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Kevin
Connors (Director/Faculty)
Off-Broadway composer/director
credits include PRIME TIME PROPHET, JUKEBOX
SATURDAY NIGHT, THE ABANDONED LOVES OF FREDERICK
R. and composer of the musical score for
LIFE ANONYMOUS by award-winning playwright
N. Richard Nash. Other produced works include
LOVER, BABES OFF BROADWAY (finalist
- Michael Stewart Production Award), SALOON,
SUZY Q, MOTHERS & SONS, original score
for IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - A LIVE RADIO
PLAY and the title song for the film MISSING
THE MOON. Other NY credits include "The
Songbook Series for Musical Theatre Composers"
at the Donnell Library and the York Theatre.
Regional credits include THE FANTASTICKS
and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - A LIVE
RADIO PLAY (director - Rich Forum/Edgerton
Center for the Performing Arts), BABES
IN TOYLAND (director, book, new music
and lyrics - Rich Forum), BAH HUMBUG
(writer/director - New England Lyric Operetta),
SIX FEET UNDER THE BIG TOP (composer/lyricist
- University of Bridgeport), JUST LIKE
A WOMAN (composer/lyricist, Music Theatre
of Connecticut, directed by Morton DaCosta),
BABY (director - Polka Dot Playhouse),
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS and OPERETTA
IN RED, WHITE & BLUE (director - New
England Lyric Operetta). He directed the Gala
Re-Opening of Stamford's Palace Theatre starring
the Stamford Symphony, Skitch Henderson, Louise
Pitre, James Naughton and Joan Rivers. As
a performer he has toured his own act with
Bob Hope, Henny Youngman, and Johnny Mathis;
aboard the ships of Cunard Cruises and in
top NYC cabarets. He co-founded Music Theatre
of Connecticut in 1987, and since then, has
directed or musically directed most of the
Equity Mainstage productions including COLE,
SOEMTHING'S AFOOT, YOURS, ANNE (Connecticut
Critics Circle award nominee); and A LITTLE
NIGHT MUSIC, as well as writing original
music and lyrics for more than 10 childrens'
musicals. As an educator/mentor, he has served
as Adjunct Professor of Musical Theatre at
The Hartt School of Music/University of Hartford
and the University of Bridgeport, and has
been guest master teacher at numerous performing
arts schools across the country. Mr. Connors'
debut CD, THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY,
was released in October, 2000 through Original
Cast Records. He is currently working on the
new musical LOVE ON ICE with playwright
Bill Nabel. Mr. Connors is a proud member
of Actors' Equity, ASCAP, and The Dramatists
Guild.
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Jim
Schilling (Director/Faculty)
Jim co-founded MTC in
1987 and over the years has served as teaching
artist, director, general manager, actor,
producer and currently as Director of the
School of Performing Arts. He has directed
a number of MTC Equity Mainstage productions
including Something’s Afoot, First
Act Texas, Second Act New York; Some Enchanted
Evening and I Do, I Do.
He has also directed numerous Student Productions
including Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls,
Oliver!, Grease, The Music Man, Godspell,
Winnie the Pooh, Funny Girl, Annie, Annie
Get Your Gun and 42nd Street.
Acting credits include Upper Broadway
starring Nanette Fabray (Westport
Country Playhouse), Hamlet (starring
Tony Roberts), The Fantasticks
(Rich Forum), It’s A Wonderful
Life: A Live Radio Play (Rich Forum),
and on MTC’s Mainstage in Jacques
Brel is Alive and Well..., Three Guys Naked
from the Waist Down and Yours,
Anne. Film credits include Bullets
Over Broadway, Cadillac Man, Soapdish
and as Sean Penn’s double in Dead
Man Walking. As an arts educator,
Jim has created a number of programs for MTC,
both at the School of Performing Arts and
for MTC’s ArtReach programs in many area
schools including Briggs High School (Norwalk),
Weston Public, Rogers Magnet School (Stamford),
Six-to-Six School (Bridgeport) and Coleytown
Middle and Elementary Schools in Westport.
Jim holds a BFA degree in theatre from Otterbein
College in Ohio, with an emphasis on childrens’
theatre and was also trained at the Actors’
Theatre of Louisville and Playwright’s
Horizons in New York City. Jim, a graduate
of the National Guild of Community Schools
of the Arts’ AMICI Arts Management Program,
is a Blue Ribbon Panelist for the Daytime
Emmy Awards, and a member of “Who’s
Who in the American Theatre” from 1991-present. |
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Anna
Becker (Faculty)
Anna is thrilled to
be rejoining the faculty at Music Theatre
Connecticut! A Connecticut native, she holds
a Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre from
the University of Miami. Anna appeared in
The Penguin Tangoat the Lion
Theater as part of the Fringe2006 Encore series
in Manhattan. Other credits include Catherine
in The Me Nobody Knows at the
John Houseman Theater. Pre-Broadway Workshops
include The Kid Who Played the Palace;
regionally she appeared as Star-to-be in Annie
at Theatre West Virginia. Anna has served
on the faculty of the Summer Theater Academy,
as well as executive assistant at the Performing
Arts Institute both at the University of Miami.
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Marty
Bongfeldt (Faculty)
2007 marks Marty's sixth
year on staff at Music Theatre of Connecticut.
Ms. Bongfeldt has a wide range of experience
in many different aspects of show business.
She started working professionally as a child
doing commercials and theatre, later adding
feature film and television credits with such
directors as Ron Howard and Brian DePalma.
Marty will mark 30 years as a member of the
three major actor’s professional unions:
AEA, SAG and AFTRA. Early in her career, Marty
received such honors as being chosen from
a very select group of actor/singers to be
coached by the legendary Mary Martin. Honors
and recognition have continued throughout
Marty’s career, one recent honor: of
the many actresses who have performed Val
in A Chorus Line, it was Marty
who was asked to perform “Dance Ten,
Looks Three” for Marvin Hamlisch at the
awards ceremony for Mr. Hamlisch’s Lifetime
Achievement Award directed by Tony Award winning
director Tommy Walsh. New York and regional
stage credits include Ronnie in The Shooting
Gallery (NYC) production of Comanche
Cafe & Domino Courts, Doreen in
Gillette for the American Theatre
Festival (NYC), Shelby in Steel Magnolias
at The Plaza Theatre and Daisy Hannigan in
the Stage West Theatre production of Biloxi
Blues. Musical Comedy roles include
Amalia in She Loves Me at Lyric
Stage, Tiger Lily opposite Cathy Rigby in
Peter Pan, Pam in the MTC/Polka
Dot Playhouse production of Baby,
Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel
at Casa Manana Theatre, Lily St. Regis in
Annie directed by Robert Fitch
and Bonnie in Anything Goes
opposite Van Johnson. Ms. Bongfeldt has originated
roles in many new works produced in NYC including
Alexander Zhurbin’s A Nervous Splendor,
Hell's Belles at The Duplex,
A Murder is Foretold, and Madly
in Love directed by Baayork Lee. Marty
is a teacher and a professional choreographer/director,
and has served many times on film sets as
dialogue coach and legal guardian to under-aged
actors. Marty has worked as a casting assistant
for commercials and live industrials in NYC
and served as the casting coordinator for
Square Route and Twin Tiger's Productions
as well as production coordinator for HYT
Productions in New York City. |
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Mary
Jo Duffy (Faculty)
Mary Jo Duffy has performed
on and off Broadway for the past 15 years
before moving to Newtown, CT with her husband
Daniel, daughter A’ine, and four Labrador
Retrievers. Ms. Duffy began her formal vocal
training with
Metropolitan Opera singer Mimi Lerner in Pittsburgh,
PA, then went on to study with Lorenzo Malfatti
and Margaret
Ross at Chatham College as a Minna Kaufmann
Ruud voice scholar. Ms. Duffy continued her
vocal training after
college with Beatrice Krebs at Carnegie-Mellon
University before moving to New York City
where she studied extensively with Tony McDowell.
Ms. Duffy played Liberty in Tom O’Horgan’s
Senator Joe on Broadway, Magnolia
in the National and European tours of Showboat
and has spent years working in regional theatres
across the country, as well as Industrial
Trade shows and Television Commercials. Some
of the roles she has played have included
Shelby in Steel Magnolias,
Maria in West Side Story, Julie
in Carousel and Laurey in Oklahoma.
Mary Jo has worked with film director David
Lynch at BAM and has performed as a soloist
in several Columbia Artists Concert tours
across the country. Most recently, Ms. Duffy
has had the pleasure of performing in Kevin
Connors production of Babes in Toyland at
the Rich Forum in Stamford, CT. Ms. Duffy
has been teaching Creative Dramatics and private
voice lessons at the Fraser-Woods School in
Newtown, CT for several year and is beginning
her second season on the MTC faculty. |
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Deborah
Levy (Faculty)
Deborah Levy has been
on the teaching staff at MTC since 1989. Aside
from her teaching and directing responsibilities
at MTC, Deb has worked as a booking talent
on print jobs, industrials and commercials
talent agent for the Johnston Agency as well
as a commercial agent for two well known children’s
agencies in New York; Abrams Artists and Associates,
and Jordan, Gill and Dornbaum. After graduating
from Mount Holyoke College, Deb was accepted
to study acting at Circle in the Square in
NYC. She performed in several Off Broadway,
Regional, and Stock productions and also appeared
in soap operas. Currently Deb performs with
Steppin’ Out Entertainment, a local theatre
group that does murder mysteries, musical
revues and the holiday show at the Spinning
Wheel Inn in Redding, CT. |
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Erik
Paul (Faculty)
Erik Paul is a teacher
and freelance musician throughout Connecticut.
He has toured Eastern Europe performing choral
music in small village churches in Romania
and cathedrals in Prague.
Erik is a member of the
Stamford Schola Gregorian in Stamford which
released A Master Class in Gregorian Chant
CD and text with the sisters of the Abbey
of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT in 2003.
He is the founding member of two professional
renaissance vocal ensembles, the Cecilia
Consort in Greenwich, and Modus VIII in
Westport.
Erik has performed since
1992 with the choirs of the Fairfield Orchestra,
the Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy,
and made his opera debut in 2001 singing
the role of Sailor in Purcell's Dido and
Aneas with The American Classical Orchestra
in New York City. His most recent work was
music director of Brigadoon at Weston High
School.
His training includes work
with the Western Australia Opera Company
in Perth, WA, the University of Connecticut,
(B.A., voice and B.S., business), the University
of Bridgeport (M.S., education), and post-graduate
work at the Hartt School of Music. In 2005
he received his Kodály Teacher Certificate
for music education.
For adventure he
sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with his
family in 1999, landing in Kinsale, Ireland.
This summer included delivering instruments
to a performing arts high school in Transylvania,
sailing in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and seeing
the sights of Tivoli, the Neapolitan islands
and Rome. By day Erik is director of orchestra
and choral ensembles at Weston High School
and adjunct music professor at the University
of Bridgeport. He and his wife reside in
Bridgeport, CT.
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Kimberly
Porio (Faculty)
Kimberly began her dance
training in jazz, tap and ballet with Mikki
Williams at A Dance Class in Westport,
Connecticut in 1975. She later performed all
across the tri-state area with “The Jazz
Troupe”, directed by Ms.
Williams, including performances at The Levitt
Pavilion, the SoNo Arts Festival and “A
Tribute to Tony Bennett” at the St. James
Theatre on Broadway. Kimberly taught Jazz
classes at A Dance Class prior to attending
Providence College where she studied Modern
Jazz and Ballet, while getting her B.S in
Business Administration. Kimberly taught a
Master Jazz Class at Providence College and
was a contributing choreographer for the first
annual PC Dance Company performance. She continues
her training at D’Valda and Sirico Dance
Center in Fairfield, where she taught both
ballet and jazz from 1999-2002. She is excited
and proud to be continuing her teaching career
here at MTC, where her daughter, Anabelle,
has been a student for 6 years. |
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Additional
MTC Staff
Administrative Assistant
..... Bobbi Belarski
Director of Marketing & PR ..... Joe Landry
CPA ..... Jay Bennett Chadwick
Photography ..... KerryLong.com |
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