Artists
Farah Alvin
Mrs. Otter
Farah Alvin (Mrs. Otter) has appeared on Broadway in Nine, The Look of Love, Saturday Night Fever, Grease and A Christmas Carol. Off-Broadway credits include The Last Smoker in America (cast album), The Marvelous Wonderettes (Drama Desk nomination, cast album), I Love You Because (cast album), If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..., Kuni-Leml. Also in New York: Date of a Lifetime (NYMF Outstanding Actress Award), The Tenth Floor (Talkin’ Broadway Best Actress Citation) and multiple appearances at The Town Hall. Recent regional credits include the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Sycamore Trees as Ginnie (Signature Theatre, Helen Hayes Award), Funny Girl as Fanny (Gretna Theatre), [title of show] as Heidi (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), Pirates of Penzance as Mabel (Huntington Theatre), and Ragtime as Mother (White Plains PAC). Farah is also a singer/songwriter. Her debut album someday is available on cdbaby.com. Please visit www.FarahAlvin.com for more.
Tituss Burgess
Mr. Toad
Tituss Burgess (Mr. Toad) is best known for his recurring role on the hit NBC series 30 Rock. He has originated memorable roles in the original Broadway casts of Jersey Boys, The Little Mermaid, and the revival of Guys and Dolls, as well as headlined at major symphonies and top cabaret venues throughout the world. Other television credits include A Gifted Man and Blue Bloods. His latest studio album Comfortable is available on iTunes. Follow him @TitussBurgess.
Nick Choksi
Water Rat
Nick Choksi (Water Rat) NY: Ars Nova (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, The Urban Dictionary Plays), The Flea/The Play Company (Invasion!), CollaborationTown (The Deepest Play Ever), Atlantic (Annie Baker’s Practice), Cherry Lane (Rajiv Joseph’s Huck and Holden), 59E59 (Chris Durang’s Triple Trouble with Love), Sonnet Rep (Twelfth Night). Regional: RSC, Shakespeare Theatre D.C. (Love's Labor’s Lost, dir. Michael Kahn). TV/Film: Home, Violet & Daisy, 50 Grades of Shay, Royal Pains, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Sopranos, The Electric Company, One Life to Life (recurring). Band: Those Lost Boys. Training: Juilliard.
Kathy Connolly
Rabbit/Weasel
Kathy Connolly (Rabbit/Weasel) is thrilled to be making her Two River Theater debut. Some of her favorite roles include Danny in Viva Los Bastarditos! (New York Fringe Festival), Ruby in Dames at Sea (Theatre by the Sea), Frenchy in Grease (National Tour) and Foxy in Kenny Rogers’ Christmas from the Heart (Beacon Theatre and National Tour). She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Kathy is also an audio describer and teaching artist at Two River Theater. She thanks her family and friends for all of their support. Kathy also thanks and loves Jake, Vivian and Beckett!
Tom Deckman
Mole
Tom Deckman (Mole) Broadway: Monty Python’s Spamalot, Good Vibrations. NY: Arnie the Doughnut (NYMF Winner, Outstanding Individual Performance); Bye Bye Birdie (Encores!); Dead Man Walking (NYCO); Best Foot Forward (York Theatre). Tours: Spamalot (Helen Hayes nomination). Regional: George Street Playhouse (world premiere of It Shoulda Been You, dir. David Hyde Pierce); Denver Center Theatre; Shakespeare Theatre Company; Fulton Theatre; Orpheum Theatre (San Francisco); Bay Street Theatre. TV: Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, Sex and the City, Hope & Faith, Haute & Bothered.
John Garry
Rabbit/Weasel
John Garry (Rabbit/Weasel) is elated to be a part of this production at Two River Theater! Some favorites include Spamalot (National Tour, Not Dead Fred/Prince Herbert), 25th Annual...Spelling Bee (Leaf Coneybear) at Alabama Shakes, Gypsy (Tulsa u/s) at Bristol Riverside Theatre, Bunnicula for Theatreworks USA, and Beauty and the Beast (LeFou) at the Forestburgh Playhouse. BFA: Syracuse University. So much love and thanks to Wolf Talent Group, and my incredible family and friends for all of their support. Happy Holidays!
John Jellison
Dr. Badger
John Jellison (Dr. Badger) recently completed the pre-Broadway workshop of Motown: The Musical. His Broadway credits are Memphis; All Shook Up; Phantom of the Opera; Caroline, or Change; Oklahoma!; Putting It Together; On the Town; Paul Simon’s The Capeman; Titanic; Crazy for You; Mastergate; Me and My Girl; Sunday in the Park with George; Nick & Nora; Wind in the Willows; Baby; Zalmen or The Madness of God; and Sweet Bird of Youth. Off-Broadway credits include the original Assassins, A New Brain, Walmartopia, Deathbed, If It Was Easy, The Waves, Imperfect Chemistry, Asylum and Lennon. Regional work: McCarter Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Yale Repertory, Arena Stage, Paper Mill Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, Goodspeed Opera, Long Wharf, The O’Neill Center. He has appeared on TV in several soaps and Law & Orders. Family: Claudine and Matthew.
Dana Steingold
Little Portly
Dana Steingold (Little Portly) Broadway/National Tours: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Logainne). Off-Broadway/other New York: The Visit (Ottile); Anyone Can Whistle (Baby Joan, City Center Encores!); Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (Culture Project); Spidermusical (Mint Theater). Regional: Into the Woods (Little Red Riding Hood, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage); Calvin Berger (Bret, George Street Playhouse); Pregnancy Pact (Jeanelle, Weston Playhouse); Hairspray (Penny, North Carolina Theatre); High School Musical 2 (Kelsi, North Shore Music Theatre); Ordinary Days (Deb, ATF). Recordings: Calvin Berger cast album. Concerts include Metropolitan Opera Gala at Avery Fisher Hall and Detroit Opera House. Numerous readings/workshops. BFA from New York University.
Jens Kramer
Musician (Violin)
Jens Kramer made his Two River debut last season as violinist for the world premiere of In This House. After receiving his Degree in Music from the University of Wisconsin, he relocated to New York. He rocked out successful runs as a performer with the North American Tour of Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire and MGM Grand’s Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. Jens dusted off his snap-bracelets and joined Debbie Gibson and Tiffany on their Journey Through the 80s tour and was featured on The View and Good Morning America. He has musically directed a variety of shows and bands including Survivor Live and HIT Entertainment’s Bob the Builder, Live! He thanks God and his wife Danielle for all her support—especially in preparation for his next gig...Fatherhood! (expected to begin in March).
Tereasa Payne
Musician (Flute/Woodwinds)
Tereasa Payne is a flutist, ethnic flutist and woodwinds specialist who performs throughout the US with national touring shows & artists, and in several orchestras including the Orlando Philharmonic. Favorite performances include: Johnny Mathis, The Temptations, Wicked, A Chorus Line, and Bernadette Peters. Tereasa is a founding member of the Areté Woodwind Doubling Quartet, commissioning and premiering works for multiple woodwinds. Please visit her website at: www.tereasapayne.com
Jake Robinson
Musician (Percussion)
Jake Robinson is a NYC drummer and percussionist. After attending Oberlin Conservatory, he earned his M.M. at Manhattan School of Music on scholarship. He is an active performer in the tri-state area and New England with jazz ensembles, cover bands, singer-songwriters, and his own original funk band The Uptown Partydown, which has been turning heads at staple NYC clubs and recently played the One Young World international conference in Pittsburgh. After only a few years in New York, Jake has played at major venues such as Birdland, The Highline Ballroom, the 92nd St. Y, and Carnegie Hall. He also holds the drum set chair at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains, where he is the youngest member of its faculty.
Joseph Wallace
Musician (Bass)
Joseph Wallace is a double & electric bassist currently living in Manhattan. Recent theater credits include: Bedbugs!!! The Musical; Hello Gorgeous: A Tribute to Barbara Streisand; The Rescignos; and 35mm The Musical, Previous Two River credits include Honk! and Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Joseph can also be seen performing and recording with numerous artists throughout New York City and across the US.
Mike Reid and Sarah Schlesinger
Music and Lyrics
Mike Reid (Composer) and Sarah Schlesinger (Lyricist) wrote In This House, which premiered at Two River last season. Their musical The Ballad of Little Jo was produced by Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago as its first musical and was subsequently produced at the Bridewell Theatre in London. They have also written the score for Casanova Returns, a new musical based on the life of Casanova, which won the Global Search for New Musicals. The team’s opera Different Fields was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Mike and Sarah have received the Kleban Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, a Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, and Chicago’s Jeff Award for best original musical. Mike is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter with more than 30 Top-Ten pop and country hits recorded by many artists including Bonnie Raitt (“I Can’t Make You Love Me”), Anita Baker, Kenny Rogers, Wynonna, Alabama, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Bette Midler, and Tim McGraw. His song “Always Gonna Be You” was recorded by Kenny Chesney for his latest album. Sarah is the Chair of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Mindi Dickstein
Book
Mindi Dickstein (Bookwriter) wrote the lyrics for the Broadway musical Little Women. Current projects: lyrics for Snow in August, based on the novel by Pete Hamill; lyrics for Benny and Joon, based on the movie; and lyrics for At the Beck, an original musical. Recent work includes: book and lyrics for Trip, an original musical commissioned by Playwrights Horizons; book for Toy Story – The Musical for Disney Creative Entertainment; and book and lyrics for Nate the Great for Theatreworks USA. Mindi’s songs have been performed widely, most notably as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook (“Hear and Now: Contemporary Lyricists”) and at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Awards and honors include playwriting fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and New York Foundation for the Arts, the ASCAP Bernice Cohen Award, Second Stage Constance Klinsky Award for Excellence in Musical Theater, and PEN International New Playwright Award (selected by Wendy Wasserstein). She received her MFA from New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, where she was an Oscar Hammerstein Fellow and where she now serves on the faculty. Little Women is available through Music Theatre International and Cherry Lane Music. The original Broadway cast album, released by Ghostlight Records, is available from Amazon.com and other music retailers. Contact or follow Mindi on Facebook: www.facebook.com/public/Mindi-Dickstein or Twitter @mindidickstein.
Amanda Dehnert
Director
Amanda Dehnert (Director) Recent productions include: Richard III (director/adapter/composer, Public Theater Mobile Shakespeare Unit); Julius Caesar, All’s Well That Ends Well (director/adapter, Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Verona Project (words and music, world premiere, California Shakespeare Theater); Peter Pan (A Play) (director/ adapter, Lookingglass, Joseph Jefferson Award nomination, best new adaptation); Death of a Salesman (Dallas Theater Center); The Fantasticks (Long Wharf and Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award nomination, outstanding direction); Not Wanted On the Voyage (book by Brian Hill, music and lyrics by Neil Bartram, American Music Theatre Project); Cabaret (Stratford Festival, Canada); Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (director/ adaptor/composer, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); My Fair Lady (director/music director, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, Virginia Stage); and a staged concert version of The Two Gentlemen of Verona – The Rock Opera (Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.) She currently serves as Associate Professor in the theatre department at Northwestern University in Chicago. Prior to that, she taught for the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA program. Ms. Dehnert has held various positions with Trinity Rep, culminating with serving as Acting Artistic Director for the 2005/2006 season, during which she directed The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Cyrano de Bergerac. Past productions for Trinity include Henry IV; West Side Story; A Moon for the Misbegotten; Annie; The Skin of Our Teeth; Noises Off; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The New England Sonata (world premiere); My Fair Lady; Othello; Saint Joan; We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, and A Christmas Carol (1997, 2005). She composed scores for The Cider House Rules, As You Like It, and The Imaginary Invalid; was resident music director/supervisor; and with Oskar Eustis wrote a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Upcoming projects include My Fair Lady for Oregon Shakespeare Festival opening February 2013 and Romeo and Juliet for California Shakespeare Theatre July 2013.
James Sampliner
Music Director
James Sampliner (Music Director) made his Two River debut last season as music director for In This House. He is a graduate of Indiana University’s School of Music. Soon after graduation, he was asked to be music director of Williamstown Theatre Festival’s late-night cabaret series. He then became music director of the festival until 2004, where he conducted Tonight at 8:30, Where's Charley? and The Threepenny Opera amongst others. His major New York debut was as a keyboardist for Radiant Baby at The Public Theater. He was arranger and associate conductor of Never Gonna Dance, his Broadway debut. Other Broadway credits include music director of Brooklyn, The Wedding Singer, and Legally Blonde (of which he also was an arranger). Off-Broadway: The Mistress Cycle and Ghetto Superstar. With Billy Porter, he created African-American revues of songs by Stephen Sondheim (Being Alive, which has had productions in Westport and Philadelphia) and Richard Rodgers (The Soul of Rodgers for Reprise Theatre Company). He supervised the West End production of Legally Blonde and the 1st National Tour in the United States. Other recent new musicals include Himself & Nora (NYMF), Triangle (NAMT), The Black Suits (Barrington Stage) and the development and first two productions of Sleeping Beauty Wakes at McCarter Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse, where he was both music director and orchestrator. His work can be heard on the original cast albums of his Broadway productions; on At the Corner of Broadway and Soul, a live recording with Billy Porter; and Julie Reiber’s Love Travels, on which he served as arranger, orchestrator, producer, and keyboardist.
Philip Witcomb
Scenic and Costume Design
Philip Witcomb (Scenic and Costume Designer) is a British designer based in New York. He has designed over 60 productions including: Amadeus at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Florida; 9 to 5: The Musical at North Shore Music Theatre; In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Milwaukee Rep; Much Ado About Nothing and The Tempest at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London; The White Devil at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London (nominated for Best Production — Whatsonstage Theatre Awards); Love in a Maze at The Watermill Theatre (nominated for Best Design — TMA Theatre Awards); Beauty and the Beast at the Citizens Theatre (nominated for Best Production — CATS Awards); the Citizens Theatre’s New York production of Death in Venice (Time Out New York’s ‘10 Best in Theatre’) and Cinderella at Dundee Rep (nominated for Best Design and Best Production). Philip was a Linbury Prize finalist, the United Kingdom’s most prestigious award for stage design. www.philipwitcomb.com
Tyler Micoleau
Lighting Design
Tyler Micoleau (Lighting Designer) Two River Theater: Opus, Orestes, and The Charlatan’s Séance. Recent New York Off-Broadway credits: Disgraced (Lincoln Center Theater LCT3); Red Dog Howls (NY Theatre Workshop); Him and Harrison, TX (Primary Stages); Heartless (Signature Theatre); 3C (Rattlestick); Melancholy Play, Map of Virtue (13P), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Classic Stage Company). Regional credits: Alley; Goodman; Huntington; American Repertory Theatre; Long Wharf; Trinity Rep; Old Globe; Shakespeare Theatre; Dallas Theater Center; many others. Awards: Barrymore, Helen Hayes and Jeff nominations; American Theatre Wing Hewes Award (Blasted); two Lucille Lortel Awards (When the Rain Stops Falling, Bug); two Obie Awards (Special Citation Bug, Sustained Excellence 2010).
Zachary Williamson
Sound Design
Zachary Williamson (Sound Designer) is very pleased to be designing again for Two River, where previous designs include Carry It On, Jacques Brel, Opus, Charlie Brown, 26 Miles, ReEntry, Glass Menagerie, Charlatan’s Séance, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and House of Blue Leaves. Recent designs include: The Utterly True Completely False Story of Edgar Allen Poe, Into The Woods, and ReEntry (Baltimore Center Stage); Pippin and Cabaret (Kansas City Rep); Into The Woods (Westport Country Playhouse); Amadeus (Clarence Brown); On the Town, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (5th Avenue Theatre Seattle, Ordway St. Paul); Phil Coulter: The Songs I Love So Well, New Girl In Town, White Women Street, Candida, The Hairy Ape, and 19 other productions (Irish Repertory Theatre); Molly Sweeney (Long Wharf); Give It Up! (Dallas Theater Center). As associate designer on Broadway: Lysistrata Jones, The Ritz, and Pal Joey. Additional credits: Broadway Asia International, Edinburgh Fringe, Goodspeed, Pasadena Playhouse, Round House, Virginia Stage, Asolo, TheaterWorks Hartford, St. Louis Rep, Vermont Stage, Syracuse Stage.
Danny Larsen
Orchestrations
Danny Larsen (Orchestrations) previously orchestrated In This House for Two River. He graduated from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program in 2005 as a composer/lyricist and holds Bachelors of Arts degrees in Music and Theatre Education from Brigham Young University. His most recent show, Cloaked, written with collaborator Michelle Elliott, has received a number of workshop productions in New York and all over the country, and was honored with a Jonathan Larson Grant and the Kleban Award in 2011. His first musical with Elliott, The Yellow Wood, received the 2006 Richard Rodgers Development Award and the Daryl Roth Award; it was presented as part of the 2007 NYMF Festival (where he won the Excellence in Music Award) and 2008 NAMT Festival. Danny also won the ACTF Kennedy Center Composition Award for his music and lyrics for Soft Shoe. He is currently working on a new musical web series called The Hinterlands which is a response to the gay teen suicides tragically plaguing the nation. Danny has done an extensive amount of arranging, orchestration, and composing for his own original musicals and other various projects.
Cindy Tolan & Adam Caldwell
Casting
Cindy Tolan & Adam Caldwell (Casting) Broadway: Cinderella, The Performers, Lysistrata Jones, Relatively Speaking, That Championship Season, A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, Avenue Q, and Xanadu. Previous productions with Vineyard Theatre, Bay Street, Dallas Theater Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, and Lincoln Center Theater. Film: Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Blue Valentine, Another Happy Day, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Letters to Juliet, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Starting Out in the Evening, Death of a President, The Darjeeling Limited, The Namesake, Sherrybaby, Kinsey, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Personal Velocity. Upcoming films: The Place Beyond the Pines, Gods Behaving Badly. Television: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, Fringe, The Return of Jezebel James, and multiple HBO pilots. Members of CSA.
Samantha Greene
Production Stage Manager
Samantha Greene (Production Stage Manager) Broadway: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific (Lincoln Center Theater). Regional: Pippin, Another American: Asking and Telling (Kansas City Rep); Travesties, The Skin of Our Teeth: The Musical, Electra (McCarter Theatre); Sleeping Beauty Wakes (La Jolla Playhouse). Selected New York City Opera credits include: Séance on a Wet Afternoon, A Quiet Place, Orpheus, Margaret Garner, Dead Man Walking (also San Francisco Opera world premiere), Mourning Becomes Electra, A Little Night Music (also Los Angeles Opera), Sweeney Todd, Candide, The Pirates of Penzance, The Little Prince, The Most Happy Fella, and Cinderella. Additional opera credits: West Side Story (El Paso Opera), Anna Karenina and Street Scene (Opera Theatre of St Louis), and productions at Opera de Monte-Carlo, San Francisco Opera, Central City Opera, Crested Butte Music Festival, Florida Grand Opera.
