The Players

Charles Edward Pogue (Ben Hecht) is appearing in his fourth role for AGL since returning to Kentucky after nearly thirty years in Los Angeles. The role of screenwriter Ben Hecht is one Mr. Pogue intimately understands. His early acting ambitions, which saw him appear onstage with Charlton Heston and Jeremy Brett in The Crucifer of Blood, were interrupted by a flourishing screenwriting career, during which he wrote such films as: The Fly, Psycho III, DOA, and Dragonheart. THE FLY, hailed as "a masterpiece of horror", garnered a place on the National Board of Review’s Ten Best List for 1984. Both THE FLY and DRAGONHEART won Best Picture Awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. His novel of Dragonheart has been published worldwide.He has written three Sherlock Holmes films. SIGN OF FOUR won first prize at the Cattolica Mystery Film Festival and HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES was hailed at the Moscow Film Festival "as the definitive Holmes." His third Holmes movie, Hands of a Murderer was acclaimed for its "snap, crackle-and-pop script." NBC aired his mini-series, HERCULES. A prize-winning mystery-comedy, Whodunnit, Darling?, written with actor Larry Drake, premiered at Studio Players. Actors Guild premiered his Sherlock Holmes play, The Ebony Ape, which he also directed. It was touted as a "stylish adaptation…done with panache." Mr. Pogue has performed principal parts in such plays as Cyrano De Bergerac, Duchess of Malfi, The Rainmaker, The Birthday Party, Hay Fever, Angel Street, Oklahoma, Hecuba, & Flea In Her Ear. Onstage, he’s supported stars such as Martha Raye, Cyd Charisse, Bob Denver, Shelley Berman, and Yvonne DeCarlo. For Actors Guild, he has previously appeared as Versati the Poet in The Underpants; Orgon in Tartuffe, which he also translated and adapted for the production; and Claudius in this season’s Hamlet, which was featured in "American Theatre Magazine." He’s been featured in "People," "Premiere," "Entertainment Weekly," "Cinefantastique," on the BBC, countless radio shows and websites. In 1996, he received the first "Distinguished Alumni Award" from the University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts. He is a proud member of WGA, SAG, AFTRA, Actor’s Equity, and The Dramatists Guild. He’s lectured at many universities and film festivals as far off as Cannes, Beaune, and Sao Paulo. His fierce advocacy for writers’ creative rights got him twice elected to the WGA Board of Directors. He currently sits on Actors Guild’s Board of Directors. He now resides in Georgetown, Kentucky, with his wife, Julieanne, a psychotherapist, actress, director, and narrator of books on tape, who last appeared in AGL’s Boston Marriage.

Eric Johnson (Victor Fleming) has done a lot of shows over the last 25-plus years, in Lexington and Woodford County. It’s been quite a while since he has worked with Actors Guild of Lexington, but in years past has performed in a number of AGL shows, including the roles of Sherlock Holmes in the world premiere of Charles Edward Pogue’s The Ebony Ape, and Kevin in AGL’s new-play festival production of Connemara Dreaming, directed by Walter May. With Studio Players he has played Starbuck in The Rainmaker, and Damocles Cole (think Nick Charles) in the premiere of Chuck Pogue’s Whodunnit, Darling? For the Lexington Shakespeare Festival, he’s portrayed both Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady in separate productions of Inherit the Wind, the Duke in Measure for Measure, and Athos in The Three Musketeers, among others. For the last few years he has acted exclusively in his home county of Woodford, working with the Woodford County Theatrical Arts Association. With WCTAA he’s had the fun of playing roles as diverse as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the Old Man in A Christmas Story, Jaques in As You Like It, and Dracula. Daytimes, he is a fulltime artist, working out of his own gallery on North Main Street in Versailles. He implores you to come visit.