Side Show Cast

Madelyn Arriola (Violet Hilton) is ecstatic to be making her Upstage Theatre debut in Side Show! Madelyn is native to Little Elm, TX and recently graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a BM in Musical Theatre. Some previous roles she’s loved include Alaura/Carla (City of Angels), Sleeping Beauty (Into The Woods), and Ensemble (A Gentleman’s Guide). She would like to thank the team at Upstage for this amazing opportunity, her family for always supporting her dreams, her twin, Amber, for being the best stage sister ever, and her girlfriend, Tony, for being her cheerleader from 200 miles away.

Jim Clark (Lizard man, Lawyer, Browning & other characters) is excited to be back on the Upstage stage (hs last appearance was as Durdles in The Mystery of Edwin Drood) under the direction of the awesomely amazing Patrick Towne, equally awesome Music Director Jordan M. Andrews and crew! Jim is sincerely honored & truly humbled to be a part of this extremely talented cast and crew!. Jim sincerely hopes that this show will help everyone learn to look beyond a persons exterior and see the good in them.

Noah is an Oklahoma-based actor with his Bachelors of Music in Musical Theatre from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is a classically-trained Tenor who specializes in a variety of musical styles. A few of his current credits include Angel City Four in “City of Angels”, The Man/The Child in “Eurydice”, Amore in “Orfeo ed Euridice”, and Gabriel von Eisenstein in “Die Fledermaus”. He credits Julie Andrews in the “Sound of Music” as the reason he loves to perform. Outside of theatre and performance, he enjoys reading, baking, and crafting. This is Noah's 12th show with Upstage Theatre, and he wants to thank the amazing cast and crew of “Side Show” for such a wonderful experience.

Shay is no stranger to the stage and is so excited to be making her debut at Upstage Theatre with this show. A Norman local, she starred in the following productions at Norman North High School: The Sound of Music, A Christmas Carol, Mary Poppins, The Taming of the Shrew, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and The Skriker. She would love to thank her friends and family for believing in her and being her biggest supporters.

I’ve looked into my crystal ball, your fortune says great entertainment awaits! Hi, my name is Jaden Colvin and I am pleased to be your Fortune Teller, and ensemble with Upstage Theater’s Side Show. This is my second time working with Upstage, and it remains one of my favorite places to be. It’s people like Patrick, Jenny and Jordan who keep my love of theater alive. I’m beyond blessed to have worked with this group of amazing actors. I know you’ll love them as much as I do. I just know you’ll enjoy everything this show has to offer, and darling I’m always right.

April Dinger (The Geek) is excited to be part of the Side Show cast as the quietly compelling and deliciously odd Geek. She’s previously worked behind the scenes on the production teams for Anastasia, Oklahoma!, Hadestown, She Loves Me, and Children of Eden, and is thrilled to bring her love of all things theater to this unforgettable show. She’s especially grateful to her friends and family for their love and encouragement, and to Patrick Towne for his trust, support, and impeccable instincts. She hopes you enjoy the show and remember: what makes us different is what makes us extraordinary.

Regional theater: The Prom, Mary Poppins- Lyric Theatre Other theater: Aaron Samuels, Mean Girls- Lyric Academy, Dr. Mandrill, City of Angels- UCO Musical Theater, Lurch, Addams Family, ADA High School

Amber Hillhouse (Daisy Hilton) is thrilled to be performing in her fourth show with Upstage Theatre, where she has previously appeared as Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Alison (Fun Home), and in the ensemble of Cinderella. Most recently, she appeared as Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins at the Poteet Theatre. Other favorite credits include Mother (Ragtime), The Cat in The Hat (Seussical), Kate (Lippa's The Wild Party), and Emma Carew (Jekyll and Hyde).

Matthew Houston is making his second appearance at Upstage Theatre, having played Reverend Crisparkle/Cedric Moncrieffe in last summer’s production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Since his return to his hometown of Oklahoma City in 2022, he has been active at the Poteet Theatre (Seussical the Musical, Godspell, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Spongebob Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Peter and the Starcatcher, Mary Poppins) at St. Luke’s Methodist, where he also sings in the choir. He has been a regular at Gaslight Theatre (Enid) since 2016, most recently in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2024). During his nine years with Good Times Community Theatre (Poteau) he was involved with numerous productions, including directing Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr. He has also worked on shows with the Enid Symphony (White Christmas), Ardmore Little Theatre (Fiddler on the Roof), and the Cavanal Chorale (Amahl and the Night Visitors). He holds a BME from OU and a MM from Sam Houston State and has spent two decades teaching band, choir, elementary music, and piano across the state. He is currently the director of both the band and choir programs at Little Axe Public Schools.

Connor Irwin is thrilled to be playing Buddy Foster is his seventh production at Upstage Theatre! He is a junior BA Vocal Music major at Oklahoma City University and has many other exhilarating stage credits including Pythio in Head Over Heels, Angel in RENT, Donkey in Shrek, The Cat in the Hat in Seussical, and many more. Connor would like to thank his family and friends for their continuous support as well as Patrick Towne and Jenny Rottmayer for sustaining their trust in him at Upstage. Here’s to hoping he’ll remember basic math during the show today… 1 + 1 equals…?

Carson Kringlen is excited to be back at Upstage Theatre for this wonderful show. She is 25 years old and is headed to UCO this fall to pursue a degree in Vocal Performance with a Musical Theater emphasis. Carson is a veteran with Upstage Theatre being in many community theatre and production class shows. Some of her past roles include Ensemble in Mamma Mia at Starlight Theatre (Rockford, IL) and just recently Uzo/Self in Godspell at Beautiful City Productions in Yukon, OK. She would like to thank her entire family for their support and especially her mother Kristi Kringlen for always believing in her and trusting her in her theater journey.

Karis Martin (She/Her; Bearded Lady/Auntie, Ensemble) is proud to be debuting with Upstage Theater after an on-stage hiatus in favor of theater and film production. She has previously engaged in production work with OKC Repertory Theater for their 2023-2024 season and with John Brown University’s School of Music from 2017-2019. She has a BS in Film and Creative Writing (2020) and has been working with Professor Jeremy Small and Vocal Coach Jordan Andrews since Fall 2023, for whom she could not be more thankful. She is so delighted to be part of this production, and is sending love and light to all her fellow cast members!

Melina Mincey has been performing in musicals with Upstage Theatre for 8 years and is thrilled to be a part of Side Show. Her favorite roles include Eurydice in Hadestown, Mary in The Secret Garden, and Mae Peterson in Bye, Bye Birdie. She also recently won a musical theater competition and performed at Carnegie Hall. She was accepted to the Kristin Chenoweth Broadway Bootcamp for the second time this year as well.

Kolton Rhodes is very excited for his second show at Upstage Theatre! You may have seen him in a few shows in the area, such as Fiddler on the Roof, The SpongeBob SquarePants Musical and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also studied musical theatre at Northern Oklahoma College where he performed in All Shook Up, Next to Normal and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Kolton would like to thank the cast and crew of this show for being so talented amazing to work with! Thank you for coming and enjoy this AMAZING performance of Side Show!

Braelyn is going to be an 8th grader at Central Middle School. Her passions are musical theatre and volleyball! Past credits include Anya in "Anastasia", Wednesday in "The Addams Family", Marta in "The Sound of Music", and Sandy in "Spongebob the Musical". She loves performing in the community shows at Upstage!

Kathy is overjoyed to perform at Upstage Theatre. Sideshow has been one of her dream shows since listening to it in high school. She is so grateful to Patrick for making this dream come true. She has recently been seen in Something Rotten (Shawnee Theatre), Bobby in Company (Rose State College) Hamlet as Hamlet (3rd Act Theatre). Other credits include. Marcy Parks in 5th Spelling Bee (Rose State College) Frau Kost in Cabaret (Rose State College), King Lear as Edmund (Rose State College). She would also like to thank all those who have helped and supported her throughout the years, and to her handsome husband, “I couldn’t do it without you.”