CAST & CREW BIOS
VICTORIA ROSE BONITO - Clara
Victoria Rose Bonito (Clara) is thrilled to be a part of her first Fringe Festival. She is a recent graduate of the DeSales University theatre, English, and secondary education programs and is eager to pursue her acting career in Philadelphia. Recent credits include Alice/Exeter/Gower in the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre's Henry V, Emilia/Mopsa in the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's A Winter's Tale, Alice Sycamore in the Old Academy's You Can't Take It with You, and Lise in Theatre of the Seventh Sister's Cyrano. She immensely thanks God, Wally, Rick and the entire cast and creative team of Zacherle, her family, friends, and of course, Aaron.
CHELSEA BULACK - Lilith
Chelsea Bulack is frightened beyond reason (and very excited) to be a part of this show. You may have seen her this past spring as Viola in Curio Theatre's production of Twelfth Night. Or you may have seen her stalking the streets and cafe's of West Philly.
Chelsea teaches Latin and Ballroom at Take the Lead dance studio at 47th and Pine, makes earrings out of bicycle playing cards and acts from time to time.
She is a now a company member at Curio Theatre Company, and has had the pleasure of doing shows with them for several years (Marie in The Nutcracker, Dor and Others in Road and of course Viola in Twelfth Night were her most recent).
She would like to thank her family for being super awesome and supportive. Love you guys!
MELISSA DUNPHY - Composer
Melissa Dunphy is particularly active as a theatre and choral composer. Her nationally acclaimed large-scale choral work The Gonzales Cantata was performed at the 2009 Philadelphia Fringe Festival and received rave press and reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who featured the piece twice on The Rachel Maddow Show. This year, she was the composer for Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater's production of Macbeth, and her music can be heard currently in Plays and Players' Fringe production of Titus Andronicus. Recently, another of Melissa's choral works "What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?" won the 2010 Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Contest, and was featured on blogs such as Towleroad.com. Melissa received an honorable mention in the 2009 ASCAP Lotte Lehmann Foundation Art Song Competition for her song for baritone "Black Thunder," which was premiered in 2008 at the Kimmel Center by Network for New Music, and her electroacoustic music has been featured at festivals from Minnesota to Florida. She is the composer in residence of the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra. Melissa has an Associate Diploma in viola performance from the Australian Music Examinations Board and a Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude, Pi Kappa Lambda) from West Chester University, and she is currently getting her Ph.D. in composition at the University of Pennsylvania on a Benjamin Franklin Fellowship. She is also an accomplished actor, recognized as "unquestionably the city's leading Shakespeare ingenue." [Philadelphia Inquirer]
THERESA EPP - Dramaturg
RICK HORNER - Rick/Zacherle
Rick Horner is an improviser in Philadelphia. Rick gave birth to the Improv Incubator, a weekly one-of-a-kind improv gymnasium for improvisers & actors in the area to meet up and get connected to each other, play together and socialize. Rick is currently an Instructor for Philly Improv Theater and has taught many classes and workshops in and around Philadelphia. Rick has been super-mega-involved with assorted improv projects - including improvising an all-audio improv show in the dark - in and around Philly since 2003. Rick performs with WhipSuit. Rick has been the House Team Director for Philly Improv Theater's resident team Activity Book since 2008, and is available for coaching improv groups. Rick was a Founding Producer of the Philadelphia Improv Festival, and is currently a Producer of Duofest, Fall 2010. Rick studied at The Second City Training Center in Chicago and has also studied in Philly with such teachers as Keith Johnstone, Joe Bill, Ali Farahnakian, Ari Voukydis and Matt Besser of the Upright Citizens Brigade plus lots of others. Seriously, google "rick horner improv". He is amazing.
KEN KAISSAR - Director
WALLY ZIALCITA - Writer
Valdemar (Wally) Zialcita has served as the Executive Director of Philadelphia Dramatists Center since 2005. As a playwright, Wally has seen his work performed in Hanover NH, Eugene OR, Tucson AZ, Austin and Houston TX, New York NY, and Philadelphia. He has also created and produced a number of collaborative playwriting projects, including Jalapeño, Mon Amour (in Tucson and Austin) and the OZONA Project (Philadelphia). Wally's work had last been seen in the Philly Fringe in 2001, with the premiere of We Who Have Read The Girl Detective, presented by Invisible Cities. His wide-ranging experience in theatre began in scene design, which he studied at the University of Oregon, and has included work at Alley Theatre, Arena Stage (as an Allen Lee Hughes Fellow), Pan Asian Rep (NYC), and a ten-month adventure in the Gulf of Mexico with the Caravan Stage Company's tall ship theatre, the Amara Zee. Wally is a past participant in the RAT conference and a current member of PDC. He dedicates this play to his kids, Trey, Zachery, and Morgan.