Currently the Associate
Artistic Director of ANMT, Elise has been involved
in the development of new works for over
fifteen 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 ScriptLab. 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 has been published
by Dramatic Publishing and has had multiple
productions around the world.
Joshua Finkel, currently the Director of the
Performers' Workshop at ANMT, has directed everything from Industrial
Video and Plays, to Musical Theater and Cabaret.
His 2004 production of the Los Angeles Premiere of The Spitfire Grill at the
Actors Co-op Theater in Hollywood received the LA TIMES CRITIC'S PICK. One of
his other ongoing shows, Hollywood Revisited, is scheduled to play many top
corporate and private events in 2006-2007, including cruises to Tokyo, New
Zealand and Monte Carlo. Joshua directed the West Coast premiere of Songs for
a New World at San Francisco's prestigious Plush Room in 2002 and in addition,
Joshua heads up the acting faculty at the San Francisco Academy for the
Performing Arts where he teaches everything from Musical Theatre to Cold Reading
to Shakespeare. Joshua's Los Angeles coaching studio, the Creative
Combustion Acting Studio, tailors classes, private and phone coachings for
actors and public speakers of all ages and levels. Among his many acting
credits, Joshua starred on Broadway opposite Chita Rivera and Vanessa Williams
as Molina the Window Dresser in the original cast of Kiss of the Spider Woman,
and as Thenardier in Les Miserables. Joshua also holds an MFA in Classical Theatre from the University of Delaware
and is a member of the Musical Theater Guild. For more information:
www.ccactingstudio.com
SCOTT GUY Lyric Lab; MasterWork (Lyrics); Pitching to Producers
In Chicago, Scott was the Producing Artistic Director of both Passage
Theatre and the Children’s Classical Theatre. In 1988, Scott
moved to Los Angeles and became a writer/producer of television
shows for PBS, Disney Channel, the Learning Channel, The Discovery
Channel, FOX-TV, Children’s Television Workshop, NBC (WMAQ-TV),
and Warner Brothers, gathering six Emmy nominations along the way.
He has written over 120 produced television scripts. Scott
has two degrees in theatre (B.S. from Northwestern University and
MFA from UCLA), and the theatre has always been his first love.
His plays and musicals have been produced in New York, Chicago,
San Francisco and London. Scott is now the Executive Director
and Lyric Lab Instructor at ANMT.
Andrew graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied
theory and composition with Professor Jay Reise, among others. Andrew
received an MFA from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, as part of the
Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Currently, he lives in Los
Angeles, scoring short films, while continuing to work on several theatre
projects.
Currently acting as the Director of Music Curriculm at ANMT, Ross
is a familiar face at the pianos of various theatres and
nightclubs around Los Angeles. Most recently he played for Pacific
Resident Theatre’s production of Happy End. In years past, he was
musical director for Friends and Artists Theatre Ensemble’s
productions of Marat/Sade and ThreePenny Opera, both of which won him Dramalogue awards for excellence in musical direction. He also was
Musical Director for the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s revival of Liz
Swados’ Night Club Cantata. Before beginning his tenure as Director
of Music Curriculum for the Academy, he served as musical director for
the prestigious Beverly Hills Playhouse for fifteen years, working
with the likes of Jeffrey Tambor, Doris Roberts, Gene Reynolds and
many others. Recently he worked as musical director/arranger/producer
on an original song for the film Relative Strangers, coaxing
respectable vocal harmonies out of Danny Devito and a glorious vocal
performance out of Cathy Bates. In the Cabaret world his favorite
compatriot (amongst many) is Penny Fuller.
Musical Director: Antaeus Company, Company Rep, ASK Theatre Projects
Composer Studio, Virginia Avenue Project, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, LA
Theatreworks. Winner of multiple ASCAP Special Awards and NEA grants for
composing with his longtime collaborator, Ken Stone (Kleban Winner 2005).
Michele is an award winning Director/Choreographer who works regularly with
ANMT. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, she has directed over
50 musical theatre productions and readings. As a teacher, she has taught
at USC's acting program, The Acting Corps, LA Theatresports, and the UCLA
Extension Writer's Program.
ANMT
* 5628 VINELAND AVE * NORTH HOLLYWOOD * 91601 * 818.506.8500 *
academy@anmt.org
