www.theatregroupsbcc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe author: A playwright and theatre director, Alan Ayckbourn has written numerous plays \u2013 his 92nd,\u00a0The Trial of Romeo Oscar\u00a0\u2013 will premiere in 2026 at his home venue, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.<\/p>\n
His plays have been regularly revived around the world over the past six decades and won numerous awards. Major success include\u00a0Relatively Speaking,\u00a0How the Other Half Loves,\u00a0The Norman Conquests,\u00a0Season\u2019s Greetings,\u00a0Absurd Person Singular,\u00a0Way Upstream,\u00a0A Chorus of Disapproval,\u00a0House & Garden\u00a0and\u00a0Woman in Mind; the latter
As a director, he had directed almost 400 professional productions including the vast majority of world and West End premieres of his work. He has notably directed for the National Theatre \u2013 where he was also resident for several years \u2013 and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has been associated with the Stephen Joseph Theatre since 1957 where, under the guidance of Stephen Joseph, he made his writing and directing debuts. In 1972, he was appointed the company\u2019s Artistic Director and held the role for 37 years. In 2018 he was appointed Director Emeritus of the company. His work has been frequently adapted for film, television and radio \u2013 most notably by the late French cinema auteur, Alain Resnais.<\/p>\n
More than 75 of his plays have been published and are currently in print alongside his best-selling guide to writing and directing,\u00a0The Crafty Art of Playmaking, first published in 2002. His first novel,\u00a0The Divide, was published in 2019.<\/p>\n
The recipient of more than 40 awards recognizing his plays and career, he was the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and has notably been inducted into the American Theatre\u2019s Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Critics\u2019 Circle Award for Services to the Arts. He was knighted in 1997 for \u2018services to the theatre\u2019.<\/p>\n
The Cast<\/h2>\n Directed by Katie Laris, A Small Family Business will feature Adrian Arias, Anikka Abbott, Paul Canter, Tyler Gilbert, Felicia Hall, Kyra Maal-King, Lynn Robinson, Justin Stark, Jenna Scanlon, Nicholis Sheley, Raymond Wallenthin, Isabel Watson and Nick Woolf.<\/p>\n
Anikka Abbott (Poppy) is a local TV personality and performer with a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. She has appeared with the Theatre Group at SBCC as Jane Fairfax (Emma) and Sarah Brown (Guys and Dolls). Her opera credits include Papagena and Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Morgana (Alcina), Tytania (A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream), and Mary in the world premiere of Kyr\u2019s\u00a0Christmas Oratorio. Musical theatre roles include Sandy (Grease), Lilli Vanessi\/Kate (Kiss Me, Kate), and Cinderella (Into the Woods). She has also been a featured soloist with the Santa Barbara Symphony and Prime Time Band.<\/p>\n
Adrian Arias (Roy Ruston) is an acting student in the SBCC Theatre Department and has been in a plethora of productions here, most recently Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood and Young Frankenstein. He plans to transfer to a four-year university\u00a0after this semester and hopefully continue to pursue acting long term!<\/p>\n
Paul Canter (Jack McCracken) originated the role of Charlie in the premiere of George and Emily Get Married (Theatre Group at SBCC). He also originated the dual roles of Jules Manford\/Mrs. Cratchit in the premiere of Everybody\u2019s Favorite Mothers (UCSB Launch Pad). Other productions: Lobby Hero (Ensemble Theatre; Independent Award), The Father (Producing Unit), Beau Jest (Actor Circle), Dinner With Friends (Alcazar Theatre), and Sod Wars (NYC). Paul has directed for Ensemble Theatre\u2019s Young Playwrights Festival, and SMHS One-Act Festival, including his own short play, Before We Begin. He studied acting at CalArts, and Meisner technique with John Parkinson. He plays music with his old timey band The Rusty Mucket Boys and is a resident artist with Actor Circle.<\/p>\n
Kyra El\u00e1n (Samantha) is an actor and singer with an extensive musical and physical range, currently in her final year at SBCC. She is completing an associate degree in Music and Theatre before transferring to pursue her bachelor\u2019s. Recent highlights include Eurydice in\u00a0Hadestown\u00a0(Living Theatre Company) and performing with Opera Santa Barbara in\u00a0The Marriage of Figaro\u00a0(Flower Girl) and\u00a0Tosca\u00a0(Soloist). She works across genres and is drawn to characters who reveal more than they intend\u2014much like Samantha.<\/p>\n
Felicia Hall (Anita) is happy to be back on the Garvin stage, after playing Paulette in Legally Blonde. Other Garvin credits: Guys and Dolls (Adelaide), A Comedy of Tenors (Maria), and Communicating Doors (Poopay). Felicia has trained professionally with Louis Colaianni, Anne Bogart, and others. She has worked alongside multiple Tony Award winners, including Audra McDonald and Dick Van Dyke. Felicia runs Hall Studio, where she teaches performers of all ages. She is also the Artistic Director of the local theatre group: Actor Circle.<\/p>\n
Tyler Gilbert (Rivetti Brothers) is best known for recently playing Dracula in\u00a0Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors\u00a0at Ojai Art Center. His past notable The Theatre Group at SBCC roles include Rodya Raskolnikov in\u00a0Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, the Sheriff of Nottingham in\u00a0Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood\u00a0and Nicely Nicely in\u00a0Guys and Dolls. Tyler is proud to honor the memory of his great grandmother with his Italian language skills as the Rivetti Brothers in\u00a0A Small Family Business. Ti voglio bene, bisnonna!<\/p>\n
Jenna Scanlon (Harriet) is so grateful to be part of this project, with its brilliant cast, crew and creative team. She has trained at SBCC, Utah Shakespeare Festival & ACT.\u00a0 In addition to shows here at SBCC, Jenna has performed with UCSB\u2019s Launch Pad, On the Verge Theater Festival, Out of the Box, California Shakespeare Co., Thousand Oaks Rep., Elements Theatre Collective, & theatres throughout the central Coast.<\/p>\n
Nicholis Sheley (Clifford) is a proud SBCC graduate who has been performing with The Theatre Group for the past 6 years. Favorite roles include Dave Riley in\u00a0The Outsider, Dennis\/Perkins in\u00a0The Play That Goes Wrong, Nick Bottom in\u00a0Something Rotten! \u2014which earned him the 2022 Broadway World Santa Barbara Award for Best Performer in a Musical\u2014and Jonathan Harker in\u00a0Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors\u00a0at the Ojai Art Center. Originally from Santa Maria, Nicholis trained in the two-year acting program at The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, with additional credits including Donalbain in\u00a0Macbeth\u00a0and Edmund in\u00a0The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<\/p>\nJustin Stark\u00a0(Benedict)\u00a0has been involved in theatre since the age of 14 and studied at The University of Colorado as well as Santa Barbara City College and more recently with The Peter Frisch Studio.\u00a0 In the past few years, he could be seen at The Theatre Group at SBCC as Ned Newley in\u00a0The Outsider,\u00a0Alan Dangle\u00a0in One Man, Two Guvnors,\u00a0Trip in\u00a0Other Desert Cities\u00a0and as multiple characters in Ripcord. You may have also seen him as one of the Venticelli in\u00a0Amadeus\u00a0at Ensemble Theatre Company.\u00a0 He has worked with Elements Theatre Collective as Doug in\u00a0Gruesome Playground Injuries\u00a0and with On The Verge Theatre festival in many roles.\u00a0 In addition, he played the dramatic role C.S. Lewis in\u00a0Freud\u2019s Last Session, the impeccable David Frost in\u00a0Frost\/Nixon\u00a0at the Center Stage Theatre.\u00a0 He has an extensive history of performing with The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College as Dwight in\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Cell Phone, Little Charles in\u00a0August\u00a0Osage County\u00a0and Froggie in\u00a0The Foreigner\u00a0to name a few.<\/p>\n
Lynn Robinson (Yvonne Doggett) is thrilled to be part of another Theatre Group at SBCC cast and work alongside a highly regarded cast and crew.\u00a0Lynn\u2019s Theatre Group at SBCC credits include Harvey, Sense and Sensibility, as well as The Theatre Departments Mere Mortals (One Act Festival).\u00a0 Other recent credits include Edward Albee\u2019s Three Tall Women, Burton Bumgartner\u2019s Nobody Like Jimmy as well as several turns in the director\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n
Raymond Wallenthin (Desmond Ayres) was last seen as Steve Healy in Jagged Little Pill with Out of Box Theater Company. SBCCTG appearances: Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, Murder on the Orient Express, Communicating Doors, Light up the Sky, Noises Off, Bus Stop, Rumors and Born Yesterday. The Alcazar Theater: Now and Then and No Body Like Jimmy. Circle Bar-B: Boeing Boeing, Regrets Only, The Butler Did it Singing and title role in Bullshot Crummond. Center Stage Bill W. and Dr. Bob. New York appearances: Murder in the Cathedral, Landscape of the Body, Sand Mountain, Othello and the NY Premier of Life Happens. Raymond studied with Terry Schrieber in NYC and graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.<\/p>\n
Isabel Watson (Tina) is in her fourth production with The Theatre Group at SBCC. Past productions have been Vivienne Kensington in Legally Blonde, ensemble in Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Louka in Arms and the Man. In London, she was a part of South London Youth Theatre for seven years where she was in multiple productions including The Crucible, Edward Scissorhands and The Little Mermaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nick Woolf (Ken) was last seen in\u00a0A Dark and Stormy Night, a dinner theatre murder mystery at Opal Restaurant. Nick has performed in\u00a0Speaking of Stories\u00a0at Center Stage, in\u00a0The 39 Steps\u00a0for Ontare Readers Theatre, and in\u00a0Devising America\u00a0for SBCC School of Extended Learning. Before moving to Santa Barbara, Nick was a founding member of the acting ensemble\u00a0Odyssey Stage\u00a0in Fairfield, Iowa.<\/p>\n
Production Staff<\/h2>\n Katie Laris\u00a0(Director)\u00a0is Co-Chair, stage director and an associate professor of acting for The Theatre Arts Department at SBCC. Recent productions include\u00a0Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Legally Blonde, The Outsider, Emma, Guys & Dolls, Comedy of Tenors, Something Rotten!, Murder on the Orient Express, Ripcord, Here We Go Again, The Thin Man, Looking Back, Looking Forward,\u00a0The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,\u00a0Sense and Sensibility,\u00a0Significant\u00a0Other,\u00a0The Game\u2019s Afoot,\u00a0Grease, Communicating Doors, It\u2019s a Wonderful Life, Rabbit Hole, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,\u00a0and\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Cell Phone.\u00a0Katie received her B.A. in Theatre\/Literature from Reed College and her M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from Columbia University.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patricia L. Frank (Scenic Designer)\u00a0serves as the Co-Chair and Director of Design and Technology for the Theatre Arts Department. She is also the resident scenic and lighting designer for The Theatre Group at SBCC. Over her tenure, Pat has designed numerous productions at SBCC and is thrilled to return for this spring\u2019s production of\u00a0A Small Family Business. This production marks Pat\u2019s final design for the Theatre Group. After 41 years she has come to the end of her tenure at SBCC. Pat is retiring at the\u00a0at the end of the school year.\u00a0In preparation for her retirement, she is excited to embark on a new venture, launching PLF Studios in partnership with Pat Costello.\u00a0Through this new business, she will utilize her extensive design skills to assist anyone in need of design support for their home.<\/p>\n
Jackie H. Tonkin (Costume Designer)\u00a0has over 15 years of experience in costume design and technology. She launched her career with Universal Studios Singapore and later joined DreamWorks\u2019\u00a0How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular\u00a0world tour. After earning her MFA in Costume Technology at the University of Texas at Austin, Jackie worked with the Old Globe Theatre, Ireland\u2019s Macnas, and Western Costume Company in Los Angeles. Now based on California\u2019s Central Coast, her costume design highlights include\u00a0Cabaret\u00a0and\u00a0Elf the Musical\u00a0at PCPA and\u00a0Xanadu\u00a0at SLO Rep. Jackie is delighted to be working with The Theatre Group at SBCC!<\/p>\n
Barbara Hirsch (Sound Designer)\u00a0owns Opus 1 mobile recording, recording much of Santa Barbara\u2019s rich musical scene.\u00a0\u00a0Working\u00a0in theatre has included writing music for theatre,\u00a0playing\u00a0in the pit, running sound for shows. She won a Dramalogue Sound Design award for SBCLO\u2019s\u00a0Singin\u2019 in the Rain, a show whose rain on stage helped to end a years\u2019 long drought. In more recent years,\u00a0Ensemble Theatre Company\u2019s productions of\u00a0Amadeus\u00a0and\u00a0Christmas at Pemberley and The\u00a0Wickhams\u00a0featured her\u00a0sound design, and she has been fortunate to work with\u00a0Katie Laris on the college\u2019s excellent productions, including\u00a0The Outsider, Emma, Ripcord, Sense and Sensibility, A Comedy of Tenors\u00a0and many more.\u00a0\u00a0In another realm she owns the wonderful Santa Barbara Yoga Center.<\/p>\n
Tiffany Underwood\u00a0(Production Stage Manager)\u00a0is a student at SBCC. This is her\u00a0second production as\u00a0stage\u00a0manager with\u00a0The Theatre Group at SBCC.\u00a0She has worked as\u00a0assistant stage manager and several other technical positions in previous productions such as,\u00a0Little Women,\u00a0The Wizard of OZ,\u00a0Mean Girls\u00a0and Stage Managed for\u00a0the Theatre Arts Department\u2019s\u00a0Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.noozhawk.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Theatre Group at SBCC continues its 80th season with the hilarious comedy, \u201cA Small Family Business\u201d by Alan Ayckbourn, March 4-21 in the Garvin Theatre on SBCC\u2019s West Campus. England\u2019s master of farce and social satire is in top form in this comic morality play. Jack McCracken has the opportunity of a lifetime: he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2314787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22442],"class_list":["post-2314786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-arts-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SBCC-Theatre-Group-Performs-A-Small-Family-Business-Arts.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2314786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2314788,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314786\/revisions\/2314788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2314786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2314786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2314786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}