Thea Vidale

	March 12-13

Vidale is perhaps best remembered for her primetime ABC sitcom "Thea" for which she was nominated for a People’s Choice Award as Favorite Female In A New Series. In the show, Thea portrayed Thea Turrell, a widowed mother of four who works in a Houston supermarket by day and r uns a one-chair beauty salon on the corner of her porch in the evenings. The show’s appeal was centered in her heart-warming portrayal of a no-nonsense mother shepherding her children through their formative years. Bernie Kukoff and Andrew Susskind served as executive producers of the Castle Rock Entertainment production.

Formerly a wise-cracking, working-class waitress in Pasadena, Texas, Vidale made her stage debut in 1986 at a local comedy club’s amateur night. Soon after, she found herself starring in Edinburgh, Scotland’s "Fringe Festival," the prestigious "Just for Laughs Comedy Festival," and Rodney Dangerlield’s HBO special, "Where’s Rodney." She has starred in numerous cable specials including "Def Comedy Jam," "Comedy from the Danger Zone," "A Pair of Jokers" and "Comedy’s Dirtiest Dozen.

Vidale’s success can be attributed to a stand-up act that is anything but mild. Her substantial physical presence can only underscore her raw, confrontational depiction of American culture. Yet audiences from Houston to Europe, and from the Caribbean to Australia are drawn to Vidale because a warmth and honesty pervades her hard-edged material.

With Jimmie Roulette