Artist Bios |
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Adams,
Liz Duffy (book/lyrics, Breathing
Mars) - a member
of New Dramatists, Adams’s plays include Dog Act, The
Train Play and Wet, or Isabella the Pirate Queen Enters the Horse
Latitudes,
and have been produced or developed by Syracuse Stage, Bay Area
Playwrights Festival and Portland Stage Company among other places. Her
Poodle With Guitar and Dark Glasses was published in Applause’s “Best
American Short Plays 2000-2001.” |
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| Masi, Asare (lyrics/music, Best)
- Masi is a performer and composer/lyricist whose work has been presented
at the BMI Musical Theater Writing
Workshop, Raw Impressions/La Mama and Harvard University. She has
also written over fifty songs for NY and Boston area children’s
theatre. On the producing side: RIPFest #4: Movie Musicals (May
17-18). See http://www.rawimpressions.org
for more. back to top |
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| Blackwell, Lavell V. (music, Far
Away From America)
- co-wrote book, music, and lyrics for Women of Athens, which has
had a full-scale production at Fordham College, and professional
readings at the Manhattan Theater Club and the New York Theater Workshop.
Lavell currently attends Tisch School of The Arts in the Musical
Theater Writing Program. There he wrote music for 3Einsteins, and
book and lyrics for Anansi, a short piece based on a character from
African fables. back to top |
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| Book,
Lynn (direction,
The LOOP Group) - is a
critically acclaimed performance and vocal artist who founded Voicelab
in 1999 for the research and development of the infinite potential
of the human voice. She teaches, coaches and produces innovative
work that features voice and new media. The critical vision of Voicelab
and the multi-leveled approach that Lynn Book brings to cultivating
the process of making new performance for voice is evidenced in the
challenging nature of the performances that result in a public showing
of the work. back to top |
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| Camp, Robert Quillen (book/lyrics/music,
Field Trip) - a writer and sound artist. His performance work has
been produced by HERE, Dixon Place, Little Theater at Tonic, Columbia
University, Brown University New Plays Festival, The Constant Theater
(Portland, OR), and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. His plays
have been published in the journals Conjunctions, Chain, Play: A
Journal of Plays, and Conundrum. back to top |
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Chiasson, Gilles (music, MAPS) – wrote
the book, music and lyrics of chrysalis, a musical play, and co-wrote
Fishwrap, a living newspaper revue. His work has been heard at the
Adirondack Theatre Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan
Theatre Club, Alley Theatre, Raw Impressions Music Theatre, Pasadena
Playhouse, Stagecrafters, and Cherry County Playhouse. His solo CD,
SLOW DOWN, is available at gilleschiasson.com. back to top |
| Cohen, Joshua H. (book/lyrics, Far
Away From America) - wrote music and lyrics for The Entropy
Songs, a song
cycle; Hershele The Storyteller; The Boy Who Drew Cats; The
Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen; The Mirror Song; and Dragons. He wrote
book and lyrics for The Orpheus Complex and Mouse and
Toad, and contributed
to three events at Raw Impressions Music Theater. B.A. from Amherst
College; M.F.A. from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing
Program. back to top |
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| Davey,
Andrea(choreographer, Best)
- has delighted in collaborating with the
Anonymous Ensemble since
the Enron scandal-inspired "Emperor’s New Clothes." In
addition to the first two "Best" incarnations, she's
choreographed for the Camden Shakespeare Company and Duke University,
as well as dance captaining many-a regional musical theater extravaganza.
Thanks to Eamonn, Masi, and Jim for all their not-for-broadway-ness. back to top |
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| Farrell, Eamonn (book, Best) - a writer
and director based in NYC. In the past, he has worked as an assistant
director at NYTW and with Mabou Mines. Soon, he will be directing
a short play in Glory, Glory, Halleluja at Theater for a New City.
He particularly loves working with the whole Best family and is grateful
for their dedication and enthusiasm. back to top |
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Feldman, Michelle (book/lyrics, The
Merry Swinger Show) - a Texas transplant who has dabbled in writing, singing,
programming, and working for evil monopolists, Michelle has written
a jazz play, High Standards, and various pop songs for a local label.
She is currently working on dreamlife, a full-length musical, is
Assistant Curator of the Warning Not for Broadway Festival, and House
Manager of the Dixon Place Veteran Series. back to top |
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Henderson,
Douglas (music, Music for 50 Carpenters)- has been composing and performing
internationally for some 20 years with a variety of musicians, including
John Zorn, Zeena Parkins, and Guy Yarden. He received his PhD in
Music Composition from Princeton University, and a 1998 "Bessie" award
for his work with Mia Lawrence. In recent years he has focused on
scores for modern dance and sound installations, and has composed
for dozens of choreographers. back to top |
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Hilder,
David (book/lyrics, MAPS) – his
plays include Leave the Room (Finalist, Lark Theatre’s Playwrights
Week and Christopher Brian Wolk Award/Abingdon Theatre Company);
Bay Orchard High (Expanded Arts, Cullen/Dumas Productions); Dinner
Party! (E.S.T., Smatterfest, Particle Wave); and One for
the Books (E.S.T.). David is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and
the O’Neill Center’s National Theater Institute. back to top |
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Huang, Timothy (music,
Breathing Mars) holds his MFA in musical theatre writing from NYU
and a BFA in acting also from NYU. He is the composer and/or bookwriter/lyricist
of several musical shorts that have premiered at the Raw Impressions
group, NYU GMTWP and New Dramatists. His second full length And
The Earth Moved for which he wrote music, book and lyrics was a finalist
for the National Music Theatre Network's New Voices Prize in 2004. back to top |
| Hurwitz, Isaac Robert (direction, Gotcha)
- heads the Rusty Magee Music Project, a musical theater development
program at Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he is also a Director in
Residence. He has directed or developed numerous new plays and musicals
including Emma (by Stephen Karam) which won the Kennedy
Center-ACTF Musical Theater and NMTN Awards. Isaac received Brown
University’s
Westin Award in Directing and was one of eight student directors
selected nationwide for the Kennedy Center's 10-Minute Play Festival
in 2000. back to top |
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| Iseman,
Jim (music, Best)
- has been writing music since the age of
six. His main musical influences are: G.G., Byrne, Zorn, Patton,
Bungle, Willie, Jay Z, Peaches, Radiohead, Bob (both of them), Oberst,
Jennifer Charles (I melt), Bootsy, and many nameless Punk and Hardcore
bands. He was born, raised, and schooled in North Carolina. Now,
he calls the East Village home. back to top |
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| Jannucci,
James (music, The
Merry Swinger Show) - with a penchant for dramatic writing
through music, James has written several musical theater pieces,
including Empathy, Perfume,
and most recently, StandStill. He runs an after school academy
called,
The Open Hand, where he teaches
music, math, and more. He studies composition at Columbia University.
Other pieces include, Mass and
The Magic Cycle. back to top |
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| Kess,
Mitch (book/lyrics/music, Sad
Damn: The Musical) - As a bass player, Mitch has played
in all styles. A singer-songwriter, he studied guitar with Dave
Van Ronk.
Mitch's
sketch comedy has been performed by "The Lab Rats" and
his underground video Defrost has inspired sequels from
other filmmakers. His rock musical The Universal Mind was
first read at Dixon Place's NFBF2. Mitch's other plays include The
Last American produced by
The Public Theater at Joe's Pub, No Oxygen and Transition. back to top |
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| LOOP
Group, 2004 (music, The
LOOP Group)
- Betsy Allen, Chris Bodwitch, K8 Hardy, Karen Hurley, Erica Newhouse
and Meave Shelton. LOOP, a creative projects laboratory, provides
a forum for fostering creative vocal work by emerging artists that
might not otherwise get made given cultural categories of acceptability
and social expectations for the voice. Recent showings by LOOP
Group veterans at Hunter College and in theaters in Greenwich Village
and BAX attest to the adventurous spirit that Voicelab supports. back to top |
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| March, Kevin (music, Leading
Lady) - Leading Lady is Kevin’s fourth “operatic” work.
His works have been preformed by New York City Opera, Czech-American
Music Institute, University of Florida New Music Ensemble, and University
of Michigan Contemporary Directions Ensemble. He has received grants
from ArtServe Michigan in conjunction with the Michigan Council for
Arts and Humanities and from the University of Michigan Arts of Citizenship
Program among others. back to top |
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Prezio,
Anthony (book/lyrics/music, An
Evening At The Trojan Hotel) - upstate New York native,
has been writing and performing throughout his life. His accomplishments
include:
first place for a short story from literary awards; Peace Prayer a
religious album; membership in ASCAP since 1980; and an original
song recorded on a 9/11 tribute CD. The inspiration for his show
originates from his family’s restaurant. Anthony lives in Troy
NY with his wife and daughter. back to top |
| Toth, Benjamin (music, Gotcha) - studied
composition, piano and voice at the Eastman School of Music and received
a BFA in American History and Modern Architecture from Brown University.
Ben has recently shown work at Joe's Pub, Peterborough Playhouse,
a benefit for the Drama Department, and had a reading of Gotcha at
the Broadway Theatre Institute. Ben is currently working on a musical
about city-builder Robert Moses, in collaboration with Sam Forman,
Itamar Moses, and Isaac Robert Hurwitz. back to top |
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Volkoff,
Andrew (direction, MAPS)
- former Associate Artistic Director at Barrington Stage Company.
Recent projects:
Raw Impressions Music Theatre, A Bad Friend (w/Jerry Zaks)
at LCT,
The Shape of Things at BSC, the regional premiere of LaChiusa’s
The Wild Party in Boston, the NYC premiere of Savannah
Bay, and Brian
Sloan’s WTC View in the 2003 NYC Fringe Festival (soon
to be a film). back to top |
| Wood, Maryrose (book/lyrics, Gotcha)
- a three-time winner of the Richard Rodgers Award for The Tutor (music by Andrew Gerle), a new musical scheduled for a New York premiere
in the fall. She and Andrew are now writing Still Life With Cigarette,
an original jazz musical commissioned by Raw Impressions, Inc. Her
first young adult novel, Sex Kittens And Horn Dawgs Fall In Love,
will be published by Random House. back to top |
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| Yaged, Kim (book/lyrics, Leading
Lady)
- her plays have been performed in New York (NY City Opera, Native
Aliens, Unity Fest), California (Diego Rivera Theatre, Renberg Theatre,
LA Holocaust Museum), Toronto (ATHE), Chicago (Bailiwick Theatre),
and Michigan (Performance Network, API, Trueblood). Honors include
an ArtServe grant and the Kennedy Center’s Achievement Award.
Her work has been published by Random House, Ballantine Books, Cleis
Press, and Arsenal Pulp Press. back to top |
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