CAST and creatives
Meital Dohan was born and raised in Israel. She graduated from Nissan Nativ, Israel's prestigious acting school, and has starred in many theater, television and film productions. She earned Israeli Oscar nominations for her performances in God's Sandbox (2002 Manchester Film Festival winner), and Giraffes (2003 Scottsdale Arizona Film Festival winner). She played a central comedy role in Ugliest Esti - the Israeli Ugly Betty, which won the Israeli Emmy for Best Comedy Series. Meital won the Israeli Tony for Most Promising New Actress in 2000 for her work in Best Friends, with Israel's renowned Cameri Theater. Her other credits include Romeo and Juliet (as Juliet), and in 2002 she gave an award-winning performance in Bad Children. The role was specially written for her by the celebrated Israeli playwright Edna Mazya. Meital's first book, Love and Other Bad Habits, was recently published in Israel, a collaboration with photographer Karen Gillerman Harel. She has collaborated on several screenplays, including the original revue Love and Sex on the High Holidays with well-known Israeli singer Ivri Lider; and the television comedy Screen Warriors. Dohan also co-wrote and starred in the hilarious downtown hit Bath Party at Here Theatre. Most recently, she starred as Yael Hoffman, a sexy rabbinical scholar, in the critically-acclaimed hit Showtime television series, WEEDS.
“I remain fixed by the fiercely felt presence of its leading lady, the superb Israeli actor Meital Dohan."BackStage
John Ventimiglia (Stu): John's early activity in New York theater was primarily with the Machine Full theater company. Since then he has gone on to work in such productions as: The Exonorated, The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI with the National Theater Company, Door Wide Open and Ponies at Studio Dante, among others. His film credits include Angela by Rebecca Miller, I Shot Andy Warhol, Girls Town, On the Run, The Lovebirds and most recently Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead. John has also had an extensive television career, most notably as "Artie Bucco" on the acclaimed HBO series The Sopranos. He has been a frequent collaborator of the composer David Amram. John narrated the 50th anniversary edition of the original scroll version of On the Road for Viking Press, as well as narrating the films Personal Velocity and Amalia. He lives in Brooklyn.
Anthony Neilson (Playwright): Plays include WELFARE MY LOVELY (Traverse Theatre), NORMAL, (Edinburgh Festival, Finborough Arms), PENETRATOR (Edinburgh Festival, Finborough, Royal Court Upstairs), THE YEAR OF THE FAMILY (Finborough), HEREDITY (Royal Court), THE CENSOR (Finborough, Royal Court) which won the Writers Guild Award for Best Fringe Play 1997. Also EDWARD GANT’S AMAZING FEATS OF LONELINESS Theatre Royal, Plymouth), STITCHING (Traverse, The Bush, national tour) for which he was nominated Evening Standard "Most Promising Newcomer" (2002). THE LYING KIND played in the Jerwood Theatre, Royal Court 2002. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA (2004), played at the Tron, Royal Lyceum Edinburgh and Theatre Royal, Plymouth. In 2005 Anthony directed the UK premiere of the John Adams opera THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER for Edinburgh International Festival/Scottish Opera which won a Herald Angel Award. Television commissions include DEEPER STILL, short for C4 which he wrote and directed, A TERRIBLE COLDNESS (60') for the Granada Crime Story series, BIBLE JOHN (an episode of "In Suspicious Circumstances"), the feature film spin-off of CRACKER and a two-hour Prime Suspect film. His feature film debut, THE DEBT COLLECTOR, which he wrote and directed was released in 1999 (Dragon Pictures/Film 4) and won the Fipresci (International Critics) Award at the Troia Int Film Festival in the same year. In 2006 he wrote THE MENU for the National Theatre and a second new play for Edinburgh Int Festival 2006 called REALISM,which he directed at the Lyceum Theatre. In 2007 THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA went on national tour in Spring 2007 and opened Dominic Cooke’s first season at the Royal Court Downstairs. Anthony’s latest play GOD IN RUINS for the RSC, ran at Soho Theatre Christmas 2007. Next production is RELOCATED for The Royal Court in June 2008.
"Pinter and Ravenhill come to mind but Neilson is certainly headed for his own place among the modern classics." - The Stage
Timothy Haskell (Director) graduated from NYU Tisch School of Arts and
got started as an experimental theatre director 15 years ago
on the Lower East Side. He wanted to apply his avant garde
techniques to a more populist form of theatre. The result was the critical
and popular hit Road House--an adaptation of the 80’s film--that starred Taimak from the movie The Last Dragon. Road House premiered in 2003 and transferred to a commercial Off-Broadway run at the
Barrow Street Theatre where it ran for 5 months. He also directed the 14 month run of I Love
Paris (about Paris Hilton) at the Blue Heron Arts Center (longest
running show in the theatre’s history and one of the longest
running solo shows in Off-Broadway history), Fatal Attraction starring Corey Feldman at the East 13th Street Theatre (Classic
Stage Company), and the extended martial arts fantasy The
Jaded Assassin at the Ohio Theatre. He is also the originator
and Creative Director of the very popular haunted house
franchise Nightmare: New York's Most Horrifying Haunted House, now in its 5th year.
"Timothy is one of the great hustlers of downtown theatre. Using a mix of salesmanship and gimmickry that would have impressed David Merrick, he has turned his unapologetic love of trashy pop culture into his own cult oeuvre. He throws all sorts of tricks at the audience including several varieties of puppets and video game special effects!" - Jason Zinoman
Daron Murphy (Composer and Sound Designer) is a composer and performer, based in Brooklyn, USA—the headquarters of his music production company, The Gowanus Sound Initiative (gowanussoundinitiative.com).
Since founding the Gowanus Sound Initiative in 2006, Daron’s composed music for films (Raving, a short directed by Julia Stiles, starring Zooey Deschanel), commercials (Expedia.co.uk, Converse), and added to his growing discography of remixes (John Legend, Moby, Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child).
In 2005 Daron toured the world as guitar and bass player for multi-platinum recording artist Moby (with whom he continues to perform). Their collaboration is documented on the Moby Live: Hotel Tour 2005 concert DVD and Go: The Very Best of Moby, a CD featuring performances from the tour as well as bonus material culled from recording sessions in New York and Santiago de Chile.
Over the past five years Daron has produced music and performed in live events for MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, and the Democratic National Committee, sharing the stage with the likes of Lou Reed, Public Enemy’s Chuck D., Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, the B-52’s, Rufus Wainwright, G.E. Smith, Vernon Reid, Senator John Kerry, and many others.
Wendy Yang (Costume Design) opened her atelier and shop, Maiden Hong Kong, in Williamsburg three years ago. The boutique sells custom-fit vintage clothes from Hong Kong and China, and also serves as a costume design and building workspace. Recent works include Jennie Marytai Liu's Learning in Lower Animals (DTW), Major Bang, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dirty Bomb (The Foundry Theatre, NYC), The Emperor Jones (La MaMa Etc., NYC), David Byrne's Here Lies Love (Adelaide Arts Festival, Australia), the short film Freedom, and Nightmare: New York's Most Horrifying Haunted House.
Garin Marschall (Lighting Design) designed lighting for Nightmare: New York's Most Horrifying Haunted House in ’06 and ’07, also with Tim Haskell and Art Meets Commerce. He designed lighting and scenery for New Yorker writer George Packer’s Betrayed (Lucille Lortel Award, Best Play), Pulitzer Prize author Lawrence Wright’s My Trip to Al-Qaeda, and lighting for Danny Hoch’s Till the Break of Dawn, Tings Dey Happen, Howard Zinn’s Rebel Voices, Dai (Enough), Speak Truth to Power, Amajuba, Guardians, and Staceyann Chin’s Border/Clash- all for Culture Project. He was nominated for a Drama Desk in scenic design for Les Freres Corbusier’s Hell House. Other lighting designs include Quail, Demon Baby, Crumble, and Amazons and their Men all for Clubbed Thumb; The Internationalist, Aphrodisiac, Have You Seen Steve Stevenson, and Mark Smith all for 13P. He designed two seasons for New York Stage and Film including an early premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Defiance. Mr. Marschall designed a number of events at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine including World Aids Day. He has also designed for New Georges, The Flea, The Longwharf, Creach/Company Dance, Bennington College, and Bard College, among others. Upcoming: Judy Garland- A Concert at Boston Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops and Nightmare: New York's Most Horrifying Haunted House in both New York and Miami.
Annie Nocenti (Dramaturge):
Ann Nocenti’s short plays have been produced by the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors series and
the 24-Hour play series. She was the dramaturge for Bath Party. Her journalism and photography
have appeared in Details, Utne Reader, HEEB, Stop Smiling, PRINT, The Independent, Filmmaker,
Scenario, High Times, Prison Life and other publications. Noccenti has edited books for Moveon.org and Nation Books, and was an editor at Scenario, Prison Life, High Times, and Marvel Comics.
She is currently an editor at Stop Smiling magazine. She wrote the screenplay for Patriotville,
due out in 2008. She created Typhoid and Longshot, and wrote Daredevil, Kid Eternity, Batman,
and many other comics.
David Ambrose (Creative Producer) is a filmmaker and visual artist based in New York. Most recently he has produced
a body of video portraits that have been shown at various New York galleries, and has
created video-based set designs for modern dance companies and theatre. Ambrose is the Artist
in Residence of La Lutta NMC and a cofounder of CounterPoint Pictures, which creates video content for MoveOn.org. He is currently directing and producing a documentary Follow The
Leader: How Hip Hop Influences America.
Electric Pear Productions (Producer) is a non-profit theater company founded by Sylvan and Ashlin Halfnight in 2006. Electric Pear is committed to deepening the scope of the American performance landscape by supporting, creating and showcasing both original American plays of superior quality and originality and cross-genre and cross-border collaborative projects for the stage.
The goal of the company is to be a cultivator, backer and presenter - a true hub - of original and persuasive creative endeavors that find their base in the live theatrical experience, but pull together influences and inspirations from the world at large. Electric Pear produced Diving Normal, winner of the "Best Ensemble" Award in the 2006 FringeNYC, and Baby Face in 2007, and was the recipient of a Theatre Communications Group/ITI Travel Grant in 2007 to collaborate with artists from The National Theatre of Hungary in Budapest. Electric Pear created and produces the annual multi-media performance event Synesthesia. The company was named one of the 2007 "People of the Year" by nytheatre.com for important contributions in New York City theatre.
Melanie Sylvan ( Producer) is the Executive Director of Electric Pear Productions. She started her career in the arts as a dancer at Ballet Metropolitan in Columbus, Ohio, and was a recipient of a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts scholarship, and received a BFA in Musical Theatre with Academic Honors from Emerson College, studying with professors such as Kristin Linklater and Dr. Leo Nickole. She has worked as an independent producer and performer, developing projects with theatreflective, Storahtelling, Performance Lab 115, theatreflective and various other non-profit theatre arts organizations. She produced Ashlin Halfnight's award winning play, God's Waiting Room in the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival, and then brought the production to the Merlin International Theatre in Budapest, Hungary for a sold-out run in March of 2006. Ms. Sylvan is committed to producing original, collaborative projects which bridge cultures and countries, in order to present theatre which provides new insights and perspectives to both American and foreign audiences.
Alex Zoppa (producer) most recently produced Josh Malmuth's The Architecture of Fear & Danger featuring John Gallagher, Jr. (Tony Award winner, Spring Awakening), for the 2008 Hot Ink International Festival (Atlantic Theatre Company entrant) Other credits include Jeremy Bloom's A Mikvah (2007 International Fringe Festival) and The Wendy Complex (Vagabond Theatre Ensemble). Alex is the creator of the online artist community MyWhiteWall.com, and the infamous art party known as Adult Drawing. He is also the founder and curator of Emerging Market, a recurring exhibition that links new collectors with emerging artists. He is a graduate of NYU's Gallatin School. By day, Alex works for HBO.
Liebman Entertainment (Associate Producer) is a talent management company that provides actors, actresses,
writers and directors with full service artist representation. Its principals are Brian Liebman and Cory Richman.They bring with them over 20 years of experience in the
entertainment field, starting at the William Morris Agency. In the Summer of 2002, Liebman founded the RK Talent Management
Group which subsequently became Liebman Entertainment in the Spring of 2004. Over the years, clients have
included Oscar, Emmy, Tony & Golden Globe winners and nominees. Brian is a Co-Executive Producer of the film Adrift in Manhattan,
an independent film starring Heather Graham, William Baldwin and Dominic Chianese that was featured in Dramatic Competition at
the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. He was also an Executive Producer on the documentary film American Dancer which premiered
at the South By Southwest Film Festival in 2003. Most recently, Liebman was a producer on the Off-Broadway smash hit Mother Load.
La Lutta (Associate Producer) is a non-profit social
media and film production organization based in New York and San
Francisco. La Lutta NMC currently has over 55,000 members world-wide
and has worked with over 1,000 groups around the world. The Nation
selected as one of the top 25 independent media groups in the country
and the New York Times described as "bold [and] courageous - creating
true democracy." Its Executive Directior Antonino D'Ambrosio is a writer, filmmaker, musician and producer.
He is the author of Let Fury Have the Hour:
The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer (Nation Books), the upcoming
A Heartbeat and a Guitar: 1964, Johnny Cash, Civil Rights and the
Battle for America (Perseus/Nation Books) and A Gang of Their Own:
25 Years of Movies, Mayhem, and Madness. D'Ambrosio has produced,
written and directed more than 12 films, documentaries, and shorts.
He has just completed a short film starring Lewis Black that
will kick off a series of short films on various social issues and will
be released throughout 2008. In 2006, he became New York University's
Gallatin Lecturer, an honor bestowed upon a contemporary artist
creating innovative and social engaging work. Chuck D of Public Enemy
has described him as "the voice of a new generation whose work
educates and inspires." lalutta.org
Gabrielle Brechner (Associate Producer) is a founding member of Wakka Wakka Productions, Inc, a not-for-profit ensemble dedicated to producing original works of theatre that push the boundaries of the imagination, ranging in style from clown to grotesque and often featuring object movement and puppetry. As a member of Wakka Wakka, Gabrielle has co-created and co-produced their pieces, including "Fattie and Skinny Show!," "The Untold Story of Monkey," "Erik the Amazing and the Shallaballah," "The Death of Little Ibsen" and most recently, "Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz," all of which have appeared Off-Off Broadway and most of which have toured internationally. For "Fabrik," Gabrielle and the members of Wakka Wakka were nominated for a 2007/8 Drama Desk Award in the category of Unique Theatrical Experience, and were honored with a 2008 UNIMA Citation of Excellence. Gabrielle is a fellow in the 2007-2009 Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, funded by the UJA Federation of New York. She produced and appeared in the short film "The Birdman" (with Wakka Wakka) and most recently served as the Executive Producer of the short "Taken to the Lowlands." From 2000-2006 Gabrielle was the General Manager of BB King Blues Club. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance and a B.A. in English Literature and has studied at Circle in the Square Theatre and the Chautauqua Institution. In the fall of 2009 Gabrielle will participate in the Atelier program at Princeton University where she and several other members of Wakka Wakka will write an original screenplay with puppets.
Billy Hopkins and Jessica Kelly (Casting) Recent theatre credits include Hoodoo Love, Edward Albee's The American Dream/The Sandbox for the Cherry Lane Theatre; Artfxxxers for the DR2, and Spalding Gray: Stories Left To Tell for Naked Angels. Recent film credits include Choke (Sundance 2008); The Visitor; Anamorph, Tennessee (Tribeca Film Festival 2008); and the upcoming Pineapple Express. Most notable film credits include Seven, Cider House Rules, JFK, Boys Don’t Cry, Shakespeare in Love, Good Will Hunting, and Monster’s Ball. Television: Roseanne and Sex and the City.
Art Meets Commerce (New Media Services and Advertising) is a commercial producer and new media marketing company, specializing in theatrical productions and live entertainment events. Its principals are Chip Meyrelles, Ken Greiner, Timothy Haskell and Jim Glaub. The company provides dynamic website design and development, comprehensive content management, as well as cutting-edge interactive online marketing campaigns to allow both its own projects and those of its clients to achieve their full online potential. New media marketing and website design clients include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Xanadu; Almost an Evening; Edward Albee’s The American Dream and The Sandbox; Three Mo’ Tenors; Vanities, A New Musical; Pure Country; The Toxic Avenger Musical; Irondale Ensemble Project; The Cherry Lane Theatre; The Vineyard Theatre; as well as numerous other productions and theatre companies. www.artmeetscommerce.net
Richard Kornberg & Associates (Press) represents Hairspray (2003 Tony Award for Best Musical); Rent (1996 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Musical) ; New York Theatre Workshop; Performance Space 122; Intar, Les Freres Corbusier, Transport Group, Edge Theater; the musical theatre productions of New York City Opera, and the dance companies produced by the Joyce Theatre as well as Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and MOMIX. PAST PRODUCTIONS INCLUDE: The Little Dog Laughed, The Wedding Singer, Barefoot in the Park, In My Life, Souvenir, Measure for Measure (Shakespeare's Globe), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe); Golda's Balcony; I Am My OwnWife (2004 Pulitzer Prize); bash; Blown Sideways Through Life; The Crucible (with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney) ; Death of a Salesman (50th anniversary production with Brian Dennehy); Dirty Blonde; Golden Child; Jekyll & Hyde; Jelly's Last Jam (with Gregory Hines); Largo Desolato by Vaclav Havel; Long Day's Journey Into Night (with Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Robert Sean Leonard); Metamorphoses; A Moon for the Misbegotten (with Cherry Jones and Gabriel Byrne); The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told; My Fair Lady (with Richard Chamberlain); Omnium Gatherum; One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (with Gary Sinise) ; Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants; The Shape of Things; Shopping and Fucking; Snakebit; The Thing About Men; tick, tick…BOOM!; The Vagina Monologues; The Will Rogers Follies
(with Keith Carradine and Mickey Rooney); and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown . Mr. Kornberg was general press representative for Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival where he worked on hundreds of shows, including A Chorus Line, The Pirates of Penzance, and Free Shakespeare in Central Park.
Aaron Haskell (Properties) has been in NYC for eight years living and working as a visual artist,
dancer and actor. He originally moved here on a fellowship to Alvin Ailey in 2000, and has
since then performed Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, nationally and internationally, most notably as Paris Hilton in I Love Paris and Corey Feldman's five year old
daughter in Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy, both directed by Sir Timothy Haskell.
Exhibited art works can be seen at Lemmons Contemporary in Tribeca. He is one of the
original designers for Nightmare: NYC's Most Horrifying Haunted House entering its
fifth year in New York and set to debut in Miami this fall. Haskell recently created the production company, B.A.D.
Brooklyn Art Department, a small artist's collective focusing on specialty design for
theatre, film, television and events. www.brooklynartdepartment.com
Justin Haskell (Properties) is attending Pratt Institutes Fine Arts program working in various mediums. He is a part of B.A.D.(Brooklyn Art Department) for "Nightmare: NewYork City's Most Horrifying Haunted House" now in its fifth year. Other credits include set design for the Off-Off Broadway productions of Random Particles ofMatter Floating Through at the Producers Club, and Hunt For Treasure at the Abingdon Theatre. As a painter he has done work for theatre productions, as well as commissioned pieces for individuals.
Maggie Macdonald ( Fight Director) is a NYC based fight director and stunt performer. She has worked as a fight director with NYU, Broadway Classroom, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Princeton, Impetuous Theatre Company, Gallery Players, The Vampire Theatre Company, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The New York Musical Theatre Festival. She is an award-winning member of the Society of American Fight Directors. She recently completed stunts/motion capture work for the upcoming video game Saint's Row 2 and her fight direction may also be viewed in The Impetuous Theatre Company's The Wedding Play in July. www.brooklynartdepartment.com; web.mac.com/msmaggiemac