Performers/Collaborators from LABA/14th Street Y Production
For information about Performers/Collaborators in the 2019 production at the Pershing Square Signature Center, please go to: https://www.themarvistaplay.com/
In THE MAR VISTA, a cast of six (Ron Kagan, Dwight Richardson Kelly, Amanda Schussel, Ryan Pater, Ezra Lowrey and Yehuda Hyman) seamlessly weave music, dance and story together to present a tale of forbidden wartime romance, a 1960s Jewish Family of immigrants in Los Angeles, gypsy dances, pop tunes, rumbas and romance.
The cinematic-like action dances backwards and forwards in time and location from Revolutionary Russia to a smoky bar in Newport, Kentucky, 1952, to a village in Poland on the eve of WWII, to a present day magical island off the coast of Istanbul.
Yehuda Hyman (Playwright/Choreographer) is the Artistic Director of Mystical Feet Company. His plays include The Mad Dancers, David in Shadow and Light (co-written with Daniel Hoffman), Center of the Star, Swan Lake Calhoun, I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen (adapted from the memoir by Leon Surmelian), and solo plays, The Mad 7 and Max, Rapunzel and the Night. His work has been produced at the McCarter Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, San Diego Repertory Theater, Theatre J, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Piven Theatre Workshop, Highways Performance Space, and The Marsh among others. Honors include the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, the National Endowment of the Arts /TCG Playwright-in-Residence grant to work with Cornerstone Theater of Los Angeles, a Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, Heideman Award from Actors' Theater of Louisville and grants from the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity and Foundation for Jewish Culture. His poetry and prose have been published in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Northern California Jewish Bulletin, Minnesota Monthly, Revue Alsacienne de Litterature, Recours au Poème and Seeing Jewish and Israeli Dance, published by Wayne State University Press. He has translated the work of German poet, Eva-Maria Berg. Mr. Hyman recently acted in New York City with Target Margin Theater, The Civilians and in Bring a Weasel and a Pint of Your Own Blood at Jack Performance Space. He was an Artist Fellow at the LABA House of Study at the 14th St. Y (2013/2014). He received his M.F.A in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College and has been a guest teacher there as well as at Princeton University, University of Southern California, Barnard College, New York University, Goucher College, Whittier College, University of Indiana and the Rhodopi Institute in Smolyan, Bulgaria and was a teaching artist with Dancing Classrooms, teaching ballroom dance to 4th and 5th grade NYC public school children. He currently teaches Acting for Devised Theatre in the Musical Theater department at Manhattan School of Music.
RON KAGAN (Performer), a native of New York City, is a graduate of LaGuardia HS for the Performing Arts and of the Macaulay Honors program at Hunter College. He holds an MFA in Acting that he received on a full-merit scholarship from Florida State University / Asolo Repertory Theatre, a top-ten conservatory for actor training. He lives with his wife and their four rabbits in Harlem. Ron was the head of community and customer care at Backstage Magazine. He continues to serve performers through his startup AUDITION HERO. You can reach him at https://auditionherohq.com/ -
Photo by Chris Taggart
DWIGHT RICHARDSON KELLY (performer) is an artist and Disability Services professional living and working in New York City. Originally from Massachusetts, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College where he studied the Creative Arts (sculpture, film, theatre and dance), Psychology and Disability Studies. Dwight has been a member of the Mystical Feet Company since 2014.
EZRA LOWREY (Sound Designer/ Original Music Performer) is a composer and performer in New York City. He has written and performed music for theater pieces including Holy Mathematics (Dixon Place), the Untitled Ginsberg Project (Alchemical Theater Lab), and the Weasel Festival (JACK, dir. Mia Rovegno) where he first worked with Yehuda. Ezra is the music director for MidnightRadio Show, a multi-media shadow puppet collective in Brooklyn. He also performs solo and with several bands throughout New York and north NJ.
AMY PAGE (Costume Designer) previously collaborated with Yehuda Hyman when she created the costumes for Leaning into Moisture. She also creates costumes for the MFA dance students at Sarah Lawrence College, American Ballet Theatre's Education Outreach students, RIOULT Dance, Keigwin+Company, Ballet Academy East, Bronxville Ballet, and Ballet Hispanico. Amy is often dressed in black, supporting artists as a dresser for various companies at the Joyce Theater, Alvin Ailey, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Amy earned her degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
RYAN PATER (Performer) Ryan Pater is a graduate of University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina Ryan is now a Brooklyn-based actor, musician, and teaching artist. He is artistic director of Oh Force! Theatre Company and plays guitar in his band Lion and Spaniel. Ryan is a teaching artist at some wonderful organizations such as SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young, ENACT, and Lincoln Center Education.
AMANDA ROSE SCHUSSEL (Performer) began her studies at Sarah Lawrence College and is currently attending Pace University. Amanda graduated from LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in music. She was a dancer/ actor/ singer with the Times Square Kidz at New Dance Group. She then pursued instrumental music, studying the oboe and performing in chamber music groups and orchestras. Some of her performing arts credits include: All My Children, NBC; NY Fringe Festival; CBS Morning Show; Sarah Lawrence Chamber Group and Orchestra; Sarah Lawrence dance performances; the 10 Minute Central Park Play Festival at HB Studios; and a dancer in the NBC/Cozi TV Munster Stomp this past October. She looks forward to a wonderful run of The Mar Vista and sends her love to all her family and friends.
KRYSSY WRIGHT (Tech) Kryssy Wright is a lighting designer based out of Brooklyn. Since high school she has designed and built sets, designed and hung light plots, stage managed, set up audio and video systems, production managed, tech directed, and swept a lot of floors. While in NYC , Kryssy has worked with the Ensemble StudioTheater, Columbia University, INTAR, Noemie LaFrance, PS122, and many others. Kryssy has spent a significant amount of time in the Abrons Art Center, Wild Project, and Danspace Project at St. Marks. Outside of NYC she went on tour with The Civilians. Recently Kryssy joined the team at 14StreetY as the Technical Coordinator and Resident Designer. She is an Associate Artist with Third Rail Projects, whom with she was awarded a Bessie, and Avant Media Group. Her degree is from Bennington College.
THE ISLAND OF ANTIGONI (now called Burgazada) Prince Islands, Istanbul, where Yehuda's Mother would vacation as a girl. The Island plays a central role in The Mar Vista.