KEVIN PAUL HOFEDITZ

as Pete Bartel

Kevin is honored to be back at The TADA Theatre after having played George Bailey in last season’s production of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Radio Play. He also appeared at TADA in the Sondheim Tribute Revue and his one-man cabaret When All The Songs Make Sense. Mr. Hofeditz has acted professionally in regional theatre, summer stock, and Off-Broadway since 1978.  Over the years, he has acted in dozens of professional theatre productions, largely in lead roles in musicals. After fifteen years on the Theatre faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he performed in over 25 productions for Nebraska Rep and where he served as Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and Associate Dean in the Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, he joined the SMU faculty in 1998 as Professor and Chair of the Division of Theatre. Over the next 25 years, Kevin served SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in a variety of leadership positions and as a member of the teaching faculty. He retired from SMU as Professor and Executive Associate Dean Emeritus and was honored to receive the Meadows School’s 2023-2024 Distinguished Teaching Professorship.

CRIS ROOK

as Keely Stevens

Mrs. Rook has appeared extensively on stage including a tour of Side by Side by Sondheim, the regional premieres of Forbidden Broadway, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Gilligan’s Island the Musical. She also appeared as Lucy in the Midwest premiere of Jekyll & Hyde the musical and as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd featuring the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Mrs. Rook has been a guest vocalist with Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra and received a Master’s degree in music performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While at UNL she performed in several operas and musical theatre productions and was a company member of The Nebraska Repertory Theatre. Mrs. Rook premiered the song “A Place Like Home” for Broadway writer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens and performed “Moon Over Nebraska” with permission from Broadway’s Todd Almond. Her other favorite musical theatre roles include Dot in Sunday In The Park with George, The Witch in Into The Woods, Helen in Fun Home, Dulcinea in Man Of La Mancha and Joanne in Company. A proud mother and wife, Cris is also a talented musical director having overseen the music to more than two hundred productions and has worked alongside several national composers on regional musical premieres.