The Cast
Erika Rolfsrud (Clyt) Credits include the Broadway productions of The Coast of Utopia, Exit The King and Rabbit Hole. Her Off-Broadway credits include Misalliance (The Pearl Theatre Co), The Cocktail Party (TACT), The Glory of Living (MCC, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman), How I Learned to Drive (Vineyard at the Century Theatre), Love’s Fire (The Public Theatre/Acting Company), Trout Stanley (Renaissant Arts at the Culture Project), O, Pioneers! (Women’s Project/Acting Company), USER 927 (HERE Space) and Eclipsed (Irish Repertory Theatre). Regionally, Erika has performed at the Old Globe Theatre (Sea of Tranquility, The Seagull, Cymbeline, Henry IV, Dancing At Lughnasa, Macbeth), Ford’s Theatre (Black Pearl Sings), Hartford Theatreworks (Rabbit Hole, The Dazzle), Pittsburgh Public Theatre (Rabbit Hole), St Louis Repertory Theatre (Little Dog Laughed—Kevin Kline Best Actress Award), The Wilma Theatre (Outrage), Arizona Theatre Company (Bad Dates), ACT Theatre in Seattle (Jumpers),Two River Theatre Company (Bad Dates), plus seasons with Utah, Seattle and Idaho Shakespearean Festivals. She was featured in the film Alone, and has been seen on Law & Order, All My Children, As The World Turns and Third Watch. MFA: USD/Old Globe Theatre.
Michael Brusasco (Buddy Cox/Non) Off-Broadway credits include Misalliance and Playboy of the Western World (Pearl Theatre Company). Other New York City credits include Health and Fitness (Soho Rep / Soho Shorts) and Of Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati (Lincoln Center Festival). Regional credits include Pride and Prejudice, Macbeth, Hamlet, Private Lives, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Mousetrap, The Tempest, and Taming of the Shrew (Utah Shakespearean Festival), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Romeo and Juliet (Pioneer Theatre Company), Much Ado About Nothing (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Beard of Avon (American Conservatory Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale (Great River Shakespeare Company), The Skin of Our Teeth, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar (California Shakespeare Theatre), Action Movie: The Play, Planet Janet (Impact Theatre), and Di Esperienza (Plan B Theatre Company). MFA: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Chris Bannow (Ore) Off-Off-Broadway: The Battle of Spanktown (Dixon Place/Fringe’10); UntilWeFindEachOther (Midtown Int’l Festival); Romeo and Hamlet (GAYfest). Regional: McCarter Theatre Center; Huntington Theatre Company; Long Wharf Theatre; Olney Theatre Center; Boston Playwrights; Central Square Theatre. TV: Nickelodeon, Friday Night Lights. Education: BFA, Boston University and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
Amanda Scot Ellis (Elle) is thrilled to be making her New York debut with this production. She graduated this past May from Fordham Lincoln Center where favorite roles included Ariel in The Tempest, Olympia in Big Love, Ragusa in Gertrude-The Cry, and Florinda in The Rover, among others. Since graduating she has appeared in both the workshop production of Electra in a One-Piece and the BBC Radio Drama “Severed Threads” alongside Brian d’Arcy James. Coming soon: www.amandascotellis.com!
Melanie Hopkins (Female Chorus) was most recently seen in Ian McWethy’s 12 Incompetent Men (And Women!) at the NY International Fringe Festival. She first performed Isaac Oliver’s words at the ripe old age of 17 and has been a loyal acolyte ever since. Other credits include Sideshow (Maryland Arts Festival), The Miser (Jean Cocteau Repertory), and several cabarets featuring the work of composer/lyricist Rob Shapiro. Melanie is currently developing a web series featuring a sassy puppet named Minerva.
Ian McWethy (Lad) Theatre: 12 Incompetent Men (And Women!), What May Fall, He Who Laughs: Live, January 1986, Trojan Horse, Glued To Grammy, Blogtown: The Musical. Film/TV: Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI, The Girl In The Park, Daily Pops. Ian would like to thank Dave and Isaac for the amazing opportunity, and his beautiful wife Carrie.
Austin Mitchell (Thus) Recent theatre credits include Möbius (HERE Arts Center Mainstage, Fringe 2010), Never Norman Rockwell (The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row, 2010 MITF), The Blue Balloon (New York Theatre Workshop), A Promise Best Kept (Theater for the New City), One Seat In The Shade (Soho Playhouse, Fringe 2008), and Moonchildren (Attic Theater Company). Film: the independent feature Struck (Vicart Entertainment), in addition to dozens of indie and student shorts. TV: Forensic Files. Graduate of Columbia University. More information at www.AustinMitchell.info.
Matt Park (Male Chorus) has a BFA in undergraduate drama from NYU. He is one half of the music and comedy duo Ellis and Park. He has co-written music for RISK!, a storytelling show which was performed at Arelene’s Grocery and Joe’s Pub during the summer and fall of 2009. He co-wrote the music for the musical Red Rover which was performed at Vampire Cowboy’s Saloon series during the fall and winter of 2008. Matt can also be seen in ongoing dates in Radio Deluxembourg, a brand new multi media episodic comedy…with Aliens. He co-wrote the play Byron and Emily Go To Work which he took to the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2005. He is happy to be working with the amazing cast and crew of Electra in a One-Piece! Love to his wife, Amy.
The Creative Team
Isaac Oliver (Playwright) Plays include Eddie Goshen is Dead, Long Dirty Jokes, and Slim, Dancing Joy. His poetry has been published in The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, a Knopf anthology. His blog, He Who Laughs, or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Intimacy, can be read at www.hewholaughs.com. He Who Laughs: Live, a regularly-updated stage show based on material from his blog, was most recently performed at Ars Nova. He is a graduate of Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Baltimore and Fordham College at Lincoln Center.
David Ruttura (Director) Directing credits include He Who Laughs: Live by Isaac Oliver (TAI Group/Ars Nova), Moustache Guys by Mike Lew (Second Generation), The Pink Campaign on Broadway, a benefit for the Susan G. Komen foundation at The American Airlines Theater, The NewMusicalTheatre.com Launch Concert (Le Poisson Rouge), Koberet (Joe’s Pub), 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic/New Voices (24 Hour Play Co/The Old Vic), Eddie Goshen is Dead by Isaac Oliver (Fordham Playwriting Program), Red, White and Purple (Ensemble Studio Theater). David is a member of At Play Productions. As an Associate Director, David has worked with Walter Bobbie, Doug Hughes, Thomas Kail, Des McAnuff, Phillip Wm. McKinley and Eric Schaeffer, Des McAnuff on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally and internationally. Select Associate/Assistant Director credits include Lombardi, Million Dollar Quartet, A Man For All Seasons, White Christmas (Broadway), Farragut North (Atlantic), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Roundabout), The Wiz and Fanny (Encores!), Ben Hur Live (International Tour), Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus (Gold Unit 2007), Most Happy Fella (New York City Opera), The Wiz and Zhivago (LaJolla Playhouse).
Kenneth Grady Barker (Set Design) is a Brooklyn-based scenic designer and sculptor whose theatrical design credits include K2 (Berkshire Theater Festival), Mine, Egg Farm, and Counterpoint (Slant Theater Project), Call Me Anne (Access Theater), Be the Dog (NYC Fringe), Dogs (Duo Theater), Twelfth Night and They Call Me Danger (the Chapin School), and 14 Times in Two Weeks (CounterPulse Theater, SF). Associate/assistant design credits include The Orphan’s Home Cycle (Broadway transfer), Broke-ology (Lincoln Center), Hollywood to Broadway (Shanghai Center), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (the Public), Dance Dance Revolution (the Ohio Theater), Pippin (Mark Taper Forum), “The Newlywed Game” (Gameshow Network), and Williamstown Theater Festival. Barker received his MFA in Sculpture and Performance Art at San Francisco Art Institute in 2005, and has shown his sculpture at Exit Art Gallery (NYC), Side-Show Gallery (NYC), Ramsden Morrison Gallery (San Diego), and the Diego Rivera Gallery (SF).
Moria Sine Clinton (Costume Design) designed Notes from Underground at Theatre for a New Audience, La Jolla Playhouse, after its original production at Yale Repertory Theatre, where her credits also include Peer Gynt, I Am Superhero, as well as The Underneath, Korean Elektra, Bone Songs, The Do-Over (Yale Cabaret). Recent credits include: Uncle Vanya, Duchess of Malfi, Woyzeck, and Much Ado About Nothing (Brown/Trinity Repertory), Stairs to the Roof (A.R.T. Institute), Grey Gone (Impact Theatre, NY). She has also been Associate to Jane Greenwood on Dallas Opera’s world premier of Moby Dick, Broadway’s Driving Miss Daisy, Million Dollar Quartet, and Present Laughter. Moria is a graduate from the Yale School of Drama.
Paul Toben (Lighting Design) Recent New York credits include: The Story of My Life (Broadway), The Realm (The Wild Project), Romeo and Juliet (Columbia Stages), Futurity and Too Little, Too Late (HERE Arts Center), When in Disgrace (Examined Man), The Redheaded Man (Fringe Encores). Regional credits include: Daddy Long Legs for TheatreWorks, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and other theaters around the country, Auctioning the Ainsleys (TheatreWorks), Shining City (Shadow Lawn Stage), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Theatre by the Sea), three seasons at Williamstown including designs of Caravan Man and Demon Dreams. Associate designer for: Everyday Rapture, Bye Bye Birdie, Sunday in the Park with George and Pal Joey (Broadway), Play Dead (New York & Las Vegas), National Tours of A Bronx Tale and Annie, regional productions of White Christmas, Broadway: Three Generations at the Kennedy Center, and Shamu Rocks! at SeaWorld Orlando.
Jeremy Cunningham (Lighting Design) is New York lighting designer whose work extends beyond theatre to include dance, events and live music. His theatre designs include Futurity: A Musical by The Lisps, Auto Da Fe (International WOW), Finger Paint (NY Fringe), The Box Man (Columbia). Dance designs include Black Tambourine, Jazzy Sleeping Beauty and Luku Lake. Live music design for The Floorwalkers and The Andy Shaw Band. His work as a lighting design assistant includes (Broadway) Sondheim on Sondheim, (Off-Broadway) Toxic Avenger, Farragut North, (National Tours) Spring Awakening. Jeremy graduated with a BFA in lighting design from Wright State University and is happy to report that after living in New York for two years, he has yet to be mugged, feels he needs to learn more Spanish and really wants a dog.
Ryan Scott Oliver (Original Music) 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient; Music and lyrics for 35mm, Darling, Mrs. Sharp (2008 Richard Rodgers Award Winner, at Playwrights Horizons July 2009 starring Jane Krakowski, dir. by Michael Greif); a collection of his work, Rated RSO, played the Kennedy Center, Joe’s Pub, New York Musical Theatre Festival; Off-Broadway: TheatreWorksUSA’s We the People, YouTube TV: The Battery’s Down (“This is Your Life,” among others); a 2007 Dramatists Guild Fellow; A.S.C.A.P.; Ryan is an adjunct professor at Pace University in New York, Artistic Director of the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program in California, represented by Jessica Amato at The Gersh Agency.
Jason Crystal (Sound Design) Designer for Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings (Carnegie Hall, upcoming Chicago and Los Angeles productions), Eddie Izzard: Live in New York (Westbeth), Kiss Me Kate (Light Opera Works). American Music Theatre Project credits: Was, The Boys Are Coming Home, Asphalt Beach. Associate for: Lombardi, The Addams Family, Minsky’s (Center Theatre Group), two seasons of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, including Twelfth Night, The Bacchae, The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice, and The Capeman. Assistant designer for LCT3′s inaugural production of Clay. A proud graduate of Northwestern University.
Dustin O’Neill (Projection Design) Broadway: Guys and Dolls (dir. Des McAnuff), The Story of My Life (dir. Richard Maltby). Opera: Faust (English National Opera, Metropolitan Opera), Wozzeck (San Diego Opera). NY/Regional: Macbeth (Stratford Shakespeare Festival), Parlour Song (Atlantic Theater Co.), What’s That Smell? (Atlantic Theater Co.), Oh, the Humanity (Flea Theater), TakeOver BAM (BAM), 365 Days/365 Plays (Bowdoin College), tick, tick, Boom! (ATF), Area of Rescue, Linus and Alora (AndHow! Theater Co.), The Director (Flea Theater). Set and Video Design: I See London, I See France (NYMF), Jekyll and Hyde: The Concert (National Tour), Kimberly Akimbo (Hudson Stage), Donna Morelli (NYS&F). Regional work at A.C.T. (San Francisco), La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, Denver Center Theater Co., and The Santa Fe Opera. Other: NBC – The Today Show (Asst. Art Director), Art Direction for Prada, GAP, Dolce and Gabbana and others, Art Direction for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony ’09.
Rick Sordelet (Fight Direction) is the top Fight Director in the country. He has 36 Broadway shows to his credit and over 40 first class productions worldwide. He has staged all of Disney Theatrical productions, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aida, and The Little Mermaid. He has staged the fights for 65 different productions of Romeo and Juliet and 50 different productions of Hamlet. He is the only Fight Director to stage the fights for a Superbowl Halftime Show (XXIX). He teaches at Yale University for the School of Drama, at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the New School of Drama in New York City. He is a company member of the Drama Dept., sits on the board for the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey and is on the advisory board for the Shakespeare Theater of St. Louis. Rick has staged hundreds of episodes for The Guiding Light where he has been the main Stunt Coordinator for the last seven years.
Carrie McCrossen (Dramaturg) has worked with Isaac Oliver and David Ruttura before on Isaac’s Eddie Goshen is Dead. She has also dramaturged the work of Ian McWethy, Elizabeth Hess, Jason Pizzarello, and Dawn Akemi Saito. Carrie loves to sponsor new work. She curated and hosted an original evening of ten minute plays for Bailout Theatre at Judson Memorial, and is the creator of the Freeplay series and Write the Vote. Carrie is an actor and improv comedian. Thanks to Good Company! Love to E.
Allison Deutsch (Production Stage Manager) Off-Broadway credits include: New World Stages – White’s Lies with Betty Buckley and Peter Scolari; Mint Theater – The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, The Fifth Column, Power of Darkness, The Madras House, Far & Wide, The Voysey Inheritance, No Time For Comedy; Perry Street Theatricals – A Dangerous Personality; Rattlestick – Down South; Om Productions – WASPs In Bed. Regional credits include: Ford’s Theatre – Trying starring James Whitmore; Geva Theatre Center – Gem of the Ocean; Peterborough Players – nine seasons including the World Premiere of This Verse Business starring Gordon Clapp, 2 Pianos 4 Hands, Tartuffe, Little Shop of Horrors, Heartbreak House, Doubt, Our Town, Last 5 Years, The Heiress, Cookin’ at the Cookery, Inherit the Wind, Candida, and Mr. Pim Passes By. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Good Company (Producer) is a new theater company formed by David Ruttura and Isaac Oliver dedicated to telling stories that engage, enlighten and, above all else, entertain. By rallying together old friends and welcoming new ones, we hope to form a community of young theater artists with strong, unique voices and equal senses of perspective and play. We strive to create an environment in which artists and audiences alike feel like they are — yes, we’re going there — in good company.