CREATIVES
ERIC JORDAN YOUNG
Playwright & Actor
ERIC JORDAN YOUNG (Actor/Writer) is a Producer, Director, Choreographer, Entertainer, Playwright and Songwriter with TV, Broadway (RAGTIME ‘98, RAGTIME ‘09, CHICAGO, SEUSSICAL, LOOK OF LOVE), Off-Broadway, Regional (Public Theatre, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Alliance Theater, Signature Theatre, Roundabout, MTC), National Tour (CHICAGO, RAGTIME, DREAMGIRLS), and Commercial credits. Eric is a Helen Hayes award recipient whose Las Vegas performances include COCKTAIL CABARET (Caesars Palace), ROCK OF AGES (Venetian/Rio), SHAKIN’ (Planet Hollywood), CHICAGO (Mandalay Bay), STARLIGHT EXPRESS (Las Vegas Hilton) and VEGAS! THE SHOW. Eric has performed with several Symphonies throughout the country including the Atlanta Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. His solo album ONCE IN A LIFETIME, was produced by his company EnJoY! Productions and his one-man musical SAMMY & ME is the winner of the ArtVoice and Salt Awards. SAMMY & ME which had productions at MusicalFare Theater, the Hangar Theater, The Alliance Theater and the National Black Theater Festival will receive a newly devised production in the summer of 2023 @ Bay St Theater. Mr. Young was the Resident Director of BAZ (Venetian/Palazzo) and Creative Director for RENEGADES (Caesars Palace), DRAG SUPPER CLUB and THIS IS CHRISTMAS (Venetian). Eric is the Director/Choreographer of WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW and THE GREAT AMERICAN SONG FACTORY for Norwegian Cruise Line and the Associate Director for their production of FOOTLOOSE. Other Associate Director credits include the immersive production of ROCK OF AGES in Hollywood, CA., the 2022 Kennedy Center production of GUYS & DOLLS and several new works including the new musicals VANISHING GIRL, THE LAST SHOW and the BLACK BULLET DICHOTOMY. Eric is a graduate of Ithaca College and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Long Island University in Brookville, NY. ericjordanyoung.com / @ejyshakin
WENDY DANN
Playwright & Director
WENDY DANN (Director/Writer) Selected directing work includes the Dallas Theater Center (CONSTELLATIONS, THE WOLVES, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD), The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (BUYER AND CELLAR), Alliance Theatre (SAMMY & ME), Syracuse Stage (CHESAPEAKE), Capitol Repertory Theatre (NO CHILD...), Kitchen Theatre (EVERY BRILLIANT THING, BUYER AND CELLAR, NORA, THREE DAYS OF RAIN, THE UNEXPECTED MAN), Cherry Artists Collective (A DAY), and seven seasons as associate artistic director at the Hangar Theatre (I AM MY OWN WIFE, STONES IN HIS POCKETS, CATS, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, THE BLUE ROOM, SAMMY & ME). Wendy's plays have been finalists for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference as well as the Arts & Letters Prize in Drama. She was a 2013 recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting and Screenwriting. Her original play, BIRDS OF EAST AFRICA, premiered at the Kitchen Theatre, and her short film, LA CASA VERDE, screened at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival and the San Antonio Film Festival. She was twice a second-rounder at the Austin Film Festival and was invited to Meryl Streep’s Writers Lab 2021. MFA, Syracuse University. BFA, Ithaca College. Member, SDC.
OUR TEAM
Gerry has won widespread acclaim for his most recent choreographic credit: the Berkshire Theatre Group's production of Godspell -- sold out, twice-extended, with rave reviews. He was recently made Associate Artistic Director of the York Theatre. made his directing debut at The York with the 2018 Musicals in Mufti presentation of Hallelujah Baby. Kinky Boots — The Hangar Theatre,Soon of a Mornin - Lions Theatre. Once On This Island - Martin Beck Theatre, Virginia Stage,Pioneer Theatre, Actors’ Theatre Of Louisville, La Mirada Theatre (Robby Award for Best Director, Ovation nomination for Best Choreography and Best Musical); Ain’t Misbehavin - Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Gateway Playhouse and Theatre By The Sea Chicago - Ogunquit Playhouse; Joseph....Dreamcoat starring Diana Degarmo and Anthony Federov - Lyric theatre; The National Tour of Dreamgirls. As a Choreographer: Anything Can Happen In The Theatre and Forbidden Broadway The Next Generation at the York Theatre. Side by Side, Tommy and My Fair Lady at the Berkshire Theatre Festival; A Saint She Aint - Westport Playhouse; Laura Comstocks Bag Punching Dog (LA weekly nomination Best Choreography). The Wiz-Broadway Sacramento, Priscilla-Gateway Playhouse, After The Storm documentary. Gerry is the choreographer of the hit off Broadway show Spamilton. As a performer the original company of Once On this Island, Anything Goes with Patti Lupone and one of three Americans in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Donny Osmond. www.gerrymcintyre.net
Tommy is a Pianist, Composer, Arranger and Music Director who majored in composition at the Manhattan School of Music. Over the years he has worked with an eclectic group of artists in many musical genres. Among the outstanding artists and bands with whom he had performed and recorded are The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Lionel Hampton, Joe Williams, Maureen McGovern, Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Eartha Kitt, Nell Carter, Roy Ayers, The Stylistics, Melba Moore, George McCrae, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Vera, The Spinners, and The Temptations. He served as Music Director with the international Tour and the Tony Award winning musical Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk starring Savion glover. He was the Musical Director for Eartha Kitt, Doc Powell, Bobbi Humphrey and others. Mr. James’ arrangements (some published by Warner Bros.) have been performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York’s Supper Club and during the Jerry Lewis Telethon.
Joanna is a NYC-based Sound Designer and Audio Engineer. She has over 25 years of experience in Live Entertainment. She has extensive credits associate designing and engineering Broadway Shows and National Touring Companies including Angels in America, The Color Purple, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Les Miserables, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Some of her Off-Broadway and Regional shows include work at Alliance Theatre, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, The Public Theater, and Seattle REP. Her TV credits include audio engineering for the NBC-Live! Productions of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, and The Wiz, the Summer Concert Series at both Good Morning America and The Today Show, as well as mixing several Puppy Bowls for The Animal Planet. She has lectured at Ithaca College, Princeton University, University of Cincinnati, and SUNY Albany. She holds degrees in music, audio engineering and technical theatre from Ithaca College and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. jlssound.com
Toni has designed costumes nationally for every entertainment venue; feature film, television, opera, dance, industrials, regional theater, and Broadway. For Broadway, she has designed Bernhardt/Hamlet, Come From Away (Hewes Design Award, Drama Desk nomination), August Wilson’s Jitney (TONY nomination, Drama Desk nomination), Amazing Grace (Hewes Design Nomination), Lucky Guy, The Scottsboro Boys, Finian's Rainbow, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, King Hedley II, One Mo’ Time, The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Footloose, The Tempest, Twilight Los Angeles 1992, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches & Perestroika, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Jelly’s Last Jam. Off-Broadway she has designed multiple productions for The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Soho Rep, Lincoln Center Theater, The New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theater Club, The Roundabout Theater, and over 15 productions for the NY City Center Encores series. Regionally, her work could be seen in productions for La Jolla Playhouse, Steppenwolf, Hartford Stage, The Long Wharf, Baltimore Center Stage, The Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Round House Theatre, Seattle Rep, The Shakespeare Theatre, Berkley Rep, The Alliance Theatre, Goodspeed Playhouse, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, ACT, Portland Center Stage, The Denver Theater Center, and the Crossroads Theatre Co. Internationally, she has designed for The Abbey Theater in Dublin, Ireland, two productions on the West End, The Young Vic, The Royal Court Theater and The Chichester Theater.James was the head costume designer for Whoopi on NBC, and the CBS soap opera, As the Word Turns, as well as having designed three specials for WNET/13’s Great Performances series. Her design work has been displayed in nine major museum and college exhibitions including a 2006 retrospective of her career at The American Museum of Natural History "Designing Woman: Inside The Life And Career of Costume Designer, Toni-Leslie James", the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library 2008-2009 exhibition "Curtain Call: A Century of Designing Women", and “More Life!: Angels in America at Twenty” at The Museum of Performance & Design in San Francisco, CA. in 2010-2011.
Ms. James has garnered a total of forty-one costume design nominations or awards for her contributions to various theatrical productions including two Tony Award nominations, five Drama Desk nominations, two Hewes Design Awards and four additional Hewes nominations, five Audelco Award nominations, two N.A.A.C.P Image Award nominations, three Lucille Lortel nominations, an Helen Hayes Award nomination, The Denver Theatre Center Ovation Award nomination, The LA Drama-Logue Award, The FANY Award, The Connecticut Critics Circle Award, the Irene Sharaff Young Masters Award For Costume Design Excellence, the 2009 Obie Award for Sustained Costume Design Excellence, and the 2011 National Black Theater Festival Outstanding Costume Designer of The Year Award. In January 2018, Ms. James was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Sewanee, The University of the South.
Ms. James is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Design at Yale University. She received her BFA in Theatre from The Ohio State University.
Chris has lit over 300 shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regional Theatre, London’s West End, Tokyo, film, opera, television, cruise ships, theme parks, and Las Vegas spectacles. He has been nominated for The American Theatre Wing Henry Hewes, The Helen Hayes, The Barrymore, The Tina and The Katherine Cornell. For his design work he has received The Helen Hayes Award, Katherine Cornell Award and, with the Walt Disney Creative Entertainment team, the 2015 IAAPA Brass Ring for Best Overall Production for King Triton’s Concert. He was honored as Philadelphia’s Best Lighting Designer by Philadelphia Magazine and has been featured in Lighting Dimensions Magazine, Live Design and Lighting And Sound America. Chris Lee’s selected theatre credits include Fame Becomes Me, Linda Eder Live at the Gershwin Theatre, Linda Eder At Carnegie Hall, Beaches The Musical, Shakespeare’s R&J, The Burnt Part Boys, Side Show, Dreamgirls, Miss Saigon, The Witches of Eastwick, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Pajama Game, Saving Aimee!, M. Butterfly, Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Gypsy, Company, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Into the Woods, Follies, Elegies: A Song Cycle, and Xanadu.Mr. Lee has had the privilege to collaborated on projects with Hasbas Entertainment, Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, Disney Cruise Lines, Tokyo Disney Sea, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort, Oriental Land Company, Universal Creative, Universal Beijing, Universal Florida, Kawana Entertainment, Broadway Across America, Clear Channel Entertainment, Pace Theatrical, Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, Phoenix Entertainment, Second Stage Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath, Playwrights Horizons, The Old Globe San Diego, Pasadena Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Dallas Theatre Center, Barrington Stage Company, Ford’s Theatre and 35 designs for Signature Theatre DC.