TAJLEI LEVIS (Book & Lyrics) most recently wrote book and lyrics for the musical A Time to be Born, based on Dawn Powell’s 1942 novel (with composer John Mercurio). A Time to be Born had a sold-out run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre as part of the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival. Tajlei is a graduate of Columbia College and NYU Law School. She was a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and the Commercial Theatre Institute.
JOHN MERCURIO (Music) John is the recipient of an award from both the Jonathan Larson and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Foundation for his work in musical theatre. This past summer his musical Myth for which he wrote book, music and lyrics was developed at the Eugene O’Neill National Music Theater Conference where it received the Georgia Holof Award for lyric writing.
He wrote the score and co-wrote the book to Diva Diaries which ran for three months at the Lakeshore Theatre in Chicago. Before that, it played at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
With collaborator Tajlei Levis, he wrote Glimpses of the Moon as well as the music for A Time to Be Born, based on the novel by Dawn Powell, which played at the Lucille Lortel theatre as part of the New York Fringe Festival.
This fall his musical Academy will be premiered at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre funded by a MacArthur grant. John also wrote the score for 1001 Nights (workshop at the George Street Theatre), The Riverhaven Book Club, (Lyric Theatre) and currently, the songs for the play Arturo’s Window which tells the fascinating true New York story of John Jerome. John has also just finished his first young adult novel, “The Lost Place.”
He received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and NYU and was a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop. (www.johnmercurio.com)
MARC BRUNI (Director) won the NYMF Directing Award for his production of Such Good Friends. He is currently the Associate Director of Legally Blonde (Bway and tour), appearing on MTV's “Search for Elle Woods”. He has been associated with Jerry Zaks, Kathleen Marshall, Walter Bobbie and Jerry Mitchell on twelve Broadway productions including Tony winning revivals of The Pajama Game and La Cage Aux Folles, Grease, High Fidelity, Wonderful Town, Sweet Charity, and Little Shop of Horrors (also staging the National Tour). Marc also stages Irving Berlin’s White Christman annually for Walter Bobbie, this coming year on Broadway as well as in Detroit and St. Paul. He directed My One and Only and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for the MUNY, and he has worked at City Center Encores! on No, No Nanette, Applause, Bye Bye Birdie, and 70, Girls, 70. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
SHARON CARR (Producer) reinventing herself in the new millennium, is now fulfilling a life-long passion to present live theater. She began in 2006 as Co-Producer of I Love You Because (winner Best Off-West End Musical 2007, London), followed by 10 months 'on the road' with GFour Productions as an independent Associate Producer, presenting RESPECT: A Musical Journey of Women in Cleveland (September 2006), Boston (October 2006) and Atlanta (March 2007) as well as Menopause the Musical in Minneapolis. In October 2006 she also produced the cabaret show: You Don’t Know Jac, starring Jac Huberman (Winner, 2006 Broadway Idol). Sharon is a Producing Associate on How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Holiday 2006, 2007), Legally Blonde (Spring, 2007) and Dirty Dancing (Toronto, Fall 2007 and the US Pre-Broadway Tour 2008-2009). She was an Associate Producer on Masked, off-Broadway (August 2007), and is currently working on the US revival of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None as well as developing IDAHO! The Musical Comedy Love Story (NYMF 2008; Broadway 2010) and Mom Is Not My Real Name (music by Tina deVaron and book by Pam Lobley).
Ms. Carr is stepping up this coming year as General Partner/Lead Producer on Idaho! A Comedy Musical Love Story (NYMF, Fall 2008) which she hopes to bring to Broadway -- and (along side Nelle Nugent/Foxboro, Inc.) on the upcoming revival of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (Broadway and US Tour, Fall 2009). Two projects in development: Mom Is Not My Real Name (based on music by Tina deVaron) and an animated film: a family musical comedy about the story of Purim: Queen Esther.
DENIS JONES (Choreographer) has been proud, for the past three years, to serve as director of Broadway Bares, benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Recent projects as choreographer include The Boy Friend for The Maltz Jupiter/Riverside Theaters, Thoroughly Modern Millie for The Cape Playhouse, Meet Me in St. Louis for The Paper Mill Playhouse and Everyone Loves a Winner, A Tribute to John Kander for The Westport Country Playhouse. Denis is the Associate Choreographer to Jerry Mitchell for Broadway’s Legally Blonde and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
TED LEFEVRE (Scenic Consultant) Designs: over two dozen Off-Off-Broadway play premieres and Regional musicals apiece. Las Vegas: revue of Stevie Wonder songs starring Chaka Khan, Associate on Phantom (Venetian), and Spamalot environment design (Wynn). Broadway Associate: The Country Girl, Rock 'n' Roll, Grease, Coram Boy, Sweeney Todd, Hairspray Tour, Invention of Love, Aida. Assistant: Wedding Singer, All Shook Up, Wicked, Sweet Smell of Success, Morning's at Seven, Seagull, Ivanov, Beauty and the Beast, Christmas Carol at MSG, and sixteen Metropolitan Operas. Two seasons each at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Santa Fe and Glimmerglass Operas.
www.ted-lefevre.com
DEB GAOUETTE (Props Designer) Prop Credits: props master for 42nd St. and Cabaret at the Trump Plaza Casino; props coordinator for the national tours Evita, Sound of Music, Crazy For You, and South Pacific for Troika Entertainment, and various off-broadway productions. Set design credits: the workshop of Popera Rain; projects with City Lights Youth Theatre, and productions of Stage Door, She Loves Me, Meet George Orwell, and The Retreat. Currently: assistant props coordinator for New York City Opera.
LISA ZINNI (Costume Designer) Associate Designer for the Broadway and national touring companies of RENT; as well as many of the international companies of RENT, including China, Canada, the UK, and the Italian company produced by Pavarotti. Her regional credits include 10 seasons with The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, The Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, The Cape Playhouse, and Bristol Riverside Theatre. NY: Off Broadway, Fringe Festival and NYMF. LisaZinni.com
JIM MILKEY (Lighting Designer) Man, Such Good Friends (NYMF), Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (Fractured Atlas), Lounge Act (Lunatic Theatre Company) and Pygmalion (NY Baroque Dance Company). Regional: Castro’s Beard, The Shape of Things, Ears on a Beatle (Barrington Stage Company), The Wild Party and Johnny Guitar (Speakeasy Stage Company). He is also the associate on Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and assistant FX designer on the Spamalot tour and Spamalot Vegas.
KATIE ROSIN / KAMPFIRE FILMS PR (Marketing/PR) Off-Broadway: Mother Load, Sage Theater; Wasps in Bed, Beckett Theater; Anaïs Nin: One Of Her Lives, Beckett Theater; Triple Threat: 2007 Drama Desk Nominee (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story, Real Danger & Elephant Girls, Theatre 5; The Monument, Clurman Theater; Don Juan in Chicago, Kirk Theater. Clients include: Ateh Theater Group, Emerging Artists Theatre, The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, Nicu's Spoon, (re:) Directions Theatre Company, T. Schreiber Studios, Woman Seeking...A Theater Company, as well as, various productions at the Midtown International Theater Festival and FringeNYC. Rosin teaches Marketing the Arts at NYU. www.kampfirefilmspr.com
SAMANTHA SCHLUMBERGER (Graphic Designer) founded Boughton Design, a multi-disciplinary design firm in 2002. Boughton Design's work is based on a philosophy that design should reinforce an emotional connection between clients and their audiences. Commercial graphic design client work includes branding and logotype for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Dramatists Guild of America, as well as extensive collateral design for Clear/Registered Traveler, the Animal Rescue Fund, Irvington Institute, Scholarship Chicago and Women in Development. Boughton Design also produces a line of custom stationery.
GEOFF JOSSELSON (Casting Director) Current projects: Allan Knee's The Jazz Age (59E59), Nickelodeon’s The Backyardigans Live!, and productions for North Shore Music Theatre and Kansas City Starlight Theatre. Recently, Geoff cast the York Theatre Company’s Musicals in Mufti, The Last Five Years (Denver Center) and the premiere productions of Sympathy Jones, Such Good Friends and Going Down Swingin' for NYMF 2007. With Calleri Casting: the upcoming film, Dragon Ball, and the Ivory Joe Cole workshop. Previously, Geoff worked on the casting of AltarBoyz, West Side Story, Carmen, Mimi Le Duck, Fanny Hill and The Great Game. Graduate of NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.
BRIER PATCH PRODUCTIONS (General Management) Combining the expertise of Laura Janik Cronin and Scott Newsome, Brierpatch Productions offers general management services for theatrical productions, tours, and special events.
Laura Janik Cronin has over 12 years of theatrical management experience on and Off-Broadway, including The Lion King, Chicago, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, August: Osage County, November, The Look of Love, Jackie Mason: Prune Danish, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Triumph of Love, Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes, Beauty and the Beast, Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well…,Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, 25 Questions For A Jewish Mother, Don’t Quit Your Night Job, and My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish and I’m in Therapy. Laura has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Mount Holyoke College, and holds an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.
Scott Newsome has managed Off-Broadway productions for over eight years. His productions include Dinner With Friends, Menopause The Musical, Harmony (Broadway out of town), Once Around The Sun, I Love You Because, Shout! The Mod Musical, and My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish, and I’m In Therapy. Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Houston.
CARLOS MAISONET (Production Stage Manager) Off-Broadway: Altar Boyz, The Awesome 80s Prom, Perfect Harmony. National Tour: Stephen Schwartz's Captain Louie. New York: The Wild Party (The Culture Project), Capture Now (workshop), Glimpses Of The Moon (The Oak Room), Ward 9 (NYMF 2008). Other credits include: Jihad: The Musical (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Concert for Mother Earth (featuring: Joan Osborne, The Bacon Brothers, Jen Chapin, and Eddie Money). Carlos is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a proud member of Actor's Equity.
RACHEL MAIER (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to work on this fabulous show! Her recent credits include: Broadway: All My Sons. Off Broadway: The Awesome 80's Prom, Based on a Totally True Story, Suddenly Last Summer, Captain Louie. Favorite NYC credits: Shrek! The Musical and In the Heights Workshops, Don't Quit Your Night Job, TheATrainPlays, White Noise, The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero, Jumping Blind, and numerous benefits, concerts, and readings. Rachel also works as a flying trapeze instructor at the Espana/Streb Trapeze Academy in Brooklyn. BA in Drama from the University of California, Irvine. Proud AEA member. Thanks to my family!!
EDITH WHARTON wrote the novel Glimpses of the Moon in 1922. It was an international best-seller at the time and was made into a film in 1923. The 1922 New York Times review of Glimpses compared it to her previous novel, The Age of Innocence, which had received the Pulitzer Prize in 1920, “I think The Glimpses of the Moon a much better book; it is more interesting, more memorable and closer to the heart of things."
HATTIE ELLIOT (Associate Producer) has spent the last 11 years working between Cape Town, South Africa and New York. As a graduate of University of Cape Town, she received a degree in Politics, Philosophy & Economics, later going on to study Viticulture. Upon returning to New York, Ms. Elliot worked for a wine auction house, followed by a stint in advertising before going on to start her own company in 2004, SOCOCO. Following the sale of SOCOCO in 2008, Hattie started her own consultancy, spearheading projects for clients ranging from an Opera and a Green Real Estate Developer to an International Events Management Company. She is thrilled to make her debut producing theatre with the talented production team of Glimpses of the Moon.
Sheila Simon Geltzer (co-producer) and Dianne Fraser (co-producer) are newcomers to the world of New York theater production. Sheila, former Managing Director for the NYC headquarters office of the global communications company, Publicis, has spent years persuading people to buy new products and services. She is on the board of the Abingdon Theatre, and is an alumnus of the Commercial Theater Institute 13-week course. Dianne, a veteran talent agent and manager with her own firm, Industry Entertainment Partners, in Los Angeles, produced the Stephen Schwartz/Joseph Stein musical The Baker’s Wife at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara and presently has several television series in development. They are both delighted to be part of the producing team of Glimpses of the Moon.
SHARON KRAMER (Associate Producer) has joined the producing team of Glimpses Of The Moon and is a graduate of Molloy College and a former Vice President working in Retail Banking Administration. She has completed the Commercial Theater Institute 3-Day Intensive Program. Ms. Kramer is a member of AFTRA. She has done background and stand in work in numerous films, TV shows and commercials including, in film: The Producers, Ira & Abby, Ghost Town, and in TV: Law & Order, Lipstick Jungle. Ms. Kramer is a theater enthusiast and is thrilled and proud to be involved with this production.
