City Stage Co. Staff
BIOS
Larry Coen, Artistic Director
Made his City Stage Co. debut in 1982 as the Talking House in Energy Matters.
He recently began performances as Tony Witcomb in Shear Madness His Opening Night marks the 28th Anniversary of this production, which is the Longest Running Play in American History.
He is the co-author, with Friends creator David Crane, of Epic Proportions, which had a Broadway run in 1999.
Epic Proportions has been published by Dramatists Play Service and has received productions throughout the United States and Canada.
Coen directed the World Premiere of M.L.K.: We are the Dream, which ran off-Broadway at The American Place Theater. This production was telecast nationally as an Emmy Award-winning television special. He also directed the World Premieres of Shel Shocked by the late Shel Silverstein at the Market Theater and FAX of Life, which was presented by Manhattan Punch Line. He Directed the musical Ruthless!, for SpeakEasy Stage Company and Greetings from Planet Girl which performed at the New York International Fringe Festival.
Coen is a professional actor, who received a 2007 Elliot Norton Award for "Outstanding Actor, Small/Midsize Company" from the Boston Theater Critics' Association. Coen's award is for his performances in The Plexiglass Menagerie, Silent Night of the Lambs (The Gold Dust Orphans), Miss Witherspoon (Lyric Stage Company), The Taming of the Shrew (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Samurai 7.0: Under Construction (Beau Jest Moving Theatre)
When Larry played Biondello in Taming of the Shrew, he performed opposite the Tranio of Nat DeWolf, who at age 16 was an acting student of Larry's.
Larry was one of six American improvisors chosen to represent the United States at the World Cup of Improvisation in France. He was a cast member of the Canadian television series, Improv Champions. He can be heard singing improvised showtunes on the Greatest Hits 1999-2002 CD from Musical Improv Company. Larry serves as an "Artistic Advisor" for ImprovBoston
Larry has been a Creativity Consultant for the MBA program at Babson College. Mayor Thomas Menino recently appointed him to a three-year term as a member of the Boston Cultural Council. He holds a BA from Brandeis University.
Susan Gassett, Founder Emerita, founded City Stage Co. in 1974 after completing the Institute of Arts Administration at Harvard University.
She has a BA from Boston University and an MEd from Antioch College. Under her leadership, City Stage developed its participatory style of theater and expanded the company to include touring, educational program creation and museum collaborations.
She is the author of dozens of plays for young audiences. Susan has also written and/or directed plays for adult audiences, including adapting and directing “Anna Livia Plurabelle” from Finnegans Wake and “Frankenstein” based on the novel.
She also wrote and directed "Accent on English," a series for cable television that taught English as a second language.
Susan is currently serving on the Artists' Ball Program Committee celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Boston Center for the Arts. Susan served on the Steering Committee of the South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers Alliance. She served for many years on the Steering Committee of the Boston Cultural Partnership, a group of institutions and individuals fostering cultural programs in Boston Public Schools, is past-chair of the Boston Youth Theater Network, a group of theaters that work with children and teens, is a member of the Arts Committee of the West End House Boys and Girls Club and serves on the Neck Art Committee for public art in the South End. Susan appeared as Marge Sawtell in the made-for-TV production, The Center
Susan was recently named the 2006 Theatre Hero by StageSource.
Kortney Adams, Associate Director for KidStage
Kortney Adams joined the City Stage Co. family in 2002 as an actor on
Kidstage. Before becoming an actor, Kortney was a practicing
environmental engineer, and holds BS and MS degrees from Washington
University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since that
time, she's performed with many Boston-area theatre companies,
received an IRNE Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in
After Mrs. Rochester. Her educational theatre credits include New
June Baboian, Actor,
June has been working with City Stage Co. for many years playing the Mouse King in the Nutcracker Players and also portraying Mrs. Priscilla Broaders in True Tales of USS Constitution at the USS Constitution Museum.
She recently played Emma Goldman in Ragtime with New Repertory Theatre and is currently touring with New Rep's production of The Diary of Anne Frank. June appears in all of New England Light Opera's American Songbook revues including the Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern Celebrations. A Watertown, MA native, June is Music Director at the Armenian Memorial Congregational Church in Watertown and holds a Bachelor of Music from The Boston Conservatory. Upcoming projects include See What I Wanna See with Lyric Stage Company.
Craig Bailey, Photographer
Many of the photos appearing on this website were taken by Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo. Craig can be contacted at perspectivephoto@verizon.net
Dan Balkin, Actor, is a graduate of Tufts University with a degree in Drama and is a founding member of the Imaginary Beasts Theater Ensemble. His recent work has been in the title role of Harlequin: Refined by Love by Pierre Marivaux and the direction of Never Swim Alone by Daniel MacIvor, both productions with Imaginary Beasts. This is Dan's first year working with City Stage Co. and on KidStage at the Boston Children's Museum.
Ezra Flam, Artist/Educator, brings impressive teaching experience to his role, working with the New Victory Theater in New York, the Brown University Trinity Repertory Company and the All Children's Theatre, both in Providence. He has worked with children from preschool through high school on everything from Shakespeare to Peter Pan to original productions. He has taught for City Stage Co. in the Dramatic Developments program at the Umana Barnes Middle School and will teach drama in City Stage's summer drama program at the Blackstone Community Center. He holds a Master in Educational Theatre from New York University and a Bachelors in Theatre Arts from Brown University.
Michael LaChance, Program Manager
Mike comes to City Stage Co. with 15 years of experience in theater education and administration.
From 1990 to 1994, Mike served as director of the theater department at Attleboro High School, a program he created for the school system using a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Mike currently teaches acting at the Boston Center for Adult Education. He has also taught for the New York Film Academy at Harvard and the Studio for the Dramatic Arts.
Mike has worked in sales for the American Repertory Theatre and has done volunteer work for the Sugan Theatre Company.
When not at City Stage, he is the director of the sketch comedy troupe Perfect Monster, which he founded in 2000. The troupe was a featured act in the Lowell Comedy Festival of 2006.
Rosalie Norris, Assistant to Teen Stages, Actor on KidStage
Rosalie is in her final year at Emerson College studying acting and theatre education. She has held performance and education internships at Shakespeare & Co., Saratoga Shakespeare Co. and Seattle Children's Theatre. This spring she will begin her public school drama teacher certification.
Mari Novotny-Jones, Senior Artist/Educator, made her City Stage debut in the original cast of The History and the Adventures of Tom Thumb in 1982. She has been a member of Mobius Artists Group in Boston since 1980. Novotny-Jones has also worked as a professional actress in Boston, Chicago and New York City. Her original performance work includes both solo and collaborative pieces.
Mari received a Boston Cultural Council Grant for her project with Diane Edgecomb, "Millennium Labyrinth," a series of interactive performances in the MBTA subway system, commissioned by Boston First Night for 2000 and 2001.
For the past 4 years, she has been a part of a group of artists working with the properties of water as a source for art events. Meredith Morten, Ean White, Joanne Rice and Mari Novotny-Jones(The Water Project) have created performances and installations on the intersection of A and Congress Streets during Fort point Open Studios. In August, 2001, The Water Group organized a Meditation on the Nature of Tides at Nantasket Beach, Hull Ma.
Novotny-Jones participated in the "Liquor Amnii Artist Exchange" at the Skopsko Leto Festival in Skopje, Macedonia (1996) and the Convergence X Festival in Providence (1997). She participated in a Macedonia/Boston project in 2000 called "Root, Water, Bird, Nest." In 2001 and 2002, Mari participated in "Digging the Channel," an exchange with artists in Zadar,Croatia. She was one of 10 artists who were chosen for the International Debrca Artist Colony in Belchista, Macedonia. Mari has recently returned from her performance, “Matka”, at The City Center Gallery in Skopje, Macedonia, as part of the 2003 International Summer Festival, Skopsko Leto. In August 2003, she participated in the Mobius/Poland exchange. She and Milan performed “Weight” at The Castle of Imagination Festival in Utska, Poland. In her site specific piece, SubRosa(Secrets), she peeled potatoes for six hours in an abandoned water shed on the grounds of shipyards in Gdsank, Poland. This summer, Mari has been invited to the International Art Colony of Kicevo, Macedonia. She will also participate in the Forfest Czech Festival in June 2004.
Novotny-Jones is on the faculty of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. As lead artist educator at City Stage Co., Novotny-Jones has taught in the Boston Public schools and YWCA in Lowell, MA.
Mari served on the board of The Artists' Trust, a regional artists' advocacy organization. As a member of The Boston Coalition For Freedom of Expression, she became active with work on artist censorship
She is a recipient of a 2000 Tanne Foundation Artist Award for excellence in the arts.The award is distributed annually to five artists nationwide. The Tanne Foundation supports artistic endeavors in culturally under-served communities and under-appreciated forms of artistic expression.
In 2001, she was awarded an Emerging Artist/Humanitarian Fellowship from the Boston Cultural Council for her performance and teaching work. Mari received a Faculty Enrichment Grant from The school of the Museum of Fine Arts in Spring 2003 for her work in Macedonia.
Therese Perkins, Actor- has a BS in Theater Education from Emerson College. She made her City Stage Co. debut in 1997, singing and dancing about nutrition in Blue Plate Special.
After two years acting and teaching on KidStage, Therese left the Children's Museum and traveled around the south for 3 months with the Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus. Her life on the road over, Therese settled in at City Stage as an actor in The History and the Adventures of Tom Thumb.
Therese has added Folk Tales East & West, Folktales North & South and The Nutcracker Players to her City Stage resume. She has also taught theater at the Hernandez After School program and the Cacique Youth Center and is proud to have been the first coordinator of the South End After School Performing Arts Program.
Therese is currently filling her days raising her beloved daughter, Penelope Rose.
Chandra Pieragostini, Associate Director for Education, made her City Stage debut as Clara in Nutcracker Players in 1992.
She studied theatre at Brandeis University (BA Theatre Arts) and in London, England with instructors from the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has worked with children since 1986, as a teaching assistant at the Lemberg Children's Center on the campus of Brandeis University. She remains on staff as the drama specialist for the center. During the summer Chandra serves as Executive Director for Merrimack Repertory Theatre's Young Artists at Play, which serves children in grades 1-12.
Chandra has worked with City Stage Company as an actor, director, and theatre instructor. Her acting credits with the company, many of which toured, include Clara in The Nutcracker Players (Boston Area), Alice/Kristy in Fitkids (New England and Indiana), The Wife in The History and Adventues of Tom Thumb, Various roles in Folk Tales East & West (Boston Library Tour), D.W. in Arthur Writes a Play (KidStage at the Children's Museum, Boston), Various Roles in Take Me Along (KidStage at the Children's Museum, Boston), and Anne Hull in Tales of USS Constitution (USS Constitution Museum).
As a theatre educator, she has worked in the classroom at the McKinley Elementary School, Health Careers Academy, and the W.B. Rogers Middle School. Other City Stage Co. projects include directing Into the Woods, Double Trouble and 100 years of the Rogers at the W.B. Rogers Middle School in Hyde Park, and Alex in Wonderville and The Land of Goz which were orginal plays written by City Streets Teen Theatre at the YWCA of Lowell. She has been the acting instructor and theatre director of the South End After School Performing Arts Program (SEASPA) for City Stage Co. for four years. During that time, Chandra directed several original plays written by the acting students, including How there Came to Be Anansi Stories, Lazy Jack, The Magic Statue, Valentine Madness, and The Time Warp Zone. She also directed shows for SEASPA written by Larry Coen and Susan Gassett of City Stage Company including Hamlin Town and Snow Storm in the Enchanted Forest. Many of these shows toured to local libraries, community centers and The Children's Museum.
For over seven years Chandra has been a company member of Shear Madness, the longest running play in America. During that time she has played Barbara Demarco, Mrs. Shubert and Mikey Thomas, as well as serving as stage manager. Being a long standing member has allowed her the ability to invite her students from SEASPA and City Streets Teen Theatre to see the show several times free of cost. The students are able to meet the actors and director, as well as get a tour of the stage and backstage. Other local acting credits include Jackie: An Ameican Life at the Wilbur Theatre and the Hasty Pudding Theatre, A Shayna Madel and Company of Angels at The New Repertory Theatre, An Ideal Husband, A Woman of No Importance and Playboy Of The Western World at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Christmas on Mars at the Nora Theatre, and The Barechested Man at The Boston Playwrights Theatre. She has also worked on numerous commercials, industrial videos, independent films, and voice-over spots. She is a member of all three acting unions: AEA, AFTRA and SAG.
Jonathan Singleton, Music Director
Music DirectorJonathan Singleton, born in Philadelphia, PA., began his musical career at the age of 6 when a student teacher offered him clarinet lessons, thus instilling in him a deep passion for music.
He continued playing clarinet through high school and college, studying with Karl Krelove, Lennart Olsen, and Andre Lizotte. While a student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston he began playing piano, studying with Dean Earl and Lazlo Gardony. He graduated from Berklee in 1987 with a Bachelors Degree in Music Production and Engineering. After graduating he continued his piano studies with Frank Wilkins.
He is currently musical director for Orpheus/EMI recording artist Andre Ward and also musical director for City Stage Co., a non-profit children's theater company that provides opportunities for urban children and families to participate in the performing arts in the neighborhoods where they live and work. Through City Stage “Mr. Singleton” teaches music at the Rogers School in Hyde Park, Ma. In addition, he is a member of the music staff of the historic Twelfth Baptist Church of Roxbury, where he directs several choral groups including the Youth Choir and the Gospel Ensemble.
His arrangements for gospel choir and orchestra have been performed by the Quincy, Melrose and Cape Ann Symphonies.
As a keyboard player he has worked with several artists including Walter Beasley, Valerie Simpson (Ashford & Simpson), Gabrielle Goodman, Ollie Woodson (The Temptations) and guitarist Chuck Loeb.
As a choral director he has directed several choirs and choruses including the Kuumba Singers of Harvard, the Boston College Voices of Imani and the Berea S.D.A. Inspirational Choir. Currently he directs Northeastern University's J.D.O.A.A.I. Unity Gospel Ensemble and the Bunker Hill Community College gospel choir. Through these choral groups he has sought to preserve and present the rich variety of African-American cultural/musical expression.
Lisa Tucker has worked with City Stage as an actor since 1996.
She portrayed Ms. Frizzle at the Children's Museum Magic School Bus exhibit, and has been a Mouse King for Nutcracker Players since 1999. Lisa received her training at Boston University School for the Arts and at Emerson College, where she earned her BFA. She is a founding member of Beau Jest Moving Theatre, which has been creating and performing original works since 1984. She played the title role in their production of Krazy Kat, which won an Elliott Norton Award in 1995. As the touring company `Beau Jest Junior', Lisa also developed and toured two children's shows, adaptations of The Prince and the Pauper and Journey to the Centre of the Earth, with Beau Jest member Lauren Hallal. Lisa and City Stage Associate Director Larry Coen have perfomed together in several Beau Jest shows and in the award-winning independent film Disturbing Leonard (which was showcased at the 2005 Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona and recently shown at Third Annual Oxford Film Festival in Oxford, Mississippi). Other area credits include Living Out (Lyric Stage Co.), Body and Sold (Tempest Productions), The Jungle Book and The Good Times are Killing Me (Wheelock Family Theatre), A Comedy of Errors (Durham Center Stage), Circles (Threshold Theatre), and The 1997 NeWorks Festival (New Theater), as well as voice over, commercial and industrial work. You can see Lisa as Mrs. Shubert in Shear Madness, as Barb in A Prayer for Owen Meany (Stoneham Theatre)
She recently appeared in Samurai 7.0 with Beau Jest.
Georgelina Uribe is a Teen Assistant who works for City Stage Co. in their South End After School Performing Arts program at the Blackstone Community Center. She has been working for over six months at City Stage and she loves to work with the kids because they are extremely sweet. She loves working with kids to help them learn their lines until they have memorized them because that shows that they have learned what it truly means to be an actor.
When Georgelina is not working for City Stage she loves to hang out with her friends, go to the movies, the theater, to take long walks and practice her web designing skills.
Being one of 11 siblings Georgelina also spends a lot of her free time with her family.
When she grows up she thinks she might like to be a psychologist. To achieve this goal she would like to attend a college in New York City.
Andrea Zax, Designer
Andrea writes, "Behind the scenes I am the one designing and making costumes and props for theater and festivals. I have my BFA from Massachusetts College of Art where I formally started making things. But my Barbie doll will argue I started dressing her much earlier! I have been a working with costumes for the last 20 years and I have worked at Boston Ballet, The American Repertory Theater, The Huntington Theater and U. Mass. Amherst. I was the costume shop manager at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA and Boston Conservatory. I currently design and make costumes for the Boston Children's Museum, and City Stage Company as well as my own internet custom bridal business: www.studiosofandreazax.com I wore my own costumes that I had made for the “Arisia Science Fiction Fair" and I received 2 awards. I attend various festivals including Burning Man and I dress in costume at these events. I believe costumes can be worn by anyone who's up- for- an altered image of themselves."
News of Former Company Members and Colleagues
Artist/Educator Lesley Gurule has departed for Austin, Texas to pursue her
MFA.
Teen Stages Asistant Joanthan Shmidt is in New York, pursuing his Masters in Education from NYU.
The History and Adventures of Tom Thumb actor Brian Gallivan has moved to Los Angeles after performing to acclaim on the mainstage of the legendary Second City in Chicago.
Here's what Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune wrote about Brian in his review of the show Iraqtile Disfunction:
But this show totally belongs to a new performer — Brian Gallivan, who dominates the night. He reads as a good bit older than the typical mainstage discovery (nothing wrong with that), but, boy, is he a major talent. Thin, arch and intriguingly introspective at times, he can look like he just stepped out of "Queer Eye." But then he can veer on a dime to the opposite place — at one hilarious point, he plays a guy from the Catholic Church weeding out possible gay priests.
At Thursday's opening, Gallivan teased information out of a high school kid from Austin, Texas, better than I've ever seen anyone interact with the public in a decade or more at Second City. "My mother works at the Texas Department of Health," said the kid, opening up to the genial Gallivan like he was a guidance counselor. "I didn't know they had one," came the instant retort.
Heather Boas has moved from KidStage to the Chicago Children's Museum. She writes, "Chicago is an awesome city, but I'm freezing my tail off."
Former FitKid and Nutcracker Player Chris Dawson hosts a gardening show on HGTV (House and Garden Television.
Jan Davidson was a contestant in the 2005 California's Funniest Female Contest and recently apeared on The View.
Longtime KidStage actor Ben Webber, moved out to Chicago with his wife, Mona. Ben is working at the Children's Museum of DuPage
He joins ex-City Stagers and current Windy City residents Heather Boas, Dan Gately, Lionel Lee, Mary Beth McMahon and Rick Webber.
Former KidStager Teresa Huang Has recurring role as Kimmie on The Riches, appeared on Ugly Betty, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, E.R. and The West Wing on NBC.
Lucas Hall, who was in the original company of Arthur Writes a Play on KidStage when he was 17, played Romeo at New Repertory Theatre
She’s trained story analysts at Nickelodeon, MTV, and Final Draft and has taught writing and pitching at numerous film festivals including the Screenwriting Expo where she’s regularly featured as a “star speaker.”
Kipley Wentz
Former KidStager, Nutcracker Player and History and Adventures of Tom Thumb actor has a terrific website called www.actorslife.com/ He and his wife Karin are the proud parents of August Sinclair Wentz.
Lisa Schurga is performing improvisation on Thursday nights with Improv Asylum in Los Angeles.
Ex Fitkid Regina Macharia returned to her native Kenya, where she has enjoyed a thriving film and television career.
Regina starred in Saikati the enkabaani a film about a young Kenyan woman who trains as an pilot in order to assist the work of rural doctors.
KidStage actors Jan Davidson and Nanette Riendeau, have moved to Los Angeles to pursue their performing careers. They join former KidStagers Kim Crowe, Theresa Huang, Joanne Jacques, Keith Mahoney and Lisa Schurga in the "City of Angels."
Longtime KidStager Heather Hawes has moved to North Carolina with her husband.
Rose-Ann San Martino appeared in a production of Talking Heads by Alan Bennett at The Gilbert Theatre in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Keith Mahoney (KidStage, Nutcracker Players, The History and the Adventures of Tom Thumb) recently stopped by for a visit. Keith and his wife Marissa are thriving in Los Angeles, where Keith has been working as a video editor for King World Productions.
We were also paid a visit by City Stage alums (and spouses) Mary Beth MacMahon and Dan Gately, who were visiting from Chicago. Laughter came so fast and furious during their visit, that there was much coughing, choking and tearing.
Bill Homan is continuing his acting career in New York, where he joins alums Cammie DeLavigne, JC Devore, Jenny Pollack, Amy Rhodes, Bronwyn Sims, Bradford Scobie, and Kipley Wentz. Bill recently performed in Shakespeare in the Park(ing Lot)
New Orleans-based Adella continues to perform for young audiences as a poet and storyteller.
Kudos also to Matt Blake for his role in a Dasani Water commercial, directed by indie-film-fave, Wes Anderson
