CreativE
Photo Credit: Steven Rosen Photography
Katherine Brann Fredricks - Co-Author / Words
Writer & Co-Producer Katherine Brann Fredricks has had 6 shows in New York City festivals in the last 7 years, winning or nominated for 28 awards.
Black Hole Wedding (adapted from the Ramayana with composer Paul Nelson) will play NYMF in 2019. Workshop TRU, 2018. Black Hole Wedding played Planet Connections Theatre Festivity in 2015, winning Outstanding Music & Lyrics and Outstanding Lead Actress. Katherine was also nominated for Outstanding Book of a Musical, Outstanding Production and Outstanding direction. (10 award nominations).
Arizona Justice, documentary theatre, Dream Up Festival at Theater for the New City in 2018. Occasion for Sin (adapted from St. Teresa of Avila, composer by 3-time Grammy Award winner Oriente Lopez) played Planet Connections 2017. It won Outstanding Music & Lyrics and was nominated for 8 other Awards, including Outstanding Production and Outstanding Book of a Musical. NIX (adapted from Hamlet, composer Massimo Malavasi) played Planet Connections 2016. Nominated for 8 Awards (including Outstanding Music & Lyrics, Outstanding Book of a Musical & Outstanding Production) it won Outstanding Supporting Actor. Walden (adapted from Thoreau) composer Bert Draesel, played Planet Connections 2013. Divine Chaos, composers Swan and McCanna, played regional theatres.
Katherine has written, produced and directed 2 feature documentaries. The Price of the Pines was a co-production with Canada’s Banff Center for the Arts. The Yavapai Story aired on Cinemax, won a Bronze Apple at the National Educational Video & Film Festival, & screened at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Member, Dramatists Guild. BA in Dance from ASU. MFA in Musical Theatre Writing, NYU Tisch. Professional Filmmaking Certificate, NYU SCPS.
Paul Nelson - Co-Author / Music
Composer & Co-Producer Paul Edward Nelson is a conservatory trained composer of theater and art music. He has composed music for four full length musicals including Black Hole Wedding (with Katherine Brann Fredricks - Planet Connections 2015 & NYMF 2019), Hair Wars (an R&B musical set in Detroit), Dinner at Precisely 8:13 (with Lisa Ferber), and Aristophanes The Birds. One act musicals include Monica and Linda (chamber opera based on the tape transcripts between Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp) and the wings of yi sang (based on the writings of avant-garde Korean Poet Yi Sang). Other works include two string quartets, many piano works, and works for full symphony and chamber symphony. Paul has a BM in music composition from the Peabody Conservatory (where he studied with Opera Composer Nicholas Maw) and an MFA from the NYU/Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program. Awards include the Frederick Loewe/ASCAP Musical Theater Scholarship for composition, 1st place in the Virginia Carty deLillo Composition Competition, the Randolph S. Rothschild Award, and others. Paul's prior background includes work as computer programmer, radar engineer, and violist.
Craig J. George - Director
Craig J. George has directed over a dozen world premieres, including The Calico Buffalo (NYMF 2015 Best of Fest winner). Other credits include: Titus: A Grand and Gory Rock Musical, The Family Claxon, The Aperture, and Measure for Measure (Cleveland Public Theatre), Taming of the Shrew (Off-Broadway, The Duke on 42nd Street) God's Country and Lighter (New York Musical Festival), Cursing Macbeth (Harold Clurman Theater), Kiss Your Brutal Hands (United Solo Festival/FringeNYC), Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew (Hamptons Shakespeare Festival), The 39 Steps, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, abridged (Via Brooklyn/Southampton Cultural Center), and Billy and the Killers, Heartless Bastard (HERE Arts). Additional theaters worked at include South Coast Repertory, George Street Playhouse, The New Group, West Side Theatre, York Theatre Company, New Jersey Repertory and Penguin Repertory. Member of AEA and SDC. www.craigjgeorge.com
Nevada Lozano - Music Director
Nevada Lozano is thrilled to return to NYMF with Black Hole Wedding! Music assistant credits include: Oklahoma! (Circle in the Square), By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Signature) and Miller, Mississippi (Long Wharf), among others. Music directing credits include: Calamity Jane (Musicals Tonight!); Owen and Mzee (Vital Theatre Company); Little Women, Godspell (A.D. Players); Next to Normal, Company, Avenue Q,and Little Shop of Horrors (MJR Theatricals). Nevada is a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and received their Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in 2018. He was also a finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant in 2019. He is based in Brooklyn, NY, and is currently working on several new projects for the theater, including a musical adaption of Ramona, the celebrated 19th-century novel by Helen Hunt Jackson. www.nevadalozano.com
Shelly Hutchinson - Choreographer
Shelly Hutchinson is a choreographer, dancer, actress and producer in New York City. She has been a choreographer for“So You Think You Can Dance” Ukraine, on creative teams in operas such as Candide, Samson and Delilah and Aida.Choreographer for adapted for stage version of Disney's High School Musical.
Television appearances include MTV, CBS Morning Show, ABC, Saturday Night Live, Law & Order, HBO Miniseries “Mildred Pierce”, The Today Show, David Letterman, and The Learning Channel. Performing credits include Radio City Music Hall, Warner Brothers Films, Disney, back up dancer for Craig Mack, Wyclef Jean and in Lou Bega’s "Mambo #5. Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre, Broadway Bares, National and European Tours including "Fame, the Musical", Bye Bye Birdie, Irene, and West Side Story.
Currently audition choreographer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Vince Camuto ad for NYC Fashion Week. Recently Nominated for “Outstanding Choreography” for “Occasion For Sin” as part of Planet Connections Theater Festivity. On faculty at Broadway Dance Center, Joffrey Ballet School and Peridance in NYC.
Wesley Cornwell - Set Design
Wesley Cornwell is a New York based scenic designer. Select scenic credits include Dog (Columbia U, Signature Theatre Center), Sonata 1962 (NYMF, Acorn Theatre), As You Like It (The Brick Theater), A Funny Thing Happened...Forum (Princeton Festival), Basement (Shetler Studios), The White Dress (Araca Project, American Theater of Actors), Lost and Guided (UNDER St. Marks), Man of La Mancha (Princeton Festival), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Theaterlab), and Cyrano (FringeNYC). Other work includes an ongoing relationship with Princeton University Concerts as the scenic and lighting designer for a series of intimate chamber music concerts.
Sophia Pesetti - Stage Manager
Sophia Pesetti is excited to return to NYMF for the second year in a row! Select stage management credits include the LA Production Assistant for Hillary and Clinton (Broadway), Sonata 1962 (NYMF), and Lippa’s The Wild Party (University of Southern California). She has also worked at Santa Cruz Shakespeare and Sacramento Music Circus. Proud member of Actor’s Equity Association.
Dan O’Driscoll - Fight Director
Dan O’Driscoll has choreographed the violence in 200 theatrical/film productions on the East Coast garnering 3 OBIE awards, 2 Drama Desk nominations, 2 Drama League Award nominations, 1 Off-Broadway Alliance nomination and 3 Off-Off-Broadway Review awards in NYC. In addition, Dan has assisted another 79 productions both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. Dan is a Certified Teacher/Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors. See www.swordandtherose.com for a full list of credits.
Laura Butchy - Dramaturg
Laura Butchy is a New York dramaturg, educator, and writer. She has been a dramaturg for numerous NYMF productions, including The Gunfighter Meets His Match, Dorian Gray, Pope!, Somewhere with You, Foreverman, Date of a Lifetime, The Incredibly Deaf Musical, My Illustrious Wasteland, The Hatpin, and The Yellow Wood. Other credits include The Vagina Monologues [Queens Theatre], Welcome to the Friendly Tripbox and In Praise of Folly: The Don Quixote Project [Peculiar Works Project]; West Pier [Ohio Theater], and Herakles [Chashama]. She is a professor at Plaza College and has written for American Theatre and other publications.
Cindi Rush Casting - Casting Director
Cindi Rush Casting — NY: After, Friends, Shame Of Thrones, Promising,Ruthless, Disenchanted, Drop Dead Perfect, Under My Skin, Silence!,Rooms, Jacques Brel, Urinetown.The Thing About Men, Home Street Home, Regional Theaters including Triad Stage, 5 th Avenue, Hudson Stage, Penguin Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Charleston Stage Co. Virginia Stage Co, Cape Fear Regional Film: A Bread Factory (Independent Spirit), The Grief of Others (SXSW/Cannes), Runoff (L.A Film Fest), Policy of Truth (SOHO Film Fest),The Woman (Sundance),Funeral Kings (SXSW) Ghoul, Theresa is a Mother, Jugface (Slamdance), In The Family (Independent Spirit) Consultant for NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (1999-Present).
SL Theatricals - General Manager
SL Theatricals (General Manager) – a boutique theatrical firm comprised of partners Benjamin Simpson and Joseph Longthorne, and associate Jessie Muni. As General Managers - OSCAR at The Crown (3 Dollar Bill), Thicker Than Water (Joe's Pub @ The Public Theater), Blank! The Musical (The Green Room 42), Stu For Silverton, The Apple Boys (Ars Nova); HERE ARTS: Heartless Bastard, and Billy And The Killers; NYMF: Mother Jones and The Children’s Crusade, The Calico Buffalo, Icon, Numbers Nerds, The Goree All-Girl String Band, Play Like A Winner, Generation Me, What’s Your Wish?, If Sand Were Stone, and Sonata 1962. As Co-Producers - OFF-BROADWAY: OSCAR at The Crown, Be More Chill, BROADWAY: Be More Chill, Waitress, Oh Hello; On Broadway, The Glass Menagerie, A Doll’s House Part 2, Hello Dolly (2017 Tony Award), Meteor Shower, and The Band's Visit (2018 Tony Award). UPCOMING: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord by Alexis Scheer (Women's Project & Second Stage Theater), In Development: Generation Me. www.SLTheatricals.com