Cast & Crew & Bios
SEX! DRUGS! & UKULELES!
A Jazz Age
Musical Comedy
for the 21st Century
PLACE: Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (corner of East 10th Street)
Book and lyrics by UKE JACKSON
Music by TERRY WALDO
Director VICTOR MAOG
Choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall
Percussion
John Gill
Piano/Keyboard
Terry Waldo
Lighting Design
Michael Jarett
Costume Design
Susan Gittens
Sound Design
Richard Reta
Production Stage Mananger
Assistant Director
David Alpert
Rehearsal / Substitute Pianist
Samantha Ryan
Production Supervisor
Nancy Vitale
Featuring
Meg Cavanaugh
Lindsay Foreman
John Forkner
Andrew Guilarte
with
Mia Breaux
Tammy Carrasco
Jenna Fakhoury
Dustin Flores
Kristen Lewis
Guy Lockard
UKE JACKSON (Book and Lyrics) wrote plays, short stories, and reams of journalism under another name for many years. During the 1980s, as impresario and dramaturge, he helped create a series of "art operas" with Miguel Algarin, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Sandro Dernini, and a host of other artists in New York, Italy, and Senegal. His play Avenue Z Afternoon was adapted for television as a General Motors Mark of Excellence production in 1992 starring Anne Meara and Lou Diamond Phillips. His other plays were produced at McCarter Theater, Theater for the New City, TriBeCa Lab, and the West Bank Café Theater. His storytelling and music series, set in the Delaware River watershed, was created for public radio, won a Parents Choice award and led to the American Library Association naming him one of the Top 10 recording artists in the country in 1996 - which appellation eventually helped lead him to writing the book and lyrics for Sex! Drugs! & Ukuleles! He is the founder of the New York Ukulele Ensemble and of NY Uke Fest.
TERRY WALDO (Composer/Musical Director/Piano/Keyboard), the protégé of the late Eubie Blake, has performed and composed for many films and TV shows including The Naked Dance: The Music of Storyville and "The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" for PBS. His This is Ragtime , currently being republished by Jazz at Lincoln Center, is the definitive book on the subject, and his 26-part series of the same title, produced for National Public Radio, fueled the 1970s ragtime revival. Terry's numerous theatrical credits include Off-Broadway: Heliotrope Bouquet, Eubie and Me and Ambassador Satch . Terry has appeared in concerts worldwide, including several shows for the JVC Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Recently, he appeared with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall where he presented the world premiere of a Eubie Blake concerto. Terry has produced and arranged over 50 jazz and ragtime albums. The New York Times calls him a "ragtime pianist nonpareil and eminent scholar of the form and... Mr. Waldo is worth the price of a ticket."
VICTOR MAOG (Director) is currently Associate Director with Peter Dubois on the world premiere of Adrienne Kennedy's Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles at the NYSF/Public Theater. He has also collaborated at Hartford Stage, Williamstown, Ma-Yi, Lark Theatre, MCC, New Dramatists, and directed/taught for NYU/Tisch, UPenn, Fordham, and others. In addition to music theatre classics, he has directed new works including Grammy Winner John Selder's hip hop News to Me, Fred Ho and Ruth Margraff's experimental dance work Voice of the Dragon , and recently traveled to Phnom Penh for Him Sophy's contemporary Cambodian opera, Where Elephants Weeps . Mr. Maog also devised Journey Theatre for Immigrants' Theatre Project - an ensemble creation with international victims of war and torture. His work has been recognized with the NEA/TCG Career Development Award for Directors, Altvater Fellowship at Cornerstone, Van Lier Directing Fellowship at Second Stage, and the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Enrichment for his collaborations with gang youth at the Theatre Arts Project of San Joaquin County, where he served as Artistic Director. A member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Partial Comfort Productions and the SSDC, he served as a U.S. Delegate to the 31st International Theatre Institute/UNESCO World Congress in Manila.
CELIA ROWLSON-HALL (Choreographer) is absolutely thrilled to be making her New York Musical Theatre debut with Sex! Drugs! & Ukuleles! Celia graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in modern dance in 2006. She has presented her choreography at Lincoln Center Institute Clark Theater, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, Manhattan Theater Source, Ailey Citi-Group Theater, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Times Square Arts Center, Abingdon Theater, Studio B, Hiro Ballroom, New York Fashion Week, and St. Judes Children's Hospital Benefit. Celia also dances with the Faye Driscoll Group. A huge thanks to the company for their support and talent.
JOHN GILL (Percussion) was born and raised in NYC. He developed an interest in music at an early age initially captivated by Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Liberace. As a teenager began playing the drums and banjo and became a fan of what is now called "roots" collecting records by Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. He was inspired to pursue a career in music when The Beatles arrived in 1964. His interests expanded to traditional jazz and ragtime, and he worked in San Francisco with Turk Murphy for ten years. These days John can be found performing with Woody Allen's Jazz Band at The Carlyle, and with several "roots" rock and country bands around the club scene in Manhattan.
MICHAEL JARETT (Lighting Designer) has recently finished working as the 24th Gilbert Hemsley Lighting Intern at Lincoln Center, where he worked with the Lincoln Center Festival, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Mike received his M.F.A. in Theatrical Design from Brandeis University, where his lighting designs included the world premiere of The Two Orphans by Theresa Rebeck. His designs have also been seen at the Berkshire Theater Festival, Firehouse Theatre Project, Reagle Players, Cape Rep Theatre, and Maine's Arundel Barn Playhouse, where he was the resident lighting designer for two seasons.
SUSAN L. GITTENS (Costume Designer) is a prolific designer.
Currently designing costumes for three shows she also designs a line of clothing and accessories. Her work as a designer / stylist has recently been shown in the New York Times, Village Voice, New York Post and other popular publications. Most recently, she has collaborated creatively with The Oxygen Network, as well as NYU and Hamilton College. She is the Costumes, Props and Scenic Elements Manager at the Theater for the New City and performs occasionally.
RICHARD RETA (Sound Designer) has been involved in theater since his HS Little Theater.
He has acted but after 10 years in broadcast engineering he has returned to his greatest passion, the audio, visual and multimedia elements of production arts. Don't talk; Do, is his mantra. He his also the Publishing League Champions' softball pitcher. Recent projects with/at Protean Forms, Galapagos ArtSpace, PS 1, Reverend Billy, Bond Street Theater, The Culture Project, Mabou Mines, La Mama, Founding member of Teatro Latino de MN. As Ironica, has produced Pyscadelic TV, WW3 featuring ZeroBoy at the Whitney, Slot Car Trailer Trash Nites and The 10Spot (series). Engineering projects at NYU-TV, Crosswalks TV (NYC TV), Knowledge Union Media Center at The New School Graduate U of Minnesota; New York University. Member SMPTE, FEVA, CTS Certified, 1st Class FCC License.
DAVID ALPERT (Production Stage Manager/Assistant Director) holds a degree in Directing and Stage Management from Western Michigan University (summa cum laude), and served as Directing Intern on 1776 (Guthrie Theater). Directing: Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors, Alarms, Dolores; as an assistant director: Brighton Beach Memoirs, God's Country, and NYC readings of A Holiday for Hope and Awakening . Stage Management: The Wild Party, Cabaret, ...Trailer Park Musical, Anton in Show Business , and cabarets starring Nancy Anderson and Danny Gurwin. He has worked at Cherry County Playhouse and Mason Street Warehouse, and in 2006 was selected to direct a new ten-minute play at the American College Theatre Festival. David is an associate member of SSDC. Always for my family.
NANCY VITALE (Production Supervisor) is a producer and dramaturg in New York. Recent projects include the Noor Festival, Arab American Comedy Festival, New Works Now (the Public and New York Theatre Workshop), Serendib (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and the New Voices New Play Festival and One Flea Spare (Columbia University SoA). She is a creative consultant for Roundabout Theatre Company; past work for Williamstown Theatre Festival (Resident Dramaturg), Passage Theatre Company (Resident Dramaturg/Literary Consultant); McCarter Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Carnegie Mellon and Meadow Brook Theatre. Education: B.A., Oakland University; M.F.A., Columbia University School of the Arts.
MIA BREAUX (Ensemble) began her formal training under the direction of Denise Perry and Harlem School of the Arts. She later trained at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. She earned her B.F.A. in modern dance from The North Carolina School of the Arts in 2007 where she was awarded the Chancellor's Excellence Scholarship. She has tperformed works by Camille Brown, Brenda Daniels, David Parsons and Amy Marshall. She has recently joined Urban Bush Women 2 and is excited to be working with the cast and crew of Sex! Drugs! & Ukuleles!
TAMMY CARRASCO (Ensemble/Dance Captain) is from North Carolina, and she received a B.F.A. in contemporary dance from North Carolina School of the Arts in 2007. She has performed works by David Parsons, Robert Battle, Camille Brown, Melissa Thodos, John Jaspers, and Jerome Robbins. Her most memorable musical theatre experience is performing a 50th anniversary production of West Side Story at Chicago's Ravinia Festival. Tammy is excited to be working again with Celia Rowlson-Hall, and she would like to thank her mother and grandmother for their immense love and support. Tammy is happy to make SD&U! her NYC debut in musical theatre!
JENNA FAKHOURY (Ensemble/u.s. Julie) from North Carolina, began dancing at the age of seven in classical, ballet, jazz, and tap. Her senior year in high school, she attend the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she was first exposed to modern dance. She returned for college and had the honor to perform works by such choreographers as Doug Varone, David Parsons, and Jose Limon, and has had the pleasure to perform as Anita in West Side Story . Since graduating in the spring of 2007, she moved to NYC and has been honored tour with the Jose Limon Dance Co. She is looking forward to a career in the performing arts.
DUSTIN FLORES (Ensemble/u.s. Max) is thrilled to be making his Theater for the New City debut in Sex! Drugs! & Ukuleles! He was last seen sharing the stage with the Rockettes in The Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Regional credits include: A Chorus Line (Paul), AriZoni nomination Best Supporting Actor; Gypsy (Tulsa); The Boyfriend (Tony); Hot Mikado (dance captain); Miss Saigon (Palace Theater); Aida and 42nd St (Gateway Playhouse). Dustin would like to thank 661, his family, and the man upstairs.
KRISTEN LEWIS (Ensemble/u.s. Liz) is thrilled to be part of this new musical! Film and TV: independent feature film Mona (title role), Watching the Detectives with Lucy Liu; Synecdoche, New York ; "Law & Order". Theatre: Stone Cold Dead Serious (Shaylee), Crippled Sisters (Evie), The Laramie Project . Regional: Ah, Wilderness! (Mildred), The Sound of Music (Brigitta), Annie Warbucks (Peaches), School House Rock , Aida . She has been dancing since the age of seven and has competed nationally. B.F.A. in Drama, New York University. Love to Mom, Dad, Kara, and her big, supportive family, and to Nick. www.kristenlewis.com.
GUY LOCKARD (Ensemble/u.s. Pete) is an up and coming singer/songwriter based in Brooklyn. Hailing originally from the Washington DC metropolitan area, Guy has sung in some of the country's most celebrated venues including the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria, The Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Guy previously appeared as co-host of Black Entertainment Television's "Teen Summit". He is currently recording an album due for release later this year. Thanks Mom, Dad and Lex for believing in me!
OTHER CREDITS
Janice A. Lee Music Consultant
Samantha Ryan Rehearsal and Subsitute Pianist
Alex Neira Makeup and Hair Design
Bill Moore Cigar box Ukulele Manufacturer
Roberta Korcz Assistant Stage Manager
Kelsey Siepser Substitute ASM
Blythe Crawford Costume Crew