Meet The Cast

Want to know who's making you laugh so hard ?

Well, meet our cast !

Mark and Rita Wells
Producers
Mark and Rita Wells have "knocked around the entertainment business" for a combined 40 years. Between the two of them, they have performed from "Cruise Ships to Shakespeare - and everything in between." Mark and Rita proudly opened Laffing Matterz in August of 2005, on Andrews Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale. In October of 2009, they relocated and launched their partnership with the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, becoming the Center’s first theatre in residence. Mark trained...many moons ago...at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Rita graduated Magna Cum Laude from SUNY Fredonia with a BFA in Musical Theatre. They met in the late 1980s when they were both performing at the Crystal Palace in Aspen, Colorado. The Crystal Palace was the launching pad for Laffing Matterz. They are extremely thankful to work with their incredibly talented cast and crew. Spread the laughter!

Jamie Cooper
Production Goddess
Jamie has been actively working as a production manager in South Florida for over fifteen years. Originally from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, she came to Florida to attend the University of Miami where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Education. Jamie has stage managed and served as technical director for numerous musicals and revues for corporate events including Motorola, Hewlett Packard, The Florida Sterling Awards, and The Nevada Governor’s Council. Some of her musical theatre credits include La Cage Aux Folles, Zero Hour, The Life, Perfect Harmony, Jim Bailey as Barbra Streisand, The Kid From Brooklyn, and Groucho starring Gabe Kaplan. Jamie has also served as tour director / company manager for over 30 Florida touring productions. In addition to stage managing, Jamie has also worked extensively as a choreographer and lighting designer all over the world. Her International credits include production shows at The Theatre Variete, Palais Montcalm, and The Shawinigan Theatre in Canada, Minakami, Dogashima, and Inatori Resorts in Japan, and most recently The Atlantis Resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Kevin Black
Director/Choreographer
Kevin realized his love of dance early on; by age 12 he was devoting much of his free time to class and before long performing at theme parks near his home in South Carolina and touring as the male lead with Dance Caravan. Soon after he was performing on renowned cruise lines and dancing in musical reviews. He continued to master his craft in New York City, studying with many of the best choreographers including Michelle Asaff, Frank Hatchet and Thommie Walsh.

His first foray into choreography and production came while working as General Manager at Norwegian Cruise Lines under Jean Ann Ryan. To follow this path, Kevin relocated to South Florida where he began Kevin Black Productions, a global company providing entertainment to cruise lines, corporate events, resorts, musical theater productions and tours.

Kevin’s extensive cruise line work includes costume design, choreography, production and direction on Norwegian, Saga, Royal Caribbean and Asuka Cruise Lines.
He has produced shows for HP, Motorola, Muvico & Giorgio Armani; tours include original works – Cirque style shows, as well as musical theater productions including, La Cage Aux Folles, The Jazz Singer, Smokey Joe’s Café, Funny Girl, Victor/Victoria & Dreamgirls.

Kevin’s work can currently be seen on stage in the national tour of Food Fight: A Musical Comedy for Waist Watchers, the world premiere of Miami the Musical: Wish You Were Here and in On The Town at the Stage Door Theater in Fort Lauderdale, FL as well as at the Villa de Palmar Resorts in Cabo, Mexico.

Kevin appeared in the 2003 film Stuck on You with Meryl Streep, Cher and Greg Kinear and was nominated twice in 2004 for the prestigious Carbonell Award which honors the best theater of South Florida for his work on The Life in Choreography and Costume Design.

Phil Hinton
Production Musical Director
Phil was, for many years, a pianist, arranger and conductor for the BBC in London, UK. He has also arranged and conducted more than 250 albums for artists such as Anthony Newley, Shirley Bassey, Howard Keel, Vince Hill and Andrew Lloyd-Webber to name just a few. He was also Vince Hill's personal music director for nine years. Since permanently relocating to the USA in 1994, he has directed countless theatre shows all over the USA as well as having toured with Aretha Franklin and Jim Bailey. He has also given many classical and jazz piano recitals around the USA and on several cruise ships, including the world-famous QE2. Phil was also conductor of the Florida Pops Concert orchestra for three years. Apart from now being music director for the new Laffing Matterz he is also director of music for LMIC in Coral Springs.

Rusty Allison
Cast Member
Rusty Allison is thrilled to return to Laffing Matterz for a second season at the Broward Center with some of his dear friends. He also is thrilled to add a few new faces to the Six Degrees of Rusty Allison game. A graduate of AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy) in New York City, Rusty has worked all over South Florida since relocating here in 2000. He was most recently seen in 1776, at the Actor's Playhouse, and two seasons of summer Shakespeare at New Theatre in Coral Gables (The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest). Among his favorite roles are the title role in Sweeney Todd and Morris in No Way to Treat a Lady. Special thanks to Mark, Rita, Kevin, Jaime, and Phil for the chance to be your server, as well as his old friends at the Broward Center, where he has been seen in several runs of Tony & Tina's Wedding and Grandma Sylvia's Funeral (which he also co-directed). Rusty sends his love to Robin, Jake, and his brother Jay. And by the way, would you like to try Chef’s Balls?

Richard Cortez
Cast Member
Award winning and internationally recognized singer-songwriter and Wollenberg Records founder, Richard Cortez, is overjoyed and grateful to be a part of the Laffing Matterz cast. Richard, named Best of Gay South Florida's Male Entertainer of the Year '07, has appeared most recently at both South Carolina and Milwaukee Pride with legendary musicians and television personalities RuPaul, Kathy Griffin, Joan Rivers, Bruce Vilanch, Patti LaBelle and Melissa Ferrick. Having just released his 4th independent album, "Sleeping with Strangers," Richard is delighted to announce that his work can now be purchased world-wide through the itunes music store, amazon.com and cdbaby.com! In the way of theatre, Richard studied Musical Theatre at AMDA in New York City and has appeared most recently in shows such as BARE - a rock opera, Escorts the Docu-Musical,The Jungle Book and Let There Be Balloons. Richard would like to thank God, his Fans, Friends and Family and he would like to especially thank Mark & Rita Wells, Jamie Cooper, The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, his fellow Cast Members for making this incredible experience a
possibility!

Christina Groom
Cast Member
A not so long time ago, in a galaxy not quite so far, far away, a public school teacher named Christina Groom decided to take a chance on a dream in the middle of an economic crisis. Some people thought she was crazy when she traded in her textbooks and dry erase markers for character shoes and stage makeup, but she hasn't looked back. Since then, she has appeared on stage in such varied roles as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in Assassins, Flora Meszaros in Flora, the Red Menace, and even child murderess Tina Denmark in Ruthless. She has also enjoyed killing fire ants, flirting with married men, reading fortunes, and doing taxes on television. She is now delighted to be joining the cast of Laffing Matterz, and she would like to thank her family for all of their continued support, especially Tony, without whom she probably would have gone to the dark side.

Kaitlyn O'Neill
Cast Member
Is extremely pleased to be returning to Laffing Matterz, probably still not as pleased as her parents who are beyond thrilled that she is employed. In the past summer she has been seen in two World Premiere works—Brothers Beckett (The Alliance Theatre Lab), and Chitterling Heights (The Women’s Theatre Project)—as well as Broward Stage Door’s The Music Man. A magna cum laude graduate of The University of Miami with a Bachelors of Music in Musical Theatre (see Dad that degree was worth something!) she is grateful for the opportunity to work with the amazing cast, crew, and production team for another season. In her spare time, Kaitlyn pretends she is a Disney Princess, watches cult classics, and makes obscure geeky references with cast member Chris Groom. Thank you to her friends, family, and significant others for all of their love, support, and indulgence.

Courtney Poston
Cast Member
Though this will be Courtney Poston’s first time performing with Laffing Matterz, she is no stranger to the stage. Courtney began voice lessons at the age of 10, and her passion for the art of singing carried over into college. She graduated cum laude from Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Musical Theatre. Her favorite theatre credits in school and out include:“Sally Brown” (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown), “Jeanie” (Hair),“Luisa” (The Fantasticks), and “Milky White” the cow (Into the Woods).A fun fact about Courtney is that she is a third generation Floridianand if that wasn’t impressive enough, she has lived here her whole life! Courtney worked primarily in the food/beverage industry while in school and post-graduation has dabbled in TV production and was most recently a tour guide on the Diva Duck in West Palm Beach. Performing is her passion, and she welcomes any opportunity to use the gifts God has given her to impact others including singing for charity events and on her church’s praise team. She would like to thank Mark, Rita, Jamie, Kevin, and Phil for finding her amusing enough to ask her to join such an all-star cast. As always, she is so grateful for the opportunity to “make someone happy.”

Cannon Starnes
Cast Member
Broadway National Tour "THE FULL MONTY" (Buddy Keno Walsh), Off-Broadway "NAKED BOYS SINGING (The Naked Maid), Regional Theatre Favorites: "CABARET" (Emcee), "JOSEPH/AMAZING TECHNOCOLOR DREAMCOAT" (Joseph), "LA CAGE AUX FOLLES" (Nicky), "FOOTLOOSE" (Lyle), "THE SECRET GARDEN" (Fakir), "ANNIE GET YOUR GUN" (Tommy Keeler), "CRAZY FOR YOU" (Wyatt), and some I have purposely forgotten. Happy to be back in Florida for the winter enjoying the sun and fun with family and friends. LIVE, LAUGH, AND LOVE - you only get one chance!

Trent Stephens
Cast Member
Trent Stephens is tickled pink to be joining the Laffing Matterz cast! A recent graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic University, Trent has a BA in Theatre Arts and has had the pleasure of performing with the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, and The Kravis Center. A few of his recent theatre credits include: Trinculo in The Tempest, Man in the Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone, Margaret Mead in Hair, King Berenger in Exit the King, and Luther Billis in South Pacific. Trent is originally from Lexington Kentucky and blames his insanity on his incredible mother and thanks God for such an amazing life.

Angela Thomas
Cast Member
Angela was discovered at the age of 4 singing and dancing on tables for money at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Decatur Illinois. Immediately after, her mother used her earnings to enroll her in Tap lessons. Angela continued to perform and received her BA in theatre from Eastern Illinois University. It was her MFA in Acting and Directing from Florida Atlantic University that brought her to Florida. Angela was the Artistic Director of the Florida Playwright’s Theatre in Hollywood from 1993-2000. She was named Best Actress in a Comedy by the New Times “Best of” issue for her portrayal of Doris in The Loman Family Picnic and received a Supporting Actress Carbonell nomination for the role of Holly in Uncommon Women and Others. Angela teaches theatre as an adjunct professor at Broward College and is a theatre teacher in the Broward County schools. She received a Broward County Teacher of the Year nomination in 2008. Angela is so thrilled to be a part of Laffing Matterz and would like to thank Mark, and Rita for the incredible opportunity, the amazing Phil Hinton for getting her back into the biz, and her 6 year old daughter Frances aka “Frances Harvard” for the insight, direction, and constant motivation

Mike Westrich
Cast Member
Mike is thrilled to be joining the cast of Lafﬁng Matterz! Hailing from New Jersey, and proud to admit it, Mike is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan. He has performed at numerous venues such as Florida Stage, The Duplex Theatre in Manhattan, Two River Theater in New Jersey, and others. In addition to theatre, Westrich is also a published author of the short one act play “Unhappily Never Before”, as well as recently transitioning into ﬁlm including Fragments and the Manhattan-based ﬁlm, Downtown Express.

Favorite past roles include Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple, Albert in Bye Bye Birdie, and The Tinman in The Wizard of Oz. Mike would like to thank the wonderful production team of Mark, Rita, Jamie, Kevin, and Phil for giving him this wonderful opportunity, Ms. Hilfman, Mrs. D., Thomas Brucker, Jay Dias, and Jeffrey Dunn for being the teachers that inspired him to come this far in his journey, Josh and Melissa for always having the utmost faith, his grandparents who have been two of his biggest fans, and most importantly his Mom, whose endless support, and driving to childhood rehearsals and dance classes got him here today. YKMN

Olivia Williamson
Cast Member
Back in South Florida for the first time since high school, Olivia Williamson is very excited to join the cast of Laffing Matterz. After finishing an entire season as an acting intern at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, she is thrilled to be wearing shorts and skirts once again, but not so thrilled about the shaving all the time part. Olivia graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX with a B.F.A. and a new found love of cowboys. Yeehaw! Some of her favorite acting credits include Sorel Bliss in "Hay Fever", the Official in "The Possibilities", Mrs. Cheveley in "An Ideal Husband", and Belisa in "La Discreta Enamorada". In her spare time Olivia does not enjoy going to the gym, cleaning her room, or watching the sun rise. She would like to thank her family and friends for their constant encouragement and love and all of you for coming out to support live theater.