Marc Castle

Marc Castle

Neighborhood: Court Square, LIC
Website: http://Marccastle.com
Email: marcastle2@gmail.com

MARC CASTLE started in the business at the age of ten in Thornton Wilder’s Plays for Bleecker St. at the Circle in the Square.  He toured in the 1st National Company of Camelot, and appeared off-B’way in My Great Dead Sister (The Production Co.) and Romance Language. (Playwrights Horizons)  Regionally: The Foreigner, Crazy for You and A Lion in Winter.  Film and TV: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Urbania, and As the World Turns.   Productions of his work have been seen at EST, the Neighborhood Playhouse and La Mama.  He was the Literary Manager for Emerging Artists Theatre where he has had eight short plays produced (one of which, Invisible, was recently published.)  Other recent works include One Brief Shining Moment, his biographical one-man show which he will be performing again this March; Young King Arthur (music: Scott Zesch, book: Jon Shear) which played at the Vital Theater in 2006 and recently won the National Children’s Theater Award which included a month long production at the Actor’s Playhouse in Coral Gables, Florida, and the musical Hollywoodland, (music: Scott Zesch) recently given a developmental reading at Emerging Artists and on the short list for the O’Neill Conference.  His musical, Love, Incorporated, was presented in 2008 at the Midtown International Theatre Festival where it won Outstanding Production of a Musical.  It recently premiered at the Roper Center in Norfolk VA as an out-of-town tryout for a future Off-Broadway run.  His play, Friends and Relations, was produced at the June Havoc Theater in December, 2011.  Marc also has an extensive background as a director too, both in NYC and regionally.  He recently staged Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels at the Players Club.  For Emerging Artists, he directed two short plays; Furious and Belle and Angel, as well as a play by David Bell for Fast Food, the 24 Hour Plays and many pieces for the One Woman Standing Festival. Other directing credits include A Boy and His Dog for The Directing Co., Sly Fox at The Playhouse on the Mall in Paramus, NJ, and the cult Off-Off B’way production of Pledge Girls from Delta, House of Death.  Marc was Director of New Play Development at the Vortex Theater Co,  ran the Playwrights Platform for the Turtle Shell Theater, and has done a great deal of  dramaturgical work as well.  He has taught acting and does coaching on an ongoing basis.    In Long Island City, he has worked at the Secret Theatre as both actor (Much Ado about Nothing) and playwright, (Short Play Festival) and at the Chain Theatre, as director and playwright. (Unchained Festival)  Besides Emerging Artists, Marc is a proud member of The American Renaissance Theatre Co., TOSOS, Equity, SAG/AFTRA, ASCAP, the Dramatist Guild, and an alumnus of both the BMI Composer/Lyricist and Librettist Workshops.

Samantha Walsh

Samantha Walsh

Neighborhood: Astoria
Website: http://www.samanthafwalsh.com

Samantha is a New York based actress who dabbles in painting, writing, and photography.

Paul Hufker

Paul Hufker

Neighborhood: Jackson Heights
Website: http://www.paulhufker.com

Paul has been a playwright, AEA actor, and director in New York City for eight years. His one act, The Dark Land of the Sun, was produced at the National Comedy Theatre and the Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s Summerfest 08’. His full-length, The Landlord, had a successful reading produced by The Drilling Company (directed by John Gould Rubin). Another of his full-length plays, The Land of Snow and Ghosts, was workshopped by The Dramatic Question Theatre Company (NYC) as part of their “Fresh Faces 2012/2013” and has been published online by Independent Playwrights.

Paul’s play Smallpox in the Blankets has been produced as part of Variations Theatre Group’s “Harvest Theatre Festival,” where it advanced to the “finals.” Smallpox was also performed this summer in Toronto, Canada as part of Newborn Theatre’s “Odds and Ends Festival.” His play The Horses in Central Park was produced as part of AND Theatre Company’s “Eclectic Evening of Shorts” and Emerging Artists Theatre’s (EAT) 10th Annual New Work Series.

Paul is excited to be working with Variations Theatre Group and Theatre Southwest on two new projects this fall. Paul is a Eugene O’Neill Award Semi-Finalist, and a 2011 participant of the prestigious Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He is a proud graduate of Webster University where he received a BFA in Theatrical Performance. Follow him on Twitter at @PaulHufker.

Lauren Norman

Lauren Norman

Neighborhood: Astoria
Website: http://www.LaurenNorman.com

 

Lauren is a model/actress/ocean activist.  As a model, she has worked in the U.S and abroad. Her acting experience ranges from stage, to commercial, to film and tv. She is on the junior council of Oceana, the largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Here in New York, she is involved assisting high school students at The Harbor School (on Governor’s Island) with oyster restoration in the Hudson River as well as being on the board of New York Oyster Week (www.oysterweek.com), a week long event in September for oyster aficionados.

Rachel McPhee

Rachel McPhee

Neighborhood: Astoria
Website: http://www.rachelmcphee.com

Rachel McPhee is an actor and Executive Director and co-founder of On the Square Productions. She is a regular sketch performer with popular YouTube Channel Barely Political/The Key of Awesome. Favorite NY Credits include: Sleep No More (Special Events Supporting Cast), Vieux Carre ( The Pearl, dir. Austin Pendleton), The Footage ( The Flea), A Midsummer Night’s Dream ( OtSP) and most recently The Minervae in Athens Square Park with OtSP. Rachel received her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a postgraduate degree in Professional Acting from the Drama Studio London (UK).  She lives in Astoria with her husband, actor/playwright Rob Benson and their tuxedo cat, Romeo.

Nora Vetter

Neighborhood: Astoria
Websites:
Actor link – http://noravetter.tumblr.com/actor
Playwright ink – http://noravetter.tumblr.com/playwright

Nora acts and writes.
Her career is a rough draft.
Revisions to come.

Nick Dalton

Neighborhood: Astoria
Website: http://www.nickdalton.org

Nick is proud to call himself an Astorian Artist, though he hails from the great mitten state of Michigan. He is a founding member of ASTORIOOOUS as well as SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS: Live (www.smclive.org). He has performed all over the world in many mediums, and is also a teacher and ambassador for ASTEP: Artists Striving To End Poverty (www.asteponline.org), for whom he has created workshops and taught for the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festivals, a school for social change in India called SHANTI BHAVAN, the New York Public School, and the International Refugee Committee.    He is a proud member of AEA/AFTRA/SAG and graduate of Western Michigan University.

Jenny Paul

Neighborhood: Roosevelt Island/Long Island City
Website: http://www.jennypaul.info
Jenny is a stage and film actress in NYC. With over 50 stage and dozens of screen credits in the last 5 years, she is proud to call herself a working actress.

In her free time (or lack there-of), Jenny enjoys long walks down the Roosevelt Island boardwalk, her addiction to Facebook, playing volleyball, roller skating, and taking advantage of all that the city has to offer.

Please see website for printable resume.

David King

David King

Neighborhood: Sunnyside
Website: http://www.sevencollective.org/david-king

Off-Broadway: The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller, Black Angels Over Tuskegee, Come Back to Me (Cherry Lane). FringeNYC: Savage International, Choke City. Other NY credits include Caligula Maximus (La MaMa), Ghosts and Civil Sex (Hudson Guild), A Hatful of Rain (Chuch), Polaroid Stories (Orpheus), Man on the Street and Testiculations (New Media Rep), Antony & Cleopatra (Antony) and Pericles (Antiochus) at Aaron Davis Hall. David is a co-founder of The Seven Collective and member of AEA. He is grateful for those who contribute to the process.

Directing credits: Closer by Patrick Marber (The Seven Collective, Theaterlab), Gluttony by Ed Cardona Jr. (7 Days of Play Theatre Festival), Springtime by Maria Irene Fornes (CG Studio), Thunder in the Index by Phillip Hayes Dean (Staged reading, Theaterlab).

Dina Ann Comolli

Dina Ann Comolli

Neighborhood: Astoria
Websites: http://risingcityarts.com and http://dinaanncomolli.com

Dina is Founder and Executive Director of Rising City Arts, and Actress and twelve year veteran of New York City Teaching Artististry who specializes in developing innovative theater programming for youth. She holds an MFA in Acting from Harvard’s American Repertory Theater Program for Advanced Theater Training and a BA in Theater from DeSales University in Allentown, PA.  Dina has instructed with all ages in all areas from In-School Residencies to After School Classes, One on One Youth Counseling to Professional Development Workshops.
For the past two years, Dina has run operations for Rising City Arts and instructed classes with The Academy of Finance and Enterprise, The Queens Vocational and Technical School and The Queens Library. Previously, Dina spent two years at Dodge High School in the Bronx through the Counseling In Schools National Network (CSNN) where she served as a Youth Counselor, Drama Instructor and Literacy through the Arts In-Class Teaching Artist for the United Way’s AIDP Program. She was also on staff with City Lights Youth Theater for nine years as an Acting Teacher, Director and In-School Collaborating Artist. Once per year, Dina would run the Improvisation and Creative Scenes classes at the Queens Library through Arts to Grow. Past work includes residencies with The Creative Arts Team’s ELTA program (Pre K ~ 1st), Queens Theatre in the Park’s CASA program, Claire’s Creative Adventures on the Upper East Side and Acting Classes with The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has created and conducted Professional Development Workshops for The Weston Playhouse in Vermont, The American Place Theatre and Counseling In Schools. Dina loved her three years at PS/IS 123 in the Bronx where she was a post September 11th Crisis Counselor for Project Liberty.
As an Actress, Dina has been actively shooting commercials. Her Off-Broadway credits include Clare Boothe Luce in The Rise of Dorothy Hale and Lady Macbeth/Mere Ubu in The Polish Play. Also in New York: Persuasion (The Secret Theatre), Bella and The Pool Boy (NYC Fringe Fest). The Error of Their Ways (HERE), Days of Wine and Roses (Lion Theatre) and Edward Albee’s Everything in the Garden (The John Houseman Theatre), etc… Regional credits include work with The American Repertory Theatre, Summer Theater of New Canaan, Stonington Opera House, PA Shakespeare, Off World Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare, Boston Center for the Arts and Pirate Playhouse. Film: Flinch, True to the Heart, The Jam. TV: Fringe, Law and Order SVU, School Spirits, Wise Guys.