CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Laura Rohrman is the author of several full-length plays including: Reporter Girl (Semi-Finalist O’Neill Festival, Weissberger Award Nominee and Princess Grace Finalist) about the life of her maternal grandmother, Dale Messick who created the famous cartoon strip Brenda Starr Reporter. Her other plays include: My Life As You (Finalist Playwrights First Award) and Hoboken. She’s also the author of many one-act plays including: Below 14th and Without -- both finalists at the Samuel French Festival short play festival in New York City. Laura’s work has been performed around the Globe. As an actor, Laura had a starring role in 2006’s UE, a Russian TV mini-series that filmed in Moscow. Laura is a graduate of The New School for Drama’s MFA program where she studied both playwriting and acting. In addition to being a Marketing and PR specialist who has worked with major corporations, she also has a background as a literary agent, where she worked for four years. Laura is also the busy mom of two little girls. She is currently developing a TV series. For more info:www.laurarohrman.com
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C.J. Ehrlich’s award-winning plays have enjoyed productions all around the US and internationally, in exotic locales such as Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Louisville, Milwaukee, Manhattan, Kealakekua, Kitchener (Ontario), Chennai (India), Liverpool, Wogonga (Australia) and alongside the Panama Canal. (On the wish list, Djibouti, Ypsilanti, and Pyong Yang.) Producing partners include the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, SourceDC, Little Fish (Los Angeles), the Boston Theatre Marathon, Core Artists Ensemble NYC, Manhattan Theatre Source, JWTLA, Theatre Ariel, Fringe of Marin, Heartland Theatre and Rover Dramawerks. Recognitions include Charles Getchell finalist, Heideman Award finalists, SETC state winner in Virginia, and many Audience Choice and Best of Fest awards. Other pursuits include travel, book editing, theatre administration, actorating, instructing impressionable youth in the fine art of the spit take, smashing computers for a paycheck, driving ambulances, appreciating the nuances of wet collodion on silver, moving from one place to another and back again, kibbitzing, kvetching and kvelling, and, perhaps closest to her heart, mentoring and hectoring. C.J. currently resides in several parts of the northeast under various assumed identities. Fortunately, most of those files have been sealed. Enough said?
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Tim Errickson is an award-winning director, playwright and non-profit entrepreneur. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of Boomerang Theatre Company. His play Endless Summer Nights premiered with Boomerang in 2010 and was a "Pick of the Week" by nytheatre.com, where it was subsequently published. Recently, his play The Firebird premiered at the Planet Connections Festivity in June 2015, produced by Rising Sun Performance Company. Tim has previously developed projects with John Pielmeier, Bill C. Davis and Mike Folie, including the treatment for the feature film script Places. During his time as Artistic Director of Boomerang, Tim has produced 55 full productions (including 18 outdoor Shakespeare productions) and produced development workshops and readings for over 60 new plays. Boomerang was awarded the 2008 Caffe Cino Fellowship for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway, and has reinvented the rotating repertory model for the Off-Off/Indie theatre. In addition to Boomerang, Tim has been on staff at Lincoln Center Theater and New Dramatists. Tim studied at Hofstra University’s New College, The University of London, ESPA at Primary Stages and Circle Rep. He serves on the Honorary Awards Committee for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards and is the current president of the Off-Off Broadway Community Dish, a service organization for the Off-Off/Indie Theatre Community
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Will Coleman is the Artistic Director of The Wheelhouse Theatre in Chicago. His play Helvetica won the 2015 Getchell New Play Award and was produced at Mill Mountain theatre in January 2015. His ten minute play, "Spooky Action at a Distance" premiered at Tesseract Theatre in St. Louis, and he recently published another ten minute, "Speech & Debate" with YOUTHPlays. He is currently an MFA candidate at the Playwright'
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THE DIRECTORS
Brock H. Hill is a New York based director. He is known for ensemble based, organic work. He is the Producing Artistic Director of the Planet Connections Festivity and Artistic Director of the Altruistic Theatre Company. Selected projects include: Mistakes Madeline Made, Books on Tape, Humans Anonymous (Tongue in Cheek Prod); Civilization! (Planet Connection Festivity); Choose Your Grown Adventure, Wardrobe of the Living Dead (Altruistic Theatre); Invoice (Leela Theatre Festival).
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Eric Parness is the Artistic Director of Resonance Ensemble, where he has directed productions of Sophocles’ Antigone, Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths (pick of the week on NYTheatre.comandOffOffOnline.com),Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Ibsen’s The Master Builder, and the world premieres of Strange Bedfellows by Bruce Cohen, La Tempestad by Larry Loebell, The Mail Order Bride by Charles L. Mee, Sherlock Solo by Victor Cahn, What Happened Then by Michael Feingold, 23 Knives by Christopher Boal (nominated for two IT awards), Shakespeare’s Slave by Steven Fechter, and The Truth Quotient by Richard Manley. Other New York directing credits include Rachel Reiner Productions’ Embraceable Me, Jean Cocteau Repertory’s Crazy for the Dog, State of Play’s North to Maine (and a remount by American Theatre of Actors), Oberon Theatre Ensemble’s The Winter’s Tale, Of Mice and Men (named “One of the Top Ten Shows in New York of 2003” byTheatermania.com), Measure for Measure, and The Starship Astrov (nominated for 11 MITF Awards including Outstanding Direction), Hypothetical Theatre Company’s Kryptonite City, and Boomerang Theatre Company’s Blood Wedding. He has directed regional theatre for the Blumenthal Center in Charlotte, NC, Curtain Call Theatre in Latham, NY, and The Home Made Theater in Saratoga Springs, NY, as well as educational theatre for Brooklyn College, Marist College, Stern College and Brandeis University. Eric is a graduate of Brandeis University (BA) and Brooklyn College (MFA) and a member of the Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab
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Dennis Gleason
With a MFA in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School here in NYC Dennis is back for his 2nd 24 hour festival with RSPC; earlier directing credits with them include Median Line.....Fears Made Flesh....and An Adult Evening of She'l Silverstein Off Broadway. Director of over 140 plays & musicals in CA & WI & LA & TX & SD & SC he has won 15 Outstanding Director/Production awards. Up next is Immunity at Manhattan Repertory Theatre in February. Dennis is thrilled to be back |
Mia Anderson
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THE CAST
Yair Ben-Dor is Israeli-American Actor living in Brooklyn, NY. Yair has been in NY for the last 4 years, studying at the Lee Strasberg Film & Theatre Institute and has had the honor of working on a number of outstanding theater ad television productions, including ERIK: A Play About a Puppet produced by Rising Sun. for more information, please visit www.yairbendor.com
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Elizabeth Burke, has been a member of Rising Sun for 10 years. She is a graduate of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and has performed in TV, film and theatre in DC and NYC. The classics are a favorite and she has been fortunate to have performed one of her favorite characters, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible with Rising Sun. She has also played Lady Macbeth, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, and that not so crazy Greek, Electra. Elizabeth won Best Actor, Manhattan Repertory Theater Spring 2011 One-Act Play Competition. Elizabeth also writes a monthly column on the national political scene, “Burke’s Law”, at The Clyde Fitch Report. www.clydefitchreport.com. Visit her website at:www.elizabethburke.com (which needs updating)
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Elizabeth Pegg is excited to be working with Rising Sun again after previously appearing in Dream Exchange (Ginger) and two Theatre Mash Ups! Elizabeth holds a BA in theater from Duquesne University, and is the founder of Dukes Eye Productions. www.dukeseye.com
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Amanda Prasow was born in New Jersey and raised in Toronto, which explains why she'll apologize if you bump into her on the subway. She has a Drama degree from the University of Toronto and studied dance theatre at Lancaster University in England.
In 2012, she returned from the South Pacific after two years with the Peace Corps in Vanuatu followed by a three-year stint in New Zealand, where she improvised with Auckland Playback Theatre and performed with Clown Doctors New Zealand. Favorite credits abroad include the Wet Hot Beauties’ aquatic Fringe hit Sirens and A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia at the Pumphouse Theatre.
Now based in New York, she can be found improvising at The PIT, performing off-off Broadway with Articulate Theatre Company and onscreen in offbeat romantic comedies.
If she ever writes a one-woman show, she is going to call it "Nothing A Little Vitamin D Can't Fix".
Find her online at: www.amandaprasow.com
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Julia Torres is grateful to Rising Sun Performance Company for having her be a part of this exciting and experimental show. Julia studied Theatre at Hunter College. She has performed in I (heart) Subway, The Vagina Monologues, The Wizard of Oz (Wicked Witch of the West), The Stars are Out Tonight (playwright/Janis Joplin/Cathy), End of the Line (Jessica), Then (Zoe), and The Unwanted (Liz). She has also written a few short plays including, Directions From a Convict and Tattle Tell.
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Dante Jayce is a New York based actor and Rising Sun Performance Company ensemble member. Over the past year he has appeared as the boxer “Mikey Two-Shoes” at their speakeasy event, as well as performing in the short plays Not for Love, Beginning Badminton, All Consuming Power, and Swamp Boy. A stage and screen veteran, Dante was named one of the brightest talents at the 2012 NY International Fringe Festival, and has starred in a Chock full o’ Nuts statewide advertising campaign. He received the inaugural Dante Negro Memorial Award for his theater contributions at Brooklyn College, from which he has since graduated summa cum laude. Dante has earned the 2009 Charles Jacobs acting scholarship award, the 2012 Friars Foundation Scholarship for the Performing Arts, and represented Kingsborough at the 2010 KCACTF festival. Favorite past theater
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Rick Benson has acted in New York for over ten years. He has performed a wide range of roles from Cyrano de Bergerac toCecil the Scarecrow. He loves to juggle and play ukulele, although not simultaneously (yet). |
Christopher Sanchez
Bred in NYC, falanderingthropist, common grumbled, random remarkist, blunt but sweet, Chris Sanchez, is a man that defies reasons and seeks to reorganize it completely. With degrees in anger mismanagement and liberal arts of a broad and non specific kind. |
Ali Kennedy Scott is an actor, writer and theatre-maker. Her most recent roles include Gertrude Stein in ‘A SERIOUS BANQUET’ ( at New York Theatre Workshop), Blanche in the sold out season of ‘THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND ( Darlinghurst Theatre Sydney), FERRY PLAY, CHEKHOV VAUDEVILLETTES (the Brick) & ‘DREAM PLAYS – IT ENDED working alongside David Greig (Traverse Edinburgh). Ali's solo play, ‘THE DAY THE SKY TURNED BLACK’ i
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Cinda Lawrence (Future Helvetica) is a New England native and a graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory. Favorite gigs include roles in Unforgettable Summer at Symphony Space; The Standard Upgrade at Theater for the New City; Demons at American Theater of Actors and her original One Person Show, Don’t Get Me Wrong. Cinda is also an author, certified Life and Career Coach and Reiki Healer. Deep thanks to the director, cast and playwright for this wonderful opportunity and phenomenal script. Cinda is currently working on her first book, Transcending the Wackadoodle. Blessings and strong love to all who struggle in this life. Stay brave, everybody. www.cindalawrenceactress.com
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Ari Veach REGIONAL: Agamemnon (New York Stage and Film: Non-Eq Company) Cyrano de Bergerac, The Legend of Jim Cullen (Heartwood Regional Theater Company) The Changeling (4615 Theater Company) The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre Under the Stars, NH) EDUCATIONAL: Antigone, The Good Person of Setzuan (Ithaca College) Three Sisters (Moscow Art Theatre School) TRAINING: Ithaca College-BFA Acting (2015)
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Tom Frank- Born in Paris, France, Tom Frank has appeared on stage, TV and film (credits include The Things They Left Behind, Worth House, Swingers Anonymous, The Wino Crossing, March of the Bonus Army, The Water Children, De Loba, Dexter). Tom has written and directed original material and has contributed to several award-winning feature scripts (On Tour, Le reste du monde). Tom is also a recording artist and recently released his debut EP Leviathan
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VINNIE PENNA*-NY credits include: Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night's Dream (twice), Native Speech, The Tempest (Boomerang Theatre Company); The Average-Sized Mermaid, Last Call (NY Fringe Festival); Richard III (National Shakespeare Company); The Cmplt Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged) (many venues). Film/TV/VO: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Astroblast," "Yu-gi-Oh!," "Astonishing X-Men," "Flat Stanley," "Good Thinking," "Octonauts," "Exorcists Local 667."
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Douglas Rossi - has played such major classical roles as Tartuffe, Macbeth, Orlando, Friar Lawrence, Caliban, Launce, Orsino, Brutus, Ford and Hamlet. He's appeared in 75+ NYC stage productions including FringeNYC, Planet Connections (Winner: Best Featured Actor 2011) and MITF (Nominated: Best Supporting Actor 2008) and has 50+ on-camera credits including the title role in the independent feature "Recruiter" (which premiered on both coasts and garnered several awards). Currently re-teaming with director David Toth to co-write/ star in the thriller "Blind Spot". MFA from Alabama Shakespeare Festival, graduate of Second City, longform at PIT and scene study with Austin Pendleton at HB Studio.
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Ashleigh Herndon moved to New York to choreograph Cyclops: A Rock Opera for the New York Musical Festival, and subsequently decided to make New York her home. Originally from Myrtle Beach, SC, Ashleigh holds a degree in musical theatre from Catawba College. Performance credits include three national tours with Theatre IV children's theatre (Stone Soup, A Christmas Carol, Thumbelina); Regional: The Lost Colony, Jesus Christ Superstar, Funny Thing Happened...Forum, Cinderella, Where The Wild Things Are, Shakespeare & Love; NYC: Open Rehearsal (Theatre for the New City), NY Jazz Choreography Project. Ashleigh also works as a choreographer with a concentration in historical social dance, credits include: Cyclops (NYMF), Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (stage premier Las Vegas), Cynthia (workshop), A Christmas Carol, and Drood.
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SARA THIGPEN. Most recently: Madame Townsend in Dennis Allen's "The Man Monster Mary Jones"; part of Atlantic Theater's Launch Commission program. Other new works: Fee in Sovereign, part of the Honeycomb Trilogy by Mac Rogers (Gideon Productions), White Lady in A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People by Kevin R. Free (The New Black Fest), and the NYIT Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in Burning the Old Man by Kelly McAllister (Boomerang Theatre Co.) Also: Agnes in A Bright Room Called Day, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Goneril in King Lear, and Olga in Three Sisters.
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