Suzanne Bachner • Playwright & Director
is an award-winning playwright and director and an adoptee rights advocate. Her play, CIRCLE, was called “ingenious” by The New York Times, ran for five months Off Broadway, was produced nationally, followed by a Sold Out International Tour where it was optioned for production in Australia and awarded Most Daring Show of the London Fringe. Playwriting and directing: her NYC cult hit, Icons & Outcasts which transferred to The Duplex for six-month run; a five month NYC run and international tour of her choose-your-own-adventure comedy, BITE; her 14-actor San Diego commission, the marriage equality epic, Brilliant Mistake, and her celebrated kaleidoscopic memoir play, We Call Her Benny, which Broadway World called “the future of theatre”. Solo show directing: Bob Brader’s trio of internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning solo shows and Gloria Rosen’s award-winning Listen…Can You Hear Me Now? Suzanne’s own true story, The Good Adoptee, won the Best Autobiographical Script award at United Solo, has toured to the London International Fringe Festival and across the US including the 400-seat SJCC in Seattle, has been part of law and life-changing adoptee rights advocacy and enjoyed global audiences in its virtual presentations. Most recently, Suzanne’s new play, Conversations with My Divorce Attorney was presented as a unique virtual reading that ran on Broadway On Demand. Her plays have been seen at PS NBC@HERE, the National Arts Club, the Michael Weller Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Zeitgeist Stage Company, Mercury Players Theatre and 20th Century Fox at the Coronet Theater in LA, among others. Other plays include Screwdrivers & Sunday Brunch, Alexandra Triptych, Don’t Let Destiny Push You Around, Jump Start, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Temptation, Sex Ed, Flirting with Reality, How Soon Is Now? and Twin Studies. Suzanne studied playwriting with Romulus Linney and Adrienne Kennedy and holds an MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School at the New School University. She is a four-time OOBR Award winner, Playwright-in-Residence Emeritus at The Actors Institute, Resident Artist Emeritus at Pulse Theatre and FRIGID New York, and a member of the United Solo Academy and the Dramatists Guild.
jmtctheatre.com • circletheplay.com • conversationswithmydivorceattorney.com
Kat Nardizzi • Performer
is an actor and singer living in NYC. Born in Los Angeles, she spent most of her childhood growing up in a handful of states across the south. Kat got her first taste of acting at the age of 5 when she was cast as Dot the Cow in The Little Red Hen and has loved performing ever since. During and after high school, she performed and interned with the Broadway Dreams Foundation helping organize and run week-long performing arts intensives across the country alongside Broadway professionals such as Gavin Creel, Eden Espinosa, Billy Porter, and Tituss Burgess. She received her BFA in Acting from Elon University and moved to NYC in 2013. Recently, she helped workshop Scott King & Mike Perrie Jr.’s new musical, Perfectly Imperfect. As an Artistic Associate of JMTC Theatre, Kat played in a trio of lead roles Suzanne Bachner’s plays: the sexy comedy CIRCLE at the APAP Conference, the virtual presentation of Birthday for the National Association for Adoptees & Parents and she workshopped and starred in the virtual reading of Conversations with My Divorce Attorney which premiered on Broadway On Demand. Other New York Theater includes The Wedding Party, Attempts On Her Life, and The Vagina Monologues. When not in rehearsal or performing, Kat loves to powerlift and make videos about queer dating and makeup on TikTok and Instagram (follow her on both: @katnardizzi).
Bob Brader • Dramaturg
Bob Brader is an award-winning writer, actor, storyteller and monologist. Spitting In The Face Of The Devil, Bob’s acclaimed solo show, has toured all over the U.S. and Canada and won 7 Best of Awards including Best Show of the London Fringe and Best Script and Best Encore at the United Solo Theatre Festival. Bob’s new retelling of the story on the RISK! Podcast was called by RISK! creator and host Kevin Allison: "An absolute stunner. Bob Brader's story ‘Spitting in the Face Of The Devil’ is one of our best episodes ever." Bob made his international debut at the London Fringe Festival with his second solo show, Preparation Hex, a hemorrhoid tale and love story, which toured Canada and played in NYC at the Directors Company and the United Solo Festival. His new monologue, Smoker, had its world premiere on Theatre Row as part of United Solo, where it won the Best Autobiographical Show Award and went on to a highly acclaimed Canadian tour. Bob’s numerous acting credits include headlining the two-actor NYC run as well as the sold-out international tour of CIRCLE (Most Daring Show, London Fringe). He was in the original cast of We Call Her Benny and performed in both the recent tour and original five-month NYC run of BITE with JMTC Theatre, for which he is Executive Director. Other New York Theatre credits include Bryan Enk and Matt Gray’s supernatural theatrical serial, Penny Dreadful, at the Brick Theater (Teddy Roosevelt) and numerous DMTheatrics’ productions: Girls School Vampire, Bitch Macbeth, Who in the Hell is the Real Live Lorelei Lee? and Antony and Cleopatra (Caesar, OOBR Award). Film credits include Eat Me and DelanoCelli Productions’ award winning Brooklyn in July. Bob trained with the Stella Adler Conservatory at the Tisch School of the Arts and is a member of the United Solo Academy, SAG-AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild.
bobbrader.com • spittinginthefaceofthedevil.com • smokertheplay.com
Anna Bridgforth • Original Performer
is an award-winning actress and Virginia native who has lived in NYC since 2004. She started her career working in independent film where she starred in several features, including The Wickeds, Kamikazes: A Deathography, Holler Creek Canyon and The Screening among others. New York theater includes the JMTC Theatre production of BITE; which she has done twice, both in its original incarnation at The Red Room Theater in the East Village in 2006 and again as a part of the Orlando International Fringe Festival in 2014. Also with JMTC, Anna originated the role of Young Anna in the critically acclaimed play, We Call Her Benny as part of the FRIGID New York Festival, as well as in its own run at the Michael Weller Theatre in 2008. Other New York theater includes Measure for Measure and An Ideal Husband with Big Rodent Theater Company, and Hope with tripNYC. After appearing in a burlesque comedy at Broadway Comedy Club in 2008, Anna has been hosting and performing burlesque all over the country as Boo Bess. With her own unique version of theatrical striptease, Boo has hosted, sung and stripped her way across the stages of City Winery, The Highline Ballroom, The Slipper Room, The Bell House, Verboten, The Coney Island Sideshow, Times Scare, The Kraine Theater, Bathtub Gin and everywhere from Detroit to Denver to New Orleans. She's traveled all over the country with touring burlesque troupe Twirly Whirly Burly Q and continues to host and perform regularly in NYC. She recently self produced a trailer called By Night about artists living and working with duality in the New York nightlife community that she is continuing to develop. Anna starred in her first solo show, Suzanne Bachner’s The Good Adoptee, which premiered as one of 150 shows in the United Solo Theatre Festival on Theatre Row in 2015 and for which she won the coveted Best Actress Award. The Good Adoptee has gone on to travel all over the country and beyond, including a run in the London International Fringe Festival as well as a 9 city tour of Connecticut, and shows in Cleveland, Austin, Massachusetts and NYC. Adventures in social justice via theatre with JMTC Theatre continue!
Hayley Palmer • Performer
is an actor and teaching artist living in NYC. Originally from San Diego, she received her AA in Theatre Arts from MiraCosta College, transferred to the University of California Irvine for her BA in Drama, then remained at UCI for 3 more years to earn her MFA in Acting. Off Broadway, Hayley played Lady Macbeth in Drunk Shakespeare for more than 250 performances. She was the Swing and Dance Captain for the National Tour of Beauty and the Beast, and has performed regionally with PCPA Theaterfest, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, and most recently Mill Mountain Theatre as Tanya in Mamma Mia! Hayley teaches Improvisation, Voice, Movement, and Shakespeare for New York Film Academy, and Musical Improv for UC Irvine’s yearly NY Satellite program. She had the privilege of learning the Meisner technique from Suzanne Esper of the William Esper Studio, and is now on the path to designation in the Linklater Voice Technique.
Katie Chai • Lighting & Sound Design
A stage manager and technician originally from Dallas, TX and a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, she has worked with many companies in New York City, including American Globe Theatre, Horse Trade Theater Group, Playwright's Realm and others. She has also worked with the New York Musical Theatre Festival, NY Frigid Festival and the NYC Fringe Festival, NY Frigid Festival, the NYC Fringe Festival and five years with the United Solo Festival.
Chris Kateff • Projection Design
Chris is the Resident Projection Designer at JMTC Theatre. Virtual: Conversations With My Divorce Attorney, Smoker (JMTC Theatre); Betwixt & Between (Maggie Gallant Productions); Emma: a Pop Musical Stay at Home Version (Lafayette College). Off-Broadway: Hamlet, Medea (Titan Theatre Company), Off the Meter On the Record, Rebel in the Soul (Irish Repertory Theatre), Sheila's Day (Lincoln Center Institute); Rated P For Parenthood (Westside Theatre); The Road to Qatar (York Theatre); Wine Lovers (Triad Theater and international touring); Die Mommy Die (New World Stages). Off-Broadway associate design: Assassins (Classic Stage Company). Off-Broadway assistant design: Forever Dusty, Now. Here. This (Richard DiBella, designer). Broadway assistant design: Ring of Fire, Jersey Boys (Michael Clark, designer).
ckateff.wixsite.com/projections
Michael Koch • Graphic Design
is a freelance graphic designer and Resident Graphic Designer of JMTC Theatre.
Shar Adrias • Video Production & Production Photography
is the owner and Creative Director of Movements by Shar. Shar established a film company in 2005. Having been a dancer all her life and a choreographer, she brings a special kind of texture and vision to her projects. She operates on instinct and feeling, rather than math and science. Specializing in documentary and dance, her passion is in the art of story telling. "The world is so full of stories. I'd like to tell as many I can, for as long as I can.”
JMTC Theatre • Producer
is an award-winning, international, artist-driven theatre company creating powerful, visceral, passionate theatrical experiences that are provocative and transformative. By partnering with national and international nonprofit organizations, JMTC Theatre combines art and advocacy to raise funds and awareness. Founded in London in 1994 by Patrick Hillan, JMTC Theatre is based in NYC and has produced over 50 productions in New York City and collaborated with over 100 incredible theater artists. Past productions include Suzanne Bachner’s award-winning Off Broadway hit, CIRCLE; Thom Fudal’s daring production of Shakespeare’s Othello starring Patrick Hillan and Geoffrey Owens; Bob Brader’s acclaimed solo show, Spitting In The Face Of The Devil and Suzanne Bachner’s celebrated kaleidoscopic memoir play, We Call Her Benny. JMTC has presented work at PSNBC@HERE and 20th Century Fox at the Coronet Theater in LA, The Duplex, The National Arts Club, Flicks on 66 Wild West Digital Shootout (Finalist), the first-ever and 2nd annual FRIGID New York Festival, the Midtown International Theatre Festival (Best of the Fest) and the London Fringe Festival, among many others. JMTC ran its own unique white box theater space in Chelsea for four years, is a Resident Company Emeritus at Pulse Theatre, The Actors Institute (now TAI Resources) and FRIGID New York, and has received four OOBR Awards, 14 Best in Fest Awards and Spirit of the Fringe from the London Fringe.
jmtctheatre.com • circletheplay.com • spittinginthefaceofthedevil.com • smokertheplay.com