Actor / Teacher / Director / Choreographer / Playwright
Union & Guild Membership AEA, SAG/AFTRA; Dramatist Guild
EDUCATION:
Smith College 2019-2021
M.F.A. in Theatre & Playwriting | 2021
Smith College 2016-2019 (Ada Comstock Scholar)
Bachelor of Arts in English Language & Literature
Book Studies Concentration
Special Studies in Theatre: Playwriting and Directing
PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING Credits:
FILM & TELEVISION (SAG/AFTRA)
Feature Film:
Phantom of the Paradise Featured Brian DePalma, Director
TV Movies / Docudrama:
Cotton Candy Featured Ron Howard, Director
Guilty or Innocent Featured Gannaway-Rubenstein Productions
Network Daytime TV:
All My Children Day Player ABC-TV
One Life to Live Day Player ABC-TV
Guiding Light recurring extra CBS-TV
National & Regional TV Commercials, V.O. and SAG Industrial Films
THEATRE (AEA)
2000 to Present
Mamma Mia! Tanya The Majestic Theatre
The Final Say (original cast) Jenna Strident Theatre
Far Away Harper Turbulent Times Theatre, Brattleboro, VT
God of Carnage Annette Music Theatre of CT (MTC) MainStage
Far Away Harper Smith College Theatre, dir. Gabby Farrah
Gypsy Rose D.B. Productions, Donald Birely, dir.
Cabaret Fraulein Kost MTC Mainstage
Ancestral Voices Jane (CT Critics Circle Award Nominee) MTC MainStage
BABY Pam Polka Dot Playhouse/MTC
Love40 Teri AEA Workshop, NYC
The Major & The Minor SuSu / Pamela Hands Down Productions, NYC
Doubt Sister James MTC MainStage
Pre-Y2K
Denning the Musical (World Premier) Delores Delmar (original cast) Sherwood Productions
On the Town Claire DeLoone Casa Manana
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Angel (Jerry Yoder, dir.) Casa Manana
A Midsummer’s Beach Blanket Bingo Night’s Dream - The Musical (original cast) New Musical Festival, NYC
A Murder Foretold The Duchess (original cast) 10/10 Players, NYC
A Nervous Splendor The Vision/Klara (original cast) Off-Bway; Alexander Zhurbin, NYC
Sexual Perversity in Chicago Joan H.Y.T. Productions, NYC
Comanche Café & Domino Courts Ronnie The Shooting Gallery (0ff-off Bway)
Six Women with Brain Death… original NYC cast Off-Bway, NYC
Finders Keepers Mrs. Aldrid Alpha Omega Theatre, NYC
The Rivals Lydia Languish Theatre Artists Workshop, Westport, CT
Gillette Doreen American Theatre Festival, NYC
Singin’ in the Rain Lina Lamont Merry Go Round Playhouse
She Loves Me Amalia (Best Actress Rabin Award Nominee) Lyric Stage, Dallas
Hells Bells AEA Workshop & Original NYC Cast Off-off Bway
Madly, In Love (Baayork Lee, dir.) Guinevere (original cast) AEA Workshop, NYC
Whoopee! (Susan Stroman, Choreographer) Featured Ensemble TUTS (Charles Repole, dir.)
Fiddler on the Roof Ensemble & featured foles National Tour (w/Herschel Bernardi)
(Ruth Mitchell, dir. under the supervision of Jerome Robbins) Chava, Grnma Tzeitel (Understudies)
Peter Pan (opposite Cathy Rigby) Tiger Lily McCoy Rigby & Casa Manana
Steel Magnolias (Southwest Premier) Shelby Plaza Theatre, Dallas
Star the Musical (original cast) Featured Roles The Majestic Theatre, Dallas
The Sound of Music Liesl (opposite Betty Buckley) Casa Manana Theatre
Six Women with Brain Death… original Dallas Cast (2-year run) Moving Target Theatre
Annie (Robert Fitch, dir.) Lily St. Regis Casa Manana Theatre
Vanities Joanne The Acting Company, Dallas
A Chorus Line (1985 and 1988) Val Casa Manana Theatre
Evita The Mistress Dallas Repertory Theatre
Our Town Emily Dallas Repertory Theatre
They’re Playing Our Song Sonia The Acting Company, Dallas
Casanova The Ingénue Workshop/Northwood
George M! Featured Roles U.S. Tour / Dallas Summer Musicals
Hello Dolly! Minnie Fay Casa Manana Theatre
Teen Angel (original cast) American Premier/Stephen Hollis, Dir. New Arts Theatre
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Linda Lou Casa Manana Theatre
The Fantasticks Louisa New Stage Theatre, Jackson, MS
Carousel Carrie Pipperidge Casa Manana Theatre
Biloxi Blues Daisy Hannigan Stage West Theatre
Sugar Babies The Soubrette Rudy Tronto, dir.
Anything Goes Bonnie (opposite Van Johnson) Casa Manana Theatre
The Sound of Music Liesl U.S. Tour (14 months)
Carousel Louise U.S. Tour (8 months)
CONCERT PERFORMANCES
Kennedy Center, Washington DC American Songbook: Featured Soloist Terrace Theatre
Broadway Easter Bonnet 1999 Featured New Amsterdam Theatre, Broadway
Broadway Backwards 2013 Featured Ensemble Palace Theatre, Broadway
Marvin Hamlisch Lifetime Achievement Award Featured performer: The Players, NYC
Performed: “Dance Ten, Looks Three”(and company numbers) Directed by Thommie Walsh
The Bernstein/Sondheim Songbook Featured Soprano Irving Symphony Orchestra
Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts Featured Soloist: Broadway Series Westport, CT
Awards & Honors:
· 2019 Denis Johnston Playwriting Prize: In Session (or My Life is Hell)
· Berkshire Playwrights Lab: Winner 2019 Radius Playwrights Festival for the short play: “Always”
· 2018 Denis Johnston Playwriting Prize: “Four Collected Plays”
· Connecticut Critics Circle Award Nominee: Outstanding Ensemble Cast: Ancestral Voices (2013)
· Leon Rabin Award: Best Actress in a Musical, nominee: Amalia in She Loves Me, Lyric Stage
· Chosen by Thommie Walsh and Baayork Lee to perform “Dance Ten; Looks Three” as part of the presentation performance for Marvin Hamlisch’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
DIRECTING / CHOREOGRAPHY
Smith College Mainstage (2020) Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (virtual) Supervising Director
Smith College Studio (2020) Louisa May Incest by Carolyn Gage Director
Smith College Theatre (2018) Murder on the Miskatonic Musical Staging/Choreography
Smith College Studio (2017) Red Bike by Caridad Svich Director
Mainstage Music Theatre of CT (MTC) Cabaret AEA Fight Captain
Mainstage MTC My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra Musical Staging
Ridgefield Theatre Barn Pump Boys and Dinettes Director/Choreographer
ICT Mainstage Guys and Dolls Choreographer
United Jewish Center, CT Fiddler on the Roof recreating original choreography
*As Resident Faculty of Music Theatre of CT School of Performing Arts (2001-2014): Directed and/or choreographed over 50 productions of full-book musicals, as well as original reviews and devised work, produced in various venues including Westport Country Playhouse; collaborating with musical directors including Justin Paul (Oscar, Grammy, Tony, and Golden Globe Award-winning songwriter) and Broadway conductor Dan Micciche (Wicked).
TEACHING & COACHING:
Guest teacher (various dance studios): Tap, Theatre Dance, Beg/Int. Ballet.
Private instruction: dialogue coach; monologuing your song; acting for opera; audition coach.
Professional Instruction - Classroom & Workshop:
Music Theatre of CT School of Performing Arts (14 years on faculty):
Acting for Camera (all levels)
Advanced Acting & Ensemble
Music Theatre (all levels)
Music Theatre Dance and Tap
Improv
“The Business of Show Business” & “Monologuing the Song”
Margot Manning Studios (formerly Weist-Barron, Dallas):
Acting for Commercials
Audition Technique for Film and TV
SparkArts Bethel, School of Performing Arts
Music Theatre III & IV (middle school & high school level)
Teen Devised Theatre
“Nailing your College Audition”
Original workshops developed and taught by Marty Bongfeldt:
The Anonymous Monologue & The Monologue Project: devised theatre project for teens and young performers consisting of writing prompts and improvisation exercises culminating in an original workshop performance. Taught periodically in Texas, New York, and CT (1990 –2013)
Memorizing Your Part: a workshop for tackling how to “get off book” using memorization technique developed after suffering a head injury in 1986.
TRAINING
ACTING:
Foundational technique based in the Stanislavsky system and its method successors; including script analysis; later training in Meisner Technique, as well as experimental methods (ex. James Noble technique). Instructors include:
· Phoebe Brand (member of Group Theatre): Shakespeare monologue & scene study
· Jim Noble: Acting and Technique
· Alice Butler (NLC): Script Analysis
· Michael Shurtleff: (seminar) Audition: skills and technique
· Gail Cronauer (SMU): Acting and Technique
· H.B. Studio: various teachers in technique, scene study including William Hickey (scene study).
VOICE:
· Anne Weeks Jackson (10 years)
· Candace Goetz (Joan Lader Technique), NYC.
Vocal Performance Coaching & Master Classes with:
Mary Martin, Sylvia Syms, Marnie Nixon, Brenda Lewis (New York City Opera)
DANCE:
14 years formal formative dance training with the Riley Dance Workshop, Texas: Ballet (Cecchetti based); Tap; and Jazz (Jack Cole theatrical-jazz and Luigi based). Company Member: Irving City Ballet (1976-1979)
Studied under the following teachers:
Tap: Dale Riley; Bob Audy; Mary Jane Houdina; Jeri Kansas; Gail Pennington; Avi Miller & Ofer Ben.
Ballet: Claire Riley O’Berry; Dale Riley; Fernando Schaffenburg and Nancy Schaffenburg-Cross; various teachers at Cincinnati Ballet Academy, Steps, and Broadway Dance Center.
Jazz: Dale Riley; Patsy Swayze (Houston Jazz Ballet Company); J. David Kirby
Choreographers worked under (selected): Susan Stroman; Baayork Lee; Robert (Bob) Fitch; Lanie Munro; Jerry Yoder; Thommie Walsh; Bruce Lea; Bob Audy; Joel Ferrell; Donna Drake; Buff Shurr.
Northwood Institute Music Theatre Studio (1984):
Combining the business of theatre with the creative process, The Studio was a division of Northwood Institute’s Business and Arts Conference, with the motto “The Arts Make Good Business Partners.”
For over a decade, Dr. Mary John, a pioneer in the regional theatre movement, brought leaders of the American Musical Theatre together to professionally workshop original musicals and to instruct and train future leaders in the business of theatre. Participants studied in classroom settings as well as working hands-on and side-by-side with industry professionals to mount a fully produced original musical.
Northwood Institute, Master Classes with:
§ Writing the Libretto: Hugh Wheeler (A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, etc.)
§ Page to Stage: John Wolfson (Playwright and Theatre Historian)
§ Commedia dell'arte: Jack Edelman (New York City Opera)
§ Embodiment of the Song: Jack Edelman
§ Backers & the Business of Theatre: Paul Berkowski (Bway investor, business manager)
§ Collaborative Process-Composer/Lyricist & Librettist: John Wolfson & Ralph Affoumado
§ Developing Original Theatre & the Regional Theatre Movement: Dr. Mary John (Off-Bway Producer and Founder of Milwaukee Repertory Theatre)
FILM/TV: Workshops & Master Classes: various teachers including:
Joan D'Incecco (casting director, All My Children); Squire Fridell; Mari Lyn Henry (Director of Daytime Casting ABC).
(primary training: on the job)
Other workshops, classes & seminars:
Writing for Daytime TV: Jeffrey Sweet (NYC workshop)
Writing for Children’s Theatre: Taking the Page to the Stage (through Continuing ed in NYC)
Various workshops through Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
Volunteer and Professional Organizations:
Board of Directors (1998-2002) Theatre Artists Workshop (Westport/Norwalk, CT); served three years as Treasurer.
Actors Equity Association, Dallas Area Liaison Committee (1980s) – member of this committee when area petitioned, developed, and implemented Dallas/Ft Worth’s Member Project Code, based (in part) on LA’s Waiver Code and NYC’s Showcase Code. Prior to this agreement, AEA actors in the DFW region were not allowed to mount small productions to showcase their talent.
Board of Directors (2020-present) Strident Theatre Company (Northampton, MA).
AEA / SAG / AFTRA (Member since 1980).
Other Experience:
1989-1995: Worked in various NYC Casting Offices as a casting assistant: Joan Lynn Casting, Three of Us, and Jay Binder Casting. Also served as Casting Director to independent film maker, Wayne Cheo, for Twin Tigers Productions. Served many times as AEA monitor for casting calls at NYC AEA.
SINGERS on STAGE, NYC & New Canaan, CT: internationally recognized musical theatre training program and producing entity.
Program Director
Produced five original showcase performances in a Broadway theatre. Student participants ranged in age from mid-teen to 50+ and came from throughout the United States and abroad.
Researched and negotiated prices and terms for student accommodations; booked rehearsal space and classroom facilities, meals and special events and coordinated all transportation.
Coordinated all teachers, speakers and chaperones.
Conducted the orientation and supervised classes and scheduling.
Wrote the Workshop Handbook
MUSIC THEATRE of CT, Westport, CT (MTC): a non-profit professional theatre company and school of performing arts employing 20+ professional; serving over 200 adults & children.
Administrator of School of Performing Arts & Executive Assistant to Executive Artistic Director
Manage all office functions and administration; also acted in a supporting role as assistant to the Executive Artistic Director. Duties & Accomplishments:
Initiated the Intern Program and directly supervise all interns.
Helped develop programming for MTC curriculum. .
Manage all registration procedures; Maintain all tuition accounts paid to the School of Performing Arts, including collection of accounts in arrears.
Designed, developed and maintain database for the School of Performing Arts.
Liaise with Board of Directors, and with multiple departments and disciplines.
Coordinate large project teams.
Facilitate sales and promotion.
Additional experience includes work in fundraising with various non-profit and educational organizations, as well as working in the corporate sector in marketing and advertisement. (References on Request)