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Brandon Victor Dixon (MIO ’98) following his Emmy Award nominated turn opposite John Legend as Judas in NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar, most recently starred in FOX’s RENTonFOX, Amazon’s Modern Love, and as Terry Silver on the STARZ hit POWER. Prior to that he completed a star turn as Aaron Burr in the cast of Hamilton on Broadway.
A Presidential Scholar Semi-finalist and scholarship winner at the British Academy of Dramatic Acting in Oxford, Brandon is a graduate of Columbia University and a recipient of the University’s I.A.L Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts which is an honor he shares with Tony Kushner (Angels in America), Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change) and Katori Hall (Mountaintop, TINA on Broadway).
Since his professional debut, originating the role of Adult Simba in The Lion King national tour (Cheetah), Brandon has displayed his diverse abilities in a number of roles. Notably, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Harpo in Broadway’s The Color Purple, a Grammy for his portrayal of Berry Gordy Jr. in Motown The Musical, and he was nominated for Olivier, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and AUDELCO awards for his outstanding portrayal of Haywood Patterson in Kander and Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys.
Brandon has appeared in concert with various artists such as Burnt Sugar: The Arkestra Chamber, Jennifer Hudson, Nathan Lane, Wynton Marsalis, Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli, David Hyde Pierce, and Tony winners Levi Kries, Kelli O’hara, and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Other Credits include: ABC’s One Life To Live, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, ABC’s The Good Wife, and NETFLIX’s “She’s Gotta Have It”.
His company WalkRunFly has produced multiple works including the Tony Award winning Hedwig and the Angry Inch starring Neil Patrick Harris, He is co-founder of The WeAre Foundation, a non-profit “Turning Art into Action”, and Qurator: The Movie Ratings App (available on iOS/ANDROID). Originally from Gaithersburg, Maryland, Brandon currently resides in New York City.
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Melissa Errico (MIO ’91) “The Maria Callas of American musical theater,” as Opera News has called her, referencing both her silken voice and dramatic, expressive intensity, Melissa Errico’s career is characterized by a dazzling range of passions as actress, singer, and author. First known for her starring roles on Broadway, her tribute album, Sondheim Sublime, was called by The Wall Street Journal “The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded.” Nominated for a Tony for her appearance in Michel Legrand’s only Broadway musical, “Amour”, she was asked to write the eulogy to Legrand in The New York Times in 2019; while, that fall, Ghostlight Records reissued an expanded version of her symphonic album, which Legrand arranged & conducted, as Legrand Affair Deluxe Edition. The lyrics of Yip Harburg have been another special affection of hers, with Melissa making several much-praised appearances in the role of Sharon in “Finian’s Rainbow”. (And also writing wittily in the TIMES about the complexities of playing the part over several decades.) She will release a holiday single of Yip Harburg & Harold Arlen’s classic song “Happiness is Just A Thing Called Joe,” a collaboration with the Billboard topping classical pianist and activist Lara Downes, on December 4th, 2020. Melissa has also worked widely as a concert singer, touring from Singapore to Paris with the world’s most noted symphonies and dipping into cabaret and nightclubs from Los Angeles to London. She is currently working on her first book, a memoir tentatively titled “Terminal Ingenue.”
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Neal Huff (LTP ’86, MIO ’87)
Broadway: Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, Willie Oban in The Iceman Cometh, Take Me Out, The Lion in Winter, The Tempest. Other theatre includes Luce, When I Come to Die,The Green Book, The Killing, Trumpery, The Foreigner, Rude Entertainment, Blue Window, and Troilus and Cressida.
Film: Spotlight, Split, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Nasty Baby, Moonrise Kingdom, Nasty Baby, Runoff, Meek’s Cutoff, Beirut.
Television: The Wire, God Friended Me, Falling Water, The Affair, Girls, Person of Interest, Billions, Genius, The Abolitionists and Fringe.
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Peter Francis James is a graduate and associate of RADA and teacher at Yale School of Drama. Theatre productions include The Lady from Dubuque which opened the Signature Theatre on Broadway, having previously been in the same play with Dame Maggie Smith in London; The Merchant of Venice on Broadway; Colin Powell in David Hare’s Stuff Happens (Public Theater – OBIE, Lucille Lortel, and Drama Desk Awards). Other theatre credits include: On Golden Pond, Drowning Crow, Judgment at Nuremberg (Broadway), August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (Mark Taper, L.A), House of Flowers (Encores!), the Baron in Suzan-Lori Park’s Venus (Public), Claire in The Maids (CSC – OBIE Award), Jupiter in Amphityron (CSC), Scent of the Roses with Julie Harris, Jean in Miss Julie (McCarter), and A.R. Gurney’s Buffalo Gal (Williamstown). His many roles in Shakespeare include: Othello in Othello, (Baltimore Center Stage), Oberon in Sir Peter Hall’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Ahmanson), Coriolanus in Coriolanus (McCarter) Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing (Central Park), Pisanio in Cymbeline (RSC/TFANA). Film and television credits include: The Losers, The Rebound, The Messenger, Joe Gould’s Secret, The Rosa Parks Story with Angela Bassett, Oz, Gossip Girl, Kings, Simple Justice, The Ruby Bridges Story, The Wedding, Third Watch, Guiding Light, and all three Law & Order series.
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David Leveaux is an Emmy, Olivier, and five-time Tony Award nominated director who has worked extensively in London and on Broadway. David’s recent work includes directing the multi Emmy Award winning Jesus Christ Superstar Live for NBC, the feature film The Exception with Christopher Plummer, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with Daniel Radcliffe at the Old Vic in London, and David Hare’s Plenty with Rachel Weisz for The Public Theatre New York.
Previous work: Closer (Donmar Warehouse), Romeo and Juliet (Broadway), Arcadia (West End and Broadway, Tony nomination for best revival), Cyrano de Bergerac (Broadway), Jumpers (National Theatre and Broadway, Tony nominations for outstanding direction and best revival), The Real Thing (Donmar Warehouse and Broadway, Tony Award for best revival, nominated for outstanding direction), Fiddler on the Roof (Broadway, Tony nomination for best revival), Nine (Donmar Warehouse and Broadway, Tony Award for best revival, nominated for outstanding direction), The Glass Menagerie (Broadway), Anna Christie (Broadway, Tony Award for best revival, nominated for outstanding direction), No Man’s Land (Almeida), Betrayal (Almeida and Broadway, Tony nomination for best revival), Electra (Donmar Warehouse and Broadway, Tony nomination for best revival), Moonlight (Almeida), The Distance From Here (Almeida), Romeo and Juliet (RSC), A Moon for the Misbegotten (Riverside, West End and Broadway, Tony nominations for outstanding direction and best revival), The Late Middle Classes (Donmar Warehouse), Sinatra Live at the London Palladium, The Father (National Theatre), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (RSC), Rudolph (Vienna), Tales of Ballycumber and The Three Sisters (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), The Turn of the Screw (Scottish Opera), The Marriage of Figaro and Salome (ENO).
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Joél Pérez (LTP ’06) is an award-winning performer and writer living in NYC.
As an actor, his theater work includes Fun Home (Broadway and The Public Theater), Sweet Charity (New Group revival starring Sutton Foster; Lucille Lortel Award Winner for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical), Kiss My Aztec! (Berkeley Rep and La Jolla Playhouse), Oedipus El Rey (Public Theater), Raw Bacon From Poland (Abrons Art Center), As You Like It (Public Theater Public Works) as well as national and international tours of In the Heights and Fame. His TV work includes Person of Interest (CBS), Odd Mom Out (Bravo), The Big C (Showtime), The Outs (Vimeo) and Black Box (ABC). He has participated in developmental labs with the Sundance Theater Lab, Soho Rep, Atlantic Theater Company, and many others. He has also worked on several national commercials and voice-overs in both English and Spanish. He’s an ensemble member of Broken Box Mime Theater. He studied at Tufts University, The British American Drama Academy and Upright Citizen’s Brigade. He is repped by BRS/GAGE.
He performs monthly at Upright Citizen’s Brigade in the house Maude Sketch team PEACH! They have a monthly show the first Monday of every month.
As a writer, his play, The Church of the Holy Glory, premiered at Ars Nova as a part of ANTFest 2018. His full-length play, From the Fountain, is in development with the Sol Project. He is also at work on an animated TV pilot. He is a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Playwriting/Screenwriting from The New York Foundation for the Arts.
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Ian Wooldridge is a director, teacher, and the former Dean and Director of the British American Drama Academy. As a director, he has worked on numerous Shakespeare productions in Britain, the USA and Chile, plus work by Moliere, Hauptmann, Buchner, Brighouse, Marlowe, Beaumarchais, Gay, Euripides, Pinter, Beckett, Chekhov, Brecht, Lorca, Kane, Shaw, Miller, O’Neill, Frisch, Wilde, Williams, Osborne, Albee, O’Casey, Fo, McGrath, Simon, Bridie, Ibsen, Jones/Baraka, Fugard, Dorst and Koltes. Has also directed work by contemporary playwrights, including Mark Ravenhill, Richard Crane, Shelagh Stephenson, Will Eno, Steven Berkoff, Chris Hannan, Jim Cartwright, John Byrne, Barrie Keeffe, Trevor Griffiths, Stuart Paterson, Marcella Evaristi, Mike Bartlett, Simon Stephens and Martin Crimp. He has directed for the Citizens Company, Glasgow; 7:84 Theatre Company, Scotland; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; Wildcat Theatre Company; Tron Theatre, Glasgow and Pitlochry Festival Theatre.Associate Director Dark and Light Theatre, Brixton, London. Artistic Director TAG Theatre Company at the Citizens Theatre Glasgow. Artistic Director Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh. |