William and Sue Wills
William and Sue Wills have been
working
together as a team on stage ever since the day they met doing a show
together
in Baltimore, Maryland in 1970. By the end of 2012, they will
pass 8,400 performances on stage of various shows.
For the
Presidents and Their
First
Ladies, dramatically speaking programs, William does the research (using mostly
existing
books and magazine articles and some original research), writes the
first
draft of the scripts, then Sue edits the same. Sue either "finds"
or
creates all of their costuming. Their daughter, Rebecca, is their
office manager and many years d the bookings for the over 300
appearances
each year, making the contacts, getting out the
publicity,
and handling the books. But 2012 has brought a change in Bill and Sue's
lives and they have stopped their routine of touring for 9 months every
year. They now are performing only in Florida and for special
events throughout the USA.
Sounds grueling, doesn't it ? But this is basically
the
same routine they used for 20 years when they operated their own
theater
company in the resort of Ocean City, Maryland. They presented not only
Broadway
fare, but 30 original musicals for children for which William wrote the
scripts
and Sue the music.
Those years were made more special because their
three
children grew up on stage with them:
Jennifer Hope Wills
Jennifer is now a professional Equity Actress living in NYC.
On April 15, 2006, Jennifer became
Broadway's newest Christine Daae in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and has
now become the 2nd longest running actress in that role; Jennifer ended
her run on September 4, 2010. She also has appeared on Broadway
starring as Eileen in the Broadway
musical
WONDERFUL TOWN at the Al
Hirshfeld Theater and was in the ensemble and understudy for the female
lead of Belle in
Beauty and the Beast
.
In 2011, she appeared in a lead role in "Aspects of Love" in
Philadelphia and in 2012 will portray Marian in "The Music Man" in Vero
Beach, FL and in Philadelphia, PA. Also in the summer of 2012, she
appear as Eliza in "My Fair Lady" at the Gateway Playhouse on Long
Island, NY.
In 2005, she has played lead in the musicals
Carousel in Pittsburgh and in
Finian's Rainbow in Philadelphia
Previously she appeared as Sandy in
Grease at the Paper Mill
Playhouse in New Jersey
Camelot at
the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey
Jekyll and Hyde
at The Carousel Dinner Theater in Akron, Ohio
The Secret Garden in Virgina Beach, and Norfolk, Virginia.
Besides raising her young son with her wonderful huband, Jennifer is
appearing in various Equity theaters all over the USA.
Please visit her web page
jenniferhopewills.com
Daniel Parker Wills
Dan is now 37 years
old and in December, 2006 finished serving nearly 5 years of active
duty serving his country in the Army
Airborne, Long Range Recon.
Dan went into the Army late at the age of 26 and specifically wanted
Airborne. Dan was involved with OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
where he spent one year in the Kuwait/Iraqi
theater of operation.
Dan was promoted to
Sergeant on July 1, 2004 and in 2005 went back in Iraq for his
second tour of duty. Keeping with the family's theater tradition, while
Dan was stationed in Darmstadt, Germany he appeared in the play The Compleat Works of
William Shakespeare at the base theater.
Dan has now returned to civilian life and returned to his hometown of
Ocean City, MD. The Ocean City Town Council honored Dan with a special
proclamation upon his return home. He is currently an EMT
dispatcher and volunteer fireman for the Town of Ocean City.
Rebecca Anne Wills
Becky is the mother of five,
Toran, Joe, Ripton, Ethlyn, and Yishka. Rebecca is now Office Manager
for
Presidents and Their First
Ladies
and is currently attending Seminole State College in persuit
of Licensed Practical Nurse certification.