Bamah Winter 2021

Bamah Workshops

In the months leading up to our production of The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon, in addition to rehearsing and meeting within their individual institutions, all participating students came together on a bi-monthly basis to partake in Zoom workshops led by theater and film industry professionals. Students socialized and worked with other high schoolers from different Jewish denominations, cultures, and backgrounds, and they integrated the valuable skills and lessons imparted at the online workshops into their rehearsal processes. These ongoing workshops created a national theatrical community of like-minded Jewish day school students who, despite their differences, were united by their love of theater.

Icebreakers, Table Read, and a Word from Our Playwright:

For our very first Zoom workshop, students from the various participating schools got acquainted with one another, read through the script together, and had the opportunity to hear from playwright Don Zolidis, who gave them unique insights into his play, The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon.

Design Fundamentals:

During this hands-on Zoom workshop, costume designer Stefanie Genda and set designer Bethanie Watson gave our students an inside look at the professional theatrical design process for theater and TV. Students also had the opportunity to work with other participating schools to create collaborative design concepts for The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon.

Acting: Introduction to the Meisner Technique:

In this interactive Zoom workshop, professional actor and acting teacher David Newer introduced students to the Meisner Technique of acting, which encourages performers to truly listen to their scene partners and to stay in the present moment. Students watched professional actors demonstrate the technique and then worked together to experiment with the technique themselves.

Video Editing:

In this Zoom workshop, filmmaker Uri Westrich taught students film editing basics using Adobe Premiere Pro. Uri explored general filmmaking and storytelling ideas as well as practical fundamentals such as using green screen, combining multiple videos together, synching audio, and more. The workshop was interactive and addressed specific topics of interest that students encountered while working on this project.

Acting for the Camera:

For this Zoom workshop, Broadway, TV, and film actor Sean Patrick Doyle gave our students a rundown of framing and script structure for film and television, talked about filming for self-tapes and for our project, and gave an overview of lighting set up as well as acting techniques unique to on-camera work. Students from all schools then performed in scenes with one another to put what they learned into practice.

Q&A Panel with Industry Professionals:

For this Zoom workshop, we recruited outstanding panelists from Broadway, TV, and film to share their knowledge and experiences with our students. Participants were able to learn from performers Micaela Diamond and Jennifer Apple, director Kel Haney, scenic artist and stand-up comedian Emily Walsh, and stage manager Jeff Brancato. As one student noted, it was extremely special to receive advice and feedback from “the top of the top.”

Workshop Hosts-Bios

Sean Patrick Doyle's Broadway credits include the Tony-winning tuners Kinky Boots and La Cage Aux Folles. Off-Broadway, his work in Jerry Springer: The Opera (New Group) earned him a Lucille Lortel Nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor. Other Off-Broadway credits include Anna Nicole: The Opera (BAM), Volpone and The Tempest (Red Bull) and Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre). National and International tours include Mary Poppins, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Fame: The Musical. Regionally, his work has garnered MAC, SALT and Carbonell nominations for Best Actor. On screen, he is best known for his turn as roller skating lackey Garv in 20th Century Fox’s The Sitter, opposite Oscar nominee Jonah Hill and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell. Other film credits include Netflix's Barack Obama biopic Barry, and the Academy Award nominated animated feature The Boxtrolls, for which he provided singing vocals for Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley. His television work includes roles on Fosse/Verdon, Nurse Jackie, Donny!, Gotham, Forever, Law & Order and the HBO pilot Mamma Dallas.

Bethanie Wampol Watson is a scenic designer and educator working as the Arts Department Chair for Golda Och Academy. She has been designing and painting for the theatre for almost twenty years. Recent design credits include: Bridges of Madison County, The Way We Get By, Tick, Tick Boom! and Marry Harry (American Theatre Company). Albert Herring, Gianni Schicchi and Il Tabarro (Rutgers Opera). Red Velvet (Shakespeare Theatre New Jersey), Scab (current project, The Wake, Black Tom Island, Brick City and My Lord What a Night (Premiere Stages), Paradise (Luna Stage Company and Passages Theatre Company), Macbeth, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre), Hounds of War (Wee Man Productions), and It’s a Wonderful Life and A Year with Frog and Toad (Mile Square Theatre). Also designed for Williamstown Theatre Festival (Massachusetts), Brevard Music Center (North Carolina), and Stagedoor Manor (New York). MFA from Rutgers University, BA from Troy University.

Stefanie Genda is a New York based costume designer. Her design credits include theater, musicals, dance, and opera. She has worked on productions for Broadway and off-Broadway, as well as regional and university theaters. She is especially attracted to pieces driven by story and character, and puts as much importance on collaborating with the performers as working with directors and other designers. Her goal is to create costumes that help shape a performance and support the production in every aspect. She has worked at venues in New York City such as Manhattan Theater Club, The Public, Lincoln Center Theater, and Radio City Music Hall. Regionally she has worked for The Glimmerglass Festival, The Ohio Light Opera, American Theater Group, and Florida Repertory Theatre. Stefanie is a member of United Scenic Artists and she is a part of Florida Repertory Theatre’s Ensemble of Artists. Stefanie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Ohio’s College of Wooster (2008) and received her Masters of Fine Arts in Costume Design from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (2012).

David Newer has many years of experience as an actor in theater, TV, and film. In 2014, he won Best Educational Play Award for both writing and performing. He was most recently seen playing an Orthodox Jew in New Amsterdam. In addition to his acting career, David is a dedicated acting teacher. He won Backstage Readers choice for Best Monologue Coach and just completed his 15th year teaching at William Esper Studio in NYC.

Uri Westrich is a filmmaker living in New York. He produced his first video as a student in TABC and has been making films ever since. In some circles he is most well known for producing the Maccabeats videos.

Micaela Diamond made her Broadway debut as ‘Babe’ - the youngest Cher - in The Cher Show, a role she auditioned for just weeks after graduating high school. She made her television debut in NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” appearing in the ensemble and understudying Sara Bareilles. Diamond grew up in New Jersey and New York City and is a graduate of LaGuardia Arts High School in New York. Favorite roles at LaGuardia include Louise in Gypsy and Sally Bowles in Cabaret. You can follow her at @micaela_diamond.

Jeff Brancato is an AEA Stage Manager who has been working in NYC since graduating from Muhlenberg College and completing the year-long Professional Apprenticeship Program in Stage Management at The Juilliard School. Before the Covid shutdown, Jeff had just opened Girl from the North Country on Broadway, a new musical with music by Bob Dylan. He also worked on the revival of this production with the most recent West End/Toronto company. Other Broadway credits include: Waitress, Sponge Bob Squarepants..., 1984, Heisenberg, Cabaret, All the Way, and A Time to Kill. Off Broadway: Rock of Ages, The Public, MTC, Second Stage, Atlantic Theatre Co. Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theatre. Jeff also produces and stage manages benefits, concerts, and events.

Emily Walsh is a scenic artist in New York City working in film, television, and theatre as well as a standup comedian who has performed all over the country. Emily attended Boston University and has a degree in Scenic Design, and after graduating went on to work in New York and at several summer stocks including the Westport Country Playhouse, Goodspeed Country Playhouse, Baystreet Theatre, and three seasons as the scenic charge at Williamstown Theatre Festival. In New York Emily worked off Broadway for several years, as well as working internationally painting scenery for theme parks in Chicago, Mexico City, and Malaysia, and working on a cruise ship traveling to over 30 countries as a scenic artist/technician. This was followed by being the Assistant Scenic Charge at the Juilliard School, and then gaining membership into the United Scenic Artists Union 829. Her union work has included the Metropolitan Opera, three seasons of Blue Bloods, and she is currently working on Succession. Pre-covid, Emily performed at clubs and bars all over the city, festivals all over the country, and last September, headlined Stand Up NY.

Jennifer Apple is a multi-hyphenated artist who hails from NYC. She “currently” plays the role of Anna in Tony Award Winning The Band's Visit first national tour and has performed at regional theaters like Chautauqua Theater Company, ACT, Goodspeed Musicals, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. She has developed and workshopped a ton of new plays & musicals, and lent her voice to multiple original cast recordings. Jennifer has appeared on TV in "New Amsterdam" and holds an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, CA. As an Acting Coach, she specializes in: BFA/MFA auditions; finding new monologues specifically for you; acting the song/monologue; breaking down the text, Shakespeare, and scene study. She believes in honest & truthful storytelling, the power of simply being, and bringing out what makes you, YOU! Feel free to check out more on her website at www.JenniferApple.net or follow along her personal journey on IG @JenniferApple_

Kel Haney is an NYC-based theater director who specializes in new work. NYC credits include: Kel Haney/Gardiner Comfort's The Elephant in Every Room I Enter (Next Door at New York Theater Workshop & La MaMa); Gardiner Comfort’s You’re Not Tough (HERE, Dixon Place); Neil LaBute’s What Happens in Vegas, Chris Cragin-Day's A Woman, Vickie Ramirez’s Glenburn 12WP (all at 59E59); Jordan Jaffe’s Crude (Theater 511 @ Ars Nova - featuring Nico Tortorella); Jonathan Caren’s The Recommendation (The Flea). Regional (select): Julia Doolittle’s Tell Them I’m Still Young (featuring Andre Braugher and Michele Pawk), Sharyn Rothstein’s A Good Farmer, Neil LaBute’s The Way We Get By (American Theater Group); Deborah Brevoort’s My Lord, What A Night (Orlando Shakes; Premiere Stages); Chris Cragin-Day’s Foster Mom, Quiara Alegria Hudes’s Water By The Spoonful (Premiere Stages); Laura Maria Censabella's Paradise (featuring Grant Shaud - Luna Stage; Passage Theatre), Kyle Jarrow & Nathan Leigh’s The Consequences (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater); Christopher Wall's The Inherent Sadness... (New World Symphony, Miami). She has directed/developed new work with Abingdon Theatre Company, The Amoralists, Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater Company, Bay Street Theatre, Cherry Lane, Keen Company, City Theatre, Labyrinth, The Lark, Ma-Yi, Manhattan Theatre Club, Naked Angels, New Dramatists, New Georges, Partial Comfort, Playwrights Realm, Rattlestick, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Williamstown & Working Theater. Also: MTC Directing Fellow, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Mabou Mines Residency, Old Vic/New Voices Exchange and member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. Kel also directed the critically acclaimed short films, I AM THEM and STAY CLOSE. Faculty Member: NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. Proud member of SDC. www.kelhaney.com

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