River Benson

River Benson is delighted to be back onstage with Red Octopus Theatre Company, this time as Frau Fahrenkopf in The Night of the Iguana. Her local stage adventures have included The Taming of the Shrew, The Odd Couple, Man of La Mancha, Coriolanus, and a favorite, Sex Please! We’re Sixty, where she played the wonderfully Southern Charmaine Beauregard. Offstage, River is the founder of Joy & Forge Forward, creating experiences that invite curiosity, reflection, and a little more play into being human. She is also a fiber and mixed-media artist and firmly believes that one never grows too old to play make-believe.

Geoff Levear

Geoff has designed and built sets for twelve years in Newport,Portland and Clackamas Oregon.

Also in Phoenix, Mesa and Fountain Hills Arizona.

His favorite shows in Newport were “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” “On Golden Pond” and “The Spirits of Silvia Beach”

Bonnie Ross

Prior to retiring to the Oregon Coast, Bonnie spent decades acting, directing, costuming, propping, and designing for theater productions in Carson City NV, Portland OR, and Colorado Springs CO. She has since participated in many productions in Newport and Lincoln City. Favorite roles have been Polly in Other Desert Cities for Red Octopus, Vivian Bearing in Wit for Porthole Players, Marjorie in Marjorie Prime and Maude in Harold and Maude, both for Theatre West. She directed The House of Bernarda Alba for Porthole Players and Doubt for Red Octopus, as well as Amahl and the Night Visitors. She plans to continue her theater addiction as long as she can climb ladders and memorize lines. So grateful to Red O for the privilege of directing her favorite Tennessee Williams play, and for a cast that was willing to go places they didn't think they could go.