Houston 2023 — Creative Movement Practices Summer Camp
Creative Movement Practices premiered “Gideon and the Blundersnorp Jr.” as the final production of their 2023 musical theatre summer camp. This marked the debut of the version of the show for younger cast members, with a shorter runtime and simplified songs — but %100 of the excitement!
Director – Sarah Sneesby; Music Director – Jana Ellsworth; Choreographer – Stormie Holmes; Camp Assistant/Head of Props – Shelem Flores
Daniel Amerman
LA theater: BoomerMania (El Portal), Invisible (3D Theatricals), WindChimes (Company of Angels), Down In the Face of God (The Vagrancy), The Swing of the Sea (Domino One), Assistants (LA Fringe). TV/Film: Arrested Development (recurring; pop-star Mark Cherry), The Office, Glee, Awkward, CSI:NY, Face2Face. Voice Over: League of Legends (Ezreal), Final Fantasy VII (Polk), 3 out of 4 ninja turtles at one point or another (Raphael is my white whale). Training: Yale University. www.Daniel-Amerman.com and @DanielAmerman.
Maggie Ek
Maggie Ek is very excited to be apart of this thrilling adventure. Previous credits include: Katherine (Newsies), Beth March (Little Women), and Laura Wingfield (The Glass Menagerie). A huge thank you to the rest of the cast, crew, and creatives for putting this show together! Follow her adventures on instagram: @maggie.l.ek
Ember Everett
Ember is elated to have her childhood dream of becoming troubadour a reality with the telling of Gideon and the Blundersnorp. She hopes to narrate with the integrity and chutzpah it deserves. A huge thank you to the production team for entrusting her with this story and making this experience amazing. NMI is truly a fantastic team! To Mia and Oliver, for constantly believing in her, she will never be able to thank you enough. @EmberEverett
Favorite Regional Credits: The Polar Express – Fillmore (Steward), Public Domain: The Musical (Pea/Margaret – Nom. Tracey Collins Funny Girl), The London Rose (Rosanna), Addams Family: The Musical (Alice), Shrek: The Musical (Fiona).
Tyler Hayes Stilwill
Tyler is a musician and interdisciplinary artist from Los Angeles who writes, clowns, directs, paints, illustrates, performs (in an actory, singery and musiciany way), sculpts, and makes music. They’ve had plays and musicals produced in small theaters in Detroit, Austin, Chicago, Seattle and Off Off Off Broadway. A one time Children’s Theatre Artistic Director, International Marketing Executive, College Professor and Tattoo Artist, Tyler has impeccable fashion sense, is excellent at pretending to play all kinds of musical instruments, and believes themselves to be the funniest human on the face of the planet (it’s more likely they’re 37th). Featured in the web series Staying Together (stayingtogethercomedy.com), they’ve ridden their bicycle up and down mountains all over the world, but only ever were mistaken for a mobster in Japan. But that’s a story for another time.
Jeremy Lee Staple
Jeremy Lee Staple is excited to be apart of this amazing cast. His recent credits include playing a high school jazz musician in Knights of Swing, and a blind orphan traveling through the in between along the railroad tracks in The American Dreamless. He would like to dedicate his performance to Bing and Simba.
Emily Elizabeth Jones
Emily Elizabeth Jones is an L.A.-based humor writer, performer, and above all else, aspiring professional basketball player. Emily received her BFA in Music Theatre from The Hartt School and is currently training with The Second City. You can find her satirical pop culture pieces on The Broadway Beat and The Daily Drunk Mag. Previous credits include: The Artful Rose: Mary Flynn (Merrily We Roll Along); Goodspeed’s Festival of New Musicals: Dolly Parton (Row); Jean’s Playhouse: Miss Hannigan (Annie), Debra (Kimberly Akimbo); Peterborough Players: Miss Nelson (Miss Nelson is Missing), Clara Eynsford-Hill (Pygmallion); The Hartt School: Shelby (The Spitfire Grill). A big thanks to the Gideon team for bringing her back to a performance space that isn’t her bedroom! emilyelizabethjones.com
Casey Alcoser
Casey Alcoser is an actor, writer, and sorry excuse for a trapeze artist who is thrilled that Gideon didn’t ask him to explain that last one. Recent stage credits include Landscape of the Body, All’s Well that Ends Well, Chekhov in Yalta, and Fiddler on the Roof, as well as his own one-man-show, Coffee, Tea, and Gin. An alum of the Art of Acting Studio here in LA, Casey is thrilled to return to live theater, and you can join in on Casey’s enthusiasm at his instagram @quotablecasey – no highwire skills necessary.
Deborah Apodaca
With degrees from Azusa Pacific University in vocal performance and music education, and most recently a graduate of The Sanford Meisner Center, Deborah works in the entertainment industry as a musician, actress, and educator. She has toured with a competitive choir to llangollen and Spital an der Drau representing the USA and winning top marks in all categories. except that one time we lost to IRELAND for choir of the world… i’m not still bitter about it. Anyways, when she is not singing or performing and when a deadly pandemic isn’t taking over the world, you can see her whipping around a banked track, playing roller derby as her alter ego Avada KeDebra!!
Jenna Luck
Jenna is a 2020 graduate of UCLA, which is where she fell in love with acting and performing. During her time at UCLA, she was involved with HOOLIGAN Theatre Company (her favorite role was Kathy in Singin’ in the Rain!) and joined the school of Theatre, Film, and Television for a minor in Acting. She is thrilled to be back in L.A. after spending the pandemic at home in Orange County, self-taping, and learning to sew and picking up other quarantine hobbies like rollerskating and learning BTS choreography. She has loved connecting with other student filmmakers over the past few months, and can’t wait to continue collaborating and creating! She is represented by Iris Talent Management, and here’s where you can see more of her: https://linktr.ee/jennaluck
Kaylor Toronto
Kaylor Toronto is currently a junior at John Burroughs High School who loves to act, dance, and sing in any way he can! Most recently he played Ophelia in a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and was a part of the male dance ensemble in Chicago. He performed on the 90th Academy Awards in The Greatest Showman’s live musical number, nominated for best original song, “This Is Me.” Kaylor also enjoys math and astrophysics.
The Blundersnorp
The Blundersnorp is excited to be part of this production, given that the cast is so edible. It remains somewhat concerned about the issue of typecasting.
Creative
Matt Toronto
MATT TORONTO is an award-winning writer, director and producer. His coming-of-age feature Face 2 Face (starring Dan Amerman) had a two-year run on Netflix before landing on Epix and Amazon Prime, where you can watch it now (www.seeface2face.com). His first feature, The Pact, won top awards and official selection in 22 film festivals around the world (www.watchthepact.com). Together with his wife, he created the half-hour comedy series, After Ever After, now in development with Well-Versed Entertainment. On the stage, Matt directed the world premiere of the musical Ordinary Days as well as a long list of plays and musicals in New York City and across the country. Matt began his professional career as an actor, performing in national tours, Off-Broadway and at an array of regional theatres including five seasons in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular dancing alongside the Rockettes! He earned an MFA in directing from Penn State University and a BFA in musical theatre performance from The University of Michigan. He also spent eight years on faculty at Penn State where he taught directing, acting and musical theatre in their prestigious School of Theatre. He currently teaches acting, screenwriting and producing at New York Film Academy. He is thrilled to be able to work on Gideon and the Blundersnorp with his multi-talented son, Kaylor. (www.matthewtoronto.com)
Elise Dewsberry
Elise Dewsberry, Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc., has been involved in the development of new works for over forty years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer. While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival’s annual Musical Theatre Writer’s Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the Canadian Stage Company; the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre Company; and was the co-founder of Toronto’s Script Lab. Elise spent many years touring Canada with Nine Months – a one-woman musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen Woodjetts. Elise and Carl also co-wrote Any Body Home?, which was produced by the Cordova Bay Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia, and published by Dramatic Publishing. Elise joined ANMT as Associate Artistic Director in 2003; joined Founding Artistic Director John Sparks as Co-Artistic Director in 2010; and became Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc. in 2013. Elise has served as a member of the Selection Committee for the National Alliance of Musical Theatre’s annual Festival of New Works, and is currently a Los Angeles Ovation Award Voter. Elise is also the author and evaluator of the Book Lab and the Outlining Lab, offered online through www.writingmusicaltheatre.com. Elise is ecstatically married to cellist Stephen Green, and they are the proud parents of political organizer Rebecca Green.
Michael Gordon Shapiro
Michael Gordon Shapiro writes music for movies, games, the concert hall, and the stage. Occasionally he puts pen to paper as book writer and lyricist as well. Other theatrical projects include The Bully Problem, Super Sidekick: The Musical (co-written with Gregory Crafts, and published by Samuel French) and the short musical anthology A Feast of Snacks. As you probably guessed, he is a big reader of fantasy literature. Some favorite authors include George RR Martin, Robin Hobb, Daniel Abraham, David and Leigh Eddings, and Lloyd Alexander.
Visit Michael online at www.mikemusic.com.
Thomas Buckley
Thomas Craig Buckley is at home both on and off stage. A Connecticut native, his career has taken him to Europe, across the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska and the Caribbean. A countertenor, he has been heard in productions such as Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro, Flight and Giulio Cesare. Solo repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem as well as Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices. His musical directing credits are: Beauty and the Beast, Miss Saigon, A Chorus Line, Barnum, Heathers: The School Edition (Premiere production), Avenue Q and was the Music Supervisor for CATS with Royal Caribbean Entertainment.
Edward Hansen
Edward Hansen is a theatrical lighting and scenic designer and is thrilled to be a part of the creative team behind Gideon. Recent productions include Dogfight, Mad Forest, and the U.S. premiere of Amsterdam by Maya Arad Yasur. He received his BFA in Theatre Design from the USC School of Dramatic Arts. @edwardhansenld www.edwardshansen.com
Denise Barrett
Denise was born and raised in Bozeman, MT, where she completed her degree in film and photography. She moved to Los Angeles is 2013 to pursue the entertainment industry. She worked in wardrobe and make up for various infomercials, short films, and reality TV. She was nominated for Broadway World’s “best costumes” in 2019 for three plays she costumed, Ada and The Engine, Tattered Capes, and Never Ever Land. She has enjoyed learning about Fringe and is excited to see what new shows this and upcoming years have to offer!
Beth Wallan
Filmmaker. Word-creator. Traveler. Adventurer. Beth likes to get lost in the wondrous creativity of creating, but also has an aptitude for technical stuff. Alaskan-born, film school educated, with a background in acting, directing, writing, videography, sound design, production design, and surviving Fringe, makes Beth a well-rounded person ready for anything that comes up.
Writing credits include pieces for 25 Plays an Hour; Season 3 of the web series The Marriage Tour; and short films Downstream, An Unappealing Journey, and System Error. Directing credits include The Dark Part; Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of the award-winning web series The Marriage Tour; and short films Downstream, The Secret Ingredient, and Hear No Evil.
Beth has been Fring-ing since 2010 and is excited to see audiences come back into theatre.
Nathan Lee
Nathan D. Lee has been working in theater, film and television for over 20 years. His theater work, which primarily has focused on sound and lighting, has taken him all over the country. His work in film post production has garnered him multiple Emmy Awards for sound, lighting and producing. He currently lives in Burbank.
Alen Yen
Mr. Alen Yen serves as President of Boston Operations and Creative Director of ifactory at RDW Group, Inc. Mr. Yen is an artist and designer trapped in a business-driven world. From an early age, he wanted nothing more than to successfully render spaceships, robots and comic book characters. Mr. Yen served for several years as a concept designer and consultant for the gaming and new media industry, contributing to projects for Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Online and LEGO. He founded ToyboxDX.com, an online community celebrating antique japanese robots of the 70’s and 80’s that receives over a million visits a month. In 1993, he started his first consultancy servicing architects and designers with graphic and computer-aided design. In 1995, He received Master’s in Education from RISD. He received degrees in Industrial Design and Metalsmithing from the University of Michigan School of Art.
Co-producers: Dr. Ian Lane Davis, George Adams, The Markley Family
Publicity: Jim Martyka
Production photography: Matt Kamimura
Special thanks: New Musicals Inc, Jordan Toronto
Website design & development by Sunny Kilogram.