Michael Borton (Book, Music & Lyrics) is thrilled that this production will entertain children this summer in NYC. Michael lives in the Philadelphia area and works as a composer, performer, music director, and private instructor. He’s composed for AFTY and the Walnut Street Theatre; including several of their outreach shows and annual A Christmas Carol. He has music directed at the Walnut Street Theatre, La Salle University, Theater Horizon and is currently the Director of Music at Waldron Mercy Academy.
Michael Slade (Additional Book Material) Playwright, librettist, Emmy-nominated television writer. Work for family audiences includes: Ten Theatreworks/USA musicals (Superfudge, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, The Three Pigs). Pokemon Live! (Radio City Music Hall, national, international tours). Several shows for TADA! And A Child Shall Lead, (PlayScripts) inspiring play about a group of child concentration camp prisoners (opened to rave reviews in Chicago, November 2010). Children’s novel The Horses Of Central Park (Scholastic Hardcover/Apple Paperback) won ISAR Award for Children’s Literature.
Devanand Janki (Director and Choreographer) New York credits: Zanna, Don’t! (Lortel, Callaway & GLAAD awards), Junie B. Jones (Lortel nom.), Cupid & Psyche, Henry & Mudge (Lortel nom.), Romantic Poetry, This One Girls Story. Broadway concerts: Funny Girl, Hair, Dreamgirls, Seth’s Broadway 101. Lincoln Center: Amahl and the Night Visitors, Babes in Toyland, Anything Goes in concert (assoc.). Regional: RENT, Aladdin, Man of La Mancha, The Full Monty, The Scarlet Pimpernel, How Can You Run With a Shell on Your Back?, Asphalt Beach, One Man’s Dream II (Tokyo Disney). Broadway Bares (9 years). Performance: Miss Saigon, Cats, The King & I, Side Show (Broadway), A Chorus Line, West Side Story (tour). www.devanandjanki.com
Lora LaVon (Costume Design) Credits include Junie B. Jones and Click Clack Moo with Theaterworks USA, A Child’s Christmas in Wales for the National Theater of the Deaf, The Time of Your Life and King John at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Lonesome West, Three Days of Rain and Proof at Hartford’s Theaterworks, ART and M. Butterfly at Syracuse Stage, South Pacific and Suddenly Last Summer for Barrington Stage, and Measure for Measure at Yale Rep. Lora earned her MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Luke Hegel-Cantarella (Scenic Design) NY: Make Me a Song (New World Stages), Human Error (Atlantic), Cam Jansen (Lambs), Junie B. Jones (Lortel); Regional: Lyric Theater of Oklahoma, Two Rivers Theater Company, Berkshire Theater Festival, Barrington Stage, Pittsburgh Public, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Adirondack Theater Festival, TheatreWorks, Prince Music Theater, Yale Rep. International: Woody Sez (West End/London), Blue Shade (Amsterdam). Opera/Dance: The Wooden Floor, Peabody, Curtis, Wolftrap Opera Company, New England Conservatory, Eastern Connecticut Ballet, Hartford Ballet. Film/TV: Julie & Julia, Damages, Pink Panther 2, State of Play, Synecdoche, NY. Luke is the Head of the Set Design program at the UCIrvine.
R. MacKenzie Lewis (Orchestrations) has music directed, composed, orchestrated and performed for theatres, bands, and orchestras all over the country including the world premier musical with Ben Vereen, Soaring on Black Wings and the upcoming Wings at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. He is also the Co-Executive Director for 8th Wonder Productions and full-time composer/MD for Eastern Michigan University.
Nancy Renee Braun - (Associate Director/Choreographer) NY Choreography: Fantasy Football: The Musical? (NYMF Best of Fest Runner-Up), Godspell Times Square Flash Mob (over 40,000 YouTube hits!), Henri Gabler (Theatre 54), I’m Gonna Love You Forever (The Gene Frankel Theatre), A Night With Northwestern (Hudson Theatre). NY Associate Choreography: Fat Camp (NYMF Outstanding Choreography Award), Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout Theatre workshop), Perez Hilton Saves The Universe! (Joe’s Pub), Babes In Toyland (Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center), Funny Girl (Revision Theatre), If You Give A Pig A Pancake (Theatreworks), and three years as an assistant for Broadway Bares. NY acting credits: Broadway revival of Patti LuPone’s Gypsy, and the upcoming Off-Broadway show Fat Camp.Northwestern University graduate.
Ryan Scarlata (Associate Director) is proud to step into the role of Associate Director for The Berenstain Bears Live! after playing Papa Bear in the first national tour and original Off-Broadway casts. Regional directing credits include RENT, The Producers, Jekyll and Hyde, Beauty and the Beast and many others. www.ryanscarlata.weebly.com.
Matt Franzetti (Company Manager) completed his BA in Theatre and Business Administration at Muhlenberg College and his MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has worked as a stage manager for FAME at the Tropicana Resort and Casino on this side of the pond, and in London has worked with the Ambassador Theatre Group, Minor Entertainment, Whippet Productions, and the Wellcome Trust.
Matt Murphy (Producer) is currently one of the producers for the Tony Award-Winning musical Memphis. Other Broadway and Off-Broadway productions include Thurgood starring Laurence Fishburne, Impressionism starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons, and Altar Boyz, which became one of the longest-running Off-Broadway musicals in history. In addition to his work on Broadway, Matt is also currently producing an original musical for today’s texting, blogging, and Facebooking generation called Virtually Me!, which was recently profiled on Fox News and NBC for its efforts to educate young students today on how to use modern technology responsibly. Special thanks to wife Julie and daughter Hazel for supporting Papa as Producer Bear! www.mattmurphyproductions.com
CAST BIOS COMING SOON!
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