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.jaredfieldmusic.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.jaredfieldmusic.com
NYMF Developmental Reading Festival 2014
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NY Summerfest 2017
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Fresh Fruit Festival 2015
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Creative Team
Julie Kramer (director) directed her adaption of Rona Jaffe's THE BEST OF EVERYTHING at HERE in New York, where it was a New York Times and Time Out Critics' Pick and named one of the Ten Best Plays of 2012 in The Huffington Post. It's published by Dramatists Play Service. In March she directed TRUE ART by Jessica Provenz at Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City for the inaugural Play-By Play reading series.
Additional directing includes MOTHER LOAD (Off-Broadway and national tour), PEARL'S GONE BLUE (Best Musical FringeNYC), HILLARY: A MODERN GREEK TRAGEDY WITH A (SOMEWHAT) HAPPY ENDING (New Georges), NONE OF THE ABOVE (The Lion and New Georges) and BABY LOVE (Hourglass Group in New York and Mesto Zensk in Ljubljana, Slovenia). She directed three shows for the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, CO, and has developed new work at The Public Theater in New York, The Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont, and The O'Neill Center in Connecticut. She was a Young Director in Residence at Ensemble Studio Theatre, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, and a member of SDC. Upcoming -- MONA LISA SPEAKS with Tovah Feldshuh (Guild Hall, Southampton)
For more information, please visit: www.juliekramerdirector.com
Additional directing includes MOTHER LOAD (Off-Broadway and national tour), PEARL'S GONE BLUE (Best Musical FringeNYC), HILLARY: A MODERN GREEK TRAGEDY WITH A (SOMEWHAT) HAPPY ENDING (New Georges), NONE OF THE ABOVE (The Lion and New Georges) and BABY LOVE (Hourglass Group in New York and Mesto Zensk in Ljubljana, Slovenia). She directed three shows for the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, CO, and has developed new work at The Public Theater in New York, The Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont, and The O'Neill Center in Connecticut. She was a Young Director in Residence at Ensemble Studio Theatre, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, and a member of SDC. Upcoming -- MONA LISA SPEAKS with Tovah Feldshuh (Guild Hall, Southampton)
For more information, please visit: www.juliekramerdirector.com
Mark Oleszko (music director) is a New York City-based music director, pianist, and composer. He is also currently pursuing his Masters in Music Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a music director, this is his second time working on an original, exciting piece of musical theatre. Some of his other favorite previous productions have been Hair and West Side Story. As a composer, he recently finished work on a demo for his original musical, #LoveStory.
Cast
Laurie Wells (Rachel Carson): Broadway: Mamma Mia! National Tours: Mamma Mia! (Donna Sheridan), Swing! (Principal vocalist). Off-Broadway/Regional: Swing!, City of Angels (Bobbi/Gabby, Goodspeed Opera House), 42nd Street (Dorothy Brock, Goodspeed and Riverside Theatre), Ragtime (Mother, Hangar Theatre), Dames at Sea (Mona Kent, Bay Street Theatre), Game Show (Ellen Ryan, Mason Street Warehouse), My Fair Lady (Eliza Dolittle, Santa Monica CLO), I Got Merman (Stamford PAC). Principal Vocalist for the World Premiere of Trip of Love in Osaka, Japan. Concerts: Our Sinatra at 54 Below, Lyric and Lyricists at 92nd Street Y, Transcendence Theatre Company Gala, Solo show on Princess Cruises, Grand Ole Opry.
Tamra Hayden (Dorothy Freeman): 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: 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
Remy Zaken (Young Rachel Carson): last seen as Hera in The Anthem Off-Broadway. Favorite credits include: Broadway: Spring Awakening (OBC Thea). Off-Broadway: Freckleface Strawberry (Title role), Spring Awakening. Regional: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Francie), A Little Princess (Becky). Workshops: Brooklynite (directed by Michael Mayer), Bright Star (Steve Martin musical), Some Lovers (Burt Bacharach musical), First Love (with Eve Plumb), My Mother, My Sister, & Me (with Valerie Harper), Pookie Goes Grenading (Title Role). Recordings: Spring Awakening (Grammy for Best Show Album), A Little Princess. Award for Best Debut, Connecticut Critics Circle for A Tree... Film: Sing Along (short). Television: Gossip Girl, Law and Order, It Could Be Worse. www.remyzaken.com
Susan Bott (Marie Rodell): Off Broadway: Paula Vogel's "And Baby Makes Seven", Julie Kramer's "The Best of Everything" (New York Times Critic's Choice) and in Amy Wilson's "Mother Load,"(New York Magazine's Critic's Pick) Comedy credits: comedy duo "STEVE", (Obie Award winning) New George’s sketch comedy group “Kinda Personal” and Upright Citizens Brigade, NYC. Hundreds of voice overs and commercials. Current national on camera, Iams and Tribe Hummus, but still recognized as Beth, the (former) crazy dancing Swiffer lady. Television credits include the bygone "Dana Carvey Show”. SusanBott.com
Karen Akers (Maria Carson), one of America's most arresting and successful concert and cabaret stars, has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. She has appeared in many prestigious venues worldwide from Carnegie Hall to three performances at the White House. Broadway: Original cast of the Tony Award-winning musical Grand Hotel, directed by Tommy Tune; Nine, also directed by Mr. Tune (Theatre World Award, Tony Award nomination). Film: The femme fatale in Mike Nichols's Heartburn opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo. PBS Television Specials: Presenting Karen Akers, Karen Akers: On Stage at Wolf Trap, and musical tributes to Ira Gershwin and Duke Ellington.
Russell Arden Koplin (Mary Scott Skinker) has appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables (Eponine) and James Joyce's The Dead. Some Off-Broadway & Regional credits: Lies My Father Told Me, Greed: A Musical for Our Times, Jerry Herman's Showtunes, the title role in Junie B. Jones (Lortel Theater), and The Ruby Sunrise directed by Oskar Eustis. Recent developmental workshops of The Bootlegger & The Rabbi's Daughter (Jo, The Rabbi's daughter) at NYMF and LORD TOM. Film & Television: the independent film Lullaby starring Amy Adams & Richard Jenkins, Sand Castle, Law & Order: CI. Numerous Voice Overs for television and radio.
Aaron Phillips (Julius Hyman): Aaron is an Ovation Award nominated actor/singer, proud member of Actor's Equity, and can frequently be seen on film and TV. Past theatre credits include: Jekyll and Hyde (John Utterson), Batboy: The Musical (Batboy/Edgar), Songs for a New World , and Les Misérables(Foreman/Combeferre). Opera credits include: La Boheme with the Greensboro Opera Company, conducted by Valery Ryvkin,Pirates of Penzance (Pirate King) and Lakme (Frederic) by Delibes. Aaron most recently appeared in Pipeline Theatre’s staged reading of I’s Twinkle (Brutus/Cosmos) by Nate Weida, and is also one of four vocalists on the symphony tour, Disney In Concert. You may have seen Aaron as Carl, half of the duo that is the current face of Lipton Iced Tea. Aaron is an accomplished voice-over talent and can be heard in video games such as World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption and Lord of the Rings.
Bryan Austermann (Ensemble) is thrilled to be part of this reading of Always, Rachel and to be working on new work! Bryan is going into his senior year studying musical theater at NYU Tisch in The New Studio on Broadway. Later this summer he will be in a workshop for another new musical, Clouds are Pillows for the Moon with the Graduate Musical Theater Writing program at NYU.
Vincent DiGeronimo (Ensemble) is delighted to take part in "Always, Rachel" at this year's NYMF. Some favorite roles have been Dean in "Prophet in Pink" at the 2012 FRINGE Festival, Seymour in "Little Shop of Horrors" at The Players Theatre in the East Village, Albert Peterson in "Bye, Bye Birdie" at Yorktown Stages, and Lockstock in "Urinetown" at Lehman College. Vincent also wrote a one-man show, "Night of 1,000 Depressing-Ass Ballads," which has been performed at The Gloria Maddox Theatre and Dixon Place. His debut album, "Not Again" is available on iTunes and CDbaby.com. Additional information can be found at www.vincentdigeronimo.net
