The F. Scott Black Theatre is home, at least for a few days, to Allison Comotto who plays Ariel and her cast members. Her theater experience began around the corner, at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland. She was Piglet in Eeyore’s Christmas Present and performed with CPM for 9 years. Her last show with them was The Little Mermaid Jr. – she was Ariel then too! Other venues include Spotlighters Theatre and Dundalk Community Theatre. Allison plans to be active in the Baltimore theatre community as long as she’s able! It’s her passion and adds a great balance of work and play to her life. She says she is lucky to live in such an active, professional city of artists.
Derek Cooper who plays Sebastian started acting in high school theatre and continued while attending Lynchburg College where he earned a B.A. in Theatre and graduated Magna cum Laude in 2011. He’s performed in Catch Me if You Can as Agent Dollar at the Dundalk Community Theatre. By day, Derek works as an early childhood and theatre specialist, mentoring younger children. In 2015 he wrote the musical, The Rainbow Crow, which was performed at the Pumpkin Theatre in Owings Mills. He loves Disney roles because they are a heavy spectacle of animation, music, color and a visual sensory feast. He enjoys playing Sebastian, especially the humor (likes making people laugh) and in line with his day job, relates to mentoring Ariel. A side note: as a kid he was terrified of the Little Mermaid!
Holly Gibbs, cast as Ursula, fell in love with theatre as a child and told her Mom from a very early age that she was going to end up on Broadway. And while that hasn’t happened yet, the role of Ursula is on her bucket list. She’s been told by more than one person to move to one of the known “theatre” cities after college (NYC, Chicago, etc.) but chose to stay here and get a full-time, “regular” job to start paying school loans off and afford life. Her dream is to make acting a full-time job, and that is her ultimate goal. In the meantime, she is happy working on her craft and performing whenever and wherever she can. Holly enjoys performing the song “Daddy’s Little Angel” where Ursula reveals why she became who she is, and why she is seeking revenge on her brother, Triton, through his daughter, Ariel. No one expects it, and Holly loves the layers it adds to her character. The audience should both love Ursula and love to hate her.
