WHO'S WHO IN THE WINTER 2009 WRITER/DIRECTOR FORUM
WEEK 1
McKENNA DABS (assistant director/stage manager)
ALEXANDRA RUBIN (assistant director/stage manager)
ELENA NASKOVA (playwright)
DANA DOBREVA (director)
AKUA DOKU (Mother/Female Policeman)
SCOTT MARTIN (Male Policeman)
ALLISON MATTOX (Bride/Student)
MAGGIE O'TOOLE (Woman)
DINA ROSS’ (playwright) plays include Waiting (nominated for a Green Room Award, broadcast on ABC Radio National) and Trio, a critical and box office success which tours regularly. In 2007 Dina was invited to become an Affiliate Writer with Melbourne Theatre Company, and wrote the musical Summer Season for the MTC Hard Lines programme. Chrysalis (2008) was a Theatre Studies examination text and is published by Currency Press. Dina’s shorter plays have been presented at Short & Sweet (Sydney) and The Looking Glass Theatre (New York). The Suitcase, winner of the 2008 Gippsland Theatre Festival Playwriting Award, was presented at the inaugural Short & Sweet One Act Play Festival in Sydney 2008. Her latest play Cropped is one of the winners of the USA's Virtual Theatre Project Drama Award 2009, out of more than 1,000 scripts submitted internationally.
SARAH ELIZABETH WANSLEY (director)
JOHN GRAHAM (B)
AMY WILSON (A)
The Life and Death of Joshua Zweig
LAUREN YEE 's (playwright) honors include a MacDowell Colony residency and membership into The Public Theater Emerging Writers Group. She was a finalist for the Djerassi, the Heideman, the Jerome, the PONY, and the Princess Grace, as well as a nominee for the Wasserstein Prize. She has received commissions from the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, O’Neill Studio, and PlayGround. Following recent productions at Berkeley’s Impact Theatre, Minneapolis’s Mu Performing Arts, and the New York Fringe Festival, her play Ching Chong Chinaman will debut at New York’s Pan Asian Rep and Seattle’s SIS Productions in 2010. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD (conferment 2012). www.laurenyee.com
MARIE DARDEN (director) is thrilled to be a part of the Looking Glass Forum once again. She directed Chicken with Stars here as well as was an Assistant Director/Stage Manager for the Forum some seasons ago. Marie directed Iceberg at the American Theatre of Actors as well as Caution: The True Imagined Story of My Parents Romance at the Impact Theatre in Brooklyn and for one performance at the American Globe Theatre in midtown. Thanks to her wonderful cast and ADs!
MATT W. CODY (Joshua Zweig): Regional: Sleuth, Around the World in 80 Days (Nominee: Best Lead Actor, NH Theater Awards) (Winni Playhouse), The Night of Nosferatu (Rabbit Hole Ensemble/Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater). New York: The Patron Saint of Plants (Ensemble Studio Theater), Ramona’s Kidnapper (Urban Stages), The Good Negro (Lark Theater), Tickets, Please! (Algonquin Theater Productions), White Paper (Kraine Theater), Journey of the Fifth Horse (Ward Studio). With Rabbit Hole Ensemble: Shadow of Himself, Big Thick Rod (FringeNYC). Film: “Life Passion Death,” “Never Say Jesus,” “Substandard,” “Star Crossed Lovers,” “The Mark.” Resident Artist with Rabbit Hole Ensemble. www.mattwcody.com
EMILY KARPIUK (Annabelle), currently a Looking Glass acting intern, is thrilled to be working on The Life and Death of Joshua Zweig. Emily is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a graduate from the Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Musical Theatre 2009. Emily would like to thank everyone at The Looking Glass Theatre for everything they have taught her.
JONATHAN YOUNG (Dead Josh/Sergeant/Another Josh) has recently been seen in NYC as Phillip Glass in Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread (The Bridge Theatre), Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (NY Theatre Alliance) and as a Nixonian-like dog-loving quirky Broadway producer in Tip My Cup’s 24-Hour Play Festival (Chasama 42). Favorite past roles include John Proctor in The Crucible and Bert Jefferson in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Later this month, Jonathan can be seen in the Unknown Artists’ Production of A Norman Rockwell Birthday with the Donners at The Bridge Theatre. When not on stage, Jonathan stays busy as a substitute teacher, personal trainer, and basketball coach. RIPMJJ.
WEEK 2
VIRGINA MONTE (assistant director/stage manager): An artist and theatrical designer/director, is excited to be included in this 2009 Winter Writer/Director Forum. Currently completing an internship with the Shadowbox Theatre, some past design credits include Properties Design on House of Blue Leaves, and Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge (Gallery Players), Hello, Dolly!, Blood Brothers, and The Producers (MWV Theatre Co.); Set design for Four Dogs and a Bone (Little Light); and Costume Design for Die Zauberflöte, Aria da Capo (Stetson University), Inherit the Wind, Cats, Beauty and the Beast, Seussical, Peter Pan, and The Wizard of Oz. www.virginiamonte.com
JENN WOMACK (assistant director/stage manager) is thrilled to be a part of the Forum and is inspired by the directors whom she is assisting. In her other life, Jenn is an entertainment attorney, arts consultant, and voice-over artist. Jenn's past directorial credits include: The Big Bang, The Rocky Horror Show, Stop Kiss, Fiddler on the Roof, Moon Over Buffalo, Uncommon Women and Others, and other new developmental works. www.perceptivearts.com.
Turtle Beach
AOISE STRATFORD (playwright) work has been produced in Canada, Italy, Australia, Belgium, England, and throughout the USA. She is the recipient of several awards including the Alan Minieri Award and A Pinter Review Prize for Drama Silver Medal. More recently she won the Looking Glass Spring Forum Best playwright award for The Things She Kept. She has been a finalist for the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award and been nominated for an American Theatre Critics’ Association New Play Award. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and regularly teaches writing.
ARIEL FRANCOEUR (director) makes her NYC directing debut with Turtle Beach. Previously, she worked at the Looking Glass Theater as an AD/SM in the Spring '09 Writer/Director Forum. Past directorial credits include Wharf Rats, Lysistrata, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Machinal, all in the wonderful city of Portland, Maine. As an actor, Ariel specializes in Shakespeare, Improv, and NYU student films. Most recently, she played "Hermia" and "Snug" in the Fenix Theatre Company's acclaimed produciton of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and "Amanda" in the web series "The Little Apple." Next up she is directing a one-act play for the Queens Players in the Act 5 One Act Festival. Proud graduate of the University of Southern Maine.
REBECCA KOPEC (May) is thrilled to be making her debut at The Looking Glass Theatre and proud to be a part of Turtle Beach. Some favorite roles in the past include Little Red Ridinghood in Into the Woods, Lenny in Crimes of the Heart, and the FishWitch in The Little Mermaid at The Players Theatre. Most recently, she has completed the independent feature film The Best Laid Plans which is currently listed as in post-production on IMDB. Rebecca plans on continuing performing in all mediums and is excited about life and all its possibilities!
ALISON YATES (Beverly), currently a Looking Glass acting intern, is originally hails from Washington D.C. She graduated with a B.F.A in Acting from Boston University College of Fine Arts. She also trained classically at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and studied clowning at The Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Her most recent credits include the premiere of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Knickerbocker directed by Nicky Martin at The Williamstown Theatre Festival (Waitress), the workshop productions of Alice in Wonder-less Land (Alice) and Armageddon (Emma) directed by Adam Stone, and the Off-Broadway production of Pope Joan directed by Tara Lynn Sen (Joan). University Credits include: Red Noses, Coriolanus, The Deported, The Country Wife, and Lizzie Stranton. She is a member of The Actor’s Project.
Where Time is Money
SUSAN PRICE MONNOT (playwright) is a New Orleans playwright with over thirty distinctions for playwriting excellence and more than 20 productions featured in eight states across the U.S. Susan is a member of The Playwrights’ Center and the Dramatists Guild of America. You can read more about Susan’s work at www.susanpricemonnot.com.
KAREN POBICKI (Director) is pleased to be making her NYC directorial debut! Prior NYC credits include the Looking Glass Theatre’s Spring 2009 Forum and Hatching at FringeNYC 2009. She has worked extensively in theater in New Jersey for the last ten years, including directing Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things and A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters. She has also directed award-winning short films for NYC Midnight, a speed-filmmaking competition. Many thanks to her wonderful cast, ADs and all the brilliant creative women of the Looking Glass. Thanks also to her soon-to-be husband for supporting her as she once again takes on too many things at once.
VICTORIA MYERS (Bernice), currently a Looking Glass acting intern, grew up in Ohio and currently lives above the Museum of Modern Art with her rotund Pomeranian, who stars in highly-lauded YouTube films. She is co-founder of Sparkification Productions that most recently produced Here’s to the Ladies who CARE : A Benefit for CARE International at New World Stages. She enjoys the color pink, the state of Vermont, and Bergdorf Goodman’s. Her life goals are to learn to tap dance, appear on "Kathie Lee and Hoda" and win a Noble Prize.
KATE TENETKO (Kimberly) ) was originally born in St. Petersburg, Russia where she was first introduced to acting and theater by her mother. She recently moved to New York from Philadelphia after having received her B.A. in Communications and Theater from Temple University. In Philadelphia, she performed in roles such as Sara in Mr. Kolpert with Inspiron Theater Company and the title role in Hedda Gabler at Temple University, directed by Felipe Jergara. Kate is excited to be making her Looking Glass Theatre debut and is so grateful for having had such a great collaborative and creative group of women to work side by side with. Kate would like to thank her mother for accepting her marriage to poverty and anyone that has ever inspired her to create. Just be.
WEEK 3
CAMILLE AVERSO (assistant director/stage manager) is very excited about her first project with The Looking Glass Theatre. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a BA in Directing. Along with Directing, she has extensive experience in technical theatre as well as theatre administration within NYC and Regionally. She would like to thank all of her loved ones for all their support!
ALEX MALLORY (assistant director/stage manager) is a director recently transplanted from San Francisco. Directing highlights include Lebensraum, Cabaret, In Darfur and the original production of Goliath by Takeo Rivera, for which she won the Kennedy Center’s Student Directing Award. Assistant Directing: Ching Chong Chinaman (Pan Asian Rep), Babes in Toyland (Little Orchestra Society), The Bereaved (Partial Comfort Productions). Alex is a graduate of Stanford University, where she received the Louis Sudler Prize in Creative Arts and the Sherifa Omade Edoga Prize for work involving social issues.
Who is Killing the Great Actresses?
ANN FIRESTONE UNGAR (playwright)
MAUREEN STANLEY (director)
EVAN FARRIOR (He/Composer)
SALLY HUGHES (Actress)
MICHELLE POYNTON (Actress)
COREY ROBERTS (Actor)
LUCY SPAIN (Actress)
Breakfast
KARIN DIANN WILLIAMS (playwright/Café Patron 1)
LIZ VARNER (director)
SUSAN BURNS (Woman) is proud to be a part of the Winter 2009 Forum at The Looking Glass Theatre. Originally from Seattle, WA, Susan received a B.A. in theatre from Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Her favorite stage roles include Bride in Blood Wedding and Lucy in Dracula. You can also catch here onstage at the Richmond Shepard Theatre where she writes and acts with the Complete Theatre Company.
LAUREL CASILLO (Josie) is a Marymount Manhattan College graduate with a BA in Theatre Performance. She also studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in the two-year Meisner program. Recent credits include; Stage- Nanny in What a Life (Center Stage, NY), Liz in Cordially Invited (Woodstock Fringe), Christie, Nanny, Jenny, and Ensemble in Don’t Step on the Cracks (New York Fringe Festival), Carol in Black Comedy (Shadowland Theatre), Rose Weiss in A Shayna Maidel (Chenango River Theatre); Television- "Nurse Jackie," "30 Rock;" Film- Cassie in Evil Things, Julie in What We Do, Lara in Shifting. She is a proud founding member of Five Flights Theater Company.
JOHN PAUL HARKINS (Jones) is very happy to make his Looking Glass Theatre debut and to be a part of a women playwrights festival. Recent roles include Jesus in When Pilate met Jesus, multiple parts including Casca in Julius Caesar, Arviragus in Cymbeline (all at American Theatre of Actors),and Oberon in A Mini-Midsummer Night's Dream at the West 89th Street Community Garden Theatre. John Paul studied Drama in college at the University of Dallas, and Acting in graduate school at Purdue. Merry Christmas! "God bless us, every one.
ELYSEE INZNUNZA (Liana) currently a Looking Glass acting intern, is so thrilled to make her Looking Glass Theater debut in Breakfast! She is a recent graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and has been acting here in New York City for about two years now. She wishes to thank all her family and friends for their support and love!
DAVID LAWSON's (Ralph) credits include Stuff Happens (Zeitgeist Stage, Boston. Elliot Norton Award - Outstanding Fringe Production), City of Angels (Emerson Stage, Boston), The Real Inspector Hound (Reality Aside Theatre, NYC), The Divine Reality Comedy (Bread and Puppet Theatre, VT), Tales from Ovid (O'Neill National Theater Center, CT) and Anne of Green Gables (Peterborough Players, NH). As a playwright he has his work produced at Alive Theatre (CA), Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Boca Raton Theatre Guild (FL), Stratford Summer Theatre Festival (CT) and developed at Pulse Ensemble Studio Theatre (NYC), Bug Theatre (CO), The Playwrights' Center (MN) and others. His solo performance Floundering About (in an age of terror) will be produced at the 2010 FRIGID NYC Theatre Festival February 24-March 7, 2010. Much love to Ma, Pa, Soss and all the good hearted people of NYC.
Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story
MARIAH MACCARTHY (playwright) is a San Diego-bred playwright, director, occasional dramaturg, and Jill of all trades. Writing credits: A Man of His Word (Playwrights Project at the Old Globe), Dismemberment (dir., the lovely Amanda Thompson, Players Theater), After the Tower (Inbred Hybrid Collective). Directing credits: Reading with Friends, Cate Blanchett Wants to Be My Friend on Facebook (Rapscallion Theatre Collective), The Woods (Channel Z Productions), What the Hell (Evil Eye Productions). Proud Skidmore graduate. Coming up: The All American Genderf*ck Cabaret with the Rapscallion Theatre Collective, Spring 2010. Thank you Amanda for this opportunity and Larry for all the other stuff.
AMANDA THOMPSON (director)
REBECCA CARTON (Choir)
RAY CHAO (Claire Capulet) is always grateful to work with talented people like Amanda, Mariah, and the cast and crew of Ampersand, not to mention all the dedicated folks at Looking Glass. Originally from Chicago, Ray now lives in Brooklyn with his dog Reba and is roommates with one of the cast members (guess who?). His website is www.raychao.com and is open 24 hours a day. Be sure to check out the short film, Asshole, which was an official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Enjoy the show!
BRIGITTE CHOURA (Juliet) is thrilled to be a part of this production at The Looking Glass Theatre. She is a graduate of Muhlenberg College and holds a degree in Theatre and English. She has toured with Philadelphia's Enchantment Theatre Company in their productions of The Velveteen Rabbit and Scheherazade. Most recently, she was seen as Gilda in Outfits, a independent short for the Brooklyn Film Race.
KATHLEEN FLETCHER (Choir) makes her enthusiastic New York debut with this production! Newly transplanted from Austin, Texas some of her favorite regional credits include Sweeney Todd (Mrs. Lovett), Suddenly Last Summer (Catherine Holly), Parallel Lives: the Kathy and Mo Show (Kathy), and numerous original roles. Thanks to all the lovies who've worked on this great production! Besos!
CRAIG HANSON (Tybalt) is proud to be making his NYC debut at Looking Glass. He has appeared in Love’s Labor’s Lost (Berowne) and Urinetown (Officer Lockstock), both for which he received an Irene Ryan Award nomination for Best Actor. Favorite roles include Twelfth Night (Orsino), A Flea In Her Ear (Camille), Orpheus Descending (David Cutrere), Miss Nelson Has A Field Day (Daniel/Cafeteria Lady), Psycho Beach Party (Nicky), and Les Moose (Bullwinkle). TV: “Gossip Girl.” Film: Going the Distance. Craig graduated this past spring from Muhlenberg College. Undying love and thanks to fiancé Courtney and family.
CASEY KEELER (Choir) is thankful to Mariah MacCarthy for this chance to return to the New York stage. New York acting credits include Circle in the Square, Triad Theater; Readings: Intar Theatre, Primary Stages, and sitting in front of Gerard Butler in the upcoming film The Bounty. Regional credits: La Bohéme with Lake George Opera Company, DC Fringe Festival. Favorite roles include Eliza Doolittle, Aunt Eller, and Voice of the Plant which all happened in a six-month period of time
JEREMY MICHAEL LAGUNAS (Evelyn Montague) is more than excited to be a part of (in heels) Ampersand: A Romeo and Juliet Story. Past credits include: Hello, Dolly!, Clue: The Musical, Cotton Patch Gospel, and Annie. He would like to thank his family, friends, The Looking Glass Theatre, and all the cast and crew for making this a fun project to be a part of. And last but not least he would like to thank his mom for always being his support system and making him the person he is today.
FRANK LEONE (Paris) is a Southeastern Michigan native making his debut at The Looking Glass Theatre. He holds a BFA from Wayne State University’s Theatre Department and has trained at the Moscow Art Theatre as well as Studio 5 Conservatory. Favorite past roles include Theo in Vincent (Studio 5), Bob Cratchitt in A Christmas Carol (Bonstelle Theatre), Cletis in Lonestar (Hilberry Studio Theatre) and Willard in Footloose (Upstage Theatre). He would like to thank his family and friends for all of their support.
SERGIO LoDOLCE (Mercutio) is a recent graduate of The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts.
BECCA LUSTGARTEN (Choir) is proud to be making her Looking Glass debut! Favorite credits include Three Sisters at Williamstown, Poodle with Guitar and Dark Glasses at Under St. Marks (Jade), On The Verge (Alexandra), and Machinal by Sophie Treadwell (Mother). Becca has worked regionally at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Hangar Theatre, and the Kitchen Theatre. She recently graduated from the Boston University School of Theatre with a BFA in Theatre Arts. Thanks to Mom, Dad, and the rest of the fam for being so amazing.
SUSAN MERENDA (Romeo) is currently a Looking Glass acting intern. Stage highlights include: Katherine (Taming of the Shrew), Prince Escalus (Romeo and Juliet), Masha (Three Sisters), Richard II, The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol and Sunday in the Park with George. Susan also heads up the Syrnz, a 13-girl Michael Jackson/Beatles cover group focused on recording and charitable work. In her spare time, she teaches mathematics and standardized tests, specializing in learning disabilities. Recently graduated from Harvard College, Susan has trained at the Moscow Art Theater, American Repertory Theater, Carnegie Mellon and University of Michigan. Contact: merenda@post.harvard.edu
