Always A Bridesmaid at The Belle Theatre

“Always a Bridesmaid” is Eileen’s debut at the Belle Theatre. Eileen has only been acting for a short time, but has performed as Coralee in “Grandma’s Murder Club” and as Ozella Meeks in “Southern Fried Funeral” at Cultural Park Theatre, as well as in various roles at other local venues. Eileen is also studying standup comedy and has performed at McCurdy’s comedy club in Sarasota. She hopes that you will come see her at future events!

Cara returns to the Belle stage this season as Libby Ruth, your favorite southern hopeless romantic in this story of 4 childhood friends who made a commitment to “be there for each other’s weddings, no matter what”, doing just that! She made her Belle debut last season in When the Lights were Out as that “Alabama woman”, Jasmine Perdoo where she got to show off her southern accent chops and break a 20+ year hiatus from being off stage. Inspired by her daughter, Charlotte’s, theater endeavors at the Belle in their education program, she is excited to take on one her biggest and funniest roles yet. Big love to her husband, Ben, who puts up with her never-ending creative endeavors and does the morning wake-ups to get the child off to school 99.9% of the time. She hopes once this season’s shows are over that she can improve her wake-up early rate and log more gold stars in the “okayest” mother of the year category!! Big thanks to all of the other talented ladies in this cast & all of the staff at the Belle for their tireless commitment to quality, inclusive community theater here in Cape Coral. Enjoy the show y’all!!! — And apologies in advance to the audience’s eardrums.

Tracy Weaver/Charlie -Tracy is pleased to be returning to the stage at The Belle Theatre. Most recently, she appeared as Queen Iduna in Frozen, and Muriel in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Other stage credits include; Mother Superior in Sister Act and Granny in Into The Woods at Cultural Park Theater; Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz, The Evil Stepmother in Cinderella, and Philomena in Drinking Habits at The Belle Theater; Hedda Hopper in Christmas with the Crawfords, Mrs. T in Avenue Q, and Madame Rosemonde in Les Liasions Dangereuses at The Laboratory Theater; and Lady Basildon in An Ideal Husband at The Naples Players. Tracy has performed in many other productions in Florida and Pennsylvania, as well as an Off Broadway production at The Hudson Guild Theater in New York City.

Donna is thrilled to be returning to the Belle Theatre stage, where she previously appeared as Jeanette in The Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Sister Augusta in Drinking Habits. Her other favorite roles include Ms. Innes in The Minutes, Gloria Swanson in Christmas with the Crawfords at the Lab Theatre, Bobbi in Grandma’s Murder Club, Doris McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie at the Cultural Park Theatre, Roberta (understudy) at the Players Circle, Alison in Where There’s a Will at the Marco Island Center for the Arts, Rose in Men Are Dogs, Ouiser in Steel Magnolias at Fort Myers Theatre, and Norma in The Last Schwartz at the New Phoenix Theatre, and she is delighted to once again share the stage with this wonderful cast and creative team.

GERRIE BENZING (Monette Gentry) is happy to be back at the Belle. She recently appeared as Zippy in Clown Bar Christmas at the Laboratory Theater and as Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein at the Belle Theatre. Some favorite past roles include Jinx in The Savannah Sipping Society at the Naples Players, Brooke in Other Desert Cities at the Studio Players, and Veda in Harvey at the Cultural Park Theater. Gerrie recently went skydiving (So fabulous!) and when not on stage, enjoys leading an adventure filled life. Gerrie wants to thank our wonderful Director, Tyler Young for walking the cast down the aisle, Kieran Strosser who is a magical costume mistress, and my fellow Bridesmaids of course!

Peyton is currently a senior bioengineering student at FGCU and the Production Manager for The Belle Theatre. Some favorite theatre credits include Sophie Neveu in The DaVinci Code, Siobhan in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, Helga in Cabaret, Annelle in Steel Magnolias, Billie in Unnecessary Farce, and her one-woman performance of Grounded.