Directing
Directing credits include a full production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, a reading of an original work, assisting on two musicals, and a handful of small independent projects.
The Rocky Horror Show
Assistant Director. Directed by Matthew Hawkins.
Produced by Penobscot Theatre Company, Summer 2025. Photos by Bill Kuykendall.
Cast:
Janet: Marianne Grossmann
Brad: Andrew Barrett
Narrator: Frank Bachman
Riff-Raff: Ira Kramer
Columbia: Christie L. Robinson
Magenta: Heather Astbury-Libby
Dr. Frank-N-Furter: Dominick Varney
Rocky: Zachary Spreng
Eddie/Dr. Scott: George Loring
Phantoms: Thomas Demers, Sophia Yerxa-Robinson
Production Team:
Director: Matthew Hawkins
Assistant Director: Claire Thompson
Music Director: Phil Burns
Choreographer: Grace Livingston-Kramer
Production Stage Manager: Jazlynne Williams
Assistant Stage Manager: Jenna Gripshover
Scenic Designer: Alivia Cross
Costume Designer: Izumi Inaba
Lighting Designer: Jess Fialko
Sound Designer: Eric Ferguson
Props Designer: Thomas Demers
Projections Designer: Arturo Camacho
Intimacy Director: Angela Bonacasa
Scenic Charge: Gwen Elise Higgins
Sound Engineers: Charlotte Laffely, Tyler Neitz
Wardrobe Supervisor: Anna Kemble
House Electrician: Tony Gerow
Spot Operators: Caleb P, Gracie Farrar
Light Board Operator: Molly Trainor
Deck Crew: Colby Hope, Terri Moulin
Pit:
Keys: Phil Burns
Guitar: Harry Burns
Drums: Tom Libby
Bass: Gaylen Smith
Saxophone: Sonja Hannington
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Produced by Ensemble! Theatre at Brown at Brown University. Fall 2023.
Photos from Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. Fall 2023, Brown University.
Photos from Rashawn Alam, Cassie Travis, and Rayhan Meghiji.
This production of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 was produced by Ensemble! Theatre at Brown in the fall of 2023. It served as the capstone for my Theatre Arts and Performance Studies degree. Preparation for this process included reading the entirety of War and Peace in addition to doing dramaturgical research into the history of the show itself. Rehearsals spanned eight weeks, and the production had a cast of twenty, a fourteen piece orchestra, and included collaboration between students from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
Original artwork for the show done by Juliana Morgado Brito (poster), Marco Ammann-Bianciardi (portraits), and JL Zhang (collage/decoration).
In addition to the character map that was included in the program, Marco drew portraits of the entire cast that were used in lieu of headshots.
JL also designed "trading cards" based on the character map for characters to hand out to the audience during the prologue.
Cast:
Pierre: Rhys Long
Natasha: Lizzy Steeves
Sonya: Hayley Gasbarro
Marya: Ellie Leibner
Anatole: Sadie Elliott-Hart
Helene: Sophia Janssens
Dolokhov: JL Zhang
Andrey/Prince Bolkonsky: Max Ferguson
Mary: Maren White
Balaga/Opera Singer: Sunday Labrucherie
Opera Singer: Dasha Dmitrieva
Denisov: Sofia Matos
Ensemble: Bryce Gray, Percy Unger, Reina Salama, Talia Yett, Zyn Ang, Michelle Liu, Abby Schindell, Sun
Production Team:
Director: Claire Thompson
Music Director: Anna Galer
Assistant Music Director: Reina Salama
Orchestral Music Director: Pascale Carvalho
Stage Manager: Austin Meadows
Assistant Stage Manager: Olivia Bailey Taylor
Choreographer: Austine Zhang
Assistant Choreographer: Talia Sherman
Dance Captain: Sofia Matos
Co-Technical Director: Abby Schindell
Co-Technical Director: Ari Cleveland
Lighting Designer: Kyra Douglass
Sound Designer: Sierra Riley
Set Designer: Adam Ying
Costume Designer: Wenhao Cai
Props Designer: Marco Ammann-Bianciardi
Poster Designer: Juliana Morgado Brito
Program Designer: JL Zhang
Program Designer: Marco Ammann-Bianciardi
Company Manager: Nelsa Tiemtoré
Production Manger: Arete Xu
Equity Officer: Talia Yett
French Pronunciation Coach: Elizabeth Haupt
Orchestra:
Conductor: Pascale Carvalho
Piano: Teressa Chambers
Accordion: Hadi Abu-Alfa
Violin/Synthesizer: Eurie Seo
Violin: Katherine Williams
Viola: Eliana Alweis, Ella Vermut
Cello: Matthew Sharin, Yaffa Segal
Bass: Ryan Liu
Clarinet: Valentin Garcia,Bryce Gray
Oboe: Daniel Kyte-Zable, Meg Lorraine
Guitar: Pascale Carvalho
Drums: Elijah Nelson
Electronic Arrangements: Pascale Carvalho