CAST
Ali Axelrad
JENNA
Off-Broadway debut! Originally from southern California, favorite regional credits include the Los Angeles premiere of H*tler's Tasters (Anna/ Rogue Machine), Peter Pan (Wendy/ Stephen Sondheim PAC), Fiddler on The Roof (Chava/ Sierra Repertory Theater), and A Man of No Importance (Adele/ Performance Riverside).
On screen she can be seen opposite Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried in David Fincher's 10x Academy Award nominated film Mank and in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, both produced by Netflix.
Her heart is filled with gratitude for the entire BVOWEA team! For her grandparents who would have loved this play. More info at www.aliaxelrad.com
Yair Ben-Dor
sami
Yair is an Israeli-American actor, an LSTFI Alumni and 15-year NYC resident.
Proud theater credits include: Prayer for the French Republic (dir by David Cromer), Passage (dir by Saheem Ali), Macbeth (dir by Sean Haggerty), October 7th - A Verbatim Play (dir by Geoffrey Cantor) and many more.
TV and film appearances include: WeCrashed, Blue Bloods, Quantico, 3 Pregnant Men, The Silence In Between, We Are The Apocalypse!, War of the Cultures, Suddenly Banana and many more.
In addition to acting, Yair is the lead narrative director for indie game developer We Create Stuff. Find out more at www.yairbendor.com
Etai Benson
Yitzhak Stein
On Broadway, Etai most recently appeared as Paul in the acclaimed gender-bent revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company. He originated the role of Papi in the Tony Award-winning musical The Band’s Visit (Grammy Award, Principal Soloist).
Broadway/National Tour: Wicked (Boq); An American in Paris (Adam Hochberg).
Off-Broadway: Wonderful Town at New York City Center Encores!. TV: Guest appearances on Etóile (Amazon) and God Friended Me (CBS).
Regional: Ogunquit Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, The Old Globe, Dallas Theatre Center, and more.
Training: The University of Michigan and the Moscow Art Theatre.
With his wife, actress Alexandra Socha, he has developed The Book of Steve, a musical evening exploring the work of Stephen Sondheim through a Jewish lens. @etaibenson
HARRISON BRYAN
Joseph Stein
(He/they) Recipient of the NY Innovative Theatre Award and an American Playwriting Foundation honoree, Harrison is a Brooklyn-born theatre artist and proud member of The Alliance of Jewish Theatre.
Off-Broadway: Marcel on the Train (Classic Stage Company), A Patron of the Arts (Cherry Lane), Three Sisters (Sheen Center), Rescue Rue (DR2), Brecht on Brecht (Atlantic), BALLS (Caveat).
Select Regional: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Cristopher Boone, Helen Hayes Nom.), Hand to God (Jason/Tyrone, Handy Award), The Reservoir (Josh), Avenue Q (Princeton/Rod).
TV/Film: Law & Order, American Horror Story, Blue Bloods, The Deuce.
An advocate for new works, Harrison's original musicals, BALLS: The Monster-Catchin' Musical Comédy will launch globally on YouTube, following its World Premiere at NY Comic Con, while A Hanukkah Carol, or GELT TRIP! The Musical continues to be a light in the dark during the holiday season. "Le'ahava!" | HarrisonBryan.com | @hahaharrisonbryan
Lauriel Friedman
Rachel Stein
Lauriel Friedman is a classically trained actress who studied at the Guthrie Theater and in London. She appeared on Broadway in Prayer for the French Republic at Manhattan Theatre Club, and her other theater credits include Pearl Theater Company, 59E59, NY Classical Theater, George Street Playhouse, and Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey.
On television, she has appeared in FBI: Most Wanted, Inside Amy Schumer, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and American Horror Story.
She recently starred in the short film Mishpucha, which premiered at the Brooklyn Film Festival, and has played leading roles in several independent short films.
Adam HelleR
Abe Stein
Adam Heller has appeared in eight Broadway shows, including Some Like It Hot; It Shoulda Been You; Elf; Caroline, or Change; Victor/Victoria; and Les Misérables.
Selected regional credits: Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at Goodspeed (Connecticut Critics Circle Award), When Playwrights Kill (Huntington Theatre), Something Rotten, Come From Away, Gypsy, Chicago (St Louis Theater Circle Award), 1776 (The Muny), Hello, Dolly opposite Beth Leavel (Ogunquit),The Flamingo Kid, Falsettos (Hartford Stage), My Name Is Asher Lev (Arden Theatre), The Secret Garden (Denver Center), The Chosen (Barrington Stage).
TV: The Good Fight, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, We Crashed, The Bite, Ray Donovan, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, Law & Order (all), Elementary, Unforgettable, The Sopranos.
Rory Kulz
Jake Stein
Rory Kulz is an actor, improviser, and writer.
New York theatre includes PRISONCORE! (Exponential Festival), Travels with My Aunt (Keen), In Quietness (Dutch Kills, dir. Danya Taymor), The Mysteries (Flea), Empire Travel Agency (Woodshed), as well as workshops at The Geffen, New Dramatists, Soho Rep., LAByrinth, and elsewhere.
On-camera roles include The Assistant (dir. Kitty Green, with Julia Garner), The 3_2 Pulldown (with Corey Feldman), and the forthcoming short Commentary! (with Ray Wise).
Rory’s writing has been published by McSweeney’s, and, together with writing partner Eric Stroud, he has won Screencraft and WeScreenplay for TV pilot writing. BA Harvard, MFA LAMDA.
Mike Labbadia
Vinny Bianchi
Select Off-Broadway credits include Ivanov with New American Ensemble, The Assasination of Julius Caesar, Arcadia and The Winter's Tale with BEDLAM.
Select regional: Streetcar Named Desire at Flint Rep, Anything Goes and Saint Joan at Gulfshore Playhouse, Hamlet at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He's also appeared in works with Penguin Rep, Virginia Repertory Theater and The Attic Theater Company.
TV: upcoming premium cable drama (TBA).
Film: On the End.
Company member of BEDLAM.
Adjunct professor at UNCSA. BFA, UNCSA.
Barbara Walsh
Dina Stein
Broadway: Falsettos –Trina (Tony and Drama Desk nominations- LA Ovation Award). Company – Joanne (Drama Desk nomination), Blood Brothers – Mrs. Lyons, Hairspray – Velma Von Tussle, Big – Mrs Baskin, Rock N Roll the First 5000 Years – Grace Slick, Joan Baez, Nine – Francesca,
Off Broadway: Forbidden Broadway, Reading Under the Influence, CSC Macbeth – Ross, CSC and Transport Group, Summer and Smoke – Mrs. Winemiller, Public Theatre, First Daughter Suite – Pat Nixon, Transport Group, Three Days to See – Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller, 3 Penny Opera – Polly for Off Brand Opera. The Potluck for SoHo Rep and Intar.
Regional: Master Class – Maria Callas Paper Mill, Grey Gardens – Edie Beale Studio Theatre, Carrie – Margaret, Studio Theatre, (Helen Hayes Award), Angels in America – Rabbi, Dr Henry, Hannah, Bolshevik, Ethel Rosenberg, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike – Sonia, KC Rep/ Baltimore Center Stage.
National Tours: Oklahoma (1980), Nine, Les Miz, Chess (Carbonell Award), Falsettos, Oklahoma (Aunt Eller) 2022
TV: All My Children, One Life to Live, Madam Secretary, Law & Order, Law & Order Criminal Intent, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Goosebumps.
PRODUCERS
Cate Cammarata
PRODUCER
Cate Cammarata is an Off-Broadway producer, director, dramaturg, and the Founder/Artistic Director of CreateTheater, a New York City developmental theater company dedicated to developing and producing new plays and musicals. Since 2015, CreateTheater has helped bring dozens of new works through the development pipeline.
Off-Broadway: The Assignment, My Father’s Daughter, The Blue Violinist (Oct. 2026).
Regional: Maladies and The Inferno (EmBers Theater Company), My Life Is a Musical (Bay Street Theater), Bran Castle (Porchlight Theater).
Broadway development: Atlantis (book by Ken Cerniglia & Scott Morris, music & lyrics by Matthew Robinson), Bran Castle (book, music & lyrics by Don Nolan), and The Falling Season, a new hip-hop musical by Masta Ace.
Cate holds a BFA in Acting/Directing from Syracuse University and an MFA in Dramaturgy from SUNY Stony Brook. She is an Associate Professor of Theater at Baruch College in Manhattan. www.CreateTheater.com
JUDITH ESTRINE
PRODUCER
Judith Estrine is a playwright, author, and the founding Artistic Director of Prism Stage Company, a New York nonprofit theatre dedicated to developing and producing new and overlooked plays by playwrights over 40, performed by accomplished veteran theatre artists.
She co-founded Prism in 2010 with director Benno Haenel, and the company received its 501(c)(3) status in 2013. Since 2022, Prism has partnered with CreateTheater to expand opportunities for new play and musical development.
Judith wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Sewing The Dream with composer David Kurkowski, which premiered as part of CreateTheater's New Works Festival at Theatre Row in New York City and received the festival's award for Best Musical. Her full-length play Pinochle & Roses was a semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and received Equity showcase productions at New York's Vital Theatre. Her short play She & He won first prize in the Nantucket Short Play Competition, toured nationally, and was adapted into a short film starring Anita Gillette. Other produced works include Poppa's Girls and Frackup, both presented at New York's Clarion Theatre.
As an artist, Judith has studied playwriting at Ensemble Studio Theatre, HB Studio, The New School, and The Neighborhood Playhouse. She is also the co-author of Raised by the Church (Fordham University Press) and a graduate of The City College of New York.
Through both her writing and her leadership at Prism Stage Company, Judith is committed to championing compelling new voices, fostering artistic collaboration, and creating meaningful opportunities for experienced theatre professionals.
creative Team
Debbie goodstein
writer
Goodstein is an award-winning filmmaker working in the industry as a writer, producer, and director for over 25 years. Her areas of concentration are independent Jewish-themed, Holocaust-oriented, and social justice films. Among her works are the Academy Award shortlisted and Berlin Film Festival honored personal holocaust documentary Voices From the Attic, which won 26 awards and prizes, and is about her family’s survival during WWII, hiding in an attic. Voices was recently named by the Berlin Film Festival as “one of the twenty best Holocaust films of the 20th century,” and picked up by WNET Arts for redistribution on Public television. In 2016, Goodstein produced a sequel short to Voices, called Echoes From The Attic, as a companion piece to the original film. Among her other works, Goodstein produced and directed the narrative film Mighty Fine with Chazz Palminteri and Andie MacDowell, released by Lionsgate and awarded first prize at Toronto’s Female Eye Film Festival. She produced the documentary pilot “FU- Georgia” about the plight of undocumented immigrant students in the South today, picked up by ABC last year. She co-produced the award-winning short “Black” in 2020. She is the Executive Producer on Emma Francis-Snyder’s current film Anatomy of a Life (in production). Goodstein also recently consulted on Snyder’s documentary, Takeover, which was an Academy Award shortlisted film last year. In the past, Goodstein co-wrote the Emmy award-winning film Saying Kaddish for ABC. She produced and directed the TV pilot The Bubbies for NBC. She executive-produced the film Dirk and Betty featuring Marissa Tomei. Before producing her own films, Goodstein worked as a screenwriter and development executive for Siren Pictures. She graduated from Brown University and Columbia Film School with honors. debbiegoodstein.com
Jonathan Silverstein
director
Jonathan Silverstein is an award winning director and producer. As Artistic Director at Keen Company (2012-2025), Jonathan produced and directed acclaimed productions such as the world premiere of All the World’s a Stage by Adam Gwon (Off Broadway Alliance Award), the site specific production of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking starring Kathleen Chalfant (also Long Wharf, Theatre Aspen, and Bay Street Theater), 1993 by Kenny Finkle, tick, tick...BOOM! (Drama Desk nomination), A Walk in the Woods starring Kathleen Chalfant, Travels with my Aunt, Middle of the Night by Paddy Chayefsky, and many others. Jonathan also directed the award winning Off Broadway world premiere of Jon Marans’ The Temperamentals produced by Daryl Roth (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble). Other Off Broadway credits include revivals of Lemon Sky, The Dining Room (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Director; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), and Tea and Sympathy. Regional: Long Wharf, Huntington, Old Globe, Merrimack Rep, Buck’s County, Dorset, Cape Rep, Monmouth, and Sledgehammer. Jonathan teaches Directing at The Tepper Semester/Syracuse University and an ongoing scene study class in Manhattan. MFA, UCSD, Drama League fellow. Member, SDC. jonnysilver.com
Lauren Helpern
Scenic Design
Select NYC: 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center - Lortel Award), Bad Jews (Roundabout), Skintight (Roundabout and Geffen Playhouse), Bug (Obie Award), Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (also Luna Stage, Edinburgh Fringe).
Select regional: La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Ford's Theatre, Hartford Stage, National Tour of American Girl Live! and several productions of Blue Man Group.
Production Design: Ari Shaffir - Jew and Jordan Jensen: Take Me With You on Netflix, Randy Feltface: First Banana and Human Trials on YouTube, and Bobby Lee's upcoming special, Finally, on Hulu. Partner in Butter Designs: event, retail, trade show, and brand activation design.
David Lander
Lighting Design
Broadway: Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song (w/ Michael Urie), The Lightning Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical, The Heiress (w/ Jessica Chastain), Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo (w/ Robin Williams), 33 Variations (w/ Jane Fonda), Dirty Blonde, I Am My Own Wife, among others.
Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theatre, Keen Company, The Public Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout, Second Stage, The Vineyard, among others.
Regional: Alley Theatre, A.R.T, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Miami New Drama, The Old Globe, among many others.
International Theatre and Opera: Caracas, Dublin, Delhi, London, Melbourne, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, among others. Awards: Two Tony Award nominations, 5 Drama Desk Award nominations and 1 win, among many others.
Jennifer Parr
Costume Design
Jennifer has been working in New York and regionally as a costume designer for over 20 years. In New York, she has worked extensively with the Obie-Award winning Keen Company, having designed eighteen shows with them including: All the World’s A Stage, Year of Magical Thinking, Ordinary Days, Tick, Tick...Boom, and Alphabetical Order.
Other New York credits include As You Like It (The Public), Othello (New Place Players), Transatlantica (Operating Theater), Futurity, The Musical (Joe’s Pub), Every Day Above Ground with SaBooge Theatre (PS 122) and Thrill Me (York Theatre).
Regional credits include Dial M for Murder (Peterborough Players), Sense & Sensibility, Baskerville (Cape Playhouse), On Golden Pond (Bucks County Playhouse), Glengarry Glen Ross (Asolo Rep), The Tempest, Elizabeth Rex, Much Ado about Nothing (Opera House Arts), and Rabbit Hole (Premiere Stages).
Jennifer is the Costume Shop Supervisor and Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Design program at New York University. She is also the Co-Founder of The Costume Studio, a non-profit organization that provides space and supplies for costume designers working on non-profit productions in NYC. For more information visit jenniferpaar.com or thecostumestudionyc.org.
Daniel Baker
Sound Design & Original Music
Prism Stage Company debut. Previously with Jonathan Silverstein: The Dining Room and Tea and Sympathy (Keen Company).
Broadway: Eclipsed, The Parisian Woman, Purlie Victorious (assistant), American Son (assistant), Old Acquaintance (assistant).
New York: Toni Stone (Roundabout); The Great Leap and These Paper Bullets! (Atlantic); The Four of Us (MTC, Lortel nomination); Party People (The Public); Bull in a China Shop (LCT3); Appropriate (Signature); The Winter's Tale (TFANA); and many others at MCC, Second Stage, Primary Stages, Rattlestick, The New Group, Classic Stage Company, WP Theater, and Keen Company.
Regional: PlayMakers Rep, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, The Alley, Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre, Long Wharf, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, and Weston Playhouse.
Daniel has created sound and original music for over 200 productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at regional theaters across the country. He holds an MFA in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama and teaches at Barnard College. Member, United Scenic Artists Local 829.
John Lant
Production Manager
Interlochen Alum and Lead Producer of 18 Off-B'dway include - King of the Earth, 27 Wagons...Wicked, Frozen, Geeks, Frankenstein, Swing!
GM - Off-B'dway, WCLO, HAT, 99-Seat; PM - Off-B'dway, Carnegie Hall (14 yrs) Tilles Center; Natl Tours include -Phantom..., Evita, Singin' in the Rain, One Mo' Time, Gypsy; LD - Resident Interlochen, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, BET JAZZ MASTER (TV Awards),
Off-B'dway (12 Shows); SSDC - Garfunkels at Carnegie Hall, Cal Arts, Odyssey, Long Beach Playhouse, St. Luke’s, Actors Temple, St. Clement’s; DramaLogue, NY Theaterfest, MITF, 2xNAACP Awards; Nom's Ovations, BWWorld, Garland, LA Times, LA/OC Weekly & Backst;
TV/Film include - Sundance finalist / Oscar Short semi-finalist; Power Rangers, Renegade, Army of Darkness, Land of the Lost, G'Busters 2, King of New York, CBS Radford Directing (2 yrs), AFI; Artistic Director Write Act Rep (22 yrs); CA Legislature Award (4 years) More info: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlantprod/
bentley heydt
Associate Lighting Design
(he/him) | Bentley is a NYC–based Korean American lighting designer with a limb difference.
Select Designs: A Christmas Carol 2024-Present (Indiana Rep); Anastasia The Musical & Always...Patsy Cline (Geva Theatre); It’s A Wonderful Life (Milwaukee Rep); The Color Purple (KC Rep/Geva Theatre/Theatre Latte Da); you don’t have to do anything (HERE Arts); (no)man and Swords/Mardini (IMGE Dance)
Broadway: How To Dance In Ohio (ALD); Life of Pi (DMC) (2023 Tony Award). MFA, Ohio University. Bentleyheydt.com
Shane Schnetzler
PSM
(he/him) Off-Broadway: The Emporium (CSC); Soho Rep’s Fairview, The Wild Duck, Prosperous Fools, Macbeth (An Undoing), Waiting for Godot, Orpheus Descending, Des Moines, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, Why?, Julius Caesar, The Emperor, Heart/ Box, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Tamburlaine, Fiasco’s Cymbeline (TFANA); Touch (East Village Basement); All the World’s a Stage, Fish, Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Keen Company) Fatherland (City Center), Seven Deadly Sins (Tectonic), Noura, This Flat Earth, The Profane, Rancho Viejo, Familiar (Playwrights Horizons); Napoli, Brooklyn, Look Back in Anger (Roundabout); The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, The Comedy of Errors (NYSF).
Genevieve Dornemann
ASM
NYC: Becoming Hamlet (The Directors Company); Othello (Bedlam); The Tragedy of Coriolanus, The Wild Duck (Theatre for a New Audience)
Regional: Refugee Rhapsody (Contemporary American Theatre Festival); Sister Act (Ford’s Theatre); A Funny Thing…Forum, HAIR, Sweeney Todd (Signature Theatre); Where We Belong (Folger Theatre); The Mortification of Fovea Munson (Kenney Center TYA); Songs for a New World (Rep Stage); Evita, Macbeth in Stride (Shakespeare Theatre Company); The Tempest (Synetic Theater); Teenage Dick (Woolly Mammoth); Óyeme, the beautiful, Inside Out (Imagination Stage); The Mousetrap, Into The Breeches!, Pride and Prejudice (The Barnstormers Theatre).
David Brotsky
cultural consultant
David Brotsky is making his professional theatrical debut with The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue. A longtime supporter of theater and film and an Upper West Sider, he is pleased to bring his perspective to the project as cultural consultant. Outside the arts, David is an attorney and the founder of Davetrek Adventures, a Jewish outdoor and social group based in the New York area. An enthusiastic traveler, he has completed two around-the-world journeys. He is also an avid cook and baker whose recipes have appeared in several cookbooks.
Follow his adventures at davetrek.com and on Instagram at @Davetrek.
Press /Marketing/ GM
David Gibbs
Press Representative
(he/him) is the founder of DARR Publicity, a boutique entertainment press agency specializing in theater, comedy, dance, film, music and unique theatrical events. David has publicized shows at many Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway venues throughout NYC.
His clients have won Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Obie and Off Broadway Alliance Awards, and have been nominated for Bessie and Chita Rivera Awards. www.DarrPublicity.com
Table 7 Strategy
Marketing & Advertising
Founded by Victoria "Vic" Cairl, Table 7 offers services in partnerships, social media, advertising, audience engagement, and sales strategy. Credits: Spare Parts, André De Shields is Tartuffe, Art of Leaving, Reunions, Boop: The Musical, Pixar Putt, La Mirada Theatre, Left on Tenth, How to Dance in Ohio and Mindplay.
martin platt
General Manager
Martin Platt for Perry Street Theatricals has general managed over 45 off-Broadway productions, including Last Call (New World Stages), Our Class (BAM), Bedlam’s Sense & Sensibility (Gym at Judson), The Michaels Abroad (Hunter).
As a Producer:
Broadway: Dames at Sea, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (co-producer)
Off Broadway: Islander, The Woman in Black ( McKittrick Hotel), An Oak Tree (Greenwich House); Bedlam’s’ Hamlet & Saint Joan; Georgie.
London: Lend Me a Tenor the Musical , Woman in Waiting, Gumboots, Nixons Nixon.
Awards: Tony Award, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critic’s Circle, NY Theatre Critics, Obie, Lortel.
Has also directed theatre and opera extensively in the US, UK, and Europe.
Kayleigh Laymon
Associate GM
Kayleigh is a stage manager and costumer living and working
in NYC.
Selected credits: Drunk Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Drunk Dracula (SM), The Woman in Black (North American Tour, PSM), Ava: The Secret Conversations (NY City Center, ASM), Last Call (NWS, Assoc. GM & Sub SM) The Merchant of Venice, Our Class (Arlekin Players, Company Manager) The Trial of Elizabeth Cree (UMich, PSM), The Creeps (Off-Broadway, PSM), Islander (Off-Broadway, PSM), Radamisto (Philharmonia Baroque, ASM), Lost Immersive (Director) The Speakeasy SF (PSM).
She also designs and builds costumes, in addition to painting. Find some of her artwork on Instagram @kayleigh.laymon
cast
ACTOR NAME
ROLE
ACTOR NAME
ROLE
* Indicates Member of Actors' Equity Association