RETURN ENGAGEMENT- 2 WEEKS ONLY!
NORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE
SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON FIRST LADY IN
ELEANOR
By Mark St. Germain
Directed by David Ellenstein
August 27-September 6, 2026

Solana Beach, Calif. – For two weeks only - She was called the heart of the presidency. Here, she speaks for herself.

While sitting on a park bench in Washington, D.C., contemplating the death of her husband, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt candidly reveals the many facets of her storied life in a riveting one-woman play. Award-winning actor Kandis Chappell deftly illuminates the witty, feisty, vulnerable woman who was considered the heart of FDR’s presidency. Exploring both the public and private persona of this remarkable woman, Mark St. Germain (Dancing Lessons, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Freud’s Last Session) captures the essence of the woman who left an indelible mark on American history. For those who love honest, pull-no-punches drama, this is one you cannot miss!

“North Coast Rep’s ‘Eleanor’ is a thoughtful, insightful and well-cast look at the former first lady.” – The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Chappell’s mastery of the subtleties of Roosevelt’s sensibilities, suffering and successes will keep you engaged and enlightened.  Do not miss this opportunity to share an evening with an outstanding woman who carved much of this country’s history, and whose legacy lives on today.”  -Jenni Prisk, critic

"A wonderful portrayal of one of the most influential women in U.S. history. ‘Eleanor’ is a wonderful gift to local theater lovers. Don’t pass it up." - San Diego Stage and Screen

“North Coast Rep’s production of ‘Eleanor’ is an hour and a half of wonderful insight, humor, memories and inspiration into the life of one of the great ladies of United States history.” –The Vista Press and The North Coast Daily Star

"A brilliant solo performance. This riveting biographical drama is not to be missed!" -  CultureVulture

“Chappell’s charm illustrates the pure theatre-going experience. One actor, one act, one set, and an enchanting time.” – Fromanother0

“Actor Kandis Chappell is a one-woman tour de force. Director David Ellenstein has done an amazing job with this impressive show. Chappell’s emotions run the entire gamut of the human experience. She is funny, witty, devastated, lonely, brave, and committed. The actor’s timing, voice and entire bearing recall her character, and while Chappell is significantly more feminine than Mrs. Roosevelt, one nearly does a double take.” – San Diego Jewish World

David Ellenstein directs Kandis Chappell* in ELEANOR. The design team includes Michael Wogulis (Set Design) Matthew Novotny (Lighting), Elisa Benzoni (Costume Design), Aaron Rumley (Sound & Projection Design), and Peter Herman (Hair & Wigs). Cindy Rumley* is the Stage Manager.

*The actor or stage manager appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association. For photos, go to www.northcoastrep.org/press.

ELEANOR returns for 2 weeks only- August 27-September 6, 2026. North Coast Repertory Theatre is located at 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075. Tickets: $88. Call 858-481-1055, visit www.northcoastrep.org to purchase tickets.

BIOS:

MARK ST. GERMAIN (Playwright) has written the plays Freud’s Last Session (Off Broadway Alliance Award), Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award), Forgiving Typhoid Mary, (Time Magazine’s “Year’s Ten Best”), and Becoming Dr. Ruth, the story of Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Other plays include Eleanor, Best of Enemies, Relativity, and Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap. His latest play, premiering in the summer of 2023 at the Barrington Stage Company, is The Happiest Man On Earth, The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor. Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard’s Warner Brothers film, “Duma.” He directed and co-produced the documentary, “My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story,” featuring Richard Gere, Glenn Close, and Billy Collins among others. His film adaptation of “Freud’s Last Session” will be released by Sony Entertainment in early 2024. He has written the award-winning children’s book, “Three Cups,” “Walking Evil,” a humorous memoir, and “The Mirror Man,” a thriller. Mark is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer’s Guild East, and an Associate Artist at the Barrington Stage Company. The Barrington Stage Company named their second stage, “The St. Germain Stage.”

DAVID ELLENSTEIN (Director) Born into a theatrical family; David has worked in theatres across the country. He currently serves as Artistic Director of North Coast Rep. A veteran of over 300 theatrical productions, other theatres include: Artistic Director of Laguna Playhouse, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Papermill Playhouse, Portland Stage. Renaissance Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Laguna Playhouse, Southwest Shakespeare Company, AJTC, Meadow Brook Theatre, Portland Rep and Gaslamp Quarter Theatre. Winner of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award for “2018 Director of the Year Award.”

KANDIS CHAPPELL* (Eleanor Roosevelt) is delighted to bring Eleanor back to North Coast Rep, where the journey began! Since that first NCRT production in June 2023, she has performed Eleanor at Laguna Playhouse; the Portland Stage Company in Maine; and the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, CA. Kandis is an Associate Artist of the Old Globe here in San Diego, where she has appeared in more than 30 productions. She has performed extensively at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa (north of North Coast Rep!), and at theaters across the country, including: The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, ACT in San Francisco, the Intiman in Seattle, the Huntington in Boston, Milwaukee Rep, Seattle Rep, Kansas City Rep, Lincoln Center, and on Broadway.

CINDY RUMLEY* (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be returning to North Coast Rep after previously stage managing here for 10 years. Recent shows include: Jekyll & Hyde, Eleanor, Blues in the Night, The Remarkable Mister Holmes... Cindy holds an M.F.A in stage management from UC Irvine.

MOLIÈRE’S MASTERWORK OF MISCHIEF AT
NORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE

SCAPIN
By Bill Irwin & Mark O’Donnell
Adapted from Molière

Performances Beginning Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Ending Sunday, August 16, 2026
Directed by Christopher Williams

 

Solana Beach, Calif. — The schemes are outrageous. The disguises are ridiculous. The fun is unavoidable. He'll lie, he'll scheme, he'll hide you in a sack. You'll love every minute. North Coast Repertory Theatre presents Scapin, Molière’s irresistible comedy of trickery and mayhem in a dazzling new adaptation by Bill Irwin and Mark O’Donnell — reimagined for today’s audiences with fresh American flair and nonstop physical comedy. Watch crafty servant Scapin spin outrageous webs of disguise and deception to help a band of young lovers outwit their impossibly miserly fathers. Physical comedy and razor-sharp wit collide in this carnival of theatrical surprises — a masterful blend of classic French farce and contemporary slapstick that will leave audiences breathless with laughter.

“A generous gag-fest, packed with rib-tickling delights.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“The play’s blend of vaudeville and contemporary references results in a two-hour laugh riot.” — Culture Vulture

Christopher Williams directs Paul Slade Smith* (Scapin), David Ellenstein* (Geronte), James Newcomb* (Argante), Tim Frangos* (Leander), Miles Blue (Octave), David McBean* (George), Omri Schein* (Sylvestre), Gabbie Adner (Hyacinth), Sophia Oberg* (Nerine), Marie Zolezzi* (Zerbinette). Shannon Humiston* is Stage Manager & Jeruel Canda* Assistant Stage Manager.  The Design Team includes Marty Burnett (Set Design), Matthew Novotny (Light Design), Elisa Benzoni (Costume Design), Grace Wong (Associate Costume Design), Matt FitzGerald (Sound Design), Michael Wogulis (Props Design), and Peter Herman (Hair & Wigs Design).

*The actor or stage manager appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

SCAPIN performances begin Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 8:00 pm. Final performance is Sunday, August 16, 2026, at 2:00 pm. The show runs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 pm, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm, Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm. Added two Friday matiness at 2pm (July 24^th & August 12^th)

 

BIOS:

MOLIÈRE (Original Playwright) was the leading French comic actor, stage director, and dramatic theoretician of the seventeenth century. He was born Jean Baptiste Poquelin on January 15, 1622, to a Parisian furniture merchant and upholsterer to the king. In 1643, he incorporated an acting troupe, The Illustrious Theatre, and acquired the pseudonym Molière. In 1658 the troupe went to Paris and played before Louis XIV. The king’s brother became Molière’s patron; later Molière and his colleagues were appointed official providers of entertainment to the Sun King himself. In the following twenty-four years, starting with The Precious Maidens Ridiculed, which established him as the most popular comic playwright of the day, and ending with The Imaginary Invalid, Molière advanced from being a gifted adapter of Italian-derived sketches and a showman who put on extravaganzas, to a writer whose best plays had the lasting impact of tragedies. Molière’s plays include: The Jealous Husband, The Flying Doctor, Sganarelle, The Rehearsal at Versailles, and The Forced Marriage. The School for Husbands, The School for Wives, Tartuffe, Don Juan, The Misanthrope, The Doctor In Spite Of Himself, Amphitryon, The Miser, George Dandin, The Bourgeois Gentleman, Scapin, The Learned Ladies, and The Imaginary Invalid.

BILL IRWIN (Playwright) is an actor, director, writer, and clown. His original works include The Regard of Flight; Largely New York; Fool Moon; Old Hats; The Happiness Lecture; and an adaptation of Moliere's Scapin with Mark O'Donnell. Broadway: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Goat; Waiting For Godot; The Iceman Cometh; Fool Moon; Largely New York; Bye Bye Birdie. Off-Broadway: The Regard of Flight; Endgame; Old Hats; On Beckett (an evening of passages from the writings of Samuel Beckett). Television: “The Dropout;” “Elmo’s World “ (Mr. Noodle); “CSI;” “Legion;” “Law and Order SVU;” “New Amsterdam;” “Blue Bloods;” “Quarry.”  Film: “Rustin;” “Rachel Getting Married;” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas;” “Spoiler Alert;” “Interstellar;” “Eight Men Out;” “Stepping Out;” “Silent Tongue.” He gratefully acknowledges awards and fellowships that have allowed a life in the theatre.

MARK O’DONNELL (Playwright) O’Donnell's plays include That's It, Folks!, Fables for Friends, and The Nice and the Nasty (all produced at Playwrights Horizons), and Strangers on Earth and Vertigo Park (both produced by Zena Group Theatre). He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Tots in Tinseltown. Mr. O'Donnell collaborated with Bill Irwin on an adaptation of Moliere's Scapin. and he co-authored a translation of Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear, both for the Roundabout. For Manhattan Theatre Club he translated Jean Claude Carriere's La Terrasse. He has published two collections of comic stories “Elementary Education” and “Vertigo Park and Other Tall Tales” (both Knopf) as well as two recent novels “Getting Over Homer “ and “Let Nothing You Dismay” (both now in Vintage paperback). His humor, cartoons, and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Spy, The New Republic, and Esquire, among many others. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lecomte du Nuoy Prize, and the George S. Kaufman Award.

CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS (Director) During his 30 years in the industry, Christopher has made his theatrical career as a director, union actor and stage manager, as well as, fight choreographer, designer, and instructor. His directing credits include: Don’t Dress For Dinner, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Visiting Mr. Green, and the West Coast Premieres of Gabriel and Desperate Measures (North Coast Rep); Romeo and Juliet (Southwest Shakespeare); Beau Jest and Leading Ladies (Moonlight Stages); Halpern and Johnson (AZ Jewish Theatre); I Hate Hamlet (Intrepid Theatre); Julius Caesar (New Village Arts); The Outsider and Chapatti (Scripps Ranch Theatre). He served 6 years as Associate Artistic Director and Casting Director for North Coast Rep following his duties as founding Artistic Director of Oceanside Theatre Company. Christopher has also worked in the film industry where he was producer, casting associate, and on-set acting coach for the WWII feature “Walking with the Enemy,” starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Jonas Armstrong.

GABBIE ADNER (Hyacinth) is thrilled to be returning to North Coast Rep in Scapin! Last spring, audiences saw her here in the World Premiere of Peril in the Alps as the infamous twins, Bella and Dulcie. Recently, she starred in Jason Alexander’s Sweeney Todd at La Mirada Theatre alongside Lesli Margherita and Will Swenson. Gabbie played Barbara Follett in the World Premiere of A Perfect World, A New Musical at the El Portal Theatre. Other credits include Anastasia (Virginia Musical Theatre), the LA premiere of Desperate Measures (International City Theatre), Belles Are Swinging (La Mirada Theatre and The Gary Marshall), Murder on the Links (International City Theatre), and Disney Cruise Line (F19/F23). Titans reach higher (CSUF MT BFA ’20). @gabbieadner

MILES BLUE (Octave) San Diego born and raised. Regional: Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Renaissance Theaterworks, Prague Shakespeare Company, Telluride Theatre. University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

DAVID ELLENSTEIN* (Geronte) has appeared on stages throughout the country for more than 50 years. At North Coast Rep, audiences may remember him in A Walk in the Woods, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Chapter Two, Broken Glass, My Name Is Asher Lev, Talley’s Folly and Sight Unseen. Other favorite roles include title roles in Hamlet (Los Angeles Repertory Company and LA Theatre Center) and Richard III (CA Shakespeare Festival), Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (Moonlight Stages) and numerous roles at Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Arizona Theatre Company, Meadow Brook Theatre, Portland Rep and Gaslamp Quarter Theatre. David has appeared in three dozen film and television episodes. (See Artistic Director bio in the program.)

TIM FRANGOS* (Leander) is thrilled to be making his debut at North Coast Rep. A recent MFA Acting graduate from University of California, Irvine, Tim has performed across Southern California with companies including Center Theatre Group, A Noise Within, Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, Dezart Performs, and Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum. Favorite roles include Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), The Cider House Rules (Homer Wells) and Airness (Shreddy Eddy). Tim also holds a BA in Theatre and Pre-Law from University of Southern California and trained at the British American Dramatic Academy in Oxford. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

DAVID McBEAN* (George) was last seen on a San Diego stage at Diversionary Theater in RENT (Benny/Paul). Select credits include: The Rocky Horror Show (Frank N Furter), Psycho Beach Party (Chicklet), The Mystery of Irma Vep (Lady Enid/Nicodemus), Bunbury (Bunbury), and Twist (Fagin) at Diversionary Theater; La Cage aux Folles (Albin), A Christmas Carol, and Fully Committed (Craig Noel Award) at Cygnet Theater; The Remarkable Mr. Holmes, Glorious, Travels with My Aunt, Shipwrecked, and Charley’s Aunt at North Coast Rep.

JAMES NEWCOMB* (Argante) The Old Globe: Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, and Much Ado About Nothing. San Diego Rep: Honky, Zoot Suit, Brooklyn Boy, and The Illusion. North Coast Rep: Birthday Candles (Craig Noel Nom), The Homecoming, How the Other Half Loves. Cygnet Theatre: Roy Cohn in Angels in America (Craig Noel Award). Other Theatre: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (14 seasons), Denver Center Theatre (9 seasons), The Public Theatre, B.A.M., Utah Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare & Company (founding member), The Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, Portland Center Stage, Missouri Rep, Arizona Theatre Co., and Geva Theatre.

SOPHIA OBERG* (Nerine) North Coast Rep debut. Other credits include: Murder on the Orient Express, The Age of Innocence (The Old Globe), Hereville (San Diego JFEST), Six Characters Looking for an Author (British American Drama Academy). Education: B.A. in Theatre from UC San Diego. @sophiaiceberg on Instagram.

OMRI SCHEIN* (Sylvestre) Omri Schein is half of the musical theatre writing team of Lincoln and Schein, whose musicals include The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, The Remarkable Mister Holmes, Making Melrose, Grecian Burns, Fintastic Finn, and the upcoming Gene Wilder’s My French Whore. Other credits:, Mambo Italiano, Withering Heights, and Gary Goldfarb: Master Escapist (NYMF Award Best Lyrics). Directing: Beau Jest (North Coast Rep), How to Succeed..., Jekyll and Hyde, Fiddler on the Roof, and Anything Goes for SDMT. Acting: Peril in the Alps and Murder on the Links, Baskerville, Babette’s Feast, Noises Off, The Explorer’s Club, Beau Jest, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and many more.

PAUL SLADE SMITH* (Scapin) makes his North Coast Rep debut with Scapin, but he’s already a veteran of this lovely theatre — all four of the plays he’s written have appeared on this stage: Unnecessary Farce, The Outsider, and the world premieres of The Angel Next Door and Beside Myself (co-written with his wife, Erin Noel Grennan). His Broadway credits include the current revival of Ragtime and the original Broadway casts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, and Lincoln Center’s My Fair Lady. Paul starred as Willy Wonka in the Australian premiere of Charlie... National tours: Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, and My Fair Lady. Regional: Laguna Playhouse, American Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. TV: “The Blacklist,” “The Other Two,” and “The Gilded Age.”

MARIE ZOLEZZI* (Zerbinette) is overjoyed to be returning to North Coast Rep to perform Molière’s Scapin! She made her NCR debut in 2024 playing Catherine in A View from the Bridge. A USC Dramatic Arts grad, she has recently graced the screen at film festival Dances with Wolves with the premiere of “Real Couples.” Upcoming films include Renaissance short “Da Vedere” and wild bank heist rom-com “Secondhand Smoke.” @marierosezolezzi

SHANNON HUMISTON* (Stage Manager) is excited to be back at North Coast Rep for Scapin. She is a Kansas City native who has called San Diego home since 2019. Select credits include Beside Myself (North Coast Rep; Laguna Playhouse); RENT, Merry Me, Head Over Heels, Eighty-Sixed (Diversionary Theatre); Stroll Thru Shushan (San Diego REP); The Garden (La Jolla Playhouse); Hairspray (Kansas City Starlight Theatre); King Lear (Saratoga Shakespeare Company); and Avenue Q (Nebraska Repertory Theatre). She is also the Production Manager for MOXIE Theatre and a Production Coordinator for San Diego Theatres.