Jim Fippin (C.S. “Jack” Lewis) has appeared on stage at Ohio Shakespeare Festival, Weathervane, Coach House, Porthouse, Magical Theatre Company and The Players Guild. His resume includes roles in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hay Fever, The Importance of Being Earnest, Miss Holmes, Saint Joan, And Then There Were None, Hamlet, 1776, Shakespeare in Love, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, The Wild Goose, Kimberly Akimbo, The Mousetrap, Four Dogs and a Bone, Bus Stop, Uncle Vanya, August: Osage County, The Rainmaker, Custer, The Real Thing, The Odd Couple, The Lion in Winter, Jesus Christ Superstar, Noises Off, Twelfth Night, Another Antigone, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear. At Western Reserve, Jim has appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac, The Weir, Blithe Spirit, and Tartuffe and directed Baskerville. He holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Otterbein, where he met his wife, Elaine, and where their daughter Emelie graduated (magna cum laude) with the class of 2020.

Shani Ferry is a Northeast Ohio-based actor. She has appeared in numerous productions at local theaters, including the Player’s Guild, Seat of the Pants, Western Reserve Playhouse, Shakespeare at the Castle, and Actors’ Summit. Some of her favorite roles include Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man, Vivian Bearing in Wit, and Sally Talley in Talley’s Folly. When not on stage, Shani plays the roles of mother, wife, and early intervention speech-language pathologist. Shani is a member of The Greenhouse, a collaborative group of artists.

George Roth (“Warnie” Lewis) – is grateful to be making his debut at the Western Reserve Playhouse. Favorite experiences in George’s nearly forty-year professional acting career include being one of the hoodlums confronted by Michael Keaton in the first scene of Batman (1989), appearing in the Royal National Theatre’s production of Brighton Beach Memoirs in London’s West End, and playing Otto to his daughter Olivia’s Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank at the TrueNorth Theater in Sheffield, OH. George is a two-time Jeopardy champ and a thirty-eight year cancer survivor. Thank you to Keith, the cast, designers and crew for telling this beautiful story. Love to my wife and daughter, Elizabeth and Olivia, who are my everything.

Timothy Champion – Christopher Riley: A veteran of more than 200 Northeast Ohio stage productions, this is Tim’s first appearance on the WRP stage. He last played John Watson to Dennis Runkle’s Sherlock Holmes in the 2021 Chagrin Valley Little Theatre production of “Holmes & Watson”. Tim received a 2017 Audrey Award for his portrayal of Ben Hecht in CVLT’s “Moonlight & Magnolias”. A co-founder of The Ohio Shakespeare Festival, Tim portrayed Thomas McKean in their 2019 production of “1776”. Other notable area performances include Eddie Ross in “Conversations With My Father”, Baptista in “Taming of the Shrew”, Tito Merelli in “Lend Me A Tenor”, Frank Gianelli in “Over The River & Through The Woods”, Leonato in “Much Ado About Nothing”, Sterling in “Jeffrey”, Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons”, Henry IV in “Henry IV
Part One”, Sidney Black in “Light Up The Sky”, Richard Greatham in “Hay Fever”, George Bradman in “Blythe Spirit”, Anthony Kirby in “You Can’t Take It With You”, Man 2 in “Oh, Coward!”, and James Cagney, Harry Warner, and Groucho Marx in “Shakespeare in Hollywood”. By day, Tim practices Estate Planning, Property & Probate Law, and Eldercare Law in Akron.

Dennis is relieved to be back on stage at WRP after taking time off to have full knee replacements! He last appeared as Sir Danvers Carew in Jekyll & Hyde. Past shows on other NE Ohio stages include Something Rotten (Brother Jeremiah), To Kill a Mockingbird (Atticus), Sweeney Todd (Judge Turpin), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Big Daddy), and South Pacific (Emile). Dennis sends immense thanks to Keith for including him in this soulful story, and to Kathleen, for whom he appears in an open-ended run as loving husband and assistant pug wrangler. Enjoy the show!

Eric has played in memorable roles previously with the Rialto Theatre productions to include: The Odd Couple as Murray the Cop, Arsenic & Old Lace as Mortimer Brewster & The Sunshine Boys as The Announcer. He has been active in Wolf Creek Players for the past eight seasons with comedy and murder mysteries and has developed some successful characters. Eric lives in Norton and is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator & VP of Marketing for Certus Healthcare Management.

Emily is excited to return to the WRP stage for Shadowlands, after completing her role as Mayor Matilda in All Shook Up at French Creek Theater.  Other favorite roles include Jeannie in Hair!, Maria in The Sound of Music, Alice in Squabbles, Mayella Ewell in To Kill A Mockingbird, and most recently Effie Krayneck in The Spitfire Grill here at WRP.

Thank you to her friends and family for continuing to support her and cheer her on, to Paul for helping to raise 2 fabulous kids, and always to my Norman and my Maya.  Suns, Moons, and Stars.

Ben Arrington happily returns for his eighth performance on the WRP mainstage. Some previous WRP credits include ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’ (Man #2), ‘Dogfight’ (Fector), and ‘Assassins’ (Ensemble). Other favorite credits include ‘Spelling Bee’ (Leaf) at Avenue Arts, ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ (Johnny Cash) at Players Guild Theatre, ‘Once’ (Eamon) at KSU Stark, and ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (Jehan/Gargoyle) at Weathervane Playhouse. Ben’s favorite C.S. Lewis book is ‘The Great Divorce’.

Brady Katcher (Douglas) is excited to return to the Western Reserve Playhouse as part of this wonderful Shadowlands cast.  His recent performances at WRP included playing a citizen of the Jungle of Nool in Seussical and Lafayette in The Aristocats. His personal interests are centered around creativity and include: balloon modeling, designing inventions, making carnival games out of boxes, and all things Disney.