Raw Impressions Music Theatre Marathon 2005

RIMT #17

Bios

Matt Anderson (Composer) has degrees in piano and music composition from Temple University (BM) and the University of Cincinnati (MM). An alumni of the BMI Lehrman Engel Music Theater Workshop, he’s written music for MTV and Lifetime, and is developing his musical "Soup And Quackers." Matt has two children, Christopher (3) and Nicholas (6).

Tesha Buss (Director) credits include Sister's of Swing (Capital Rep), The Flute Player's Song (NYMF), Fiddler on the Roof (Surflight), Hot Mamas (Dillon's), LooLa (MITF). She choreographed and/or assisted for First Lady Suite (Transport Group, Drama Desk Nomination for Best Revival) Heat Lightning, (Off Broadway), Peter Pan (Trinity Rep), and RIP Fest '04.

Nick Cearley (Performer) is a graduate of Boston Conservatory. Some favorite productions include Henrik in A Little Night Music, and Waldo, the Baby Elephant in Theatreworks' Just So Stories. He makes his cabaret debut at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre, Fridays in March at 7pm in The Most Overdone Songs Ever, A Not So New Revue.

Charlotte Cohn (Performer) was Musetta in Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway Production of La Boheme. Off- Broadway and regional credits include Tonya in Ducks and Lovers with NYMF and Stephanie in Nine at NSMT. She has appeared with Jewish Theatre of NY (with Elliott Gould), and E.S.T. and TV’s “Guiding Light.” Please visit: www.charlottecohn.comScott Ethier (Composer) Current theatre projects include Love and War (w/lyricist Brett Nicholson) and The Third Miracle (w/lyricst Jeff Hughes and bookwriter Richard Vetere) and the score for Breathing Water, Breathing Eye/I premiering at Danspance Project with Martita Goshen’s Earthworks in Sept. ‘05. Former composer-in-residence with Macon Symphony Orchestra. www.scottethier.com

Daniel Feyer (Music Director) MD Dreams This Way: Best of RIMT, as well as Events #12 and #13. Recent: orchestrations for Illyria, Shakespeare Theater of NJ. Current: The Uses of Enchantment, West End Theater (prospecttheater.org). Upcoming: The Pursuit of Persephone, Connelly Theater. Regional: Gateway Playhouse, Weston Playhouse, Willows Theater. Music degree: Princeton. Dan is not a composer.

Maureen Fitzgerald’s (Writer) play Moonchild received its world premiere in the 2004 NY International Fringe Festival. With composer John Mercurio, she co-wrote the musical While We Dance, and Neurotica, a musical comedy revue. Her plays have been presented as part of FringeNYC and the Peek-A-Book Festivals of New Music and Theater.

David Hilder’s (Writer) plays and musicals include the text for Gikh-kaa (Raw Impressions Dance Theatre); Maps with Gilles Chiasson (Dixon Place, RIMT); Leave the Room, (Finalist, Lark Playwrights Week and Abingdon’s Wolk Award); Bay Orchard High (Expanded Arts, Cullen/Dumas Productions); Dinner Party! (EST, Smatterfest, Particle Wave Theatre); and One for the Books (EST).

Dennis Holland's (Performer) theatrical credits include the Broadway/ National Tours for Peter Pan and The Music Man, Off-Broadway productions of Houdini and Frankenstein, and the Off-Off-Broadway production of Snatched! Regionally, he has performed at the Guthrie, Folger Shakespeare, and Ford's Theatre. Love and thanks to Polly, Anabel, Claire and Will.

Michael Hunsaker (Composer) is excited to join RIMT for the second time as composer. Michael has written the musicals Measure for Measure, Out of Frame, COLD - A Winter's Tale, and Fetching Water (with collaborator Leslie Becker). Michael has also performed on TV's "Ed", "Sex and the City", "All My Children".

This is Mrinalini Kamath’s (Writer) second time with RIMT. 2004 Jerome Fellowship. Mrinalini is a member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers’ Lab, SALAAM – the South Asian League of Artists in AMerica, and the Dramatists Guild. She is an alumnus of Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s emerging playwrights’ collective.

Gihieh Lee (Composer) still remembers her days of RIMT #2! Musicals: Shakespeare: The Remix, Tock Tick, Spamlet. Vocal Arrangement: Elegies: A song cycle by William Finn. Jonathan Larson Award (2004). A fellow of The Dramatists’ Guild of America (2001-2002) M.F.A: NYU. She speaks Korean so well she can kick Kim Jung-il’s ass.

Kara Manning's (Writer) plays have been performed or developed at venues like London's Royal Court Theatre, the 2004 O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, and the Bloomington Playwrights Project. She is a recipient of the 2000-2001 Jerome Foundation Affiliated Writers Program grant, and has an M.F.A in playwriting from Columbia University.

Mark Masi (Composer) studied architecture before becoming a writer. The author of two screenplays, her second musical for the stage (about Leonardo da Vinci) is still under construction. Her first musical, DogMusic (with composer Jess Platt) about four dogs in the pound, was presented in L.A. in ’98.

Mary Ann McSweeney’s (Composer) currently plays bass for Ave Q on Broadway. She has composed and arranged two of her own jazz CDs for the Sparky1 label. McSweeney has played with jazz greats, Lee Konitz and Dave Liebman, and conductors Leonard Bernstein and John Williams. Currently she plays for Audra McDonald and musical directs for Lea Delaria.

Bobby Nafarrete (Composer) is a composer, arranger, keyboardist, and MIDI-specialist. He received a BM in Commercial Composition and Arranging from CSUF, and MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU/TISCH. Works include the soundtrack for Cirque De La Mer, Sea World San Diego, and arrangements for the 2002 and 2003 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Elizabeth Nicholas (Performer) is thrilled to be working with RIT. She’s been privileged to work in Masterclass, Carmen, La Boheme and Die Fledermaus, and combined her opera background and love for musical theatre to tour throughout Europe and the US. Her most notable and challenging role is mother to Conor.

Doug Rand (Writer) is president and co-founder of Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com), a publishing house for new plays. His plays include The Idiot and the Oddity; Small World Order; and Plan B and Lights Out, both Heideman Award finalists. His articles have appeared in Entertainment Weekly and The Annual Review of Entomology.

DJ Salisbury (Director) has worked nationwide as a director-choreographer with such places as Papermill Playhouse and California Musical Theatre. DJ co-founded the Musical Writers' Playground, co-wrote a new Christmas Spectacular which debuted in Nashville's Opryland Theater in 2004, and he wrote book and lyrics for The Man Who Would Be King (NYMF).

Stephen Speights (Writer) )is a founding member of Blue Coyote Theater Group. As an actor, he has worked with such notable artists as Anne Bogart, Tina Landau, Robert Woodruff, and Chris Burns (2001 Oppenheimer Best New Play, My Mother’s a Baby Boy). Select roles at Blue Coyote include Nebraska, Psycopathia Sexualis, and Kingfish.

Jennifer Taylor (Performer) is excited to be a part of RIMT. Recent credits include Nine(North Shore Music Theatre) as Renata and The Omaha Symphony Holiday Concert (soloist). She has also appeared Brigadoon, A Little Night Music and George M! at The Goodspeed Opera House, and Annie at The Paper Mill Playhouse. Love to B.