout the region. Gary will be reading from The Sun is a Neon Sign. Gary is the Assistant Producer and will be directing IN THE EAST A GLASS OF WATER & BLITZ.
Kari Kokko	Kari earned a BFA from York University in theatre production, and has enjoyed working in various capacities with various theatre companies. Favourite credits include doing the lighting designs for Vigil (Lost&Found Theatre), The Season of Immigration to the West (The Multicultural Theatre Space), and Yes or No (The Multicultural Theatre Space). Favourite non-theatre credits include working at the Working Centre (first in the Recycle Cycles community bicycle resource centre, and then in the Queen Street Commons cafe), and studying music at Wilfred Laurier University. Kari is the Co - Stage Manager of Asphalt Jungle Shorts.
Kathleen Kramer	Kathleen Kramer is a playwright, actor, and poet. She lives near Ithaca, NY, where her full-length plays, Colorful Bricks and Fanatics and The Tadpole Stage, have been presented to standing-room-only audiences. Her full-length, Solitary Lights, received a staged reading by 3rd Floor Productions, a women's playwriting and producing collective, of which Kathleen is a member. In February '07, Sleeps Through Storms, a 20-minute play about a woman's relationship with an unseen entity residing in her attic, was presented by Armory Square Playhouse in Syracuse, NY. Some of Kathleen's shorter works have been featured in a creative writing curriculum at Ithaca College, while others have been part of group shows produced by 3rd Floor Productions. The most recent group show, Queueue, included six of Kathleen's short plays about people standing in lines of various kinds and the drama and comedy which can occur in these common settings. Two of Kathleen’s plays will be performed. BAD FEET was produced in Ithaca, NY, so this will be it’s Canadian Premier And this will be the World Premier for ALLEN FUNT IS DEAD.
Andrew Lakin	Andrew Lakin has been performing on stage and designing lights in the K-W region for over a decade. He is delighted to be a founding member of Lost & Found Theatre, where he has performed in Vigil and Cotton Patch Gospel, designed lights for Eleemosynary, and directed The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine. He has also recently performed with MT Space and the Perimeter Institute. Other favourite productions include The Foreigner, Cherry Docs, Three in the Back...Two in the Head, Waiting for Godot, and Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, all at Theatre & Co. Other lighting designs there include Red Lips, A Walk in the Woods, Proof, and Mary's Wedding. In his spare time, Andrew writes, spends time with his wonderful wife Joanne and their Yellow Lab puppy Lucy, and he is looking forward to his next big challenge in life... becoming a father! Andrew Lakin’s play is SENTINEL and in his own words, this will be its Galactic Premier!
Christopher Lockheardt	Christopher Lockheardt is an amateur playwright and has the bank account to prove it. His wise and beautiful wife suggests that if he cashed the royalty checks received from generous theaters rather than framing and hanging them in his study, he might then be able to afford from time to time to buy her a drink at a really nice bar. \ Christopher’s play is, LUKE MEETS CHARLENE AT A REALLY NICE BAR.
Melissa Major	Melissa Major grew up in rural Ontario and now resides in Toronto. She graduated from York University 's Glendon campus with a degree in Drama Studies as well as a degree in Psychology.  Awards for her work include the York University President's Prize for Playwriting in 2004 (Art is a Cupboard), 2006 (Unicorn Horns) and 2007 (Kicking and Smiling). Art is a Cupboard was also a semi-finalist for Reverie Productions' Next Generation Playwriting Contest in New York (2006). Her only children's play Wanda T. Grimsby, Detective Extraordinaire won the 2006 Summer Shorts Festival Playwriting Competition, where the play was produced by Youth Education OnStage in Williston, North Dakota. One of her short plays, Delly's Belly was a finalist for the 2006 Emerging Artist Theatre's Fall EATfest award in New York, where it garnered a staged reading. Although her focus is on writing, she also makes a habit of parading around in other hats, such as the intricate director's hat, the inventive actor's hat and the illustrious poet's hat. Recent credits include a physical reading of Unicorn Horns for Nuit Blanche Toronto (Playwright/Performer), stage managing several shows for the Ashkenaz Festival at the Harbourfront Centre (Uprising: A Ballet by Donna Greenberg; The Wandering Jew; & Blue Cows & Green Ducks), the Toronto Fringe Festival production of Art is a Cupboard (Playwright) & playing the role of dog/grandma in Puzzled Man (New Ideas Festival, Alumnae Theatre).  On a personal level, she enjoys cycling, painting and conducting obscure psychological research in her spare time. She has an extremely delightful family. Unicorn Horns will be produced in the IDEA 2007 World Congress of theatre this July in Hong Kong. Melissa’s play is DOUBLE-EDGED WORD.
Kristine McGovern	Kristine McGovern graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in philosophy and spent 20 years as a print journalist. Her first short play, “Waiting for the Ice Cream Man,” was selected for the Playwrights’ Showcase of the Western Region in 2004. Since then, her short works have been performed at the Short Attention Span Festival, The Frankenstein Experiment, and the Palm Springs National Short Play Festival. Several short scripts also were selected for the Katrina Project, a Readers’ Theater collaboration to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. As a recovering journalist, Kristine enjoys the freedom of playwriting and being able to make up quotes as needed. She now edits books from her Centennial, Colo., home, which she shares with her husband, two horses, a German shepherd, five barn cats, and Lily, a diabolical goat that soon may appear in the Free category on Craigslist. Her son, Matt, is a college freshman majoring in history. Kristine is delighted to be part of the Asphalt Jungle Shorts. This will be the World Premier of Kristine’s play, FOR WANT OF A SHOE.
Jennifer Munday	Jennifer Munday has only recently braved the art of playwriting with some very small pieces and a larger work that is the product of her doctoral research on 'adapting the novel for live performance', VitaBrevis.  Her Masters research and earlier professional performance work centered around creating performances in unusual places - her performing group, Elbow Room's last work was Tom's Women, by Geoffrey Sykes – a series of female monologues based on the paintings of an Australian artist, Tom Roberts.  Her works also explore and include aspects of technology. Her new play, ON THE EDGE, was recently involved in, She Speaks, a night of readings from women’s work. Jenni will be directing, FOR WANT OF A SHOE and DOUBLE-EDGED WORD.
Nicole Lee Quesnel	Returning as stage manager for Asphalt Jungle Shorts, Nicole is pleased to be bringing in Kari Kokko as her co-stage manager.  Nicole has been a professional theatre artist in Southern Ontario since moving here from California in 1997.  Selected credits: founding member of Lost & Found Theatre; STAGE MANAGER: Falling: A Wake, Vigil, Cotton Patch Gospel (Lost & Found Theatre), Ivanka Returns, Hockey Mom Hockey Dad (Showboat Festival Theatre), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Perimeter Institute), Shady Business (Theatre Cambridge) Metamorphoses, Fire, Crossing Delancey, Beauty and the Beast; Problem Child, Transit of Venus, Queen Milli of Galt, Quilters,Three in the Back Two in the Head, Shadowlands, Waiting for Godot (and a whack of other plays when she was the resident stage manager at Theatre & Company); DIRECTOR: Eleemosynary (Lost & Found Theatre), Lady Windermere's Fan (Redeemer College University),The Real Inspector Hound, Magician's Nephew (Theatre & Company); ACTOR:  A Lost & Found Christmas, Radio Leacock (Lost & Found Theatre); The Art of Dining, The Dayboy and the Nightgirl (Theatre & Company); TEACHER (acting, directing, stage management) Redeemer College University, Heritage Bible College, Waterloo Community Arts Centre, and the Studio at Theatre & Company (of which Nicole was the education coordinator in the 2004-2005 season).  OTHER:  producer (Lost & Found Theatre); acting production manager (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony). Coming up, Pinteresque (the MT Space), The Foursome (Drayton Entertainment) and learning the difference between flowers and weeds outside her new home with hubby Richard. Nicole is the Co - Stage Manager of Asphalt Jungle Shorts.
Isabel Russell-Ides	Isabella Russell-Ides (Cosmo & Gigi: Existential Lovebirds) is an award winning playwright and poet & urban legend: Lie on your belly on any warm sidewalk in America and you can hear her beat. The queen of Spain rocks! Isabella came back to the theatre scene in 2003 with Think Tanks for Christmas At Ground Zero. Following that at the 2004 FIT Festival with Leonard’s Car about which the Dallas Observer wrote: “The dialogue is crisp, clever and fresh; the emotions big, brazen and ballsy.” In 2005, she founded My Way productions (thus becoming a writer/producer). My Way staged four plays by Isabella: Chalk Temple, American Infidelity, In a God Box and a shiny all-new Leonard’s Car, recipient of 2006 Dallas Theatre League Leon Rabin Award. Isabella’s play is COSMO & GIGI: EXISTENTIAL LOVEBIRDS and Asphalt Jungle Shorts will be its World Premier!
Kathleen Sheehy	Kathleen is a founding member of Lost & Found Theatre, and prior to that was a member of the ensemble at Theatre & Company. Most recently she appeared as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night in a collaborative project with UW’s Dept of Drama, and just before that, in Falling: A Wake by fellow L&F member Gary Kirkham. Favourite roles include Dorothea in Eleemosynary, Bubbie in Crossing Delancey, Claire in A Delicate Balance and Stacy in Some Assembly Required. Her free time is filled with reading, cooking for friends, and her faithful Lab, Piper. Kathleen will be directing CAN CAN’T & SENTINEL.
Peter Snoad	Peter Snoad is a writer and actor whose plays have been read and produced throughout the U.S. This is the Canadian premiere of My Name is Art, which was previously staged in Boston, Massachusetts (the Devanaughn Theatre and the Boston Theatre Marathon); Austin, Texas (The Vestige Group); and San Pedro, California (Little Fish Theatre). Peter’s play, Rosa, a comedy-drama about the “war on terror”, premiered in Boston, Mass. last year in a production by Alarm Clock Theatre. His latest full-length play, Guided Tour, which won the 2007 Stanley Drama Award, a national playwriting award in the U.S., will be staged by Centre Stage-South Carolina, in Greenville, SC in June. Peter is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Screen Actors Guild. He lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Peter’s play is - MY NAME IS ART and although produced many times in the US, this will be its Canadian Premier!
“ Matthew White	Currently the Apprentice General Manager at Theatre & Company. Matt assisted director, Leah Cherniak, in Theatre & Company’s current production of Intimate Exchanges. He is also busy working with the Youth @ Theatre & Company directing their upcoming collectively created piece in June 2007. Select acting credits include The Metamorphosis, A Christmas Carol, James in A Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook Episodes I and 2, Keith in Mourning Dove, Fred in The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge (Theatre & Company); Cavan Blazers, Crow Hill (4th Line Theatre); Lion in the Streets, Angelique (Hart House Theatre); Mothers (Culture Vacuum); When Children Fall (Filthy Mexican Productions). Matthew is excited to be a part of Asphalt Jungle Shorts II and wishes to thank Paddy, his casts, and everyone else who has helped turn Kitchener’s downtown into one giant playground. MATT will be directing MY NAME IS ART and BAD FEET.

ACTOR’S PICTURES & BIOS

A WALKING TOUR OF AJS II – with commentary and pictures.

PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW AND CAST PART