Poppy Champlin And Doreen Collins To Host Late Night Cabaret At Theatre By The Sea

Theatre By The Sea owner and producer Bill Hanney is thrilled to welcome two of Rhode Island's comedy queens, Poppy Champlin and Doreen Collins, as the new hosts of the Late Night Cabaret, held at the theatre's on-site restaurant, Bistro By The Sea.

"This is the year for shaking things up at Theatre By The Sea," said Bill Hanney. "We opened the season with a World Premiere, which has been lovingly embraced by our audiences, and now we're welcoming not one, but two new cabaret hosts to the Late Night Cabaret! I believe this is yet another first at our 86 year old seaside theatre."

Poppy Champlin is a graduate from URI, with a degree in Theatre, who went on to the famed Chicago Second City Improv school. A powerful performer, who can glide between practiced patter and off the cuff insightful improvisations, Poppy's experience with classic standup and improv gives her a double-barreled flexibility that works particularly well with her subjects of choice. Her stand-up pedigree is flawless; from her Showtime special "Pride" and her Logo special "One Night Stand-Up" to Oprah Winfrey, and a featured story on "Entertainment Tonight," to being a winner on "The Joan Rivers Show" and guest panelist on "Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen." Poppy has opened for such comics as Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Bill Maher, Bill Hicks and Rosie O'Donnell. She was a staff writer for FOX's "Show Me The Funny" and wrote, starred in and produced her character driven comedy pilot called "News You Can't Use." Poppy can be seen performing her comedy in the HBO Documentary "All Aboard Rosie's Family Vacation" and traveling around the country producing her own show called "The Queer Queens of Qomedy," now in its fifth year.

Doreen Collins, a New York University theater major and 40-year SAG-AFTRA member, is the first female to have been inducted into the Rhode Island Comedy Hall of Fame. This title inspired her to produce female comedy shows to support and promote female comics. Her most recent production, The Ladies Room, included four comediennes, was sponsored by two female-owned businesses, and a female-based charity was the recipient of a portion of the ticket sales. Doreen produced, directed and hosted the award-winning late night comedy show, "Rhode Bytes" for WJAR NBC10, as well as co-producing and hosting, "The UnReal Deal," also for WJAR NBC10. Doreen is a cast member of the long-running political musical satire Charlie Hall's Ocean State Follies. You can also find her and Charlie in their latest endeavor, Aging Disgracefully, an amusing musical look at getting older. Doreen's proudest accomplishments are her children, Devlin and Sean. She's living happily ever after in RI with Frank and Al, (not as kinky as it sounds, Al's their dog), since the turn of the century.

Poppy Champlin and Doreen Collins will be hosting the popular Late Night Cabaret on alternating weekends at Bistro By The Sea following evening performances at Theatre By The Sea on select Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings beginning on June 28. Reservations are strongly recommended for the cabaret and for dinner, (Tuesday - Sunday evenings) and can be made by calling (401) 789-3030 after 3:00 pm.

Tickets are on sale at the box office Monday through Saturday from 11:00 am - 6:00 pm and performance days until curtain, online 24-hours-a-day at www.theatrebythesea.com and via telephone during normal box office hours by calling (866) 811-4111 or (401) 782-TKTS (8587).

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