Bios
Jessie Field (Book, Lyrics) is a director and playwright, and college graduate from Brandeis University. Brandeis directing credits include Proof, Into the Woods, Rabbit Hole, and the workshop production of Rachel. Jessie also served as AD for Brandeis Theatre Company’s productions of Closer and She Stoops to Conquer and was Artistic Director of the student-led Free Play Theater Cooperative. Jessie is a founding member of The Crossroad Players, a professional company of Brandeis alumni focused on giving opportunities to young artists, and served as the company’s President and Artistic Director. Jessie directed CP’s premiere production of ‘Night Mother, as well as their second show, My Romantic History, at the A.R.T.’s Oberon theater. She also directed Clark University’s Sweeney Todd, and Bentley University’s Enron. She spent last year in California, completing the Directing Apprenticeship at Capital Stage. There Jessie served as AD for A Doll’s House and The Totalitarians. She also had the honor of directing her fellow apprentices in their showcase, Subculture.
Jessie’s experience as a playwright includes writing the book and lyrics for Harold! The Musical, a one-act original musical and grant recipient in the 2009 Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts, and the book and lyrics for Rachel, which was a recipient of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg prize for Best Original Play and the winner of Outstanding Musical at the 2015 Fresh Fruit Festival awards. Other completed works include To The West, a family-friendly feminist tale of adventuring Vikings, and La Maupin, another musical collaboration with her brother, Jared, about swordswoman and opera singer Julie d’Aubigny.
Jessie’s experience as a playwright includes writing the book and lyrics for Harold! The Musical, a one-act original musical and grant recipient in the 2009 Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts, and the book and lyrics for Rachel, which was a recipient of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg prize for Best Original Play and the winner of Outstanding Musical at the 2015 Fresh Fruit Festival awards. Other completed works include To The West, a family-friendly feminist tale of adventuring Vikings, and La Maupin, another musical collaboration with her brother, Jared, about swordswoman and opera singer Julie d’Aubigny.
Jared Field (Music) is a composer, conductor, music educator and clarinetist. His works have been read and performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and by hundreds of students and campers across the country. In addition to his classical works, Jared has written the music for Harold! the Musical and Rachel. Jared received his BA in Music Composition from Brandeis University, where he earned Highest Honors and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He recently graduated with an MA in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Composition teachers include David Rakowski, Melinda Wagner, Marty Boykan, and Richard Pearson Thomas.
As a conductor, Jared had served as music director for several student ensembles and pit orchestras, including a production of Harold! the Musical at the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts at Brandeis University, as well as a workshop production of Rachel. As a clarinetist, Jared has performed with the Columbia University Orchestra, The Secret Opera, Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, Boston Unhinged, and numerous chamber ensembles and pit orchestras. He also plays klezmer music with ‘Deiskeit. As a tenor, Jared has performed the roles of Monostatos and Kaspar in opera scenes, and sung with the Brandeis University Chorus and Chamber Choir and the Dudley House Singers. Jared was a corps member at City Year New Hampshire from 2011 to 2012, serving as a math and English tutor in a third grade classroom. While there, Jared conducted the school chorus and led them in rehearsals, created and taught after school classes on subjects ranging from music to science, and wrote a new school song. Jared has also worked as a counselor and domain guest at Beam Camp, where he created several week-long music programs for campers in which students performed works by John Cage, created their own pieces using invented notation, and collaborated on the production of an original opera. Jared is currently the Director of Middle School Music at Worcester Academy.
For more information, please visit: www.jfieldmusic.com
As a conductor, Jared had served as music director for several student ensembles and pit orchestras, including a production of Harold! the Musical at the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts at Brandeis University, as well as a workshop production of Rachel. As a clarinetist, Jared has performed with the Columbia University Orchestra, The Secret Opera, Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, Boston Unhinged, and numerous chamber ensembles and pit orchestras. He also plays klezmer music with ‘Deiskeit. As a tenor, Jared has performed the roles of Monostatos and Kaspar in opera scenes, and sung with the Brandeis University Chorus and Chamber Choir and the Dudley House Singers. Jared was a corps member at City Year New Hampshire from 2011 to 2012, serving as a math and English tutor in a third grade classroom. While there, Jared conducted the school chorus and led them in rehearsals, created and taught after school classes on subjects ranging from music to science, and wrote a new school song. Jared has also worked as a counselor and domain guest at Beam Camp, where he created several week-long music programs for campers in which students performed works by John Cage, created their own pieces using invented notation, and collaborated on the production of an original opera. Jared is currently the Director of Middle School Music at Worcester Academy.
For more information, please visit: www.jfieldmusic.com
NY Summerfest 2017
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Fresh Fruit Festival 2015
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NYMF Developmental Reading Festival 2014
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Creative Team
Ari Laura Kreith (Director) is the Artistic Director of Theatre 167, named for the number of languages spoken in Jackson Heights, Queens and now in residence at Manhattan’s West End Theatre. At Theatre 167, Ari conceived and directed The Jackson Heights Trilogy: 167 TONGUES, YOU ARE NOW THE OWNER OF THIS SUITCASE, and JACKSON HEIGHTS 3AM (PBS Pick-of-the-Week)—three full-length plays collaboratively written by 18 playwrights featuring 37 actors in 93 roles in 14 languages—which were produced individually in Queens, then in rotating repertory as a 6-hour epic in Manhattan, and subsequently re-imagined as an immersive installation for Queens Museum.
Her production of PIRIRA, set simultaneously in Malawi and New York, received the 2014 NYIT Award for Outstanding Premiere Production Of A Play and transferred Off-Broadway. Recent commissions/ collaborations include I LIKE TO BE HERE: JACKSON HEIGHTS REVISITED, OR, THIS IS A MANGO at the New Ohio Theatre, three short pieces for Queens Theatre’s WORLD’S FAIR PLAY FESTIVAL (NY Times Critic’s Pick), and THE CHURCH OF WHY NOT, based on an interfaith activist community, which premiered at the space that inspired it this February. Musical theatre highlights include DREAMHOUSE, which she also co-created, and the European premiere of Adam Guettel’s MYTHS AND HYMNS.
Ari received her BA from Yale University and her MFA from UC Davis. www.arilaurakreith.com
Her production of PIRIRA, set simultaneously in Malawi and New York, received the 2014 NYIT Award for Outstanding Premiere Production Of A Play and transferred Off-Broadway. Recent commissions/ collaborations include I LIKE TO BE HERE: JACKSON HEIGHTS REVISITED, OR, THIS IS A MANGO at the New Ohio Theatre, three short pieces for Queens Theatre’s WORLD’S FAIR PLAY FESTIVAL (NY Times Critic’s Pick), and THE CHURCH OF WHY NOT, based on an interfaith activist community, which premiered at the space that inspired it this February. Musical theatre highlights include DREAMHOUSE, which she also co-created, and the European premiere of Adam Guettel’s MYTHS AND HYMNS.
Ari received her BA from Yale University and her MFA from UC Davis. www.arilaurakreith.com
Rachel Dean (Music Director) is a composer, pianist, and music director originally from Iowa. An ASCAP award recipient, she is a graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and works as a rehearsal pianist for Hamilton. Her musicals include: Medusa (with Wes Braver), The Anxiety Project (with David Brush), and The Ballad of Janis Matthews and the Dodo Scouts (with Giancarlo Rodaz).
Michelle O'Brien (Assistant Director) is a director, writer, and performer based in Brooklyn. Directing credits include Park Plays (Queens Theatre), work with NY Madness & Theatre 167 (Mate by Jessica Moss, Engorged Alien Entropy by Joshua Young), Love Drunk (Sightseeing by Elena V. Levenson), and The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. AD: F#%king Up Everything off-Bway, dir. Jen Wineman. She’s also an improviser and sketch comedy writer, but try not to hold it against her. B.A., Vassar College.
Lauren Jackson (Stage Manager) is a recent graduate from Syracuse University with a BFA in Stage Management. Most recent Stage management credits include: Singing Beach (Theater 167), Ends of the Earth (InViolet Theater), Major Barbara (Syracuse Drama) and Ragtime (Redhouse Arts Center) as well as Production Intern at The Secret City. Lauren was also a Stage Manager Intern on the Broadway musical In Transit.
David J. Palmer (Lighting Designer/Projections) is an award-winning lighting & video/projection designer based in New York City. Recent Projects: Mata Hari (Beth Morrison), White House Halloween (DC), The Birds (off-bway), Cagney (off-bway), Do. Not. Shine. (SPKRBOX Oslo), Fidelio (Opera Omaha), Aida (St. Louis Symphony), Paradox…Urban Cliche (Poetic Theater Productions), Geo Tree (Stan Deutsch Associates), The Flying Dutchman (Princeton Festival & Piedmont Opera), Soul Doctor (off-bway), How I Learned What I Learned (off-bway). www.dplighting.com
Jessa-Raye Court (Costume Designer) NYC: Abu Casem’s Slippers (Strindberg Rep, dir. Janet Bentley), Connected (Project Y; dir. Michole Biancosino), Mourning Sun (Theatre 167; dir. Ari Laura Kreith), Kristina (Strindberg Rep, dir. Whitney Aronson) The Religion Thing (Project Y Theatre Co; dir. Douglas Hall), Barcode (NYC Fringe, dir Joe Barros) Regional: Dames at Sea (Infinity Theatre Co.; dir. Randy Skinner), Hamlet (Reduxion Theatre Co.; dir. Erin Anderson Woods), The Crucible (Rutgers Theater Co.; dir. Randal Myler), Help Yourself (Williamstown Theatre Festival; dir. Moritz von Stuelpnagel). MFA: Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University; www.jessarayecourt.com
Cast
Erin Fish (Rachel Carson) is excited to tell this wonderful story again! New York: Rachel (Fresh Fruit Festival), Danton’s Death and The Flood (Prospect Theatre Company). National tours: Mamma Mia! (Donna), Annie (Miss Hannigan). Favorite Regional: 9 to 5 The Musical (Violet), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Muriel), The Taffetas (Kaye, Fulton Theatre), The Last Five Years (Catherine, Winter Park Playhouse), The Full Monty (Vicki, TBTS), The Producers (Ulla), Singing in the Rain (Lina), Anything Goes (Reno), Guys and Dolls (Adelaide), Nunsense (Amnesia), South Pacific (Nellie), H2$ (Hedy), Hairspray (Velma, Mill Mountain), Pirates of Penzance (Kate, Fulton Theatre), Laughter on the 23 rd Floor (Helen, OSTC), Rumors (Chris), Always Patsy Cline (Patsy), and Beauty and the Beast (Wardrobe, Actor’s Playhouse). Thanks to Jessie, Jared and Ari for this amazing adventure! To Tyler, Life is Good! @ErinLFish.
Rebecca Muller (Young Rachel Carson) is thrilled to be a part of the Rachel team! She is a graduate of the University of Miami, originally from Lincolnshire, IL. Favorite past roles include Miss Adelaide (Guys & Dolls), Rona Lisa Peretti (Spelling Bee), and Anna (Burn This). She would like to thank her parents, family, and friends for their incredible love and support. For Ellie.
Lipica Shah (Marie Rodell and others) is so excited to have the chance to tell Rachel Carson’s story again – she fought for our world, and we must join that fight. Select New York: Cost of Living (Manhattan Theatre Club), Bunty Berman Presents… (The New Group), Coping (NY Fringe Festival), Rachel: The Musical (The Wild Project – Fruitie Award Outstanding Featured Performance); Regional: The Lake Effect (Geva Theatre Center), Orange, Passing Strange, and the Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy – title roles in The Chronicles of Kalki and Shiv (all at Mixed Blood Theatre), The Who and The What (Gulfshore Playhouse), Dov and Ali (Chester Theatre); Film: Admission, Arbitrage, Let’s Be Out The Sun is Shining (NYIFF Best Actress Nomination); Television: Time After Time, Limitless, The Following, White Collar, Pokémon. Catch her on the Nickelodeon cartoon Regal Academy and upcoming short film Brunch Wars. www.LipicaShah.com
Amie Bermowitz (Dorothy Freeman and others): Most recently, Amie was seen in the off-Broadway show, RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL. Also off-Broadway, she has performed in 3 shows with Musicals Tonight: MEXICAN HAYRIDE, WHOOPEE!, and, PARDON MY ENGLISH. Other NY credits include THE HUMAN COMEDY at APAC and several NY Fringe shows. Regional highlights include BOOKENDS (world premiere), at NJ REP; DANNY AND SYLVIA, The Forum, NJ; Sally in CABARET, PINS AND NEEDLES, and A FUNNY THING HAPPENED...FORUM at The Washington Jewish Theatre, MD; THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV at Arena Stage, DC; TINTYPES at Round House Theatre, MD. Amie also sailed the Caribbean playing Cinderella's stepmother, and Cruella DeVil in the main stage productions aboard Disney Cruise Line. Happy to be part of the lovely musical, RACHEL.
Max Bitar (Off-Stage Voices) is ecstatic to be joining the Field siblings again for their powerful, original musical Rachel. He last appeared in their original musical La Maupin as part of the 2017 Fresh Fruit Festival. Since his recent graduation from UNC Chapel Hill’s theater program, he has performed in festivals at The New Ohio, The Wild Project, and INTAR Theatre in New York, and worked regionally at PlayMakers Repertory Company, Deep Dish Theatre Co., Kenan Theatre Company, and Lab! Theatre. Big love to mom and dad, Jessie and Jared, and the incredible friends/artists/collaborators he has been lucky enough to meet in life so far.
J. Stephen Brantley (Off-Stage Voices): Off-Broadway: Mope (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Murder In The First (59E59), Pirira (Theatre 167). Regional: The Night Alive (Guild Hall), Of Mice And Men (Bay Street), and Romeo And Juliet with its zombie sequel R & J & Z at Stonington Opera House. TV: “The Blacklist” (NBC), “Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter” (Adult Swim), “Difficult People” (Hulu). Brantley has also worked with Big Dance Theatre, Blessed Unrest, CapsLock, and Jewish Plays Project, and at venues including Queens Theatre, LaMaMa, Metropolitan Playhouse, The New Ohio, P.S.122, and Soho Rep. He is a graduate of NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing, an eight-time New York Innovative Theatre Award nominee, and winner of the Micheál MacLiammóir Award for Best Actor at the 2013 Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. J.Stephen is the Producing Artistic Director of Hard Sparks and a member of the Indie Theatre Hall Of Fame.
