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. This Fall, Jared will be teaching 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. This Fall, Jared will be teaching middle school music at Worcester Academy.
For more information, please visit: www.jfieldmusic.com
Fresh Fruit Festival 2015
|
NY Summerfest 2017
|
NYMF Developmental Reading Festival 2014
|
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
Mark Oleszko (Music Director) is a NYC-based pianist, music director, composer, educator, and arranger, currently enrolled in the M.A. Music Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a music director, he has worked on various theatrical productions, ranging from children's theatre to college productions, to professional work in New York, including Rachel at the New York Musical Theatre Festival last year. His work as a pianist and/or music director has taken him to various NYC venues, including Stage 72 at The Triad, Lincoln Center's Rubenstein Atrium, and the West End Lounge, where he hosts and performs in a monthly cabaret series showcasing upcoming talent. His original musical #LoveStory, for which he wrote music and lyrics, will be part of the 2015 New York City Fringe Festival this summer in August, staged fully for the first time.
Wendy Seyb (Choreographer) creates stories for film, theater, and dance. Her vibrant work explores the humorous side of the human condition through story, comedy, and movement. Choreography highlights include: Carnegie Hall with Sting, Kevin Spacey, James Taylor, Oscar Isaac, and Renee Fleming, THE PEEWEE HERMAN SHOW Broadway/HBO, THE TOXIC AVENGER MUSICAL Off-Broadway/International (Lortel, Dora, Callaway nominations), CLICK CLACK MOO Off-Broadway (Lortel nomination), MURDER FOR TWO Off-Broadway/National Tour, and developing a new musical with the URINETOWN Tony Award-winning team of Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann. As Director/Choreographer: HOW YOU LOOK AT IT The Sacramento Ballet (an original Dance Comedy), ONIRIQUE a cirque- style show (Big E Award Winner), BIRTHDAY SAX Ars Nova, and THAT REMINDS ME... a new comedy web series. Wendy has created shows with Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Richard Frankel Productions. She has created over 20 innovative Dance Comedy narratives that have won awards, been seen in a number of mediums such as: feature films, musicals, shorts, and spec commercials, and at esteemed NYC venues including Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce SoHo, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. www.wendyseyb.com
Bo Frazier (Stage Manager): Originally from Indianapolis, Bo recently relocated to NYC after spending 4 years in the UK where he co-founded the Off-West End Award nominated London Theatre Workshop. NY Credits: Theatre 167’s Church of Why Not (Assistant Director) and Heartbeat Opera’s Daphnis & Chloe (Assistant Director). UK Directing credits include The Dinner Party by Neil Simon (Greenwich Theatre), Haunting Julia by Alan Ayckbourn (Manor Pavilion Summer Rep Season) and Grand Street Apartment, which he wrote and conceived as his Masters Thesis Project. He also served as Associate Director for the Original London Production of Bare: the rock musical. BA: Millikin University, MA: Birmingham UK School of Acting.
Rachel Kaplan (Assistant Stage Manager) is a recent graduate of Kenyon College, where she majored in Drama and English. Last summer, she worked on "I Like to Be Here: Jackson Heights Revisited, or This is A Mango" with Ari. She is thrilled to be working with her again, as well as with so many new people, and is grateful to all the cast and crew that made this show such a memorable first post-grad production.
Lynn Spector (Dramaturg) has been the dramaturg on new musical works at Pipeline Theatre Company, the Toronto Fringe Festival, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). She has assisted Alex Timbers on Here's Hoover! (Les Freres Corbusier) and Permission (MCC) and been published in the journal Studies in Musical Theatre. Lynn holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University and a BA in Theater and English from Brandeis University.
Cast
Erin Fish (Rachel Carson) is excited to be a part of this production! New York: The Flood and Danton’s Death (Prospect Theatre Co.). Favorite regional credits include: 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), On the Town (Hildy), H2$ (Hedy), Hairspray (Velma Von Tussle, Mill Mountain Theatre), Pirates of Penzance (Kate, Fulton Theatre), Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Helen, Ocean State Theatre Co.), Rumors (Chris), Always Patsy Cline (Patsy), and Beauty and the Beast (Wardrobe, Actor’s Playhouse). To Tyler, my husband, Life is Good!
Tamra Hayden (Dorothy Freeman) is delighted to continue the journey with the development of Rachel. Favorite credits include: Broadway: Les Miserables (Cosette), Cabaret (Texas); Off-Broadway: Jacques Brel...; National Tours: Phantom of the Opera (Christine), Les Miserables (Cosette), and Fiddler On The Roof (Hodel, opposite Theodore Bikel). Concerts: Nashville Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Tuscon Symphony, Palm Beach Pops, and St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna. Recordings: Love Is..., Tradition, Tartan & Tears, I Believe In The Fire, and A Day At The Fair. Tamra co-developed several patent pending iOS and Leap Motion apps, MusicalMe Images, (www.musicalmeapps.com) which use color and movement to create music. www.tamrahayden.com
Rachel Flynn (Young Rachel) refuses to make a joke about playing Rachel in Rachel the Musical, excepting this one. Recent credits: Heathers the Musical (New World Stages) Stop the Virgens (St. Ann's Warehouse) Because of Winn Dixie (Goodspeed Developmental Lab) Edges (NCT) Angels in America (ART/Loeb) and readings of Mean Girls the Musical, Galileo the Musical and Huzzah! Proud AEA member and Harvard grad. Her solo show, There Will Be Feelings (music directed by Laurence O'Keefe) was a Time Out New York Critic's Pick and featured multiple renditions of Call Me Maybe. Thanks Dustin, Mom and Dad, and Twitter: tellmegreyseal
Lipica Shah (Marie Rodell) is a New York City-based actor who thrives on collaborative work in all facets of the industry. She’s THRILLED to join the Rachel team – Rachel Carson has been a role model of hers for quite some time. Recent credits include Off-Broadway: I Like To Be Here (The New Ohio), Bunty Berman Presents… (The New Group), Bumbug: The Musical (The Clurman Theatre); New York: Better Homes and Homelands (Drama League), The Jackson Heights Trilogy (777 Theatre), Lonely Leela (HERE Arts Center); Regional: Passing Strange and the Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy (Mixed Blood Theatre), Dov and Ali (Chester Theatre); Film: Admission, Arbitrage, Let’s Be Out, The Sun is Shining (Best Actress Nomination - 2012 NYIFF); Television: HAPPYish, America Odyssey, The Following, Person of Interest, White Collar,Pokémon. She just wrapped filming a lead role in an educational series for an international audience. In her spare time, Lipica enjoys distance running (cheer her on at this year’s NYC Marathon!), cooking, crossword puzzles, being outdoors, and anything involving dark chocolate. Catch her in the upcoming Fringe Festival show Coping and in the Indie flick A Woman, A Part. BFA: NYU-Tisch School of the Arts. Proud member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA. Learn more at www.LipicaShah.com!
Roberto Araujo (Julius Hyman) is a native of Mexico City. NYC: Street Lights, Angelina Ballerina, The Very Merry Holiday Musical, Go West and Jackson Heights 3am. Regional:Xanadu, Les Miserables (Thenardier) at ZACH Theatre in Austin, Texas; Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story (Ritchie Valens) at Sierra Repertory Theatre in Sonora, California; Singin’ In The Rain, Legally Blonde and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, NY. He has toured around Brazil, Colombia and Mexico with The Disney Special Events Group and in China with Fame, The Musical in the role of Joe Vegas. Voicework: Joseph in Dreamworks' animated featureJoseph, King Of Dreams. Roberto also has a passion for photography check out his work at: www.RobertoAraujoPhotography.com . For more visit: www.RobertoAraujo.com and and in social media Instagram @robertoaraujophotography and Twitter @BobbyAraujo
Anette Michelle Sanders (Maria Carson/Cora Coolidge) is delighted to be a part of this project. She most recently appeared in “Clybourne Park” (Bev/Kathy) at Hampton Theatre Company, and was seen this holiday season in “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas” at Madison Square Garden. Favorite roles include Mariette in “Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party” (original cast with John Ritter and Henry Winkler) at the Mark Taper Forum and the Kennedy Center, Rosie (u/s) in the first national tour of “Mamma Mia!” and both Auntie and Mama Who in “Grinch” on both coasts. Regionally, Anette has recently appeared as Susu in the world premiere of Jon Marans’ “A Raw Space”, M’Lynn in “Steel Magnolias”, the Beggar Woman in “Sweeney Todd” (with Amanda McBroom), Wicked Witch in “The Wizard of Oz”, Goneril in “King Lear”, and Elaine in three different productions of Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers”. Proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1996.
Ann Flanigan (Mary Scott Skinker/Ensemble) is excited to share this story with you and play this bold woman.
NY credits include: King Lear (LATEA), The Girls of Summer (Actors Temple Theatre), Flambéaux (The Billie Holiday Theater, Theater for the New City), Lincoln Center Originals: The CRY HAVOC Company (David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center), and several wonderful new musical readings. Regional: The Bluest Eye (CFRT). Television: My Crazy Love. She is a member of the Musical Theatre Factory and The Society of the Educational Arts. Thank you to Jessie, Jared, and Ari for asking me to help tell this story, the entire creative team and cast for bringing it to life, and my family for just about everything else! To God be the glory! AnnFlanigan.com
NY credits include: King Lear (LATEA), The Girls of Summer (Actors Temple Theatre), Flambéaux (The Billie Holiday Theater, Theater for the New City), Lincoln Center Originals: The CRY HAVOC Company (David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center), and several wonderful new musical readings. Regional: The Bluest Eye (CFRT). Television: My Crazy Love. She is a member of the Musical Theatre Factory and The Society of the Educational Arts. Thank you to Jessie, Jared, and Ari for asking me to help tell this story, the entire creative team and cast for bringing it to life, and my family for just about everything else! To God be the glory! AnnFlanigan.com
Trevor St. John-Gilbert (Ribicoff/Ensemble) is stoked to be a part of Rachel! NYC: The Church of Why Not (Theatre 167), This Will All Be Yours (VH Theatricals), My Other Voice (Theatre 167). Regional: Les Miserables (The MUNY). Graduate of the University of Michigan's Musical Theatre Department. Love to Mom, Dad, Tori, Whit, Grannie, Daddy George. 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Jonathan D. Mesisca (Higgins/Ensemble) is grateful to join this talented team in this beautiful and poignant new work. Select NYC Credits: Evita (Juan Perón) at the Gallery Players, Goree Crossing (Sheriff Bucky), The Devil of Delancey Street (Devil)**Award Winner for Best New Play in The 2014 Thespis Theatre Festival, Once Upon a Mattress (The Minstrel) at the Heights Players. National Tour: Laura Ingalls Wilder (Pa Ingalls). Regional Theatre: The Fantasticks (El Gallo) in Ogunquit, ME. Education: University of Southern California. If you enjoyed his performance and like to travel, Jonathan will be reprising his role as Perón with The Theater Barn in New Lebanon, NY this summer from August 27-Sept. 6. More information is available at www.jonathanmesisca.com @JDMe412 Special thanks to his friends and family for their love and support.
