CAST & CREW THE LISPS... Meghan Finn -Director Ensemble Jennifer Caster - Production/Stage Manager
Cesar Alvarez is a songwriter and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. He plays in The Lisps, teaches recording at Bloomfield College, and writes about music and science at www.musicisfreenow.org. Jennifer Caster (Production Stage Manager) Stage management credits include: Brilliant Traces (Stonington Opera House, ME), PITCH (LaMaMa, Etc.), Waxing West (Dramalabbet, Stockholm), A Gathering (The Brooklyn Lyceum), Red Light Winter (Fisher Center for the Performing Arts), and Plasticine (Barysnikov Dance Foundation). Jennifer is an associate artist and resident stage manager with East Coast Artists and is the production manager with Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, who have recently performed at the Ohio Theater, Joe’s Pub, and the Bushwick Starr. She received a B.A. in Art History from Bard College. Eric Farber’s unique approach to the art of percussion is rooted in a wealth of experience from within the entertainment worlds of neo-burlesque and vaudeville, steeped in late-90’s New York City anti-folk, and smothered with a profound appreciation for both sincerity and sarcasm. In addition to bringing his brand of quirky mayhem and cacophonous found-objects to The Lisps, Eric performs regularly with The Ladybug Transistor (Merge), The Fisherman Xylophonic Burlesque Orchestra (Tikijive), Mark Dzula’s Magic Caravan, and Bucket Fucket (the worlds only bucket ukulele hiphop duo). Maya Ferrara, born in Louisiana, is pleased to be returning to the Union side of things in this her second production of Futurity. She does not usually do musicals so you are in for a real treat, folks. Maya studied acting at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City where she has lived since 2005. Maya is at that odd phase where she’s not sure if she is a girl or a woman. She lives in Brooklyn with her dog, Lily. Grant O’Brien (ensemble) is very happy to join The Lisps in Futurity again. Recent stage credits include Romp, Into the Woods, From Memory, Box Theory, Jesus Christ Superstar, Laura Dennis, Harvey, Romeo and Juliet. He is a sketch comedian and improviser, and has appeared in and directed Begging for Approval and The Infinity Prison (“Best Sketch Show 2009”, Time Out NY) at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and has performed at the San Francisco Sketch Fest, Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, New York Sketch Fest, The PIT, Ars Nova, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, UCBTLA, and Joe’s Pub. He has a B.F.A. in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and has studied at The Stella Adler Studio and the Stonestreet Studio of Film and Television. Molly Rice, (Book) Molly Rice’s plays have been developed/ produced in NYC and in theaters across the country. Heinemann Press, Clarkson Potter, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Press, Salvage Vanguard Press, Perishable Press, Austin Script Works Press, and DEVICE have published her plays, and her articles have appeared in the Kenyon Review, American Theater and the Austin Chronicle. Residencies include the Visible Theater Bartlett Island Retreat (2009), Yale/ P73 Residency (2008), Missoula Colony (2007), Voice and Vision (2006), and Hangar Theater (2005); awards include the Weston Award for Graduate Playwriting (Brown University) and the Women’s International Playwriting Festival (Perishable Theater), as well as nominations for the Kesselring Fellowship, the PONY Award, Cherry Lane Mentor Project, and New York Innovative Theater Award (Outstanding Original Short Play). Molly was a Lucille Lortel fellow at Brown University (2004-2007), where she earned her MFA in Playwriting. She currently teaches advanced playwriting at Marymount Manhattan College and Site-Specific Theater at Brown, in a mansion built in 1792. She is Resident Writer and Co-Artistic Developer of MOTHERLODGE, a live arts exchange linking local and New York theater/music/film communities. Current projects include: a piece based on James Agee's "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men", with composer Stephanie Johnstone and director Rachel Chavkin; CANARY, an original musical, FUTURITY, and THE SAINTS TOUR, a site-specific traveling play through unusual corners of a neighborhood featuring local musicians and community service organizations (MOTHERLODGE productions March- April 2010 in east Louisville, featuring Emily Hyberger as the Tour Guide, and in the West Village, featuring Taylor Mac). Aaron Schroeder (ensemble) is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama. His credits include: Waxing West (dir. Benjamin Mosse) in Stockholm, Sweden; Dance Dance Revolution at the Ohio Theatre (dir. Alex Timbers/Les Freres Corbusiers); The Dybbuk (dir. Liz Swados); Moments (dir. Moises Kaufman); Crimes of the Heart (dir. Geoffrey Horne); As well as his own solo show Box Theory at Ars Nova. Aaron has also filmed two feature films with experimental film director Marc Lafia, as well as done work on several other film projects. Aaron is also cult leader of the underground theatre movement Unidentified Artist Sightings (www.unidentifiedartists.com). For more information about Aaron, visit: www.aaron-schroeder.com Ben Simon (organ) is an instrument builder and dog walker. His band Get the People (Ruminance) has toured Europe playing original songs on homemade instruments and giggling. Ben is thrilled to be a part of Futurity! Caroline Tamas (ensemble) NYC credits include- Is That A Spear In Your Pocket (2009 CringeFestival – Best Actress Award), My Father Is A Tetris Game (workshop: HERE Arts Center), Futurity: with The Lisps (Joe’s Pub at the Public), The Cherry Orchard (Columbia University), Columbrunch, Ohio (EST-Youngblood), The October Crisis (Packawallop Productions), Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb), Morningstar (Peccadillo Theater Company), The Sea (TACT), Widows of Troy (The Syrup Room), Food For Fish (Sanctuary Playwrights). Regional credits include- Shakespeare in Hollywood and Itamar Moses’Outrage (The Wilma Theater), Roach (Ontik), Oleanna (Montgomery Theater), Moby Dick, Rehearsed (Brat Productions), To Kill A Mockingbird and Wit starring Lisa Harrow (Northern Stage) as well as several short films and industrials. Training: Commedia Dell'Arte with Antonio Fava, BADA, Hartwick College and the Hungarian Opera Ballet School. She is currently developing a one-woman piece with director and friend Neal Wilkinson that examines the line between communication with a higher spirit and mental illness. Toby Ring Thelin (Producer) is a director, playwright, performer, and sometime producer. He graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, spent several years as the City of Savannah’s Theatre Specialist, taught at the Savannah Arts Academy, and served as the Associate Artistic Director for the Savannah Shakespeare Festival. He has directed shows for FringeNYC and The Brick Theater, and has worked with several notable theater companies, including 13P, Everywhere Theater Group, Banana Bag & Bodice, and The Immediate Theater Company. He is thrilled to have been brought on board FUTURITY. He’s also seen or directed Hamlet about a hundred and sixty-seven times, and it just keeps getting funnier every single time he sees it. Sammy Tunis (Ada Lovelace) is the singer of The Lisps, and an actress. She has worked with The Mint Theater, Theater for the New City, Fine Feathered Friends, The Brick Theater, and Godlight Theater Company, among others. She is a Jewish/Agnostic/Extropian/Romantic/Realist and is a graduate of Oberlin College. She is really great at coming up with band names, making break-up song mixes, and saying shockingly beautiful and truthful things in her sleep. When she is not singing, dancing, banging metal objects or pretending to be other people, she can be found having boring conversations with her friend Aaron which you can watch at youtube.com/thepaternoster. Love to my mom and dad, and The Lips Jillian Tully (ensemble) likes hats so much that she wears lots of them - costume designer, knitter, singer, foodie, ersatz muse, word nerd and subway musician being a few. She also makes hats, and skirts, and scarves...and songs. Her not-quite band is rainy day assembly and she has only one video on YouTube. |