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Vienna Carroll
Playwright, Young Girl / Fiancé
Singer, playwright, actor, herbalist, dandelion wine maker. Ms Carroll moved to Harlem from York, PA (where much of Singin takes place) after receiving her BA in African American Studies/Political Science from Yale University. A regular on NYC's jazz scene, she wrote Singin after she recently discovered York's history as a hotbed of abilitionism and Underground Railroad activity. She has presented Singin for the Goodrich Underground Railroad Museum in York and venues in NYC. Ms. Carroll produced a cd of spirituals, Singin' Wid A Sword In Ma Han' in which she is accompanied by percussionist Newman Taylor Baker. viennacarroll.com
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Otis Cotton
Singer and Actor
Otis Cotton is from Harlem, New York. A graduate of the prestigious SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory, his love for music manifested through his singing at four years old. Otis recently wrote and performed his one man show 100% COTTON and currently teaches a newly devised course for children, MusicalART! Favorite past roles include Lophakin in Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Thami in Athol Fugard's My Children! My Africa!, and Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. He is very proud to join the cast of Singin and share this beautiful story. |
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Kerri Little
Singer and Actress
Kerri Little is a singer, actress, songwriter and vocal instructor/coach. Kerri started singing at an early age
and formally began studying voice at the age of 14. Trained in Baroque and Classical music
she also learned Negro Spirituals and hymns while growing up in Springfield Mass.
Ms. Little later studied voice, jazz and music education at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
After college she spent two years singing, recording and traveling with Grammy Award-wnning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
She has sung with many bands and appeared in numerous local, church and regional productions like
Love is Not Enough and It's My Season. Kerri also works with youth groups as a choir director, coach, and mentor.
Ms. Little presently teaches music (public and private) in Brooklyn, NY and is in the studio completing an upcoming Gospel project.
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Pernell Walker
Actor and Singer
Pernell Walker hails from the South Bronx. She holds a M.F.A in acting from Actor's Studio Drama School and a B.A in Theater from City College. She has just wrapped production on the award winning film, Pariah, reprising the role of Laura. Some favorite roles are Rashawn Lee in Seed by Radha Blank (2009 Hip Hop Theater Festival),Vanessa in Earl's Post Prison Playdate and Koroma in A Time in South Africa (2009 semi-finalist in Strawberry One Act Play Festival. Pernell thanks American Theater of Harlem for this great opportunity and Ms. Carroll for such a compelling piece.
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Omar Perez
Actor and Singer
Omar Perez began his professional career with Pregones Theater’s summer stage production of El Apagon. Since then he has continued working with Pregones in The Red Rose (winner of the 2006 HOLA award for Best Musical), The Beep (winner of the 2007 HOLA award for Best Ensemble) and this year’s summer stage Cuento que me Cuentan. Other stage credits include Spinning into Butter, Man of La Mancha, September 12th, and The Unblackening (winner of the Grand Prize at the BP festival). His film credits include Shut up and do it, Broken Hearts, and Evergreen. Omar was recently awarded a Career Advancement Fellowship from the New Visionaries Initiative of the Ford Foundation and the New Visionary Fellows of Pregones Theater. |
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Henrique Prince
Fiddle Player and Vocalist
Henrique Prince plays fiddle and vocals and plays was he calles Old Time music. He teaches that: No white man played a banjo before about 1820. The banjo comes from Africa and slavers in the Gambia used to specifically capture iriti players -- an iriti is a one-stringed African fiddle. Also, that "The earliest improvisational music in America is black banjo and fiddle music. The jazz band is centered around a banjo and a fiddle player. All of the earliest jazz bands had at the center a violin and banjo." Hear Henrique's fantastic The Ebony Hillbillies. |
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Linda Murdaugh
Musician and Singer
Linda is an accomplished musician who hails from York, PA. Ms. Murdaugh started singing in the church children's choir at the age of six and began playing violin at the age of seven. Though classically trained, she has performed with techno, gothic and industrial bands culminating in 2 cds, Water Comes Rushing In, released in Germany, and The Time Is Near. Linda still retains her gospel roots as church choir lead in her hometown church. |
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Director
Mr. Johnston is an actor, director, musician and teacher. He co-founded Back-A-Yeard Theatre and is Artistic Director of The American Theatre of Harlem. Plays he has directed include The Colored Museum at Riverside, Street Car Named Desire and Reading Zimbabwe. Keith is Program Director for Adult Education for CUNY Creative Arts Team facilitating workshops and directing prroductions throught NYC's school system, South Africa's Townships, Colleges and Universities, Rikers Island, The Children's Arts Carnival, New York University, Brown University and Seeds of Peace. He has written and produced Thriving Teens, a film series for NYU's Child Study Center.
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Mitch Kess
Producer
Mitch Kess began producing rock musicals in clubs on the Lower East Side. He has co-produced with The Public Theater at Joe’s Pub, the 92nd Street Y at the Makor, extensively with Dixon Place among others and worked with great directors including Tom O’ Horgan, Broadway of Hair directorand Jesus Christ Superstar.
I'm proud to be on the Singin team! |
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Alice Uhl
Producer
Alice Uhl, Associate Producer Alice has an MA from NYU in Literature & Drama. She has produced numerous plays and readings in New York City. She directed The Last American in Concert (The Public Theater at Joe's Pub) and was the ACR for The Deciders. Alice has traveled and written about Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, as well as the book for a political rock musical and is currently working on a children's travel series.
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Orlando Rivera
Producer
With advanced degrees in Architecture, Planning, and Sociology from Yale and Columbia University, Orlando is a successful entrepreneur, and independent business/development consultant, specializing in bringing together people, needs and ideas, as well as the requisite resources with which to effectively “tackle the insurmountable.” The developer/builder/architect of tens of thousands of affordable housing units and several mixed-use and -income communities across the United States, has been invited by the Spanish National Government to help direct redevelopment and community building efforts in Bilbao and the Northern Basque Country of Spain in 2011.
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Peter D. Leonard
Lighting Designer
Mr. Leonard designed over 250 productions for theaters and dance companies nationwide. New York designs for original musicals: The Deciders (FringeNYC 2008), Saddamn: The Musical (Smoke That Thunders), pre-Broadway workshop of In My Life (Joe Brooks), Dorian Gray: The Musical (NY Musical Theatre Festival), The Last American (Joe’s Pub), Belles of the Mill (MITF), Clark Gesner’s Animal Fair NY premiere. Perry Award nomination: Children of Eden (MOC Musicals). Multiple US and European tours lighting Dance Theatre of Harlem.
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Stage Manager
Jacqui Anscombe is from Harlem, NY and a junior at CUNY's NYC College of Technology, where she is an Entertainment Technology major. In the 2008/2009 season, she worked as Sound Technician for the H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players in their productions of Uncle, Know Thy Enemy and A Bolt from the Blue. She has also worked with The Harlem Theater Company and the Negro Ensemble Company as an Administrative, Technical and Production Assistant. She is a member of the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop, where she has performed many staged play readings over the years. She also studied acting and performed at the Harlem Theatre Company, The Negro Ensemble Company and the American Theatre of Harlem. Jacqui is honored to have the wonderful opportunity to work in this production. |
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Graphic & Web Designer
Dawn loves the interactive nature of the web and its unique capabilities to connect people. She designed websites for many NYC organizations including YWCHAC.org, BSVAC.org and IrisHouse.org among others. Dawn is honored to work with Ms. Carroll and the Singin team. She is inspired how Singin popularizes both the leading role of "the Slave Grapevine" in the Underground Railroad and the heroism of the everyday Black man and woman in the most important freedom struggle in history. Experiencing Singin makes us all more free. |
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David Fletcher
Photographer
Mr. Fletcher is a NYC-based music director/producer/bassist/pianist presenting live entertainment including musical ensembles, theatrical productions, music arranging, rehearsal, video and photo services: www.davidfletchercompany.com |
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Cheree Dillon
Videographer and Documentary Filmaker
Cheree Dillon is our video guru and helped a lot on outreach and publicity too. See her latest fantastic movie (she was the film editor) Off and Running!
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David Nolan
Audio Engineer
David Nolan is a recording engineer with experience in transferring all types of audio media to digital formats. He currently oversees the audio archives of the 92nd Street Y, one of New York City's most noted cultural institutions, and is also a staff engineer for WNYC radio. David died suddenly at only 48 years of age on 2/25/10. We miss you, David, and thank you for your generous heart and kind ways. |
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Advisor
A former political and union activist, Katharine decided to use her organizational and motivational skills in the entertainment industry. The staged production of Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han is her second collaboration with Vienna Carroll after producing the 2008 CD, Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han. She is also a fiction writer and computer teacher.
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