Preamble

In the fall of 2009, high profile acting coach and Broadway veteran director, Herbert Garrison, began to make theatre history out of his well respected studio in Los Angeles, California. Garrison's conservatory there had been a magnet for celebrities and Hollywood up and comers for nearly 20 years when he decided to expand his already venerable program. With a lineup of his most promising young talent, Garrison created South Park, a controversial soap opera style improvisational program that aired live once a week from Garrison's LA theatre. The concept was simple. Each week, the characters (highly fictionalized versions of the actors, themselves,) would take the stage and act through scenes in front of an audience. There was no script- only very rough outlines of the plot, leaving the actors free to truly rely on the instincts of their characters. The original 11 cast members with their names, current ages, and South Park pseudonym surnames are:

Eric Reliance Bateman- Eric Cartman (16)

Kyle Weinstein- Kyle Broflovski (15)

Stanley Doe Smith- Stan Marsh (17)

Kenneth Frain-Burke- Kenny McCormick (16)

David Samuel- Token Black (17)

Wendy Hasslebeck- Wendy Testaburger (15)

Leopold Colin Stough- Leopold "Butters" Stotch (17)

Rebecca Walters- Rebecca "Red" Rader (16)

Craig Wilson Jones- Craig Tucker (17)

Bridon Efron- Bridon Guermo (15)

Brenda Ann Bergman- Brenda "Bebe" Stevens (15)

Clyde Foster – Clyde Donovan (15)

It should be noted that although South Park was extremely influential in skyrocketing many of these young stars to prominence in Hollywood, all of the actors had pre-existing careers prior to the show. The most famous of these being of course, Kenneth Frain-Burke, the son of former supermodel, Carol Frain-Burke, whose music career as a popular artist had launched at a mere 11 years of age. Prior to South Park, Frain-Burke was a Grammy winner, and a respected indie film actor. Kyle Weinstein and Stanley Doe Smith had worked as child actors together, providing voices for animated characters. Brenda Ann Bergman and David Samuel had already accrued respectable careers as print models, and Leopold Colin Stough was the son of famous film director, Stephen Stough. Bridon Efron, Rebecca Waters, and Wendy Hasslebeck were recruited from Broadway. Eric Reliance Bateman had tenure on day time soap operas.

As South Park grew in popularity and prominence, Garrison added three new additions to his cast for the second season. These included Kyle Weinstein's younger brother, Ike Weinstein [Ike Broflovski (14)], Hollywood newbie, Doug Leigh-Danvers, [Doug "Dougie" Olsen (14)], and French rock star, Christophe Jean-Benoit [Christophe Henri (17)]. Jean-Benoit, although unknown in the US, was a young rock star from Stade Roland Garros. His name may be familiar for the French tabloid reports of his family's rumored ties with a crime syndicate. Garrison asked Jean-Benoit to sign on to the show after watching him perform at the French Open. However, what Garrison did not anticipate was how Jean Benoit would affect his cast, and in particular, his star actor, Kenneth Frain-Burke. Had he known, it is unclear if he would have offered a role to the young Frenchman.

This is their story.