The Production
Team
Click on a name to learn more
|
Email Kira
Matt Connolly is thrilled to be working on 365. A sophomore at Wesleyan, he has acted in student productions of "The Lion in Winter" and "The Frogs." He is also co-editor of the Arts section of the Wesleyan Argus.
Email Matt
Gabriel is excited to be involved with 365 Plays. He just acted in two productions over winter break: Drawn & Quartered and 24/6, both with the Immediacy Theatre Project in Belleville, Illinois. He has acted, directed, or written for several shows with that same company in the past. Gabriel has also acted in several plays at Wesleyan University: Master Peter’s Puppet Show (which also traveled to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.), The Lion in Winter, and Western Civilization: The Complete Musical (Abridged). He also acted or did tech for nearly 20 productions in high school. This spring, he will be appearing in Orpheus, a rock opera based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, to be performed at Wesleyan. Outside of theatre, Gabriel enjoys traveling, amusement parks, and filmmaking. He has worked on or acted in several student films, is currently editing a feature-length film he directed, and is planning on majoring in Film Studies. His activities, jobs, and clubs include Vice President of the Wesleyan Film Co-op, Tour Guide with Wesleyan Admissions, Quasimodal a cappella, Outing Club, Film Series Usher, and IMS Special Events Staff.
Email Gabriel
David B. Jaffe comes to Wesleyan University from the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center where for eight years he served as Director of the National Theater Institute, a 14-week intensive theater immersion study-away program. Jaffe taught advanced acting classes, audition technique, improvisation, ensemble process, and mentored the directing lab. During his sixteen semesters, he directed the NTI Final Project thirteen times. The NTI Final Project is a performance piece collectively created by the ensemble of students and usually adapted from non-theatrical source material. Inspirations have come from texts such as Dante’s Inferno, the Odyssey, or most recently Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis. NTI Final Projects have included an adaptation of Charles Mee’s Trojan Women: A Love Story, Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty, and two projects created entirely by the ensemble – The Dream Project and Civil/War. Jaffe has built professional associations with the Moscow Art Theater, the St. Petersburg Theater Arts Academy, The Wooster Group, and Anne Bogart’s SITI Company. He has been a professional observer at the Actors Studio in New York City, where he coordinated a colloquium between the actors of the Moscow Art Theatre and the members of the Actors Studio during the last American tour of MXAT’s production of The Three Sisters. He received his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama during the tenure of Lloyd Richards.
Email David
Nikhil Melnechuk is a senior at Wesleyan, where he directed Frank McGuiness' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, and produced the Screen Democracy Film Festival. Nikhil has produced and directed two feature films for his production company, Wanderlust Pictures. Manilla (2003) enjoyed a limited theatrical release and premiered at the Northampton Independent Film Festival. His most recent films, City Of The Sun, and Dear Mr. Polar Bear (with Katherine Allgeier's FauxMoustache) will be released later this year. Nikhil is from Amherst, MA, where he produces the Amherst Short Film Festival. He studied film with David Shepherd (Group Creativity Project) and Jay Craven (Fledgling Films), and has worked at SOCAPA and Arts Engine.
Email Nikhil
Chase is a freshman and is excited to be involved with her first theater production at Wesleyan. A Colorado native, she spent much of her time in high school focused on musical theater.
Email Chase
Jessica Posner is currently a sophomore at Wesleyan. On campus, she recently directed "Refuge" by Jessica Goldberg. At Wesleyan she has appeared as Ophelia in "Hamlet" and as Deborah in "Sexual Perversity in Chicago." Her Denver acting credits include "Eleemosynary," "The Crucible," "Bingo Boyz: Columbine" (Denver Post Award for Best New Work, featured on Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC) and "The Children's Hour" among many others. This coming summer she will appear in the world premiere of "The War on Safety" at Curious Theatre Company. Jessica graduated from the theatre department at the Denver School of the Arts and has also studied at Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama. She feels very fortunate for the opportunity to produce and direct 365.
Email Jessica
Ariela Rotenberg has been involved in theater in some way or another for most of her life. In high school she acted in several productions and began to direct as well. So far at Wesleyan she has participated in theater in a mostly electrical sense, but hopes to branch out to other aspects of the theater as well in her coming years. She is so lucky to be a part of 365 plays / 365 days and to have the opportunity to work with such an exciting and dedicated team.
Email Ariela
Daphne grew up in New York City, where she attended the Nightingale-Bamford School for thirteen years. With an actor as a father, Daphne grew up surrounded by theater and the performing arts. She performed in both musicals and straight plays at her high school from the age of ten, receiving the Stephanie-Kosoff Drama Award her senior year. Roles included Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (2002), the Director in Noises Off (2004) and Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's Anything Goes (2005). During her last two years of high school, Daphne discovered her passion for film and in 2004 her music video "Safe and Sound" received Most Outstanding Music Video in the Westport Youth Film Festival. In 2005, Daphne received the Head of School Award from Nightingale-Bamford and was elected as her class graduation speaker. At Wesleyan University, Daphne continues to pursue her love of theater and film, taking on the female lead in the faculty production of Nelson Rodriguez's The Deceased Woman (Zulmira) her freshman year. Most recently, Daphne played the role of Amy in Jessica Goldberg's Refuge. Having rowed on the Wesleyan Crew Team and with the intention to double major in Film and Italian Studies, Daphne carries with her an understanding of many facets of life on the Wesleyan Campus. She is thrilled to be celebrating theater in everyday life off-stage as Event Coordinator for 365 Plays / 365 Days: Lived Art Festival.
Email Daphne
Rachel Silverman is a sophomore double-majoring in Theater and Sociology. She is currently the Outreach and Development liaison of Wesleyan's only student run theater company, Second Stage. Her theater highlights at Wesleyan include The Vagina Monologues (Assistant Director and Stage Manager in '06 and actor in '07), Heart Play(s) (Stage Manager) and Hamlet (Gravedigger 2 and Osric). This spring she looks forward to her work on 365 Days/365 Plays and directing Gina Gionfriddo's "After Ashley."
Email Rachel
Elizabeth is excited to be a part of the 365 project at Wes. An avid theatre-goer, performer, and techie, she's looking forward to seeing the love of theatre spread to people in unexpected places.
Email Elizabeth
Click on a name to learn more
|
Kira Akerman, Event Booking
Email Kira
Matt Connolly, Write On Marathon Coordinator
Matt Connolly is thrilled to be working on 365. A sophomore at Wesleyan, he has acted in student productions of "The Lion in Winter" and "The Frogs." He is also co-editor of the Arts section of the Wesleyan Argus.
Email Matt
Alexander Dynan, Graphic Design
Avital Fischer, Event Support
Information
Pending
Gabriel Fries, Write On Marathon Coordinator
Gabriel is excited to be involved with 365 Plays. He just acted in two productions over winter break: Drawn & Quartered and 24/6, both with the Immediacy Theatre Project in Belleville, Illinois. He has acted, directed, or written for several shows with that same company in the past. Gabriel has also acted in several plays at Wesleyan University: Master Peter’s Puppet Show (which also traveled to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.), The Lion in Winter, and Western Civilization: The Complete Musical (Abridged). He also acted or did tech for nearly 20 productions in high school. This spring, he will be appearing in Orpheus, a rock opera based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, to be performed at Wesleyan. Outside of theatre, Gabriel enjoys traveling, amusement parks, and filmmaking. He has worked on or acted in several student films, is currently editing a feature-length film he directed, and is planning on majoring in Film Studies. His activities, jobs, and clubs include Vice President of the Wesleyan Film Co-op, Tour Guide with Wesleyan Admissions, Quasimodal a cappella, Outing Club, Film Series Usher, and IMS Special Events Staff.
Email Gabriel
Gabrielle Fondiller, Run Crew / Event Support
Information
Pending
Diana Hubbell, Event Support
Information
Pending
David Jaffe, Faculty Advisor
David B. Jaffe comes to Wesleyan University from the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center where for eight years he served as Director of the National Theater Institute, a 14-week intensive theater immersion study-away program. Jaffe taught advanced acting classes, audition technique, improvisation, ensemble process, and mentored the directing lab. During his sixteen semesters, he directed the NTI Final Project thirteen times. The NTI Final Project is a performance piece collectively created by the ensemble of students and usually adapted from non-theatrical source material. Inspirations have come from texts such as Dante’s Inferno, the Odyssey, or most recently Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis. NTI Final Projects have included an adaptation of Charles Mee’s Trojan Women: A Love Story, Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty, and two projects created entirely by the ensemble – The Dream Project and Civil/War. Jaffe has built professional associations with the Moscow Art Theater, the St. Petersburg Theater Arts Academy, The Wooster Group, and Anne Bogart’s SITI Company. He has been a professional observer at the Actors Studio in New York City, where he coordinated a colloquium between the actors of the Moscow Art Theatre and the members of the Actors Studio during the last American tour of MXAT’s production of The Three Sisters. He received his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama during the tenure of Lloyd Richards.
Email David
Kaillie Larkin, Guerilla Theatre
Sean
Richards, Master Electrician
Amanda Leibenhaut, Event Support
Sean
Richards, Master Electrician
Nikhil Melnechuk, Producer, Director
Nikhil Melnechuk is a senior at Wesleyan, where he directed Frank McGuiness' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, and produced the Screen Democracy Film Festival. Nikhil has produced and directed two feature films for his production company, Wanderlust Pictures. Manilla (2003) enjoyed a limited theatrical release and premiered at the Northampton Independent Film Festival. His most recent films, City Of The Sun, and Dear Mr. Polar Bear (with Katherine Allgeier's FauxMoustache) will be released later this year. Nikhil is from Amherst, MA, where he produces the Amherst Short Film Festival. He studied film with David Shepherd (Group Creativity Project) and Jay Craven (Fledgling Films), and has worked at SOCAPA and Arts Engine.
Email Nikhil
Susanna Myrseth, Guerilla Theatre
Sean
Richards, Master Electrician
Danica Pantic, Lighting Design
Information
Pending
Chase Parr, Props Master
Chase is a freshman and is excited to be involved with her first theater production at Wesleyan. A Colorado native, she spent much of her time in high school focused on musical theater.
Email Chase
Jessica Posner, Producer, Director
Jessica Posner is currently a sophomore at Wesleyan. On campus, she recently directed "Refuge" by Jessica Goldberg. At Wesleyan she has appeared as Ophelia in "Hamlet" and as Deborah in "Sexual Perversity in Chicago." Her Denver acting credits include "Eleemosynary," "The Crucible," "Bingo Boyz: Columbine" (Denver Post Award for Best New Work, featured on Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC) and "The Children's Hour" among many others. This coming summer she will appear in the world premiere of "The War on Safety" at Curious Theatre Company. Jessica graduated from the theatre department at the Denver School of the Arts and has also studied at Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama. She feels very fortunate for the opportunity to produce and direct 365.
Email Jessica
Sean Richards, Master Electrician
Information
Pending
Ariela Rotenberg, Production Manager
Ariela Rotenberg has been involved in theater in some way or another for most of her life. In high school she acted in several productions and began to direct as well. So far at Wesleyan she has participated in theater in a mostly electrical sense, but hopes to branch out to other aspects of the theater as well in her coming years. She is so lucky to be a part of 365 plays / 365 days and to have the opportunity to work with such an exciting and dedicated team.
Email Ariela
Rachel Salowitz, Marketing Coordinator, Costume Design
Rachel
Ilana Salowitz is a second-semester senior, double
majoring in Theatre and English. In previous
semesters she has costume designed several Wesleyan
productions, including Jessica Goldberg's Refuge
and a Sinatra-era interpretation of Hamlet, and has
also served as Managing Liaison for the student-run
theatre group Second Stage. In addition to her
theatrical contributions behind the scenes, she has
also performed in plays since the age of eight,
most recently interpreting the roles of
Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and
Frances in No Sex, Please, We’re British. She spent
the summer of 2006 as an acting apprentice at the
Berkshire Theatre Festival, where she trained in
the Suzuki Method with E. Gray Simons III and in
Shakespeare studies with Jonathan Epstein.
Post-graduation, Rachel plans to relocate to
Chicago to pursue a career in acting and be closer
to her family in Iowa. She is very excited to
contribute both her creative and organizational
skills to 365 Days/365 Plays!
Email Rachel
Email Rachel
Daphne Schmon, Event Coordinator, Graphic Design
Daphne grew up in New York City, where she attended the Nightingale-Bamford School for thirteen years. With an actor as a father, Daphne grew up surrounded by theater and the performing arts. She performed in both musicals and straight plays at her high school from the age of ten, receiving the Stephanie-Kosoff Drama Award her senior year. Roles included Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (2002), the Director in Noises Off (2004) and Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's Anything Goes (2005). During her last two years of high school, Daphne discovered her passion for film and in 2004 her music video "Safe and Sound" received Most Outstanding Music Video in the Westport Youth Film Festival. In 2005, Daphne received the Head of School Award from Nightingale-Bamford and was elected as her class graduation speaker. At Wesleyan University, Daphne continues to pursue her love of theater and film, taking on the female lead in the faculty production of Nelson Rodriguez's The Deceased Woman (Zulmira) her freshman year. Most recently, Daphne played the role of Amy in Jessica Goldberg's Refuge. Having rowed on the Wesleyan Crew Team and with the intention to double major in Film and Italian Studies, Daphne carries with her an understanding of many facets of life on the Wesleyan Campus. She is thrilled to be celebrating theater in everyday life off-stage as Event Coordinator for 365 Plays / 365 Days: Lived Art Festival.
Email Daphne
Rachel Silverman, Campus Outreach
Rachel Silverman is a sophomore double-majoring in Theater and Sociology. She is currently the Outreach and Development liaison of Wesleyan's only student run theater company, Second Stage. Her theater highlights at Wesleyan include The Vagina Monologues (Assistant Director and Stage Manager in '06 and actor in '07), Heart Play(s) (Stage Manager) and Hamlet (Gravedigger 2 and Osric). This spring she looks forward to her work on 365 Days/365 Plays and directing Gina Gionfriddo's "After Ashley."
Email Rachel
Lizzy Susca, Stage Manager
Lizzy Susca
is a sophomore at Wesleyan who been involved in
every
aspect of theatre including acting, stage management and lighting
design. She recently stage managed Jessica Goldberg's Refuge,
designed for The Laramie Project, and acted in The Dining Room as well
as toured a piece that she wrote with "The AIDS Monologues." In San
Antonio Texas, where she hails from, Lizzy has worked extensively with
the San Antonio Theatre, Josephine Theatre and with the Trinity
University Theatre.
Email Lizzy
aspect of theatre including acting, stage management and lighting
design. She recently stage managed Jessica Goldberg's Refuge,
designed for The Laramie Project, and acted in The Dining Room as well
as toured a piece that she wrote with "The AIDS Monologues." In San
Antonio Texas, where she hails from, Lizzy has worked extensively with
the San Antonio Theatre, Josephine Theatre and with the Trinity
University Theatre.
Email Lizzy
Elizabeth Trammell, Publicity
Elizabeth is excited to be a part of the 365 project at Wes. An avid theatre-goer, performer, and techie, she's looking forward to seeing the love of theatre spread to people in unexpected places.
Email Elizabeth