Kevin Alvarnaz (Curtis 3)
is a school business manager from Mount Wolf. He was, in fact, adopted and says the best thing about being adopted “was that I found a family that loved and cared for me. There are too many children in the adoption system that are longing for loving and caring families.”
Matt Bahn (Eddie 2)
is a Direct Support Professional who enjoys theatre, film and singing. He lives in Red Lion; his favorite sports are baseball and hockey. “Theatre is a creative outlet that builds life skills and amazing friendships.”
Alex Bitzer (Curtis 2)
is a business analyst who lives in Hanover, MD and also happens to be president of TAFE’s board. He likes photography and cars. His favorite holiday tradition is watching the National Dog Show every year on Thanksgiving with the entire Bitzer family while enjoying appetizers and discussion.
Bella Bowser (Dory 1)
is a 7th grader at Central York Middle School who is performing in her first TAFE production. She likes to ice skate in Philadelphia at Christmas. Her family has adopted their second Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Lilly, who is now 3 years old.
Cherie Brothers (Dory 4)
is a retired teacher who lives in York and is an accomplished stained glass artist and teacher. Her favorite Christmas tradition is baking cookies to deliver to friends and neighbors in the spirit of the season.
Stephen Brown (Curtis 4)
is a retired Computer Systems Analyst who lives in Hanover. His wife Sandy and he adopted Heather, who has always been their child, not ”adopted”. His favorite Christmas activity is shopping! This is his 27th Christmas show with director Diane Crews.
Dianna Deardorff (Betty 1)
is in 4th grade at Sinking Springs Elementary School. Her favorite Christmas tradition is baking cookies, primarily because “she likes to eat them at the end.” Her pets include Ghost, a bunny, and Joey, a cat, both adopted.
Rachel Diamond (Dory 2)
is a barista/actor from Brooklyn, New York, who’s been part of 180 onstage performances. Her first show with TAFE was An Isolated Incident. Her favorite holiday custom is the glass pickle, a German tradition she describes as “fun and unusual.”
Jennifer DiMercurio (Addie 3)
is the homeschooling mom of this family. Her favorite holiday tradition is watching White Christmas, drinking lemon ginger ale and eating Old Bay popcorn “because Todd and I started it when we got married!” She also likes bowling, roller skating and, like Todd, fantasy football.
Liam DiMercurio (Curtis 1)
is a 6th grade homeschooler. His favorite sports are football, hockey, baseball and XBox. He loves all the holiday traditions because he loves sharing them with his family. A hamster named Elvis is his adopted pet.
Sofia DiMercurio (Stage Manager 1,2)
is an 8th grade homeschooler who has done several shows with TAFE in various roles on and off stage. She has a Russian dwarf hamster named Johnny (after Johnny Cash), making two hamsters named after music legends in one household.
Todd DiMercurio (Eddie 3)
is a welder who lives in Red Lion with three other members of our cast, with whom he enjoys cooking and being together, especially during the holidays! He’s an NFL football fan, likes fantasy football, and this is his third show with TAFE.
Jace Hamilton (Stage Manager 3, 4)
lives in York and likes to spend his time writing, doing Live Action Role Playing and community theatre. His favorite holiday tradition is baking sand tarts with his mom and grandma because “it brings three generations together.”
MaryAnn Hoke (Addie 4)
is a patient service representative at UPMC Leader Surgery Center. She’s done lots of theatre, mostly backstage, and recently appeared in her daughter Paige’s An Isolated Incident. Her favorite holiday tradition is family cookie day.
Paige Hoke (Betty 2)
is the theatre teacher and director at York Country Day School. She’s participated in theatre since childhood and wrote plays together with friends in elementary school. Now she’s a solo playwright whose most recent works were TAFE’s An Isolated Incident and After the End.
Priscilla Jarrell (Betty 3)
can typically be found choreographing when involved with a show, but this is her second play with TAFE, having recently played Gia Huxley in An Isolated Incident. She is thrilled to be acting once again with another talented cast. She thanks her fiancé and daughter for their constant support of her new found hobby.
Susan Kleit (Franny 4)
works in administration in Germantown, MD. This is her second show with TAFE, having played Merula in After the End. Her favorite holiday tradition is the Passover Seder which involves lots of storytelling and, she says, “gets kinda theatrical.”
Lenna Marlowe (Addie 1)
is 7.5 years old and homeschooled. She loves the outdoors and lists climbing, biking and zip lining as her favorite sports and ice skating around a Christmas tree as her favorite holiday tradition. She has two adopted cats, Finley and Curry.
Shauna Marlowe (Franny 2)
is a stay at home mom from Pittsburgh who likes nothing better than “comfy clothes, warm blankets and cuddling with my kids,” especially when you throw in freshly baked cookies, hot cocoa and Christmas movies.
Priscilla McFerren (Betty 4)
is the retired director of the public library in Hanover who now lives in State College. Her favorite Christmas tradition is opening one gift at a time because it makes the opening last a very long time!
Maia Miller (Franny 1)
is in 7th grade at Central York Middle School. This is her third show with TAFE. Her favorite holiday tradition is her family’s Christmas Eve feast because, “we all just sit down!”.
Ron Oelrich (Eddie 4)
is a pastor who lives in Manchester Township who lists hiking on the Appalachian Trail as his favorite hobby. He likes opening presents on Christmas because the family is enjoying special time together. When he was in 4th grade, he wrote a story about Batman with friends.
Stephanie Oelrich (Addie 2)
is the assistant director of a food pantry in York. Although this is her first show with TAFE, she did lots of shows with other groups in high school and college. Her favorite holiday tradition is eating tofurkey at Thanksgiving with her dad, who is also a proud vegetarian and also in this show.
Vicki Schneider (Dory 3)
a substitute assistant teacher for Head Start who lives in York, is very familiar to TAFE audiences. She likes crochet, hiking, dance, yoga, singing, and, of course, theatre. You last saw her in After the End as Eladine.
Laura Scott-Wise (Franny 3)
is a licensed massage therapist who lives in Lancaster and was last seen in TAFE’s production of An Isolated Incident. She’s a big fan of the Harry Potter series and she used to write stories herself with school friends. These stories “were often comedy or scary stories with a plot twist at the end.”
Colin Stein (Eddie 1)
a 6th grader at Holy Trinity Catholic School, is interested in football, swimming, reading and watching YouTube. This is his first show with TAFE. He has three dogs, Ollie, Elvin and Beau and considers his birthday his favorite family holiday!
Watch the Show starting December 18th!