James Rutherford (director)
James is an international theater director and a founding member of M-34. Recent credits: The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway (Access Theater), As You Like It (Classic Stage Company), 4.48 Psychosis (Magic Futurebox). James assisted Peter Brook on his most recent production The Valley of Astonishment at Théâtre du Bouffes du Nord in Paris and Theatre for a New Audience in New York. He an associate artist at Classic Stage Company and a guest director at the Stella Adler Conservatory. MFA in Directing: Columbia University. james-rutherford.com
Laura Butler Rivera (choreographer)
Laura has performed and offered theater workshops in Berlin, Japan, Romania, Italy, US, Australia, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. She is an Artistic Director of One-Eighth Theater (Teach, Teacher, Teachest, UBU, The Proposal, and Cho H Cho developed at Mabou Mines), an associate member of CABORCA Theatre (Zoetrope, Open Up Hadrian, Las Minutas de Martí), and a co-founder of Cloud of Fools Theater Company (The Whistling Mortician and Europa). She was a movement assistant for Andrei Serban’s Love’s Labours Lost at Columbia University. She holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, and a BA in Drama from the University of Puerto Rico. laurabutlerrivera.com
Alexander Allen (wardrobe supervisor)
Alexander, a native of and resident in Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of Morgan a State University, where he studied Telecommunications: Public Relations. Mr. Allen’s impressive and extensive 14 year professional career spans across the mass media entertainment industry: art, theatre, television, film, festivals, parades, radio, music, fashion, beauty, and sports. Mr. Allen’s unyielding passion, palpable love to create, Olympic competitive nature, and the electric and magnetic energy of New York City, has landed him projects, such as: Ambassador - Amazon, Guest Relations - Disney, Fashion Stylist - Beyonce, Image Director - Takashi Murakami, Wardrobe Supervisor - "Great Lakes" - New Georges Jam on Toast, etc.. In spite of Mr. Allen’s awe-inspiring success, you’ll be astounded by how innately reserved, humble, and benevolent this Brooklynite has remained.
Sam Alper (marketing coordinator)
Sam is a marketing associate at La MaMa ETC. When not promoting the wonderful work of others, he is a playwright, performer and director. His performance piece LOVEPLAY/PLAYMONEY will premiere at La MaMa ETC in February, 2015.
Harrison Beauregard (technical director)
Harrison is a technical director and scenic carpenter in New York. He graduated from Connecticut College with a double major in film studies and government. He has recently worked with The Public Theater (King Lear, Father Comes Home from the Wars), The Atlantic Theater (Threepenny Opera, Found), and St. Anne's Warehouse (4:48 Psychosis, Tristan and Yseult).
Christopher J. Cancel-Pomales (performer)
Christopher is a designer/performer born in Puerto Rico and resident in Brooklyn, NY. He’s currently pursuing his M.F.A. in Design and Technical Theater at Brooklyn College. Recent works include Rimers of Eldritch, A Murder of Crows, Clybourne Park and Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Brooklyn College), Aravind Adyanthaya’s The Story of the Woman of the Sea and Hagiografías (Casa Cruz de la Luna), Daniel Irizarry’s Cho H Cho, UBU and Teach, Teacher, Teachest (One-Eighth), Europa (Cloud of Fools) and Celine Song’s Family (Columbia).
Alex Clifford (sound design)
Alex is a composer and pianist based in Brooklyn. His previous credits include The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway at the Access Theatre, Telephone/Landscape at the Brick and several others. He is a graduate of Brown University.
Michael Costagliola (sound design)
Michael is a Brooklyn-based sound designer and composer. He studied music at Brown University, where he received the Weston Award for Music Composition. He is a Teaching Artist in Sound Design for the Roundabout Theatre Company and is the resident composer for the AntiGravity Theatre Project. His work has been heard in New York at La MaMa, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Brick Theater, Incubator Arts Project, The Martin E. Segal Center, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Magic Futurebox among others, as well as at various theaters in Providence, Philadelphia, Boston, Madrid, and across Europe and India. He recently composed for and sound designed IN THE FOG and Old Paper Houses, both of which were selected for the PRELUDE Festival 2014
Camber Donahoe (performer)
Camber is a New York based actor, born and raised in Manhattan. She received her formal training at the William Esper Studio. She also studied Grotowski-based physical acting with Stephen Wangh, and Balinese mask and Michael Chekhov technique with Per Brahe. You can see Camber in Ken Kushner’s upcoming film, Tapestry. www.camberdonahoe.com
Jon Froehlich (performer)
Jon is a New York based actor, writer, director, teacher, and co-founding member of Cloud of Fools Theater Company. His first play, The Whistling Mortician, premiered in New York City and has subsequently toured to Concord, MA and Baltimore, MD. Recent roles include Abu Kasim in Mettawee River Theater Company's The Dancing Fox, Ursus in Stolen Chair Theatre Company's Drama Desk-nominated The Man Who Laughs, and Jean-Marc in Dangerous Ground's staging of Jacques Rivette's French New Wave classic Paris Belongs To Us. Jon will also be featured in the forthcoming web-series Water Cooler Madness, playing James the butler. Jon teaches Movement at Pace University in New York City. MFA Columbia.
Eileen Goddard (master electrician)
Eileen is a New York City based theater artist, technician, and lighting designer. Favorite projects include touring with Cabaret Unkempt in 2007 and collaborating with Dana Dobreva to create SKIN in Harlem last fall. Eileen is originally from North Carolina and holds a BA in Philosophy and Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can find her at eileengoddard.com.
Rachel Kodweis (performer)
Rachel is a New York-based actor and vocalist. Originally trained in classical acting, she has also studied Commedia dell'Arte under the tutelage of American Mime Theater’s Stephen Legawiec, and Dana Wieluns. Recent collaborations include: PUSH Physical Theatre (Arc of Ages), Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Theater Company (The Dancing Fox), the Ziggurat Theatre Ensemble (Fafalo!, Aquitania), the Ume Group (A Mass for Isis), Venture Productions (The Venetian Twins, The Years, Charlotte’s Web, 4.48 Psychosis, King Lear), and the Flea Theater (The Honest Whore). www.rachelkodweis.com
Alejandra Maldonado-Morales (stage manager)
Alejandra is a stage manager/designer/performer born in Puerto Rico and resident in Brooklyn, N.Y. Graduate from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus with a B.A. in Art’s History and minoring in Chemistry. Recent works include Awilda Rodriguez’s El Velorio de la Comay (BAAD-NY), Tito Roman’s El Antillano (Caserio Films-PR), Que Felices son las Barbies (Repertorio Español-NY), Aravind Adyanthaya’s The Story of the Woman of the Sea (Casa Cruz de la Luna, Clemente Soto Velez-NY) and Teach, Teacher, Teachest (One-Eight, INTAR Theatre-NY).
Mariel Marrelli (production manager)
Mariel started working with Cloud of Fools during the inaugural run of The Whistling Mortician at the IATI PAM 2012 Festival. She quickly found her role as ASM in the rehearsal process and ran lights during performances. She then took over as Stage Manager during The Baltimore Theatre Project run of the show in 2013. Mariel has done a variety of sound and production work for commercials and films.
Olga Mill (costume design)
Olga is a costume designer working in film and theater. She is a graduate of the Tisch Design for Stage and Film MFA program. Recent credits include License Plates directed by Marc Lucas and the Michael Feinstein PBS New Years Eve Special. Olga was born in the Ukraine and grew up in New York City. www.olgamill.com
Maury Miller* (performer)
Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Maury Miller graduated from Columbia University with a BA in French Language and Literature, then attended Columbia University's School of the Arts where he received his MFA in Acting and was awarded the Bob Hope Fellowship. Maury worked closely with Diane Paulus (director of the Tony award-winning musical Pippin), who directed his graduate Acting class's thesis production – a stage adaptation of James Baldwin's novel Another Country. Past roles include Léandre in The Rogueries of Scapin (dir. Stephen Day, Storm Theatre Company), Edward II in Edward II (dir. Jeff Dailey, American Theatre of Actors), Pepel in The Lower Depths (dir. Niky Wolcz, Columbia Stages), Stanislaw in Our God's Brother (dir. Peter Dobbins, Storm Theatre Company), and Peter Crew in Halcyon Days (dir. John Schiffbauer, Theater for the New City). Maury can be seen in the upcoming psychological drama Go North (dir. Vanita Shastry), an official selection of the 2014 Savannah Film Festival.
Casey Robinson* (performer)
Recent credits include The Whistling Mortician (Cloud of Fools Theater Company), Macbeth and Age of Iron (Classic Stage Company), By Rights We Should Be Giants (Lunar Energy Productions), Motherboard (Antimatter Collective), Replikas of Apokalypsis Cum Figuris (Segundo International Festival, Puerto Rico), the world premiere of Charles L. Mee’s Coney Island Avenue (New York Theatre Workshop), and the current feature films Movement and Location (Audience Award Winner: Best Feature, Brooklyn Film Festival) and the fantasy horror Night and a Switchblade. Casey is an Adjunct Professor at Pace University, and is the Co-Artistic Director of Cloud of Fools Theater Company.
Kristen Robinson (scenic designer)
Rapture Blister Burn (The Wilma Theater), Nora (Westport Country Playhouse), Jen Shyu’s Solo Rites: 7 Breaths (Roulette) Macbeth (DramaCentre), The Last Days of Mankind (Bard College, Fisher Center for the Performing Arts), He Ate Quietly Into the Wall (The New Ohio), Old Paper Houses (Columbia Stages), Chorus of All Souls (Experiments in Opera at Abrons Art Center); Caucasian Chalk Circle (The Atlantic Acting School), My Friend's Story (International Festival of Arts and Ideas), American Night the Ballad of Juan Jose (Yale Repertory Theatre), The Princess Play's 2&1 (New Haven, site specific project) Chicago, Pippin, Big River, Oliver! (The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center); Engaged! (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival), and Equus (New Edgecliff Theatre). Yale School of Drama MFA, Princess Grace Theatre Fellowship: Pierre Cardin Award, 2013. www.kristenrobinsondesign.com
Laura Butler Rivera (choreographer)
Laura has performed and offered theater workshops in Berlin, Japan, Romania, Italy, US, Australia, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. She is an Artistic Director of One-Eighth Theater (Teach, Teacher, Teachest, UBU, The Proposal, and Cho H Cho developed at Mabou Mines), an associate member of CABORCA Theatre (Zoetrope, Open Up Hadrian, Las Minutas de Martí), and a co-founder of Cloud of Fools Theater Company (The Whistling Mortician and Europa). She was a movement assistant for Andrei Serban’s Love’s Labours Lost at Columbia University. She holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, and a BA in Drama from the University of Puerto Rico. laurabutlerrivera.com
Bruce Steinberg (lighting designer)
Bruce Steinberg’s lighting designs have been seen in venues ranging from a Soho laundromat to Italian concert halls—and even an occasional theatre. Previous work with James Rutherford: As You Like It (Classical Stage Company). New York: The Maids' The Maids (Kathryn Hamilton), Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Emma Griffin), Art of Memory (Tanya Calamoneri), Feeder (José Zayas), Blue Before Morning (Gia Forakis/NYIT Award). Regional: Moby Dick—Rehearsed (Jonathan Rosenberg), Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (Daniel Fish). International: Sounds (Paola Prestini). Installations: Mark di Suvero’s For Euler (1997) and Double Tetrahedron (2004) at Salem Art Works; Keren Cytter’s Mysterious Serious (2009) at X-Initiative. Architectural: Original Music Workshop (Fall 2015), Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery (2015). He received his MFA from NYU TSOA, Department of Design for Stage & Film. For more, visit www.BruceSteinbergLD.com.
David Skeist (choral composer)
David has composed vocal music for Niky Wolcz’s production of Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights, Elizabeth Swados’s Political Subversities, and Kristin Linklater’s production of Iphigenia at Aulis, among others. This is his second collaboration with Cloud of Fools after composing music for The Whistling Mortician. As an actor, David has worked with the above, as well as Richard Foreman, David Gordon, Len Jenkin, Adam Rapp, Meiyin Wang, Doris Mirescu, Shira Milikowsky, Stolen Chair, PL115, and International Wow Co. He is a proud member of Caborca Theatre with whom he has premiered numerous original works by Javier Antonio González.
Anthony Tornambene (assistant lighting designer)
Anthony is a native of Long Island. He studied theatre design at the University at Buffalo, where he received his BFA. Lighting design is his passion and being able to work with M-34 as an Assistant Lighting Designer has been very rewarding. He hopes to continue to work in the New York City area, and plans to pursue his MFA in Lighting Design in the future.
Emily Viancourt (performer)
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Emily graduated from Ithaca College this past year with a BFA in Acting. She also had the pleasure of studying Acting at the Moscow Art Theater through the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Since graduation Emily has been working as a featured singer at Cedar Point, appearing in shows such as Midnight Syndicate Live! and Luminosity. Emily moved to New York City about a month ago and is entirely humbled to making her New York City debut with such a wonderful and open group of artists. emilyviancourt.com
David Gibbs/DARR Publicity (press rep)
David’s clients include M-34, The Amoralists, Company XIV, Ice Factory Festival, La MaMa, The Mad Ones, New Ohio Theatre, PTP/NYC, The Queen’s Company, The Riot Group, terraNOVA Collective, Two-Headed Calf and Wakka Wakka Productions. David has publicized shows at Rattlestick, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Atlantic Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre Row, New World Stages, The Flea, Walkerspace, HERE, PS 122, Soho Playhouse, The Town Hall & the NY Int’l Fringe Festival. His clients have won Drama Desk and Obie Awards. www.darrpublicity.com