Enemies, A Love Story
Based on the book ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Adapted and performed by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 1972 by Isaac Bashevis Singer. All rights reserved.
Music by Ben Moore
Libretto by Nahma Sandrow
Opera Titles by: Susan Shiplett Ashbaker
PowerPoint and Title Score by: Elizabeth Rosenberg, Allison Christiansen, and Alexa Farah
Westminster Opera Theatre
Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, director
Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, Music Director and Conductor
Rebecca Miller Kratzer, Stage Director
Saturday, April 6, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 7, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Theater
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, N.J.
Rider University gratefully acknowledges the generous support of: The Herbert B. Mayo Performance Endowment
The Martinson Family Foundation for its support of theater technology equipment.
Michael T. '89 and Susana Santaguida '89 Gummel for their support of our new Rider Friend of the Arts patron program.
PLEASE NOTE:
The unauthorized use of any recording device, either audio or video, and the taking of photographs, either with or without flash, is strictly prohibited. Out of courtesy to the performers and everyone in the audience, please refrain from using cell phones and electronic devices during the performance.
CONTENT WARNING
This show contains discussions of post-Holocaust life, losing loved ones, feelings of self-loathing, isolation and loneliness, suicide, Polygamy, and general mental health concerns that may be triggering for some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. If any of these scenes elicit a negative emotional response, available resources include:
• the Counseling Center (609-896-5157; counseling@rider.edu)
• Public Safety (609-896-5029)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255)
• Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio (888-628-9454)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Options for Deaf and Hard of Hearing) – For TTY Users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line (Text HOME to 741741)
• National Grad Crisis Line (877-472-3457)
• National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233)
• National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233)
• Resources for Survivors and Their Families - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Special Thanks
A special thank you to all the wonderful and supportive voice teachers that provide the base of learning for all we do. A special thanks also to our colleagues in the Music Theater and Dance departments for the rich collaboration that benefits our students and productions.
Director’s Note
Enemies: A Love Story is a tale of aftermath and the perilous, precarious way forward. A uniquely Jewish story, Enemies chronicles the lives of Holocaust survivors and their attempts at new lives in New York City. Our anti-hero, Herman Broder, is many things: a husband, a cheat, a widow, a lover, a liar, a writer, an intellectual, and above all, a survivor. During the Holocaust, he hid in his servant's hayloft. In the aftermath, he walks like a ghost through his life, unable to put down roots, commit, or ever fully leave the hayloft. What was once a sanctuary becomes a metaphysical prison. Embroiled in three romantic relationships, embittered by this tangled web of his own creation, and examining his faith in God and humanity, Herman strikes out on a path of unintended destruction. The magic of Enemies: A Love Story lies in its contradictions. In posing the question: how do we chart a path forward after such immense pain and atrocity? the answer is as murky, unclear, and individual as it should be.
Thank you to everyone who made this production possible. We hope you enjoy!
Rebecca Miller KratzerSynopsis
Enemies, A Love Story
Act I, 1948 New York City
Herman Broder, a Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor, is lost in a trauma-induced flashback in his Coney Island apartment until his wife, Yadwiga, rouses him. Yadwiga, a Polish farmer’s daughter who served Herman’s family before the war, saved Herman from the Nazis by hiding him for two years in her father’s hayloft. After the war, Herman married her out of gratitude. Yadwiga believes Herman is leaving for a sales trip this morning, but he is actually rushing to the Bronx to visit his mistress, Masha. Herman is also lying to Yadwiga about his profession, claiming that he sells books when he is actually a ghostwriter of speeches for a less than virtuous albeit jovial Rabbi. The following day, at breakfast with Masha’s mother, Herman finds a personal notice in the newspaper, which leads him to an apartment on the Lower East Side. There he finds Tamara, his first wife, reported to have been killed in the war along with their two children. Tamara shares the harrowing odyssey of her escape and, after learning of Yadwiga and Masha, offers to divorce him. Herman refuses. Meanwhile, Yadwiga loyally defends her husband against nosy neighbors and secretly believes she is pregnant. Masha takes Herman to the Bronx Zoo and convinces Herman to marry her as well (in a Jewish ceremony rather than a civil ceremony). Now Herman is juggling three very different women and cares for them all. The painful farce accelerates as Herman hides Tamara from Masha, both Tamara and Masha from Yadwiga – and all three wives from his employer, the rabbi. He vows to leave the isolating “hayloft” of all his hidden lives and become a decent, pious man, a faithful husband to Yadwiga, and a father.
Act II, 1948-1949 New York City
At the start of Act Two, the three women, each in her separate apartment, sing about the future and new beginnings. We see that Yadwiga is indeed pregnant, and she soon discovers that Tamara is still alive. Herman has managed to stay away from Masha, but she draws him to her apartment by pretending to have poisoned herself, and he soon resumes his relationship with her. Meanwhile, Tamara defends Yadwiga, who feels Herman is slipping away from her. But Herman cannot give Masha up. The entire ruse comes crashing down at the Rabbi’s Hanukkah party, where Herman and Masha’s passions flare in counterpoint to a cheerful chorus praising God, life, and food. Ultimately the lovers cannot stay apart. Even as they plan to run away to Florida, Masha must take her mother to the hospital. Guilt-ridden and weary, Herman realizes that he cannot make a life with anyone. He walks out forever. Masha returns, her mother having died; she sees that Herman is gone and takes her own life. In the final image, Tamara and Yadwiga are left together, caring for Yadwiga’s newborn child.
Rebecca Miller Kratzer
Cast
Herman Broder
Tamara (his first wife)
Yadwiga (his current wife)
Masha (his mistress)
Nathan Anderson
Elizabeth Rosenberg
Eleanor Rees
Allison Christiansen
Shifrah Puah (Masha’s mother) Grace Comeau
Rabbi Lampert Max Brey
Nissan (Tamara’s uncle)
Sheva Haddas (Nissan’s wife)
Ronan Flynn
Ashley LiBrizzi
Hannah (Yadwiga’s neighbor) Abi Culkin
Leah (Yadwiga’s neighbor)
Party Guests
Artistic Staff
Emma Clark
Emma Clark, Grace Comeau, Abi Culkin, Alexa Farah, Ronan Flynn, Ashley LiBrizzi
Set Designer Buck Linton
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Robin I. Shane
Paula Ciko
Props Designer Melody Marshall
Rehearsal Pianists Diego Bustamante, Nikolay Verevkin
Chorusmaster Benjamin Shively
Intimacy Coordinator Dr. Sean McCarther
Student Staff and Crew
Production Stage Manager Rylee Berger
Stage Manager Elise Carey
Assistant Stage Manager Zuzu Long
Assistant Stage Manager Dajah McCormick
Movement Coordinator Hannah Grace Bonnette
Dramaturg Olivia Teitelbaum
Orchestra Assistant Skylar Noyes
Assistant Costume Designer Emily Porter Seigel
Wardrobe Supervisor Emily Hutchings
Wardrobe Runner Francisca Avendano Palma
Hair/Wig Designer/Supervisor Dominic Trivigno
Hair/Makeup Runner Ahnna Tate
Light Board Operator Eamonn McLoughlin
Supertitle Operator Diego Bustamante
Props Supervisor Anna Spendley
Props Runner Nia Chavis
Props Runner Catherine Dietschak
Orchestra
Piano Nikolay Verevkin
Violin Ruotao Mao
Clarinet Taig Egan
String Bass Stephen Groat
Percussion Eric Borghi
Administrative Staff
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Kelly Bidle
Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Jason Vodicka
Director of Production Management Buck Linton
Director of Performance Management Kristen Rodgers
Associate Director of Performance Management Leandra Acosta
Coordinator of Performance Management Samuel Stephenson
About the Cast
NATHAN ANDERSON, HERMAN, baritone: first year Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with Bryan Hymel). Hometown: Dickson, Tennessee. Past Engagements: Uberto (La Serva Padrona) Tennessee Tech Opera Theater, participation in the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College 2023.
MAX BREY, RABBI LAMPERT, baritone: first year Master of Music in Choral Conducting student (studies with Christopher Arneson). Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida. Past Engagements: Count (Le nozze di Figaro) Westminster Undergraduate Opera; Chorus (Pia de’ Tolomei), Chorus (Path of Miracles) Spoleto Festival, USA.
ALLISON CHRISTIANSEN, MASHA soprano: second year Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with Margaret Cusack). Hometown: Leamington, Utah. Past Engagements: La zelatrice (Suor Angelica) Westminster Opera Theatre; Soprano Soloist (Vivaldi’s Gloria in D) New Jersey Master Chorale; Léontine (L’amant anonyme) Ithaca Opera Studio Program; Katherine Howard, Anne Boleyn cover (Try Me, Good King), Ensemble (The Ghosts of Gatsby) Westminster Opera Theatre; Ida (Die Fledermaus), Queen cover (Die Zauberflöte) Brigham Young University. Upcoming Engagements: Graduate Recital, Westminster Choir College. Awards: 1st place, Westminster Choir College Voice Award Competition 2023; 2nd place category winner, Cal-Western Regional NATS Audition 2022; Semifinalist BYU Young Artists in Voice Competition 2021; 1st place category winner, Northern Utah District NATS Auditions 2021.
EMMA CLARK, LEAH, mezzo-soprano: first year Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with Margaret Cusack). Hometown: Danville, Pennsylvania. Past Engagements: participation in the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College 2023; Conducting Scholar for the Reading Choral Society; Seconda sorella cercatrice (Suor Angelica) Westminster Opera Theatre; Alto Soloist (Vivaldi’s Gloria in D) New Jersey MasterChorale, participation in the Lindsey Christiansen Art Song Festival 2024: Robert, Clara…and Johannes
GRACE COMEAU, SHIFRAH PUAH, mezzo-soprano: first year Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with Robin Massie). Hometown: Bristow, Virginia. Past Engagements: La maestra delle novizie (Suor Angelica) Westminster Opera Theatre. Upcoming Engagements: Choir Member, Westminster Choir; Choir Member, Symphonic Choir.
ABIGAIL CULKIN, HANNAH, soprano: junior Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, minor in Arts and Entertainment Industries Management student (studies with Sally Wolf). Hometown: Woodbine, Maryland. Past Engagements: Prima sorella cercatrice (Suor Angelica), Katherine of Aragon (Try Me, Good King), Ensemble (The Ghosts of Gatsby), Ensemble (Cendrillon) Westminster Opera Theatre, participation in the Lindsey Christiansen Art Song Festival 2024: Robert, Clara…and Johannes Upcoming Engagements: Choir Member, Westminster Choir; Choir Member, Symphonic Choir. Awards: 1st place Westminster Voice Award Competition 2023; 2nd place Westminster Voice Award Competition 2022.
ALEXA FARAH, ENSEMBLE, soprano: sophomore Bachelor of Music in Music
Education and Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance student (studies with Margaret Cusack). Hometown: Northvale, New Jersey. Past Engagements: La sorella infermiera
(Suor Angelica) Westminster Opera Theatre. Awards: 2nd place category winner, New Jersey NATS Festival of Singing 2023, 3rd place Westminster Voice Award Competition 2023.
RONAN FLYNN, NISSEN, baritone: freshman Bachelor of Music in Music Education student (studies with Bryan Hymel). Hometown: West Babylon, New York.
ASHLEY ERIKA LIBRIZZI, SHEVA HADDAS, soprano: senior Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music student (studies with Robin Massie). Hometown: Hillsborough, New Jersey. Past Engagements: Anne of Cleaves (Try Me, Good King) Westminster Opera Theatre, participation in the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College 2023.
ELEANOR REES, YADWIGA, soprano: senior Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance student (studies with Christopher Arneson). Hometown: Huntington, New York. Past Engagements: Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Maguelonne (Cendrillon), Jane Seymour (Try Me, Good King), Ensemble (The Ghosts of Gatsby), Ensemble (Hänsel und Gretel) Westminster Opera Theatre; participation in the CoOPERAtive program at Westminster Choir College 2023. Awards: 3rd place category winner, New Jersey NATS Festival of Singing 2022; 4th place Westminster Voice Scholarship Award 2022.
ELIZABETH ROSENBERG, TAMARA, mezzo-soprano: senior Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance student (studies with Bryan Hymel). Hometown: Rising Sun, Maryland. Past Engagements: La zia principessa (Suor Angelica), Zelda ‘48 (The Ghosts of Gatsby), Armelinde (Cendrillon) Westminster Opera Theatre. Awards: 1st place category winner, New Jersey NATS Festival of Singing 2022 and 2023; 2nd place category winner, Westminster Voice Scholarship Award 2022; 3rd place category winner, Westminster Voice Scholarship Award 2023.
About the Artistic & Administrative Staff
LEANDRA ACOSTA, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT, is a graduate of Rider University with degrees in dance performance and arts administration. During her time performing at Rider, she was awarded both the Dance Merit Scholarship and Mildred S. Hawkins Dance Scholarship and helped adopt the Dance Mentorship Program. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many fantastic choreographers during her time performing at Rider including: Kate Ladenheim, Randy James of 10 Hairy Legs, Angela Cusumano, Merli Guerra of Luminarium Dance, Jennifer Gladney, Robson Alves, Lynn Neuman of Artichoke Dance, and Ryan Davis. She was recently featured as a choreographer for the 2023 Senior Dance Capstone performance, Acknowledgements. In her role as Associate Director, Leandra creates programs for and manages the social media pages for the Department of Performing Arts and Westminster Choir College.
SUSAN SHIPLETT ASHBAKER, MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR, Associate Professor/Director of Westminster Opera Theatre for Westminster Choir College at Rider University and Director for the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster brings over 40 years of experience in the performing arts. Ms. Ashbaker is active in the opera/vocal world as an independent artistic advisor/consultant, master class presenter, lecturer, and opera/vocal coach. Her experience on both sides of the opera industry gives her a rare and comprehensive approach to key elements of career advancement for singers as well as a unique vantage point in the administration of opera companies, arts organizations, and institutions of higher learning. She is in demand as a master class presenter, having taught recently at Boston Conservatory, University of Miami, Montclair University, and Rutgers University among others. Ms. Ashbaker was affiliated with Tri-Cities Opera for 5 years; 4 as General and Artistic Director, and 1 as Artistic Director, and “transformed the company in every way imaginable,” according to the former Board Chair. Additionally, Ms. Ashbaker served Opera Company of Philadelphia (OCP) for 16 years, the last 11 as director of artistic and music administration. She led casting practices and reestablished the Company as a pioneer in offering advancements to young singers before they achieved national or international recognition; gave unique opportunities to well-established artists; and supervised all activities of the artistic and music departments. Under her direction, OCP established an intern program with the Curtis Institute of Music.
Ms. Ashbaker has worked as assistant conductor/vocal coach with New York City Opera, European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts, Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, International Vocal Arts Institute in Montreal, Theater am Goetheplatz (Bremen, Germany) and Academy of Vocal Arts, and she was on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music for nearly 20 years.
A frequent judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and former participant on the MET Quiz Show, Ms. Ashbaker has also participated as panelist with Opera America, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, judge for the Jensen Foundation, Marian Anderson Emerging Artist Competition and the Richard Tucker Foundation Auditions, among others. Ms. Ashbaker recently published The Vocal Coach Approach: When Practice Makes Perfect (a guide to help singers of all levels learn to practice - and love it!) available from Inside View Press: www.voxped.com
REBECCA MILLER KRATZER, STAGE DIRECTOR, is a New York-based theatre and opera director. Rebecca makes work that sits at the intersection of opera, music, dance, and theatre through an artistic practice rooted in collaboration, joy, and ritual. Upcoming: La Carmencita, The Opera Next Door; I have a cart, Dutch Kills Theatre. Past operatic credits: Director: La Carmencita, The Opera Next Door; In Real Life, Mostly Modern Festival; La traviata, City Lyric Opera, New York; Antigone, Phoebus und Pan, Longy School of Music; Don Quichotte, Opera Saratoga; The Trojan Women, Columbia University; Cendrillon, Alcina, Second Nature, Opera del West; Don Giovanni, Fidelio, La Cenerentola, NEMPAC Opera; assistant director for Grounded, Washington National Opera; Man of La Mancha, Opera Saratoga; rehearsal observer for New Dark Age, Royal Opera House. Rebecca served as adjunct faculty/guest director at Montclair State
University in their Musical Theatre and Dance Department and co-adjunct/guest director at Rutgers University. She holds a BA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University, Proud AGMA Member and SDC Associate Member.
BUCK LINTON, DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT/TECHNICAL
DIRECTOR. Earning his MFA in Scenography and Technical Design (Virginia Tech), Buck joined Rider University as its Technical Director in 2012 and became the Director of Production Management in 2022. He professionally produced more than 200 productions with such venues as The Kennedy Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and McCarter Theatre. Selected works include Travesties, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, Take Flight, Herringbone, Lookingglass Alice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Falstaff, Die Zauberflöte, Pelléas et Mélisande, Dialogues des Carmélites, La Clemenza di Tito, Oreste, Sunjata Kamalenya, The Odyssey Experience, Die Fledermaus, Rigoletto, Turandot, Chicago, EDDA (Ping Chong & Sequentia Ensemble, international tour). Since 2012, he has produced more than 100 productions for Rider University’s College of Arts and Sciences in the performing arts.
MELODY MARSHALL, PROPS DESIGNER, is a theatre artist, writer, and teaching artist in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in English at Arcadia University. Her most recent work has been producing Skerryvore: A Tale of Terror in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
BEN MOORE, COMPOSER. The music of American composer Ben Moore includes art song, opera, musical theatre, cabaret, chamber music, choral music and comedy material. His work has been called “brilliant” and “gorgeously lyrical” by the New York Times while Opera News has praised the “easy tunefulness” and “romantic sweep” of his songs. Singers who have performed his work include Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Robert White, Nathan Gunn and Audra McDonald.
Moore composed the scores for three operas including Enemies, a Love Story which premiered at Palm Beach Opera in 2015 and was seen at Kentucky Opera in 2018. Based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, with a libretto by Nahma Sandrow, the opera has been called “an important new work that will find its place among those works that audiences will be moved by...” (Fred Plotkin/WQXR). Odyssey and Robin Hood are youth operas commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival with librettos by Kelley Rourke. Odyssey premiered at Glimmerglass in 2015 and has since been seen at venues across the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Opera and Minnesota Opera. Opera News called it “an opera for all ages” with an “ebullient, lyrical score.” Robin Hood premiered at Glimmerglass in 2017 and was seen at Seattle Opera and Houston Grand Opera in 2018.
NAHMA SANDROW, LIBRETTIST. Librettist and theater historian; translator and lifelong fan of Yiddish theater; professor and teacher – Nahma Sandrow has a varied
professional life. The opera Enemies, A Love Story (based on I.B. Singer’s novel), for which she wrote the libretto with composer Ben Moore, won praise at its world premiere at the Palm Beach Opera and again at the Kentucky Opera. The musical Kuni-Leml won several Outer Critics Circle Awards, toured, and has been revived several times. Artemisia, Light and Shadow, the one-woman musical evocation of the life of sixteenthcentury painter Artemisia Gentileschi, has been performed in theaters, art galleries, and college campuses. Other theater credits include the award-winning revue Vagabond Stars, as well as several translations that have been professionally produced, including Mirele Efros and Bronx Express.
Her Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater is now in its third edition. Other books include the play anthologies God, Man, and Devil: Yiddish Plays in Translation and Yiddish Plays for Reading and Performance, as well as Surrealism: Theater, Arts, Ideas. In addition, she has written feature articles for the New York Times, the New York Sun, ARTnews, and other newspapers, magazines and journals.
ROBIN I. SHANE, COSTUME DESIGNER, is an Assistant Professor of Theatre in the Department of Performing Arts at Rider University. Favorite designs at Rider include Cabaret, Polaroid Stories, Pippin, and many Rider Dance concerts. Recent professional credits include The Pillowman and In The Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, PA and OK Trenton at the Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ. Robin has designed costumes regionally and nationally at such varied theatre as The New Victory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, The Yale Rep, The Hedgerow, Theatre Exile, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, EgoPo, Passage Theater, Shakespeare Theater of NJ, The National Constitution Center, The Revision Theater, the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater, Soho Rep and The Harrisburg Opera. Robin holds an MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and a BA in Theater and Psychology from Wesleyan University.
SAMUEL STEPHENSON, COORDINATOR OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT, received his Bachelor of Arts degrees in English Literature and Music from Wabash College, graduating magna cum laude under a full-ride Lilly Scholarship. As a Joseph Flummerfelt Scholar, he received his Master of Music in Choral Conducting with distinction from Westminster Choir College. Samuel has performed with many choirs across the world. He toured with the Wabash College Glee Club internationally to Taiwan and organized and managed the renowned Choral Institute at Oxford, a summer program at the University of Oxford for inspiring conductors to work with leading figures in the choral world. He has performed with The Same Stream, whose recordings can be found on all major music services, and at the Weiwuying National Center for the Arts as part of the opera chorus for Verdi’s La Traviata. Most recently, Samuel conducted Morten Lauridsen’s Mid-Winter Songs with the Westminster Choir in concert at Washington D.C. He currently works as the Performance Management Coordinator at Rider University and Music Director at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in Warminster, PA.
NIKOLAY VEREVKIN, REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE PIANIST, is a pianist and chamber musician. In 2021, he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music as an instructor, vocal coach and staff pianist. He maintains a long-standing position as a coach and recital pianist with the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers. Previously, Dr. Verevkin had been on the faculty at The Juilliard School in the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Vocal Department of Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and as faculty coach at SongFest’s Summer Art Song Institute in Los Angeles. In the fall of 2021, Nikolay Verevkin debuted on the stage of Carnegie Hall alongside baritone Michael Chioldi. Dr.Verevkin has accompanied and presented numerous recitals and concerts including with Carnegie Hall’s New York Citywide program, New York Festival of Song, InSeries of Washington D.C., Beth Morrison Projects/Saratoga Opera, The Bohemians, Music Academy of the West, and Toronto Summer Music Festival.
About the Student Staff & Crew
RYLEE BERGER, PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER, senior Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Design and Technology and Arts and Entertainment Industries Management. Hometown: Cooper City, Florida. Past Engagements: Scenic/Sound Designer (Like Father, Like Son) with The TANK NYC; Production Stage Manager (PSM) (Cinderella/Don Quixote) with the American Repertory Ballet; Assistant Stage Manager (Clean Slate: A World Premiere Musical) with Passage Theatre; Technical Director (Suor Angelica and Hermit Songs), PSM (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812) and Assistant Technical Director (ATD)/Audio Swing (The Prom), PSM/ATD (Urinetown), PSM/Co-Scenic Designer (The Children's Hour), and PSM (Polaroid Stories) with Rider University, Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
HANNAH GRACE BONNETTE, MOVEMENT COORDINATOR, junior, Bachelor of Performing Arts in Musical Theatre student. Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana. Past Engagements: Zelda 18 (The Ghosts of Gatsby) with Westminster Opera Theatre at Rider University. Upcoming Engagements: Swing (Anything Goes) with Rider University, Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
DIEGO BUSTAMANTE, REHEARSAL PIANIST AND SUPERTITLE OPERATOR, second year Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with James Goldsworthy). Hometown: Chico, California. Past Engagements: Rehearsal Pianist (The Threepenny Opera) University of the Pacific Opera Theater; Rehearsal Pianist (Cendrillon), Rehearsal Pianist (The Ghosts of Gatsby), Rehearsal Pianist (Try Me, Good King), Rehearsal Pianist (Suor Angelica) Westminster Opera Theatre; participation in the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College 2022. Awards: Damien Dixon Memorial Piano Scholarship 2023; Franklin Cannon Musicianship Award, Westminster Choir College 2023.
ELISE CAREY, STAGE MANAGER, Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education, Bachelor of Arts in Design and Technology student. Hometown: Bucks County, PA; Previous technical credits: Assistant Stage Manager (Suor Angelica and Hermit Songs), Wardrobe Supervisor (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), Wardrobe Supervisor (Kiss Me,
Kate), Lead Stagehand (The Children's Hour). Performance credits: Swing (Bean A Long Day), with Rider University, Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
BENJAMIN SHIVELY, CHORUSMASTER, second year Master of Music in Choral Conducting student (studies with James Jordan and Donald Nally). Hometown: Platte City, Missouri. Past Engagements: Chorusmaster (Suor Angelica) Westminster Opera Theatre; Pit Conductor (Willy Wonka JR.) Cornerstone Community Arts Project; Voice & Performance Faculty for Barbershop Harmony Society educational workshops
2021, 2022, and 2023; Head Choir Director at Rodeo Palms Junior High School. Current Engagements: certified judge, singing category, Barbershop Harmony Society Contest and Judging; independent singing coach and voice instructor; Assistant Conductor for the New Jersey Master Chorale; Music Director at Hopewell United Methodist Church.
PAULA CIKO, LIGHTING DESIGNER, senior, Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Design and Technology student. Hometown: Carteret, New Jersey. Past Engagements: Lighting Designer (The Bikinis) with Asbury Park Theatre Co. Lighting Designer (Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812), Assistant Lighting Designer (The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong), Assistant Lighting Designer (Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret), Light Board Operator (LBO)(The Prom), LBO (Hansel und Gretal), LBO (Pippin), LBO (Children’s Hour), and Projections Operator (Monstersongs) with Rider University, Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
ZUZU LONG, ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER, freshman, Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Design and Technology student. Hometown: Voorhees, New Jersey. Past Engagements: Assistant Stage Manager (Much Ado About Nothing) with Rider University, Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
DAJAH MCCORMICK, ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER, freshman, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting for Film, Television and Theatre student (studies with Ivan Fuller). Hometown: South Plainfield, New Jersey.
EMILY PORTER SIEGEL, ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER, junior Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and English Literature double major Hometown: Knoxville, Tennesee. Past Engagements: Shipwrecked! (Stitcher) with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Educational Credits include: As You Like It (Costume Designer, STNJ Summer Professional Training Program Final Project), Suor Angelica and Hermit Songs (Assistant Costume Designer), Much Ado About Nothing (Costume Designer), of bodies changed (Director, Creator, Costume Designer, self-produced), Rider Dances ‘23: Expanding Communities (Assistant Costume Designer), Clean Slate: A World Premiere Musical (Assistant Costume Designer), The Children’s Hour (Stage Manager), Urinetown (Assistant Costume Designer), Rider New Works ‘22 (Stage Manager/Costume Designer), Pete(her) Pan (Stagehand), Hänsel und Gretel (Assistant Stage Manager), and Pippin (Assistant Stage Manager), A Doll’s House (Nils Krogstad), Inside (the Spitz) Cabaret (Costume Designer) and The Lonely Hearts Club Cabaret (Costume Designer) with the Rider Student Theatre Company.
OLIVIA TEITELBAUM, DRAMATURG, freshman, Bachelor of Fine Arts Musical Theatre student. Hometown: Rockville, Maryland (DMV). Certified College Green Captain. Past Engagements: Curtain Up: Arrival (Dir. Louis Goldberg) with Rider University; Green Cabaret for a Sustainable Future, Rider Broadway Green Alliance.
About Rider University , Westminster Choir College, & The Department of Performing Arts
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private co-educational, student-centered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and real-world learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work.
The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and in-depth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Culturally vibrant and historically rich, Westminster Choir College has a legacy of preparing students for thriving careers as well-rounded performers and musical leaders on concert stages, in schools, universities, and churches, and in professional and community organizations worldwide. Renowned for its tradition of choral excellence, the college is home to internationally recognized ensembles, including the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors of our time. In addition to its choral legacy, Westminster is known as a center for excellence in musical pedagogy and performance.
Through its dynamic mix of academic programs, The Department of Performing Arts helps aspiring professional performers, producers, managers, designers, technicians and entrepreneurs find their unique path in an ever-evolving industry. Acknowledged as innovative and contemporary, the Department of Performing Arts aspires to build a more equitable, engaging and sustainable future for the performing arts while exploring the many diverse historical, cultural, social and creative threads that add to our rich tapestry.
Upcoming Performances
WESTMINSTER CHOIR JOINS NEW ENGLAND SYMPHONIC ENSEMBLE AT CARNEGIE HALL
FEATURING JAMES WHITBOURN REQUIEM (WORLD PREMIERE) & ELAINE HAGENBERG'S ILLUMINARE
Saturday, April 13, 1 p.m.
Carnegie Hall
881 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019
ANYTHING GOES
Friday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 20, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 21, 2 p.m.
Yvonne Theater
RIDER UNIVERSITY CHORALE: COMMON THREADS
Friday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR: A TIME TO DANCE
Saturday, April 20, 4 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER CHOIR: MUSIC OF AWE AND WONDER
Sunday, April 21, 4 p.m.
Gill Chapel
SENIOR DANCE CAPSTONE CONCERT: LIVING LEGACIES
Friday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Theater
ARTBEAST 2024
ARTSTAGES: CREATIVE JOURNIES IN MOTION
Friday, April 26, 3 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center & Campus Green
SPRING THEATRE FESTIVAL IN ASSOCIATION WITH ARTBEAST AUTHENTIC INSTRUMENT II & ACTING IV SHOWCASE
Saturday, April 27, 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 28, 2 p.m.
Yvonne Theater
DIRECTING CLASS PLAY FESTIVAL
Saturday April 27, 4:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Yvonne Theater
WESTMINSTER JUBILEE SINGERS SPRING CONCERT
Sunday, April 28, 7:30 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER CHOIR COLLEGE CHAPEL SERVICE
Friday, May 10, 4pm
Princeton University Chapel
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UPCOMING PERFORMANCES, SUBSCRIPTION AND PATRON PROGRAM OPTIONS, VISIT RIDER.EDU/ARTS.
