About Us

Peter Eberhardt	President	Actor/Director/Business Manager
Victoria Blaszczak	Vice President	Artist/Caterer/Actress
Susan Brown	Secretary/Treasurer	Dental Hygienist
John Affinito	Member	Therapist
Lydia Collins	Member	PR/Businesswoman
Star Fisher	Member	Businesswoman/Artist
William Funt	Member	Businessman/Actor/Alumnus
Gwyneth Hovick	Non-voting Member	Executive Director/Alumna CET
Marcia Gambrell Hovick	Member	Founder/Artistic Director
Michele Ikuta	Member	Businesswoman/Audiologist
Richard Saylor	Member	Architect

Children's Experimental Theatre Artistic & Teaching Staff

Marcia Gambrell Hovick -Artistic Director/Founder/Resident Playwright

B.A. in speech and drama at Mills College, Oakland, CA, 1945. Performer since age 4. Worked with children's theatres in Baltimore, Birmingham and Bakersfield, California. California Teaching Credential, Junior College; Graduate work at Johns Hopkins University & UT Austin. Founded CET 1960. Inaugurated Staff Players (SPRC) 1969. Resident Playwright of all children's productions. Responsible for teaching, touring and acting for CET and Staff Players Repertory Company. Directs and supervises all operations of CET, Staff Players and CET Traveling Troupe.

Victoria is a local Monterey native who has performed in many of the productions offered at SPRC, as well as appearing in many of the area's other theatres. She is a Figure Model, Artist and Actress who also works as a Caterer for a private service doing weddings and events. She will be interning with CET this year to begin the process of training and educational development as an Intern Instructor for CET. Victoria has served on the CET Board of Directors for the past three years and has performed in a staggering variety of classical productions including La Parisienne, Temptation, Arms & The Man and many others. Her vitality, humor and gentle touch with the younger set will no doubt prove invaluable this year!

Nick Hovick - Associate Instructor of Advanced Drama and Technical Theatre

B.A., Theatre Arts & Psychology, Lone Mountain College, 1973; Theatre Arts Major, Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, CA; Theatre Arts Major, UT Austin, TX; Graduate Studies Antioch University; California Teaching Credential, Junior College, in Theatre Arts & Related Technologies; California State Contracting License. Master Carpenter/Master Electrician. CET graduate. Independent Technical Director and/or Designer for variety of both community and professional companies locally, in Los Angeles and in Austin, Texas. Has performed since age 15; has directed numerous productions both locally and in professional companies in Los Angeles, from Shakespeare to Coward, to Moliere and Brandon. Has performed professionally in a variety of mediums for a variety of companies in the Los Angeles area, including voiceovers, stage, film and TV; has teaching experience in stage combat, acting, fencing, English, mythic literature, psychology, Tai Chi Chuan and dialects on the elementary, high school and college level; is an accomplished singer, songwriter and musician on the cello, guitar and piano.

Adrienne Wellisch - CET & SPRC Costume Designer

Native of Budapest, Hungary. Graduate of Academy of Fine Arts, Institute of Applied Arts and School of Furrier Design, Budapest. Experienced in basic and Architectural drafting, Interior Design, and Surveying. Also experienced in period properties construction, upholstering and furniture construction. Adrienne has costumed the Staff Players productions for the past three seasons to great acclaim.

Mark Shuler - Instructor - Stage Combat & Arms

Mark Shuler is a CET graduate and has been an instructor here for over 30 years. He is a Stage Combat instructor and choreographer who works with all the area theatre companies from the Peninsula to Salinas and beyond. He holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and an MSW and therapy credentials from J.F.K. University. He is a licensed Family Systems and Child Counselor who has worked extensively with County Social Services and a variety of therapeutic entities around the Monterey Bay. He maintains a private practice, amongst his other activities and has also been an active performer in all the area theatres. He returned to CET this past summer after a brief hiatus. He is thrilled to be teaching again at CET and to share his skills in working with Quarterstaffs, Broadswords, Rapiers, Daggers, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Gymnastics, Fight Choreography and Safety Skills.

A CET graduate, he designed for the Seattle Opera and worked with Mother Goose Theatre for 4 years. He is a graduate of the Seattle Art Institute and degreed in Graphic Arts & Design. His stage designs for area theatres span over 25 years and he has won awards for his work with The Forest Theatre Guild. He has designed sets for many community and professional theatres from Santa Cruz to Salinas to the Peninsula. He has taught high school & middle school students in acting & technical theatre through the Forest Theatre Guild's Intern Program, Monterey Carmel & Pacific Grove ROP, CET/SPRC and Pacific Grove's City Historical Society. He is Co-Founder/Artistic Director of 16 year-old Unicorn Theatre, and does extensive touring and outreach of both adult & children's productions. He is also a Summer Instructor.

Administrative Staff

Gwyneth C. Hovick - Managing Director

Majored in Theatre Arts and Anthropology, Monterey Peninsula College; B.A., Forensic Anthropology, minor focus Mesoamerican Studies, University of California Berkeley, CA. Member of Staff Players since inception; CET graduate 1973; CET Instructor/Directorial Assistant 1975-1985; Production Stage Manager SPRC/CET, 1981-85; Acting Technical Director 1984-85, 1985-86 seasons CET/SPRC. Designed and implemented Summer Drama Intensive as Development Director, 1986-87 & 1987-88. Designed and implemented The Break Sessions - 5-day historical intensives in theatre arts. CET Business Manager since 1991. Independent Paralegal since 1988. Bilingual Spanish. Managing Director since 2000.

Jane Press has been acting on stage since childhood, having come from a show business family.

Her mother, Della, was a stage and television actress in Los Angeles. Her uncle Lester, an Emmy award winning writer / director, created the television series The Munsters. Her cousin Elizabeth plays Maggie on the daytime soap opera All My Children. Jane received formal training from Estelle Harmon (former head acting coach, Paramount Pictures). Favorite stage roles in Los Angeles include MoonBeam MacSwine and Appassionata von Climax in L'il Abner, Katisha in The Mikado, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof and Frankie Addams in Member of the Wedding.

Since moving to the Monterey Peninsula six years ago, Jane has appeared at the Magic Circle Theatre in Carmel Valley in Lend Me A Tenor (as Maria Merelli), I Hate Hamlet (as Felicia Dantine), My Son the Lawyer is Drowning (Rivka) and as part of the ensemble in their acclaimed production of The Laramie Project. She has also appeared at MPC in The Day They Shot John Lennon ( Fran Lowenstein), at Western Stage in The Philadelphia Story (Mrs. Lord) and in the Unicorn Theatre production of Sideman (as Patsy). She will be appearing in this year's presentation of The Vagina Monologues at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel.

Since joining the Staff Players, Jane has appeared in G.B. Shaw's Misalliance (as Lena Sczscepenovska), and participated in staged readings of the great playwrights, George S. Kaufman and Jean Giraudoux. Jane is very pleased to have the opportunity of working alongside Marcia Hovick at CET. She considers it a great honor and privilege to participate in the children's discovery of the magical life of the theatre.

Technical Staff

Nick Hovick - Technical Director

Victor DiBartolomeo, our former student and intern, has joined the U.S. Marines. We wish him safety and strength as he goes to serve his country. We will miss him. Good luck Victor!

Tim Culbertson, Principal, Forest Grove Elementary School

"I wanted to share with you how much our school has appreciated your hard work and dedication in presenting the Children's Experimental Theatre as an assembly. Each year you bring to the students and staff a new and exciting presentation of theatre starring children of many ages. It is this kind of art that excites our students and encourages them to participate in a wide variety of activities that helps make them a well rounded person.

I also wanted to personally thank you for your contributions to the community over the years. Your gift of talent and caring is known in many cities and your reputation precedes you as students perform for their peers. Your assemblies are something that we look forward to each year. It is my wish that your organization stays strong and continues to prosper. Thank you for making our children the priority of your gifts."

SPRC audience member Lynn Mason

"Recently my husband and I saw the Staff Players in Widower's Houses. We enjoyed it tremendously. Please accept our small donation in appreciation for all you and Staff Players do for the community. We have enjoyed your plays over the years and look forward to seeing many more. Again, thank you for all you do and the wonderful results of your labor."

Roger Fremier, Cultural Commission Member and Alumni Parent

"I have known Marcia Hovick, the Children's Experimental Theatre and Staff Players for over 30 years as a parent of two boys who attended classes and as a theatre-going adult attending Staff Players. I also have for over 10 years been a board member on the Carmel City's Community and Cultural Commission where the theatre is a tenant.

Over the years there have been many challenges with the financial conditions of the theatre, which have been managed smoothly. It had little effect on the high quality of the programs offered to students, community activities and with Staff Players.

I strongly support both groups." (written to the Blues Festival Foundation board of directors)

From a student who watched Traveling Troupe production of Cinder-Elise, 2003

"Thank you for coming to Marshall (School). My favorite part was everything!" ... Ruby Silver, 3rd grade

From Laurie & Frances Shaffi, SPRC subscribers

"Over many more years than we can count, we have appreciated your theatrical talents and enjoyed your selection of offerings at ... (the) Theatre. We never cease to marvel at the ingenuity of yourself and your company in the productions, creating with virtually nothing the environments of the dramas.

We thank you most sincerely. As avid theatregoers in London and New York before, we find enormous satisfaction here in Carmel, due to your Herculean efforts.

.... Bless your efforts. Don't stop!! All best wishes for Best of Luck."

Reviews of JOCASTA

"...'Jocasta' is an exemplary play that engages the heart and mind. It is one of the finest plays I have seen this season." by Nathalie Plotkin, Reviewer, Monterey Peninsula Herald

"expertly directed by Marcia Gambrell Hovick, (Jocasta) is an excellent choice for the Staff Players' season finale." Beverly Hill Van-Joolen, Reviewer, Carmel Pinecone

"Kudos should be given ... to director Marcia Gambrell Hovick..." and "a tour-de-force for Schaupp-Rousseau ...." ... "Schaupp-Rousseau's performance is as beautiful as it is moving." Chuck Thurman, Coast Weekly review of Jocasta

Review of SOLID GOLD CADILLAC

"In one of the choicest productions of the season, the Staff Players Repertory Company made a wickedly enjoyable audience experience of their current effort (CADILLAC)." ... "The moral of this fairy tale boils down to the importance of voting and that every vote counts. How this moral is arrived at, is a great evening of entertainment." Nathalie Plotkin, Monterey Peninsula Herald