Zach Fischer* (Jason) Jason & Ben is Zach's NYMF debut. Originally trained in Shakespeare, Zach has appeared at the Asolo Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Stage Company and Tax Deductible Theatre Company (New York). Television credits include Law & Order and the upcoming Variety SHAC Show for the Adult Swim network. A graduate of Florida State University's MFA program, Zach performs his own music at clubs around the city with the creatively named Zach Fischer Band.

 

Will Taylor* (Ben) has appeared on Broadway in A Chorus Line (Bobby), La Cage aux Folles (Phaedra), The Producers and 42nd Street. Also in NYC, Will has appeared in many workshops and benefits, including Liberace: The Musical, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (Actor's Fund) and Terrence McNally’s The Lisbon Traviata. Will is originally from Charlotte, NC and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. A singer/songwriter himself, Will is thrilled to be making his NYMF debut in Jason & Ben!

 

Matthew Loren Cohen (book, music, lyrics) is a classically trained pianist with a BA in music from Florida State University. He is co-creator of and music director for New York City’s award-winning, original improvised musical, The Next Big Broadway Musical! He also music directs The Nuclear Family, an improvised musical that enjoyed an eight-month off-Broadway run. He composed the music for and music directed Hello, Boys!, an award-nominated, original revue. He has also composed original music for productions of The Comedy of Errors, The Crucible and The Skriker. As well, Matthew is a published author, whose stories have been seen in several journals and compilations. He has performed at such New York institutions as Birdland, Joe’s Pub, PS 122, HERE, Pete’s Candy Store and The Bitter End.

 

James Beaudry (director) is a director and choreographer with an MFA from Mills College. James has staged over 30 professional productions including West Side Story, Cats, Hair, 42nd Street, Urinetown, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, White Christmas, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Footloose, Fame, Singin’ in the Rain, and You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown at theaters around the country. Original works include Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Xenophobia! in San Francisco and Eleanor Rigby Died in a Church in New York. Recently, he choreographed the world premiere and off-Broadway productions of Mark Twain’s Blues. Other credits include NYMF, Ace of Clubs, Opera on Tap, Tada!, The Guggenheim, MOC Musicals. James and his work have been featured in Backstage, Dance Magazine and Dance Spirit Magazine. He is a resident director at the Timber Lake Playhouse in Illinois and the co-founder and artistic director of Launch Pad Theater. www.jamesbeaudry.com

 

Adam Wachter (music director) New York: Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (Fringe); Keenan-Bolger3 (Ars Nova); 22nd Annual BCEFA Easter Bonnet Competition (Minskoff); Alive at Ten (NYU); I'm Kind of a Big Deal (Laurie Beechman Spotlight Series). Regional: ...Spelling Bee (BSC and NSMT); The World Goes 'Round, Hameko and Lulu (BSC); Anything Goes, Footloose, Jekyll & Hyde, Smokey Joe's Cafe (TBTS). Music Supervisor of the hit YouTube musical series The Battery's Down, and proud University of Michigan graduate.

 

David Towlun (set designer) is pleased to be making his NYMF debut with Jason & Ben. Currently, David is working on the Broadway production of A Tale of Two Cities for the legendary designer Tony Walton. Other projects with Mr. Walton include Well (B'way), The Sleeping Beauty (American Ballet Theatre) and The Devil's Disciple (Irish Rep.). Other favorite designs include the world premiere of Becoming Eleanor (Theatre Conspiracy, FL); Talley's Folly (J. Howard Wood Theatre, FL); Lee Hoiby's opera The Tempest (Purchase Opera, NY); and Proof, The Woman in Black and Two Rooms (Winnipesaukee Playhouse, NH), all of which earned him the New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Professional Scenic Design (2005, '06, '07). An MFA graduate of Purchase College, David resides in Nyack, NY, with his wife Kimberly.

 

Jameson Eaton (costume designer) is a costume and hair designer and holds a BFA from Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts. His New York design credits include A Dream Play and Love No Evil (Dalliance Theatre company) and Sealed for Freshness (New World Stages). Other recent regional design credits include Ragtime, The Graduate, The Man who Came to Dinner, Bye Bye Birdie, Anything Goes, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Summer and Smoke, Woyzeck, Our Country's Good and Blithe Spirit. Jameson has also worked as a hair and wig stylist for the Broadway shows Monty Python's Spamalot and Young Frankenstein. He is very excited to be a part of this new and original musical!

 

Matthew Guminski (lighting designer) is a graduate of Boston University with a B.F.A. in Lighting Design. Matt is thrilled to be designing the World Premiere of Jason & Ben. Past NYMF designs include Love Kills (Boston Theatre Works). New England Design credits include The Spitfire Grill and Noises Off (Seacoast Rep); A Streetcar Named Desire, Sisters of Swing, Buddy and Evita (Worcester Foothills); Dreamgirls and A Chorus Line (Massasoit Theatre Co.); Bat Boy, Miss Saigon, The Full Monty, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Will Rogers Follies (The Company Theatre); Footloose and Sweeney Todd (North Shore Music Theatre); Hedda Gabler, Wintertime, Jesus Christ Superstar and Chicago (University of Maine); Lend Me a Tenor and Little Shop of Horrors (Northern Stage); and Uncle Vanya (Penobscot Theatre). Matt is a three-time recipient of the New Hampshire Theatre Award for best lighting design—2006 for his design of Proof, 2007 for his design of The Woman in Black and 2008 for his design of Two Rooms all at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. www.mglightingdesign.com

 

Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum (fight choreographer) has trained at Swordplay in New York and with the AFW at the North Carolina School of the Arts at Winston-Salem. He studied theater at Yale. Past fight direction experience includes: NYC: Sailor Man (Fringe/2Fisted), Honor (Prospect), Don Carlos (Prospect), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (CTG), Greedy (Clubbed Thumb), 100 Aspects of the Moon (Clubbed Thumb), Clean (Bob Epstein/Urban Stages), The Buccaneer (Parts 1&2, Johnny Dirt Prod.); Williamstown: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Touring: (for with National Theater for Arts and Education) Mornings of April and May, Three Musketeers, Cyrano de Bergerac, Romeo and Juliet, Exploring the Mysteries of Math; Colleges: Dangerous Liaisons (Brown), Rashomon (Columbia), and Beowulf (Yale).

 

Andrew Edwards (arranger) is a Chicago-based film and theater composer, currently getting his MFA in Music Composition for the Screen at Columbia College. New York and regional theater credits include original music for: Fitz & Walloughs Get It in the End! (with Micah Bucey), Fraulein Else (Theatre Five, Edinburgh), Kala: A Musical Faerie Tale (Parkland College), and The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen (Chicago Tap Theatre). Film credits include the scores for Nancy Picks & Chooses (Columbia College) (2008 Cannes International Film Festival Short Film Corner), Sans Pertinence (SVA), Blackout (Vivamorem), and the cult fan feature, To Know a Jedi. He has released three albums with his band, Cellardoor, including the 2006 LP Distance (available on iTunes). www.rugbyroadstudio.com

 

Trevor Regars (stage manager) is a graduate of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in St. Louis, with a BFA in Stage Management. Stage management credits include: Batboy: The Musical, Dracula, Smokey Joe’s Café, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, White Christmas (Timber Lake Playhouse, IL); Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors (Murphys Creek Theatre, CA); The Spitfire Grill, Opera Studio and various others (Webster University). Trevor has also served as a stage management intern with internationally acclaimed opera companies Houston Grand Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where credits include Aida, La Cenerentola, Madame Butterfly and Troilus and Cressida. Trevor is very thankful for the opportunity to work on Jason & Ben.

 

Michael Cassara (casting director), CSA, and associate Lindsay Levine cast for theater, film and television in New York City. They serve as the resident casting office for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the White Plains Performing Arts Center, the Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts, the Kitchen Theatre Company and Central City Opera in addition to casting many readings, workshops and developmental productions in New York and beyond each year. NYMF credits include over two dozen productions since the festival’s inception in 2004 and other recent theater projects include …Forum (Sondheim Center, starring Richard Kind), End Days (by Deborah Zoe Laufer, starring Amy Aquino and Adam Heller), Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (or at Least the Greater Los Angeles Area) and Green Eyes in FringeNYC, and Cassandra’s Angel (workshop, starring Malcolm Gets). Member, Casting Society of America. www.michaelcassara.net

 

Melanie Hopkins (dramaturg) is delighted to be involved in Jason & Ben. Melanie's administrative experience includes serving as the business manager for the Drama League and the managing director of the Jean Cocteau Repertory. Performance credits include Daisy in Side Show (Maryland Arts Festival, dir. Tom Kosis) and Marianne in The Miser (Jean Cocteau Repertory). She is currently the associate producer for Nerve Ensemble. Melanie holds a BFA from CUNY-Brooklyn.

 

Corinne Zadik (press representative) graduated from Wake Forest University in 2001 and has since spearheaded the press efforts of more than 25 off-off Broadway plays and musicals, including seven seasons with Prospect Theater Company, where she has publicized Illyria, The Pursuit of Persephone (recipient of a 2005 Drama Desk nomination for Best Original Musical), Iron Curtain, The Tutor, West Moon Street, The Rockae and, most recently, Honor. Other publicity credits include Big Bang! (Collective Unconscious), Big Girl (New York International Fringe Festival 2003), Christmas with the Flamingos (Cofounder), President Harding Is a Rock Star (Les Freres Corbusier), Cratchett Farm (Blank Page Productions / Dilion’s Reprise Room) and Celebrate Good Times (Macbeth) (TheaterFaction). Corinne currently acts as manager of public affairs at Carnegie Hall.

 

Robert Zwaschka (promotional designer and web developer), owner of Robert Z Designs LLC, is a freelance art director and graphic designer working in New York City. Robert has won numerous awards for his work, most notably for packaging and merchandising projects for Swatch. His work has been published in Creativity 30, The Big Book of Design Ideas, and Step-by-Step, HOW, and Inspire magazines. Robert is happy to be part of the creative team for Jason & Ben. Other theatre design credits include: a new show poster every week for NYC's original and MAC Award-winning improvised musical comedy The Next Big Broadway Musical!, Ionesco's The Lesson produced by The Collective (Center Stage, NY), numerous productions and concerts for the Professional Performing Arts School, plus print and web projects for several theatre, improv and production companies. www.robert-z.com/design

 

*These actors appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.