SOMETHING IS ROTTEN...

Melody Brooks (Director/Dramaturge) has directed many of NPT'Cs innovative classic productions. With Vebeke Lunn Fazakerley of Primary Sauces in London, she created a unique production of Macbeth in 1997 that included an authentic medieval banquet as a central part of the action. The production was performed at Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine as well as at NPTC.  A second production of Macbeth was performed at Washington Square United Methodist Church in 2002.  She has also directed the NPTC productions of Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Miss Julie, and the NY Premiere of Vaclev Havel's The Increased Diffifulty of Concentration. In addition, she served as dramaturge and co-director on NPTC's OOBR award-winning production of The Taming of the Shrew.  Ms. Brooks has also developed and directed a number original scripts with the company, notably Exhibit #9 by Tracey Scott Wilson, a satire on the African American Experience (AUDELCO Award); Jihad by Ann Chamberlin, a mystical examination of the influence of gender and religion in war (OOBR Award); and Anatomy of a Love Affair by Deirdre Hollman, an intense look at an interracial relationship ending afer eight years (optioned by Essence Entertainment). Other developmental directing credits for NPTC include Everyday Somewhere Here: Letters From Palestine and Israel, a multi-media piece created in collaboration with Benji Rgoers and based on his travels to the region which premiered as a work-in-progress in January '08 and Finding Home by Keline Adams, starring Marcella Lowery, which was presented as a work-in-progress in NPTC's Voices From the Edge Festival in October 2007.  She also helped to create the solo shows Untitled and Unfinished, written and performed by Yolanda Wilkinson and presented at NPTC, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and the Downtown Urban Theatre Festival; Touchscape, written and performed by James Scruggs for the Queer at HERE Festival, and Chewin' da Fat on Life, a work-in-progress by OBIE-Award winner Stephanie Berry. Ms. Brooks also created and directs NPTC's Shakespeare Made Simple Program, which offers performance, training and staff development activites to schools in the Tri-State area. This year she is delighted to be helping The School for Classics, a brand new high school in East New York with a classical theatre-centered curriculum get up and running.  Under her supervision, NPTC artists are working intensively with the students and teachers to create a 90-minute production of Romeo and Juliet this coming June. Ms. Brooks is also supervising a new and fruitful partnership with The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Project Classics, an afterschool drama program for children living in public housing in Harlem.

Meganne George (Production Designer): Broadway: A Wonderful Life (Actor's Fund Benefit) Off-Broadway: For mabou mines: Dollhouse (international tour); Red Beads; Cara Lucia (American Theatre Wing Hewes Nomination), Two Little Indians, Superpowers, Orpheus and Eurydice; Hurray for Iceboy; International: Choeophorae (European Capital of Culture Festival 2006) Other NY: John Goldfarb Please Come Home (FringeNY Best Costume Design 2007) Seven seasons with Bronx Opera; Robin Becker Dance; Sal LaRussa Dance Theatre; Nicholas Andre Dance Theatre Film and Television: mabou mines' Dollhouse (producer, Arte, France); Don't Nobody Love the Game (PBS Independent Lens). Projects in Development: Everyday, Somewhere, Here: Letters From Palestine and Israel with New Perspectives Theatre Company; mabou mines' Finn (NYSCA commissioning grant recipient), Lee Breuer's The Crucifixion Project; mabou mines' Menagerie. Meganne was also a design professor for Hofstra University Department of Drama and Dance for 6 years. She has served as a teaching artist for Barnard College at Columbia University, the Mark Twain School of the Arts on Coney Island and with New Perspectives.

David L. Schulder (Sound/Video Designer) is a Multimedia Designer, Video editor and Sound Designer . He previously designed sound for Cyclone And the Pig-Faced Lady (NPTC/NYMF); Penang (Midtown International Theater Festival - Sound Design Award Nominee); The Dark Wood (The Woodstock Fringe Festival); Jackie & The Beanstalk (The Point Community Center, Bronx); Everyday Somewhere Here: Letters From Palestine and Israel (NPTC); Mina (La MaMa etc.). Other productions include: Certain Souls, When it Rains, Blood of the Bear (Workshop Theatre Company); The New Jersey Trapezoid (The Theater Three). He has also designed video projections for Raisins Not Virgins (WTC) and 7Women, 7Heavens (Islamic Women's Conference, NYC). David was the videographer for NPTC's school residency program Let's Get Dramatic! in PS-IS137 in Brooklyn last year, creating a documentary DVD of students in workshops integrated with their final performance.  He is also a teaching artist with NPTC's residency this year in The School for Classics, mentoring students in creating their own documentary of the first year of this brand new school. David also provides additional sound production and voice-over services for the Negro Ensemble Company, New Perspectives Theatre Company, and “LiveIn5” (web series). Please visit www.VIDEO321GO.com for more info.

BERNITA ROBINSON (Stage Manager) - 2010 Drama League Benefit honoring Angela Lansbury (PSM), Broadway - THURGOOD, MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN (recent revival), MAN OF LA MANCHA (recent revival), RAGTIME, JELLY'S LAST JAM, CATS.  National Tours and Canadian productions - ON GOLDEN POND (PSM) Richard Chamberlain's SCROOGE (PSM), RAGTIME (World Premier Production & Tour PSM) Hal Prince's SHOWBOAT, WEST SIDE STORY (PSM), CATS, SARAFINA.  Thanks to my family for their continued support.  For Mom and Dad.

CAST

James Edward Becton (Bernardo/Reynoldo/Player/Osric) is quite pleased to be counted as one of the newest members of New Perspective Theatre Companie. His is an extensive and diverse resume ranging from such roles as Sparky in Forever Plaid to Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar (x3) to Miss Roj in The Colored Museum and Orlando in As You Like It. It has taken him a few years to embrace the passion that is the art form of acting and is pleased to still be at it, continuously. If you are interested in his past, present and future work, he welcomes your company and conversation over a single malt scotch. Thanks to the cast for an experience to remember. Thanks to Jenny Greeman for the introduction to the company. Thanks to Melody for seeing me as useful and resourceful. Enjoy. Cheers.

Bill Blechingberg (Claudius) has been working in New York Theater for many years.  He has directed opera, musicals, and plays, which awarded him nominations.  He won awards as an actor in Latino productions such as: the ACE award as best Actor in La Lechuga and Zanahorias, as well as the HOLA award as best actor for Puerto Rico Fua!.  He can be been seen and heard in various commercials and promos.  He can also be heard but not seen as various voices in the animated film Ice Age.  He is very proud to have worked with the OBIE nominated company, The Flying Machine, in their production of Frankenstein and with  New York’s bilingual children’s company, SEA.  Bill is presently a member of the New Perspectives Theatre Companie, bringing Shakespeare to New York City schools, and now Hamlet, for the bigger kids.  Bill is very happy to be surrounded by this very talented group of actors, and living his dream of finally doing a full length production of Shakespeare. 

Bernardo Cubria (Hamlet) is a Swine Flu-Free Mexican. Regional Theatre Credits;  Iachimo in Cymbeline (Houston Shakespeare Festival), Casca in Julius Caesar (Houston Shakespeare Festival), Manuelo In Boleros for the Disenchanted (Barksdale Theatre),  Pale in Burn This (Unhinged Productions in conjunction with Lanford Wilson) and Covielo in The Ambassadors (Nova Arts Project). Off-Off Broadway credits include; Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Palomo in Ana in the Tropics, and Dante in One Night in the Valley. His most recent film Night Voles was an official selection of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as the Houston Fringe Festival. As a writer, Down Boy his first full length play was originally developed in The LAByrnth Theatre's Master Class. Readings have been produced in NYC with The Token Collective, ABroad Stage Company, and at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. His short play Danica and Jean ran in L.A. as part of TST's 10 minute play festival. He is also a proud founding member of The Unheard Voices in Houston Texas, as well as a proud member of Nova Arts Project. He has a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Houston and is also a graduate of the International School of Comic Acting in Reggio Emilia, Italy where he studied under Antonio Fava. www.bernardocubria.com

Jenny Greeman (Ophelia) is fulfilling an artistic dream by creating Hamlet with the New Perspectives Theatre Company!  She has previously appeared as Juliet, Lady Anne, Edgar, Olivia, and Silvia in NPTC’s educational tours of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare’s Villains and the Shakespeare Vaudeville. Other favorite roles include: Jessica, The Merchant of Venice; Joanne, Vanities; Mary-Louise, My Three Angels; Mercy Lewis, The Crucible; Rizzo, Grease; and The Leading Player, Pippin. Jenny has starred in two National Tours, as the Little Prince in The Little Prince and MaryAnne in Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel and spent three seasons at The Theater at Ellis Island. Jenny is also a director, producer, and teaching artist. Many thanks to Melody and the beautiful cast and crew!

Amanda Johnson (Marcellus/Clown) is a new Companie member at New Perspectives, having completed the Acting Apprentice Program in December of 2009.  She graduated from Bard College in 1996 with a BA in Drama and Dance.  She has played Queen Isabella in Fuente Ovejuna, Maude and Victoria in Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine, and the Rabbi, Doctor, and Hannah in Angels in America:  Millenium Approaches.  In 1999 and 2000, she toured with the National Shakespeare Company playing Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Helena, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  She also is currently appearing as Madam Mediator in Margaret Cavendish’s Restoration comedy, The Convent of Pleasure, as part of NPTC’s Savor the Flavor series.  Other favorite roles include Rosalind in As You Like It, Viola in Twelfth Night, and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew with the Coventry Players.  She has two productions with John Hudson’s The Dark Lady Players, and is currently the Artistic Associate of Production at New Perspectives Theatre Company.

Mikaela Lynn Johnson (Guildenstern). After completing the graduate program in theatre at the New School in the spring of 2009, Ms. Johnson played in

the first of New Perspectives Theatre's Savor the Flavor series, as

Lampito and the Leader of the Old Women's Chorus in Lysistrata.  Also

at NPTC, she was in The Wild Boy:  A Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Tale, The

Adventures of Rubbish in the Hood, and By Popular Demand (one acts by

the playwrights in NPTC's Women's Work LAB).  Most recently she appeared

in The Convent of Pleasure, another reading in the Savor the Flavor

series.  This May will mark her one year anniversary as a member of New

Perspectives Theatre Companie.  Mikaela can currently be seen in The

Boychick Affair:  The Bar Mitzvah of Harry Boychick at The Broadway

Comedy Club.

Rafael Jordan (Horatio). revious NPTC roles: Petya Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard and Romeo in Romeo & Juliet (school tour).  Other NYC Credits: Apollodorus in Caesar and Cleopatra (Kent Paul Dir. Harold Clurman Theatre); Locke/Prince, Thunder Above Deeps Below (Pat Diamond Dir., Barrow Group Arts Center); Charlie et al, Power (Metropolitan Playhouse); Haemon, Antigone: I Kreon (Walkerspace).  Regionally: various in 365 Days/365Plays (Sean Daniels Dir., Actors Theatre of Louisville).  Film: Darryl, The Best Laid Plans; Omar, Cold War Kids.  Rafael was in the exploding snowmen Dunkin Donuts commercial, the BedNets basketball mosquitoes PSA, and premiered work at the first annual Antonin Artaud International Theatre Festival in Bali, Indonesia.

Steve Lynn (Rosencrantz/Fortinbras) graduated with a B.A. in theater from the College of Charleston in SC. He first began his theatrical career at Union Comprehensive High School and was chosen to participate in the South Carolina Governor’s School of the Performing Arts Summer Drama Intensive. After college, he left the United States to teach English at summer camps around Italy and spent four months traveling Europe and exploring life outside of the theater to inform his craft. Upon his return he moved directly to New York City and was accepted to the NPTC’s Apprenticeship Program. He recently joined the professional Companie and is happy to be a member. He wishes to thank his supportive and loving parents, his insightful college professors, and New Perspectives Theater Company for their continued support.

C. Amanda Maud (Gertrude) has been a core NPTC Companie member and teaching artist since 1995 and has served as associate artistic director since 2002, dividing her time between NYC and London. Her professional performing credits are numerous, including appearances as Friar Laurence (Romeo & Juliet), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Emelia (Othello) for NPTC as well as roles in Blood Wedding (George Washington University Artist-in-Residence) and The Persians (Wells College Artist-in-Residence). Roles in the England include the UK premiere of The Evidence at New Perspectives Theatre Company/UK; The Belle of Bonavista Bay (lead) for Forest Forge, the UK premiere of Taking a Liberty at The Contact Theatre in Manchester, Macbeth at the Chester Gateway, Midas at Shakespeare’s Globe Education Centre, The Natural Theatre Company at the Millenium Dome and new works at the Soho Theatre studio, the Chelsea Centre and the Albany Theatre. In England she as performed with a number of educational theatre companies including the Apothecary Theatre Company, Mu-Lan Arts, and most recently with Theatre Adad.  She also worked for many years with Twisting Yarn Theatre in such productions as The Crow Scarers, a national tour comissioned by the United Cooperatives, Entrenched, a devised physical theatre piece for High School and College students and Trail of Tears, the premiere of an original play.  

Ray Rodriguez (Player King/Clown) has been a core teaching artist with NPTC since 1999, and has performed in numerous World Voices and Shakespeare Made Simple productions. He is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors currently teaching staged combat and movement classes at Adelphi University in Long Island, NY. He is a partner with Combat Inc. He has also taught at Harlem School of the Arts, New York University and Muhlenberg College, and has conducted guest workshops at Watchung Hill Reg. High School and Teaneck High School in NJ. He is the resident fight director for NPTC and the Inwood Shakespeare Festival where he has choreographed numerous productions of Shakespeare and other classics. Some acting credits include: Petrucchio in NPTC's OOBR-winning Taming of the Shrew; Banquo (Macbeth), Mercutio (Romeo & Juliet, School Tour) and Rodrigo (Othello) at NPTC; Brutus (Julius Caesar), Porthos (Three Muskateers), Macduff (Macbeth), Long John Silver (Treasure Island) at Inwood Shakespeare Festival; Caliban in La Tempestad with Resonance Ensemble and Jack Pinchwife in The Country Wife with HonkBark Productions.

Kim Sullivan (Polonius) is extremely happy to return to the NY Stage in NPTC's Hamlet.  Most recent credits include "Bond" in Fences (American Stage, St. Petersburg, FL); two seasons at Shakespeare on the Sound (MucDuff and Casca respectively); Permanent Collection (FL Studio Theatre, Sarasota); The Clean House (Milwaukee Rep); "Kent" in King Lear and "Moustique" (Audelco Award) in Dream on Monkey Mountain at Classical Theatre of Harlem; and Radio Gulf (Roosevelt Studio Theatre, Wash. DC). TV: "Judge Runyon" on One Life to Live; Law and Order: Trial by Jury.

Terrell Tilford (Laertes) recently received his first NAACP Image nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series for his role on the ABC daytime drama “One Life to Live”.  At the time of his casting, he was also reprising his role of “Flip” in the Matrix Theatre Company production of Stick Fly which he’d performed for the L.A. Theatre Works radio broadcast at the Skirball Cultural Center. Five weeks into taping for OLTL, he returned to Los Angeles for the play’s final four sold-out performances. Terrell along with his other castmates were recently presented with the LA Drama Critics Award, the Garland Awards and the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Ensemble Performance.  Select Theatre credits: Yellowman (original workshop production) at the McCarter Theatre; The Memorandum at The Guthrie (invited artist-in-residence experience); The Exonerated (original cast and LA Ovation Award nomination for Best Ensemble Performance) at Tim Robbins’ The Actors’ Gang; Malcolm X in El-Hajj Malik: Malcolm X at the National Black Arts Festival; The Rivals at Rutgers; Involuntary Homicide at The Actors’ Gang; The African Company Presents Richard III at Rutgers; Prisoner of 2nd Avenue for the Fox Diversity Showcase; Dutchman at the Zoo Café; The Colored Museum at CalArts; Miss Julie at HERE (NY); Wait Until Dark at Rutgers. A classically-trained actor, fine-art gallery director and curator, Terrell received his MFA from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and his BA from the University of California, Berkeley.  In New York, Terrell is represented by Harden-Curtis Associates.

Kerry Watterson (Ghost)