Playwrights Bios

 

RUSS CUSICK (When I Dream) is an actor, singer and playwright holding a BFA from Theatre SMU.  Last Fall, Russ was honored to have his play Into the Arms included in Altered Minds, produced by the Alternative Theatre Company at ATA. Other plays Russ has written which have been produced include: Everyone Does a Little Time, Helen, and Cheating.  

 

JUDY DODD’s (Fanatic)  play Lunatic was produced last year as part of the Alternative Theatre Company’s Altered Minds series. Her play He Said, He Said, was produced as part of the Alternative Theater’s  #Metoo play series. As an actor, Judy has appeared on Broadway (Fiddler on the Roof), off-Broadway (MCC and others), as well as in Regional Theaters and in films and TV. Her directing credits include Alternative Theatre Company and other off-off Broadway companies, as well as schools and camps in the NY area. Judy is a graduate of Yale University.

 

TERENCE PATRICK HUGHES (Banging Heads) plays include Lines, The Kiss of Caiaphas, Fake Plastic Love, and a collection of short works set at the fictional Our Lady of the Bleeding Heart, Mind, and Spirit – Once Reformed. Other plays include A Harmony of Both, Tea & Misery, Benched, Finding the Rooster, and Goodnight Sunshine. The New York Times noted that Hughes “...explores heavy subject matter with humorous dialogue and strong characters”. His youth plays include adaptations of Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. Born in Lawrence, MA, Hughes, his wife, and two children live in Woodstock, NY. 

 

JAMES HUTCHISON (Family Secrets)  writes comedies, dramas, and mysteries. He also interviews other playwrights, actors, and directors about the business and creative aspects of theatre, film, and television. James is a member of The Alberta Playwrights Network, Theatre Alberta and The Playwright’s Guild of Canada. You can follow James on Twitter @lifeisanact or visit his web site at www.jameshutchison.ca where you can download his plays and read his blog. James currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where he writes plays, walks his dog Zeke, and has never tried to keep up with the Kardashians.

 

BARBARA LINDSAY (The Great Whatever) Barbara’s first full length play won the NY Drama League’s 1989 Playwrighting Award and was given its premiere production in London in 1991.  Since then there have been more than 400 performances of her plays, monologues, and screenplays in 33 States, 13 countries, and on every continent except Antarctica.  She is a fifth-generation Californian now living very happily in Seattle, married to an amazing man, and ridiculously happy.

 

RUSSELL NICHOLS (Invisibility) is a speculative fiction writer and endangered journalist. Raised in Richmond, California, he gave up all his stuff and now lives out of a backpack with his wife, vagabonding around the world since 2011. His plays have been produced internationally by Nylon Fusion, Funhouse Anthology, Fade to Black Fest, the MOJOAA Performing Arts Company, the UK's Science Fiction Theatre, and others. Usually set in the near future, his stories revolve around concepts of race, mental health, technology and the absurdity of existence. Look for him at www.russellnichols.com.

 

CARY PEPPER (Very Sorry for Your Loss)  has had work presented throughout the United States and internationally. Among his full-length plays, How It Works won the 2012 Ashland New Plays Festival and Cufflinked was a semifinalist for the 2014 festival. Among his one-act plays,The Walrus Said won the Religious Arts Guild Playwriting Competition; Small Things won the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival 2006 One Act Play Contest; Party Favors won the 2016 Goshen Peace Play Contest. Most recently, Crossed was  named a winner in Drury University's 2019 One-Act Play Competition. Cary is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and a four-time contributor to Applause Books’ Best American Short Plays series

 

MICHAEL SUSKO (The Pearly Gates)  is an award-winning Director/Choreographer/Playwright/Educator. Directing credits include The Bigot (off-Broadway), Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, Casa Manana,  New Bedford Festival Theatre, Cider Mill Playhouse, Theatre by the Sea, Paper Mill Theatre, Westchester Broadway, Arizona Broadway and Arkansas Repertory.  In NYC his work has been seen at the Midtown International Fringe Festival, Network Theatre Company, Equity Library Theatre, and The New Short Play Festival where he is Artistic Director. He currently teaches playwriting at ATC Studios (Clifton, NJ) Michael holds an MFA in Playwriting (Goddard College), and a BFA in Musical Theatre (The Boston Conservatory)

 

DIRECTORS BIOS

 

JOHN DEFILIPPO (Banging Heads) is taking on his first directing credit with TATCO. He has previously directed Shakespeare's Hamlet and The Tempest, as well as Annie Baker's The Aliens and Body Awareness (BroadwayWorld 2019 nominee for Best Play and Best Ensemble).

 

JUDY DODD (Invisibility) directed Phone Friend for last year’s Altered Minds series. She directed Crush and Elevator Repair for Alternative Theater’s #metoo plays. Other directing credits include off-off Broadway theaters and the Ramaz School. Judy teaches acting privately and in schools in the NY area. 

 

CELINE HAVARD (Fanatic/Very Sorry for Your Loss) as Artistic Director of the Alternative Theater she’s very grateful to everyone who’s supported BelieveAbility going virtual. Last season she directed Hang-ups and Dragged as part of Altered Minds at ATA. She has directed regionally, off-Broadway and off-off Broadway. She was a founding member of Abingdon Theater Company and Stagedotorg. Favorites: the world premiere of When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream & Shout by Sharman MacDonald, Captive, by Jan Buttram published by Samuel French. Other NY companies where she has worked: MTC, the Women’s Project, Pulse Ensemble, the Drama League and the Greenhouse Ensemble. 

 

DAVID MALINSKY (Family Secrets) is a NYC-based director, actor and writer. This is his second time directing for The Alternative Theatre Company and his third year of involvement with the company. He played the lead role in the play Space Race by Nicholas Gentile. He has acted in independent films Tormenting the Hen by Theodore Collatos and Abby Singer/Songwriter by Onur Tukel. David is excited to join TATCO for another year for the BelieveAbility Festival. 

 

MICHAEL SUSKO (When I Dream) is an award-winning Director/Choreographer/Playwright/Educator. Directing credits include The Bigot (off-Broadway), Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, Casa Manana,  New Bedford Festival Theatre, Cider Mill Playhouse, Theatre by the Sea, Paper Mill Theatre, Westchester Broadway, Arizona Broadway and Arkansas Repertory.  In NYC his work has been seen at the Midtown International Fringe Festival, Network Theatre Company, Equity Library Theatre, and The New Short Play Festival where he is Artistic Director. He currently teaches playwriting at ATC Studios (Clifton, NJ) Michael holds an MFA in Playwriting (Goddard College), and a BFA in Musical Theatre (The Boston Conservatory)

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JEAN TAIT (The Pearly Gates) has directed Hello Dolly (starring Pamela Myers and Harvey Evans), Saving Grace, the award-winning Over the River and Through the Woods, Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know, the critically acclaimed Over the Tavern, Pack of Lies, Tsunami Tales, and Steel Magnolias (starring Donna McKechnie, Pamela Myers, Sally Mayes and Emily Swallow) in addition to numerous musical reviews with Donna McKechnie, Amanda McBroom, and Linda Purl.  She directed The Proceedings and Can You Hear Me Now? as part of The #metoo Plays with the Alternative Theater Company in 2018 and It Gets Better as part of Altered Minds at ATA last season.

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BILL WALTERS (The Big Whatever) came to show biz through a back door. His attempt to become a cartoonist was thwarted by a sheaf of rejection slips from The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and Playboy, so he decided another field of endeavor would be more welcoming. He had been introduced to the theater by a high school friend and acted and designed plays and musicals for school productions. In 1963, he arrived in New York where he became a jack-of-all-trades with NBC, The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Playhouse of the Ridiculous, and a lot of dinky off-Broadway groups. He did real work for over 50 years touring the world as the irascible stage manager for Peter Schickele's presentations of the music of PDQ Bach. He has dabbled in extra work in movies and TV and once worked  for Gray Line New York Sightseeing as a tour guide riding around on the top of a double-decker bus telling lies about New York City to gullible people from out of town.