STAFF
STEVE WARGO
JEN ASH
REBEKAH NELSON
LINDSEY ESTES
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
COMPANY MANAGER
ASSISTANT ARTISIC DIRECTOR
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Steve Wargo is an NYC-based director, writer and producer. Favorite credits include (as director): Six NYC productions of his adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"; David Ives' Don Juan in Chicago (first NYC revival); The Duchess, aka Wallis Simpson and Orchidelirium (both U.S. premieres); I Will Follow and Air Guitar: The Musical (both for NYC Fringe); All's Well That Ends Well (Manhattan Rep.) As writer: Triassic Parq: The Musical (NYC Fringe Best Musical '10; Off Broadway '12: Lortel Nom.; L.A. '13: 11 Ovation Noms, Winner: Best Musical; San Franciso '14: 8 SGBATCC Noms; Published and licensed by Playscripts, Inc.); Scooby-Doosical (with Keith Varney); Nighttime Traffic (with Alex Wyse). As producer: Keith Varney's I Got Fired: A Revenge Musical (with Liz Ulmer, NYMF '10); Arthur Kopit's revised BecauseHeCan (first NYC revival). Current projects include Forfeits, a dark farce, in development with The Wild Rumpus.
Jen Ash is an AEA stage manager that freelances with several shows, companies, and industries in the greater NYC area. Credits include: Broadway- Wicked; Tours- Wicked, Peter and The Starcatcher, Charlotte's Webb; Off-Broadway- Peter and The Starcatcher, Satchmo at The Waldorf, Fuerzabruta WAYRA, Bill W. And Dr. Bob, I Wanna Destroy You; Regional-Honeymoon In Vegas, South Pacific, Grease (Paper Mill Playhouse); Various benefits for different producing entities, and numerous events for Arts Brookfield NYC, VH1, and MTV including the Super Bowl Blitz Concert Series, and Video Music Awards.
Lindsey is a graphic designer based in
New York City. She has a degree in advertising from The University of Texas
at Austin and completed a year of graphic design continuing education at Rhode Island School of Design. When not designing she loves to read, try new restaurants, travel and hang out with her dog.
COMPANY
MELISSA BOATRIGHT
BRENNAN CALDWELL
CLINT CARTER
WILL COOPER
Brennan Caldwell is a recent graduate of Yale, where his work included Amadeus (Mozart), Sweeney Todd (Todd) & Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Hedwig, Jonathan Edwards Arts Prize). NY/Regional: The Hound of the Baskervilles (Playhouse on the Park), Urinetown (Theatre Raleigh),
Eudaemonia (Paradise Factory),
A Christmas Carol (Variations Theatre Group), Zelda (reading, NYMF),
Triassic Parq (reading, Flying Squirrel). TV: The Sing-Off. Film: College Musical The Movie. Catch him as Jimmy in the web series, Twenty Five!
brennancaldwell.com
Clint Carter is thrilled to be a part of The Wild Rumpus. Most recent theatre credits include the Off Broadway production of
Iron Curtain, the FringeNYC productions of The Legend of Julie Taymor and I Can Has Cheezburger, and an annual holiday children's show titled Mooseltoe.
Clint received his BFA in musical theater from Otterbein University. When not performing, Clint teaches voice out of Ripley Grier Studios.
Will Cooper is an NY based actor/singer from Alabama. He has been in several indie films, as well as appearing on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon as a break dancer, and Most Evil as a serial killer. You can catch him in a few commercials or on his website at www.WillGCooper.com.
DENISE DUMPER
BILL COYNE
NATHAN FREEMAN
DEMI FRAGALE
Denise Dumper is excited to be working with this ridiculously talented (and ridiculously attractive) group of people! Originally from the exotic city of Wheaton, Il, Denise is a graduate of the equally
exhilarating Kent State University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies. Currently, she is working with the theatre company, Title:Point, at the Silent Barn in Bushwick and is studying Improv at The Upright Citizens Brigade. Denise has an affinity for straight-up tequila, short bios and sarcasm.
Demi Fragale is so excited to be a part of The Wild Rumpus! Favorite roles include Carrie in Carousel, Peep-Bo in The Mikado, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Other credits include Urinetown: The Musical (Weston Playhouse), Miss Saigon (St. Louis MUNY), My Fair Lady (St. Louis MUNY), Big River, and The Who's Tommy (University of Michigan). BFA Musical Theatre University of Michigan 2008! Thank you to Mom, Dad, Mike, Steve
and Jen!
Nathan Freeman grew up in Memphis, TN and graduated from Princeton University, where he was the president of the Princeton University Players student musical theater organization and the music director of the Princeton Tigertones all-male a cappella group. He has performed on stage, screen, radio, the Web, the occasional street corner and at Lincoln Center and Notre Dame. National Tour:
The 39 Steps. Off-Broadway: Bellevue Sketches, Alice in Wonderland. Regional:
The Light in the Piazza, Forever Plaid, Ring of Fire, La Cage Aux Folles, South Pacific. In New York: A Christmas Carol, Three Sisters,
Medea, Blood Brothers, and Love Quirks. Film: The Turkey Alibi, Single Hills.
JORDAN GWIAZDOWSKI
GAVIN JOHNSON
HOLLY HEISER
MYA KAGAN
Jordan Gwiazdowski is a recent transfer from Milwaukee, WI where he was the Artistic Director and Founder of “Fools for Tragedy”, a company that specialized in the adaptation of classical works. His time in NYC has found him heavily involved in the development of original work with several play development companies and young writers. Recent credits include death (and straight boys) (BP Prod),
Hamlet (ZemWerk), Hedwig… (Smithereen), Cartoon (Youngblood), and Shining City (Soulstice). For more information visit www.thebrutalkind.com.
Holly Heiser is currently part of the cast of the Off Broadway Show Fuerzabruta WAYRA! Other credits: Pilobolus, Networks Tour Contact, Tarzan Broadway Workshop, Angels Broadway Workshop, Wicked at USJ, West Side Story at Gateway Playhouse. Holly won a Carbonell Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Vices at the Caldwell Theatre.
Gavin Earl Johnson is extremely excited to be working with The Wild Rumpus. Gavin holds a BFA acting degree from Montclair State University. He enjoys musical theater and bing watching Netflix. Favorite role: Rocky (Rocky Horror Show).
Mya is a half South African comedy writer based in New York (ahem, Brooklyn) whose work is known for being a spiky blend of smart, lively, deliciously absurd, and wildly entertaining. Favorite shows include Play Chunks! in Ars Nova’s ANT Fest and Puppet Love at the American Globe (Festival Finalist and recipient of Honorable Mention for Best Show). In 2012, Mya participated in the 10x10 Professional Development Series, where she was selected for development by Big Beach Films (the producers of Little Miss Sunshine). Last summer, Mya spent a day in the window at Drama Book Shop in New York City as part of Write Out Front, an installation of working writers. Mya is also a freelancer who has been hired to write everything from webisodes to online dating profiles. She studied writing for TV, stage, and screen at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of the Witwatersrand’s School for the Arts in Johannesburg and holds a BFA with honors in Dramatic Writing and Africana Studies. If Mya were a food, she’d be a strawberry. If she were a tree, she’d be an inflatable palm. If she were a form of transportation, she’d be a trampoline.
ROBERT IAN MACKENZIE
GREG LAUCELLA
NICHOLAS MORAN
ADAIR MORAN
Greg is honored to be a part of The Wild Rumpus. A graduate of The University of the Arts, he has performed in many regional and touring productions, including In The Heights (Sonny), Seussical the Musical (Wickersham Brother), and Altar Boyz (Juan). Currently, Greg can be found
sailing on The Disney Wonder as Simba. For more information on Greg, please visit
www.greglaucella.com or follow him
on Twitter @greglaucella.
Following numerous occupations ranging from a London policeman to a waterski instructor on the Greek island of Corfu, to managing director of a manufacturing company, Robert’s performance career has been multi-faceted. Films include Voices over the Water (Release late 2015), The Good Shepherd, The Thomas Crown Affair, A Fish Called Wanda, A View to a Kill, and Escape to Athena. Robert has appeared on theatrical stages throughout the UK, Ireland, and the USA, including London’s West End (Beauty and the Beast, The Secret Policeman’s Ball, Foul Play), New York City (Agamemnon at La MaMa, India Awaiting at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, and Enchanted Wanderer at Avery Fisher Hall), and numerous roles for ERC in The Dreyfus Affair, Tolstoy's Last Days, Heinrich Heine, The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Akhmatova, Jekyll and Hyde at Symphony Space. He has played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol many times at several New York Theatres. Regional Theatre performances include The Mystery of Attraction at The Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Pacific at the Hangar Theatre, Christmas Carol at Syracuse Stage, Forget Herostratus, Jekyll and Hyde and Pride & Prejudice at Bristol Riverside Theatre. Television appearances include All My Children, Guiding Light, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Robert has sung the leading baritone roles in Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Carmen, Un Ballo in Maschera, Nabucco, Aida, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado and Pirates of Penzance. He can also be heard on over 45 audiobooks.
Adair Moran is pleased to be a part of the Rumpus! Adair has been performing in NYC for over a decade; she has worked with theatre companies including Nylon Fusion Collective, The Red Fern Theatre Company, and Variations Theatre Group. Adair is also a stunt performer and aerialist; she has performed stunts in TV shows and films including Royal Pains,
Law and Order: CI, and Art Machine. Adair studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and when not performing she enjoys working as a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator.
More information at www.adairmoran.com.
Nicholas Moran holds a B.A. in Theater from Wesleyan University, and has appeared in New York and regionally in productions such as Barnum, A Christmas Carol, The Odyssey and The False Servant. He began his performing career by running away to join the Circus Smirkus
as a teenager, and has appeared as a circus artist in venues ranging from the Tokyo International Motor Show to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. On-screen work includes multiple national commercials and appearances in feature films such as The Nanny Diaries.
For more information, please visit NicholasMoran.com.
ALLYSON PACE
ANDY RONINSON
ALEXANDER PAPPAS
JAMIE RODERICK
Allyson is originally from Orange County CA. She studied Musical Theatre at the Boston Conservatory. She has had the privilege to work in many different Regional houses and in NYC since her graduation. Some of her favorite roles include Tracy in Hairspray, Sour Kangaroo in Seussical, Georgie in The Full Monty, Reno in Anything Goes, and Grizabella in CATS. When she is not creating art she is a babysitter for many families here in NYC.
After founding the Moscow Art Theatre with Konstantin Stanislavski, Alex received the Nobel Prize for Theatre for his portrayal of Stickybuns Magoo at the Steaks ‘n’ Starlets Dinner Theayter in Lump, Nebraska. He is currently developing his role of Magoo into a two-person drama with Fiona Shaw as Queen Wealthow of Beowulf. An inventor in his spare time, he owns patents on inventions such as meat glue, the numbers 1 and 0, and the wheel.
Jamie is the resident lighting designer for Broken Box Mime Theatre. Other selected lighting design credits include: Much Ado About Nothing, The Girlfriend From Hell, I Will Follow, Candide Americana and three seasons with Aglet Theatre Co. including productions of Galatea and Madagascar. Jamie was recently the Assistant Lighting Designer on A Time To Kill (Broadway) and Assistant to the Lighting Designer for The Glass Menagerie, Motown: The Musical, Elf and Bring It On: The Musical (Broadway), as well as, As You Like It, and Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare in the Park).
Andy Roninson is a composer and music director living in Manhattan. He has music directed for regional theaters (Park Playhouse, New London Barn Playhouse) as well as for industry readings in NYC (Triassic Parq, When Midnight Strikes) and more. He is a member of the BMI Lehamn Engel Musical Theatre Workshop where he was awarded the Robert B. Sherman Scholarship and the Jerry Harrington Award for Creative Excellence. He has written music and lyrics for two full-length musicals, Exorcism on Aisle Five (2009) and For The Birds (2010). He is the founder of the podcast Take A Ten, presenting new, original ten-minute musicals every month. For more, visit www.takeatenmusicals.com.
MICHAL SALONIA
LAUREN STANFORD
JOHN SMILEY
LEE SEYMOUR
Regional: Titanic (Etches, Hartley) Li’l Abner (Marryin Sam), Oklahoma! (Ali Hakim), Anything Goes (Moonface), Guys and Dolls (Nathan) and Carnival (Jaquot & Puppets). NYC Theatre: A Christmas Carol (Fezziwig), The Normal Heart (Ned Weeks), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Puck) and Sweet Charity (Herman) He is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School and created the role of Ralph in Tony Award Winner Theodore Mann’s original musical Fat Horse and Slim. Equally at home in Operetta, he has specialized in character roles at the Liederkranz Opera Theatre and performed most of the “Patter Roles” in the Gilbert & Sullivan Canon. Proud member AEA.
Lee is an actor, writer, and producer based in New York. Highlights as an actor include Triassic Parq (Off Broadway) and As You Like It (Stratford-Upon-Avon); as a producer they include Godspell
(Broadway) and BALLS: The Musical (Off Broadway). He has written two novels and is working on a trilogy of Young Adult books about supernatural creatures hiding out on Cape Cod. He sits on the board of the artist residency SPACE on Ryder Farm, and enjoys scotch smoky enough that you could mistake it for bogwater. Graduate of Yale and LAMDA.
John Smiley is a recent graduate from the M.F.A. acting program at The University of Texas at Austin. Performances at UT Austin included: Nate in Rivers of January, Money Matt in The Threepenny Opera, Russ in Clybourne Park, Lopahkin in The Cherry Orchard, Don Armado in Love's Labour's Lost, and Mr. Marks in Intimate Apparel. He is a native of Syracuse, New York and has been a New York City based actor since 2003. Regional and Touring credits include: Henry and Mudge for TheatreworksUSA, Forever Plaid at the New Provincetown Players in Cape Cod, The Full Monty and She Loves Me with the Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company in New Hampshire, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia and Ragtime at the Zach Scott Theatre in Austin, TX. John is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, and received a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and English Literature from the State University of New York at Oswego. Visit johnsmileyii.com
Lauren Stanford is originally from Kansas City. She recently won the 2013 MetroStar Competition at The Metropolitan Room and will perform a prime-time major engagement and record a live CD at the club in 2014. Lauren wrote and performed
More Than You Know, a show about singer Helen Morgan, in The Emerging Artists New Works Series. She has worked regionally and on tour in plays and musicals. Let the Rumpus begin!
BEN TOSTADO
BILL TOSCANO
KATHLEEN STUART
NAVIDA STEIN
Navida Stein is a storyteller, actress, musician and writer. As an actress, Navida has worked Off-Broadway & regionally doing new plays, musicals and Shakespeare. TV credits include “Law & Order,” spots for Nickelodeon and she has appeared in independent films and commercials. As a solo performer & storyteller, Navida’s show URBAN ZEN won the 2012 United Solo Festival award for Best Non Fiction script. Her one-woman show of multi-cultural stories with original music frequently tours the NYC Metropolitan area. She’s written plays and adaptations, one-acts, and the librettos for two musicals and an opera. Navida is a dedicated teaching artist, records audiobooks and is an accomplished violinist.
www.navidastein.com &
www.missnavida.com
Born in Hawaii and trained in London, Kathleen calls New York her home after more than 10 years of working here as an actor. She is thrilled to be joining this company of theater makers. New York: After the Fall (Mother), A Christmas Carol (Mrs. Fezziwig/Christmas Present), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Tintinabula),
HMS Pinafore. Regional: Evita (Eva Peron), And The World Goes Round (Woman 3), Everything's Coming Up Roses (Ethel Merman). Film: Inside Llewyn Davis. Training: Tectonic Theater Project, Mountview Academy.
Alec Baldwin Acting Fellow 2012 - 2013. Proud member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA.
For more:
Twitter: @KathleenStuart1
Bill Toscano is an actor, director, and playwright, though he isn’t fond of doing all of these three jobs simultaneously in one production. Bill came into association with many of The Wild Rumpus’s Company Members on being cast as Jacob Marley in Variations Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol, crafted and directed by Steve Wargo. He was later seen as Father in Variation’s After The Fall by Arthur Miller. Bill is most often cast as villains, kings, and gods. Other favorite roles include Galileo in TLC’s Great Books series, Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar, Lloyd Dallas in Noises Off, Jigger in Carousel, Emperor Joseph II in Amadeus and The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. As a director he’s known for uproarious productions of Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig and A Funny Thing…Forum by Stephen Sondheim, Larry Gelbart, and Burt Shevelove. He’s received equal acclaim for moving productions of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Dale Wasserman and Bent by Martin Sherman. Bill’s playwriting career started in Children’s Theater. In the Nick of Time by Tom Dougherty, Sic Cherry & Bill Toscano, toured hundreds of schools, up and down the eastern seaboard for nearly a decade. Davy Crockett: Tall Tales & Short Stories, also co-authored Dougherty, went on to similar success. Of his more adult themed plays Surviving BillyBoy had Manhattan productions, and his outrageous Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce received a first hilarious, staged reading and is primed and ready for its next incarnation.
You can find Bill at billtoscano.com & www.facebook.com/BillToscanoActor and discover his Teaching endeavors @BillToscano1 on Twitter
Bill is a member of AEA & SAG-AFTRA.
Ben Tostado has appeared on stage in both Los Angeles and New York for over 20 years with credits including the Off-Broadway revival of Seussical (original cast recording), Guys & Dolls, Hair,
Godspell, Joseph...Dreamcoat, Five Guys Named Moe, and Brecht's Life of Galileo (workshop with Moises Kaufman). Directing/Choreographing credits include: The Little Lemonade Girl, The Tiny Mustache, Legally Blonde, Our Town, Bugsy Malone, Into the Woods, Once On This Island, Pippin, Annie, Godspell,
Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, Aladdin, Company, Little Shop of Horrors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Odyssey and Bally’s New Year’s Eve in Atlantic City. Ben has also been a teaching artist in the tri-state area for TADA! Youth Theatre, The Gallery Players, The Kaufman Center, and in various schools. He currently teaches Drama at Rodeph Sholom School in Manhattan and is the Artistic Director of the Astoria-based Playlight Theatre Company. Education: BFA, Ithaca College.
STUART WILLIAMS
KEATON WILLIAMS
Stuart Williams is an actor and dialect coach originally from the U.K. He has performed in London, Edinburgh and New York as well as several regional theaters in the U.S. including Gateway Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Seven Angels Theater and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Favorite N.Y.C. credits: U.S. premier of Dr. Andrew Harrison’s The Future (Isaac) at P.S.122, rogerandtom
(Rich/Will) at 59E59 Theaters with Personal Space Theatrics, U.S. premier of The Safari Party (Daniel) by Tim Firth (also P.S.T.), Wilde’s An Ideal Husband
(Lord Goring), Louis Nowra’s Cosi (Henry) with Australian Made Entertainment, Gary Owen’s Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco
(Matthew D. Melody), and David Eldridge’s Under the Blue Sky (Nick) with Mind the Gap Theatre Co. Television:
Turn: Washington’s Spies, AMC. For more information please visit
Thank you, Steve, for an invitation
to the Rumpus!