Meet the Cast of Mrs. Mannerly

Last week I introduced you to the cast of Emma.  Today, I'd like you to meet the small but enthusiastic cast of Mrs. Mannerly.

Director: Rob Urbinati:

Rob is a freelance director and playwright based in New York City,  Literary Manager of Private Theatre, and Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre, where he curates the Immigrant Voices Project.  In New York City, he has directed for The Public Theatre, Classic Stage Company, The Culture Project, Abingdon Theatre, New York Music Theatre Festival, New York University, York Theatre, Pearl Theatre and Cherry Lane Theatre, among others. He directed Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story at the Lied Center, and The 39 Steps for Nebraska Repertory Theatre.

His plays as a writer include Hazelwood Jr. High, West Moon Street and Death by Design, all published by Samuel French.  His play, Rebel Voices and his musical, Shangri La, will be published by Samuel French in 2013. His adaptation of Cole Porter’s Nymph Errant opened in New York City in July 2013, and his latest play, UMW, was commissioned by Linfield College in Oregon, where it opened in March 2013.

Rob is an alumnus of the Drama League, The Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Lab, and a member of the Dramatists Guild and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Mark McCarthy -- Jeffrey 

Mark McCarthy is proud to make his Nebraska Rep debut.  

Previous Roles: 

• Hampton Theatre Company: How the Other Half Loves
• Shadowland Theatre Company: Dangers, Of Electric Lighting, The Seafarer
• International Mystery Writers’ Festival: Sherlock Holmes: the Final Toast (Dr. Watson)
• Illinois Theatre Center: Moonlight and Magnolias 
• Mercury Theatre (Chicago): King O' the Moon 
• Denver Center Theatre Company: The Rivals 
• Portland Center Stage: The Rivals, Macbeth, As You Like It
• Notre Dame Shakespeare: Tamking of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing 
• Heart of America Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream 
• Kansas City Rep: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Tempest, The Deputy, Julius Caesar, The Imaginary Invalid.  

Mark has played hapless people in several cheesy TV movies and independent films. He voices over a

hundred characters in the audio book version of Alan Brennert’s new novel Palisades Park. He’s also a

stage combat choreographer and published playwright. He lives just outside New York City with his wife,

the brilliant and talented Hollis McCarthy. 

Juanita Pat Rice -- Mrs. Mannerly

Juanita Pat Rice began her theatre career right here at UNL then went on to San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, where in addition to acting she taught the performance of Shakespeare. She then earned a PhD from UC-Berkeley and became a Theatre Professor at CSU-Sacramento where she directed numerous distinguished productions of Shakespeare, Shaw, Moliere and contemporary American theatre. While there, she was head of the directing, acting and graduate programs and served as the first woman department chair.  After retiring, she returned to Nebraska, and has appeared in Lincoln with Angels Theatre Company, and as Queen Margaret in Flatwater Shakespeare's Richard III. 

She is a writer, pianist, master gardener, Tai Chi teacher, and a longtime social activist for environmental, peace and equality issues.  

Fifty years ago, in 1963, she debuted at UNL  in Eugene O'Neill's one-woman play Before Breakfast and won her first acting award, a "Dallas," as Widow Paroo in a production of Music Man directed by Dallas Williams, her first role on the Howell Memorial stage.  So this is the golden anniversary of her acting career, back where she first began. In her career she has worked with directors William Ball, Edward Hastings, Nagle Jackson and Alan Fletcher. She has performed as Lady MacBeth, Blanche DuBois, Jocasta (in Cocteau), Molly Brown (in The Unsinkable) among numerous other roles and has emcee'd The Vagina Monologues numerous times at benefits in California.