Pioneer Theatre Company Presents MAMMA MIA!

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the musical hit Mamma Mia! to close its 2017-2018 season, running Friday, May 11 through Saturday, May 26, 2018. The New York Times said Mamma Mia! "creates the beguiling illusion that you could jump onstage and start singing and fit right in."

The greatest pop hits from the group who came to define the disco era are part of this cheerful musical about a young woman trying to find out who her real father is on the eve of her wedding on a beautiful Greek island.

Equity actor Coleen Sexton plays Donna Sheridan, with Amy Bodnar and Mary Fanning Driggs playing her best friends, Tanya and Rosie.

Equity Actors Paul Castree, Dan Sharkey and Brian Sutherland play Harry Bright, Bill Austin and Sam Carmichael, the possible fathers of Donna's daughter, Sophie.

Kathryn Brunner plays Sophie Sheridan, and her fiancé Sky is played by Aidan Wharton.

The remaining Equity cast includes Matt Bauman, Jordan Beall, Lenny Daniel, Jess Fry, David Guy Holmes, ELYSE NIEDEREE and JP Qualters. The ensemble is completed by Ashley Gardner CARLSON, SKY KAWAI, JESSE KLICK, JAMIE LANDRUM, MANDY McDONELL, John Peterson, MIKKI REEVE, FALLON SCHWURACK, MEGAN SHENEFELT, MYLES WOOLSTENHULME and AMANDA WRIGHT.

Coleen Sexton plays Donna Sheridan, returning to PTC, and to ABBA, after appearing as Florence in last season's Concert Production of Chess. She made her Broadway debut at 19 when she played Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde, which was filmed opposite David Hasselhoff. Other credits include National Tours of Wicked (Elphaba) and Legally Blonde (Brooke Wyndham), and she most recently appeared in End of the Rainbow at Music Theatre of Connecticut.

Amy Bodnar plays Tanya in her third PTC role, having appeared in Outside Mullingar and The Odd Couple. She returns to Utah from Indianapolis, where she played Donna in Mamma Mia!. She has starred in musicals and plays on and off-Broadway, on National Tours and in regional theatres across the country.

Mary Fanning Driggs plays Rosie. She has appeared in over 20 PTC productions, including The Last Ship, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, White Christmas, 42nd Street, The Producers, Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Smokey Joe's Cafe. She also runs a private vocal studio and teaches workshops specializing in pop-belt techniques.

Sophie Sheridan, Donna's daughter and the bride-to-be in search of her father, is played by Kathryn Brunner. Brunner makes her PTC debut and has previously played Laurey in Oklahoma! and Sophie in Mamma Mia! at Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre and Mary Phagan in Parade at Arden Theatre Company.

Paul Castree plays Harry Bright and returns to PTC, where he last appeared in The Last Ship and Something's Afoot. He has been seen on Broadway in Disaster!, 9 to 5, Young Frankenstein, High Fidelity, All Shook Up, Saturday Night Fever, Footloose, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease. He has also worked with the New York City Opera and Goodspeed Opera House, in addition to other New York and regional theatres.

Dan Sharkey, who was last seen in The Last Ship, returns to play Bill Austin. His Broadway credits include Amazing Grace, The Bridges of Madison County, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Music Man and Show Boat. His favorite regional credits are Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Sweeney Todd) at The Guthrie, Side by Side, directed by J.K. Simmons, and Man of La Mancha.

Brian Sutherland plays Sam Carmichael. His New York credits include Broadway's The Sound of Music, 1776, Victor/Victoria, Cats, Steel Pier, A Change in the Heir, Dance a Little Closer, A Second Chance at Public Theater and 110 in the Shade with the NYC Opera. He has also worked regionally across the states and was seen at PTC in Peter and the Starcatcher.

Other featured characters are played by Matt Bauman (Pepper), David Guy Holmes (Father Alexandrios), JESSE KLICK (Eddie), ELYSE NIEDEREE (Lisa) and MIKKI REEVE (Ali).

Guest Director Patricia Wilcox returns to PTC after choreographing Peter and the Starcatcher. Her Broadway choreographic credits include Motown the Musical and A Night with Janis Joplin. Her other credits include Little Shop of Horrors with Encores!, Bye Bye Birdie at Goodspeed Opera House and Guys and Dolls with Paper Mill Playhouse.

As a director, she has worked with The Kennedy Center, Lyrics & Lyricists, WBT and numerous symphonies. She has also created numbers for ice skating gold medalists and ice dancing teams for the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
Helen Gregory, musical director, returns to PTC for her tenth production. Previously at PTC, she has been involved with this season's Concert Production of In the Heights, Rent, 2012's In the Heights, Something's Afoot, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Rocky Horror Show (2014 and 2015), Fiddler on the Roof and The Last Ship. Off-Broadway, she has worked with Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater and NY Theatre Workshop. Regional theatres include Asolo Repertory Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse and others.

James Kronzer is the production's scenic designer. Previously, he has designed for Sweeney Todd with Denver Center Performing Arts, All the Way at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, A Prayer for Owen Meany at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and for Disney Cruise Lines' Twice Charmed. He has shows running on ten ships on the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet and has worked extensively in television.
Costume designer BRENDA VAN DER WIEL designs for the production.

A member of the design faculty at the University of Utah and head of the Performing Arts Design Program, she has designed numerous shows for PTC, including the recent Concert Production of In the Heights and last season's Fences and Chess. Some of her favorite PTC projects are Outside Mullingar, Alabama Story, Rent, Emma and A Christmas Story. In addition to her work here and at the university, she has designed for the Alabama and Utah Shakespeare Festivals.

Lighting design is by Paul Miller, who previously designed PTC's In the Heights, Much Ado About Nothing, A Few Good Men, I Hate Hamlet and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. On Broadway, he has designed Amazing Grace, The Illusionists, Legally Blonde, Freshly Squeezed and Laughing Room Only.

Lenny Daniel returns as associate director/choreographer after In the Heights, the Concert Production, Newsies and numerous other PTC productions. His credits include choreographing for Utah Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre Center and Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and he has also appeared as an actor on Broadway in productions such as Cats and The Wizard of Oz.

Sound design is by PTC resident designer KATE WECKER. Hair and makeup design is by PTC resident designer AMANDA FRENCH.

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