The Production

THE PRODUCTION CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

BRITTANY BRADFORD (Julia Augustine). TFANA: Fefu and Her Friends. Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout/Fiasco Theater). New York: Mac Beth (Hunter Theater Project), Black Picture Show (Classix/Artists Space). TV/Film: Julia (HBOMax), New Amsterdam, Fear the Walking Dead, The Same Storm. Regional credits include Westport Country Playhouse, The Muny, Mixed Blood and the O’Neill. Co-founder of HomeBase Theatre Collective, and a producing member of Classix. Graduate of The Juilliard School.

ROSALYN COLMAND (Lula Green). Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird, Travesties, The Mountaintop, Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson, Mule Bone. Film: Miss Virginia, The Immortal Jellyfish, Frankie and Alice, Brooklyn’s Finest, Our Song, Brown Sugar, Music of the Heart. TV: “Bull,” “Jessica Jones,” “Blue Bloods,” “Madam Secretary,” “Law & Order.” Off-Broadway: The Woman’s Party, Native Son, Breakfast With Mugabe. Solo play: The Master’s Tools at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Next feature film: Weapon for Peace, director. Proud mom and wife. Love you. @irozapp

VEANNE COX (Herman’s Mother). Broadway: An American in Paris; Caroline, or Change; A Free Man of Color; La Cage aux Folles; The Dinner Party; Company; and Smile. She has received Tony and Emmy nominations and Obie and Drama Desk Awards. TV/film: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Bull,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “New Amsterdam,” “Louie,” “Smash,” “Pan Am,” Erin Brockovich, Big Eden, You’ve Got Mail, Cinderella, “Seinfeld,” two comedy web series “Indoor Boys” and “Cady Did.” Soon: Summoning Sylvia.

REBECCA HADEN (Annabelle) is thrilled to be making her TFANA debut! Currently: “The Gilded Age” (HBO). Other TV: “Madam Secretary” (CBS); “NCIS: New Orleans” (CBS). Regional: Pride & Prejudice (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); various plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Clarence Brown Theatre. Commercials: Lincoln, Samsung, Always, Kohl’s. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting. Thank you to Troy, Erin, Mallory, Melissa, 2017MFU2, my family and Jess; love to Grayson. @rebecca.haden

Phoenix Noelle (Teeta), Sofie Nesanelis (Princess) and Elizabeth Van Dyke (Fanny Johnson). Photo by Hollis King.

THE PRODUCTION CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

BRITTANY-LAURELLE (Mattie) is a storyteller and poet from Harlem, NY. She is thrilled to be making her TFANA debut. Brittany-Laurelle was most recently seen in The Bluest Eye (The Huntington) and The Legend of Georgia McBride (Seven Angels Theatre). Her theatrical study with LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts and Adelphi University helped lead her to moments like this. Sending big love to all the Black girls across the world; may we never stop believing.

SOFIE NESANELIS (Princess) is happy to be part of Wedding Band at TFANA. National tour: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Cindy Lou). Regional theatre: The Sound of Music (Gretl) and Annie (Molly). Thanks to my team: Leorah Haberfield at Bohemia Group, Bonnie Shumofsky Bloom at Stewart Talent, Amelia Demayo, Ethan Haberfield, Kelli Gautreau. Love to my family! @sofienesanelis

PHOENIX NOELLE (Teeta) is an 8-yearold actor from Queens, NY. She is grateful and excited to make her professional theatre debut as Teeta. Her TV and film credits include “The Last O.G.,” “Hunters,” “Sesame Street,” The Photograph, and The Perfect Find. So thankful to TFANA, Barry Kolker, Jason Bercy, and casting for this amazing opportunity. Thank you to my family, friends and Miss Rashell for believing in me. @phoenixnoelle13

RENRICK PALMER (Nelson Green) was born on the island of Jamaica, where he lived for 13 years before migrating to New York City. He is a U.S Air Force veteran turned actor affiliated with Public Works Theater Military Resilience Foundation, where he studies Shakespeare and is a graduate of Long Island University and New York Film Academy. He’s known for playing Jackie Robinson on A&E History Channel and Hassim in the short film Hold Up, among other projects.

THOMAS SADOSKI (Herman). Broadway: reasons to be pretty (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC, Drama League nominations), Other Desert Cities (Lortel, Obie Awards), House of Blue Leaves, Reckless. Off-Broadway: White Noise (The Public); The Way We Get By, Becky Shaw (Lortel nomination), This Is Our Youth (Second Stage); Sam Mendes’ 2010 Bridge Project: As You Like It/The Tempest (BAM, The Old Vic), etc. Film: the upcoming Devotion and Lilly, Wild, John Wick 1 and 2, etc. Television: “Life in Pieces,” “The Newsroom,” etc.

Thomas Sadoski (Herman) and Veanne Cox (Herman's Mother). Photo by Henry Grossman.

THE PRODUCTION CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

ELIZABETH VAN DYKE (Fanny Johnson). Award-winning director, actress, producing artistic director of New Federal Theatre. Originated Fannie Mae Dove in Flyin’ West; Annie Talbert in A Dance on Widows Row. Roles include Peggy Clark in Blue, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Antigone in Gospel at Colonus, Sister Margaret in Amen Corner, Berniece in The Piano Lesson, Molly Cunningham in Joe Turner’s Come & Gone, Mrs. Dickson in Intimate Apparel. AUDELCO Award for Best Actress for Zora….

MAX WOERTENDYKE (Bell Man). Broadway: A View From the Bridge. Off-Broadway: A Bright Room Called Day, Illyria and Romeo & Juliet (all at The Public). Television credits include “Succession” (HBO), “Longmire” (Netflix) and “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” (Hulu). Brightwood (Max’s first feature film as a producer/actor) will be released in 2023. Other theatre credits include Invisible Hand (CPH), Frankenstein (Denver Center) and Oslo (Pioneer). Education/training: McGill University, Juilliard.

AWOYE TIMPO (Director). Off-Broadway: In Old Age (New York Theatre Workshop), The Loophole (The Public Theater), Carnaval (National Black Theatre), Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre and Audible) and The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater Company). Regional: The Bluest Eye (Huntington), Pipeline (Studio Theatre), Paradise Blue (Long Wharf), Everybody Black (Actors Theatre of Louisville), School Girls (Berkeley Rep), Jazz (Marin Theatre Company). Other: Black Picture Show (Artists Space/Metrograph), Bluebird Memories (Audible). Founding producer of CLASSIX, theclassix.org.

JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST (Scenic Designer) is an Emmy Award-winning set and production designer whose work spans the genres of live theatre, TV/film, concert design and architecture. Jason has collaborated with creative teams and theatres across the country including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geffen, The Old Globe, Miami City Ballet, 5th

Thomas Sadoski (Herman) and Brittany Bradford (Julia Augustine). Photo by Hollis King.

THE PRODUCTION CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Avenue Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Huntington, Berkeley Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater and more. ardizzonewest.com

QWEEN JEAN (Costume Designer). Thank you Awoye for your brilliance and support. This ritual has allowed our ancestors to transcend. Recent theatre: On Sugarland, Black No More, I Need Space, Macbeth in Stride, Semblance, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Siblings Play, Amen Corner, Rags Parkland, Good Grief, Othello and the acclaimed What to Send Up, When it Goes Down. MFA from NYU Tisch. Black Trans Lives Matter!

STACEY DEROSIER (Lighting Designer). Credits: This Beautiful Future (TheaterLab), The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (The Shed), The Last of the Love Letters (Atlantic Theater Company), Stew (Page 73), for all the women who thought they were Mad (Soho Rep), White Noise conceived by Daniel Fish (NYU Skirball), Playing Hot! (Pipeline Theater Company), Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) and 2018 Lilly Award Daryl Roth Prize recipient.

RENA ANAWKE (Sound Designer) is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and healer working primarily with sound, visuals and scent. Exploring intersections between traditional healing practices, spirituality and performance, she creates works focused on sensory-based, experiential interactions using creative technology. Most recently, she was awarded with a 2021-2022 MacDowell Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Arts and a 2022 Jack Nusbaum Artist Residency at BAM. She is based in Brooklyn, by way of Nigeria and Canada. aspaceforsound.com

ALPHONSO HORNE (Composer). Juilliard graduate and multi Grammy Award nominee Alphonso Horne thrills audiences with his soulful sound and dramatic sensibility. The true embodiment of class and eclecticism, Alphonso has collaborated with artists from all genres and disciplines including Wynton Marsalis, Patti LaBelle and Rihanna. Alphonso can also be seen on CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and in the Hollywood jazz film Bolden.

NEHEMIAH LUCKETT (Music Director) has been composing, accompanying and music directing for more than 25 years. Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, and currently a resident of New York City, from an early age Nehemiah connected his deep love of music to the transformative power of building community through breathing and singing with family and friends. Upcoming projects include Sistas, A Burning Church and Triple Threats.

CHERIE CORINNE RICE (Dialect Coach). Lobby Hero (Capital Rep); Three Musketeers (Cleveland Play House); The Bluest Eye, Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Skeleton Crew (Huntington); I Am My Own Wife (Long Wharf); Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage Co.); House of Joy (Cal Shakes); Song of the Northwoods, Rapture Season, Bernarda’s Daughters, Evil Eye (Audible). MFA, Brown University/Trinity Rep; BA in theatre and performance, UC Berkeley. Head of voice and speech, Waterwell Drama; assoc. professor, NYU MFA acting program.

NIKIYA MATHIS (Hair, Wig & Makeup Designer) is a multi-hyphenate actress and hair/wig designer. She is the recipient of the Henry Hewes Design Award and The Antonio Award, and is a Drama Desk nominee. New York credits include Broadway: Circle in the Square Theatre, MCC Theater (The New Group), Soho Rep, Ars Nova, Page 73, Classical Theatre of Harlem, National Black Theatre. Regional credits include Huntington Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of D.C., Long Wharf Theatre, Berkshire Theatre.

ANDREW WADE (Voice Director). TFANA: resident voice and text director. Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (U.S. head of voice and dialect), A Christmas Carol (with Matthew Warchus) and tour (voice and dialect director), King Lear with Glenda Jackson (voice coach), Matilda the Musical (director of voice) and national tour. West End: Lord of the Rings. The Public Theater: director of voice. Royal Shakespeare Company: head of voice. The Acting Company and Guthrie Theater: Julius Caesar. NYTW: Othello with Daniel Craig. Teaching: Juilliard, Stella Adler, NYU, BADA in Oxford. Film: Shakespeare in Love. Fellow: Rose Bruford College. Workshops and lectures: worldwide.

THE PRODUCTION CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

RENÉE ROBINSON MATHIS (Movement Director) is a lecturer at Yale University where she teaches a course she developed entitled “Embodying Story.” She is guest faculty at The Juilliard School and was the first to receive The Irene Dowd Teaching Fellowship. Ms. Robinson is also faculty at The Ailey School and master teaching artist with Ailey Arts in Education. Ms. Robinson is overjoyed and filled with gratitude to be a part of Wedding Band.

JON KNUST (Properties Supervisor). Selected credits include A Doll’s House, The Father, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Winter’s Tale, About Alice, Gnit and The Merchant of Venice (TFANA); Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Broadway); Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, Big Love and Appropriate (Signature); and Peter and the Starcatcher (tour). Jon got his start in props at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University.

UNKLEDAVE'S FIGHT-HOUSE (Fight Direction). Broadway: Girl From the North Country; Escape to Margaritaville; The Great Society; Tuck Everlasting; An American in Paris; Disgraced. Off-Broadway: On in Paris; Disgraced. Off-Broadway: On Sugarland (NYTW); Kimberly Akimbo (Atlantic); Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Atlantic Theater, Drama Desk nomination); Oedipus El Rey (The Public Theater, Drama Desk nomination). Film/TV: Poor Behavior, Emoticon, “Annie Live!”

JONATHAN KALB (Resident Dramaturg) is professor of theatre at Hunter College, CUNY and is TFANA’s resident dramaturg. The author of five books on theatre, he has worked for more than three decades as a theatre scholar, critic, journalist and dramaturg. He has twice won The George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and has also won the George Freedley Award for an outstanding theatre book from the Theatre Library Association. He often writes about theatre on his TheaterMatters blog at jonathankalb.com.

ARMINDA THOMAS (Dramaturg). Selected dramaturgy credits include Black Picture Show (Artists Space), Mirrors (Next Door at NYTW); A Harlem Triptych of Eulalie Spence, Wine in the Wilderness and Soul Struggle: The Works of Georgia Douglass Johnson (New Perspectives); Black History Museum…According to the United States of America (HERE Arts Center); Jazz (Marin Theatre Company); Zora Neale Hurston (New Federal Theatre); and The First Noel (Classical Theatre of Harlem).

Top: Thomas Sadoski (Herman) and Rebecca Haden (Annabelle). Bottom: Renrick Palmer (Nelson Green). Photos by Henry Grossman.

THE PRODUCTION CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

MAGGIE MANZANO (Stage Manager) is stoked to be working with TFANA for the first time. Originally from San Francisco, Maggie received their BFA in stage management from SFSU. Select credits include A Christmas Carol (St. Louis Rep), The Chinese Lady (Ma-Yi/The Public), Men on Boats (American Conservatory Theater), Rhinoceros (American Conservatory Theater) and Brownsville Song (Shotgun Players). Make All Art Free.

KAT MEISTER they/them (Assistant Stage Manager). Off-Broadway: The Chinese Lady, Socrates (The Public); The Blueprint Specials (Waterwell). Selected credits: Mother of Us All (MetLive Arts/Juilliard); Hyena (Edinburgh Fringe, La Mama); Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Fest). TV work: “Dr. Death,” “Law & Order: Organized Crime.” In their spare time they write and direct their own short films and enjoy discovering new methods of storytelling through technology. mxkatmeister.com

JACK DOULIN (Resident Casting Director) is the resident casting director at TFANA where recent productions include Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, Fefu and Her Friends, Julius Caesar, The Winter’s Tale, He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box and An Octoroon.

VICTOR VAZQUEZ, CSA he/him (Casting Director) is the founder and lead casting director of X Casting (xcastingnyc.com) and sits on the national board of the Casting Society of America. He has cast projects for Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End and film. He is the proud son of Mexican immigrants.

BLAKE ZIDELL & ASSOCIATES (Press Representative) is a Brooklyn-based public relations firm representing arts organizations and cultural institutions. Clients include St. Ann’s Warehouse, Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre, Soho Rep, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Kitchen, Performance Space New York, PEN America, StoryCorps, Symphony Space, the Fisher Center at Bard, Peak Performances, Irish Arts Center, the Merce Cunningham Trust, the Onassis Foundation, Taylor Mac, The Playwrights Realm, PlayCo. and more.

STAFF FOR WEDDING BAND

Technical Director............................................ Eric Dyer Water Effects Specialist....................................Ben Hagen Production Assistants........................... Amanda Santiago, Margarita Herrera, Bea Perez Young Cast Coordinators....Ashley Burton, Vanessa Ortiz Assistant Scenic Designer..........................Teresa Williams Assistant Costume Designer......................Amelia Camilo Wig/Hair Associate............................ Shereese Cromartie Assistant Lighting Designer.........................Steven Zhang Associate Sound Designer...........................Brandon Bulls Associate Properties Supervisor.................... Teshale Nuer Assistant Production Manager............Hannah Rubenstein Covid-10 Safety Managers....Alyssa Lundberg, Carson Ferguson Costume Supervisor..................................... Emily White Wardrobe Supervisor......................................... Kt Harris Stage Carpenter................................ Michael Neil Nelson Head Properties..................................... Suzanne Soliman Light Board Programmer and Operator.......Paul Kennedy Sound Board Operator......................................Amy Liou Production Electrician..................................... Sam Short Audio Supervisor............................................. Jeff Rowell Electricians.......Max Carlson, Brando Kress, Kyle Lefeber, Tony Mulanix, Hailey O’Leary, Abi Walls, Dajane Wilson Lead Carpenter..................................................Leon Axt Lead Rigger..................................................... Joe Galan Asst. Lead Rigger.....................................Cory Asinofsky Load In Crew..........................Cory Asinofsky, Leon Axt, Victoria Bausch, Max Carlson, Matthew Covey, Joe Galan, Nicolis Hall, Najiyah Jones, Michael Nelson, Maria-Rey Ossino, Dan Sullivan, Eduardo Tobon Truck Drivers.....Max Carlson, Matt Covey, Jessica Smith

Scenery provided by Daedalus Design and Production, Inc. Production audio services provided by Five OHM Productions. Additional lighting equipment provided by PRG. Special effects equipment provided by J&M Special Effects. Wedding Band was rehearsed at Open Jar Studios and the New 42nd Street Studio.

SPECIAL THANKS Lawryn LaCroix; Carmelita Becnel; Aaisha Haykal, Avery Research Center – Charleston, SC; Al Miller, Sights and Insights Tours – Charleston, SC; Jane Frances Cox; Frank Hentschker, Segal Center; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Kathy Perkins; Cleary, Gotlieb, Steen and Hamilton: Jonathan Blackman, Brendan Cohen, Richard Goldring, Lindsay Harris and Katherine C. Hughes; Nelle Nugent; The Estate of Alice Childress and Sarah Douglas.