Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 46F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 46F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Updated: October 8, 2025 @ 8:10 pm
Gorge natives Jesse and Laurel Merz star in the upcoming production of the Tony-Award winning musical 'Bye Bye Birdie' at Longview Stageworks, Southwest Washington's professional theatre company.
The show runs from Feb. 8 - 17 at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in Longview.
Laurel Merz will play the leading role of Rosie.
Laurel (formerly Schuepbach) grew up in Hood River, and graduated from Hood River Valley High School in 1998. She is currently a pre-nursing student at Lower Columbia College.
She is the daughter of Lynne and Charlie Schuepbach of Hood River.
Jesse Merz plays the leading role of Albert, a role he also performed at HRV in 1989.
Jesse grew up in Parkdale, graduated from HRV in 1992, and received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Acting from New York University in 1996.
Jesse is the artistic director of Longview Stageworks and the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre.
He is the son of Jan James of White Salmon, and Lew Merz, Jr. of Hood River.
The couple married in September, 2000. They spend their summers at the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre in White Salmon.
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