About Us
Resident Actors
Barter Theatre's Resident Acting Company
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Mary Lucy Bivins* is a native of Spartanburg, SC. As a child, she studied dance for many years and attended every stage production that came to Spartanburg from New York. She wasn’t aware of this early influence on her career choice until much later, but she is very grateful to her parents and other relatives for providing her with early and constant exposure to the arts. She began acting at Spartanburg High School, where she became a member of the National Thespian Society. She continued her love of acting throughout undergraduate school at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC, even though she holds a BA degree in history. She never dreamed how much that degree would contribute to her stage work! For two summers during undergraduate years, she apprenticed and interned at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Fla. It was this experience that cinched her love of and preference for regional and repertory theatre. After her sons, Matthew and Evan, were born, she earned a graduate degree in theatre from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, where she stayed on to direct and teach acting for nearly a decade. Her sons were also students in her after-school acting classes at the Winston-Salem Little Theatre for several years. This led to the three of them performing with the NC Shakespeare Festival for two seasons, where Mary Lucy earned membership in Actor’s Equity Association, the union for professional actors. At this time she was also directing two productions a year at her alma mater, Salem. She spent over a decade performing with Charlotte Repertory Theatre and the Blowing Rock Stage Company. Other regional stage credits include many theatres from New Hampshire to Florida. She became a member of the Screen Actors Guild following her appearance in the feature film, The Road to Wellville. She has had the pleasure of being on screen with some of her favorite actors, including Kathryn Hepburn, Sir Anthony Hopkins, James Earl Jones, Henry Winkler, and Naomi Watts. Mary Lucy is very grateful to Barter for fulfilling her love of regional and repertory theatre year-round. She is grateful to Matthew and Evan for being such an important part of this journey. |
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Ashley Campos* is thrilled to be in Barter’s Resident Company in 2011 with her husband, Sean. She was honored to spend fall 2009 traveling the country with Barter Theatre’s production Of Mice and Men (Curley’s Wife). Some of her favorite Barter roles include Ruby Mae Green in Pow’r in the Blood, Babette in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2008 and 2011), Una in Blackbird and The Mute in The Fantasticks. |
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Sean Campos* is happy to be back home after Barter Theatre’s 2009 national tour of Of Mice and Men (Whit). A native of Florida, Sean has been seen performing for professional companies throughout the Southeast. Barter audiences may remember him in various productions such as The Fantasticks (El Gallo), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere), Othello (Cassio), Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (Michael) and Doubting Thomas (Thomas). Other credits include Cats (The Rum Tum Tugger), Chicago (Mary Sunshine), Proof (Hal) and I Love You, You’re Perfect... (Man 2). |
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Abbey C. Elliot* is thrilled to be joining Barter’s Resident Acting Company after taking the Barter stage last year as Fraulein Kost (Cabaret), and Joyce Fickle (Dracula Bites). A musical theatre graduate from Millikin University, Abbey has studied dance at the Debbie Reynolds Studio in Los Angeles and always looks forward to studying with Debbie Roshe when she is in NYC. After graduating, Abbey performed for Stiletto Entertainment, who produces Barry Manilow’s show in Vegas, and sang and danced her way around the world in spectacular musical revues with Holland America Cruise Line. Regional credits include A Chorus Line (Cassie), Cats (Victoria), Promises, Promises (Miss Polansky), Crazy For You (Patsy), La Cage Aux Folles (Ann), Mack & Mabel (Lottie), Hairspray, and Follies starring Joan Roberts and Ann B. Davis. |
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Hannah Ingram* first joined Barter Theatre’s Resident Acting Company in 2008, and she has been happily stretching her creative boundaries here ever since. Some favorite Barter productions: Evita (Evita); Cabaret (Sally Bowles); Disney’s Beauty & the Beast (Belle); 39 Steps (Annabella/Margaret/Pamela); The Who’s Tommy (Acid Queen); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator/Angel); Age of Arousal (Rhoda Nunn); and Barter Theatre’s national tour of The Diary of Anne Frank (Mrs. Van Daan). NYC: From Paris to Main Street (World Premiere, Kraine Theatre); For A Good Time Call…(Duplex Cabaret Theatre); Island of the Blue Dolphins (Theatreworks USA). Regional: Walnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia, PA); Porthouse Theatre Company (Kent, OH); Allenberry Playhouse (Harrisburg, PA); A2 New Plays Festival (Ann Arbor, MI); Mohonk Mountain Stage (New Paltz, NY); Lakes Region Theatre (Meredith, NH). She worked for The Mouse, sailing the seven seas on Disney Cruise Line. She also had the honor of spending 3 years entertaining our active-duty military and veterans by traveling worldwide as a member and company manager of the USO World troupe, "The Liberty Belles” – an Andrews Sisters-style trio, specializing in intricate three-part harmony. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the prestigious University of Michigan. She has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity for over a decade. |
| Nick Koesters | |
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Tricia Matthews * joined Barter's Resident Acting company in 2005 and became the Resident Acting Coach in 2008. Among her Barter acting credits are Eleanor in Lion in Winter, Marilla in Green Gables, Arlene in Baby, Van Helsing in Dracula, Mrs. Walker in The Who’s Tommy, Goneril in Lear, The Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz, Mrs. Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie. As a director, Tricia helmed The Woman in Black, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Wooden Snowflakes, the mini-productions of The Quiltmaker and A Southern Exposure, and The Littlest Angel and A Year With Frog and Toad for the Barter Players. Before coming to Barter Tricia had an extensive career in regional theatre. She performed at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in the world premiere of Herman Wouk and Jimmy Buffet’s Don’t Stop the Carnival, did the southwest premiere of Nunsense Jamboree with Dan Goggin and performed in the first annual A Christmas Carol at South Coast Rep. She was seen as Mrs. Tarleton in Misalliance at Centre Stage, as Meg in Damn Yankees at Arkansas Rep, as Soap Star in Menopause: The Musical, as Kate in Old Times at New Theatre, as Alice in The New Yorkers and Elvira in High Spirits at Seaside Music Theatre, spent two seasons with Stage One in Louisville, worked at Florida Stage, Florida Studio, NY Theatre Workshop, American Stage, Mark II, Royal Palm, Beef & Boards, Mill Mountain, Surflight, American Stage, Orlando Shakespeare, played Essie in Ah, Wilderness! at Connecticut Rep, Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Judith in Hay Fever and Elizabeth in The Crucible at the Asolo Conservatory Theatre, and Alma in Eccentricities of a Nightingale at Pirate Playhouse. Television and film credits include seeQuest DSV, Suberboy, Divorce Court, One Life to Live, Guiding Light, and co-starring with Morgan Fairchild and Engelbert Humperdinck in Even Angels Fall. Tricia holds a BA from CSU Fullerton and an MFA in Acting from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. |
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Rick McVey* is proud to return for his seventh season as a member of Barter's Resident Acting Company. Over the years, he has appeared in dozen's of Barter shows including It's a Wonderful Life (George Bailey); The Full Monty (Harold); The Wizard of Oz (The Cowardly Lion); the national tour of Barter's Of Mice and Men (Boss); Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell (Victor Fleming); Blackbird (Ray) and many others. He has also had the pleasure of directing The Barter Players' productions of The Scarlet Letter and A Duck Called Ugly, as well as the award-winning feature film Freedom. |
| Erin Parker* A Southern Illinois native, Erin holds a degree in theatre from the University of Evansville with associated studies in art & music. She has most recently been a resident of Nashville, TN where she has worked with The Tennesse Rep, The Boiler Room Theatre, Improv Nashville, Chaffin’s Barn, The Nashville Ballet, Street Theatre and is a founding member and the artistic director of MAS Nashville – a production company focused on the development and realization of theatrical ideas into performances. Erin received the 2011 Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artists Fellowship Grant in theatre and has performed around the US with many regional theatre companies including Metro Theatre Company, Tibbits Summer Theatre, Cortland Repertory Theatre, Beef & Boards, and at The New York Musical Theatre Festival in NYC. In addition to her Barter Theatre credits, Erin’s favorite roles include Svetlana (Chess in Concert - 1st US production), May Ferris (Long Way Down - 1st Staged Reading at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre’s Ingram New Works Festival), Cathy (The Last 5 Years), Audrey (Little Shop), Louise (Always...Patsy Cline), Roxy Hart (Chicago), Lucy (You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown), Song of Solomon (That Other Woman’s Child), and the role of “Erin” which she created in the 1st National tour of Ring of Fire – The Music of Johnny Cash. Erin has also toured with CMA Award Winner and Grammy nominee Martina McBride’s “Joy of Christmas” Tour. Erin is a proud AEA member, and when not on the stage, she works as a seamstress, designer, and theatrical licensing agent. | |
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Nicholas Piper* is an associate director of Barter Theatre in charge of new play development, as well as a director and an actor in the Resident Company. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Nick first came to Barter as an intern in 1990 and went on to become a founding member of Barter’s First Light Theatre (now The Barter Players). Nick is also the director of Barter’s Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights, a new play festival dedicated to giving an authentic voice to the stories of our region. Some of Barter’s most popular plays have sprung from this program including Keep on the Sunny Side: The Songs and Story of the Original Carter Family, Man of Constant Sorrow: The Story of the Stanley Brothers, First Baptist of Ivy Gap, Black Pearl Sings and The Quiltmaker. These plays have gone on to be performed in theatres across the country. He is also leading Barter’s Shaping of America Series in which, over the course of the next 15 years, Barter Theatre will investigate the shaping of America – from its founding to its present – through the development of one new play per year dedicated to this theme. Nick has directed a number of plays for Barter including the current production of Elvis Has Left the Building, The Blue-Sky Boys, Showtime at First Baptist, I’ll Never Be Hungry Again, Blithe Spirit and Lying in State. Nick is probably best known as an actor on the Barter stages. Favorite roles include Chester in Barter’s current production of Circumference of A Squirrel, The Creature in Frankenstein, Jimmy Reed in The Road Where It Curves Away, Biff in Death of a Salesman, Dracula in Dracula, and Carter Stanley in Man of Constant Sorrow. He is eternally grateful to Rick Rose, Rex Partington, John Hardy, Katy Brown and all the Barter artists, past and present, who have given him the skills and the opportunity to live his dream in a community he loves. |
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Wendy Piper* is overjoyed to be returning as a member of Barter’s Resident Acting Company after two years away to have her precious Lucy. Favorite Barter roles include Connie (The Controversial Rescue of Fatty the Pig), Carol (Another Night Before Christmas), Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing), Wanda (Long Shadow) and Bernice (Don’t Hug Me). In addition to acting at Barter, Wendy has also been an acting coach and teacher for Barter’s education program for the past six years. She just completed an Artist-in-Residency at Abingdon High School, funded by the VCA and Barter Theatre. |
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Michael Poisson*is a proud member of Barter’s Resident Acting Company. He first came here from his native Massachusetts in 2001 and has appeared in over 40 productions. Some favorite roles are Dracula (Dracula!), Atticus (To Kill a Mockingbird), Ryan (The Liquid Moon), Felix (The Odd Couple), Henry (The Lion in Winter), Herb (Lying in State), Matthew (Green Gables), Ronnie (The Quiltmaker), Boolie (Driving Miss Daisy) and Scrooge (A Christmas Carol). |
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Holly Wiliams* A Navy brat, Holly hails from Texas, Tennessee, Florida and New York City to make her Barter debut! Previous experience includes roles at the Alhambra Dinner Theater (FL), Dutch Apple Dinner Theater (PA), Broadway Palm Dinner Theater (FL), Music of Denali Dinner Theater (AK), Weathervane Playhouse (OH) and Heritage Rep (VA). AA Florida School of the Arts; BFA University of Miami. Special thanks to Paul Russell. Dedicated in loving memory to a mentor, director and friend – Mathew Trombetta. |
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Eugene Wolf* is happy to be back on the Barter Stage. He has appeared at Barter as Presidents Richard Nixon (Nixon’s Nixon) and Woodrow Wilson (The Second Mrs. Wilson), mystical songman A. P. Carter (Keep on the Sunny Side), Dickens thief Fagin (Oliver!), Randle McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), poisonous Iago (Othello) and Willy Loman (Death of a Salesman). Films: Freedom, Box of Moonlight, Civil War Stories and The Curse. Television: Will the Circle Be Unbroken–PBS and Lost Highways–BBC. Eugene has served as musical arranger on a number of Barter musicals and has recorded with the Brother Boys for Sugar Hill Records. It’s a good life. |
* The actors and stage managers employed by Barter Theatre are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Barter Theatre is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a national association of professional non-profit theatres. Barter employs directors and choreographers who are members of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSD&C) and designers who are members of United Scenic Artists (USA).
Did You Know...
Barter Theatre was founded in 1933 during the Depression, and its name came from bartering produce from the farms and gardens of the area to gain admission to see a play.
