Cast

  • JESSICA HECHT (Performer, Co-Conceiver): Broadway credits include Eureka Day and Summer, 1976 (Tony Nomination) The Price, Fiddler on the Roof, The Assembled Parties, Harvey, After the Fall, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Julius Caesar, and A View from the Bridge (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway, she has appeared in King Lear, Stage Kiss, Three Sisters, The Orchard, Letters from Max, and Admissions (Obie Award & Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination). Her recent television appearances include the Netflix series Special, for which she received an Emmy Award Nomination, and her roles on Tokyo Vice, Super Pumped, The Sinner, The Loudest Voice, Dickinson, The Boys, and Succession. She is also recognizable to television audiences from her roles in the beloved series Friends and Breaking Bad. She recently completed the film Eleanor the Great directed by Scarlett Johansson.

    Jessica teaches acting at both Williams College and the HB Playwright’s Studio. She founded the Campfire Project in 2017 and has worked with refugee communities in camps world wide. She maintains programming in both NYC and at the Palorinya Settlement in Moyo Town, Uganda.

  • DELILAH NAPIER (Performer) Theater: Our Class (BAM Fisher & Classic Stage Company), Merchant Of Venice (Classic Stage Company), Member of the Wedding (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Taming of the Shrew (Powerhouse/NYSAF). TV: “Criminal Minds,” “Billions,” “The Sinner,” “Gossip Girl.” Indie Film: Floating Carousel (post-production), Voyeur(starred, co-writer/director – winner “Best Actor” Yale in Hollywood Film Festival), “Best US Feature Film” at the SoHo Int. Film Festival, and other awards. (Now streaming on Amazon Prime.) Currently in development with writing partner, Lucy Powers, on a new screenplay with production company, Star Thrower, as well as several other projects.

  • ZANE PAIS (Performer) recently starred in Sarah Ruhl’s acclaimed world premiere Letters from Max at Signature Theater, directed by Kate Whoriskey. Previously starred in Richard Greenberg’s The Perplexed at MTC; in Jack Thorne’s world premiere of Sunday, directed by Lee Sunday Evans at Atlantic Theater Company; in the stage adaptation of Dead Poet’s Society, directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company; and in Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur, directed by Scott Elliott for The New Group. He starred in and executive produced Kit Zauhar’s independent feature This Closeness, which premiered at SXSW 2023 and received and Audience Award nomination. Pais made his film debut in Noah Baumbach’s Margot At The Wedding. He also previously appeared in the independent feature Minyan, which premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, and Amy Rice’s The Independent starring Brian Cox. On television, Pais had a pivotal arc in Starz’s “Three Women” opposite Shailene Woodley, Betty Gilpin, and Dewanda Wise.

  • FERGIE PHILIPPE (Performer) will soon be touring the nation as The Beast in the 30th Anniversary Revival tour of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast. Previous Credits—Broadway: Hamilton (Hercules Mulligan/James Madison), Camelot (Sir Sagramore; King Arthur U/S). Off-Broadway: The Connector (Bob Henshaw/Willis Taylor). National Tour: Hamilton (Hercules Mulligan/James Madison). TV/Film: “The Good Fight,” “The Gilded Age,” “Law and Order: SVU,” Space Cadet. He sends his love to Rose, his family, and his thanks to HCKR and The Boothe Group.

  • PORTIA (Performer) To Kill A Mockingbird (Broadway), Stew (Walkerspace, World Premiere, Pulitzer Finalist), The Rose Tattoo (Broadway), Another Shot (The Pershing Square Signature Center), Redwood (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream In Harlem (Pittsburgh Public Theater), Celebrating the Black Radical Imagination/ don’t get got (Williamstown Theatre Festival) Sweat (Mark Taper), Film: Intervention, Lapsis, All The Little Things We Kill, Skin, From Nowhere, St. Vincent, The Greatest, The Messenger, Please Give. Television: “Diarra From Detroit,” “New Amsterdam,” “Big Dogs,” “Madam Secretary,” “Bull,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “The Blacklist.”

Musicians

  • WILLIAM KENNETH VAUGHAN (Musician) is a singer/songwriter on the triple-platinum B o o m era ng soundtrack, the H o u s e P a rt y soundtrack, and the “Leave No Child Behind” National PSA. Vaughan has written multiple songs for S es a m e S t r e et including “Count Me In” which was performed by Meghan Trainor on S es a m e S t r e et ’ s 50t h A nni v ers a ry C el ebra t i o n and also covered by Jimmy Fallon and the Roots with Elmo and the Muppets. His band, Essex Funk Collective, performs in the Tri-State Area.

  • NORMAN “SKIP” BURNS (Composer and Musician) signed with Bon Ami/MCA Records in 1990 as part of the R&B group 4 Destiny. With over 35 years of experience, he has written and recorded more than 60 songs, available on Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Music. Skip was featured in Mustapha Khan’s award-winning documentary, S o ng F o r Ou r Pe o p l e, performing the song “What Have You Done With Your Freedom?” screened at lm festivals across the country. In 2023, Skip received a Telly Award for his performance in the social justice video entitled “Don’t Cry.” In 2024, he performed live with American rap group The Sugarhill Gang at the Glass House in New York City. Skip also performed live at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations in 2023, 2024, and 2025. He continues to perform as gospelhip-hop artist Normie B at church events across the state of New Jersey. His Juneteenth performance earned awards from the Bergen County Board of Commissioners, County Executive, and Sheriff’s Office. Skip also appeared in a national SA for the Leave No Child Behind Campaign.

Creative Team

CONCEPT & PLAY


  • Co-Conceiver / Actor

    Jessica Hecht’s Broadway credits include Eureka Day and Summer, 1976  (Tony Nomination) The Price, Fiddler on the Roof, The Assembled Parties, Harvey, After the Fall, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Julius Caesar, and  A View from the Bridge (Tony Nomination) . Off-Broadway, she has appeared in King Lear, Stage Kiss, Three Sisters, The Orchard, Letters from Max, and Admissions (Obie Award & Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination). Her recent television appearances include the Netflix series “Special,” for which she received an Emmy Award Nomination, and her roles on “Tokyo Vice,” “Super Pumped,” “The Sinner,” “The Loudest Voice,” “Dickinson,” “The Boys,” and “Succession.” She is also recognizable to television audiences from her roles in the beloved series “Friends” and “Breaking Bad.” She recently completed the film  Eleanor the Great directed by Scarlett Johansson.

     Jessica teaches acting at both Williams College and the HB Playwright's Studio. She founded the Campfire Project in 2017 and has worked with refugee communities in camps world wide. She maintains programming in both NYC and at the Palorinya Settlement in Moyo Town,Uganda.


  • Neena Beber’s plays include Jump/Cut, A Foreign Body, The Dew Point, Hard Feelings, Tomorrowland, A Common Vision, The Brief but Exemplary Life of the Living Goddess (as told by herself) and the short plays Specter and Misreadings. Most recent: Kate Suspended (National Playwrights Conference at The O’Neill Center; libretto for Rutka (Cincinatti Playhouse in the Park) and Iphigenia (operetta, composer Anthony Brandt). Recipient of an Obie grant, a Lilly Award, the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award, a Sloan Commission and a MacDowell Fellowship. A two-time Emmy nominee, she has written extensively for film and television (most recently, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). Neena was born and raised in Miami, Florida and holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University where she specialized in LatinAmerican literature and an M.F.A from N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts, where she was a Paulette Goddard Fellow. A member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop, her lyrics are featured in work by frequent collaborator Jaime Lozano. An alumna of New Dramatists, Neena has taught at Columbia University, mentored at Reel Works, and sits on the Advisory Board of The Orchard Project.

MUSICAL DIRECTOR


  • Musical Director

    Mustapha Khan is an Emmy Award-winning songwriter, producer and filmmaker. He has penned and produced dozens of original songs for Sesame Street and other childrens' television shows, as well as for commercials. His original music and collaborative creative process is featured in the documentary Song For Our People, streaming now on Amazon Prime. His directing credits include the films: Rocksteady, Life and Breath, House on Fire, Step to the Future and the aforementioned Song For Our People. Khan is a graduate of Harvard University and a Film Professor at Brooklyn College.

CHOREOGRAPHY


  • Choreographer

    Shura Baryshnikov is a New England-based artist who works broadly across dance, theater, and opera. Recent credits include projects at Hartford Stage Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Boston Lyric Opera, FirstWorks, Emmanuel Music, Motion State Arts, The Gamm Theatre, Odyssey Opera, and the Contemporary American Theater Festival, among others. Baryshnikov directed Svadba, a cinematic opera for Boston Lyric Opera, which received the award for Artistic Creation at the 2nd Annual OPERA America Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera in 2023. Baryshnikov is an Associate Professor of the Practice at Brown University in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies where she has held a full-time appointment since 2017 and has also instructed at Dean College, Connecticut College, and MIT. Both a performer and a designer, Baryshnikov is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the American Guild of Musical Artists, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. 

DIRECTOR


  • Director

    Maria Mileaf is a NY based director whose directing credits include Jessica Dickey’s The Rembrandt at TheaterWorks Hartford; Kwame Kwei Armah’s Let There Be Love at Penguin Rep; Lee Blessings’ Body of Water and Sharon Washington’s Feeding the Dragon at Primary Stages; Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder for the Play Company; Neena Beber’s Hard Feelings for WP Theatre/New Georges; Oren Safdie’s Gratitude at Urban Stages; Courtney Baron’s Here I Lie for Summer Shorts @ 59E59; Alexandra Gersten-Vasillaros’ The Argument at The Vineyard; Joanna Murray-Smith’s Ninety at New York Stage and Film; Nash’s The Rainmaker at The Old Globe; Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Story at the Philadelphia Theatre Company where Mileaf won a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction; Lucy Prebble’s Sugar Syndrome, John Belluso’s A Nervous Smile and Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Wendy Wasserstein’s Third at The Geffen.  On the West End, Maria directed Glen Berger’s Underneath the Lintel. Maria is grateful to be in the room together with this group of astonishing collaborators and she is thrilled to be making theatre and community with entire inspiring team. 

DRAMATURG


  • Dramaturg

    Fareeda is a New York based theater artist and advisor (Dramatists Guild; AEA). She is passionate about creating inclusive, provocative, and entertaining stories that subvert prevailing narratives. Her plays have been produced at Brooklyn Art Haus and Theater Row, and internationally at the BIRD Theater Festival in Japan and an upcoming production at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her acting credits include BRECHT ON BRECHT Off-Broadway (ART New York). Fareeda serves on two NYC-based nonprofit Off-Broadway theater boards at the intersection of arts and activism: Theater Breaking Through Barriers (formerly Theater by the Blind) and Gingold Theatrical Group (dedicated to the works and spirit of George Bernard Shaw). She holds a BA from Barnard College (Summa Cum Laude) in English Literature, and Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures, and an MBA from Stanford University.

  • NEIL PATEL (Scenic Designer)’s recent projects: Laurence Fishburne’s Like They Do in the Movies, Perelman Performing Arts Center, Civilization to Nation: The Great Indian Musical, Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center in Mumbai, Antoine Fuqua’s “King Shaka” (CBS/Showtime) and David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind (Denver Center for Performing Arts/Arbutus.) Notable lm and television projects: “Dickinson” for AppleTV+ (Peabody Award), “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” for HBOMAX, Some Velvet Morning (TriBeCa Film Festival) for TriBeca Films, “In Treatment” for HBO (Peabody Award), Dil Dhadakne Do and Little Boxes (TriBeCa Film Festival, Net ix). Designs for theater, dance and opera: Tony Award–winning Side Man, West End, Public Theater, American Repertory Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Goodman Theater, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Gate (Dublin), Parco Theater (Tokyo), Edinburgh International Festival, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Festival among many others. Recent productions include: Mughal e Azam, Mumbai, New Delhi and worldwide tour, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3), Royal Court in London and Time and the Conways on Broadway. Member of the SITI Company, designed many productions including War of the Worlds and Hotel Cassiopeia, Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival.

  • KAREN BOYER (Costume Designer) designs and builds costumes in NYC. Past and recent collaborators include choreographers Catherine Galasso, Faye Driscoll, Sidra Bell, Abigail Levine, Sarah Dahnke, nicHi douglas, Katy Pyle, and Sunny Hitt; Opera Columbus, Fresh Squeezed Opera, and theater makers Yangtze Rep, the New Wild, Object Collection, harunalee, and Target Margin Theater. BFA: Maryland Institute College of Art, MFA: NYU Tisch.  

  • MATTHEW RICHARDS (Lighting Designer). Broadway: Ann starring Holland Taylor. Opera: Macbeth at LA Opera, Wolf Trap. O-Broadway: Is God Is at Soho Rep; The Killer, Tamburlaine, and Measure For Measure at Theatre For a New Audience; The Atlantic; B.A.M.; Geva; LCT3; MCC; The Mint; Playwrights Horizons; Play Co.; Primary Stages; Second Stage; Rattlestick Theater. Regional: Actor’s Theater of Louisville; The Alley; Arena Stage; Baltimore’s Center Stage; Cincinnati Playhouse; Cleveland Playhouse; Dallas Theater Center; Ford’s Theatre; The Goodman; The Guthrie; Hartford Stage; The Huntington; Long Wharf; La Jolla Playhouse; The Old Globe; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Shakespeare Theatre; Syracuse Stage; Westport Playhouse; Williamstown Theatre Festival; Yale Repertory Theatre. 

  • NICK T. MOORE (Sound Designer) is a New York City–based composer and sound designer with over 20 years of experience. Most recently, he composed the score to the critically acclaimed, award-winning short lm The Feeling Part** which screened at the Chelsea Film Festival. His work includes: International: The Garden of Alla*—Edinburgh Fringe/Theater West, LA/Revolution Stage, Palm Springs, CA/Firehouse, VA/Kennedy Center/8 NY Productions; O-Broadway: The Drawer Boy*—SoHo Playhouse/Oberon Theater Ensemble; Orson’s Shadow, 25th Anniversary Production, TCN; The Dark Outside, TCN; Expatriate—Culture Project; Summer Shorts 14’–19’— 59E59/Throughline Artists; Crazy for the Dog—Jean Cocteau Rep., Defenses of Prague—La Mama; Embraceable Me—(NY/NC) RReiner/Blumenthal PAC; O-O-Broadway: 18 w/Resonance Ensemble, including 23 Knives*; 9 w/Oberon including Keep on Truckin’*; Peace, The Musical*. Film: Being Reel**—(Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s); The Feeling Part**, Lily**, 7 Men of Hanukkah**. Nick is an Expert Teaching Artist at Roundabout Theater Company Best Music, Musical, and/or Sound Design nominee, *festival winner and various selections.

  • THOMAS JENKELEIT (Prop Designer) is a prop and scenic designer from Queens, New York devoted to creating new, reimagined, and thought-provoking work. O-Broadway: SUMO (The Public/Ma-Yi), The Fires, Give Me Carmelita Tropicana! (Soho Rep.), The Wind & The Rain (Vineyard Theater/En Garde Arts) Franklinland, Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Sex Variants of 1941 (The Civilians), Illinoise (Park Avenue Armory), All The World’s a Stage (Keen Company). BFA Ithaca College. 

Design Team

Production & Stage Management Team

  • JAMES FITZSIMMONS aka “Fitz” (Production Stage Manager). 26 Broadway shows and over 40 O-Broadway and regional productions. This is his fth show with the magical Jessica Hecht. He has been a proud AEA member for 37 years and a partner in BLACK IRISH PRODUCTIONS. He is also the proud creator of The Rebecca Luker Theatrical Partnership with Clear Space Theatre Company in Rehoboth Beach Delaware. Thanks to Jenn, Liza, and Annie for being an amazing team.

  • JENN MCNEIL (Assistant Stage Manager). Broadway: Hand to God, Constellations, Side Show, A Christmas Story (and its mini tour), Other Desert Cities, The People in the Picture, The Addams Family, Everyday Rapture, Come Back, Little Sheba. Jenn stage managed for 8 years at Blue Man Group New York. She’s proud to have been a part of the Blue Man Community and there for the closing performance of the production’s 33-year run. Some O-Broadway highlights: Lee Blessing’s A Body of Water with director Maria Mileaf; Red Bull Theater; Roundabout Theater Company; Classical Theater of Harlem; Ma-Yi Theater Company. Regional: Murder for Two: Holiday Edition, My Fair Lady, Hairspray! in concert, The Nutty Professor. SUNY Geneseo and Juilliard Internship Program graduate. For my Big Sis, Karen.

  • LIZA MILLER (Production Assistant) is delighted to make her o-Broadway debut. She is a student of the Ammerman Center for Arts & Technology and the School of Visual Arts. Her previous live performance credits include Book Club Radio, My Life in a Minor Key, and The Unxing installation. In addition, she has professional experience as a video editor, graphic designer, writer, and producer.

  • ANNIE STEIN (Production Assistant) is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she was a member of the theater producing board Something on the Green, and co-wrote and codirected Hint: The Parody of the Play of the Movie of the Board Game. Her one-act The Ghost of Bob Dylan Shows One of Us Greatness was featured in SPF:30, a short play festival at Brown, and will be a part of the 2025 Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series. A workshop reading of her play White Elephant, produced by Trove Theater Collective at the Tank,is upcoming in April. She has worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and, more recently, with Uptown One Train Theater Co and the Episodic Theatre Project. Notably, she played the role of Veruca Salt’s mom in a Jewish summer camp production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at age 10. 

  • LANA RUSSELL (Producer/General Manager) is an artistic producer, director, and dramaturg specializing in new plays and musicals. Russell has produced, directed, or developed plays at The 5th Avenue Theatre, The Civilians, The Lark, Primary Stages, New Georges, Cal Shakes, Naked Angels, Dorset Theatre Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Bedlam and New York Stage and Film. Russell is the Director of Producing and Programming at The Orchard Project and was the previous General Manager at Hudson Valley Shakespeare. Recent producing includes workshops of Five Notes by Gloria and Emily Estefan and Karen Zacarias, directed by Michael Greif and Safety Not Guaranteed by Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller, directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Member: Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. MFA: Directing, New School. BA: Theater, UC Irvine. Classical Certi cation: Balliol College, Oxford University. 

  • SUSAN KAPLAN (Producer), a native Floridian from Miami Beach, produced the Academy Award–nominated documentary, Small Wonders, adapted into Music of the Heart, starring Meryl Streep. She directed and produced the acclaimed documentary Three of Hearts: A Postmodern Family, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival; aired on Bravo and the Sundance Channel. Kaplan has co-produced and distributed lms for the Four Oaks Foundation, covering subjects from the Guarneri String Quartet to the Velvet Revolution. Producer of If Your Curls Could Talk, a podcast with host Lorraine Massey, founder of CurlyWorld and is the founder of DocuClub. Kaplan co-facilitates a virtual work-in-progress on the D-Word and is a member of the Documentary Producers Association’s Producing Toward Equity program. She also served as Associate Producer with David Friedson on It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home, and Dame Edna: The Royal Tour.

  • ALEX MONTOYA (Associate Producer)