La Maupin 2017 Bios

Jessie Field (Director, Book, Lyrics) is a director and playwright, and college graduate from Brandeis University. Brandeis directing credits include Proof, Into the Woods, Rabbit Hole, and the workshop production of Rachel. Jessie also served as AD for Brandeis Theatre Company’s productions of Closer and She Stoops to Conquer and was Artistic Director of the student-led Free Play Theater Cooperative. Jessie is a founding member of The Crossroad Players, a professional company of Brandeis alumni focused on giving opportunities to young artists, and served as the company’s President and Artistic Director. Jessie directed CP’s premiere production of ‘Night Mother, as well as their second show, My Romantic History, at the A.R.T.’s Oberon theater. She also directed Clark University’s Sweeney Todd, and Bentley University’s Enron. She spent last year in California, completing the Directing Apprenticeship at Capital Stage. There Jessie served as AD for A Doll’s House and The Totalitarians. She also had the honor of directing her fellow apprentices in their showcase, Subculture.

Jessie’s experience as a playwright includes writing the book and lyrics for Harold! The Musical, a one-act original musical and grant recipient in the 2009 Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts, and the book and lyrics for Rachel, which was a recipient of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg prize for Best Original Play and the winner of Outstanding Musical at the 2015 Fresh Fruit Festival awards. Other completed works include To The West, a family-friendly feminist tale of adventuring Vikings, and La Maupin, another musical collaboration with her brother, Jared, about swordswoman and opera singer Julie d’Aubigny.

Jared Field (Music) is a composer, conductor, music educator and clarinetist. His works have been read and performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and by hundreds of students and campers across the country. In addition to his classical works, Jared has written the music for Harold! the Musical, Rachel, and La Maupin. Rachel was awarded the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Prize for Best Original Play, an Official Selection of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival Developmental Reading program, and the winner of Outstanding Play in the 2015 Fresh Fruit Festival.

Jared received his BA in Music Composition from Brandeis University, where he earned Highest Honors and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He graduated with an MA in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Composition teachers include David Rakowski, Melinda Wagner, Marty Boykan, and Richard Pearson Thomas.

Jared was selected as a participant in the September 2014 installation of "The Choreography Lab," for which he and choreographer Rachel Lauria created the dance piece "Timeless". He was also a participant of the 2016 ACDA-Lehigh University Choral Composers Forum, and the 2017 Choral Chameleon Institute. Jared has also performed as a clarinetist with the Columbia University Orchestra, The Secret Opera, and Apotheosis Opera. Jared was a corps member at City Year New Hampshire from 2011 to 2012, serving as a math and English tutor in a third grade classroom. While there, Jared conducted the school chorus and led them in rehearsals, created and taught after school classes on subjects ranging from music to science, and wrote a new school song. Jared has also worked as a counselor and domain guest at Beam Camp, where he created several week-long music programs for campers in which students performed works by John Cage, created their own pieces using invented notation, and collaborated on the production of an original opera. Jared is currently the director of middle school music at Worcester Academy in Worcester, MA. He is a recipient of the Andrew J. O'Connell Award for teaching.

For more information, please visit: www.jfieldmusic.com

Morgan Sommer (Stage Manager)

Katherine Harris (Assistant Stage Manager) is currently a second-year Production and Design student at Tisch School for the Arts studying stage management, with a secondary focus in costume design. Recent stage management credits include the world premiere of The Mollyhouse with New York University and Christmas on Mars with The Liminal Playhouse in Louisville, KY. Katherine is thrilled to be assisting on her first Fresh Fruit Festival production with La Maupin.

Jared Kirby (Fight Director) has been involved in Western Martial Arts and Combat for Stage & Screen for over 20 years. He teaches in New York City (and the metro area) and has choreographed fights Off-Broadway, Nationally, in London and Sydney.

As a Fight Director, Jared has worked with stars such as Peter Sarsgaard, Steve Guttenberg and has trained actors/stunt performers who are working on hit shows like Orange is the New Black, The Walking Dead, Gotham, Person of Interest, The Vampire Diaries, The Blacklist and in Films such as The Nice Guys, Captain America: Civil War, The Hunger Games, Furious 7, Insurgent. Jared is a member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA.

Jared has worked on production such as Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Cyrano, Romeo & Juliet, Merry Wives, Taming of the Shrew, Comedy of Errors, Richard III, The Rover, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), King Lear, and The Three Musketeers. Other memorable Fight Directing credits include Hamlet at the Classic Stage Company, Company at the Lucille Lortel Theatre & multiple shows for the New Vic Theatre of London For a full list of credits visit www.jaredkirby.com.

Tony Mita (Assistant Fight Director) is an actor, a singer, Fencer and a stage combatant. Tony is also a Certified Unarmed and Sabre instructor with Art of Combat International and thrilled to be working with this production!

Ariel de Ment (Julie d'Aubigny) is a classically trained actor and singer from Philadelphia. She has had the opportunity of performing in Europe and across the US and is very excited to be returning to NYC for the Fresh Fruit Festival. A few stage credits include Carmen in Carmen, Polly in Three Penny Opera, and Olivia in Twelfth Night. Recently, Ariel has been filming several new action films and mini-series. Ariel is thrilled to be portraying such an amazing woman from history in this brilliantly crafted musical. www.arieldement.com

Cassidy Layton (Marquise de Florensac) is thrilled to be making her NYC musical debut! She recently graduated from AMDA with a focus in musical theater. Since graduating Cassidy has had the opportunity to star in the short film Paul, lend her voice to the animated film To Arcadia, and be on Saturday Night Live. In her off time Cassidy performs stand-up comedy, sings at the West End Lounge and eats too much sugar. She would like to thank her family & friends for their never ending support and the incredible La Maupin team for this experience! www.cassidylayton.com

Vanessa Wendt (Brigitte) New York: Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), As You Like It (Duke Frederik/Corin), Windy-Woo and her Naughty, Naughty Pets (Princess Vicki/Ensemble; Workshop Reading), Julius Caesar (Brutus, Fight Captain), Pieces, The Musical (Dr. Carol), Orphan Train: The Musical (Rachel Pierce - Grand Central Terminal Centennial Celebration), The Taming of the Shrew (Katharina), Bourbon Street: A New Musical (Anne-Marie Laveau), Romeo & Juliet (Mercutio), Comedy of Errors (Adriana - Fringe 2014), Quest of the Hero (Princess Zelga - PCTF 2014), Sunday on the Rocks (Jessica), Under Fire (Ensemble – NYMF), The Big Orange Splot (Penelope Record); Chicago: Seussical (Sour Kangaroo), How To Succeed in Business…. (Bud Frump), Little Women: The Musical (Marmee). Vanessa is also the Managing Director of The Fools and Kings Project. www.thefoolsandkingsproject.com

Coloratura soprano Mary Rose Go (La Rochois) has performed the roles of the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Amor (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Rosina (The Barber of Seville). Ms. Go has participated in OperaWorks, Bay Area Summer Opera Training Institute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the UCSB Opera Workshop, the Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival, and the Pasadena City College Opera Workshop.

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Honolulu, Ms. Go received her Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies from Scripps College, with a minor in music and her Master of Music in Voice from UC Santa Barbara.

Sarah Moebius (Fanchon) is a New Jersey native and a recent graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia with a B.F.A. degree in Musical Theatre. Recent credits include Billie in Women of Manhattan, Alice in Alice in Slasherland, and the Silkworm in James and the Giant Peach. She is also a member and employee of The Circus Place in Hillsborough, NJ, where she is trained in the aerial arts. Sarah is very excited to be a part of this production and would like to thank all of her friends and family for their support.

Max Bitar (Comte d’Armagnac) is extremely excited to make his debut in the Fresh Fruit Festival working on this ambitious, original musical. He was last seen running around as a deranged little boy (Toby) in Sweeney Todd at PlayMakers Repertory Company, and is a recent graduate of UNC Chapel Hill’s theater program. Much love and appreciation go out to his family, K&MS, and that insane little voice in his head that keeps saying “you’ve gotta be an actor, just go for it!”

Evan Bilinski (Gabriel-Vincent Thevenard) is thrilled to be making his NYC musical debut at the Fresh Fruit Festival. Evan typically performs in the theater communities of Central Jersey. Previous Credits include Titanic, the Musical (Ismay), Anything Goes (Billy Crocker), and The Addams Family (Lurch). Evan would like to thank his family, friends, and girlfriend for their continued love and support. Much love to Jared and Jessie.

Jake Regensburg (Comte d'Albert) is ecstatic to be making his debut in the Fresh Fruit Festival. Recent credits include Happily The Musical with Lamplighters NYU, and Spring Awakening with Excelsior Theatre. He is a current student at NYU Tisch School for the Arts in the Atlantic Acting School. He would like to thank the La Maupin team for granting him this incredible opportunity. Love to M,D, and C.