The Company
What would Co-Op Theatre East be without a company of amazing artists work collaboratively? We'd have to change our name.
About the COTE Ensemble
The COTE Ensemble are the resident artists of Co-Op Theatre East. The company membership is by invitation only and exists to develop and expand both the performance technique and social consciousness of the individual artist, provide a supportive and safe atmosphere to create new work and present new theatre that challenges the stories being told in dominant culture. The COTE Ensemble members meet regularly for workshops, rehearsals and performances. Company members are also invited to request time during meetings to develop and experiment with personal pieces and rehearse/present new work in front of an audience.
Hannah Rose Barfoot is a native of Kansas City, MO, a graduate of the MFA Acting program at The University of Iowa, and a current struggling actor in NYC. She is a proud member of Co-Op Theatre East where she originated the role of Farrah White in Decadent Acts written/directed by Ashley Marinaccio and is currently working on the role of Cassandra in Casey Cleverly's adaptation of The Trojan Women. Other New York credits include the episodic theatre piece Blatant, the "mocumentary" film on the life of fictitious artist Marcus Garlard, and the original comedy piece Line One performing at The PIT. She is a strong supporter of new plays having originated roles in over 15 new productions and readings and is looking forward to adding to that collection with COTE!
Kerrie Bond is honored and excited to be a part of the COTE company. Native to the entire east coast (just about!), she found her way to New York City and graduated in 2009 from Pace University with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Though she has a long history working with Ashley Marinaccio, she first worked with COTE in 2009 in the one-act festival Questionable Content, performing the role of Elaine in the play Smooth Criminal. Favorite credits include a workshop of the new musical Crossing Brooklyn (Des), Medea (Medea), Falsettos (Dr. Charlotte), Luck! (Ensemble), Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens (Judith), Proof (Catherine), and Carousel (Ensemble). She is also a performer with the NYC based sketch comedy group Think Pound. www.kerriebond.com
Amy Chang is honored to be joining the talented and inspiring COTE team! She was made in Taiwan, but grew up mostly in Georgia. She graduated from Brown University with a major in Art Semiotics (really) and is now an actress based in New York City. Amy Chang played the role of Susan in the feature film Children of Invention, which screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and several other festivals. She also starred in the short film Red opposite Gbenga Akinnagbe of HBO’s hit TV series, The Wire. Amy Chang won Best Actress in a Comedy for her role as an 11-year-old in the one-act play The Party (which, incidentally, was directed by none other than COTE’s own Miss Ashley Marinaccio, and assistant directed by Mr. Robert Gonyo!) Other onstage credits include: Resignations (Joy), Yellow Lens (Nai Nai/ Madeline), Love, Life & Redemption (Amy). Please visit her website for future updates, www.amychang-nyc.com.
Theresa Christine is thrilled to be a part of the COTE Company! A South Carolina native, she graduated in Spring '09 from Pace University with her BFA in Acting. It was at Pace that she first worked with Ashley, including productions of Decadent Acts, Dead Man Walking, and Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens. In 2009, Theresa joined COTE to produce and perform the title role in My Name is Rachel Corrie at the Kraine Theater. Other favorite roles include Summer and Smoke, Proof, and Out in the Open: Stories of Queer Oppression and Empowerment. Theresa is also an alum of SpringboardNYC 2009 with the American Theatre Wing, and she attended the Summer Training Congress '09 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. www.theresachristine.com
Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler Co-op Theatre East: Documentary. Other NYC highlights: Shakespeare's 3 Marys (Dark Lady Players); Baba Yaga and the Pumpkin Fairy (One Time Productions); Switchblade (Milk Can Theatre Company); Cleopatra and The Writer (Afrikan Women's Repertory Theatre); Kafka Parables (Columbia MFA Director's Program); A Christmas Carol and Peter Pan (Once Upon a Time, Inc). Film: The Day He Finished the Book (NYFA).
Alex Herrald is a New York City based actor and very proud member of Co-Op Theatre East. His work with Co-Op Theatre East includes roles in the staged reading of Decadent Acts (Pace University) by Ashley Marinaccio, A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer (Gene Frankel Theatre), and the 2008 Questionable Content Festival (Gene Frankel Theatre). Other New York theatre credits include Ronnie in The House of Blue Leaves (The Gallery Players), Andrea in Galileo (The Milk Can Theatre Company at Urban Stages), Earl Lindquist in The Tender Trap (Retro Productions at the Spoon Theatre), George in The Meaning of Life... and Other Useless Pieces of Information (Rope Swing Entertainment at the 45th St. Theatre), Thomas Kid in The Reckoning of Kit and Little Boots (The Gallery Players and Engine 37 at the Gallery Players and Manhattan Theatre Source), and Hans/Brunette Waiter in Dinner With Ahmed (Blume Media Group at the American Theatre of Actors). Alex was also in the 2008 College Academy Award winning film for comedy, The Conservatory, directed by Reed Van Dyk. Alex is an alumnus of Cornell University.
Cannon Rose Kearns is a student at Columbia University and a graduate of Michael Howard Studios Acting Conservatory. Rose got her start with Co-Op Theatre East in the summer of 2009, when she was cast as Eve Shaw in the company's workshop of Decadent Acts by Ashley Marinaccio; she went on to play the same character in the April 2010 production of the play, and again in the Planet Connections Festivity that summer. Favorite past roles include Eve in Decadent Acts, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Rosemary in Picnic, and Ellida in Ibsen's Lady from the Sea. She lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Alionka Polanco is super excited to be a part of the COTE company! Raised in New Jersey, Alionka currently lives in New York City. She is entering her senior year at Pace University where she is a BFA Acting major and a Womens' and Gender Studies minor. Alionka was last seen in COTE's production of Decadent Acts as Yetta Sobol and various ensemble roles. NYC credits include Lady from the Sea (Hilde), All God's Saints Go To Heaven-Not! (Rhoda), Cafe Playa Moon (Olivia) and Undress Me (Hannah). Previous Pace University credits include: Summer and Smoke (Mrs. Bassett), Ragtime (Ensemble), and Out in the Open (Apaga El Fuego). www.alionkapolanco.com
Anna Savant originated the role of Dr. Jolene Shatila in COTE's production of Decadent Acts (April and June 2010) for which she received critical acclaim and was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Play at the 2010 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. Most of Anna's theater credits are with the Tokyo International Players where she played M'Lynn in Steel Magnolias, Mme de Volanges in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Fruma-Sarah in Fiddler On the Roof, Ruth in Blithe Spirit and Hannah in California Suite. In New York she has performed in Edward II, A Midsummer Night's Dream and several short play festivals. She studied classical theater at ACT in San Francisco and is a graduate of the New Actors Workshop in New York.
Lynn Spencer began her acting career in NYC at the age of 19, but after a promising start had to leave the business. She fully returned to the industry 4 years ago and dove back in with a passion, rebuilding her resume and her heart with many interesting characters. Lynn is proud to be part of the core ensemble in the upcoming HBO series Boardwalk Empire as one of Al Capone's prostitutes in The 4 Dueces nightclub brothel, and her role as Patrica in Una Calle Sin Salida can be seen in the upcoming Hamptons Black Film Festival. Her theatre credits include Candi in The Party as part of the Vignettes for the Apocalypse Festival, Janice Valeria in Documentary: A Suicide Narrative and Candi Swenson in A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and a Prayer as part of the VDAY Benefit. Another favorite role was in the Midtown International Theatre Festival as Darcy Applebaum in Dageurreotypes. Her TV credits include Principal, Day Player and Under 5 roles in One of a Kind: The Stu Unger Story, Important Things with Demetri Martin as well as The Guiding Light, and various appearences on Saturday Night Live and As The World Turns. "I am so proud to be a member of this company and have the opportunity to work with Ashley, Robby and Casey again, as I am so in love with what I do, and am only as good as my characters. The opportunity to bring new characters to life is a complete treasure." www.lynnspencernyc.com
