expect the unexpected

Adam Rosko here, director and Kirk of Trek in the Park. Over the last 3 years I’ve had the immense fortune of working with the most passionate, enthusiastic, and talented cast and crew in the NW. This is the type of ensemble that theatre practitioners fantasize about having. Since 2009, producer Amy Rosko and I have had the honor to meet and team up with truly remarkable and talented people to build an outstanding crew and a tight ensemble. This ensemble returns in year 4, Journey to Babel, with some actors in the same roles and others playing different parts. Let’s meet the crew.

The Enterprise Bridge:

Kirk- Adam Rosko

Spock- Jesse Graff

McCoy- Paul Pistey

Uhura- Dana Thompson

Chekov- Ryan Castro

Chapel- Tanya Smith

Scott-Nate Ayling

The crew has remained the same since Day 1. I’m thrilled we’ve been able to have consistency in the Enterprise Bridge. It’s wonderful to watch these actors make such iconic roles more and more their own every year. I’m especially excited to see Tanya Smith return as Nurse Chapel, the last time we’ve had Chapel in an episode was in our very first production, Amok Time!

Officers:

Joseph: Benja Barker

Hadley: Ben Coleman

Benja Barker joined us with 2010′s Space Seed where he played Khan’s henchman Joaquin, and in Mirror, Mirror he was the unfortunate Mr. Kyle. Here, as security officer Joseph he’ll be on the other end of the phaser, finally doing some good aboard the Enterprise. And click the link on his name to learn about his fabulous work as head of the Alter Ego’s society.

Freelance Mercury and Live Wire Radio writer, Ben Coleman, debuted in last year’s Mirror, Mirror as a snotty, Mirror Universe deck officer who probably holds the record for most times a redshirt has been knocked out, phasered, and/or vaporized in a single episode. This year, I’m handing him the keys to the ship and he’ll be a gold-shirted helmsman that doesn’t die.

Alien Ambassadors:

Thelev- Jamie Kirk

Shras- Kaebel Hashitani

Gav- Dan Clark

Tellarite- Royal Hebert

One the aspects of Journey to Babel that sealed my decision to make this our year 4, is that we will finally get to include some heavy duty alien characters. Full facepaint and prosthetic pieces, grand costumes, makeup special effects! Now, all that is well and good, but it’s nothing if the actor behind it isn’t giving their all to make an audience believe in that character and sell the makeup and effects so well that the character would shine through anyway if you took it all off.

When it comes to larger than life character work in Portland, look no further than the pirates of PDXYAR. A group of performers that prove that live theatre isn’t limited to just a stage, Portland’s pirate ensemble create clear and bold characters, often under heavy costume, and perform in public events with music, comedy and breathtaking stage combat. Jamie Kirk and Royal Hebert, our resident combat choreographers, return to the stage for the first time since their respective debuts in Space Seed. Jamie has the task of going mano y mano with Kirk and stirring up trouble as the Andorian, Thelev. Royal, previously seen as Khan’s henchman brute, Otto, is acting as aide to the Tellarite, Gav, played by Dan Clark making his Trek debut. Dan is a Captain as well, as the commanding officer of PDXYAR in the guise of Captain Redgoat. If you’ve ever been to a ‘yar event, then you’ve seen how these gentlemen command a room and earn an audience’s attention, I’m ridiculously excited to see the interaction between the Tellarites, Sarek and the rest of the ambassadors.

If you saw Mirror, Mirror, it’s hard to forget Kaebel Hashitani‘s portrayal of the slimy, wicked Mirror Universe Sulu. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see a kind version of his Mr. Sulu in Journey to Babel as the helmsman doesn’t make an appearance in this particular episode. However, I saw something in Kaebel’s evil Sulu performance, a tone and approach that made me think of him as a perfect fit for the mysterious Andorian. Shras.

Spock’s Parents:

Sarek: Paul Guinan

Amanda: Anina Bennett

Two new additions to our Trek in the Park family build a parental unit around around Mr. Spock. Jesse Graff always turns in a powerful performance as Spock, so it was a fun challenge to find a couple that could counter him, confront him, scold him, embarrass him, you know, those things parents do. The husband and wife team of Paul and Anina approached me very early on, not about playing Sarek and Amanda, but about Journey to Babel. I knew of the episode, but it was them to put in on my radar as a potential candidate for year 4. The two have been some of our biggest supporters and greatest champions of our cause. Their incredible creative work as authors and illustrators has always been inspiring and if you ever get the chance to hear them read from their books in character (Boilerplate and Frank Reade especially) DO IT. While reading Dorothy Fontana’s script to Journey, I couldn’t get the images or voices out of my head of Paul and Anina as Sarek and Amanda. So much so we made an appointment with them at their home to just read a little of the script to each other and see what happens. What happened was one of those occurrences where you just feel it. The emotion, the voices, the humor, it was all there, and I can’t wait to develop these characters and this at times very intimate story with them this summer.

Other extra Starfleet officers and Aliens will be added as we go on with hopefully other familiar faces from Trek in the Park’s past. I’m honored to announce this cast and thrilled about these characters. With our new location at Cathedral Park and with this fantastic story, we hope to make a bigger and better Trek in the Park than ever before!