CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Jendi Tarde (Nightingale) is an avid instrumentalist, conductor, singer, actor, even belly dancer! NY Credits: HMS Pinafore as Josephine (Drama Desk Nomination – Outstanding Revival), Il Sogno (an opera based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Puck with Metropolis Opera Project, George Plimpton’s Animal Tales, Knickerbocker Holiday at York Theatre, Alice dir. Jamibeth Margolis at MITF, the Broadway-bound musical Warsaw at Safra Hall, Stockton Performing Arts Center and NYMF dir. Jamibeth Margolis, Irene with Musicals Tonight!  Favorite roles: Cunegonde (Candide), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore), the March Hare (Alice).  Lotte Lenya Competition Winner, Best Performance of a Song: The Girl in 14G (Hal Prince, judge).  Regional: Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Boheme Opera, Pegasus Players, Theater at the Center (Munster, IN), Bailiwick Rep, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Ash Lawn Opera.

Nathan Baer (Rose Tree) studied with Antoine Cordahi for eight years in Aiken, SC.  Mr. Baer’s first operatic role was Crespel in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann under David Effron. Since then, his flexible voice has allowed him to sing a wide range of roles including: Sparafucile, Colline, Basilio, Commendatore, Gremin, Escamillo, Dulcamara and Olin Blitch in addition to Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth, Brahm’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and a great many Modern works. In November of ’07, Mr. Baer was a winner of the New York District of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. In addition to singing, Mr. Baer earns his way through Carpentry and Handyman work. He cycles nearly everywhere; nearly every day, and is oft seen with his old, trusty messenger-bag filled with tools or rescued food.  He misses nature but loves the opportunity to follow singing and performance with so many wonderful folks… Thank You!

JOE JUNG (Oaktree) is a singer/songwriter who received his BA in acting from Western Michigan University and his MFA from UConn.  In New York he has appeared on and off Broadway in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Public Theater).  Joe is also a founding member and artistic director of Project: Theater where he has performed in Michael Ian Black’s My Custom Van (Drilling Company Theatre); Shel’s Shorts, Language of Angels, The Great American Desert (78th St. Theatre Lab); and the original monthly series Our Bar (Failte).  Regional credits include Assassins, Siddhartha, Floyd Collins (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Red Noses, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Translations, Measure for Measure (Connecticut Repertory Theatre).  Joe plays multiple instruments, has recorded several solo albums, performed around the world and won the first Ultimate Singer/Songwriter competition at Waltz-Astoria music cafe. www.joejung.com or www.projecttheater.org

CONSTANTINE GERMANACOS (Student) recently appeared as Fabrizio in The Light In The Piazza at TheatreWorks Palo Alto (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination) and in Michael Mayer’s On A Clear Day You Can See Forever with New  York Stage & Film. NY: You Are Not Alone benefit concert with Betty Buckley, Fanny (Encores!), I Had A Ball concert with Paul Gemignani, For Lovers Only (New World Stages), The Chocolate Soldier (Musicals Tonight!), Don Imbroglio (NYMF) and readings of The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Kathleen Marshall dir), Inconnu (Michael Greif dir.) and A Room With A View.  Regional: The Light In The Piazza (Pioneer Theatre), Les Miserables (California Musical Theatre and Walnut Street), The Three Musketeers (NSMT and Chicago Shakespeare), Brigadoon, HMS Pinafore, Cinderella, Jesus Christ Superstar and with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  Training: Manhattan School of Music.

Tiffany Engen (Natasha) recently played Serena in the National Tour of Legally Blonde after performing in Legally Blonde on Broadway.  She plays Noreen (with twin sister, Brooke as Doreen) in the Hairspray movie. Other credits:  Hairspray (Shelley) at TUTS, Awesome 80’s Prom, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Naked Brother’s Band.  Special thanks to Dontee for this opportunity!  http://www.tiffanyengen.com

Adam Lendermon (Attendant A) holds a BFA in Acting and a Dance Minor from Adelphi University.  He has toured nationally with Cats (Skimbleshanks) and internationally with West Side Story (Big Deal).  Regional credits include:  The Specialist/US Cousin Kevin in The Who’s Tommy (Arkansas Rep),  Greg in  A Chorus Line, (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), All Shook Up with Sally Struthers (Artpark),  Chantal in La Cage Aux Folles (Arvada Center), and Cabaret (Gateway Playhouse).  www.adamlendermon.com

J. David Anderson (Attendant B) has been seen onstage at Paper Mill Playhouse (Peter Pan and Oklahoma), Walnut Street Theatre (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Curtains), Casa Manana (Annie), Alabama Shakespeare Festival (West Side Story).  He attended the North East School of the Arts, Booker T. Washington High School of Performing and Visual Arts, and Otterbein College.

Benjamin Scheuer (composer) was a 2010 Johnny Mercer Song Writing fellow, has studied at the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, and holds a BA in English from Harvard. After it premiered at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scheuer’s show Jihad! The Musical played a sold-out run in London in 2010. With his band Escapist Papers, Scheuer is recording the group’s second record, “The Bridge,” which will be available for free digital release from his website in late 2011. In January 2012, Lincoln Center will present an evening of Scheuer’s music in their “SONGBOOK” series. He lives in New York City. www.BenjaminScheuer.com

Aaron Kotler (music director/pianist) holds a BA in Music from Northwestern University, and a Masters degree in Music from Manhattan School of Music.  He music-directed the 2007 premier of Benjamin Scheuer’s Jihad! The Musical at the Edinburgh Festival. Kotler has been a professional race-car driver, an unprofessional rice-hat maker, and a confessional hot-dog vender. He has also never worked as a staff composer for Human Music.

Dontee Kiehn (Director/ Choreographer) presently serves as the Associate Choreographer for the Broadway musical The Addams Family and has also been the Associate on the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical and National Tour of Next to Normal. Additional credits and collaborations include The Winter’s Tale (Public Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Eastman Theater), Romeo and Juliet (Pennsylvania Shakespeare), Saved (Playwrights Horizon), I Got Fired (NYMF), original ballets for the Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theater, as well as Hansel and Gretel (Houston Grand Opera). Dontee has appeared onstage in the original Broadway revival companies of Gypsy and 42^nd Street.

Zachary James (Founding Director, Metropolis Opera Project) studied music and theatre at Florida State University, The University of Tennessee and Ithaca College. He has appeared on Broadway in Coram Boy, the Tony Award winning revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and as Lurch in the new Broadway musical The Addams Family in 2010. A winner of the 2009 Lotte Lenya Competition, he has sung with Ash Lawn Opera (The Bonze in Madame Butterfly, Buffalo Bill in Annie Get Your Gun), Knoxville Opera (Il Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Gideon March in Little Women, Joe in The Most Happy Fella), Central City Opera (Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Jacob in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Il Tribuni in L’incoronazione di Poppea), the role of Oberon in the world premiere of Kristin Hevner’s Il Sogno in Citta della Pieve, Umbria and in concert as Colline in La Bohème, Buff in The Impresario, Leporello in Don Giovanni as well as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana. In the theatre world he has performed with The Bucks County Playhouse (Abner in Lil Abner), The Pocono Playhouse (Squash in Victor, Victoria), The York Theatre (Petr in The Toymaker), Theatre By The Sea (Miles Gloriosus in Forum), The Kitchen Theatre (Major General in The Pirates of Penzance), Westport Country Playhouse and The Public Theatre. As the Founding Director of Metropolis Opera Project, Zachary has produced over a dozen productions and events over the past two years.

Adrianna Desier Durantt (Production Designer) is thrilled to be working on Benjamin Scheuer’s premiere production of  “The Nightingale and the Rose” and its collaboration with The Metropolis Opera Project. Ms. Durantt has been a Visual Consultant on projects and events for Diet Pepsi, Adriano Goldschmied, Teen Vogue, and New Yorker Magazine. Her work has been seen on MTV, Good Morning America as well as On and Off Broadway including three seasons with the Atlantic Theater Company and most recently the Public Theater and Broadway’s “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”  Ms. Durantt is proud to be the Production Designer for Andrew Palermo/Taye Diggs’ dre.dance past, current and upcoming productions. She is also the founder of ConsulateCreative, a company designed to help artists and creatives achieve business goals.  She is from Brooklyn, New York and resides in the East Village.