Chad Allen Joins Valerie Harper in Looped, Replacing Jarrod Emick

Chad Allen will join Valerie Harper in the pre-Broadway engagement of Matthew Lombardo's Lopped, which begins previews on December 31 at the Ciullo Centre for the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. He replaces Tony winner Jarrod Emick, who "was released earlier this week," according to a press release issued on December 26. Allen had performed alongside Harper in the world premiere production of Looped at the Pasadena Playhouse this past summer. Looped is set to open in Florida on January 7 and will run through February 15, directed by Rob Ruggiero.

Looped is the story of Tallulah Bankhead, one of Hollywood’s original celebrity “bad girls.” The first of the tabloid queens, Bankhead was notorious for wild partying and scandalous affairs with fellow male and female celebrities. The show follows Bankhead as she enters a film studio to re-record or “loop” a single line of dialogue for her final film, Die, Die My Darling, an event that spurs a showdown between an uptight sound editor and the outrageous star.

Allen joined the cast of TV's St. Elsewhere at age eight as Tommy Westphall, an autistic boy, and remained with the show throughout its run. He plays Eric Whitlow in <i>Night Shift</i>, SoapNet's nighttime version of <i>General Hospital</i> Allen's theater credits include TheaterWorks Hartford's production of The Little Dog Laughed and the recent world premiere of Sea Change at the Davidson/Valenti Theater in Los Angeles.