Veteran BLT Actors Bring Shakespeare’s Story to Life
Eleven outstanding veteran BLT actors bring to life this amazing love story of how Shakespeare’s works have been preserved for us to enjoy centuries later. Tickets are $10 and are available online now at no extra charge.
Logan Andres
Boy Hamlet, Compositor, Susannah Shakespeare
Logan S. Andres is thrilled to be returning to the BLT stage. The last show she was in at BLT was Flowers for Algernon back in 2017. Since then, she has been continuing to study theatre in both high school and college, but she’s excited to return to the place where she developed a love for theatre!
Phillip Ball
Ben Johnson, Sir Edward Dering
Phillip has been an active member of the Butler theatre community for the past 24 years. He has appeared in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Boeing Boeing, A Year with Frog and Toad, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. He has served as director and technical coordinator for many productions, including BLT’s most recent production of The Lifespan of a Fact, and serves on the BLT Board of Directors.
Casey Bowser
Henry Condell
Casey Bowser is so grateful to be performing again on the Butler Little Theatre stage. Casey was last seen as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps and directed last December’s production of A Christmas Carol. Casey is the Community Relations Director at Newhaven Court at Clearview. Casey would like to thank his wife, Heidi, for her continued support.
Amy Dittman
Elizabeth Condell, Emilia Bassano Lanier
When Amy moved to Butler nine years ago, she was thrilled to discover there was a theater in her backyard. Since her first show at the Butler Little Theater, Rose’s Dilemma, Amy has been in several BLT productions, including Steel Magnolias, Come Blow Your Horn, and The Dixie Swim Club. Amy also was honored to be a member of the BLT Board. During that time, she brought Reader’s Theater and musical productions to BLT while managing the ushering schedules and sitting on the play reading committee. After a rather lengthy hiatus, Amy is delighted to be on stage again, working with an incredibly talented cast and crew.
Thom Hilliard
Richard Burbage, William Jaggard
Thom’s connection with community theater began in Not Now Darling, a British farce at the BLT back in 2007. Thom feels fortunate to have appeared in several plays at the BLT over the years, including playing the part of Scrooge in their December 2022 production of A Christmas Carol, adapted by Paul Haughey. He has also been fortunate to be part of shows with the Red Barn Players in Zelienople, as well as Hobnob Theatre Company. The opportunity to be part of this show is one he looks forward to with much personal anticipation!
Matt Leslie
Ed Knight, Marcus, Barman
Matt is thankful for the opportunity to tread the BLT boards once again! No stranger to the stage, Matt has been active in local theater for years. A few recent favorites are Mercutio in Hobnob’s Romeo and Juliet, Charles Guiteau in MTG’s Assassins, and Paul in Riverfront Theatre Company’s production of Company. It’s an honor to work with friends and theatre family on this production to bring to life a bit of the story behind the infamous Bard. May we leave you with the joy and magic of the stage that has captivated the hearts of audiences for generations!
Sami Roth
Alice Heminges
Sami is thrilled to be returning to the BLT stage! As a recent graduate of Point Park University with a BFA in Acting and a Minor in Dance, she can be seen in multiple film productions. Some credits include Baked, a short film currently nominated in both LA and NYC film festivals and featured in an upcoming Netflix movie. Outside of film work in Pittsburgh, Sami also works as a professional actor and choreographer across the USA. Some of her credits include resident choreography at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, Primestage Theatre’s production of A Wrinkle in Time, and Everybody at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, and the National Children’s Theatre Tour of Winter Fables. @sami.roth
Elizabeth Smith
Rebecca Heminges, Anne Hathaway Shakespeare
Elizabeth was last seen on the Butler Little Theatre stage in 2022 as Kate Jerome in Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound. She previously directed The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, for the BLT in 2015. She and her husband, Ken, run Hobnob Theater Company and are excited to be celebrating ten years of producing Shakespeare this summer with a production of The Tempest (Preston Park and Zelienople Community Park).
Ken Smith
John Heminges
Ken loves words, especially Shakespeare’s. John Heminges also loved Shakespeare’s words. Ken loves playing a character who loves Shakespeare’s words. Some of Ken’s favorite past roles include Clown 1 in The 39 Steps, Cassio in Othello, and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew. He also has provided musical direction for Butler Musical Theatre Guild’s Assassins and Jesus Christ Superstar.
John Henry Steelman
Ralph Crane, Barman
John Henry is pleased to return to Butler Little Theatre, having previously appeared here in Tuesdays with Morrie and Social Security. His most recent performance was in the Indiana Players’ Annual Festival of One-Acts. Favorite roles just in the past two years include Henry Saunders in Lend Me a Tenor (Geyer PAC), Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (Poor Yorick’s Players), and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol (Pittsburgh Savoyards). Last summer, he directed Measure for Measure for Poor Yorick’s Players.
Joe Szalinski
Isaac Jaggard
Joe is a writer and performer from West View, Pennsylvania. Joe studied creative writing at Slippery Rock University and fell in love with the theatre. His writing has appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies, as well as across social media, and helped him earn second place in the Pittsburgh City Paper’s “Best of the Burgh” competition in the Best Poet category. Since graduating in 2017, he’s been busy working in film and TV, performing comedy and spoken word, and making music. Joe returned to the theatrical stage last fall with the Pittsburgh area’s The Rage of the Stage Players in their original production, Miserable Creatures, as Detective Robert Walton, and was recently seen in BLT’s last production of A Lifespan of a Fact as fact-checker Jim Fingal.
Jud Stewart
Director
Jud has a long history with the BLT stage (checkered, he would say). Jud most recently appeared in the BLT’s holiday production of A Christmas Carol as Actor 2. He has won several best actor awards, including for his portrayals of Stanley Kowolski, Valmont, and Macbeth. They are not the best guys, and you can draw your own conclusions. He has also directed many productions, most recently 2015’s revival of Steel Magnolias.