Theatre Arlington Honors 10 New Inductees for 2025 Walk of Fame

Published on August 08, 2025

By Hannah Bell, Theatre Arlington Director of Sales & Marketing

Theatre Arlington says, “I’m Proud of You!," with the opening of its next show and by adding 10 new bronze medallions to its Walk of Fame. The opening reception takes place 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 in the theatre's lobby. The walk recognizes artists who have been part of a Theatre Arlington production and gone on to do work beyond Arlington.

The 10 honorees in the Class of 2025 include:

David Coffee

One of Theatre Arlington’s favorite actors! You’ve seen him in Fly by Night, On Golden Pond and Visting Mr. Green, but he also travels every year since 1992 to Beverly, Mass., to be Scrooge for North Shore Music Theatre’s A Christmas Carol, where he also has appeared as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Pellinore in Camelot. His resume includes television, film and commercial work, and he has performed at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Stages in St. Louis.

Cheryl Ford-Mente

She’s is Theatre Arlington royalty and been a major force in shaping the theater on stage and off since the theater’s beginning. For 14 years, she was the host of the ACE Award-winning cable TV talk show, Around Arlington, and was one of the executive directors for the Creative Arts Theatre & School (CATS). She has performed in more than 50 regional theater productions and appeared in a 2008 episode of AMC and FX’s Breaking Bad.

Jim Johnson

Longtime Theatre Arlington patrons will recognize his name and big baritone voice from productions like Oliver!, Das Barbecue and Annie Get Your Gun. He has starred as Drew Peterson in the television movie Murder Made Me Famous and as the Cowboy Poet, a recurring role in A&E’s western Longmire. Most recently, he played the Jury Foreman in the film Civic Duty. He can be seen and heard in a number of commercials, both local and national. He also regularly voices characters for both anime and video games.

Denise Lee

She is a recent addition to Theatre Arlington’s roster of talent as Baneatta Mabry in Chicken & Biscuits and has performed one of her cabarets in the theater’s lobby. She is also a playwright and her play, Funny, You Don’t Act Like a Negro, made its world premiere at Theatre Three. Her film credits include Hiding in Plain Sight, The Last Exorcism and Saving Jessica Lynch. She has been on television in Queen Sugar, Queen of the South, Friday Night Lights, The Lying Game and the reboot of Dallas. She has performed in China, at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Max Marquez

Theatre Arlington’s former technical director has taken his technical skills all the way to Broadway! He has worked as head electrician for Hamilton after joining the show in 2018 as assistant electrician. He also has worked as an electrician for Broadway’s Billy Elliot the Musical and the stage musical of Dirty Dancing and assistant electrician for Waitress starring Sara Bareilles at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. His current project is Purple Rain, a new musical about Prince.

Shannon McGrann

Another Theatre Arlington audience favorite for her roles as Della in The Cake and Truvy in Steel Magnolias. She has done regional theater in Oklahoma and San Francisco and in the area at Stage West, Dallas Theater Center and Theatre Three. Her impressive resume includes numerous local and national commercials. She also played Carrie Fisher in the ABC television movie series The Price of Fame, and Vada Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald’s sister-in-law in the TV movie series Fatal Deceptions: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald. Her television roles include Fox’s The Good Guys, HBO Max’s Love & Death, NetFlix’s Look Both Ways and Taylor Sheridan’s 1923.

Addie Morales

Morales was a Theatre Arlington theater kid who dazzled everyone in youth productions, most notably as Glinda in The Wizard of Oz and Belle in Beauty & the Beast. She’s all grown up now and dazzling even more people starring in the national tour of Les Miserables as Cosette. Her regional theater credits include West Side Story at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Barrington Stage Company, North Carolina Theatre and New London Barn; The Sound of Music and In the Heights at the Marriott Theatre, and Evita at the Drury Lane Theatre. She also has appeared on TV in NBC’s Law & Order SVU, like all good New York actors!

Cathy O’Neal

A former stage manager at Theatre Arlington for 11 years, she learned all about stage managing here before becoming a professional Actors’ Equity stage manager and working for regional theaters for a total of 22 years. She took her stage management skills to Broadway twice as part of the stage management teams for Broadway Backwards, the main fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, where she got to work in Broadway’s Hirschfield Theatre and the Palace Theatre with stars like Betty Buckley, Estelle Parsons, Andrew Rannells and Len Cariou, the original Sweeney Todd. She also has appeared on television as a bartender in the final season of The OC and a court spectator on the Dallas reboot.

Ira Steck

Steck worked as theater arts program director at Lamar High School for six years and brought his acting talent to Theatre Arlington as well as Stage West, Kitchen Dog Theater and Shakespeare Dallas. He founded Meadows Basement, an award-winning, critically acclaimed non-profit theater company in Los Angeles. He also has had recurring roles on television in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Monk and Firefly.

Bryan Stevenson

Theatre Arlington’s technical director, lighting designer and sometimes director has designed at many area theater companies, including Fort Worth’s Shakespeare in the Park, Stage West, Jubilee and Circle Theatre. Nationally, he is known for his design work for the Boy Scouts of America National Conferences and shows. He is an active participant in the United Institute of Theatre Technology, where he has served on panels on lighting and scenic design. 

The theater’s Walk of Fame was unveiled with 21 honorees in 2023 as part of its 50thanniversary celebration. Some have gone to Broadway, some have done television and films; they’ve won Grammys, Emmys, and been nominated for Golden Globes and even a New York Times bestselling author!

About I'm Proud of You!

Following the honorees' reception is the opening night performance of I’m Proud of You! based on the book by former Star-Telegram writer Tim Madigan and adapted for the stage by Madigan and Harry Parker, Texas Christian University theater arts professor. Parker also directs the play about Madigan’s longtime friendship with Mr. Rogers, famed children’s television host, after Madigan wrote a feature article about him. 

I’m Proud of You! runs through Aug. 24 at Theatre Arlington at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased on the venue's website or by calling the Box Office at (817) 275-7661. Theatre Arlington is located at 305 W. Main St. in Downtown Arlington.