Austentatious (2007)

Lisa Asher has appeared as an actress and featured vocalist in numerous theatrical, concert and cabaret venues around the country. Recent theatrical credits include two world premieres: I Married Wyatt Earp at Bristol Riverside Theatre and Almost Heaven, John Denver's America for the Tony Award Winning Denver Center Theater Company. She can also be heard on the Original Cast Recording of Almost Heaven. Lisa toured nationally with the Broadway show The Who's Tommy and appeared Off Broadway in the Drama Desk Nominated Woody Guthrie's American Song. Ms. Asher is the recipient of a 2007 New York Nightlife Award for her show Stranded in the Moonlight, as well as a Back Stage Bistro Award and a MAC Award for her solo work in cabarets. A veteran studio musician, Ms. Asher can be heard on television themes, audio projects, and commercial and educational children's products, including product for Sesame Street and Berlitz. www.LisaAsher.com.

Pet Regressor (Cartoon Network), City of Dreams (EST), Boy Meets Girl (Women's Project), Joseph and the Amazing...(Utah Shakes), The Tempest (Kentucky Shakes), The Greeks, Julius Caesar, God's Ear, Baby Food (The Juilliard School) and the LA cult hit Discount Cruise to Hell. Also work at NYTW, Rattlestick, Primary Stages, and Soho Rep. He was featured at Town Hall in Broadway's Rising Stars and A Tribute to Wally Harper with Malcolm Gets and Melissa Erico at Birdland. He is the winner of the Dr. Norman Roland and Marilyn Pearl Award for outstanding achievement while at Juilliard. Training: Juilliard.

Austentatious marks Stephanie's NYMF Next Link debut, which immediately follows her Fringe debut (in Kiss and Makeup at the Lortel). Broadway: Avenue Q (Tony nomination, Theatre World Award, OCC Special Ensemble Award). Off-Broadway: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..., I Love You Because, Avenue Q (Drama Desk nomination). Recent appearances include Don't Quit Your Night Job, the ATrainPlays XII, and the NYMF benefits More Musicology of Ben Folds and Undercover Showtunes. Also recently guest-starred in that musical episode of Scrubs (soundtrack now exclusively on iTunes!). Upcoming: another reading of [talented husband] Craig Shemin's The Green Room. Go U Northwestern!

Off Broadway credits: The Prince & The Pauper, Insomnia/ American Globe Shorts Festival in which she received a Best Actress Award. Regional credits: Little Becky in Urinetown (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Footloose (KC Starlight Theatre), Side Show (2001 Helen Hayes nominee), Steel Pier, Anything Goes. New York Productions include leading roles in: Go Go Beach / New York Musical Theatre Festival, Ann E. Wrecksick, and 1st Annual St. Ignatius Chanukah Pageant. She has toured nationally in Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Sound of Music, and Leader of the Pack with Mary Wilson. She received a BFA Ithaca College.

Broadway:"High Fidelity" Tour: "Carousel" and "Oklahoma" Regional:"Damn Yankees", "Violet", "Cabaret". TV: As The World Turns, All My Children

Off-Broadway: Passing Strange (Female u/s) at the Public Theater. Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare In the Park), The Exonerated (Georgia Hayes), Purlie (City Center Encores!), George C. Wolfe's Harlem Song, Little Ham (AUDELCO Award Nominee). Regional: McCarter Theater and Paper Mill Playhouse's co-production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hermia), Iphigenia and Other Daughters (Electra) at Luna Stage, The Color Purple (Alliance Theatre), Godspell and Guys & Dolls (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Smokey Joe's Cafe (Brenda), Ain't Misbehavin (Nell). TV/Film: Law & Order: SVU (airs on NBC this fall), Know Your History (VH1 Soul) directed by Spike Lee.

Paul Wyatt just made his Off-Broadway debut in Sessions at Playwrights Horizon. Other recent credits include R-e-s-p-e-c-t(New York Stage & Film), The Yellow Wood(York Theatre), Brighton Beach Memoirs(Emelin Theatre), Runaways In Concert(Joe's Pub), and Dr. Dolittle(Theatreworks USA). Regional credits include Grease(Sacramento Music Circus), The Grapes of Wrath(Denver Center Theatre Company), The Full Monty(Weston Playhouse), Big River(Weston Playhouse), and Follies In Concert(The Michigan Theatre). Paul is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Matt's work as a writer-composer includes co-writing the music, lyrics and book for Austentatious (2005), music and additional lyrics for the short film The Dance To War (Catsnake Films, 2004), additional music for (2002) and music for a production of Brecht's Fear and Misery in the Third Reich (1999). His current projects include Two's a Crowd, and a musical comedy for two female performers, due to workshop in London later this year. Matt holds an MA in Musical Theatre Composition from Goldsmiths College, London (2005) and a BA in English Literature from Lady Margaret Hall College, Oxford University (2002).

Jane Caplow, one of the original creators and producers of 'Austentatious',
completed her MA degree in Musical Theatre from Goldsmiths College, University of London where she co-founded From The Top Productions. Over the past couple of years she has worked with various theatre companies in the Twin Cities including Minneapolis Musical Theatre, Nautilus Music-Theater and Theater Latte Da. Her many hats have included producer, writer, assistant director, stage manager, board member, and actress. She has recently relocated to New York City.

Kate holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from NYU and a Master of Arts in Musical Theatre from Goldsmiths, University of London. While this show represents her first endeavor as a writer, Kate has worked in various capacities at TheatreFest, Theatre at Monmouth and Roundabout Theatre Company. She is currently the Casting Director and Assistant to the Producing Artistic Director at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.

Luisa gained a first class BA (Hons) at Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts, followed by a Masters in Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths College, London, where a gropu of like-minded musical-ites came togetehr to create Austentatious!
Since graduating Luisa has worked a Casting Director for 'The Next Big Thing' and is currently Finance and Production Assistant at the Unicorn Theatre. Luisa also still combines this role with various rprojects as a dancer and choreographer.

Joe Slabe is a composer, lyricist and playwright from Calgary, Alberta who holds a Master of Arts degree in Musical Theatre from Goldsmiths College of the University of London. His adaptation of "The Paper Bag Princess" played to capacity houses at the Calgary Centre for Performing Arts in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, a workshop production of Joe's new show "Jeremy de Bergerac" was presented at the Bridewell Theatre and "AmDram: The Musical" (a show he co-wrote with classmates from Goldsmiths) enjoyed a sold-out run at the Landor Theatre, both in London. "AmDram" was Americanized into "Austentatious" and received eight performances at the 2006 Philadelphia Fringe. He also wrote three short musicals for Alberta Theatre Projects' PlayRites Festival. Joe was the recipient of the 2004 Greg Bond Award for outstanding contributions to musical theatre in Calgary.

Director's Credits Include: Gameboy The Vital Theatre Company at
the McGinn Cazale, Diving Normal at the Fringe Festival and the Fringe Encore's and won the Best Ensemble Award. Her production of Boocock's House of Baseball ran at The Flea (Nominated for 2 IT Awards), EST's Octoberfest and HERE. She has directed new works at 24 Hour Plays (The American Airlines Theatre and the Lucille Lortell), The Culture Project, The Directors Company, The Hypothetical Company, The Bad Musicals Festival, The American Theatre of Actors, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Jose Quintero, Theatre for the New City, PSNBC, The Storm Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Fringe Festival.

Her assistant directing credits include: Fortune's Fool on Broadway
directed by Arthur Penn, A Mother. A Daughter. And A Gun starring
Olympia Dukakis and directed by Jonathan Lynn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at The Goodspeed Opera House directed by Elinore Renfield, and Dinner With Demons at Second Stage directed by Peter Askin, as well as shows at Hartford Stage, the Cherry Lane Theatre, Signature Theatre Company and Williamstown Theatre Festival.

She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and has been a recipient of the prestigious Drama League Fall fellowship.

Previous New York Credits include;A Raisin in the Sun (David Binder Productions), The Garden Party (Oracle Theatre, Inc.) Sin (Bohemian Archeology Productions). Other credits include; The Tempest (Shakespeare in Deering Oaks Park), Ariadne auf Naxous (The Janiac Opera Company), Sweeney Todd (Brevard Music Center), Tourendot (Virginia Opera Association).
Leah received a degree in Stage Management from Purchase College, SUNY.

Rhonda Miller is thrilled to be a part of the creative team on Austentatious! Rhonda's inventive use of props and choreography has been featured Off-Broadway in Torched, Cinematastic, the legendary…Broadway Bares and in NYMF 2006 award winning shows Have a Nice Life and Common Grounds. On Film and Television, Rhonda's work has appeared in Love Bites, It's Garry Shandling's Show,The Young & The Restless,General Hospital, and in commercials for Chrysler, Exxon, Toys 'R Us and USPS. She was chosen for three consecutive years as a choreographer for The Elan Awards in New York annually honoring notable choreographers Rob Marshall, Jerry Mitchell and Susan Stroman, and is proud to be the first choreographer to be inducted into the Oklahoma City University Hall of Honor.