The Counterfeit Opera

Kate Tarker is an American playwright, lyricist, and librettist who grew up bilingually in Germany. She writes offbeat, countercultural plays for fun-loving audiences. Her plays include Montag (Soho Rep., Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe), THUNDERBODIES (Soho Rep.), Dionysus Was Such a Nice Man (The Wilma, FoolsFURY), and Laura and the Sea (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble). Kate is the recipient of a Jerome Fellowship, two MacDowell Colony Fellowships, The Vineyard’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Theater Masters’ Visionary Playwright Award, and she is former Core Writer at The Playwrights’ Center. The press has called her work “brilliant + highbrow” (NY Mag), “staggeringly original” (SFChronicle), and “screamingly funny” (NYTimes). MFA Yale.

Brooklyn-based composer, pianist, and conductor Dan Schlosberg’s music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, (le) poisson rouge, and David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption. Current and recent projects include music direction/orchestrations for Fake Friends’ The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (The New Group/Signature Theatre); music direction/arrangements for Anthony Roth Costanzo’s solo album Countertenor; music direction/orchestrations for Marriage of Figaro (Little Island); compositions for Patrick Wang’s film A. Rimbaud; The Extinctionist, a new opera for Heartbeat Opera; music direction/orchestrations for Show/Boat: A River (Target Margin/Skirball); music direction for Anthony Roth Costanzo and Justin Vivian Bond’s Only an Octave Apart; composition/music direction for Jeremy O. Harris’s A Boy’s Company Presents (upcoming); and new orchestrations for The Handmaid’s Tale (Banff Centre). In addition to collaborations with Angel Blue, the Imani Winds, Anthony McGill, Ariana DeBose, Tony Kushner, and Ben Stiller, Dan was the pianist for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, and a featured soloist in Only an Octave Apart with the New York Philharmonic and NPR’s Tiny Desk. He is the Music Director of Heartbeat Opera, for which his radical re-orchestrations of classic operas have been praised as “flat-out brilliant,” “the vision of a master sculptor,” (New York Times) and “ingenious” (Wall Street Journal). www.danschlosberg.com

Dustin Wills was recently described by the Obie Award Committee as having an “ability to navigate chaos with precision,” and that about sums it up. Upcoming productions include the season opener at Little Island: The Knock-Off Opera, followed by Tennessee Williams’ sprawling Camino Real at Williamstown Theatre Festival, and some secret unannounced stuff (!!) Recent productions: Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro starring Anthony Roth Costanzo at Little Island (Best Theater of 2024, New York Magazine), Hansol Jung’s Wolf Play (2023 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Direction and Production), John J. Caswell Jr.’s Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons/MCC), Kate Tarker’s Montag (Soho Rep), SIX CHARACTERS by Phillip Howze (LCT3), Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Stravinsky’s соловей (Yale Opera). Dustin has devised new work with Teatro L’Arciliuto in Rome, Italy, created large-scale puppetry pageants with Creative Action, trained with Augusto Boal in Theatre of the Oppressed legislative performance, and for a couple of years gave rogue tours of the Vatican. He is a 2023 Obie Award winner, SDCF Callaway Award finalist, Princess Grace Award recipient, Baryshnikov Center Artist Resident 2018, a Drama League alum, and a 2015 Williamstown Boris Sagal directing fellow. He teaches in the Directing and Playwriting programs at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Rosie Herrera is a Cuban-American choreographer and artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in Miami. She has been commissioned by The American Dance Festival, Miami Light Project, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ballet Hispanico, Jose Limon Dance Company, New Dialect, Houston Met Dance, New World Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony Her work in film, theater, dance and cabaret has resulted in collaborations with Walter Mercado, Carlota Guerrero, Larry Keigwin, Pig Iron Theater and many more. She has received the United States Artists award, Princess Grace and Guggenhim Fellowship. She is the inaugural 2024 Knight Choreographic Fellow.

Bio to come.

Rodrigo Muñoz is a NY based Costume Designer, Originally from Mexico City, recent credits: Sally & Tom (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel Nominee), Plays for the Plague Year (The Public Theatre); What Became of us (Atlantic Theatre): Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group); Sorry for Your Loss (Minetta Lane Theatre); RENT (Paper Mill Playhouse); Divinity (Apollo Theatre);House of India (The Old Globe): La Rondine (Manhattan School of Music); Notes From Now (Prospect Theater Company); This Space Between Us (Theater Row); Preparedness (Bushwick Starr); Volpone, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Red Bull Theater); Mother Road (Berkeley Rep); The Bluest Eye (Huntington Theatre), Red Velvet (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Dial M for Murder, Torera (Alley Theatre); Cabaret; (Barrington Stage Company); Hot Wing King(Denver Center for the Performing Arts); The Palacios Sisters (Gala Theatre); Somewhere (Geva Theatre); How to Make an American Son (Arizona Theatre Company); Mushroom (People’s Light); Fall of the House of Usher (Boston Lyric Opera); Bad Dates (Portland Stage); Jazz Singer (Abrons Arts Center) BFA in Scenography from The National School of Theatre and Arts (Mexico), M.F.A. in Costume Design NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.rodrigomunozdesign.com @rodrigomu.mo

Barbara Samuels (she/her) is an Obie and Henry Hewes Award winning queer designer, organizer and producer creating design-forward live events that prioritize generosity, equity, and representation. Barbara is thrilled to be returning to Little Island after designing the lighting for The Marriage of Figaro in 2024. Other New York credits include designs at Soho Rep, Signature, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, National Asian American Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Class Company (MCC) , Ars Nova, Theater for a New Audience (TFANA), , Playwrights Horizons, , WP Theater, The Bushwick Starr, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Target Margin, Beth Morrison Projects, New Georges and Clubbed Thumb. Barbara’s designs have been seen regionally at Pig Iron, Bard Summerscape, Woolly Mammoth The Alley, Long Wharf, ACT, Playmakers, Kansas City Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Shakespeare Theater Company, and Trinity Rep. As a proud union member of IATSE, United Scenic Artists 829 Barbara serves as a Member Representative for the Eastern Region Board and Secretary for the Admissions Committee. New Georges Affiliated Artist. 2016 Target Margin Institute. Wingspace Member. WP Producer Lab 2022-24.BA, Fordham; MFA, NYU. www.barbarasamuels.com

Marriage of Figaro (Little Island), N/A (Lincoln Center), As You Like It (Public, Shakespeare in the Park), Suffs (Public, Henry Hewes nomination), The Visitor (Public), I Can Get It For You Wholesale (CSC), A Man of No Importance (CSC), New Victory Dance (New Victory), CafeIn (Blue in Tokyo, Japan), Kim Loo Gets a Redo (New Ohio), Goldie, Max, & Milk (59e59), Mister, Miss America (New Ohio), Fiddler On The Roof (Paper Mill), Sound of Music (Paper Mill), Beautiful (Paper Mill), Shout Sister Shout (Ford’s), Exclusion (Arena Stage), The Porch on Windy Hill (Merrimack, People’s Light, Weston), The Heart Seller (Milwaukee Rep), And There Were None (Everyman Theatre), Master Class (Bay Street), Brothers Size (Selected Finalist at World Stage Design 2021), Brooklyn Gaze (Selected US Exhibit at Prague Quadrennial). [Associate] Broadway: Suffs, Left On Tenth, Choir Boy, Bernhardt/Hamlet, The Rose Tattoo; Others: 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics Opening & Closing Ceremonies, Wonderful Town (New York City Center), Anastatia in Concert (Lincoln Center), Emmet Otter (New Victory), Greater Clements (Lincoln Center), International Tour: Dreamgirls. Assistant Professor of Sound Design at SUNY Purchase, www.sunheekil.com [Education] MFA in Sound Design, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.

Artios Award Winning Casting Director. Film: Good One (Sundance Selection 2024) The Front Room (A24), Omni Loop (2am Films), Rocky’s Deli (Ben Cohen) What the Constitution Means to Me (Amazon Prime). Broadway: John Proctor is the Villain, The Last Five Years, All In, Romeo and Juliet, Stereophonic, Illinoise, An Enemy of the People, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, Slave Play (Broadway remount and original, CTG, NYTW), Is This a Room & Dana H, What the Constitution Means to Me (NYTW, Barrow Street, Broadway, National Tour). New Media: amfAR’s The Great Work Begins featuring scenes from Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Ratatouille: the TikTok Musical benefit for the Actors Fund. Taylor is the resident casting director at Page 73 Productions. She has cast various productions in NYC and around the country. Upcoming: Theater: Purple Rain. Film: Union County, Untitled Tommy Dorfman Project, Via Negativa. TaylorWilliamsCasting.com

Little Island: The Marriage of Figaro; Off-Broadway: Becoming Eve (NYTW); Orlando (Signature Theatre); Wet Brain (co-pro with MCC), The Thin Place (Playwrights Horizons); Wolf Play, The Light, Charm (MCC); Montag (Soho Rep.); Cymbeline, Out of Time (NAATCO); Hamlet, Oresteia (The Park Avenue Armory); BLISS (Breaking the Binary Theatre); Make Me Gorgeous! (triangle productions! and Playhouse 46). Regional: Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Again, Kill Local (La Jolla Playhouse); Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage). Dance/Touring: The Big Five-OH!, Come to Your Senses, Shadowland, Shadowland the New Adventure, Pilobolus at The Joyce Theater (Pilobolus); DESCENT (Kinetic Light); On Their Bodies, Footprints (The American Dance Festival). Music/Opera: Path of Miracles, Tree of Codes (Spoleto Festival USA). Events: MCC Theater’s Miscast, San Diego Comic-Con’s The Good Place Activation, Symphony at the Salk with Leslie Odom Jr., Yo-Yo Ma’s Day of Action, Queer Liberation March Rally, and many readings, workshops, and corporate events. Education: BA, University of North Texas & MFA, University of California San Diego.

Nat Kelley DiMario is a queer & trans multidisciplinary theatre artist, stage manager, and storyteller. They are thrilled to return to Little Island for the 2025 season! Broadway: Into the Woods. Off-Broadway: On the Evolutionary Function of Shame (Second Stage), The Christine Jorgensen Show (59E59 and HERE Arts Center), Isabel (NAATCO), Orlando (Signature Theatre). Opera: Sensorium Ex (Beth Morrison Projects), Eat the Document (PROTOTYPE), The Marriage of Figaro (Little Island), L’Orfeo (The Juilliard School). Other NYC: backstroke boys (Fault Line Theatre), Lewberger & the Wizard of Friendship (Theatre Row), No Good Things Dwell in the Flesh (ART/NY), *mark (Theatre 315), Thelma & Louise & the Time Machine (Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival). Regional: Sense and Sensibility (Northern Stage). Nat is an alum of Fordham University and the Juilliard Professional Apprentice Program.

Sarah Herdrich (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based stage manager working primarily in new works across opera and theater. Recent work includes shows at Williamstown Theater Festival, Fresh Squeezed Opera, Clubbed Thumb, and Hostos Center for Arts & Culture. Select projects include Alcina (Mannes), Eat the Document (Prototype), Wake Up! (Bedlam), As One (Kentucky Opera), Lysistrata (Mannes), and Adoration (Beth Morrison Projects & Prototype).

Violinist Julia Danitz is a versatile performer whose work spans from Baroque to contemporary music. She returns to Little Island this season after previously leading the ensemble for The Marriage of Figaro, continuing her commitment to presenting dynamic programs in unconventional spaces. Julia maintains an active solo and chamber music career, performing at major venues including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, as well as appearing on national television programs such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Jon Batiste, Ensemble Modern, and Yo-Yo Ma with the Silk Road Ensemble at Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall.

A passionate advocate for new and underrepresented repertoire, she is the founder of Sonora Collective, a musicians’ collective devoted to bringing classical music into conversation with contemporary art and living composers. Julia has been featured at major summer festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Spoleto USA, and the Fountainebleau School of Music and Fine Arts.

She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from CUNY Graduate Center and a Master’s of Music from The Juilliard School, and completed her B.A. in Political Science at Columbia University through the Columbia–Juilliard Exchange. Her mentors include Daniel Phillips, Yoko Takebe Gilbert, Masao Kawasaki, and Li Lin.

Samantha Lake fell in love with the tuba in sixth grade—and never looked back. She is a member of Calliope Brass and the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, and performs as a freelance musician with ensembles including the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony, and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.

Taylor Levine (guitar) is a New York based guitarist and circuit designer working across the experimental, improvised and composed music communities. He’s made music and recorded with a diverse range of artists such as John Zorn, Lee Ronaldo, Yuka Honda, Steve Reich, Yo La Tengo, Marc Ribot, Nels Cline, Meredith Monk, Erykah Badu, Ted Hearne, Steve Miller, and ensembles including Komische Oper Berlin, Kronos Quartet, London Sinfonietta, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble Signal, and Alarm Will Sound. Taylor has been invited to perform at festivals and venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Vértice Festival in Mexico City, Royal Albert Hall and Sound Unbound Festival at Barbican Centre in London, Casa da Musica in Porto, Jazz em Agosto in Lisbon, Musica Festival at Le Maillon in Strasbourg, Sacrum Profanum in Kraków, Borealis Festival in Bergen, Norway, The Fringe Club in Hong Kong, City Recital Hall in Sydney, and Melbourne Recital Hall in Melbourne. Taylor founded and co-directs the electric guitar quartet, Dither, whose music making has been described by the New York Times as “sophisticated, hard-driving, and stylistically omnivorous.” In addition to touring, composing, producing and commissioning original work, Dither has held visiting artist residencies at Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, and New York Universities – www.ditherquartet.com.

Tyler Neidermayer is an electro-acoustic performer, composer and audio engineer based in New York City, whose musical work utilizes amplification and live signal processing to elevate his instruments’ sonic capabilities. His music incorporates modular synthesizers, pedals and software controllers to form his clarinets into spacious clouds, brutally driven textures, and entirely new hybrid instruments.

This is Tyler’s second season performing at Little Island, having played reeds, recorder & electric guitar for 2024’s critically acclaimed production of Le Nozze di Figaro starring Anthony Roth Costanzo. He is the clarinetist and technical director for the BlackBox Ensemble, a contemporary chamber collective with recent performances at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, the Southern Exposure New Music Series, the Whitney Museum, and Bang on a Can’s LongPlay Festival in New York City.

Tyler also works as a recording and live sound engineer with the Orto Center for Distance Learning & Recording Arts at Manhattan School of Music, providing livestream mixes for many of the school’s mainstage musical theatre and opera productions as well as live sound support for the jazz combos, big bands, and MSM’s premiere contemporary music ensemble, Tactus. When not working on music, Tyler enjoys taking his dog, Percy, to play with his puppy friends in Central Park and is perfecting his cooking skills with J. Kenji López Alt’s The Wok.

Bio to come.

Kristina Teuschler Hailed as a “superb clarinetist” by the Washington Post, Kristina Teuschler is a musician and cultural worker in New York City. She performs regularly with classical and contemporary classical ensembles, including the West Point Band, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and International Contemporary Ensemble, but can also be heard with local Brooklyn indie bands; find her in a basement show or at the Owl Music Parlor. She performs her own electronic music project combining manipulated samples, clarinet repertoire, and live processing to provide a satirical critique of Western classical music.
As a cultural worker, she co-directed Madison New Music Festival in her hometown of Madison, WI from 2017-2021. MNMF focused its programming on diversifying and decolonizing local arts and culture, encouraging engagement with local issues, and fostering collaboration within its community. She is a member of Music Workers Alliance, an indie music worker empowerment organization, and has conducted workshops on equity in the arts for universities and summer festivals nationwide. She graduated from Northwestern University and Manhattan School of Music.
As a cultural worker, she co-directed Madison New Music Festival in her hometown of Madison, WI from 2017-2021. MNMF focused its programming on diversifying and decolonizing local arts and culture, encouraging engagement with local issues, and fostering collaboration within its community. She is a member of Music Workers Alliance, an indie music worker empowerment organization, and has conducted workshops on equity in the arts for universities and summer festivals nationwide. She graduated from Northwestern University and Manhattan School of Music.

Clara Warnaar is a percussionist and composer who tends towards interdisciplinary projects. In addition to being a member of the Contemporary Ensemble, Warnaar has appeared as a guest artist with Yarn/Wire, the Bang on a Can Orchestra, and Ensemble Signal. Actively playing and commissioning new music, Warnaar has premiered and recorded the works of Steve Reich, Ted Hearne, Nicole Mitchell, Ellen Reid, and Missy Mazzoli, among others. Warnaar has appeared on Broadway on the show Into the Woods, and can be heard playing on the soundtracks of White Noise, The Fate of the Furious, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is also the drummer for the band, Infinity Shred.