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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Peter Musante (Curator, Producer, Co-director, Performer) works at the nexus of immersive theater, dance, music, and technology to invent unique performance-based experiences that transform space and create community. His original works have toured internationally and are created collaboratively with a diverse group of artists – Andrew Schneider (YOUARENOWHERE – OBIE Award, international tour), and Trusty Sidekick Theater Company (Lincoln Center, Park Ave Armory, Abrons Art Center) where he is a Resident Artist. Also in NYC: Martha Clarke's Angel Reapers; a canary torsi's The People To Come; a cast member of Blue Man Group (Astor Place Theater). As a lead artist in the creation of original work, Musante's projects have been presented by Incubator Arts Project (St. Mark's Church), BLDG92/Brooklyn Navy Yard, and The Brick. He studied at UCLA and Brooklyn College's PIMA (Performance & Interactive Media Arts) program. As a theatre creator and educator, Peter was the 1-on-1 Experience Director for the Lincoln Center Education commission, Up and Away; he has also led a large-scale immersive Brooklyn Navy Yard tour, Private(i). He's also a proud Clinical Skill Trainer for Medical programs across NYC and has the greatest dog in the universe, Palo. Peter was born and raised in San Mateo, California. petermusante.com
Summer Shapiro (Co-director, Host, Performer) is a theatre artist based in San Francisco. She writes and performs comedy-centered physical pieces, using what life is teaching her in the moment to guide the work she creates. Her work, which "raises the craft of clowning to new levels" (NYTheatre.com) has also been praised as "masterful" by Arts Journal and LA Entertainment Today. She has performed and taught workshops throughout the US, Ireland, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Canada, and Europe. Awards include 2013 Pick-Of-The-Fringe (Vancouver International Fringe Festival) for the solo In The Boudoir (with Cirque du Soleil veteran John Gilkey); Best in Show at the 2010 FRIGID New York Festival, Best of The Best in SF Bay Times’ 2009 Bay Area Theatre; 2009 Ticket Holder Award for Best Special Event/Performance – Los Angeles Entertainment Today for Legs And All (with Peter Musante), and many others. She served as creative consultant and performer for the BRAVE music video by Sara Bareilles and Rashida Jones and for The Key by Jeff Desom, music by Hauschka. Teaching and workshops include a Teaching Artist position with The New Victory Theater of the New 42nd Street, among many others. Shapiro holds a B.A. from UCLA's School of Theater, completed training at the Samuel Beckett School of Theater at Trinity College, Dublin and completed her "postgraduate" work at the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco.
Trusty Sidekick Theater Company, based in New York City, creates bold, original productions for young people and their families. Rooted firmly in the belief that kids deserve theater that ignites their imaginations and makes them think about the world in a new way, the company creates work that is multidisciplinary, and its ensemble of collaborators includes artists trained in physical theater, puppetry, music, dance, animation, and video projection. Hailed by The New York Times for "blur[ring] the boundaries between the imagined and the real," Trusty Sidekick often creates performances in unconventional spaces, including a settlement house in the Lower East Side, an island in New York Harbor, and a Revolutionary War-era battleground. Experimenting with new and exciting ways for audiences of all ages to interact with live performance, Trusty Sidekick redefines the theatrical experience for a new generation. trustysidekick.org
Led by writer/director Mara Lieberman, the award-winning Bated Breath Theatre Company specializes in creating interactive theatre in order to envelop audiences in multi-sensory, theatrical experiences that shed new light on current and past cultural touchstones. Through a combination of rigorous research and daring theatricality, Bated Breath creates one-of-kind theatrical experiences for museums, Off-Broadway theatres, and other site-specific venues. Productions and events include: the interactive art auction play, Beneath the Gavel, Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters and at Broadway's Supper Club, Feinstein's/54 Below. Beneath the Gavel returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in April 2019. Bated Breath performed their physical theatre response to Nick Cave’s "The Let Go" at the Park Avenue Armory. The work at The Armory is part of Bated Breath’s museum series "Viewpoints &" which brings the unique way Bated Breath makes theatre into gallery spaces to respond to installations. Freedom: In 3 Acts (New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas and as the keynote for the New England Museum Association Conference 2017), The Un-Making of Toulouse-Lautrec, Wild Things: The Life and Work of Maurice Sendak. In development: Bordeaux: The Wine Spectacle, Bated Breath’s interactive wine tasting play. Bated Breath also runs the Physical Theatre Training Center in Bushwick which trains the next generation of theatre artists to respond to the changing landscape of American theatre. batedbreaththeatre.org
Lauren Sharpe (Performer) is an art-maker and teaching artist based in Brooklyn. A classically trained ballet dancer, she specializes in movement-based physical theater. Lauren is an alumna of The New York Neo-Futurists, writing, directing, and performing in their long-running hit show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. She also co-created and performed in the company's The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Vol. 1, The New York Times called “an impish illustration of how lively entertainment can be created from theatrical spare parts”, and other productions such as Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck!, Picked Up, and Fake Lake, a site-specific piece performed in Chicago Park District pool. Lauren collaborated with Laurel Nakadate and James Franco in the creation of the Performa 11 piece Three Performances in Search of Tennessee. Film/TV credits include Boardwalk Empire, Bored to Death, and Law & Order SVU. Sharpe teaches with The New Victory Theater, New York City Ballet, and Spellbound Theatre and is a pediatric hospital clown with Red Nose Docs. laurensharpe.com
Marisol Rosa-Shapiro (Performer) is a New York and Seattle-based performer, director, educator, and creator of original works of theater and a member of Clowns Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization of clowns that performs for free for children affected by war. She is a graduate of Princeton University and of Giovanni Fusetti's Lecoq-based Helikos School of Theatre Creation in Florence, Italy. Her specialties include mask theater, mime, clown, commedia dell'arte, improvisation, physical comedy, movement and ensemble-based creation, and more. She is currently a Teaching Artist at the New Victory Theater and the Producing Artistic Director of the NYC-based Soledad Ensemble, the company that creates vital, physical, visually arresting theater for audiences of all ages.
Jono Waldman (Performer) is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and a frontman of his band The 5000 Jazz Assassins, which performs the blues and old-timey jazz. As a composer and performer, he collaborated with such theatre companies as Spellbound Theatre and many others. He is also a Teaching Artist with Brooklyn Academy of Music, The New Victory Theater at the New 42nd Street, and Wingspan Arts Conservatory. His work has been featured in productions presented across the country at such venues as The New Victory (NYC), The Chicago Children’s Theater, Denver Performing Arts Center, and many more. www.5000jazzassassins.com
Christina D. Eskridge (Performer) is a New York City performing artist originally from Oakland, California. A proud graduate of the Cap 21 professional Musical Theatre Training Program, Christina has performed across the country in the Mamma Mia! North American tour and around New York City in a variety of shows, including Trusty Sidekick's Up and Away at Lincoln Center. Christina is thrilled to be a part of the Up Close Festival and is always looking for exciting and innovative ways to use the arts to inspire, provoke and educate audiences of all ages. christinadeskridge.com
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