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DIRECTORS
DANIEL CAPALBO JR. has been working in the theatre world for a number of decades and on a number of different levels. He has been an actor and director as well as a playwright, stage technician, stage manager and set designer. Dan has also taught for 16 years in the theatre/film department at a university. Recently he has been dividing his time mainly between directing and acting, although you may notice he did write a piece for this production. Besides directing some of the readings for the #Metoo project this summer Dan has also recently appeared as Tom in Early by Frank Tangredi at The Greenhouse Ensemble. He wrote a piece and performed in The Animal Empathy Project with Mississippi Mud Productions which is a company that he is a member of. You can also see him in a film showing up in the festival circuit now titled The Museum of Lost Things by Greg Cioffi. Dan also acted in another film written by Greg Cioffi, A Bite Out of Crime in August and produced by G & E Productions which is projected to be through Post-Production early next year.
KAREN CARPENTER directed Drama Desk award-winner Love Loss & What I Wore by Delia & Nora Ephron, which enjoyed a three-year run Off-Bway, and now plays worldwide. Her premieres include NYT critics' pick Handle With Care, Bulldozer: Ballad of Robert Moses, and Witnessed by the World. Fave gig: directing Michael Keaton in The 24HR Plays, Napa’s Festival de Sole; also Steel Magnolias, Papermill; Vagina Monologues, Bucks County; Admit One, NJ Rep; and Surflight’s Wizard of Oz, where she returns next fall to direct the world premiere of new musical Boynton Beach Club. Soon to premiere musicals Brave New World, Creep, and dramas Guinevere and Chasing the River. As Artistic Director of the William Inge Center and the Inge Festival, instituted its New Play Lab. Produced over 40 plays and musicals as Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe, where she revived their annual Shakespeare Festival in 2004. kcdirector.com • @kcdirector
CHRISTINE CIRKER New York directing credits include (FAB Women@TBG, The Barrow Group, Pulse Ensemble, Core Artists Ensemble, Neighborhood Playhouse, Our Workshop East, Resonance Theatre Co.,
Strawberry Festival). NYC producing credits include Letters to Sala, Origin-8, Unframed, and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. A University of Michigan Theatre Dept. graduate, Christine is currently developing new plays with several playwrights and is a founding member of F.A.B. Women@TBG.
HAZEN CUYLER is the Artistic Director of The Greenhouse Ensemble. Directing with Greenhouse: God, Sex and Getting Even; The House of Yes; Dads, Dates and Other Disturbances (a retrospective of Frank Tangredi’s short works including 6 plays and 4 short films). Recent Acting: The Master and Margarita; Danny and the Deep Blue Sea; Three Sisters; Avenue of Wonder. Check out GreenhouseEnsemble.com for our upcoming podcast, review show and updates on productions. Check out Hazencuyler.com for more info.
JUDY DODD is a Director, Writer and Actor. She currently directs the drama program at Ramaz Middle School; and has appeared on and off Broadway, and in Television and Film.
STEVE PETRILLO is very glad to be a part of this important festival. New York Directing credits include Moonlight and Love Songs, also by Scott Sickles, at The Abingdon Theater, A Christmas Carol at The WorkShop Theater (Innovative Theater Award Nominee), Catching Up!, Living Together, Rumors, Sessions, et. al.; various solo/cabaret shows. As a performer Steven’s Broadway and National Tour credits include Peter Pan, Man of La Mancha and Jesus Christ Superstar; also various TV/Film, Commercials. Mr. Petrillo helms classes/workshops for singer-actors, as well as musical theater writers. <stevenpetrillo.com>
JEAN TAIT 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.
PLAYWRIGHTS
NICOLE AMSLER (Can You Hear Me Now?) is a marketing expert, author, illustrator, and playwright. During the day, she’s the Director of Marketing of a tech firm in Indianapolis. After work, she writes and publishes short stories, essays, and novels, as well as a short story collection, Moving Violations. Currently, she is illustrating a children’s book with felt fiber art, finalizing a novel, and writes short plays. She lives in Indianapolis with her family.
STEVE APOSTOLINA (Elevator Repair) Plays: Forever Bound starring French Stewart at Atwater Village Theatre 2018 (current Ovation Award nominee for Best Playwriting), Flight of the Penguin (Drama-logue Award for Writing) The American Way and newly completed Unbound (current quarterfinals Screencraft Playwriting). Short plays: Cold in Hand, a winner at The Neil Labute Playwright Festival, The Lesson Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Semi-Finalist, Elevator Repair at The Open Fist, as well as Embroiled, Porcupine, Over There, The Party, Pin Job, The Whole Shebang, Frank ‘n Beans, and Latina and Gringo. Member: The Dramatists Guild and The Antaeus Playwright’s Lab.
DANIEL CAPALBO JR. ( Some Boys) has been expressing himself through different artistic mediums for most of his life. He found himself in the theatre arts a few decades ago and has been participating as an actor, director and writer since. He has also held a career as a therapist where he has worked in both clinical and educational settings. Daniel has conducted research on the effects of performance and the brain studying how people with different mental health diagnoses seem to be able to get some temporarily relief while in “performance mode”. The research is also and exploration of what is performance mode and what is chemically happening to the performer’s brain to allow them to do their job and overcome their anxieties. The study is still in progress.
ANGELA CERRITO (When Guys Talk) is an author and a playwright whose work focuses on issues of identity. Her latest novel, The Safest Lie, was named a best book by The Guardian and a Notable Social Studies Book for Young Readers. Her plays have been produced in the US and Europe. Someone Sends Flowers will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa part of the Echoes in the Hallway collection concerning gun violence in schools. Recently, Angela spoke about novel revision, literacy, and playwrighting at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore. She is honored to be included in this important production. www.angelacerrito.com
ALLIE COSTA ( Two Girls) is an actor, writer, singer, and director working in film, TV, theatre, and voiceover. Her original works have been produced internationally, including the critically-acclaimed Two Girls, Femme Noir, Don't Shoot the Messenger Pigeon, and Can You Keep a Secret? Published works include She Has Seen the Wolf, a modern-day take on Little Red Riding Hood confronting street harassment and assault, and Little Swan, a Pas de Deux, inspired by the life of ballerina Anna Pavlova. Allie's acting credits include Spring Awakening, 90210, Hamlet, Alien vs. Musical, The Hopes, and You Me & Her. Occasionally, she sleeps. http://www.alliecosta.com
CHRISTINE FOSTER’S (Normal) plays have been produced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Mexico, Korea, England and the US and her television scripts seen on CBS, CTV, CBC, History and The Family Channel. Several short plays have recently premiered in the UK including a new one-act about young Kipling in India, The Fever Trees, while her full length, Four Thieves Vinegar, a black comedy about the Black Death, was produced to four star reviews in London in 2017. She is also the recipient of the 2018 Marion Thauer Brown Award for Best New Audio Drama.
SARAH ELIZABETH GRACE (Crush) is a playwright, actor, and head of Badass Lady Productions. Plays: Mental Nudity (Standard Toykraft and PIT Underground); More (Secret Theatre's UNFringed Festival and EAT’s New Works series); Implied Consent (Access Theater October of 2018). Non-fiction: substance.com, The Huffington Post (under pseudonym Grace Kemeny) and OnStageBlog.com. Education: NYU Tisch BFA in Drama. Website: www.sarahelizabethgrace.com
CAROL HOLLENBECK (Hometown Premiere) has been nominated in the Samuel French One Act Play contest Three times. Her nominated play THE LIFTERS was produced into a short film,, She has a novel on Amazon.com,TRUE BLONDES,
She is thrilled to have her play HOMETOWN PREMIER included in this very important Play Festival.
JOHN MINIGAN (Family Planning) is a Boston-based playwright whose work is published in the Best American Short Plays, Best Ten-Minute Plays, and New England New Play anthologies. His full-length Queen of Sad Mischance, a 2018 O’Neill Festival and Lark Finalist and Dayton FutureFest selection, was developed during the Next Voices Fellowship at the New Repertory Theatre. His full-length comedy Noir Hamlet premiered in Boston in June of 2018 and was a Boston Globe Critics’ Pick. He has also developed new work with the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Actors’ Repertory Theatre of Vermont, and the Utah Shakespearean Festival’s New American Playwrights Project. johnminigan.com
THOMAS MISURACA (The Proceedings) Over 100 of Tom Misuraca's short plays have been staged globally, often winning audience favorite awards. Eight of his full-lengths have been produced, including GEEKS! THE MUSICAL, which went on to Off-Off Broadway (and headed to Off Broadway in 2019!). In 2014, Tom won two awards: The Pickering and the Las Vegas Little Theatre New Works Award (he placed again in 2018). He recently won Best Written Play at the City Theatre of Independence's Playwrights Festival. This year his play were produced in New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Orlando, Houston and London. Please visit www.tommiz.com.
MERCEDES SEGESVARY (A Criminal Report) is a playwright and fine art illustrator whose work often reflects the clashing of cultures, genders and generations while painting colorful depictions of congruency within humanity. She is first generation; her mother from the Dominican Republic and her Father from Hungary. Her plays have been on stages in many cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Acadia, Nova Scotia. She received an MFA in Dramatic Writing for Television, Film and Theatre from California State University – Los Angeles.
SCOTT C. SICKLES (The Bedroom Summit) is an LGBT writer of Asian descent. His plays have been performed in New York City, across the U.S., and internationally in Canada, Australia, the UK, Hungary, Singapore, and Lebanon. Plays include Nonsense and Beauty, premiering at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in March 2019; Composure (Winner, 2016 NY Innovative Theatre Award; 2018 Lambda Literary Award Nominee), Lightning from Heaven (1999 Beverly Hills Theater /Julie Harris Playwriting Award), and Perfecting the Kiss (DC Capital Fringe, 2018). Sickles received four consecutive Writers Guild of America Awards for General Hospital and six Emmy Award nominations. Dramatists Guild. www.ScottCSickles.com
JEFF STRAUSSER (Wounded Warrior) is an author, a playwright, and a freelance writer. His short stories have been published in various literary journals, and his articles regularly appear in magazines and online journals. In addition, Barron’s Educational Series has published four of his textbooks for middle school and high school students. Strausser’s plays have been produced in theatres throughout the United States, England, and Australia. He lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Beth.
FRANK TANGREDI (Tip) is the author of Lifeline (Abingdon Theatre Company), God, Sex, and Getting Even (Greenhouse Ensemble). Pastoral (Christopher Brian Wolk Award), and Galatea (LA Weekly Theatre Award nominee for Best Playwriting; New York Fringe Festival.) His play Extracurricular was published in Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2012. His most recent credit was Dads, Dates, and Other Disturbances, a program of short plays and films produced in Manhattan by the Greenhouse Ensemble.
W.A. WALTERS (Washington Monument) started writing and directing in self-defense. Washington Monument was written in 1992 for the Village Gate One Act Play Festival down on Bleeker Street. It was performed twice for the festival in a somewhat longer version. Back then it was considered to be sort of a fantasy, but these days it works as pretty timely. It was inspired by several actual incidents, but as we all know, truth is stranger than fiction. Bill’s plays have seen the light of day in readings at The Players Club, The Wilma, HB Playwrights and on his living room sofa in Manhattan Plaza. Since 1963 he has worked in NYC with NBC, The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Playhouse of the Ridiculous, and many off-Broadway groups. He worked for over 50 years touring the world as the irascible stage manager for Peter Schickele's presentations of the music of PDQ Bach.