Harrison David Rivers (Playwright) plays have been produced at Ars Nova (contributed to WORK, A.N.T. Fest), The New School For Drama Theater (FELL, FringeNYC 2008), the 45th Street Theater (STEP, NYMF & four little girls, Obama Drama), the Atlantic Theater (man ascends, pony and baptism, At Play Productions, 24 Hour Plays Off-Broadway), Atlantic Stage 2 (mouth says move, Potomac Theatre Project), South Oxford Space (when last we flew, FIRE! New Play Festival), collective:unconscious (sistahs, Under the Radar Festival), Dixon Place (misquoted texts, please hold me the forgotten way), Center Stage New York (72BLACKEYEDVIRGINS) and Manhattan Theatre Source (burning). His plays have been read at 2econd Stage Theatre and Three Legged Dog Art & Technology Center.

His short play how to set the table, or the lost art of dinner conversation, directed by Ari Edelson and featuring Cynthia Nixon, premiered in May at the American Airlines Theater as part of the Komen Foundation’s Pink Campaign on Broadway.

Harrison currently serves as the Artistic Director of At Play, an Exchange affiliated ensemble and the official off-Broadway company of the 24 Hour Plays. He was a 2008 Resident Playwright with Freedom Train Productions and is a recipient of a 2009-10 New York Theatre Workshop Emerging Artist Fellowship.

He holds an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University where he received the John Golden Playwriting Award and BA’s in American Studies and Dance & Drama from Kenyon College.

Eric Louie (Director) developed and produced KINGDOM as part of The 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF Most Promising New Musical Award) and has been involved with the development of the piece ever since. The musical has gone on to win the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award and was recently presented by The Old Globe in San Diego, CA and ReVision Theater in Asbury Park, NJ (The Star Ledger’s Best New Musical and Best Book of a Musical awards for the 2008-2009 NJ Theater Season). He has produced and developed work for The New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Summer Play Festival, and The New York International Fringe Festival, including Harrison David Rivers’ Fell. He assisted Broadway producer Margo Lion on Hairspray and Caroline, or Change and has worked for Broadway PR firm Boneau/Bryan-Brown and as a company manager at The Atlantic Theater Company. He is currently the assistant to the associate producer and a Van Lier Fellow at The Public Theatre. He is also in the midst of finishing his MFA in Theatre Management /Producing from Columbia University on a dean's fellowship.

Anika Chapin (Director) is best described as an NYC-based nebulous creature of the musical theater. She has been the Assistant Director for the Encores Productions of On the Town, Damn Yankees, and Face the Music, and Assistant to the Director on White Christmas and 13. She was also, notably and for far too long, a Company Manager on an Australian tour of CATS that toured Asia.

DRD Productions/Anthony Francavilla (Producer/General Manager) Under the helm of Anthony Francavilla, DRD Productions has produced: The Importance of Marrying Wells (Best Play, Theatre Web), The Fartiste (Outstanding Musical, Fringe NYC 2006), Semi-Permanent (Outstanding Solo-Show, Fringe NYC 2007), Platforms (Outstanding Choreography, NYMF 2007), Fell (FringeNYC 2008; 4-stars, Time Out NY), Half of Plenty (Summer Play Festival) and Wild About Harry (NYMF 2008). Anthony previously spent one year as an Assistant General Manager at Richard Frankel Productions and two years as Operations Manager of Atlantic Theater Company. His professional memberships include: the Broadway League (Adjunct Member), MENSA and the Old Vic/New Voices Network. Anthony was recently admitted to Columbia University’s Theatre Management and Producing MFA program as a Dean’s Fellow. He aspires to take a Virgin Galactic trip to low-earth orbit.

CAST

Melissa Joyner a native North Carolinian, made her Fringe Festival debut in Fell and is ecstatic to return with a piece by the same writer. Her most memorable roles include: Anna in Old Times, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Mary in Brown, and Erzulie in Once on This Island. She is a graduate of The New School for Drama with her MFA. She is a member of At Play and managed by Nani Saperstein Management.

Rory Lipede, received her B.F.A. in Performing Arts from Missouri’s Fontbonne University and immediately moved to New York where she has lived for almost two years. She began as a principal ballet dancer with the St Louis Ballet and received apprenticeships with Boston Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Ballet companies and the Broadway Theatre Project where she studied with Anne Reinking and the late Gregory Hines. Her credits include principal roles with, St Louis Shakespeare Company, The Black Repertory, The William Inge Center, Negro Ensemble Company, Rattlesnake Theatre, The Old Vic: New Voices 24 Hour Festival, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Creative Destruction, several productions with FringeNYC, NYMF, as well as a company member of At Play Productions. She is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions such as a Kevin Kline Nomination, winner of the Irene Ryan acting competition as well as runner up Best Comedic Actor and the Comedia Del’ Arte Award at the Kennedy Center, ACTF.

Jehan O. Young New York theatre credits include Sistahs(Collective Unconscious), 365Days/365Plays(The Public Theater), STEP!(45th Street Theatre), FELL (The New York Fringe Festival), Big Love (The Riverside Theatre) B.A. in Drama, Spelman College M.F.A Candidate in Acting, Columbia University, 2009

DESIGNERS

T. Rick Hayashi (Lighting Design) has designed lights for NYU: Infancy, The Magic Cave of Salamanca, Monster, La Casa Azul, Talk to Me Like the Rain…, The Crucible, The Lesson, Springtime, The Crooked Cross, Shadow of a Man; NYMT: Madame Bovary by Adrienne Kennedy, as well as for PMT Dance Studios. Other productions include: M. Butterfly, Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 University, Two Marias, Bench Seat, The Fantasticks. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he is currently the associate producer to Broadway producer Margo Lion, and serves as the managing consultant to Wicked Tokyo for The Araca Group.