Company

Ben Bryant (WORKER/GOON/BAVARIAN BEAST) This is Mr. Bryant's third show to work with the Bootstraps creative team, but the first as an actor. He has performed and crewed for numerous D/FW companies, including Dallas Children's Theater and Undermain Theatre, with which Ben toured to NYC for 2008's Ice Factory Festival in SoHo. He holds a B.S. Degree from Texas A&M- Commerce.

Marie Charlson (WAITRESS/FAIRY) has a BA in Theatre and Math from SFA and MA in Western theatre from UH Manoa. For Bootstraps: Costume Designer - Book of Liz, Assistant Director/Puppet Design - Sunny & Eddie..., Stage Manger - The Typist. In Hawaii, worked as assistant director, dramaturg, and costume designer for various University productions and in local Honolulu theatres.

Cassidy Crown (DANCING GIRL/FAIRY) is excited about her debut performance with THE BOXER. Recent roles include The Sound of Music, Footloose, and playing the role of Sally in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown with Plano Community Theatre’s Professional Touring Company. She designed puppets for Puppet Government which premiered at FringeNYC 2006, provided voice-overs RADIO GHOST in Austin. She holds a degree in Vocal Performance from Baylor University and thanks her friends for encouragement and her family for their support.

Steve Jones (THE BOSS/ANNOUNCER) Steve has performed at several Dallas area theaters including Dallas Children's Theater, Theatre Three, Pocket Sandwich Theatre, and Pegasus Theatre. Broadcast includes work for Bank of America, AT&T, Radio Shack, Texas Instruments, Texas Lottery, ESPN, and NAS Japan among many others. Since 2002, he has appeared in over a dozen episodes of Barney & Friends as Mr. Brantley the Ice Cream Man. Steve is represented by The Horne Agency of Dallas.

Kim Lyle (VELMA) is Co-Founder/Administrative Director of Bootstraps Comedy Theater where she has been actor, scenic designer, prop gal and stage manager. Favorite roles include Sylvia in THE TYPISTS, Woman in DWARF TOSSING, Sheila in TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING, Susy in WAIT UNTIL DARK, Tracy in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and Wife in THE LYLE MARRIAGE OF 2003.

Kineta Massey (WORKER/FAIRY/RING GIRL/GORILLA) made her Bootstraps debut with The Boxer. An actor and teacher at Dallas Children’s Theater, her selected credits include: Blue Dog in Go, Dog. Go!, Lilly in Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse and Louise in The Island of The Skog. She is the resident director & playwright for DCT’s Rosebud Players.

Joel McDonald (WORKER/TRAINER/GOON) is excited beyond words to rejoin the cast of "The Boxer" at the NYC Fringe Festival- it's the show that keeps on giving. Other shows around the D/FW area include "Hail Mary" at Circle Theatre, "Metamorphoses" at Theatre 3, "The Ladies of the Camellias" with Echo Theatre, and "I Hate Hamlet" at Labyrinth Theatre, to name a few. Joel is also a writer/director/voice actor with FUNimation Studios. Thanks to Bootstraps for such an incredible experience, and to Mom and Dad for their undying support.

Johnny Sequenzia (MUSICIAN) - for Bootstraps: The Narrator in Tab A, Slot B… and Three Kings for A Very FIT Christmas. Other recent credits include Carle in Scapino with Second Thought Theatre and James in James and the Giant Peach for Dallas Children’s Theater. He is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts.

Jeff Swearingen (THE BOXER) New York Fringe Appearances: 2005 – THE LAST CASTRATO, 2006 – PUPPET GOVERNMENT. Other credits: THE STINKY CHEESEMAN.. for Dallas Children's Theater's national tour. TRYSTS IN TOLEDO at Theatre 3 (Dallas,) Radio Ghosts in NYC, THE LAST CASTRATO in New Orleans Fringe 2008 and Phoenix Fringe 2009. Hamlet in HAMLET and R&G ARE DEAD (simultaneously) in Dallas, Blork in the world premiere of Matt Lyle's HELLO HUMAN FEMALE. He recently finished filming of the independent feature film A SAVIOR RED. Jeff has performed Improv comedy in Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, New York and Hong Kong. He is a resident actor at Audacity Theatre Lab and Plano Children's Theatre. Jeff received The Column Award and the DFW Critics Forum Award, both for best actor for THE BOXER. He is represented by The Mary Collins Agency.

Laurie Williamson (DANCING GIRL/FAIRY) is an actress and stand-up comic whose favorite roles include "My Angry Vagina" in The Vagina Monologues, Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, Lauren in Four Chairs, Jackie Belle in Pa's Lucky Hat and, of course, Dancing Girl/Fairy in the World Premiere and remount of THE BOXER.

B. Wolf (MUSIC DIRECTOR/KEYBOARD) a native of west Texas, has been active in the Dallas theater community for many years. She currently serves as composer/lyricist and musical director at Dallas Children’s Theater, and as resident playwright/composer for Kathy Burks Theatre of Puppetry Arts, where, since 1976, she has authored more than thirty puppet plays and musicals—original scripts and adaptations of classic tales—which have been performed in the Dallas metroplex area and toured extensively. Ms. Wolf is also a keyboard artist, and has provided live accompaniment for silent film retrospectives at the Dallas Museum of Art, as well as for productions at Dallas Children’s Theater. She has worked with numerous theaters throughout the DFW, and was most recently honored with the Dallas/Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum Award for her original musical score of THE BOXER.

Matt Lyle (PLAYWRIGHT/DIRECTOR) Originally from East Texas, Matt Lyle is a Summa Cum Laude graduate and winner of the Outstanding Theatre Graduate Award from Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre. In 2004, he co-founded Bootstraps Comedy Theater in Dallas, Texas for which he serves at Artistic Director. In 2007, The Dallas Observer named Bootstraps as Best Small Theater Company and Matt as Best New Playwright. He worked with several theaters in the DFW area as both actor and director prior to his relocation with his wife, Kim, to Chicago in 2008.
Matt is currently in the Writing Program at Second City. He recently completed two works commissioned by Audacity Theatre Lab and Pegasus Theater. In the Fall of 2009, Matt will direct ALMOST, MAINE for Chicago's Apple Tree Theater and return to Dallas as a Artist-In-Residence to direct THE BOXER at Collin Theatre Center.

Joyous Israel Keller (LIGHTS) has a BFA in Technical Theater from Stephen F. Austin. She has designed lights for THE BOXER (remount) and THE BOOK OF LIZ for Bootstraps; It’s a Scream!!!, Babes in Outer Space, The Premature Corpse, and Fu Manchu: The Melodrama for Pocket Sandwich Theatre and has worked with Dallas Children’s Theater and Dallas Theater Center, and has taught Lighting Design at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Karl Schaeffer (FILM) Karl is a founding staff member of Dallas Children’s Theater. He teaches MAKIN’ MOVIES, a class for young video and film-makers. He has competed in Dallas Video Festival’s 24-hour Video Race for the last six years and won 2nd place in the Guerilla Division in 2004.

Nancy Schaeffer (CHOREOGRAPHER/THE BOXER's MOTHER) previously worked with Bootstraps as the director of The Typists and choreographer for the world premiere and remount of THE BOXER. An accomplished Director and Choreographer, selected credits include: The Holiday Show for Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Junie B. Jones, The Secret Life of Girls, If You Give a Pig a Party and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for Dallas Children’s Theater.

Aaron Patrick Turner (COSTUMES) holds an MFA from the University of Oklahoma and a BFA from Northeastern State University. His award winning work has delighted critics and audiences from Santa Fe to Washington, D.C. Selected credits include: A Critical Case of Murder (Pegasus Theatre), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas), Every Trick in the Book (Classical Acting Company) and Sleeping Beauty and The Secret Life of Girls (Dallas Children’s Theater)

Kristin Van Sickle (STAGE MANAGER/ PROJECTIONIST) attends Richland College preparing to transfer to Texas State next year, technical credits include Directing, Stage Managing, Assistant Directing, Lighting Designer, Running Crew, Prop Crew, Costume Crew and of course plenty of Acting. I am excited to be returning to my Boxer family and the greatest place in the world, The Big Apple! A big thank you to Matt and Kim Lyle for all their support and know how. Always thanks and tons of love to my biggest fan, Hi Mom!

Camron Cooke (COMPANY MANAGER) is Associate Producer at Westbeth Entertainment where she has worked on Eddie Izzard' Stripped Tour and John Leguizamo's LIVE tour among others. She is delighted to have finally convinced the Lyles to make te plunge into the Fringe Festival. It is part of her grand plan to get them to move to NYC.

SYNOPSIS
The Boxer is a silent play complete with title and dialogue projections and live musical accompniament.

The scene is depression era America. Times are hard, work is scarce. Our hero Velma, a single gal, dresses like a man to hold down a job where she can make a living and keep her virtue. Her co-workers like to drink hard and get rowdy. She does not.Her good manners get her the boot and she finds herself down-trodden and broke.

She happens upon a scrawny man being pummelled by a bigger man. Velma falls in love at first sight with the little man, so she steps in and knocks the big man goofy. Big Mistake! The little man is the titular Boxer and the big man was his trainer. How is he going to win the big fight without a trainer? Velma, still posing as a man, convinces him that she’s just the wom…er…man for the job.

Their relationship grows while they train for the fight. They become fast friends, Velma all the while secretly in love. They train for the fight, dance wildly with a pair of bar flies, and duck goons bent on fixing the fight.

Finally, it’s the day of the big fight and though the Boxer has improved, upon seeing his monstrous competition, The Bavarian Beast, it’s clear that he doesn’t stand a chance. Just before the fight begins Velma accidentally knocks the Boxer cold. The bell rings and The Beast attacks. Of course, our nimble heroine finds a way to win.

The Boxer won’t wake up. She fears the worst.

She takes off her hat and mourns the Boxer.

He wakes up, sees her for who she truly is, and loves her.