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Playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza and Director Katherine M. Carter team up to create a new play based on the scandalous affair between "Cop Killer" Ronell Wilson and the female prison guard he impregnated, Nancy Gonzalez. The dark twist on "Boy Meets Girl" is getting ready for a Drama League Rough Draft Fellowship on May 1st and it's first staged reading this summer with the Planet Connections Festivity.
GODS & KINGS
Music by Neil Douglas Reilly, Book and Lyrics by Austin Ruffer
Directed by Katherine M. Carter
Music Producer/Supervisor: James Dobinson
Workshop Production performed at The Sheen Center, 2014
Set in "Ancient Greece," the piece uses an original alt-rock score to boldly bring to life the conflict between two young men, the unyielding king Pentheus and the anarchic god Dionysus, who each are desperately trying to establish themselves and their power. This struggle leaves Agave, the king's strong-willed mother, and the nation’s people caught in the crossfire of this epic battle. With music by Neil Douglas Reilly (Rocky, The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess) and book and lyrics by Austin Ruffer, the musical asks: Do people really have to live a life stuck between gods and kings?
Featuring: Ben Garrett* (King Pentheus), Jonathan Grunert (Dionysus), Elizabeth Ann Gray* (Agave), BJ Gruber* (Acoetes), Damian Norfleet* (Cadmus), Kyle Axman* (Ensemble), Paige Berkovitz (Ensemble), Anissa Felix (Ensemble), Emily Iaquinta* (Ensemble), Billy Joe Kiessling* (Ensemble), Heath Saunders* (Ensemble), Kim Vogels (Ensemble), Sam Weber* (Ensemble), Jessica Zambrotta (Ensemble), Wes Zurick (Ensemble)
*These Actors Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
The Creative Team: Taylor Shubert (Chorography), Ben Williams (Lighting Design), John Emmett O’Brien (Sound Design), Caitlin Cisek and Matthew Maloke (Costume Design), Katie Kennedy (Production Stage Manager), Tom Kodenbrock (Assistant Stage Manager), Diana Zambrotta (Producer), Nick Ronan (Marketing and Photographer), Chelsea Ignagni (Casting Director), Victoria Casillo (Associate Choreographer), Erin Reilly (Press Assistant), Kyle Largent (Production Assistant), Photos by Lindsay Rootare
All Photography by Nick Ronan
Creative Team:
NEIL DOUGLAS REILLY (Music) Neil Douglas Reilly has had the great pleasure of working with Ahrens & Flaherty as the orchestrator of their 54 Below Concert (and the accompanying album) Nice Fighting You, the music supervisor and co-orchestrator of a NY Pops gala in their honor, the assistant music supervisor of Ragtime at Avery Fisher Hall, the orchestration associate of Rocky on Broadway, the associate orchestrator of In Your Arms, and as an assistant on many other projects. Other work in New York includes Stars of David Off-Broadway, Porgy and Bess on Broadway, and orchestrations for concerts including New Voices Concerts, Gypsy of the Year, and Broadway Backwards. Neil is a proud member of Local 802 and the Dramatists Guild of America. Thanks, Taylor, Jack & Ally, and Austin! www.NeilDouglasReilly.com
AUSTIN RUFFER (Book & Lyrics) This is Austin's first collaboration with Neil Douglas Reilly; more will follow. His other plays include Domestic Drama, Hamilton & Burr, & Under the Sun. As a performer, he has appeared in Rough Approximations: A Devil Tale (Tenement Street Workshop), The Good Soul of Szechwan, The Bald Soprano, Time & the Conways, and at Upright Citizens Brigade. Sincere thanks to The Other Mirror for their boundless support. BFA: Marymount Manhattan College.
KATHERINE M. CARTER (Director, TOM Artistic Director) Katherine is a Michigan born, New York based director. She is the founding Artistic Director of The Other Mirror, the co-founding Artistic Director of The MITTEN Lab, the 2011-12 Playwrights Horizons Directing Resident, and a guest director at The Atlantic Theatre School and Stella Adler at NYU. Katherine is a two-time director in the Directors Company Adaptations for the Stage Workshop. Her pieces Madame Bovary, adapted by Katherine from the Flaubert novel; and Bite the Apple by Linda Manning culminated in full productions with The Other Mirror. Selected Directing Credits: Albert Herring (Boston Opera Collaborative, MA); Uncommon Women and Others (Stella Adler, NYU); Going Away (The Other Mirror, NY); La Cenrentola (BOC, MA-Winner Best Director); Les Miserables (MI: Meadow Brook Theatre‘13, Avondale Arts Center ‘14); Stories on Five Stories (Playwrights Horizons, NY). Proud member of The League of Professional Theatre Women and SDC (associate). Upcoming: Phaedra’s Cabaret at The Slipper Room, and Mirror Alchemy in October. www.KatherineMCarter.com
JAMES DOBINSON (Music Producer/Music Supervisor) James’s work as MD, composer, orchestrator and performer has been featured in theatre, film and TV around the US and in his original homeland, Australia. Super stoked to be (finally) working with former roomie/composer, Neil, and the whole company. New York: Clinton, MD; Fancy Nancy, MD; 'Til Divorce Do Us Part, Keys; Son Of A Gun, AMD. Regional (MD); Hairspray, Spring Awakening, Shrek, White Christmas. Australia: Moonshadow (Associate Conductor, Original Company); MD: Often I Find That I Am Naked (First National Tour); Assassins; Parade and so many more. Orchestrator/Arranger: Carols In The City (National Broadcast - Network 10, Australia), Tales Of An Eternal Optimist, Nobody Does It Like Me, First World White Girls, plus commissions for orchestras, film & TV. Thanks to Jake, Family, JBS & Stephen Amos for all being formative.
The brain child of designer Caitlin Cisek, Mirror Alchemy is a theatrical installation questioning how we are perceived as artists and making the impossible-possible.
Mirror Alchemy features seven actors portraying their “atypical dream role," and capture that metamorphosis. Mirror Alchemy will be documenting this project from the audition room to a special photo shoot as your “impossible” character.
Mirror Alchemy will culminate in a final theatrical installation and benefit performance on October 30th (Location TBD). The installation will include the finished photos, a short documentary video about the creation of the piece, and performances.
From creator Caitlin Cisek: “It’s about introspection; the inward examination of the field and our understanding of how we see ourselves as an artist. It’s about saying, as a community, that everyday we make the impossible, possible.”
Directed by Katherine M. Carter, Produced by Diana Zambrotta, Photography by Nick Ronan, Casting by Chelsea Ignagni
Bryn Carter received her BA in Theatre from NYU/Tisch (studios: Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Stonestreet Studios for Film/TV). Since then she has had roles in multiple shorts, music videos, and contemporary plays, but has always felt a strong connection to the characters of Ibsen, Chekhov, Shakespeare, among others. Though she has been fortunate enough to play many strong, iconic roles, including Cleopatra and Richard II, and countless more in the comfort of a learning setting, she feels compelled to do her part in this project in the hopes of expanding and challenging our notions of type in classic theatre. Bryn was last seen in the Playwrights Horizon’s reading of Serial Black Face by Janine Nabers, directed by Carolyn Cantor, as well as the lead in an interactive music video directed by Michael Litwak.
Phoebe Halkowich knew she was an actress at age 7 when she played the little mouse who got shot and died in the battle scene of Magda Aunon’s School of Ballet’s Nutcracker in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Cut to 20 years later, Phoebe may be found still perfecting the art of dying theatrically in her cozy Harlem walk up apartment... which doubles as a think tank, refugee camp for tortured actors, and storage facility for her vintage hat collection. The New Yorker called Ms. Halkowich the “hilarious comic relief” in her role as the White Slave in Desiree Burch’s Tar Baby, which ran to sold out performances at DR2 last year under the direction of the incredible Isaac Byrne. Look out for Phoebe on reruns of Celebrity Ghost Stories-The Jimmy Walker Story on the Biography Channel.
Joe Galan is an actor, comedian, writer and general clown. As a member of the sketch troupe FUCT, he has performed in the Comedy Central sponsored New York Comedy Festival, as well as theaters and festivals throughout New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto, Austin and elsewhere. Joe also performs regularly with the clown troupe Everybody Nose NYC. Joe has garnered additional training at UCB and with the People’s Improv Theatre, where he currently teaches Sketch Comedy Writing.
Haley Traub is a Brooklyn-based actor and writer. She is a founding member of the pop-up collective Carroll Simmons, which specializes in performance art based on figures of pop culture. Most recently she was seen in Carroll Simmons' inaugural production Too Many Lenas at Dixon Place. She can also be seen in a variety of CollegeHumor sketches, as well as heard narrating audio books (of the harlequin variety). She holds a BFA in drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Currently she is studying improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and is thrilled to be a part of Mirror Alchemy.
Peter John Wallace is a NYC-based actor whose work has appeared locally and internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Marionette Festival in Paris. Recent credits include The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Under St. Marks) and Faith Hope and Charity (Atlantic Acting School). He is the Artistic Director of The Plinth, whose inaugural production of The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine was featured in this year's New York International Fringe Festival. L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq.
Jessica Zambrotta is thrilled to be a part of her very first performance with The Other Mirror. She is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Acting. Jessica is an Artistic Associate with TOM and was a part of their production team for the NYC Fringe Festival production of Bite the Apple as well as their most recent reading of Going Away. This past Fall Jessica completed Level One with Improvolution under the teaching of Holly Mandel; she is excited to complete Level Two this Spring. She also could be seen in The Cider Mill Playhouse production of Tintypes as Emma Goldman. Jessica has an affinity for the classics and is a graduate of the BADA Summer in Oxford Program. Some of her favorite roles over the years include Betty in Betty's Summer Vacation, Cindy in To Gillian...37th Birthday and Adelaide in Guys and Dolls.
Going Away was presented at The Directors Studio in November 2013. Inspired by E.M Forsters Albergo Empedcoles, Sam Dash's new play explores how we heal ourselves, others, and the consequences that follow. The play featured: Timothy Hassler, Sam Dash, Carole Healey, Vanessa Bartlett, Robert O'Gorman, and Jessica Arinella.
Designs by: Kortney Barber (Sound), Dan Winters (Lights), and Caitlin Cisek (Costume Book)
Written by Sam Dash, Directed by Katherine M. Carter
Spiro Productions teamed up with The Other Mirror to bring a new take on this classic musical to Meadowbrook Theatre in Rochecster Michigan. The production featured local talent and garnished rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. All of the five performances sold out before opening night on June 27th, 2013.
Produced by Justin Spiro, Directed by Katherine M. Carter, Musical Direction by Jim Territo, Movement by Roberta Campion
Upcoming Production: To Be Announced Summer 2015
Bite the Apple was presented at the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival at the New Ohio Theater in lower Manhattan. Playwright Linda Manning and Director Katherine M. Carter had started collaborating on the piece at The Directors Company Adaptations for the Stage Workshop in 2011. The Other Mirror production featured; Jessica Arinella, Annette Arnold, Diana Henry, Linda Manning, Amy Young, and Diana Zambrotta. Designs by; Caitlin Cisek (Costumes), Sheryl Liu (Set), Kourtney Barber (Sound), and Ben Weil (Lights). Production Stage Manager Stephanie Armitage.
Written by Linda Manning, Directed by Katherine M. Carter
Madame Bovary was presented through a workshop residency at 3LD Art and Technology Center in December 2011. Adapted from Flaubert's infamous novel, Katherine Carter's adaptation explored the story through Emma's memory in the moment before death. The production featured; Amy Young, Sam Dash, Logan Hall, James Parent, and Brad Thomason. Designs by; Caitlin Cisek (Costumes), Julia Noulin-Merat (Set), John Jalandoni (Projections/Logo), Colleen Toole (Sound), and Ben Weill (Lights). The Production Stage Manager was Katie Kavett.
Directed by Katherine M. Carter