Pittsburgh CLO Premieres 'Plaid Tidings,' Cast Announced

The highly-anticipated Pittsburgh premiere of Plaid Tidings at the CLO Cabaret previews next Thursday, November 8 and opens Wednesday, November 14 for its limited run.  The original cast from Forever Plaid, the show that opened the CLO Cabaret, is back to perform their harmonious melodies in a show that is sure to lift your Holiday spirit.

J.D. Daw (Jinx) recently graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Theatre. He opened the Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret Theater in November of 2004 playing Jinx in Forever Plaid and is coming from the role of Jinx in Forever Plaid at the North Shore Music Theatre. Other regional credits: Swing for Forbidden Broadway (Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret), A Leather Apron in 1776 (Pittsburgh CLO), Marcel/Pepe in The Boyfriend (Playhouse West). Other roles: Rick in Six Degrees of Separation, Kim Feston in Search and Destroy, and Brit Craig in Parade.

Joseph Domencic (Smudge) is thrilled to be back with the original Forever Plaid team.  He recently appeared in Cabaret and The Comedy of Errors at the Pittsburgh Public and played the title role in Unseam'd Shakespeare's The Constant Prince.  Other CLO productions include Forever Plaid, Forbidden Broadway, 1776, A Musical Christmas Carol, and the school tours of Young Mark Twain and Footprints on the Moon.  A Pittsburgh native, Joe graduated from Carnegie Mellon University before moving to New York to study at the New Actors Workshop.  There he performed in several productions, including Fools' Gold, adapted and directed by Paul Sills.  In 2001, he toured the country as an actor and assistant music director with The Acting Company's The Comedy of Errors and O Pioneers!.  Other music directing credits include Kafka Songs (Sundance Theatre Lab), Last of the Romantics (Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), and a number of local theatre and school productions.  Since 1995, he has taught, directed, or written music for area students at Seton Hill University, Our Lady of Sacred Heart High School, CLO Academy, and ACT ONE Theatre School.

Adam Halpin (Frankie) is excited to be a Plaid once again at the CLO Cabaret where he originated the role of Frankie in the previous installment of the show. During the first run of Plaid he wrote and performed two noteworthy solo cabaret shows here, entitled Composers for A New World and Rock Me Acoustic. Theatrical favorites include: Forever Plaid (Frankie) at North Shore Music Theatre; Hair (Claude) at Forestburgh Playhouse; 110 in the Shade (Starbuck); And the World Goes Round (Man 2); Fame (Nick Piazza). Upcoming: World Premiere of the musical Glory Days at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, which opens in January '08.

Marcus Stevens (Sparky) is thrilled be back with the boys in Plaid after having opened the Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret at Theater Square back in 2004 with CLO's long running production of Forever Plaid. Since then, he's been seen as Mandy Patinkin, Harvey Fierstien, Colm Wilkinson and many others in Forbidden Broadway, as Joey Stoshack in City Theatre Company's Honus and Me and in the Pittsburgh Public Theater's productions of Cabaret and The Comedy of Errors. Marcus earned a BFA in Theatre Arts from Point Park Conservatory of Performing Arts. His work as the title role in Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and as Gordon Schwinn in William Finn's A New Brain earned him accolades in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for "One of the Year's Best Performances" of 2002 and 2003, respectively. Other major roles to date include Jamie Wellerstein in the Jewish Theater of Pittsburgh's production of The Last Five Years and Carrie White in Bricolage's SCarrie: The Musical.  Marcus has taught musical theater at Point Park Conservatory and has taught and directed many high school and college students at Upper Darby Summer Stage for the past eleven years. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild as well as Actor's Equity, Marcus is the recipient of the 2005 Richard Rodgers Award for his musical Red, which premiered with the Pittsburgh Playhouse Conservatory Company. Marcus has also written the book and lyrics to Elliot and the Magic Bed and Eastburn Avenue, which will have its world premiere with the Pittsburgh Playhouse Rep. Company this spring. www.Marcus-Stevens.com.

Performances are November 8 – January 13; showtimes of Wednesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30PM; Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2PM.

Tickets are $50.50 and are available online at www.PittsburghCLO.org or by calling (412) 456-6666 or at the Box Office at Theater Square.  Groups of 10 or more can call the Group Sales Hotline at 412-325-1582 to learn more about special discounts and priority seating.

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