Three New Actors Named to Resident Acting Company at Trinity Rep

Trinity Repertory Company, the State Theater of Rhode Island is proud to announce that three new company members have been added to their resident Acting Company roster - Mia Ellis, Rebecca Gibel and Charlie Thurston. All three performers are Brown/Trinity Rep MFA acting program graduates and no strangers to the Trinity Rep stage, having appeared in multiple productions over the past several seasons. The three join Trinity Rep's current resident Acting Company members: Stephen Berenson, Angela Brazil, Timothy Crowe, Mauro Hantman, Janice Duclos, Brian McEleney, Phyllis Kay, Anne Scurria, Barbara Meek, FrEd Sullivan, Jr., Stephen Thorne, Rachael Warren, and Joe Wilson, Jr.

This change comes at an historic time for the company, which will embark on its 50th Anniversary season starting in September with The Grapes of Wrath. Artistic Director Curt Columbus states, "The idea of company is at the heart of Trinity Rep's artistry and success, as much today as when we were born in 1963."

After his landmark visit to Trinity Rep then National Endowment for the Arts Chair Rocco Landesman wrote that he was heartened by the theater's commitment to company: "It was thrilling to me to see a repertory company that's carrying on the ideals that the resident theater movement in the United States started with-the idea of company. Trinity Rep is one of the few places in the country-you can probably count them on one hand-that's carrying on the resident theater ideal. They really are relating to their community and doing high-quality work for their audience."

When asked about the new company selection process, Columbus explains, "It's been a few years of waiting, watching and searching for just the right chemistry. I would liken it to bringing home your fiancé to meet your parents. And like a proud matchmaker, I feel like I have found the three most perfect choices for our family. The shared talents of Mia, Rebecca and Charlie bring a whole new world of theatrical possibilities to the table."

Actress Mia Ellis is best known to local audiences for her dual performances as both Francine and Lena in Trinity Rep's production of Clybourne Parkand as The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol. Additional professional credits include Hamlet with the Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble, A Christmas Carol at New Stage Theatre and Person of Interest on CBS. While at Brown/Trinity Rep Ellis played Eleanor Stoddard in U.S.A., Minola McKnight in Parade, Stevie in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Olga in Three Sisters, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Valeria in The Rover, Wesley inThe Time of Your Life, Synecdoche in Meronymy and Julia Roberts in O Guru Guru Guru. Mia is a 2012 graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program and received her BA in music and vocal performance from Tougaloo College.

Rebecca Gibel has appeared in many productions over the past three seasons at Trinity Rep and is perhaps best known for playing including Guenevere in Camelot, Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as comic turns in Boeing-Boeing, Social Creatures and A Christmas Carol. Other regional credits include A Doll's House at The Gamm, Hairspray with Theatre By The Sea and appearances with Fiasco Theater at McCarter Theatre, Fault Line Theatre, Arvada Theatre Center, Aurora Fox Arts Center and Creede Rep and Blue Bloods on CBS. A 2010 graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program, Gibel's Brown/Trinity Rep credits include Desdemona in Othello, Marie in Woyzeck and Nora in A Doll's House. She has received the Denver Post Readers' Choice Award for Best Year by an Actress and an IRNE Award Nomination for her work in Camelot at Trinity Rep. Charlie Thurston was last seen at Trinity Rep as Mr. Smith in Social Creatures and previously as the titular character in The Completely Fictional- Utterly True- Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe. Regional credits include reprising his role as the Young Poe at Baltimore Centerstage, Hamlet with the Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble, and productions of You Can't Take it With You, Three Sisters, Carve, Love's Labour's Lost, Chautauqua Theater Company; To Fool the Eye, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Wonderful Noise, Creede Rep; Prosperity, The Long Christmas Ride Home, Riverside Theatre; Twilight Orchard, Redmoon Theater. Thurston's Brown/Trinity Rep credits include Leo Frank in Parade, Eddie in Tango, Nick in The Time of Your Life and Rocky in Lake Untersee. Thurston is a 2012 graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting program and a two-time member of the Chautauqua Theatre Conservatory.

The State Theater of Rhode Island, Trinity Repertory Company is now celebrating its 50th Anniversary Season. Since its founding in 1963, Trinity Repertory Company has been one of the most respected regional theaters in the country. Featuring the last permanent resident Acting Company in America, Trinity Rep presents a balance of world premiere, contemporary, and classic works for an estimated annual audience of approximately 145,000. In its 50-year history, the theater has produced 62 world premieres, mounted national and international tours, and, through its MFA program, trained hundreds of new actors and directors. This season marks the 46th year of Project Discovery, Trinity Rep's pioneering educational outreach program. Last season, Trinity Rep's educational programs reached nearly 15,000 Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut students through matinees as well as in-school residencies and workshops. Brown University/Trinity Rep offers professional training for actors and directors in a three-year MFA program. Subscriptions are now on sale for Trinity Rep's 50th Anniversary 2013-2014 season, which includes John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the New England premiere of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang, Lionel Bart's Oliver!, Intimate Apparel by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, the world premiere of Veronica Meadows by Stephen Thorne and A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard. For more information, call the box office at (401) 351-4242 or visit Trinity Rep's website at www.trinityrep.com.

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