Jay Alan Zimmerman's Incredibly Deaf Musical (2010)

Jay Alan Zimmerman, christened “Broadway’s Beethoven” by John Znidarsic of the Lincoln Center Songbook Series, is the author/composer of the award-winning film musicals Love Burns and Pawns, and stage musicals: Jay Alan Zimmerman’s Incredibly DEaF Musical (“Pick of The Fringe” — The Washington Post),  My Café Cinderella, HoliDaze, and his current works-in-progress, I.M. — The Invisible Man Musical, and Pomes:  The Tru Storie of Wergle Flomp and Othr $49.95 Poets.  Dance/film scores include Do Not Call It Fixity (Special Music Award, Grand Prix International Video Danse Festival and selected North American film in the MOMA retrospective, Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris) and The Last Leaf (Best Score, First Run Festival, NYC).  He scored the plays Booth and Our Brutus, which were both Fringe First Award winners at the Edinburgh Fringe  Festival and had New York and London productions. Additional works include the song cycle Punctuated Thoughts (directed by Broadway legend Tom O’Horgan), the aerial work The Sunlight Zone, over 30 children's songs published by MONDO publishing and Warner/Chappell, and a symphony, Roboticus, for the LEMUR musical robots.  In addition, he created a visual music installation, ART/SONG, with artist Lisa Ingram that had a month long exhibition at chashama Times Square. 

www.jayalanzimmerman.com.

Paul has a special relationship with this piece, in that he performed in Jay Alan Zimmerman's very first musical, (which was a number of years ago!)  Paul was on Broadway and in the 1st national tour of "Dirty Blonde", with Claudia Shear.  His Off-Broadway credits include "How to Build a Better Tulip" (Acorn Theatre), "Dressing Room"  (SoHo Playhouse), and "Beau Jest" (Lamb's Theatre).  Other New York theatre includes "Jungle Queen Debutante" (NYMF),  "Say, Darling", "Wendy's Words", as well as numerous workshops and staged readings, including both the ASCAP and BMI workshops of new musicals.  He also appeared in "Mad About the Boy--A Tribute to Noel Coward" at Carnegie Hall. His television credits include, "Law & Order SVU", "Sex and the City", "Saturday Night Live", and numerous appearances on the daytime soaps.  His film credits include leading and supporting roles in a number of indie features and shorts. In addition, he plays  a supporting role in the upcoming feature, "Ceremony", with Uma Thurman.  Paul did his training in London, Paris and here in New York.

International Tours: The Who’s Tommy (“Tommy”), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (“Finch”), Les Miserables (“Marius”). Regional: Ace (The Signature Theatre), The Winters Tale, The Revengers Tragedy (The Shakespeare Theatre Co. ACA), Bringing Up Barbie (The Kennedy Center), Same I Was (The Yale Institute for Music Theatre).

Age 11, Pierce is a sixth grader at Oradell Public School, Oradell NJ. Theatre Credits: Sleeping Beauty (“Jeepers”), Music Man (“Winthrop”), A Christmas Carol (“Tiny Tim”/”Peter Cratchit”), Peter Pan (“Michael”), Alice in Wonderland (“Troubadour”/”Flower”), Broadway Reading of Anna the Storyteller (“Ramiro”). TV: “Saturday Night Live,” “Wonder Showzen,” “Sesame Street,” “TODAY Show.” 

Off-Broadway: Frankenstein (“Agatha,” original cast album), Shout! the mod musical (“Red Girl”). NYMF: The Hatpin (“Marianne”). NY Concerts: Her Song (Birdland Jazz Club), Broadway Loves the 80’s (Joe’s Pub). Regional: Spitfire Grill (“Percy”), City of Angels (“Donna/Oolie”), Jekyll and Hyde (“Emma”), Little Women (“Jo,” Kevin Kline Award nomination).

NY Credits: Streetlights (Zipper Theatre), Below the Waist (Playwright’s Horizons). Regional/Tour: HAIR, King Hedley II, The Miser, Speak Truth to Power (Swine Palace), Naomi in the Living, Soul of Nat Turner, The First Breeze of Summer, Drums of Sweetwater (Leila Barlow), The Heidi Chronicles (China Tour), God is trying to tell you something (Alliance Theatre).

NYC Credits: Emma (NYMF Festival), Far Out! The Sci-Fi Musical Comedy (NY International Fringe Festival). Tours/Regional: The Sound of Music/Asia Tour (“Baroness”), A Little Night Music (“Mrs. Nordstrom”), Seussical The Musical (“Mayzie La Bird”), The Full Monty (“Estelle Genovese”), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (“Linda Lou”), Grease! (“Marty”). 

Broadway: Miss Saigon. Off-Broadway: Little Ham, The Little Prince, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. National Tours: Mamma Mia! (Original North American Company) Regional: The Visit (Signature Theatre, Helen Hayes Nomination). NYMF: Maccabeat!, Fancy Boy Follies. NY International Fringe Festival: Silence of the Lambs, The Musical, The Irish Curse. International Midtown Theatre Festival: Becoming Kinky, The World According to Kinky Friedman. 

Kristin most recently served as assistant director of the Broadway revival of Lend Me a Tenor directed by Stanley Tucci.(Tony nom./Best Revival of a Play). Other credits include I/O (world premier, Festival Novellum, Toulouse), A Chorus Line (European Tour), and Broadway’s Always Dying (Stonington Opera House). Kristin has also assisted such directors as Troy Garza, Richard Sabellico, and Chet Walker on countless productions including Jerry’s Girls(National Tour) , Calamity Jane, A Chorus Line, Joseph…, Footloose, and The Music Man (National Tour), and choreographed Starting Here/Starting Now, and the world premiere of a new musical version of A Christmas Carol (written by Allen Cornell and Ken Clifton). Kristin earned a BFA in theatre from Emerson College with a minor in communication disorders and sign language.

Derek Roland is a NYC based Choreographer, Teacher and Performer whose work was most recently seen at the New Victory Theater on 42nd St, where he co-created, choreographed and performed in the critically acclaimed new tap show Time Step with Parallel Exit Physical Theater Company.  His choreography has also appeared in NY at 59E59 Theaters in Cut To The Chase (2008 Drama Desk nom. for Unique Theatrical Experience), the Lincoln Center Institute (Exit Stage Left), the NYMF’s Freshly Tossed, Sonnets On Tap at the Public Theater, the Joyce Soho, Vital Theater Company, American Theater of Actors, The Actors Playground, New World Stages (In It 4 Life choreo. showcase) and at The Duke Theater on 42nd St (Tap City). Derek also completed a Choreography Observancy with Randy Skinner for City Center Encores production of No No Nanette! His performance credits include National Tours of Kiss Me Kate (Bill Calhoun), Showboat, Cinderella and Funny Girl, as well as an Italian Tour of West Side Story. Regional Credits include 42nd St (Andy Lee / Dir. Randy Skinner), Sugar (Spats Palazzo / Dir. Charles Repole), Strike Up The Band (Jim), The Mystery Of Edwin Drood (Neville) and Showboat (Frank). Derek is currently on Faculty at the famed Steps On Broadway and has also taught at New Dance Group and Broadway Dance Center. Check out www.derekroland.com!

Emily Otto is currently the music director for the ongoing comedy/cabaret Shells at Joe's Pub and for the new musical The Water Dream. She is the resident music director, composer, and dramaturg for NYC's critically acclaimed Stolen Chair Theatre Company, with whom she has co-created eight original productions since 2005. In addition to music directing and accompanying numerous cabarets and musicals in New York, Boston, and Minneapolis, she has also dramaturged for directors Neil Bartlett, Martha Clarke, and Robert Woodruff at the American Repertory Theatre and the San Francisco Opera. Emily holds an MFA in dramaturgy from the American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and a BA in music and theatre from Concordia College.

Merope Vachlioti (Set design) Started designing at the avant-garde Ontological Hysteric Theater, followed by her residency with Theater Breaking Through Barriers (formerly known as Theater By The Blind) where she designed plays ranging from new works to Shakespeare and other classical playwrights. Other venues include: Bangor Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Connecticut College, Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab, New York Public Library, Yale Dramatic Association and many Off, Off Broadway Theaters where most of her work has been seen. She is currently teaching Set Design at Pratt Institute Center for Continuing Studies. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Very excited to be back at this year’s NYMTF, having participated last year with Under Fire.

Herrick Goldman designs lighting for theater, dance, concerts, museums, corporate meetings, and themed attractions. His work has been seen in New York, Shanghai, Manila, Frankfurt, Australia, Brazil, and Canada. Off-Broadway: Falling for Eve, Long Story Short, 666, Rooms, Godspell, Latin Heat, Flamingo Court, All is Love, Fearless, & Streakin'.   Other NYC productions include Crash Test Dummies, Serenade, Last Starfighter, & Antigravity. Favorite designs: Antogravity Brazilian tour,  Chorus Line (tour), Batboy (Yale), Side Show (Cape Rep), & Rooms (Geva) Broadway benefits: Best Little Whorehouse & The Who’s TOMMY 15th anniversary. Both at Broadway’s August Wilson.  Honors: Live Design Excellence award, Redden Award for Excellence in Theatrical Design, 2009 Hewes Nomination, 2009 Big Apple award for best event design. www.hglightingdesign.com

Jesse Dunham (Costume Design) is glad to be working with NYMF once again for Jay Alan Zimmerman’s Incredibly Deaf Musical.  Currently the costume coordinator for the Alvin Ailey American Dance School she is fortunate to have the opportunity to step into a different genre of the theater and design for this musical.  Jesse is a recent graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Dance but wears many hats and enjoys them all.

New York: My Mother’s Jewish Lesbian Wiccan Wedding, Jay Alan Zimmerman’s Incredibly Deaf Musical,Bonnie and Clyde,Lighter,Under Fire, Freed,Rooms, Jacques Brel, Six Dance Lessons, The Thing About Men, Showtune, I Sing, Urinetown, Say Goodnight Gracie,The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival, The Bilbao Effect, The Crow Mill, Lost and Found, Regional: Penguin Rep, Triad Stage; Act II Playhouse; Arena Stage; Goodman; Cape Cod Theatre Project; Actors Theatre of Louisville Humanafest.  Film:The Woman, In the Family, Offspring, Made For Each Other, Home Movie, Jack Ketchum’s: The Girl Next Door, Headspace,Other: Hats Tours: “Barney”, “Curious George” “Kidz Bop”,Consultant for National Alliance For Musical Theatre (2004-08), Consultant for NYU Graduate Program for Musical Theatre Writing.

In addition to Producing Jay Alan Zimmerman’s Incredibly Deaf Musical, opening at The Duke Theatre (NY) in September; Geoff is producing  Universal Feather (being developed with Rick Sordelet, Martha Redbone, Larry Yazzi, and Honor The Earth). General Manager for Mark Stuart Dance Theatre; World Rock Symphony Orchestra in Canada; a play aimed at Broadway titled Admit One by Wendy Yondorf.  In addition Geoff is writing the biography of multiple GRAMMY winner Steve Lillywhite and several plays.

Other recent work includes L’Histoire de Soldat with Hopeful Monsters at the Boston Symphony; GRAMMY JAM NYC with the GRAMMY’S NYC; The Velveteen Rabbit with the Enchantment Theatre Company on a National Tour; Cross That River (TBG Theatre); Gemini the Musical (Acorn Theatre); Production Managing and Speech Writing for the 2007 Honors Awards for the New York office of the GRAMMY’S.  

Geoff co-founded and Executive Produced the award-winning New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004 and 2005, and also co-produced the Unzipped Concert Series in 2005.  He has worked as a Vice President for Radio City Entertainment, where he produced and general managed the Menken/Ahrens/Ockrent production of A Christmas Carol and general managed The Wizard of OZ in New York and on tour.  He was also an Associate Producer for Minnelli on Minnelli on Broadway and for the cast albums of The Wizard of Oz (GRAMMY-nominated) and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Prior to joining Radio City Entertainment, Geoff was General Manager of the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ; General Manager of the George Street Playhouse for Producer Eric Krebs; Company Manager for the World Premiere of Fugard’s Master Harold…and the boys.  Geoff earned a degree in Theatre Administration from the Yale School of Drama where he was honored to have studied with Ben Mordecai and Lloyd Richards.