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Ty Baumann (Freddy Bear, Gramps, and others) New York Acting Credits: Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (Match: Lit), Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (Match: Lit BARDCORE), Adolf in Utopia (NY Summerfest), Roderigo in Othello (Match:Lit), Caliban in The Tempest (Stag&Lion), Nick Bottom in Midsummer (AlphaNYC), Lady Gaga in You Belong With Me (NYC Fringe), Gremio/Widow in The Taming of the Shrew (Match:Lit), 3rd Witch in Macbeth (Match:Lit), Monica in Eternal Flamer (Cherry Lane), Aaron Kreifels in The Laramie Project (AlphaNYC), John Sweet in Doctor Truth (Manhattan Rep), Stanley in Hel’s Kitchen (Playroom Theater), Royal Advisor in A Word of Love (NY Summerfest). He recently voiced the role of Braniel in John Cameron Mitchell’s new podcast-musical, Anthem: Homunculus. Training: AMDA, The New School for Drama. Singer/Songwriter: “Norma Desmond,” “Song for Olivia,” “Super Bowl Sunday” on iTunes/Spotify.

Barrett Crowder (Papa Bear) is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful show! Regional Credits: Pantochino Production's Beat Bugs: a Musical Adventure as Walter, The Alliance Theatre's A Christmas Carol, and the Lyric Theatre's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as Zebulon. He received his BFA in Musical Theatre from Brenau University and his AA in Theatre from the University of North Georgia. He would like to thank Emily, his family, and God for continuing to bless him. Enjoy the show!

Emily Gardenhire (Mama Bear) is thrilled to be joining the Bear Family! She is a native of North Carolina and now resides in NYC, where she recently recorded the original cast album of the new musical Secondhand Lions. NYC: Stephen Schwartz’s Prince of Egypt (Workshop, Dreamworks/Bay Street Theatre). Favorite Regional credits: Dearly Departed (Maples Repertory Theatre), Sunday in the Park with George (Dot/Marie, NC Summer Rep), Billy Elliot (North Carolina Theatre), Dames at Sea (Ruby, Theatre Raleigh), A Christmas Carol (Mrs. Cratchit, Triad Stage), and Always…Patsy Cline (Patsy Cline, City Stage). She is a proud graduate of UNC Greensboro.

Miranda Jones (Sister Bear) is tickled pink to be joining the cast of The Berenstain Bears LIVE!. Stage credits include: Anything Goes, Mary Poppins, Teen Brain, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Broadway Jukebox Musicals and The Carolina Christmas Spectacular. Commercials: Honey Tree Learning Center, Grand Home Furnishings, Freedom First Credit Union. Film: Alone Yet Not Alone. She would like to thank her family for all their love and support, as well as HBD Casting and Matt Murphy Productions for providing this fantastic opportunity. @miranda_n_jones

Nick Musumeci (Brother Bear) Is excited to be exploring Bear Country! National Tours: Curious George (Theaterworks, USA).  Regional: A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, Merrily We Roll Along, Pippin (Weathervane Playhouse), The Velveteen Rabbit (Jenny Wiley Theatre).  Proud MMC graduate!  Sending love and thanks to Mom, Dad, and Lex for all their support! www.nickmusumeci.com

Hannah Taylor (Lizzie Bear, Gran, and others) is thrilled to be joining the Berenstain Bears family! Favorite Credits include: Gypsy (Louise), A Chorus Line (Judy Turner), 42nd Street (Phyllis Dale), Pippin, and Kiss Me, Kate. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with her degree in Musical Theatre. She is so thankful for her friends, family, and Holly and Matt Murphy Productions for this bear-y exciting opportunity!

Sinclair Marielle Mason (Stage Manager) Born and raised in Long Beach, New York, this recent graduate is excited to be back in Bear Country. She recently graduated from Wilkes University with a BFA in Technical Theatre in January 2018 and is jumping back into her role with us as Production Stage Manager. She got her start doing stage crew at Long Beach High School her sophomore year and has never looked back. Her love for stage management grew when she began attending Wilkes University. “I always love being the audience member who loses herself in the story, if someone can do that for me, what’s to stop me from creating that for someone else?” She would like to thank her family, friends and boyfriend, Shane Haley, for their endless support and love.

Creative

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.

Alex James (Associate Director) is a New York City based director and stage manager, and is proud to have worked in multiple positions with The Berenstain Bears Live! since 2012. Off-Broadway credits include: Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas with Vital Theatre Company, Jay Allan Zimmerman’s Incredibly Deaf Musical. Other favorite NYC and regional credits include: The Uncanny Valley (The Brick Theater), Infallibility (Fringe NYC 2013), SoundBites (Theater Now New York), The Untitled Ginsberg Project, Betrayal, Spring Awakening, and Floyd Collins. Graduate of Pace University.

Shane Parks (Associate General Manager) joined Matt Murphy Productions at the beginning of 2017 after three years with Broadway Asia International, where he managed shows in China, the UK, and the US. Originally from Maryland, he is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with a Bachelor’s in Music Composition, and New York University, with an MFA in Musical Theater Writing. Shane has supervised the touring production of The Berenstain Bears LIVE and Off-Broadway, touring, and Las Vegas productions of Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man.  He lives in Brooklyn with his fiancé, a garden of books, and pet chromecast.

Matt Murphy (Producer) In addition to serving as Co-Producer on several Broadway shows, Matt Murphy Productions is currently producing Off-Broadway’s longest-running comedy Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man on tour and at Paris Las Vegas, as well as The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical, which ran Off-Broadway for four years and has been touring throughout North America since 2008. Matt’s producing debut in New York was the Off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz, which became one of the longest-running Off-Broadway musicals in history with its remarkable 5-year run at New World Stages. Recent Broadway productions include the Tony Award-Winning musical Memphis, Thurgood, which garnered Laurence Fishburn a Tony nomination, and the critically-acclaimed musical Side Show. Matt is also the founder and president of Marquee Merchandise, which creates and manages the sales of merchandise and concessions for Broadway and Off-Broadway shows as well as The Broadway Store, an online shopping center for all things Broadway.

 

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