Blake J. Harris (Book and Lyrics)

A writer and filmmaker whose first book, Console Wars, was published by HarperCollins in May of 2014. He is currently co-directing the documentary based on his book, which is being produced by Scott Rudin, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg. He will also serve as executive producer on Sony’s feature film adaptation of Console Wars.

 

Frank Ceruzzi (Book and Lyrics)

An English teacher at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York, who specializes in teaching creative writing and drama. He received an MA from Georgetown University, where he wrote extensively on pop culture appropriations of Shakespeare. Frank was thrilled to write WikiMusical with his former student, Blake J. Harris! Frank is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

 

Trent Jeffords (Music)

A NYC based singer and songwriter who studied musical theater and composition at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Select credits include: Maya: a new musical sponsored by Teach for India, singer-supervisor and performer for Carnival Cruise Lines, as well as songwriter and lead singer for the band New Fashioned. He has also written for and performed in many regional and cabaret circuits. Trent is currently composing the music for The Imaginary: A Musical.

 

Richard J. Hinds (Director/Choreographer)

Associate on Newsies!, Jekyll & Hyde and Il Divo: A Musical Affair on Broadway, the National/International Tours of High School Musical and 9 to 5, and the Off-Broadway production of Here Lies Love. Regional credits include Flat Rock Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, The Old Globe, Kansas City Rep. and the 5th Ave. Theatre. Television credits include The Bethenny Show, America’s Got Talent, Good Afternoon America and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. www.richardjhinds.com

 

Sonny Paladino (Music Director)

Most recently served as Associate Music Director and Keyboard player for the new Broadway musical The Last Ship (written by 16 time Grammy Award winner, Sting). Recently Sonny served as Music Supervisor for the critically acclaimed, off- Broadway hit, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and as associate conductor of the TONY winning best revival: Pippin. Other Broadway credits, (Assistant Conductor/Keys): Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy Elliot, Grease, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Keyboards: Guys and Dolls, Mamma Mia, Promises, Promises, Addams Family, Women on the Verge. Music Supervisor for Disney’s High School Musical (Milan/Italy tour.) 1st National Tours: Disney’s High School Musical, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Grease. Work with Alicia Keys, Ke$ha, Matthew Morrison. As a composer: The Return of the Blue Cat (with poet F.D. Reeve.) TV: The X-Factor (Australia), The Next Big Thing. B.F.A. in Jazz Piano from CUNY City College. www.sonnypaladino.com

Paul Tate dePoo III (Set Design)

Select credits: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Prism Theatrics), Smokey Joe’s Café (Capital Rep), Pageant the Musical (Off-Broadway), A Christmas Carol (Capital Rep), Annie (Maltz Jupiter), Master Harold and the Boys (Luna Stage), Look Upon Our Lowliness (NYC Movement Co.), Hello Dolly (Cape Playhouse), The Music Man (Maltz Jupiter), 2013 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and Hello Dolly (Maltz Jupiter). Associate Broadway Designer: Sweeney Todd (Lincoln Center), Lady Day, How To Succeed In Business, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Follies and Anything Goes. www.PauldePoo.com

Scott Westervelt (Costume Design)

Scott has been designing costumes for over 20 years for both stage and film. He has designed both domestically and internationally. He designed costumes for the Independent film “Medusa” as well as stylizing various music videos and album covers. He was the Costume Designer for Fame in Macau China and was the Associate Designer for Phantom of the Opera in both South America and Europe. Scott would like to give a shout out to his family for their love and support.

Mike Wood (Lighting Design)

Mike spent the past four years as the technical director and theatre design instructor at Howard W. Blake School of the Arts and is currently an adjunct instructor of theatre technology at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, FL. 2013 Theatre Tampa Bay Award for Outstanding Lighting Design: Of Mice & Men(won), Spring Awakening (nominated). He is the resident lighting designer for freeFall Theatre company in St. Petersburg, FL. NYC: The Gefilte Fish Chronicles, Born Blue: A New Musical, Regional: The Mikado, The Wiz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, American Monkey, Shrek, The Normal Heart, A Marvelous Party, Company, S’Wonderful, Young Frankenstein, Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, and many more. www.mikewoodld.com

Alex Hawthorn (Sound Design)

Fly By Night (Playwright’s Horizons), The Great Immensity (Civilians @ The Public), A Dream Play (NAATCO), Leaving IKEA (Artful Conspirators), Swoony Planet (Fordham), Old Comedy From Aristophanes’ Frogs (Target Margin Theater), Odd Couple (Engeman Theater), Golda’s Balcony (Nat’l Tour). Broadway (Associate Sound Design): Aladdin, A Christmas Story, Chaplin, Once, Newsies, A View From the Bridge, Memphis, HAIR. Alex has designed and engineered concerts, live events, and theater both nationally and internationally.

Olivia Sebesky (Projection Design)

Recent credits include Vegas Nocturne at Rose. Rabbit. Lie (Spiegelworld, Las Vegas), Intimacy (New Group, NY), The Architecture of Becoming (Women’s Project Theater, City Center, NY), and God Hates This Show (HERE, NY).
 Boston area productions –The Winter’s Tale (Emerson Stage), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Company One), Remembering H.M. (Central Square Theater). Selected Associate/Assistant credits- Motown (Broadway National Tour), Rite of Spring (Martha Graham Dance Company), Breakfast At Tiffany’s (Broadway), Old Hats (Signature Theatre). www.oliviasebesky.com

Tony Giruzzi (Production Properties)

Tony is thrilled to be working with Ricky Hinds again, and the fantastic team of writers and designers for WikiMusical. Tony is a Properties Designer who creates specially designed prop pieces for Broadway as well as manages props for Philadelphia Theatre Companies. Broadway credits include: Cabaret (Revival), Les Miserables (Revival), Matilda, Cinderella, The Testament of Mary, Jekyll and Hyde, Networks Beauty and The Beast Tour, Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan Tour. www.agpropdesign.com

Benjamin Shaw (Associate Director)

Served as the associate/assistant director on the Broadway productions of End of the Rainbow, the recent acclaimed revival of The Glass Menagerie, and the annual national tour of Elf. Other credits include TheatreworkUSA’s Bunnicula, Theatre Latte Da’s Evita and 5th Ave Theatre’s Guys & Dolls. Benjamin directed Seussical at Muhlenberg Summer Theatre, Lend Me a Tenor at Fordham University, and this August will stage Parade at Pittsburgh’s New Hazlett Theatre. After graduating from Muhlenberg College, he spent three years assisting the president of Disney Theatrical Group. Grew up in Pittsburgh!

Jim Cooney (Associate Choreographer)

Select choreography credits include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featuring Kristin Chenoweth, The Glee Project for Oxygen’s Upfronts, The Accused for Tropicana Atlantic City (awarded Best Casino Show of the Year), Tableaux for Holland America Line, assisting Randy Skinner on City Center’s production of Abby’s Song and Ginger starring Donna McKechnie, and events/commercials including Warner Bros., OfficeMax, and Glamour featuring celebrities such as Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin and American Idol’s Robbie Rosen. www.JimCooney.me

Kyle C. Norris (Associate Music Director)

Broadway: Rocky, Pippin, First Date, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. National Tours of Legally Blonde and West Side Story. Las Vegas: Spamalot, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Avenue Q. An active composer, his most recent show, The Oedipus Project, won Best Music at the 2013 SoundBites Festival.

Justyn Wade (Production Stage Manager)

Justyn is thrilled to be part of WikiMusical. Off-Broadway: Tenderloin, Silk Stockings (Mufti Series – The York Theatre), Mardi Gras/The Last Word (The York Theatre), NY Readings: Breathe, Saint-Ex, Sawbones, Strange Faces, Man Date, Dr. Radio, NYC Fringe: Mother She’s With You, My Three Moms, A Short Trip. Regional: Oliver!, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Full Monty, Ragtime, The Life, She Loves Me, Hair, Burn The Floor. Proud Equity Member. Love and gratitude to my family and friends.

Stephanie Klapper (Casting Director)

Stephanie’s work is often seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, internationally, on television, film and the internet. Select recent: B’way: Bronx Bombers; A Christmas Story, the Musical; Dividing The Estate. Off-Broadway: The Tribute Artist; The Model Apartatment (Primary Stages); As You Like It (NY Classical Theatre); The Rivals (Pearl Theatre). She has many exciting projects running and upcoming both in NYC and regionally as well in film, the web and TV. Member of the Casting Society of America and League of Professional Theatre Women.

Cathy Lehman Gursha (Head of Business Development)

Event producer and fundraiser, Cathy has worked with some incredible talent for over 20 years on teams producing every type of event from benefit performances, concerts and film premieres to intimate dinners, exhibition openings and major fundraising Galas. Cathy’s experience includes working at Hemming + Gilman Productions and The Museum of Modern Art. Cathy is a graduate of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. She is so excited to be working with Frank, Blake and the WikiMusical team! www.cathygursha.com

Perry Street Theatricals (David Elliot and Martin Platt, General Managers)

As GM’s: The Mapmaker’s Opera (Pearl, NYMF ’14), Ethel Sings (Beckett), Bedlam’s Hamlet & Saint Joan (Culture Project), Date of A Lifetime (NJ Rep), White People (Atlantic), An Oak Tree (Barrow Street) and 2 seasons at Perry Street Theatre including: Shylock; Treason and A Dangerous Personality. As Producers: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike /(Tony), Lend Me A Tenor The Musical (West End, Olivier nom), Bedlam’s Hamlet & Saint Joan (Culture Project), An Oak Tree (Barrow Street, OBIE), In The Continuum (OBIE), Exits and Entrances (Edinburgh), Shylock, Treason (Perry Street). Additional credits for Mr. Elliott: The Exonerated (Drama Desk). For Mr. Platt: Here Lies Jenny (Zipper), Gumboots, Nixon’s Nixon (West End). Upcoming: Dames at Sea (Broadway), My Life is A Musical (Bay Street, Summer 2014).