Name: Maggie Lalley 

Hometown: New York City

Education: Catholic schools in NYC

Favorite Credits: Edinburgh Fringe Festival, New York Comedy Festival

Why theater?: There's something very special about creating a connection with a live audience. Nothing beats it.

Tell us about Sex Witch the Musical: Sex Witch The Musical is a solo musical comedy show about my time in a teen witch sex cult. 

What inspired you to write Sex Witch the Musical?: I wanted to tell my story. I've been performing comedy for a while, so I decided to write a kooky, funny musical about my creepy teen witchery. 

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I like hilarious, vulnerable storytelling. I look up to Jessica Kirson, Mike Birbiglia and Chris Gethard. 

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Ilana Glazer. 

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Solo, A Show About Friendship, by Gabe Mollica. 

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: "Sex Witch, The Movie", of course. I'm gonna go with Jessica Chastain, because why not? 

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?:  I wish I could've seen Carol Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress. 

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Martha's country bakery Nutella Cheesecake

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: An interior designer. I love decorating apartments!

What’s up next?: Sex Witch the Musical is running at Soho Playhouse for three weeks. April 19, 20, 21, 22 at 7 pm; April 26, 27, 28, 29 at 7 pm; May 3, 4, 5, 6 at 7 pm. 

For tickets on Sex Witch the Musical, visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/35583/production/1155283 and use promo code MAGIC. 

For more on Maggie, vist @magslals on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter

Name: Joseph Hayward

Hometown: Wolverhampton, U.K.

Education: The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. 

Favorite Credits: This past summer I directed Desperate Measures at Saint Michael’s Playhouse in Vermont. Thanks to the pandemic, we were forced to postpone twice.  Believe me, delayed gratification isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. So, to finally get to work on the show--with some of the most wonderful actors and creatives I know--was a gift I’ll cherish always. 

Why theater?: It’s cliché, but from an early age, it’s all I’ve wanted. I started putting on plays for my parents at age 3, and performing professionally by the time I was 9 (I made my debut as an orphan boy in Scrooge at The Wolverhampton Grand.) I was hooked. Now it’s in my blood and, despite “the headaches, the heartaches, the backaches, the flops,” I’m incredibly lucky to be doing what I love. What makes the theater so singular and irresistible to me is that it’s a hand-made, living work of art. It has the power to change people’s lives. I’ve had countless moments inside the theater, both as a director and an audience member, where the experience has been transformative and life-affirming. 

Tell us about Julie Sings Jule: I am over the moon about this. On April 10th, I’ll be directing Julie Benko, the wonderstudy from Broadway’s Funny Girl, in The York’s Spring Gala concert celebrating composer Jule Styne. Many of us have seen Julie’s sensational performance as Fanny Brice, and I can’t wait for the gala audience at the Theatre at St. Jean’s to experience her vast range and versatility. Tickets for the concert, which is followed by a VIP reception and dinner, are on sale now: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1149846 I hope you’ll come and enjoy the extraordinary Julie--and Jule--and help The York continue “bringing musicals to life!” 

Tell us about your work at The York Theatre Company: I am the Associate Producing Director. My favorite part of the job is overseeing the Developmental Reading Series, where I help facilitate 29-Hour Readings and showcase new work. A core part of The York’s mission is to develop new musicals, and it’s deeply gratifying to play a part in it. 

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Musical comedy. If I could, that’s what I’d always do. I love watching how a room of strangers can suddenly find themselves in another world, transported by the emotional power of the story, the songs and dances. And, of course, I love the delicious sound of laughter. When that all comes together, it’s electrifying. Having said that, I just directed And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and had an absolute ball, so I think it all boils down to the book, and the opportunity to give an audience a compelling experience. If it’s a great script, I’m excited to work on it. 

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Marianne Elliott. She’s an endlessly creative director – a visionary -- and I’d love to observe her process. 

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Life of Pi. My BFF in the U.K. built the life-sized puppets -- and watching them come to life is pure theater magic. It’s a spectacular experience. 

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I can’t imagine anyone would go see this movie (not even me), so we’d need some serious star power to sell tickets. Meryl Streep? And the movie can be called whatever she wants! 

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Ethel Merman in Gypsy. 

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Andrew Lloyd Webber. 

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be?: A veterinarian.  

What’s up next?: This summer I’m directing A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at the beautiful South Orange Performing Arts Center. I’ve loved the show ever since I saw it on Broadway, and we’ve assembled a dream team of designers to bring it to life. We open in July, and tickets are available on: https://lightoperaofnewjersey.org/tickets/

For more on Joseph, visit https://www.josephhayward.com/ and follow on Instagram at @jcwhayward

Name: Drew Larimore

Hometown: Louisville, KY

Education: B.A. Emerson College

Why theater?: Honestly, it's the only medium that electrifies me, terrifies me, stymies me, inspires me; it's the closest thing to magic I've been able to find on Planet Earth. Also, it's one of the few places language is really heard.

Tell us about Smithtown: Smithtown is about four characters in a small Midwestern town interconnected through a local tragedy. As the play unfolds, one by one we see how each of them had a hand – directly or indirectly — in the death of a local college student and how they struggle with that responsibility. 

 What inspired you to write Smithtown?:  I'm fascinated with the link between technology and shared responsibility. Ian Bernstein opens the play (perfectly played by Michael Urie) and asks the question: ‘Whose fault is it – all the dominoes in a row or a select few?’ I don't have an answer. And mining that was part of why I wrote this play. 

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Bizarre yet accessible plays that make it into the mainstream, that really break through and become a part of the zeitgeist. Albee, anyone? 

How have you stayed creatively active during COVID?: Thankfully, I've been keeping busy. I have a few new musicals I've been remotely working on with composers/collaborators. And I'm working on a trilogy of edgy new Southern plays. And some stuff for the screen. 

 If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Margo Martindale. 

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: The sequel to Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown starring a hologram of Bea Arthur. 

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: The original Sweeney Todd or Uta Hagen in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Weight loss shows. Like, the 600-pound ones. I feel dumber after each episode, but I find it oddly comforting. 

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: A diplomat. 

What’s up next?: Two premieres. Boomeranged, a harrowing and irreverent play about gun violence, which I hope will star my muse Constance Shulman. And The Bestest Office Christmas Party Ever, a very adult, very wild new satirical musical about the sadness of the holidays, co-written with composer rock star Billy Recce! 

For more on Drew, visit www.drewlarimore.com 

Smithtown is being presented online through The Studio of Key West, starting February 13, 2021. For tickets, visit https://tskw.org/smithtown-2/

Name: Jonathan Van Dyke

Hometown: Limerick, Maine

Education: The American Musical and Dramatic Academy

Favorite Credits: Richard Loeb in Thrill Me with writer/composer Stephen Dolginoff, Oh! Calcutta!, National Tour (some good stories) and I recently directed The Hot Shoe Shuffle — a tap extravaganza from Australia.

Why theater?: It has always been my favorite medium. So many possibilities to inspire, touch, enlighten, and uplift. I believe theatre has taught us about everything in some fashion.

Tell us about Closer Than Ever: When I moved to NY, Closer Than Ever was at The Cherry Lane and it has always stayed with me. Each of these Maltby & Shire songs are like their own one-act play, a magnificent song cycle of human relationships. The emotional depth and honesty in their songs to me is unparalleled.

What inspired you to direct Closer Than Ever?: Understanding what the theatre community was up against, I knew that shows with small casts that were able to distanced was going to be key. Closer Than Ever supplies that and also packs the emotional punch for a layered theatrical experience. The title alone speaks to our time. To achieve intimate moments, we incorporated rolling doors that revolve to become projection screens and times the actors images would appear. This allowed for those moments to be captured but keep the actors distanced. Those moments are visually appealing and offer a reminder of where we are and what has to be done to achieve theatre during this period. I also felt that the title Closer Than Ever really speaks to our times. Though physically we are unable to be close, we are closer in a myriad of other ways.  Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire have been so supportive and encouraging of this project. I will always treasure this experience and grateful to producer Marcie Gorman and MNM Theatre Company for taking this on.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?:  I am a musical theatre guy and love comedy and a big splashy show, but the shows that really get me are generally more about the complexities of the human condition. The Last Five Years and Next To Normal stand out, and anything by Tennessee Williams. I’m a hit at parties.

How have you stayed creatively active during COVID?: Closer Than Ever was all based and designed around our struggles. I’m proud to say all the measures we took resulted in a healthy production. With thought and care, creative work can be done safely.  It’s quite inspiring to see what people have come up with to work with these new challenges.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?:  Oh man… Donna McKechnie.. She is very special. Let’s work that out!

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Blood Brothers! I saw it a dozen times. It’s avant-garde and different and weird and I love it.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?:  Paul Rudd in "You Could Do Better but a Lot Worse— The Jonathan Van Dyke Story."

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?:  The original production of West Side Story.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Horror movies. From Psycho to Friday the 13th.. I’m onboard.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?:  Working at The Humane Society. I would enjoy that.

What’s up next?: Well I was going to be directing a horror film called The Halloween Club in Ft. Lauderdale when we shut down. We are making new plans to film in Tampa when the time is right.

The MNM Theatre production of Maltby & Shire’s Closer Than Ever is online through January 10, For more information, visit https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/41307

Name: Grace McLean

Hometown: Costa Mesa, CA

Education: I went to the Orange County High School of the Arts, and got my BFA in Drama and Art History from NYU.

Favorite Credits: Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812; In the Green; Alice by Heart; Bedbugs!!!

Why theater?: I grew up in a family of musicians and so performance was a big part of my life growing up. But I was (am) also quite shy and introverted. I found that in theater, by being able to inhabit and perform and live for a while as other people, I'm able to explore and express myself in a way that feels safe and revelatory.  

Tell us about In the Green: In the Green imagines the origin story of Hildegard von Bingen, one of medieval Europe’s most powerful figures. Before Hildegard was a composer, artist, visionary, confidante of Kings, mystic, and saint, she was a little girl locked in a monastic cell with an anchoress called Jutta von Sponheim. The story is really about the relationship between student and mentor, mother and child, zealot and acolyte and the ways these kinds of foundational relationships shape a life. What do we do when we are forced to contend with our own darkness? Do we fight against it, or do we embrace it and find the light within? 

What inspired you to write In the Green?: I was initially inspired by Hildegard von Bingen when I encountered her work in college, as I was studying Medieval art. Her work stands out as totally original, personal, feminine, in a time when most art was quite homogeneous. My fascination with her art lead me to learn about her music, poetry, philosophy, her books on the natural world and healing, and her communications with so of the powerful people of her time. I was struck by her accomplishments, particularly in her being able to accomplish them as a woman in the 12th century, a time when to be a woman was to be, generally speaking, non-existent. In my research, I kept being struck by the fact that none of her accomplishments really began until she was in her 40s (she lived to be in her 80s, almost unheard of for her time).  And before that, not much is known because she was living in that cell with Jutta, an extreme situation even at the time. And I became fascinated with Jutta – who was SHE, and how did she influence young Hildegard? Clearly they spent a LOT of time together during Hildegard's formative years, and in a highly unusual, highly intimate situation – but for all Hildegard’s talk (which is a lot, I think there are something 400 of her letters that we have, not to mention all her music art and three big books of visionary theology) she doesn't talk much about Jutta.  She calls Jutta "a pious woman who was crowned with a good death."  We know Jutta was a little older than Hildegard, that Hildegard was given to be a sort of hand maid to her when she was quite young, that Jutta came from a family of rank and had potential suitors. I decided to look at Jutta's choice to cloister herself in such an extreme manner as a sort of radical feminist act – if to be a woman in the 12th century was to be erased, Jutta chose to reject that notion HARD. By locking herself away from the world, that was a powerful act of control. We also know that Jutta rejected all kinds of creature comforts – she didn’t wear shoes even in the cold German winters, she lived on a diet even more restricted than the prescribed Benedictine diet, and she was a big fan of self-flagellation. She wore a hair shirt (clothing made from coarse animal hair, designed to irritate your skin), and when she died she was found to have a barbed chain around her body. Hildegard did not prescribe to ANY of this, and in fact she lived a life of abundant curiosity about life, surrounding herself with a community, learning about natural world, singing in harmony, getting her hands dirty. There’s a lot to celebrate about Hildegard – but I found myself continually curious about this shadowy figure of Jutta. WHY did she want to lock herself away from the world and mutilate her body and take in and care for a young girl? I kept looking at her with sympathy and curiosity and tenderness, and I wanted this to be just as much her story as Hildegard’s, because I think that she had a profound effect on Hildegard, even if that was to show Hildegard what she didn’t want to be. 

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I love theater that really uses the magic particular to the form. I want to see bodies being used, space being revealed, voices filling the hollows of a space!  Some of my favorite theatrical experiences have been Home by Geoff Sobelle, Brief Encounter by Kneehigh Theatre, seeing The Great Comet when it was at Ars Nova (I got very lucky and saw the closing night performance and I mean it when I say it changed my life), anything that Steven Hoggett makes... I am inspired by innovation, by people who are pushing forms. My favorite musical group at the moment is Roomful of Teeth – they’re an a cappella group but they are using their voices in ways that blow my mind and inspire me to test the boundaries of conventional singing, group singing, songwriting, and storytelling.

How have you stayed creatively active during COVID?: I have a few projects I’m working on! I’m finishing an album with my band, working on a music video, working with novelist Kate Walbert to adapt her book A Short History of Women for the stage, working with writer/musician/performer Kate Douglas on a musical inspired by Victorian era medical texts about how music is purportedly dangerous for woman, I’ve started a writing collaboration with actor Adam Chanler-Berat, and am currently rehearsing for an Audible production of a musical that was supposed to be at Williamstown this past summer, Row, about Tori Murden McClure, the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. My husband and I have also made a couple of very silly, very fun short films together :) But also, I want to stress that in order to do anything at all, let alone be creative, I have been doing a LOT of resting, walking, talking with friends and family, and quiet work to get in touch with my real priorities.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: I would love to work with playwright Clare Barron.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: I’ve been loving “PEN15” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I would love for a young dorky girl who loves boys but can’t talk to them, who reads Jane Austen alone in her room instead of running around outside, who blushes real hard and always gets cast as the mom in her high school productions to play me. It’s called An Artisan’s Mistake – this was my answer when my husband asked me once “What kind of break would you be?”

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: The original production of Oklahoma!

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: A boulevardier and a 90’s rom com.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: A speech and language pathologist.

What’s up next?: See above!  But next next is the release of the physical album for In the Green, along with a single and music video from my band's new album. I'll be playing a live streamed show at Rockwood Music Hall on December 14th to celebrate all these things!

For more on Grace, visit www.gracemclean.com and follow her on Twitter @thatgracemclean

The new cast album of Grace’s musical In the Green is available from Ghostlight Records and is available at ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/inthegreen

Name: Luke Jackson

Hometown: Logansport, Indiana

Education: University of Michigan, National Theatre Institute

Favorite Credits: Charlie in The Whale, though the character is in his forties and I would never have been cast in the real world. Thank God for drama school!

Why theater?: We get to practice empathy, either seeking to understand others or soliciting to be understood ourselves. Often doing both simultaneously. And we get to do it while wearing pretty costumes. Which helps!

Tell us about STITCHES: STITCHES is a one-man show adapted from the graphic memoir by David Small. By incorporating other mediums such as sketching, painting, projection, and puppetry, we revisit Small’s tortured childhood; A botched surgery that left him virtually mute, his estranged relationship with his mother, and how his running away from home as a teenager led to a life of art and a prestigious career as a political cartoonist and illustrator. It’s a story of loneliness, trauma, perseverance, and the importance of art; Quite literally, in this case, giving the voiceless an ability to speak.

What inspired you to write STITCHES: This piece has been with me for nearly seven years now. My senior year of high school, I was tasked with devising a short play based off a person's life. I went to my public library with this silly, romantic idea that I would point to a book at random and it would change my life. And much to my surprise, it actually work. That ten minute rendition earned me a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan's drama program, which led to a full production with their student ran theatre company, and now it is making its NYC debut! David actually resides in Detroit, and I had the great honor to have him as a dramaturg and collaborator in the production's creative process. His talent is only outmatched by his unwavering generosity and kindness.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: When the story comes first, when there is an utter urgency to tell it. Indie theatre is hard work! That’s why I love the independent theatre scene in New York so much. These artists are putting on productions, often using personal funds and wearing several different hats to make it happen. But they believe it is worth it---that the time is now and people have to know about it. That's the type of theatre I love to attend.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Oh, I don't think we have enough pages! I have recently joined the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and I highly recommend checking them out. BAC practices creative justice---using performance art as a way to seek intersectional change and restorative justice. I am really excited to get to collaborate with everybody on a deeper level and get to work!

What show have you recommended to your friends?: It has already closed, but I have told anyone within a ten foot radius to listen to the cast album of A Strange Loop. Michael R. Jackson and Larry Owens, man. Wow.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I would demand to play myself! Get super meta and break the fourth wall a lot. Kinda like Heidi Schreck's What The Constitution Means To Me. But sassier and about a queer ginger from the Midwest.

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Fortunately, New York has the Drama Library at Lincoln Center---of which I have spent many hours watching archives! But I would have loved to see Patti as Mama Rose live!

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Hmm, I'm pretty shameless in my pleasures actually. Yeah, I don't have an answer to that! If it gives you pleasure, relinquish the guilt folks! LIVE YOUR TRUTH! 

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: If I wasn't working in theatre, I would be working in advocacy/activism full time. Perhaps working on campaigns until it was my time to pursue public office. Which...isn't completely off the table.

What’s up next?: The future is a mysterious right now in a really exciting way! A couple projects have been in the creative process rotation for a while now. I think a musical is next on the docket. STITCHES will definitely continue to have a life---still figuring out the next steps. As for me personally? I bought a one-way ticket to Paris for February. I thought, "Tickets are cheap and climate change is real. Let's go!" So we will see what inspiration that might stir up.

Fore more on Luke, visit www.lukejackson.org. For more on STITCHES, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/2424398241133709/

Name: Maria Ciampi

Hometown:  Hartsdale, New York

Education:   Fordham University, B.A. 1981 (summa cum laude, in cursu honorum); St. John’s University School of Law, J.D. 1986.

Select Credits:  Kris Kringle The Musical; “29 Rules for Deliverance” (a short story); and The Question Presented (legal text that was used at Harvard Law School)

Why theater?:  I adore musical theater — the ability of music to move the listener is to me unparalleled, and when you combine that with a good story, it’s magical.  In addition, I am also all about catharsis, which I think theater and movies are the best at achieving.  I also love being in the audience, both watching the audience’s reaction and participating in what is happening live before our very eyes and being part of the drama.

Tell us about Kris Kringle The Musical:  Kris Kringle is a story for everyone, like some classic musicals used to be.  There is a storyline for little children (a magical Toy Competition), a buddy story for young children, tweens and teens, a love story between young Kris Kringle and Evelyn Noël  for all ages, and a love story between Santa and Mrs. Claus, who are real people.  The story is also chock full of comedy, with Christmas jokes, lawyer jokes (I’m a lawyer!) and Elvis jokes as well as fun physical comedy.  But Kris Kringle is also deeply profound and universal, as it is a story about healing and redemption.  So, as you watch the story, you’re laughing and falling in love, and then you’re hit with a touching and cathartic reveal at the end of the story, that I’ve heard audiences gasp when they realize it.  At the end of the story, you can look back and see it was foreshadowed from the opening line of Act One, and is so obvious, but you only just now realize it.  It’s a fabulous experience for me to see the audience’s reaction. And then there’s the music.  Lush orchestrations and wholly original songs, from lively tunes to touching ballads to traditional Broadway.  One of our songs, Evelyn’s ballad, “My North Star,” has over 3 million views (and counting) on Facebook worldwide.  In 2018 we released a fabulous Studio Cast recording starring Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Nikki Rene Daniels with Kim Crosby, Mary Stout and Janine LaManna. We’ve been so fortunate to have incredible casts as well.  In the legendary Town Hall in NYC in 2017, the show starred Cathy Rigby with Broadway stars Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Kim Crosby and Pam Myers.  This year’s show at Proctors stars Eve Plumb (from “The Brady Bunch” and “A Very Brady Renovation”) as well as Broadway veterans Rema Webb, Elizabeth Ward Land, Christopher Shyer, and Gerianne Perez.  This year, we have added award-winning designers to our team, Tony Award winner Jeff Croiter for lighting, Emmy Award winner Matt Kraus for sound, Rick Lyon who worked on the Tony Award-winning Avenue Q for puppets, and Drama Desk-nominated John Narun for projection designs.  Our major setpiece, a grand Storybook (20 feet by 26 feet), will be used for magnificent projections. I think Andrew Keenan-Bolger summarized the show best when he said “Kris Kringle is a holiday musical for a new generation — a gorgeous score paired with a heartwarming tale of family and forgiveness.”  This year when we add on our Storybook, it will be a truly magical experience for the audience.
 
What is it like being a part of Kris Kringle The Musical?:  What a fabulous journey!  To see what I imagined in my mind, then wrote down on paper be transformed by the actors, musicians, and designers.  People talking about my characters as if they are real.  Hearing the beautiful orchestrations.  Remembering every line I’ve written and rewritten many a time over to get it just right.  The audience laughing at my jokes.  Working together with lyricists, composers, orchestrators, and designers on every detail and their adding a layer of beauty and storytelling through their art.  Knowing that at the end of the show, the audience will leave with magic in their hearts as they’ve taken two hours away from their ordinary lives to see something wonderful.  Doing things I never thought I could, such as writing some of the lyrics, producing a show.  I can’t say that at some times it hasn’t been hard, or that I haven’t made my share of mistakes, or that I’ve had to overcome naysayers about another Christmas musical entering the market, but I’ve faced every challenge totally believing in this story and in the audiences who will see it.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?:  It’s about the story and, if it’s a musical, about the music, so I’m open to virtually anything speaking to me.  Charles Dickens is probably the greatest influence on my writing life.  All of his works are theatrical (by the way, he would act out every scene in his writing study and never allowed anyone to be there when he did), but even in the works which are not considered masterpieces, he was a master of drawing characters and making them accessible to his readers.  In Our Mutual Friend (which has been called a masterpiece and a disaster depending on what critic you’re reading), for example, the young girl, Jenny Wren, could not be more foreign to us and yet her wisdom, her angelic nature, her vulnerability and frailty are beautifully sketched and draw the reader in.  I believe that Paul McCartney wrote a song about that character.

What’s your favorite showtune?:  There are so many.  Probably “On the Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady, “Beautiful City” from Godspell, and the songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?:  Charles Dickens (I know he’s dead, but it’s true, I’d love to work with him as his books are pieces of theater) and Darren Criss, as I always thought he would be perfect to play Kris Kringle ever since I saw him in “Glee."

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?:  Lady Gaga, and the movie about me would be called: "The Little Bronx Girl Who Sang In the Night."  I grew up poor, in a crime-ridden neighborhood, with violence, poverty, resignation surrounding me.  But I was born on Christmas Day, I had the  faith of my family, and I had music — my little radio and my father, who was a recording engineer for RCA but who never played an instrument and who couldn’t read music — and these things allowed me to survive and believe without becoming bitter and dark (though I can write and have written bitter and dark if I let myself go in that direction).

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?:  The original My Fair Lady on Broadway. 

What show have you recommended to your friends?:  The King and I at Lincoln Center; My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center; Beautiful at the Stephen Sondheim Theater.  Also, my favorite play is The Importance of Being Earnest, which I saw at the Roundabout Theatre years ago.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?:  Watching old movies.  I constantly search for ones that I’ve never seen before.  I watch them for pleasure and for learning story structure and even comic timing.  While I have written drama, I am much more comfortable with comedy and some old movies are just perfect training grounds for that.  I often eat chocolate watching them, my other biggest guilty pleasure!

What’s up next?:  Finding even more audiences to fall in love with Kris Kringle The Musical.  In addition, as I am also a screenplay writer, next year I’ll begin work on a new screenplay that I have had in my head for many years.  The screenplay is about an outcast/outsider, making movies, love, betrayal, and redemption, but not at all in the typical way.  I hope it’s going to be a jewel (as that’s what it feels like in my mind), that will make the audience laugh and cry, but it has to be sculpted and nurtured, which is what I plan to do next year.

For more on Kris Kringle: the Musical, visit www.KrisKringleTheMusical.com

Name: Jaime Lozano. My full name is Jaime Alonso Lozano Reyes.

Hometown: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. It’s in the north of Mexico. Around 3 hours driving from Texas.

Education: BFA in music and composition from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León and a MFA in musical theatre writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Select Credits: Children of Salt (NYMF Best of Fest 2016), The Yellow Brick Road (Off-Broadway), A Never-Ending Line (Off-Broadway), and many to come.

Why theater?: It’s a fun story. I didn’t meet theatre till I was 18 years old. I don’t remember to have any memory about theatre when I was a kid. I actually when kid wanted to be a lawyer and then I applied for criminology school. I was about to get in and last minute a decide to wait. Then with no reason I thought that maybe music could be a good idea, I love singing at church as a teenager and learned to play guitar in choir. I had my first formal music lesson at college when I was 18 and a few months later I auditioned for Jesus Christ Superstar. I got into the pit choir and my life changed forever. Now I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I strongly believe musical theater is the most powerful way to tell stories. The way music and words can work together  to serve a story, to deliver a message and get straight to the heart of an audience member is for me magical. Theatre can change the world and can saves lives. 

Tell us about Songs by an Immigrant: Songs by an Immigrant at The Green Room 42 is a concert I have put together with an amazing group of Broadway and Off-Broadway performers, all Latinos, that I like to called my “familia.” I have the honor to have this wonderful people singing my songs, songs written originally for other musical and also some new songs from an upcoming album actually named Songs by an Immigrant. As a writer and composer I like to tell stories close to me, things I feel related with. I have to tell my own stories and all these songs are stories about “someone” immigrant experience.  Songs about struggling with the language (as you can see), about being in the middle of two cultures, about missing your homeland, about missing your family; songs about what it means to wake up in a strange land and trying to make it yours. We have had already this concert sold out at Two River Theatre in NJ and at Joe’s Pub with different guest performers and even when some of the songs are the same, having a different singer bringing it to life is a completely different experience. Everyone as an immigrant by themselves or coming from an immigrant family bring so much to the stories I want to tell. And I love collaborating with them and discovering new things about my songs.
 
What is it like being a part of Songs by an Immigrant?: I feel a great responsibility with my people; with my Latino musical theatre community, with my family, with the audience. I believe diversity needs to come from the stories and beyond of trying to fit in stories already written and told we need to create new one. We need to write new stories. I want my people to originate new characters. I’m proud and thankful to be living these times, to be able to create a change with my work, even if is a small -almost invisible- change. I’m thankful for the people before me whom have opened doors for me and the people now around me, I just hope this is just the beginning of many more immigrants singing their songs, our songs.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: To be honest with you I enjoy all kind of theatre. I believe there’s theatre for all kind of audiences and with different goals. I can enjoy a very commercial piece and also a very theatrical experimental piece. But definitely that theatre that speaks to me is the one that take risks, that challenge the actors and the audience. I’m not looking anymore for stories told in a clear way, I prefer stories told in a creative, theatrical, smart, different way. I guess that’s why many of my favorite shows are flops. I love when the writers, the director and the actors shows their vulnerability and their imperfections on stage. Because at the end that’s what we are imperfect human beings playing to create, and those imperfections make us perfect in our very own particular and specific way. Overall I love honest theatre. And this inspire me, looking at people taking risks while doing art inspires me. Also my talented friends inspire me. More than inspiration I like to call it motivation, it is something more concrete than abstract. My wife that is super talented and hard worker and I admire a lot as a storyteller is a motivation for me every single day. Nice people also is a motivation for me, knowing people who has dared go to beyond and achieve things they never dreamed of. People is my motivation.

What’s your favorite showtune?: That’s a hard question. I have many favorite tunes. It wouldn’t be fair to mentioned just one. From the classic one I love: “All the Things You Are”, “They Can’t Take that Away from Me” and “So in Love.” Some Sondheim: “Move On,” “Losing My Mind.” More contemporary: “It All Fades Away,” “Meadowlark.”  And of course I have some favorite of my shows, Hehehehehe.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Actors, definitely Hugh Jackman is in my list. Also Raul Esparza, Glenn Close. Writers, I would love to set music to some Lin-Manuel lyrics or collaborate with Jason Robert Brown in some way. I have my bouquet list with artists from all fields.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Playing the old version of me maybe Jim Carrey. But talking about diversity I think it would be Mexican actor Diego Luna. I love or very large titles or one word titles: “The guy who was always wrong and never stop smiling.” Or maybe just “Grateful.”

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Gospel at Colonus, The Capeman. I told you I love flops.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Lately, Hadestown, I love its theatricality. Hamilton, I love how everything works great together: writing, orchestrations, choreography, designing, etc.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Kick lines in musicals. Does it count?

What’s up next?: Playing with my son. Enjoying my family. Writing with my wife. Writing and rewriting. I’m adapting an opera doing new Latino orchestrations. I’m opening a new show in Florida next year. Hopefully opening a show in NYC. Taking my music to London, having a concert there. Writing and rewriting. Orchestrating. Making lot of mistakes. Learning.

Jaime will perform Songs by An Immigrant at The Green Room 42 on Sunday, November 24th at 9:30pm.

For more on Jaime, please visit www.jaimelozano.net

Name: Roberto Araujo

Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico

Education: Theatre Major in Mexico City

Select Credits: West Side Story at North Shore Music Theatre, In the Heights at GALA Theatre, Evita at ZACH Theatre, Fame International Tour.

Why theater?: When I was about 14 years old, I saw a production of Crazy for You in Mexico City and that was the main inspiration for me to pursue a career in theatre. I have been very fortunate to have been able to make a name for myself not only as an actor but also as a photographer and now video content producer at Playbill. So theatre has been a part of my life in many different forms.

Tell us about Do You Dream In Spanish?: Since I first moved to NYC about 19 years ago, people have always asked me “Do you dream in Spanish?” And I always thought: “What a great title for a show!”. As time went by, I also realized that depending on who and how the question was asked, it would take a very different meaning. We all have dreams and aspirations. Does it matter what language they are in? I first performed Do You Dream In Spanish? as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival where I was awarded Outstanding Performance.  The second iteration of the show came earlier this year at The Green Room 42 and now back by popular demand. Since it is an autobiographical show, things keep evolving and changing. So you might see the same story line, but there will be new stories and more unapologetic honesty than in the previous versions. And little known fact, I will be doing this to celebrate my birthday!

What is it like being a part of Do You Dream In Spanish?: I am very grateful to have the platform to tell a story. It’s a privilege that audiences have embraced the show and that a venue like The Green Room 42 invited me back shortly after my debut in March. My favorite part of being able to tell the story is when audiences realize that we are all connected by the human experience. We all go through heartbreak, disappointments and even health scares. We might look and sound different, but there are more similarities than you’d expect.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Honest theatre. In recent memory of shows I have experienced, I can say that Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop, made me want to make this show absolutely unapologetic. It was very inspiring to experience that show. I am inspired by artist who are in touch with their craft and are able to connect with audiences in a deeper level.

What’s your favorite showtune?: Tough question! I have so many different categories. If I had to pick one, I would have to say, David Yazbek has written some amazing songs like “Island” from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: I would love to work with Steven Lutvak, who wrote A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder. I sing a few of his songs in my show and I really connect with them. I would love to work with David Yazbek. His music and lyrics are so wonderful. And I would love to share the stage with Heather Headley. I saw her in Aida when I first moved to NYC and I think she is a brilliant performer. Oh! One more… Sherie Rene Scott. I’ve had the chance to produce a video with her, but would love to sing with her.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I would love to play myself, but if I wasn’t able to, I would say Antonio Banderas. And the movie would be directed by Alfonso Cuarón and it would be called ROBERTO. All capital letters.

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: I would love to see Chita Rivera in West Side Story and Kiss of the Spider Woman. And also Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Sherie Rene Scott.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Currently playing? Oklahoma! What a brilliant piece of theatre.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: “Dancing with the Stars”! I love that the stakes are so low. They are not competing to marry a stranger, or eating bugs or winning money. They win, bragging rights and a mirror ball. Plus, the pros who dance are incredible. And the production value of the show is out of this world! Would love to direct cameras for it!

What’s up next?: A bunch of thing! November 15 is my show Do You Dream In Spanish? at The Green Room 42 and November 22 and 23 I will be starring in Adam & Brian a new play by Craig Donnelly at The Playroom Theatre. November is a busy month.

For more on Do You Dream In Spanish?, visit: thegreenroom42.com

Name: Dani Franco

Hometown: Raised in Colombia Born in Venezuela

Education: Theater major degree In Casa del Teatro Nacional in Bogota/Colombia and acting for film and TV in New York conservatory for dramatic arts, the professional program

Select Credits: Tiny’s House (off broadway-Temple theater, directed by SC Murray) Film ‘Mama eres feliz Selected in the Cityvision film Festival directed by Elias Acevedo. TV series, Rough and Ready. Twelfth Night by Frog and Peach directed By Lynnea Benson.

Why theater?: Because you are risking all the time and that keeps you in the now, the moment you stop risking the performance became plain. Also your naked in front of an audience, they can see if your being honest with them or not, you have to open your heart so much so you can give every single person in the audience a piece of your truth, of your emotions. That takes a lot of energy. In theater you are at the edge all the time and that’s really exciting, also repetition is something that keeps me fresh and playful everytime I get in the scene. In theater the truth is becomes tangible.

Who do you play in  Twelfth Night with Frog and Peach: I Played Curio, A gentlewoman in Orsino’s Court. In the original Play, Curio is play by a Man. So I enjoy to recreate the character, with the help of the director, Lynnea Benson.

Tell us about Twelfth Night: Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare  romantic comedies. Is about a twin brother and sister  who are separated in a shipwreck.the sister viola end it up in a town named illiria, she finds herself alone, she assumes that her twin brother is dead. She dresses as a man working for Orsino the duke of Elyria who she is in love with. But he doesn’t know he is a she.   

What was it like being a part of Twelfth Night: Was great I had a lot of fun, I just can say positive things about twelfth night, I learned a lot from the other actors in the cast who has been working with Shakespeare since years and their work  with the verse and Shakespeare words,  made it seem easy from the outside. 

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?:  I see inspiration in many actors. I grew up watching Pacino, de Niro, Dicaprio Films, and as soon as  I watched On the Water Front and Wild One when I was 15, I got OBSSESED with Brando, and I still am. But I get inspiration everywhere I go, I try to really have that peripheral vision everytime. Poets and writers as Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Julio Cortazar ,Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Dancers as Martha Graham and Pina Baucsh had a really impact on me and my way to see the world and people around me. Also Bertulucci and Almodovar Films feeds my soul. But I think To be inspired you don’t have to go so Far, Im really inspired by the  people close to me who are teaching me not just acting but… Life. And I thing this is the most important thing for an actor.People as My audition Couch... I love her, My cousin, My dance Teacher, A couple of friends that are not actors, other friends who are actors, my dad, other actors who I worked with and who Im working with.Other artists, musicians, visual artists young as me who I got to know recently…. The list can be really long. Im not attached to any type of theater. All of them speaks to me, some in a more positive way than others,  Im very open  and versatile with that. Because I don’t know where the life is gonna lead me to. I Have my preferences of a theater who is based more in the acting and storytelling rather  than the props, costumes and stage designs, I think too many props on stage can get really messy and distracting. But I like theater… from Shakespeare…. to stand up.  I Think the storytelling is the key.

Any roles you’re dying to play?: My dream role to play before I get really old is Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, also I die to play Blanche in a Streetcar Named Desire, Anita in West Side Story, May in Fools For Love By Sam Shepard and Catherine Carbone in A View From the Bridge of Arthur Miller.  Also  I would love to play a serial killer, a gangster or some criminal…. Those roles really catch me.

What’s your favorite showtune?: "Take Me or Leave Me" from Rent and "My Shot" from Hamilton, almost all of Hamilton and "America" from West Side Story. Actually I think this last one is my favorite.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Al Pacino  without doubt. This might sound really ambitious… but I am an ambitious person when is about my career . He is very passionate about Shakespeare as I am, for me he is one of the best’s actors worldwide and he is being my inspiration for acting since I was a little kid back in Colombia. I think working with him would be a master class every rehearsal. It’s one of my biggest dreams, I wanted to point that out, and  Who wouldn’t like a master class with Pacino for free though?...

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: The French actress Audrey Tautou, she is very funny, I think we have a similar humor, and we both play very well with physicality. I would love someone who’s good at comedy in a unique way so it would make a contrast and put a little spice into the drama. I will call the movie... golden waves

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Angels in America. 

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Frankie and Johnny with Michael Shannon and Audra Macdonald, and also History for Morons the monologue of John Leguizamo, this one, really touched me It talks about the latino Culture, the immigration and all the struggle that an immigrant has in a new country, with new rules. The persistence and the hope of that dream coming true.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I have a lot… im a Healthy person,  but my guiltiest  Pleasures all has to be with food… maybe…. A cold pina Colada in front of a beach  and a veggie burger with sweet potato Fries and a chocolate volcano cake… with vanilla icecream in the top at midnight. 

What’s up next?: Im going For a coffee, what about you?... I have some films Projects going on next year and also keep working with Frog And Peach in  upcoming  productions

For more on Dani, visit @danifranco8 on Instagram

Name: Peter Levine

Hometown: Brooklyn

Education: B.A., M.A. in History, Columbia, Phd History, Rutgers

Favorite Credits: As an actor, Marc in ART, Willie Clark in The Sunshine Boys, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, and Max Gelman in my new play Apple, Table Penny

Why theater?: I had a first career as a professor of American History at Michigan State University- wrote a lot of books, loved teaching but started acting there with the Theatre Dept’s MFA program and got hooked.  I took an early retirement, moved back to Brooklyn with my wife, got my Equity card in 2002, and have been acting and writing plays ever since.  For me it is a passion – something I crave to do.

Tell us about Apple, Table, Penny?: The play tells the story of Max Gelman, a frustrated Borscht Belt comedian,  who often neglected his roles as husband and father to follow his dream. But now something's wrong. He's been acting strangely and his wife and children are concerned. So is he.Could it be Alzheimer’s? Complete with jokes, the occasional song, and a cast of characters that includes Carmen Miranda and Jackie Gleason, Apple, Table, Penny showcases generational struggles, the special love between a grandfather and his granddaughter, and coming to terms with the inevitable that awaits us all.

What inspired you to write Apple, Table, Penny?: Who knows where inspiration comes from? I try to write what I know best with the hope that concentrating on the specific kinds of people and the worlds they inhabit that I most familiar with, still allows me speak to universal questions and themes.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: My tastes are eclectic. In terms of theatre, always Tony Kushner and Arthur Miller – Paul Simon has been with me since he first began to perform.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: There are so many people I have yet to work with that I wouldn’t know where to begin.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Angels in America

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Gene Wilder, but alas he is dead!

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: The original production of Death of a Salesman

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I don’t know about guilt, but spending time with my two grandchildren, Ben and Lily

If you weren’t working in theater, you would ______?: Be the best grandfather ever

What’s up next?: I am writing a play with a friend about the end of the Trump presidency. Hopefully, he will be gone, before we finish it.

photo by Dorothy Shi

Name: Michael Kelly

Hometown: Massapequa, NY

Education: Undergrad, Eastman School of Music, Grad, The Juilliard School, Post grad, Opernstudio with Zürich Opera

Select Credits: Recent appearances include: As One (Opera Idaho, NY City Opera), Fred in Kiss Me Kate (St. Petersburg Opera), Bernstein’s Mass (Mostly Mozart Festival), Messiah (Seattle Symphony), Sondheim’s Passion (Theatre du Châtelet), The Last Rose by David Del Tredici (Symphony Space), Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death by George Crumb (New World Symphony), recitals in Carnegie Hall, Neue Galerie, Kennedy Center in collaboration with celebrated pianists Kathleen Kelly, Malcolm Martineau, Jonathan Ware, and Brian Zeger. Michael can be heard on recordings for Naxos and eOne by composers Mohammed Fairouz and David Del Tredici, and seen in the documentary Secret Music about the life of Del Tredici. I am the curator of the newly-released baritone volume of art songs for NewMusicShelf’s Anthology of New Music.

Why theater?: The combination of words and music gets me out of bed every day. I love to communicate raw emotion through this medium, under lights, in a costume, or simply in an intimate setting, one on one with the audience. It all has the power to magnify and bring into focus things that mere words cannot express. I am consistently inspired to be the mirror that is held up to humanity. To share the kinds of stories that help us grow and better understand the more intense aspects of our civilization and our human nature.

Tell us about As One: As One is an opera written five years ago by the brilliant composer Laura Kaminsky and her co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. It tells the story of Hannah, a transgender woman searching for her true self. We see her at various points along her journey of discovering her gender path as she comes to terms with who she is. The piece is remarkably intimate with only two singers portraying Hannah before and after her transition, and a simple string quartet as accompaniment. As One manages to break down the barriers of fear and misunderstanding that many people have about the trans community by making Hannah’s story a universal portrayal of a human being brave enough to seek out her true self despite feeling “other”.
 
What is it like being a part of As One?: This is a role that I felt drawn to play since its inception. When it premiered in Brooklyn no one could have foreseen its immense success. It’s now the most produced contemporary opera in America with NY City Opera’s production being the 27th in just five years. It’s such a timely and needed story through a medium that has the power to open your heart to the trans community and their struggles. It brings me such joy to be able to spread this beautiful message of love and acceptance, and to have the opportunity to give back to my LGBTQ family. The trans experience is a unique one that needs to be shared, and the more exposure to their stories that the world has, the better the world will understand their needs and how to protect them from the many dangers they face. I believe that if every cis gender person had the chance to get to know a trans person, we wouldn’t need to fight for their protections at every level of government. But until that time, we must keep telling their stories.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I find inspiration everywhere. I try to diversify the kinds of art and music that I ingest. You just never know when something will spark an idea for a project or recital program or a cabaret. But I have to say, bold art, theater that takes risks (sometimes even risking to be simple), and music and artist that push boundaries are what really get me going. Glenda Jackson playing King Lear comes to mind immediately.  Opera singers Like Isabel Leonard and Anthony Roth Costanzo, who challenge traditional presentation of the art form inspire me. Musicians like Ani DiFranco and St. Vincent who play with words and style/genre make me hungry. Artists like Matthew Barney and Nick Cave who challenge the lines between art and theater inspire me to create.

What’s your favorite showtune?: “Move On” from Sunday in the Park with George by Sondheim. Gets me every time.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Björk. That is a creative brain that I would love to experience.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: My co-star in As One, Blythe Gaissert says Matthew Goode would play me. I love this choice. He’s gentle and intense all at once.  Two qualities I pride myself on. I have always joked that I would steal the title of the Barbara Gordon novel "Dancing As Fast As I Can" for the title of my movie.  But a more appropriate title might be Loud Noises, "Blinding Lights".

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: The original cast of Sweeney Todd!  Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett... I believe that would have been life-affirming. Are you noticing a Sondheim obsession yet?

What show have you recommended to your friends?: I told everyone I know to go see Dialogues of the Carmelites at The Metropolitan Opera. It was the best thing I’ve seen there in a long time. Theater wise, I highly recommended Bridges of Madison County after I saw it, and I dragged my mother with me to see Angels in America and then couldn’t shut up about it for months afterwards.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I actually don’t have many vices. I live a pretty simple life and take very good care of myself. But I can’t say no to a delicious gelato.

What’s up next?: After opening night of As One with New York City Opera (on May 30th!) I head to Chicago for a recital with Kathy Kelly and Ariana Strahl. The repertoire is from the song anthology I curated last year. When we close As One I start rehearsals for a residency at The Crested Butte Music Festival. There I will be performing Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin with guitarist David Leisner and then performances of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Green Sneakers with the Voxare String Quartet. August brings me to Memphis for another production of As One and then the season begins in September with recitals and performances with my trio, Brooklyn Art Song Society, As One in Columbus, Ohio, symphony appearances and collaborations with composers Victoria Bond, Scott Wheeler, and Tobias Picker.

For tickets, visit nycopera.com. For more on Michael, visit www.michael-kelly.com. For more on As One, visit www.asoneopera.com

Name: Bob Clyman

Hometown: The Bronx

Education: Ph.D. in Psychology

Favorite Credits: Secret Order, The Exceptionals and maybe Tranced.  In no particular order.  After those three, it all depends on which day you ask me. 

Why theater?: I find great dialogue more exciting than any other single element in any art form, not just theatre.

Tell us about To She Who Waits?: It's about a mother-daughter relationship that may or may not have been damaged beyond repair.  When Meg left her husband, Jack, three years ago, she agreed to leave their 13-year-old daughter, Hannah, stay with him briefly, while found a job and a place for them to live.  However, during those three years, Jack and their increasingly extreme religious community have kept her from seeing Hannah.  Now that Jack has died, after making the church Hannah's legal guardian, Meg finally has a good lawyer, who is dedicated to fighting the church's encroachment on parental rights and convinces the judge to order 12 visits for Meg with Hannah.  But to have any shot at getting custody, Meg will have to convince her now 16-year-old, openly hostile daughter, who adamantly believes that Meg abandoned her, to leave the only life she has known, her church family and the place they've been waiting, certain that God will come for them any day, in order to move to a secular world, where the only person she'll know is the mother who left her behind.

What inspired you to write To She Who Waits?: I work with an high-conflict families in the middle of angry divorces.  I've never met people more desperate than parents who are fighting over custody of their children, and no irreconcilable difference raises the stakes more than disagreements over religion.  In addition to all the usual reasons for viewing their exes with unbounded animosity, these parents believe their children's souls are at stake.  But while my deep involvement these families helps to explain why I wrote this, it is only one of the reasons I could have mentioned, and those are just the conscious ones.  The truest explanation almost certainly comes from a murkier place that I couldn't begin to describe.   

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Plays in which I can't afford to stop paying attention for even a second, because every word counts.  I've always been drawn to British playwrights.  While they obviously don't have a monopoly on this, so many of them seem undaunted by the challenge of dramatizing complex, layered subjects, whether philosophical or political, which they're able to handle with crisp, pointed economy while still managing to be funny as hell.  Out of those writers, the few who are also highly theatrical and freakishly inventive, like Caryl Churchill, are the ones I usually go back to, when I need someone more inspiring than me to inspire me. 

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Caryl Churchill, if she can spare the time. 

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Most recently?  The Ferryman.  Maybe because I'm living in an era of small cast plays, when anyone who decides to write a play for more than four actors does so at his or her peril, I get very excited by plays like The Ferryman or Ruined or almost anything by Brian Friel, which can actually show a community in action instead of merely refering to one offstage. 

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I think I'll pass on that.

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: That's hard to answer, because any play I love, I can read, which isn't the same but for me a pretty good alternative.   The only reason I would go through the effort of traveling back in time, just to see a play, is if it were the first production of an early play by a writer who created an exciting new voice, so I could hear it fresh – before my experience of hearing it could be shaped by the writer' eventual reputation and all copies with minor variations that followed.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I'll definitely pass on that.  It's probably becoming clear why I'm not on social media.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: If I were still the me I am now, I would love to be a bioethicist -- as long as I wouldn't have to either go to medical school or learn too much science that's really, really hard, before someone would hire me.  If I were the me with talents I don't begin to possess, I would be part of the Yankees' starting rotation.  Maybe their number two starter, because if let myself wish to be the number one starter, there's a much greater chance of being struck dead. 

What’s up next?: I've started writing a play about Doomsday Preppers.  As with just about everything I write, I'm having fun taking on a subculture that baffles and troubles me, in the hope that I'll be able to understand its members better and write a play that even they would consider fair. 

For more on Bob, visit https://www.bobclyman-playwright.com/

Name: Gabriel Maria Rodriguez

Hometown: Mamaroneck, NY

Education: Mamaroneck High School, BFA in Acting from Emerson College, ongoing participant in The Michael Chekhov School in Hudson, NY

Favorite Credits: the umbilical point (Walking the dog Theater, the first full production for a solo play by me), fire (Walking the dog Theater, a piece my friends and I created from scratch), and playing Elliot in Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes (Lyrics Stage Company, Boston)

Why theater?: In this life, I have been and always will be a storyteller. I have always felt most myself when seeking out stories, studying stories, feeling about stories, learning stories, learning from stories, standing in front of people and telling stories. I don't have an explanation. It's just what I do. I don't know that I could stop myself even if I wanted to. I secrete stories.

Tell us about Jack of Cups: Jack of Cups takes place thousands of years from now. Whatever environmental catastrophe we in the present have ahead of us, the people of this future have behind them. They have survived and grown a better world from the rubble. Every Spring, the communities of this world come together for the Remembrance Festival, a collective ritual of healing and renewal and the biggest party of the year. On the first night of the Festival, Jack of Cups, a mysterious servant of the goddess Mother Ocean, arrives and tells the origin story of this world: their post-apocalyptic creation myth. The play takes place at the Festival, during this first night.

What inspired you to write Jack of Cups?: The first thing was necessity. I met someone who ran an event space, and she invited me to do a solo show in her space. I said yes to her, without knowing what I’d do. I looked out into the thin air and said “Okay so I need a play now, please!” I started listening for it. Some weeks later, Jack and his world started showing up. I am always wondering (obsessing) about the future of our planet and the beings who live here. I believe that, however much we are able to come together to unify and heal, we have gone too far and the catastrophe is here. And it will worsen. But! At the same time, I don't believe total annihilation is certain, and I do believe that humanity is not fundamentally hateful, that we have inherent goodness. We have forgotten who we are, but we will always be capable of remembering. This picture lends me a kind of paradoxical discomforted hopefulness. Because we have pushed ourselves to such an All or Nothing sort of precipice, this moment in our history is likely the best opportunity we're ever going to get to create a free, loving world! This play was generated through asking the question: “If humankind DID become reborn through surviving the struggles to come...what would that look like?” As a storyteller and sci-fi/fantasy nerd, I find abundant hope in the power of the imagination. In writing Jack, I looked to the practices of legendary worldbuilders like Ursula K Le Guin and Carla Speed McNeil. If humanity is going to make it through and create a harmonious world, we will need to imagine that world first. Jack of Cups is one attempt to do this.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I am most drawn towards stories that incorporate perspectives both human and non-human, and explore the interaction between the two. It is sometimes difficult for me to get into Humans Sitting in a Room Only Talking About Human Stuff. That being said, I like any well-told story. Creators who are working out of a sense of wholeness, who are deeply listening, who are open and curious and playful. I’ll watch people like this tell any story. Artists who are searching for something, who are living in the questions. I can be soothed by a “Here’s the right answer, the end” sort of story as much as the next person, but ultimately I believe the most nourishing art is art that wakefully encounters uncertainty and paradox. My fellow members of Experimental Bitch Presents are prime examples of this. They inspire me constantly.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Kate Tempest or Peter Brook.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: What The Constitution Means to Me was pretty incredible. Talk about an artist standing courageously in uncertainty and paradox!

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I would play me. It would be called “Word Witch.”

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Peter Brook’s Mahabharata.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. Pleasure is an inherent good. If the thing that gives you pleasure isn’t hurting anyone, there’s no reason to feel guilty. I non-guiltily love chocolate.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: A queer theologian studying, writing about, and teaching about comparative religion and mythology.

What’s up next?: More Experimental Bitch things! In July, I’ll be playing a role in the upcoming workshop for EBP’s production of member Sophia Heinecke’s New Nostalgias, directed by our amazing, kind, incisive artistic director Tatiana Baccari. Sophia is a brilliant, poetic, singular playwrighting voice. I am overjoyed to have a part in helping her work reach a wider and wider audience.

For more info on Gabriel, visit www.experimentalbitchpresents.com and www.gabrod.com.

Name: Adam Bertocci

Hometown: Bronxville, NY

Education: Northwestern University

Favorite Credits: The Shakespearean mashup Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. Although I am still proud of my work as the Wolf in my high school production of Into the Woods.

Why theater?: I come from film, where everything tends to get a little literal. I love how on stage you can create a world through suggestion, through the audience’s imagination, even just an actor’s words.

Tell us about Miranda from Stormville: It’s a modern take on The Tempest. Miranda Milano is nineteen years old and trapped in an isolated little town in the wilds of New Jersey, caring for her overprotective father in his state of mental decline. What happens next... well, we don’t follow the original beat for beat, but fans of the original will get a kick out of spotting the connections, I hope, and people who are unfamiliar with the original should be able to enjoy it as a self-contained show.

What inspired you to create Miranda from Stormville?: I recently reread my diary from the day the idea hit me which seems to confirm that it just kinda popped in there, although at the time I envisioned it as a short film, and (I’d totally forgotten this part) an animated one. What can I say... I always found “The Tempest” fascinating and mysterious, I love how people are drawn to tinkering with it in surprising ways, and I could easily see the original from Miranda’s perspective. The rest, who can say.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Theater that literally speaks to me: words! I love a nice big speech, a snappy dialogue, a big argument with sentences popping off like fireworks. Changes by the project, but I guess it always comes back to my own life and memories. Even when I’m riffing on Shakespeare, everyone is really based on someone I know...

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?:  Right now Brie Larson is high on my list. Shamefully,  I haven’t seen “Captain Marvel” yet.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: I am thinking here more of my friends who are not into theater than those who are... I try to make it a mission in life to get people who had Shakespeare ruined for them in high school to give him a shot. A solid production of, oh, one of the romantic comedies can be both delightful and totally accessible to the novice.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: At present Tom Holland seems right to tackle my formative years. The title, to quote my best friend about me: “Stranger as the Years Go On”.

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?:  Lately I have been kicking myself for missing Annaleigh Ashford in Sylvia. She has been wonderful in everything I’ve seen her do, and I have a weakness for people playing animals.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: In art, silly/sappy teen comedies. In life, literally everything I eat.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: Working in film, as I do, so, boring answer, huh. Outside the arts, I guess some kind of number cruncher, finance sort, though I fear I lack the killer instinct.

What’s up next?: Whatever someone wants to go forward! Right now I’m writing a couple of short stories for fun. I enjoy the challenges that come with trying one medium or another, seeing what you can do on the page or the stage or the screen. Sometimes, as I found with Miranda, something that begins as one kind of project you realize works better as another...

Name: Brandon Raines

Hometown: Manchester CT

Education: Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts

Select Credits: Film: Sam “Neighbors”, Vin “Geeble”, Evan “Live”, Sam “your invited”
Theater: Monkey “Journey to the West”, Benedick “Much Ado About Nothing”, A-RAB “West Side Story”. Select Television: Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, Fosse/Verdon, Law and Order SVU, Instinct

Why theater?: I love all forms of acting, in all different kinds of projects, but theater definitely holds a special place in my heart. Something about being in the room with your audience, it allows you to reach them, play off of them, communicate with them in a way thats only possible when doing live theater. Which I love because I feel like I can really effectively share my characters story.

Who do you play in Ms. Delight?: I play Roy Young JR in Ms. Delight

Tell us about Ms. Delight?: Ms. Delight is a play about the fictitious famous NYC drag queen, Ms. Stella Delight, coming back in contact with her son, Roy JR, after more than a decade of being estranged. Roy unexpectedly breaks into Stellas dressing room one night, and the two are left to try and resolve years worth of  abandonment, regret, anger, fear, persecution, and see if the two can infect have a relationship.

What is it like being a part of Ms. Delight?: Being part of Ms. Delight has honestly been a blast. The cast and creative team are all some really rad individuals. I have really enjoyed working with Cammerron Baits as our director, he really has given the actors space to breathe and discover our characters and play with new thoughts and ideas every single rehearsal. Additionally sharing the stage with Witti (Repartee) and Rebekah (Wilson) is such a gift in its self, they are both so much fun to work with and because of their fantastic talents I have really been able to develop my character so much further.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I love really intimate, raw, unapologetic, original pieces of theater. When I am an audience member, I never want to leave the theater happy. I don’t like where there is a crystal clear resolution, or a “villain” and a “hero”. I don’t think that that is reflective of how life really is. We all have a story. We are all doing our best with the light we have at the time. We are all multifaceted and complex and beautiful and I think having characters and plots like that is important, and thats the kind of work I’m interested in doing. As for who/what inspires me thats a very loaded question because I’m inspired by something/someone new every day. I will say the three performances that I have seen that really have stayed with me as an actor, and that I think about constantly are Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter in Angels in America on Broadway, Alex Sharp as Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on Broadway and Christiane Noll as Diana in Next To Normal at TheaterWorks in Hartford CT.

Any roles you’re dying to play?: All of them.

What’s your favorite showtune?: None of them.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Marianne Elliott

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Cameron Monaghan and it would be called “Sleeping On Subways, a series of questionable choices leading to one hell of a story, the life and times of Brandon Raines. Part One.”

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Not that far back but I would go see the 2009 Broadway production of Peter and the Starcatcher

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Once on this Island at the Circle in the Square

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Sitting in my living room and watching horror movies and eating a whole sleeve of Oreos at 11am on a Tuesday.

What’s up next?: Not a clue, I am in the process of auditioning for some really exciting stuff so hopefully one of those!!

Name: Cammerron Baits

Hometown: San Diego, California

Education: BA in Theater Studies from Brigham Young University with emphasis on directing and acting.

Favorite Credits: I have had the opportunity to work on several intimate productions which I really love. My favorite works are ones that have pushed me  to try new and inventive ways of storytelling. The ones that come to mind are, Spring’s Awakening where I had the privilege of directing a deaf actor and incorporating that and movement into an impactful ending. The next is Maximalista, a show where I produced choreography and created music as well as video projections that enhanced the elements of the central theme of the leading characters struggle with mental health and its effect in her family.

Why theater?: I am dedicated to portraying the power of human intimacy in an elegant and impactful manner, that evokes a sense of true story immersion and an authentic connection to the characters' emotions: their triumphs, struggles, pain, and joy. Theatre not only is a perfect medium to tell stories this way, but also to achieve my ultimate artistic goal of bringing each script to life with tasteful stage direction, powerful blocking and expressive talent, while extracting and amplifying the elements of relatability that convey humans' intrinsic interconnectivity.

Tell us about Ms. Delight: Ms. Delight is an incredibly well balanced dramedy about a famous ex-Mormon drag queen who after over a decade of estrangement reunited with their so. Unexpectedly just moments before a performance.  For all of those theatre lovers they are in for a delightful story that of a father and sons estranged relationship. For the drag enthusiasts out there Witti Repartee whole plays Stella Delight  does not leave you hanging when it comes to classic drag, and well thrown shade.  The show has one performance only this coming Saturday (March 2nd) and 7pm. Tickets can be purchased at https://m.bpt.me/event/4074382

What inspired you to direct Ms.Delight?: Straton is one of my favorite up and coming playwrights and this is my third time working for him. He truly has mastered the balance of comedy and drama in this specific genre of dramedy, while maintaining a sensitivity for the subjects he writes about, so when he asked me to direct again it was a no brained for me. I am excited to have been able to incorporate my Mormon background as well as my drag and performance knowledge to this show!

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: As an artist, I am Inspired by authentic stories about the human experience. I'm passionate about exploring dynamic relationships and the impact that intimacy and love have on the psyche. As our interactions with others shape our lives and ultimately our hearts, exploring these experiences through theatre has the ability to elicit a visceral reaction with audiences from all walks of life.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: I would have to say Charlize Theron, while not a theatrical actress I think she is a highly underrated actor who has such a beauty in the nuances of her craft and storytelling. I also would love to work with incredibly dynamic actor Sean Berdy o play like tribes. Lastly it would be a dram come try to work with  the thrilling Billy Porter.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Honestly, Come From Away, I can not and have not been able to recommend enough it is my favorite show I have ever seen on broadway and every time I have seen it I am taken on a multi-layered emotional journey and am blown away by the details I notice for the first time, and would pay full price to see it an with time.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: This is such a tough question haha I think it would be called “By The Way” and it would be a coming of age story but also a story of self love and defying the boundaries others place on me.  I would really love to see what Robbie Amell would bring to that story. 

If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: I really was sad to have missed Angels in America in its recent broadway revival. I think the story is so crucial and well told with that brilliant cast I wish I had seen how they told it. As far as musicals, I egret having not seen once on this island, I really wanted to go and just never found the time to fit it in.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: haha I love talent based competition shows, especially project runway and skin wars, however currently I am binging, the great interior design challenge. I can’t get enough, those shows really keep me inspired to continue following my passion.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _______?: A politician. As shocking as that is, the worlds truly go hand in hand.  I actually started college as a political science major with hopes of becoming a senator, but eventually found my way back to theater.

What’s up next?: Honestly I’m not sure. I have had several great auditions recently, as well as some coming up soon. I am also in talk of a few directing projects so stay tuned!

For more on Cammerrron, visit www.CammerronBaits.com