Connect Five: Four Plays, One Audience

BIOS

LILA DUPREE (Neci/Producer): Lila is a proud co-founder of TCT and its Co-Artistic Director. NYC Acting credits include: All Over, Linda Gross Theater (Staged Reading) and 14th St. Theaterlab; The B-File, 78th St. Theatre Lab; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Abingdon Theatre. Regional: Carol in Main Street; Lisa in Collected Stories; Corie in Barefoot in the Park (among others) all with Acadia Repertory Theatre; Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Atlantis Playmakers. Film/TV: Pasha Norris in The Golden Boys (Roadside Attractions) during which she had the fortune to work with Bruce Dern and David Carradine; leading roles in the comedic webseries ManchVegas and Pigpen. Training: London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Atlantic Acting School (NYC and LA). B.A., Columbia University. www.liladupree.com

SEENA HODGES (Marketing Director): Seena is a Dean’s Fellow in the Theatre Management and Producing Program at Columbia University. Her marketing/producing credits include: when last we flew (FringeNYC), My Artichoke Heart and What the Sparrow Said (Theater For the New City), MOFAYA (NYMF). Seena has completed stints at the Broadway PR Firm Boneau/Bryan-Brown, the Guthrie Theater, and the Theater Development Fund. Most recently, she worked on the marketing team for The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway.

SARAH KAUFFMAN (Juliet/Haylie): Regional:  Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, I Do! I Do!, Babes in Arms, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, Assassins (Berkshire Theatre Festival).  New York: All Over (The Common Tongue in collaboration with Edward Albee), Maybe Later (original solo play), Shadow Play (Atlantic Theater Company Conservatory), Sabra (Isramerica), Nuda Veritas (TheaterLab, as performer, co-director, and co-producer), A Room with a View (York Theatre).  Graduate of Atlantic Theater Company Conservatory, BFA in performance (Missouri State University) and apprenticeship with Berkshire Theatre Festival.  Proud founding member of The Common Tongue (www.tctnyc.org) and sketch comedy group Hungry Hungry Hobo.

HOUSTON KRAFT (Graphic Designer): Houston Kraft works all over the country as a graphic designer, videographer, photographer & speaker. His focus on the arts, social media and leadership results in engaging and relevant products and presentations. Follow him on Twitter: @houstonkraft or read more at www.houstonkraft.com

KATHLEEN LITTLEFIELD (Ava): Kathleen is a graduate of the Atlantic Acting School, where she studied with Scott Zigler, Anya Saffir, Peter Frechette and Karen Kolhaas, and is currently studying at Stonestreet Studios through NYU.  She is from Atlanta, GA, where she had the honor of working at Actor’s Express and PushPush Theater and studying with GA Shakespeare.  Some favorite roles include Hermione (Winter’s Tale, Atlantic Theater), Linda (Shadows of the Evening, Playwrights Horizon School)  and Noil of The Girl Who Fell Through a Hole in her Jumper (PushPush Theater).  She is absolutely thrilled to be working with such an incredible company on such wonderful new works.

BLAZE MANCILLIAS (Alex): Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, educated at Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii. Recently was seen in a one-act by Danny Mitarotondo called “What the Sparrow Said” at Theater for the New City. Favorite roles include John Merrick in “The Elephant Man”, Mozart in “Amadeus” and Mark in “Mass Appeal” for which he won a Po’okela Award for “Best Featured Actor” from the Hawaii State Theater Council. Blaze is stoked to be working with and getting to know the members of TCT. Blaze’s heart and soul goes to his loved-ones for whom he receives relentless support.

ELLEN MEZZERA (Production Stage Manager): New York credits include: The Pelican, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Screwtape Letters and Good Ol’ Girls. Select previous Stage Management credits include: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Curse of the Starving Class, The Crucible and The Comedy of Errors. First year MFA candidate in Stage Management at Columbia University. BA from Gonzaga University.

DANNY MITAROTONDO (Playwright/Producer): Danny is a playwright and director. Danny’s plays have been produced at venues across Manhattan and the Williamstown Theater Festival. As a director he has worked with John Shea, Angelica Torn, members of The Actors Studio and LAByrinth, and is currently collaborating with Edward Albee on Albee’s All Over, most recently presented at the Linda Gross Theater with Marian Seldes and Kathleen Butler. Danny is an MFA playwriting candidate at Columbia University, holds a BA from NYU Gallatin, is a graduate of the Atlantic Theater Company’s Professional Conservatory, is an Assistant Teacher of Catherine Fitzmaurice’s Voicework ® and is the recent recipient of an Edward F. Albee Writing Fellowship. Danny was a founding member and the Artistic Director of TCT from 2008-10; he was co-Artistic Director from 2010-11.

SARAH MUXLOW (Set Designer): BFA: Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a Williamstown Theatre Festival veteran of 3 seasons as a Design Assistant. Recent designs include The Shape of Things (SETC Award), Nico, Golden Gate, Never Swim Alone, House of Home, Ivanov, & Ghost Sonata. Sarah is thrilled to have the opportunity to be working with this wonderful group. Psalms 35:18

HEATHER OAKLEY (Cynthia): Selected theater: 24 Hour Plays, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Atlantic Theater Company). The 29 Questions Project (Bull Family Orchestra).  She has appeared in television, independent films and was Nicole Kidman’s stand-in for Sydney Pollack’s last feature film, The Interpreter.  She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Columbia University and is an alumna of the Atlantic Acting School, where she is now a faculty member.

EMILY OWENS (Public Relations): Emily Owens PR is a theatrical press agency specializing in independent theatre. Clients include Horse Trade Theater Group, The Brick, terraNOVA Collective, Theatre C, Flux Theatre Ensemble, and Nosedive Productions. www.emilyowenspr.com

MICHAEL PANTOZZI (Eric & Timmy): Michael is a founding member of The Common Tongue.  He has appeared most notably as the lead in The Lionshare, an award-winning official selection of the Bronx International Film Festival, the Indie Fest film festival, and the NewFilmmakers film festival; and as the Doctor in a reading of Edward Albee’s All Over at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theatre (with Marian Seldes).  He is a graduate of the Atlantic’s conservatory programs in both his native NY, and LA, where he most recently appeared as Max in the webseries Sitter Wars.

BRONWEN PROSSER (The Make-Out Queen/Playwright): Bronwen is a graduate of the Atlantic Theater Acting School and a proud founding member of The Common Tongue. Currently she can be seen in episode five of the Sundance syndicated web series Sparks, appearing now on sundancechannel.com or at www.sparks-series.com. Stage work includes the Chicago premiere of Kill the Old Torture their Young (Steep Theater Co.) and A Tribute to Dylan Thomas (DCA Theater), also in Chicago. In New York,Arrivals (Where Eagles Dare), Family Album (Atlantic Acting School), The Picasso Project (Vital Theatre), Cruise Control (Katie Bull), and her original short pieces with TCT. Previously in Boston, The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie, The Maids, 4.48 Psychosis, and The Balcony. She also received a best actress award for her lead role in the short film Breaker and is currently adapting The Make-Out Queen for a feature film directed by Lisa Robinson with shooting scheduled to begin this year. The Make-Out Queen has previously been produced in New York with Emerging Artists and Tongue in Cheek Theater Company.

SUZI SADLER (Photographer): You can see more of her work at suzisadler.com

COLIN SCOTT (Lighting Designer): BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. Credits include Broken Wings, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, DogCostumes, The Shape of Things (SETC Award). Check out more at colinjscott.net.

LUCY THURBER (Playwright): Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has produced three of Lucy’s plays, Where We’re Born, Killers and other Family and Stay. The Atlantic Theater Company opened their ’07 season with her play Scarcity and their ’10 season with Bottom of the World. Monstrosityreceived development at Encore Theatre and a workshop production in New York City via 13P. She was also a participant in Lear deBessonet’s adaptation of Don Quixote, with music by the gypsy-Christian punk band the Psalters, for the Broad Street Ministry in Philadelphia. A collaboration of professional actors, community members and the homeless, it was named one of the ten best productions of the season by Philadelphia Weekly.

Bottom of The World was workshopped by WET at The Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Center, was part of the first Tribeca Theater Festival and received a workshop at The Public Theater. She was the recipient of the 2000/2001 Manhattan Theatre Club playwriting fellowship and was twice a guest artist at The Perseverance Theater where she helped to adapt both Moby Dickand Desire Under The Elms.

She has had readings and workshops at Manhattan Theatre Club, The New Group, Primary Stages, MCC, Encore Theatre in San Francisco, PlayPenn, Williamstown, New River Dramatists and SOHO Rep. Her ten-minute play Dinner is published in a collection called Not So Sweet, 16 Plays from SOHO Rep’s 10-Minute Play Festival. Her produced plays are published by Dramatists Play Service.

Lucy is a member of MCC Playwrights’ Coalition, Primary Stages writing group, 13P and New Dramatists. She is currently writing a new play under commission from Playwrights Horizons, a new play for Rattlestick and a film project for Vox3 and director Deborah Granik.

WENDY MACLEOD (Playwright): Wendy’s play Schoolgirl Figure premiered at The Goodman Theater, where her play Sin also premiered before opening Off-Broadway at Second Stage.  She is the author ofThe Water Children which premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York as a co-production with The Women’s Project and was subsequently done at L.A.’s Matrix Theater where it was cited as “the most challenging political play of 1998″ by L.A. Weekly and earned six L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations.  Playwrights Horizons also premiered Juvenilia. The House of Yes, which became an award-winning film, won the Bay Area Critics Award for Best New Play and became the second longest running show in The Magic Theater’s history.  The play has since been done in L.A., at Soho Rep in NYC, at The Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin and at The Gate Theater in London, where it was selected to be published in Plays International. Her children’s musical, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, based on Marjorie Priceman’s book, premiered at The Kennedy Center.  Her play Things Being What They Are was produced at Seattle Rep, Steppenwolf and Bay Street Theater.  Steppenwolf commissioned and developed her play Phantom Limbs. EST included her one-act solo play The Probabilities in their 2007 Marathon.

She has been commissioned by Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Kennedy Center and the Contemporary American Theater Festival and was a recipient of a MacDowell residency. Wendy was a staff writer for the TV series Popular during the 1999-2000 season. She has been twice published by The Chicago Tribune with two short comic pieces. She is the playwright-in-residence at her alma mater, Kenyon College, where she is the Drama Editor of The Kenyon Review. She is a New Dramatists alumna and a member of the Dramatists Guild.