CAST BIOS

Hershey Felder Performer/Playwright/Scenic Co-Designer Writing in American Theatre, Hedy Weiss said, “Hershey Felder is in a category all his own.” Over the past twenty years, he has played over 4,500 performances of his self-created solo productions at some of the world’s most prestigious theaters and has broken box office records consistently. In addition to Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin , his shows include George Gershwin Alone (Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre, West End’s Duchess Theatre), Monsieur Chopin, Beethoven, Maestro Bernstein, Franz Liszt in Musik and Lincoln: An American Story. In addition, he performs concerts of The Great American Songbook Sing-Along at every theater where his shows are prsented. Future productions include Our Great Tchaikovsky (January 2017 premiere at San Diego Repertory Theatre) and the new musical, Chosen By G-d for which he is writing music, book and lyrics. His compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra ; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano ; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; and An American Story for Actor and Orchestra. Hershey is the adaptor, director and designer for the very successful play with music, The Pianist of Willesden Lane (presented at The Armory earlier this year), and recently produced and designed for the new musical Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara , directed by Taylor Hackford. Hershey has operated a full-service production company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music and is married to Kim Campbell, the first female Prime Minister of Canada.

CREATIVE TEAM BIOS

Irving Berlin
Lyrics and Music
Irving Berlin wrote scores to 17 Broadway musicals, seven revues, and wrote songs for 12 classic Hollywood movie musicals. Born in Russia, he immigrated to the Lower East Side, where he started his music career as a singing waiter and soon became a lyricist, composer and music publisher. He built Broadway’s The Music Box Theater in 1921, with producer Sam Harris, to present his popular Music Box Revues. A sampling of just some of the Irving Berlin standards includes "How Deep is the Ocean," "Blue Skies," "White Christmas," "Always," "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Cheek to Cheek," "Puttin' On The Ritz," "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," "Heat Wave," "Easter Parade" and "Let's Face the Music and Dance." The Hollywood movie classics with scores by Berlin include Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Holiday Inn and White Christmas. Among his many awards were the Academy Award for Best Song of the Year for "White Christmas" (1942) and a Special Tony Award (1963).

Trevor Hay
Director/Scenic Co-Designer
Trevor Hay directed the world premieres of An American Story for Actor and Orchestra, Abe Lincoln's Piano and Franz Liszt in Musik, and associate directed Mona Golabek's The Pianist of Willesden Lane. He is a former member of the historic Old Globe in San Diego where, at the age of nine, his first position was selling memorabilia. Over the next 32 years, he went on to various aspects of production on more than 80 presentations, including the Broadway productions of Jack O'Brien's Damn Yankees, How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, and Twyla Tharp's The Times They Are A-Changin'. Included in his 23 seasons at The Old Globe were 11 seasons of the Summer Shakespeare Festival Repertory, as well as work on Tracy Letts' August: Osage County (directed by Sam Gold), and Hershey Felder's George Gershwin Alone, Monsieur Chopin and Maestro Bernstein.

Richard Norwood
Lighting Designer
Designs for Hershey Felder Presents: Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara, Monsieur Chopin and Beethoven, As I Knew Him. Richard’s most recent designs include Le Bête and Cookie Play for Trap Door Theatre, and King Hedley II for Congo Square. Richard is the production manager for the theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Lawrence Siefert
Projection Co-Designer
For over 20 years, Lawrence has been involved in theater, corporate events and film. Some of his credits include projection design for San Diego Opera’s Wozzeck and Moby Dick. He is a recipient of two Telly Awards and one Davey Award for How Do You Build Hope (Habitat for Humanity). Lawrence has been a member of IATSE Local 1022 since 1996.

Christopher Ash
Projection Co-Designer
Christopher Ash is an international designer of scenery, lighting and projections for theater, dance, opera and film. Recent projects include projection design for Carmina Burana (Chautauqua Institution) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Guthrie Theater); scenic design for The Fairy Tale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Repertory Theatre); projections for La Traviata (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Marie Antoinette (SOHO Rep); lighting for Heidi Latsky Dance’s One Hour: Two Works and GiMP; and production and lighting for Amanda Palmer’s music video “Bedsong.” He received his M.F.A. in set design from the Yale School of Drama.

Erik Carstensen
Sound Designer/Line Producer
Erik Carstensen’s sound design credits include An American Story, The Pianist of Willesden Lane (2012 Ovation Award Nomination), Franz Liszt in Musik, Abe Lincoln’s Piano and Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara. He was the master sound technician at The Old Globe in San Diego from 1997 to 2012, and has been the production engineer on over 60 productions, including Allegiance, Robin and the 7 Hoods, A Catered Affair, Hershey Felder’s George Gershwin Alone, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Full Monty, Dirty Blonde and Floyd Collins. Erik is a member of IATSE Local 122.

Meghan Maiya
Production Dramaturg
Meghan has collaborated with Hershey Felder doing biographical and historical research for new theatrical productions since 2013. Productions include: Hershey Felder as Franz Liszt in Musik, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin and Our Great Tchaikovsky. Additional collaborations with Hershey Felder include production research and imagery for Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara; and scenic decoration for The Pianist of Willesden Lane, Abe Lincoln’s Piano and Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin.

Kelsey Daye Lutz
Stage Manager
The Armory credits include: stage manager for Hold These Truths, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, Each and Every Thing, Forever, The Santaland Diaries, The Lion, The People’s Republic of Portland (second engagement), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Typographer’s Dream, The Last Five Years and A Small Fire; and production assistant for Clybourne Park, Venus in Fur, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The North Plan and Anna Karenina. Kelsey Daye is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She would like to thank her pups for all their unconditional love, and Shamus for being wonderful.

Eva Price
Producer
Eva Price’s upcoming credits include Dear Evan Hansen (Broadway), FOUND: A New Musical (Philadelphia Theatre Company); and Small Mouth Sounds (Signature Center). Select Broadway credits include: On Your Feet! — The Story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan; Peter and the Starcatcher (five Tony Awards); Annie (2012 Tony Award-nominated revival); The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations); and The Addams Family. Noted solo shows and concerts include Benjamin Scheuer's The Lion and Broadway engagements of Lewis Black, Carrie Fisher, Kathy Griffin, Colin Quinn (dir. Jerry Seinfeld), Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and The Temptations & The Four Tops. Eva was named one of Crain’s New York 40 Under Forty Rising Business Stars. She is the executive producer/EVP for Maximum Entertainment, a producing and general management company focusing on Broadway, Off-Broadway and touring properties.

Karen Racanelli
Executive Producer
Karen comes to Eighty-Eight Entertainment from Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where she worked as general manager since 1993, overseeing daily operations; and where she had the pleasure of producing several shows performed and/or directed by Hershey Felder. She has represented the League of Resident Theatres during negotiations with both Actors’ Equity Association and the Union of Stage Directors and Choreographers, served on LORT’s Executive Committee, and served as a panelist at several LORT meetings. Prior to her tenure at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Karen worked as an independent producer at several Bay Area theater companies, and has served on the boards of Climate Theater, Overtone Theatre Company, Park Day School, and the Julia Morgan Center. Karen is married to Bay Area arts attorney MJ Bogatin.

Samantha F. Voxakis
Producer/Company Manager
Samantha is a native of Maryland where she spent 12 memorable years working in the front office of the Baltimore Orioles. Since 2004, Sam has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of Eighty-Eight Entertainment, LLC/Hershey Felder Presents. With special thanks to her family and Mr. Felder.

Hershey Felder Presents
Producer
Hershey Felder Presents is the newest division of Eighty-Eight Entertainment which was created in 2001 by Hershey Felder and is devoted to the creation of new works of musical theater. Current projects include the musical plays Our Great Tchaikovsky, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin and The Pianist of Willesden Lane. Recordings include Love Songs of the Yiddish Theatre, Back from Broadway, George Gershwin Alone, Monsieur Chopin, Beethoven, As I Knew Him, and An American Story for Actor and Orchestra.