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 Justine
Williams
(founder/co-artistic director/performer)
Theater credits with The
Glass Contraption: I Go Grootvlei!
(Topsy Center, South Africa), CLOWNS
(Public Theater/NY Clown Theater Festival),
Ted (National
Arts Festival, South Africa/NY Clown Theater
Festival/Ars Nova), Curiosities (Gowanus Arts), Animals' Heads (The Kitchen), Triumph and Disaster (Jalopy theater), and Facedancing, a short film (dir. Gina Hirsch).
Other credits: Murder in the Cathedral (Hoi Polloi/dir. Alec Duffy); Brecht’s Galileo,
Illyria and Child’s Christmas
in Wales (Shakespeare Theater of NJ);
Big Life and Child’s
Country (Tmu-Na Theater of Israel/Edinburgh
Fringe winners); Lorca’s Don Cristobol,
Billy-Club Man (St. Ann’s Puppet
Lab/HERE, dir. Erin Orr), The Illusion
(Chautauqua Theatre Company), The Phoenecian
Women (Ohio Theater), Frankenstein
(LaMama), Beyond the Horizon (Brick
Theater, dir. Chi-wang Yang), Comfort
and Safety (International WOW Company),
and readings with Young Playwrights, Rattlestick,
Chautauqua and others. Justine devised,
wrote and performed in an original solo
show, Falfurious (Culture Project/Women
Center Stage), Dogs Can Fly (Irish
Repertory Theater, dir. Evan Cabnet) and
her short film, The Mechanism (dir.
Evan Cabnet). She sings Balkan and Appalachian
music, performing at Joe's Pub, Drom, The Living
Room and other NY venues. She
trained in Viewpoints with Anne Bogart/SITI
Company and in clown/bouffon/commedia/le
jeu with Philippe Gaulier, Christopher Bayes, Jane Nichols
and many others. She teaches clown and physical
theater in schools, conservatories, universities
and community organizations locally and
abroad and has been a guest lecturer and is a published writer on topics of Theater and Community. Education: Brown
University (BA/Theater), The Actors Center
(Conservatory Graduate), and The New School (MA
in International Affairs with a focus on
Community-Based Theater and Development).
 Catherine
Mueller
(co-artistic director/performer)
Catherine has produced, developed
and performed in the company’s works
CLOWNS (Public Theater/NY Clown
Theater Festival), Ted
(National Arts Festival, South Africa/NY Clown Theater Festival/Ars
Nova), Curiosities (Gowanus Arts), Animals' Heads (The Kitchen), Triumph and Disaster (Jalopy theater), and Facedancing, a short film.
As both performer and writer, her solo works
have been featured in the NY Solo Play Lab,
the Estrogenius Festival at MTS, and in
Chicago's Annual Single File Solo Performance
Festival, among others. Additional performance credits
include Helena in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (Moonwork), Emilia in Othello
(dir. Alex Correia), and Platypus in 13
Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (dir.
Dan Rigazzi). Her work is also featured
in numerous national network commercials,
voiceovers and on the Chris Rock Show. She is a
teacher of Creative Writing workshops designed
to access and open a writer's unique voice.
In 2005, she was the Education Specialist
and a producer of Women's Expressive
Theater's RiskTakers Film Series, co-creating
both structure and content for the program’s
inaugural season. She has studied physical
comedy and clown, bouffon, mask and movement,
with Master teachers Christopher Bayes,
Philippe Gaulier, Gregor Paslawsky, Felix
Ivanov, Per Brahe, and many others, and
the Viewpoints technique with the SITI Company. She completed a teaching apprenticeship under Master Clown and Director
Christopher Bayes, currently Head of Physical
Acting at Yale School of Drama. She has
led residencies in clown and physical theater
in schools, community arts
organizations, universities, professional training programs and with theatre companies throughout the country. Since 1999, she has worked
extensively with the 52nd Street Project
as an Actor, Writer, Director, Dramaturg,
Mentor and Clown Teacher.
She is also a published poet. Education:
Hofstra University (BA in Theater and Creative
Writing).
COLLABORATORS
Christopher Bayes (director)
Credits include
six years as an actor, director, composer,
designer, artistic associate with Theatre
de la Jeune Lune. In 1989 he joined the
acting company of the Guthrie, performing
in over 20 productions. In 1993 he produced
his one-man show This Ridiculous Dreaming
at the Guthrie Theater. Other directing
credits: The Flea, HERE, Dixon Place, P.S.
122, Present Company Theatorium, Touchstone,
Intiman Theater, Court Theater, Idaho Shakespeare
Festival, Yale Repertory Theater, Juilliard,
NYU's Graduate Acting, NYU's ETW, Fordham.
He was the movement director for The
39 Steps, at the Helen Hayes theater
on Broadway. Chris was a 2000 Fox Fellow
and has served on the faculty of Juilliard,
The Actors Center, The Public's Shakespeare
Lab, NYU's Graduate Acting. He was Head
of movement and physical theatre at the
Brown/Trinity Consortium from 2004-2006;
he is currently Head of Physical Acting
at the Yale School of Drama.
Ramona Collier (producing associate)
Liam Craig (performer)
Liam's Off-Broadway
credits include: Trouble in Paradise
(Hourglass Group); Aunt Dan and Lemon
(The New Group); Don Juan (TFANA);
Two Noble Kinsman (The Public Theater);
Street Order (EST); Juno and
the Paycock (The Roundabout Theater).
Regional: A Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings (CTG @ the Kirk Douglas); The
Comedy of Errors, The Winter's
Tale, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius
Caesar and Pericles (The Old
Globe); Moving Picture (Williamstown);
The Lady From the Sea (The Intiman).
Television: Rescue Me; Boston
Legal; Late Night with Conan O'Brien;
Law and Order: SVU, Law and
Order. Film: The Royal Tenenbaums.
Liam received his MFA from NYU's Graduate
Acting Program. While at NYU, he appeared
in Zibaldone, directed by Christopher
Bayes and featuring the music of Aaron Halva
and Chris Curtis.
Michael Crane (performer)
Theater credits include Doris
to Darlene (Playwrights Horizons),
The Young Left (Cherry Lane Theatre),
Hell Meets Henry Halfway (Pig Iron
Theatre Co.), Ubu the King (Williamstown
Theatre Festival), The Mag-7 (Naked
Angels), Rat in the Skull (Berkshire
Theater Festival), The Glass Cage
(Mint Theater Co.), West Moon Street
(Prospect Theater Co.- nominated for 2007
New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding
Actor in a Featured Role), Saint Joan
of the Stockyards (P.S. 122/Stillpoint
Prods.), The Leopard and the Fox
(Alter Ego Prods.- nominated for 2008 New
York Innovative Theater Award), Bone
Portraits (Stillpoint Prods.), Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are Dead (Weston Playhouse).
TV: Kings (NBC). MFA: NYU.
Katie Down (musician/composer)
Katie has created
and performed numerous sound scores for
theatre and dance companies and international
festivals throughout the U.S. and Eastern
and Western Europe. She has worked regularly
for New Georges, Ripe Time, Target Margin,
Tap Fusion, and Pilgrim Theatre Performance
Research Collaborative as well as Classic
Stage Company, DR2, P.S. 122, SoHo Rep,
The Culture Project, LaMaMa, Dance New Amsterdam,
The Duke at 42nd, Hudson Guild Theatre,
Ensemble Studio Theatre, HERE, DTW, Ohio
Theatre, Clark Studio Theatre at Lincoln
Center, Boston Center for the Arts, and
others. Artist residencies/grants include
Watermill Arts Center, Music/Omi, Makor
Artist in Residency, chashama AREA Space
Grant, The Composer Librettist Studio at
New Dramatists.
Pete Goetz (designer)
Robert Z Grant (performer)
Theater
credits with The Glass Contraption:Ted (National Arts Festival,
South Africa/NY Clown Theater Festival/Ars
Nova).
Robert is a founding member of The Collective,
a New York-based theater and production
company. Credits with The Collective include:
Ionesco’s The Lesson; 360
–an original adaptation of La Ronde
(which he co-wrote); Me Equals This by Brian Leider; Collective Comedy;
Ben Rosenthal’s The Monroe Shocks.
Other selected New York: Broadway’s
Next H!T Musical (2007 MAC Award);
Spontaneous Broadway (York Theatre);
Brevity (American Globe). Film:
I'm Not Me; A Long Road; Eurotrash; Reflections.
Improv: Robert performed for several years with ComedySportzNY
and is the artistic director of Codependent
Theater Co., hailed as "one of the
Top 3 Best Improv Groups in New York."
He teaches improvisation
nationally and internationally, for corporations,
actors and students. Robert is a graduate
of the William Esper Studio where he studied
with Bill Esper. He studied dance at NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts, clown with Christopher
Bayes at Juilliard, and improvisation with
Ralph Buckley.
Andy Grotelueschen (performer)
Theater credits with The Glass Contraption:
CLOWNS, Ted,
Curiosities, Animals' Heads, Triumph and Disaster, and Facedancing, a short film,
as well as community-based collaborations
in South Africa and NYC. Other credits include
Cymbeline (Fiasco Theatre/Theatre for a New Audience), Servant of Two Masters (Yale Rep.), Mrs. Smith Presents (A.R.T.), Twelfth
Night (Fiasco), a national tour of Henry V with
the Guthrie Theater/Acting Company, Monstrosity
(13P, dir. Lear deBessonet), The Scariest
(The Exchange, dir. Ari Edelson/Meredith
McDonough), Don Cristobal, Billy
Club Man (St. Ann's Warehouse/HERE,
dir. Erin Orr), Girls Just Wanna Have
Fund$ (Women's Project). Additional regional credits
include the Guthrie, Arizona Theatre Company,
and Trinity Rep. (world premiere of Moliere
Impromptu, dir. Christopher Bayes).
Andy is a graduate of the Brown/Trinity
Rep. Consortium (MFA). He is currently apprenticed
to master clown teacher and director Christopher
Bayes. He is from Iowa.
Piper Harrell (performer)
Piper began working with The Glass Contraption
in 2005 performing in their first show,
I Go Grootvlei, at the Topsy Center
in South Africa. Piper has worked both regionally
and in NYC performing at The Guthrie Theater,
Lincoln Center, HERE, the Bowery Poetry
Club, in numerous shows with Four Hard Gulps,
and with Theater Mitu’s Ruben Polendo.
She received her MFA in Acting from NYU’s
Tisch School of the Arts.
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Gina Hirsch (film director/editor)
Gina is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles with roots as an actor/writer in New York theater. She graduated from Brown University, where she first met and collaborated with actor/writer/producer Justine Williams, with a BA in Theater Studies and English Literature. In New York, Gina worked primarily in collaborative physical theater, performing at many NY venues including The Public Theater, The Cherry Lane Theater and LaMaMa ETC. Gina officially made the transition to film in 2007, when she moved back to Los Angeles, her hometown, to learn the craft of editing from her father, film editor Paul Hirsch. In the past few years, Gina has worked as his Assistant Editor on feature films with directors such as Taylor Hackford, Duncan Jones and Brad Bird. In her off-hours she has edited numerous short films, documentaries and webisodes, and came to the conclusions that the perfect combination of her training as an actor and an editor land her in the role of director. Her first film, You Move Me, played over 25 film festivals in 2010, including the Palm Springs International ShortFest, the Friar's Club Comedy Festival and Outfest, where it won the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Short. The Glass Contraption's Facedancing is Gina's second film as director/editor and she is eager to make many more..
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Bob McClure (performer)
.
Carine Montbertrand (performer)
.
Jason Quarles (performer)
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Virginia Scott (director)
Virginia Scott specializes
in working with companies and individuals
to develop, create and stage new theatrical
works focusing on solo performance and physical
theatre. She directed and co-wrote On
the Open Road and It Takes Three
with the clown-trio, Happy Hour. Virginia’s
work with Happy Hour has been seen at Chashama’s
Palace of Variety, The Barrow Group Theatre,
Ars Nova, The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival and The Comedy Central Theatre
in LA. She also directed and developed How
to Be a Man (Chashama’s Palace
of Variety) with Happy Hour’s smallest
clown, Mark Gindick. Virginia’s NY
directing credits include Planet Banana
and Pentecostal Wisconsin at Ars
Nova, and Great White American Teeth
at The Irish Repertory Theatre, as well
as shows at the US Comedy Arts Festival
in Aspen, 59E59, UCB LA, the Theatre at
Monmouth, The PIT, the Midtown International
Festival, the NY Fringe Festival, and theater
festivals across Canada. A long-time assistant
to master clown and director, Christopher
Bayes, Virginia is presently working with
him on a new book detailing his approach
to clown. She also assistant directed his
production of Ruzzante (NYU’s
Graduate Acting Program) and CLOWNS
(developed by The Glass Contraption and
presented at the Public Theatre and the
NY International Clown Theatre Festival).
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Anne Louise Zachry (performer)
Anne Louise's theater
credits include Theatre For a New Audience's
Don Juan and Waste (both
directed by Bartlett Sher), Coriolanus
and The Iphigenia Cycle (directed
by Joanne Akalitis); Also in New York: Wordsworth,
Train Story by Adam Rapp, MEAT
and Dead Reckoning. Regional Theatre
credits include: A Midsummer Night's
Dream (co-production The Shakespeare
Theatre in DC and The Aspen Institute),
Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Shakespeare
Theatre in DC); Three Tall Women
and She Stoops to Conquer (Baltimore
Center Stage); Intimate Apparel
(Philadelphia Theatre Company); Crimes
of the Heart (Syracuse Stage); As
You Like It (Milwaukee Shakespeare
Company); A Kiss for Cinderella
(Cleveland Playhouse); Tatjana in Color
(CATF in West Virginia); A
Blizzard in August
(directed by Christopher Bayes at Theatre
de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis). Anne Louise
is a graduate of Duke University and The
Juilliard School.
OFFICIAL
BOARD
Justine Williams
Catherine Mueller
Jill Samuels
ARTISTIC
ADVISORS
Gus Rogerson, Artistic Director, The 52nd
Street Project
Megan Sandberg-Zakian, theater director
Marilyn Horowitz, Executive Director, ArtMar
Productions
Elise Long, Founder/Director, Spoke the
Hub/Gowanus Arts
Leslie Shepard, Dean, Baltimore School for
the Arts
Donald Hicken, Head of Theater, Baltimore
School for the Arts
PEOPLE
WHO HEART US AND WE HEART THEM
A special thanks to these folks for giving
their time, expertise and/or financial resources
to support our endeavors
Sara Ciarelli
Ashley Garrett
Daniel Goldstein and Laura Williams
John and Judith Miodownik
Greg and Karen Mueller
Alex Sheers
Elizabeth Williams |
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