Shlemiel the First
 

The Company
BOB ADER (Dopey Petzel/Zalman Tippish) is happy to be returning to Shlemiel the First. Broadway credits include All the Way Home. Regional theatre: The Tin Pan Alley Rag (Cleveland Play House), Olympus on My Mind (FST), The Nerd (Phoenix Theatre) and many others. TV: “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Unsolved Mysteries,” “David Letterman” and “The Onion News Network.” Film: It’s Complicated. Bob did his first professional acting job at the age of six in The Naked City. He is also a member of Project Rushmore Theatre Company.
JEFF BROOKS (Gronam Ox). Broadway: Mickey in A History of the American Film, Phil in Loose Ends, the Bellhop in Lend Me a Tenor (Outer Critics Circle Award), Pastey in Gypsy with Tyne Daly, Spider Malloy in Nick and Nora, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls and Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast. Off-Broadway: Sister Mary Ignatius… and the leading role in The Actor’s Nightmare, the title role in The Foreigner and multiple roles in Talk Radio. Feature films include The Secret of My Success, The Lemon Sisters, The Bonfire of the Vanities, IQ and Julie and Julia. Several guest appearances on “Law & Order.”
MICHAEL IANNUCCI (Shlemiel). NY credits: Fiddler on the Roof, Enter Laughing (York Theatre), Spellbound (Fringe Festival), Wallenberg (NYMF), On the Waterfront (Brave New World Rep), The Cradle Will Rock (St. Mark’s in the Bowery). National tour: Annie, Fiddler on the Roof. Regional: The Most Happy Fella, Cats (TUTS), Rags, Phantom, Crazy for You (Fulton Opera), Falsettoland (Caldwell Theatre, Carbonell nomination), Patience (Sorg Opera), Ragtime (Carnegie PAC), Steel Pier (Actors’ Playhouse), Noises Off (Playhouse on the Green). Stock: Broadway Bound, Driving Miss Daisy, Sleuth, The Foreigner, Guys and Dolls, I Do! I Do!, Gypsy, Chicago.
JESSE MEANS (Zeinvel Shmeckel/Man in House) began his professional career on Broadway in Show Boat. Recent theatre credits include Booker T. Washington in Portland Center Stage’s production of Ragtime, Enoch Snow in the national tour of Carousel, NoMax in Five Guys Named Moe and Augustus in the York Theatre production of A Good Man. Means has been featured on ABC’s “One Life to Live” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” His film credits include supporting roles in Argentine in New York and DreamWorks’ Ghost Town.
DAVID SKEIST (Mendel Shmendrick). Previous collaborations with David Gordon include Uncivil Wars: Moving w/ Brecht & Eisler and Beginning of the End. New York: Los Angeles (Flea), Political Subversities (Joe’s Pub), Havana Journal (INTAR), The Misanthrope (CSC Young Co.), Kinderspiel (Stolen Chair). Film and TV: “Law & Order: SVU,” “All My Children,” Veronika Decides to Die, Memorial Day. Founding member of CABORCA Theatre. M.F.A., Columbia; B.A. Harvard; graduate of Public Theater Shakespeare Lab.
AMY WARREN (Tryna Ritza) made her Broadway debut as Karen Weston in the  Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County. She was nominated for Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk awards for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Daisy in Adding Machine composed by Joshua Schmidt and directed by David Cromer. She has played leading roles at the Goodman and Steppenwolf theatres in Chicago. Television work includes HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and “Law & Order.”
DARRYL WINSLOW (Mottel/Moishe Pipik/ Chaim Rascal) returns to Chelm (Peak Performances 2010) after performing as Edna in Hairspray, Dave in The Full Monty and Louis in Wild Women of Planet Wongo (Best Actor Festival Award). He created the role of Jake in the Off-Broadway cult hit Evil Dead: The Musical. Favorite New York credits include Avenue Q (Broadway), Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale, Unlock’d, Brigadoon and Camelot. TV/film: Great Performances’ “Sondheim: The Birthday Concert!,” “The View,” “LATER!”
KRISTINE ZBORNIK (Gittel/Sender Shlamazel/Yenta Pesha) has appeared in A Catered Affair on Broadway, as Roz in the first national tour of 9 to 5 and as Rosie in Mamma Mia in Las Vegas. Off-Broadway and regional credits include Road Show (The Public Theater); Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act! (original cast) and 20th Anniversary (original cast); Splendora (Sue Ella Lightfoot, Chelsea Playhouse); An Evening with Joan Crawford (Ethel Merman); Man of La Mancha (Housekeeper, Goodspeed Opera House); and Nine (Paper Mill Playhouse). Cabaret and one-person shows include Jackie Hoffman and Kristine  Zbornik (Joe’s Pub); Holiday Hams, Blow Up World, Ball of Confusion, Serving Mankind and Zbornik in a Trunk.
YAEKO MIRANDA ELMALEH (Violin) is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music. A recipient of many awards, she studied under Michele Auclair, Fudeko Takahashi, Ran Blake and Hankus Netsky. As a member of the world-renowned Klezmer Conservatory Band she has performed in such venues as Avery Fisher Hall and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She is currently an active performer and has just released her first CD of Jewish/Gypsy/Klezmer music.
DANIEL LINDEN (Trombone) has worked with Slavic Soul Party, the Klezmer Conservatory Band and Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All Stars. He has performedwith The New Hampshire Pops, the NationalLyric Opera and the Astoria Symphony, and has toured with the Porgy and Bess 75th Anniversary US tour. An avid educator, Daniel has taught trombone at Brandeis University and is a member of Epic Brass, which performs educational concerts throughout the Northeast.
NICK MORRISON (Banjo/Mandolin/ Guitar). Multi-instrumentalist Nick Morrison was born to American parents in Paris, France, where he grew up playing classical piano. He was exposed to jazz and contemporary improvised music while attending the University of Chicago and began studying guitar and upright bass. Since moving to Boston in 2009 he has studied and performed with musicians such as Joe Morris, Cecil McBee, Hankus Netsky, Anthony Coleman and Jerry Leake. He will be moving to Berlin in May.
DMITRI “ZISL” SLEPOVITCH (Clarinet) is a clarinetist, pianist, composer, singer, ethnomusicologist; leader of the Litvakus and Minsker Kapelye bands; Yiddish instructor at The New School; music director, composer, musician and actor in shows produced by the Folksbiene, Castillo Theatre, and New Yiddish Rep, as well as the films Defiance and The Burning Land; teacher of seminars in Jewish studies and Yiddish music worldwide, including BIMA at Brandeis University. dmitrislepovitch.com
GRANT SMITH (Drums/Percussion). A member of The Klezmer Conservatory Band, Grant Smith was in the original production of Shlemiel the First at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. Mr. Smith has toured globally from Crakow to New Zealand. He has performed with Itzhak Perlman, Don Byron and Jane Wang, among many others. Studies include hand drums with Jamie Haddad, Tabla, Afro-Cuban percussion, frame drums with Glen Velez, drum set with Alan Dawson.
EZRA WELLER (Trumpet) is Boston-area trumpet player, composer, improviser and educator. He has premiered works by Anthony Coleman, Matti Kovler and Samuel Harry Chabrow, the latter two as soloist. Recently, his attentions have been focused on composition, and his first large ensemble work was premiered by the Senior Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble in May, 2011.
JIM WHITNEY (Bass) has performed with Andy Statman, Bill Frisell, Alicia Svigals, David Grisman and Anthony Braxton. Jim accompanied Meryl Streep, John Goodman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others in Theater of the New Ear. He appeared with John Lithgow in the Sunny Side Strutters jazz octet. Jim played on the children’s television shows “Blue’s Clues” and “Word World.” He has toured in Europe, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Central America, New Zealand, Canada and the US.
STEPHEN CAIN (Ensemble). Shlemiel the First marks Stephen’s second staged show since graduating from the William Esper Studio in May. Stephen is thankful to be given the opportunity to work and learn from a great group of performers on this piece. Stephen would like to thank his director and fellow cast for being such an inspiration. Stephen also thanks his family and friends for their continued love and support.
BRANDON LAVON HIGHTOWER (Ensemble). NYC/Off-Broadway: Dream Babies (Niko), Denial: Time to Face the Musical (Man #1), Christmas Rappings (Narrator), Chopsticks & Dirty Laundry (Jericho), You Are Here (Jay). Regional: Dreamgirls (ReVision Theatre), Rent (The Theater Company), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (The Secret Theatre), New York, New York: 9/11 Benefit Concert (Palace Theatre). TV: “Celebrity Ghost Stories” (Ahmad Rashad/The Biography Channel), “Boardwalk Empire” (Featured/ HBO). Studio/concert: Kenny Rogers (Background Vocals), Chris Wade’s “29 Lives” (Soloist).
AMANDA A. LEDERER (Ensemble). New York: Agnes in The Divine Sister (RP at Stageworks/Hudson), Anne in The Dunes (Gallery Players). Regional: Leah in The Trial of FDR (New Stage Performing Arts), Angel in Make Sure It’s Me (BTF), Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Abby in Fiction (Aglet Theatre), Stella (u/s) in A Streetcar Named Desire, Sonya in Uncle Vanya, Ensemble in Guys and Dolls (New Harmony Repertory). Amanda is a member of Project Rushmore Theatre Company. B.A., Theatre Arts, Catawba College.
BRANDON MONOKIAN (Ensemble) works as an actor, director and writer. He was last seen on the New York stage in Pearl Damour’s How to Build a Forest. He can currently be seen in the documentary web series In Development which follows the creation of a new theatre piece created in collaboration with Monokian, actress Suzzanne Douglas, playwright Regina Taylor and poet Yorri J. Berry. indevelopmentseries.com
AARON NETSKY (Ensemble) makes his NYC stage debut in Shlemiel the First. He has performed in a variety of musicals in his hometown, Rochester, NY, including Zorba, Peter Pan and The Pirates of Penzance.

 Creative Team
DAVID GORDON (Director/Choreographer) has directed/choreographed for his Pick Up Performance Co(s) since 1971. Commissions include ABT, The ActorsStudio, A.C.T., A.R.T., BAM, BBC 4 UK, Danspace, DTW, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Guthrie, The Joyce, Mark Taper Forum, NY Theatre Workshop, PBS/WNET Great Performances, PBS/KTCA Alive TV, Serious Fun! at Lincoln Center, Spoleto USA, Theatre for a New Audience, White Oak Dance Project. Awards include two Obies, three Bessies, two Drama-Logues, two Guggenheims, two Pew Charitable Trust National Residency Grants (Theatre & Dance), three NEA American Masterpieces Grants (Dance & Theatre). Member: The Actors Studio, Center for Creative Research. Founding artist: Grand Union. Judson Church Performances. Mr. Gordon has performed with Yvonne Rainer Co./James Waring Co.
ROBERT BRUSTEIN (Concept and Adaptation), 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient, is a playwright, actor, director, critic, scholar and educator. He was the founding director of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theatre. He is the author of 16 books on theatre and society and has written 12 adaptations and ten plays, his most recent being his Shakespeare Trilogy— The English Channel, Mortal Terror and The Last Will. Mr. Brustein has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, was recently inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and is currently Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University.
ARNOLD WEINSTEIN (1927–2005) (Lyrics) was a playwright, librettist, poet and professor. His plays include Red Eye of Love and an adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. With composer William Bolcom he wrote the operas McTeague, A View from the Bridge and A Wedding, and theatre-opera works, among them Dynamite Tonite! and Casino Paradise. He was Chair of the Yale Drama School playwriting department and taught poetry and dramatic writing at Columbia.
HANKUS NETSKY (Composer) is chair of the Contemporary Improvisation Department at the New England Conservatory. Founder and director of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, he is music director for Itzhak Perlman’s Klezmer music project, In the Fiddler’s House and for his new cantorial, klezmer and Yiddish music project, The Soul of Jewish Music. He has composed for film, theatre and video and collaborated with Robin Williams, Joel Grey and Theodore Bikel.
ZALMEN MLOTEK (Musical Arrangements/ Additional Music/Music Director/Conductor/ Piano) is an internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theatre music and is a leading figure in the Jewish theatre and concert worlds. He is artistic director of the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene, the longest-operating Yiddish theatre company in America. Mr. Mlotek was co-creator, music director and conductor of Those Were the Days, the first bilingual musical honored with a Drama Desk Award and nominated for two Tonys.
MICHAEL LARSEN (Associate Music Director/Conductor/Piano). Broadway: Annie, Nine, 42nd Street. Off-Broadway:Perez Hilton Saves the Universe, The Golden Land. Regional: Stormy Weather (Pasadena Playhouse), Breakin’ up Is Hard to Do, Shlemiel the First (Geffen/A.C.T.), …Forum, Ruthless! (Carbonell Award nomination, Best Director), Only a Kingdom, countless others. Conductor: Bruce Adler, Theodore Bikel, Judy Kaye, Larry Kert, Elaine Stritch, many others. Twenty-four years as Master Teacher/Director at world-renowned Stagedoor Manor. International Director/ Music Supervisor of Menopause the Musical, including London and Toronto, celebrating six years at the Luxor in Las Vegas.
ROBERT ISRAEL (Scenic Designer) has designed sets and/or costumes for numerous opera companies, among them the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Paris Opera, De Nederlandse Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, New National Theatre of Tokyo, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera and Festival di Due Mondi in Spoleto. He is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Obie Award and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
CATHERINE ZUBER (Costume Designer) has won Tony Awards for her work on South Pacific, The Coast of Utopia, The Light in the Piazza, Awake and Sing! and The Royal Family. Other Broadway credits include On a Clear Day…, How to Succeed…, Women on the Verge…, Seascape (Tony nom.), Joe Turner… (Outer Critics Circle nom.), Oleanna, A Man for All Seasons, Cry-Baby, Doubt, Dinner at Eight (Tony, OCC noms.), Twelfth Night (Tony nom.). Other credits include The Bridge Project (BAM and Old Vic), Le Comte Ory, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, the 125th Anniversary Gala, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Doctor Atomic (Metropolitan Opera), Romeo and Juliet (La Scala and Salzberg Festival), Two Boys (English National Opera) and the Ring Cycle (San Francisco Opera).
JENNIFER TIPTON (Lighting Designer). Recent work in opera includes Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (La Scala) and La Clemenza di Tito (Aix-en-Provence Festival). Recent work in dance includes Alexei Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet (National Ballet of Canada) and Paul Taylor’s Gossamer Gallants. Recent work in theatre includes Autumn Sonata (Yale Repertory Theatre) and the Wooster Group’s version of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré. Ms. Tipton teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama. Awards include the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, the Jerome Robbins Prize and the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York City. She is a United States Artists “Gracie” Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow.
DAVID MESCHTER (Sound Designer) has created sound designs for a variety of organizations and artists including John Cage, LaMonte Young, Meredith Monk, Ping Chong, Ridge Theater, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Lincoln Center, Houston Grand Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera and The Public Theater, among many others. His work for the Broadway production of Medea was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for best sound design of the 2002–03 season. Meschter is the sound supervisor for Lincoln Center Festival.
HALEY LIEBERMAN (Co s t ume Supervisor) is a costume designer for stage and film based in Manhattan. Career highlights include Dido and Aeneas (Juilliard), Children (TACT), the upcoming I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Opera Boston) and assisting Catherine Zuber on Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Metropolitan Opera) and A Lie of the Mind (The New Group). A winner of the Opera America/Robert L.B. Tobin Director- Designer Showcase award, Haley holds an M.F.A. from Tisch School of the Arts/NYU.
CINDI RUSH CASTING (Casting). New York: ROOMS a rock romance; Jacques Brel…; Six Dance Lessons…; The Thing about Men; Showtune; I Sing; Urinetown; Say Goodnight, Gracie. Regional: Triad Stage, Act II Playhouse, Arena Stage, Goodman, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival. Film: Offspring, Made for Each Other, Home Movie, Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, Headspace. Other: Hats. Tours: Curious George, Kidz Bop. Consultant for National Alliance for Musical Theatre (2004–08), Consultant for NYU Graduate Program for Musical Theatre Writing.
DEBORAH BROWN (Casting). Deborah Brown has cast for Broadway, Off-Broadway and many of the leading regional theatres in the country. She shared an Emmy for the HBO series “From the Earth to the Moon.” Other television includes “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” and New York casting on “Band of Brothers.” This is her 21st season with Theatre for a New Audience.
ED FITZGERALD (Production Stage Manager) has been a professional stage manager for 35 years, working on Broadway (Da, A Little Family Business, The Tap Dance Kid, Carrie, The Violet Hour), Off-Broadway (Manhattan Theatre Club; The Best of Friends; tick, tick…BOOM!), Off-Off Broad way and in major theatres throughout the country and overseas (London, Berlin, Singapore, Seoul, Avignon, Strasbourg). He has been associated with David Gordon, Ain Gordon and Pick Up Performance Co(s) for 21 years.
THE BRUCE COHEN GROUP, Ltd. (Press Representative) is celebrating its 36th year of publicizing the good causes that make New York City the capital of the world: the performing and visual arts, community development, historic preservation, business improvement districts, public spaces, tourism and organized labor. Bruce Cohen is a former president of I.A.T.S.E. Local 18032 and a proud honorary member of I.A.T.S.E. Local One. He owes his first job to Merle Debuskey.
DANIEL GWIRTZMAN (Assistant to the Choreographer) celebrates 16 years as a New York producer, director, choreographer, teacher and critically acclaimed performer. He directs Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, a nonprofit performing and teaching organization recognized for its innovative, entertaining, accessible repertory and charismatic dancers. His hit show Encore, an official selection of the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival, continues to excite audiences and critics: “The dancers can’t help but smile” writes The New Yorker. GwirtzmanDance.org
MARCI SKOLNICK (Assistant Stage Manager). Selected theatre: eight years with the National Yiddish Theatre, Seed (Classical Theatre of Harlem), The Common Air (45 Bleecker), Puppetry of the Penis (Foster Entertainment), The Smoking Diary (Fat Melon), Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding (Artificial Intelligence), Sake with the Haiku Geisha (Gotham Stage), Angels: The Musical (NYMF), Waiting for Godot (tangent), Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Dream Seminar (CompanionStar). Proud member of AEA, Ms. Skolnick is a graduate of Hofstra University.