Jess Goldschmidt (co-creator) is a writer and choreographer. Her performance work has been seen at CPR, Movement Research @ Judson Church, Dixon Place, AUNTS, The Wild Project (with Clubbed Thumb), and the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her frequent collaborators include Chris Tyler, Millie Kapp, and Tall Women in Clogs. jessgoldschmidt.com
James Rutherford (co-creator) is the founding artistic director of M-34, for whom he has directed All That Dies And Rises (IATI), The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway (Access Theater), 4.48 Psychosis (Magic FutureBox) and an ongoing choral adaptation of Timothy Donnelly’s poem Hymn to Life. James assisted Peter Brook on his most recent work The Valley of Astonishment (Theater for a New Audience / Théâtre du Bouffes du Nord) in New York and Paris. He is an associate artist at Classic Stage Company, for whom he directed As You Like It, and a visiting director at the Stella Adler Conservatory. MFA Directing: Columbia University. james-rutherford.com
Ross Cowan* (perfomer) Recent credits include Fly (Pasadena Playhouse/Crossroads Theatre/The New Victory Theater), The Circle (ArtBarn) and Red (Portland Stage). Ross previously collaborated with James Rutherford in M-34's The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting.
Oona Curley (scenic design) is a lighting and scenic designer. Previously with M34 Productions: Sweat and Tears, The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway, 4.48 Psychosis. Recent: The Magic Flute (Indy Symphony), Tin Cat Shoes (Clubbed Thumb), Mahagonny/The Medium (Curtis Opera), ¡Bienvenidos Blancos! (Team Sunshine), Opium (Speigelworld), ms. estrada (The Flea), The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater Co.), Lashed but not Leashed (The Public/UTR), The Workshop (124 Bank Street), in a word (Lesser America), Far Away (Sharon Playhouse), Underground Railroad Game (ArsNova), The Body Artist (Abrons), Ski End (Piehole), The Light Princess (Arden Theatre), Krazytown (Playwrights Downtown). Nominee: Princess Grace Award, Hewes Design Award (Underground Railroad Game). Recipient: J.S. Seidman Award for Design Excellence, Weston Award for Design. MFA NYU/Tisch. www.oonacurley.com.
Jessica Myers (performer) is a lover of movement and plants. During her time in New York City, she has had the opportunity to work with artists Jess Goldschmidt, Jen Harmon, Kristin Swiat, and The Odyssey Works Project. This year she was thrilled to present her work Softgaze at the 14th Street Y.
Kimie Nishikawa (design associate) is a NYC based scenic designer born in Osaka, Japan. She immediately moved to the United States with her family at the age of 2, moving around the east coast and growing up there until the age of 12. After graduating from Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan) with a degree in linguistics, she pursued a career in theater that first started out as an after school activity in college. NYC credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Juilliard Drama), Love's Labour's Lost (Juilliard Drama), Blue Window (Classic Stage Company), Our Town (Classic Stage Company), LADY (American Theater of Actors), Plenty (NYU), Scotty (Stella Adler Studio of Acting), Before You Get Too Far Afield (JACK), The Fox (Gene Frankel Theater) and The Beaux Stratagem (NYU). MFA Tisch School of the Arts. kimienishikawa-design.com
JT Norton (sound design) is a Brooklyn based musician, composer, and sound designer. He primarily works in a world of synthesizers and drum machines where he produces electronic music and significant con-ed bills. He was the former lead singer of Young Heel, and is currently working on his newest 4-piece project, Lambs. This year, two of his scores premiered in the Sundance Film festival.
Casey Robinson* (performer) Previous collaborations with James Rutherford include Hymn to Life, All That Dies and Rises (both M-34), and Death Valley (Antimatter Collective). 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), the current feature films Movement and Location (Audience Award Winner: Best Feature, Brooklyn Film Festival) and the fantasy horror Night and a Switchblade. Casey received his M.F.A. from Columbia University's School of the Arts and is the Managing Director of Cloud of Fools Theater Company.
Valerie Schenkman (stage manager) is a Chilean American artist, who pursues storytelling through narrative filmmaking, documentary, and the visual arts. She has worked internationally as a multimedia journalist in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti. She is now pursuing an MFA in Film at Columbia University.
Jing Xu* (performer) is a Chinese Swedish theatre artist and painter who has devised, directed and performed works on three continents. Her work cultivates the interplay between representation and transformation, masculine and feminine, fluidity and force, in search of a truth that lies 'in-between.' Theatre: Jomama Jones: Radiate (Soho Rep), Lily’s Revenge (A.R.T). Film/TV: The Knick (HBO/Cinemax/Steven Soderberg), A Different Sun (Reed Film Productions), Unforgettable (CBS). Jing holds an MFA in Acting from A.R.T/Harvard University and a B.A. in Performance Studies from Brown University.