Vino Veritas Cast

This is Dawn's first show in the Darien area, and she is excited to share the stage with her very talented castmates! Dawn has been involved in theater from a very young age but took a 16-year hiatus before jumping back in 2011 in Joliet with Joliet Drama Guild's production of Jekyll & Hyde the Musical. Over the years, she has been involved in productions both in Joliet as well as Morris. Some past roles include Fiona in Fall of the House of Usher; multiple roles in Passengers; Steffy in You Ought to Be in Pictures and Gladys Petrelli in Tribute. She was last involved in an original play written by local Joliet poet and playwright Sharon Houk for Chicago's Rhino Fest in June at the Labyrinth Club as Victoria in 15 Minutes Ago. When not on stage, you can find Dawn behind the camera because her real-life job is as an actual photographer, both with her own business that she shares with her amazing boyfriend and as a preschool photographer. Dawn would like to thank her wonderful kids Garrick, Natasia, Colin, Madeleine, June and Noah, as well as her boyfriend Jason and bonus kids Aiden, Gabi and Grayson for all their love and support!

Steve is returning to acting and directing after a brief hiatus while getting married and starting a family. This will be his first production with the Darien Arts Council, where he is a Board Member. Previous acting roles include John Proctor in “The Crucible”, and Oscar in “The Odd Couple” at the University of St. Francis and Lenny in “Of Mice and Men” with Latitude 41 in Joliet. He also co-directed “The Odd Couple” with his former co-star Jeff Matson 10-years later for Latitude 41. Though his most cherished roles are the parts of loving husband to his wife Nikki, and father to his 3-year-old daughter Carissa. To them, Steve owes untold appreciation and thanks for allowing him the time to work on this production. Many thanks to the cast for taking this journey and diving into these roles. It is a joy and honor to explore these characters with each of them for our audience.

Matt is excited and honored to do his first show with the Darien Arts Council and to finally work with director Steve Shanks whom he almost starred alongside years ago, but circumstances didn't permit. This is also his first time working with Dawn and Bailey and he couldn’t have asked for better cast mates. Although this is his first time performing in Darien, he has performed in a number of cities which include Joliet, Portland, Paris, Zurich, Munich, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and Los Angeles where he earned his B.F.A. in Acting from A.M.D.A. He would like to dedicate this performance to his wife Elyse Lorenz along with a promise that his behavior as her husband will never reflect this character in anyway.

Bailey has been involved with theatre in various capacities, with multiple production groups, since high school. She has been a Spotlight Operator (Little Shop of Horrors), Sound Board Operator (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Odd Couple), Light Board Operator (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Assistant Director (La Cage aux Folles), and Actress (“Alice”- Squabbles, “Rowena”- Biloxi Blues, “Invisible”- Transylvania General, “Jessie”- ‘Night Mother, “Hamlette”- Hamlette)- just to name a few. Due to scheduling conflicts, theatre has had to take a back seat for quite a while and she’s ecstatic to be able to be on stage once more with such a great cast and director! Bailey would like to thank everyone in her life for being so supportive of her love of theatre (and a special thank YOU if you’re reading this waiting for the curtain to come up) - especially her husband, who encouraged her to get back into it, even though that means he has seen much less of her at home.