Date of a Lifetime (2011)

Carl Kissin (Book writer, lyricist)

Carl performed 4000 shows for one of this country's premier sketch and improvisational comedy groups, Chicago City Limits. He was the show's head writer and director of their National Touring Company.

He has performed his own material on the syndicated sketch comedy show “Kwik Witz,” “The Joan Rivers Show”, and “The Today Show,” and developed and directed sketches for the pilot episodes of NBC's "Live On Tape." 

Carl appeared at the Public Theatre in Eric Bogosian's play Talk Radio and was in Oliver Stone's movie version as the character Glenn.   He is a three-time winner of the Manhattan Monologue Slam and presented an evening of his monologues in the solo show “End of the Line,” interactive monologues in “No Solo Mio”, and put his day-to-day life on stage in “Carl Kissin: Reality TV- Live On Stage.”

Carl has written book and lyrics for the musicals, “Depressed, Depressed,” “Alone World,” (winner best book & lyrics: West Village Musical Theatre Festival 2011) and “Date of a Lifetime,” (WVMTF: honorable mention for book, lyrics, and best musical).  BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. www.carlkissin.com

Robert Baumgartner, Jr. (Composer/Music Director)

Rob hails from the suburbs of D.C. In addition to Date of a Lifetime, Rob’s musicals include Adam Lives, Alone World (with Carl Kissin) Under Construction and The Money Show (with Heidi Heilig) Lullabies (with Will Brumley), The Hole (with Joey Murray and Heidi Heilig), and Radiant Ruby (with Dante Russo).  Rob serves as an assistant to composer Galt MacDermot (HAIR), and has also provided assistance to Debra Barsha (Radiant Baby) and Rob Reale (A Year With Frog and Toad). Rob has a degree in Composition from Catholic University, and is also a graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Rob is a proud faculty member at Cap21. Thanks to St. Jude, my family, friends, Lauryn Hill, all the boys, and especially everyone involved with this production!

Farah Alvin (Katie)

Farah has appeared on Broadway in Nine, The Look of Love, Saturday Night Fever, Grease! and A Christmas Carol. Her Off-Broadway credits include The Marvelous Wonderettes (Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress), I Love You Because, Cam Jansen, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie..., and Kuni-Leml. Recent regional credits include the role of Ginnie in the world premiere of Sycamore Trees (Helen Hayes Award), Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (Gretna), Heidi in [title of show] (TheatreWorks, Silicon Valley), Mabel in Pirates! (Goodspeed, Papermill and Huntington Theater) and Mother in Ragtime (White Plains Performing Arts Center). Last year, she appeared in the NYMF playing the role of Georgia in The Tenth Floor for which she received a Talkin' Broadway Festival Citation for Best Actress. Ms. Alvin has performed as a soloist with the National Symphonies of the United States and Canada. She can be heard on the original cast recordings of The Marvelous Wonderettes, I Love You Because, as well as Someday, an album of her original music. Please visit www.farahalvin.com

Jamie LaVerdiere (Marvin)

Mr. LaVerdiere made his Broadway debut in The Producers as Matthew Broderick’s understudy.  Other Broadway and Touring: Pirate Queen (Hilton Theater), Urinetown (First National), and A Chorus Line (Europe).  Off-Bway includes I Love You, You’re Perfect… (Westside Theater), Cam Jansen (Lambs Theater), We the People (Lucille Lortel), and This Side of Paradise (St. Clements). Recent credits: Nathan in Guys and Dolls (Riverside Theatre) and Pish Tush in Eugene Opera’s The Mikado.  Film/TV: The Producers, the award winning short film Hell is Other People, TV Funhouse, and The Place. Jamie lives in NJ with his wife and daughter.

Jeremy Dobrish (Director)

RECENT OFF BROADWAY: Signs of Life (Amas), Judas and Me (NYMF), Spain (MCC), Election Day (Second Stage). REGIONAL: Barrington Stage, Goodspeed, Hangar, North Shore, NY Stage and Film, Old Globe, O’Neill, Village.  Jeremy is the Co-Artistic Director of Midtown Direct Rep, has served as an Artistic Associate at Second Stage, and was the Artistic Director of adobe theatre company for 13 years. He lives in Maplewood with his wife Beth and daughters Clea and Quinn. www.jeremydobrish.com

Wendy Seyb (Choreographer)

Wendy creates and choreographs in theatre, dance and video.  Broadway/HBO: The Pee-Wee Herman Show.  Off-Broadway/International: The Toxic Avenger Musical (Lortel, Callaway and Dora Nominations), Click Clack Moo (Lortel Nomination).  Regional: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (The Philadelphia Theatre Company, Paper Mill Playhouse), Harry Connick, Jr.'s The Happy ElfNickelodeon's Storytime Live (First Stage).  Tours: Nickelodeon's Storytime Live (Radio City).  New York Theater: But I'm a Cheerleader, Die Hard: The Puppet Musical, The Great Conjurer (Innovative Theatre Award Nomination).  Dance Comedies: Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce SoHo, The Flea, 37 Arts and HERE Arts Center. www.wendyseyb.com

Liz Ulmer - Ulmer Theatricals (Line Producer/General Manager)

Liz produced I Got Fired: A Revenge Musical for NYMF 2010, and served as Associate Producer for its subsequent production with the Daegu International Music Festival in South Korea.  Other producing credits: The Songs of Keith Varney and LIFT: A Concert to Benefit Artists Striving to End Poverty.  As a performer, favorite shows include Dangerous Beauty (NY Stage and Film), Fiddler on the Roof (Fulton Opera House), Orphans of the Storm and Ruby’s Story (world premiere).  She is a graduate of Ithaca College’s Department of Theatre Arts.  This show is one of her all-time favorite dates (thus far).

 

Susan Barras (Set Designer)

SET DESIGN: Blue Puppies (The Chocolate Factory), Alice in War (Beckett, Theatre Row), As Yet Thou Art Young & Rash, Madame Killer, Faust, Six Characters’, Too Cancelled for TV (independent short film), Vanities (Bristol Valley Playhouse).  PROPS DESIGN: Broadway – Little Dog Laughed, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  Off-Broadway – Some Americans Abroad, Good Boys & True, The New Century, Paradise Park, Next to Normal, Queens Boulevard, Peter & Jerry, Iphigenia 2.0, Some Men, Accomplices, Little Dog Laughed, Show People, 25th Annual…, Water’s Edge.  National Tours – The Music Man.  Please visit www.susanbarras.com.

Jeff Croiter (Lighting Designer)

Broadway: The Pee-wee Herman Show; Next Fall; Kiki and Herb.  Other NYC includes: Peter and the Starcatcher; Meet Vera Stark; Side Effects; A Lie of the Mind; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; Ordinary Days; Streamers; Family Guys Sings; Jerry Springer The Opera; Rufus Wainwright’s Judy Garland Concert at Carnegie Hall; Love Child; Adrift in Macao; The Voysey Inheritance;  The Internationalist; Burleigh Grime$; Drumstruck; Jacques Brel; I Love You Because; Almost, Maine;  Trumbo; Matt & Ben; Cam Jansen; Miss Witherspoon; Privilege; The Dazzle; and Jennifer Muller The Works. Regional: The Shakespeare Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, The Huntington, Paper Mill Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Trinity Rep, Berkshire Theatre Fest, Ford’s Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and NY Stage and Film.

G. Alan Busch (Sound Designer)

Julia Locascio (Costume Designer)

RECENT COSTUME DESIGN: Thomas Edison: Turn off the Dark (Rescue Agreement), Tick, Tick…Boom! (NYU: Moss Theater, Walter Ryon, dir.), The Ape and the Child (Wings), Stars in the Grass (Williamstown). Julia has managed and designed costumes at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; studied with the SITI Company, the TEAM, and site-specific Shakespeare at the University of Cambridge; and, in 2009, produced and curated a summer-long art festival at the Red Cloud Opera House. Most recently, she assisted Punchdrunk NYC with the installation of Sleep No More. Check out her assistant directing in This One Girl’s Story (also at NYMF). Julia has a BFA in Directing, Costume Design and Art History from NYU. www.julialocascio.com

 

 

Andrea Jo Martin (Production Stage Manager)

Credits include: Broadway: RENT (sub); Broadway Backwards 3, 4, 5 and 6.  Off-Broadway: Temporal Powers, A Little Journey, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, The Glass Cage, The Madras House (Mint Theater Co.); Busker Alley, Fanny Hill, A Fine and Private Place, and 10 different Musicals in Mufti (The York Theatre); La Barberia; White’s Lies; Love Child; Signs of Life; De Novo; Beauty on the Vine; WASPs In Bed; A Dangerous Personality.  Festivals: at NYMF: Judas & Me; at Fringe: Dancing With Abandon and Trouble in Shameland.  Andrea is also a sub at Naked Boys Singing! and NEWSical: Full Spin Ahead.

Jean Marie Hufford (Assistant Stage Manager)

New York credits include:  A Little Journey, What the Public Wants (Mint Theater Co.), The Great Unknown (NYMF 2010), The Family Shakespeare (MTWorks).  Regional credits include: Children, Quartermaine’s Terms (Williamstown Theatre Festival). BA in Theatre and Classical Civilization from the University of Mary Washington.

Frank Avellino (Associate Producer)

Frank is very excited to be a part of Date of a Lifetime. As co-founder/Artistic Director of Boz and the Bard Productions, he directed the NYC premiere of Miss Lizzie A. Borden Invites You to Tea by Marjorie Conn (as well as two subsequent NJ revivals), and produced three original new plays in their Off-Off-Broadway 2001 inaugural season.  Recently, he was nominated for Best Director of a Play (Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley) from NJACT.  Frank is also an award-winning playwright and set designer.  His play, Ice In April, is undergoing rewrites in anticipation of being performed as part of a voyage to the Titanic wreck in April 2012 (its 100th Anniversary). NJ directing credits include Sweeney Todd, Oliver!, An Italian American Reconcilation, and the recent premiere of Rapunzarella White.

 

Jessy Grossman (Associate Producer)

is thrilled to be involved with this production! She is a director and a producer who hails from Florida. She recently interned at Davenport Theatricals, producers of the upcoming Broadway revival of Godspell. In NYC she has worked with Looking Glass Theatre, Counting Squares Theatre, Rapscallion Theatre Collective, Adam Roebuck's Productions, and more. Jessy enjoys working in new play development so she has directed many readings in New York City and around the country. She has also assisted on many shows including Parade, West Side Story and It’s A Wonderful Life. www.jessygrossman.com

Laura Butchy (Dramaturg)

Laura Butchy has dramaturged and directed productions in New York and Western Pennsylvania. Her work with NYMF includes dramaturging The Incredibly Deaf Musical, My Illustrious Wasteland, The Hatpin, The Yellow Wood, and Austentatious. Other New York dramaturgy work: Welcome to the Friendly Tripbox and In Praise of Folly: The Don Quixote Project [Peculiar Works Project]; Once Upon a Pandora's Box [The New Acting Company]; West Pier [Ohio Theater], and Herakles [Chashama]. She earned her MFA in dramaturgy at Columbia University and has written for American Theatre, FringeNYC Propaganda, and other publications. As a teaching artist, she has directed productions for New York City students from kindergarten through college.

Katie Rosin (Kampfire Films PR) (Press Agent)

Katie was instrumental in the launch of the Broadway musical Brooklyn, the National Tour of Mother Load and the break-out hit, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo’s unFRAMED: A Man in Progress. She has represented IT Award recipients, GLAAD Award Winners and Drama Desk nominees. Clients include: ArtsRock, Astoria Performing Arts Center, My Sinatra, Houses on the Moon, MTWorks, New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, Nicu's Spoon, Railroad Playhouse and Women in Arts and Media (WAM). www.kampfirefilmspr.com For information, discounts and more text KAMPFIRE to 99222.

Seth Marion (Production Manager/Technical Director)