Download Cos-Bios - The In Series

MEET THE DIRECTORS
Carla Hubner ( on file)
Shirley Serotsky (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director of Theater J, where she directed
The History of Invulnerability; The Moscows of Nantucket; Mikveh (two Helen Hayes
Nominations); and The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (2009 Helen Hayes Nom for Best New Play).
Other directing credits include: Workshop presentation of The Break (Signature Theatre);
Working: The Musical (Keegan Theatre); Blood Wedding (Constellation Theatre); Birds of a
Feather (‘12 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play—at The Hub Theatre); Juno and the
Paycock (Washington Shakespeare Company); a staged reading of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad
Zoo for Arena Stage; This is Not a Timebomb (Source Festival); Reals, Five Flights and Two
Rooms (Theater Alliance); and We Are Not These Hands (Catalyst Theater); References to
Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Rorschach Theater); Sovereignty (The Humana Festival of New
Plays); LUNCH (2007 New York Musical Theater Festival & CapFringe), Titus! The Musical.
(Source Theatre). Training: BFA, North Carolina School of the Arts. 2002 Designer/Director
Workshop with Ming Cho Lee; the 2003 Lincoln Center Director's Lab; and was a 2001 Fellow
at the Kennedy Center.
Shirley Serotsky (Director) is Associate Artistic Director at Theater J, where she directed The
Call, Yentl, The Argument, The Hampton Years, The History of Invulnerability, Mikveh, and The
Rise and Fall of Annie Hall. She has directed for Roundhouse Theatre, Constellation Theatre,
The Hub Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, The National Players, Rorschach Theatre, and
others. Training: BFA, North Carolina School of the Arts.
Stanley Thurston (Music Director) is the Artistic Director of The Heritage Signature Chorale,
Music Director at Foundry Methodist Church in DC, Artistic Director of Choirs with
Washington Performing Arts and Artist in Residence at Washington National Cathedral. He was
Musical Director and conductor for In Series’ recent productions Copland’s The Tender Land,
Bellini’s La Sonnambula and two Mozart operas, Abduction from the Seraglio and La Clemenza
di Tito, having previously been music director and pianist for the In Series’ acclaimed Arlen
Blues & Berlin Ballads in 2011-2012 and both iterations of the sold-out From U Street to the
Cotton Club, in 2009. He has appeared as a conductor in concert venues including Carnegie Hall,
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, the U.S. Capitol, The Music
Center at Strathmore, Carter Barron Amphitheater, and Peterskirche in Vienna, Austria. Well
known also as a composer and arranger, Mr. Thurston’s orchestral arrangements have been
performed by the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, New Jersey, and the National Symphony.
Nick Olcott (adaptation) serves as Director of Acting for the Maryland Opera Studio at the
University of Maryland School of Music. He has written a number of adaptations for the In
Series, including the upcoming Fidelio, which he will also direct. Other productions for the In
Series have included Love Potion #1, La traviata, Carmen, Trouble in Tahiti, and Casino
Paradise, For the Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, he
provides dramatic coaching and directs scenes programs. Other credits include Wolf Trap Opera,
Opera Cleveland, Boston Lyric Opera, and Ash Lawn Opera Festival. He directs frequently for
Opera Lafayette, including the company’s pairing of Mozart’s Così fan tutte (performed in
French) with Philidor’s Les femmes vengées, which played at the Kennedy Center in
Washington, Lincoln Center in New York, and the Opéra Royal in Versailles. His production of
the reggae musical Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds ran off-Broadway at the New Victory
Theater in New York and recently completed a national tour. For the Maryland Opera Studio, he
most recently directed Marc Blitzstein’s Regina.
MEET THE PERFORMERS
Melissa Chavez (Florrie) has been acclaimed by the Washington Post for her “voluptuous voice” and “cooly
exemplary production”. Recent roles and covers include Beatrice (Beatrice et Bénédict), Juliette (Romeo et
Juliette), Micaela (Carmen), Carmela (La Vida Breve), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). Since 2012, Ms. Chávez
has been a young artist at the Castleton Festival, under the direction of the late Maestro Lorin Maazel. She also
performs regularly in the DC area as a recitalist and with DC Opera on Tap. Ms. Chávez is a two-time winner
of the Bach-Handel Competition and numerous NATS competitions.
Samual Keeler (Randall "Randy"), tenor, is a native of California who grew up in
Manassas,Virginia. He has had the pleasure to appear with the In Series on multiple occasions,
first as Chris in The Cole Porter Project: It’s Alright With Me and shortly after as Giuseppe in
Verdi’s La Traviata. Other performances include Don Curzio in Mozart’s La Nozze di Figaro
with the Maryland Opera Society, Benedict in Berlioz’s Beatrice and Benedict with the
Shakespeare Opera Theatre, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Opera AACC. As a
chorus member he has performed with the Caramoor Music Center as an apprentice artist and
was recently seen in Lyric Opera Baltimore’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He holds a
B.M. in Vocal Performance as well as a B.A. in Italian Language, both from the University of
Maryland.
Sasha Olinick is thrilled to be making his perfromance debut with the In Series! A DC-based
actor and teaching-artist, Sasha’s recent acting credits include Arena Stage, Forum Theatre, Hub
Theater (company member), Imagination Stage, Kennedy Center, MetroStage, Rep Stage, Round
House Theatre, Spooky Action Theater, Studio Theatre, and Theater J (Artist in Residence 2014-
2015). Regional credits include work with the American Shakespeare Center, Merry-Go-Round
Playhouse, Ocean State Lyric Opera, Trinity Rep and Vermont Stage Company. He has taught
acting to students of all ages through his work with the Educational Theatre Company, the
National Conservatory of Dramatic Art and Montgomery College where he has served as an
adjunct faculty member for the past ten years. At Montgomery College he has directed The
Tempest, Speech and Debate andThe Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. He has also served as text and
dialect coach for the play Stunning at Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, Taking Steps at
Constellation Theater Company, and MC productions of Marisol and The Last Days of Judas
Iscariot.
Canadian mezzo-soprano Erin Passmore (Dorrie) is an active performer in the Washington D.C.
metro region. Erin received her Masters in Music from the Maryland Opera Studio where she
sang the roles of Idamante in Idomeneo and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflӧte. In the past year,
Erin has been heard in productions and events through the East Coast and Canada. This included
the world premiere of Voice on the Wire, a mini opera based on the life of Mabel Bell, the
hearing impaired wife of Alexander Graham Bell. Erin was also a semifinalist in the Orpheus
Vocal Competition in Tennessee and a finalist in Opera Lancaster’s Roschel Vocal Competition.
Erin is proud to have sung with several Washington D.C. area companies including Opera
NOVA, Loudoun Lyric Opera, Riverbend Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, Singers’ Theatre of
Washington, Teatro Lirico, and Opera Camerata of Washington. Earlier this year, Erin was seen
with The In Series singing Mrs. Splinters in The Tenderland, and Mercedes in Carmen in
Havana.
Sean Pflueger (Elmo), bass-baritone, has sung with many companies in the Washington area.
DC Theater Scene said of a recent performance, "[Sean] Pflueger adds the necessary bassbaritone heft... contributing a surprising delicacy and elegance in the lower registers.” Selected
Roles: Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, The Count in John Phillip Sousa’s Desiree, Bob in
Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Masetto & Il Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni,
Marquis in Verdi's La traviata, Pooh-Bah & Pish-Tush in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The
Mikado, Lord Mountararat in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, Mars in Offenbach’s Orpheus and
the Underworld, Alcindoro/Benoit in Puccini’s La Boheme, Rambaldo in Puccini’s La
rondine, Betto & Master Spinelloccio/Amatio di Nicolao in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and St.
Peter in Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos. Concert/Oratorio: Bass solos in
Handel's Messiah, Bach’s Canata 59, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War and
Faure's Requiem among others. Mr. Pflueger is also a composer; many of his vocal
arrangements and choral works. His opera first opera “Children in the Mist”, based on the story
entitled “The Mist” by Stephen King. His newest opera “Do Not Disturb” a farce, will be
performed at the 2016 Capital Fringe Festival.
Randa Rouweyha (Tina) Soprano Randa Rouweyha (Micaela) most recently appeared as Adina in
Opera Western Reserve’s L’Elisir D’Amore. Her latest roles with In Series include Sister Anna in Don
Giovanni, Violetta in La Traviata, and Courtney in The Cole Porter Project. She has performed with
Plàcido Domingo, composer Giancarlo Menotti, and acclaimed Rossini tenor Lawrence Brownlee, her costar in Opera Western Reserve’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Randa has sung featured roles with Washington
National Opera at the Kennedy Center in Le Nozze di Figaro, Menotti’s The Consul, and Robert Ward’s
The Crucible. She earned high recognition for her recital debut in Lebanon at the distinguished Al Bustan
International Music Festival, and was a winner of Vocal Arts Society’s Art Song Discovery Recital Series.
Upcoming engagements with In Series include Despina (Tina) in Cosí Fan Tutte Goes Hollywood and
Marcelina in Fidelio. Randa is delighted to take part in this In Series’ collaboration with The Washington
Ballet Studio Company!
MEET THE DESIGN TEAM
Debbie Grossman (Stage Manager) is a director and stage manager from the Washington, DC
area. Recently, she has stage managed for WSC Avant Bard, Quotidian Theatre Company,
ArtStream, Edge of the Universe Players 2, 5th Dentist/Capital Fringe, Bel Cantanti Opera
Company, and the Washington Savoyards. She has directed for the Riverbend Opera, Bel
Cantanti Opera, Montgomery College/Rockville, the Victorian Lyric Opera Company, the
Forgotten Opera Company, and the Capital City Symphony (semi-staged concert operas). She
also teaches private voice and musical theater classes at Imagination Stage, and does occasional
rehearsal accompanying.
Donna Breslin (Costume) – on file
Stefan Johnson(Lighting) – on file
Jonathan Dahm Robertson (Set) is a scenic designer for theater and opera. Opera credit: Gian
Carlo Menotti’s “The Consul.” Theater credits: “Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, “Wish
List”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “All my Sons”, and “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” Jonathan
is a graduate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a 2015-16 Kenan Fellow
at the Kennedy Center, the Resident Scenic Design Assistant at Theater J, as well as a scenic
design assistant and associate for many designers. Upcoming work: HMTCA’s “Assassins”, and
The Princeton Festival’s “Peter Grimes” For more: www.jdahmrobertson.com