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DIRECTORS

KRISTINE LEWIS 
Founder

Kristine's career in show business spans performing, directing, producing, casting and teaching.  Her professional theatre credits are extensive and her work has appeared in national tours, summer stock, regional theatres, dinner theatres, and cabaret rooms throughout the U.S.

She has directed & choreographed such stars as William Conrad in Annie, Don Grady in Damn Yankees, Gary Sandy in Music Man, Andrea McArdle in They're Playing Our Song, Barry Williams in City of Angels, & many others.  She has served as the Artistic Director of the headlining events at the First Night celebrations in Doylestown and has brought Andrea McArdle; Tony nominated Liz Larsen, Sal Viviano, and the Chinese Theatre Workshop to the delight of local audiences.  Theatre Arts Center (TAC) performance ensembles have also entertained at these New Year's Eve events. Additionally, Kristine served as Director of the Times Square Bid Kidz in Manhattan, a performance ensemble that entertained at various Times Square Broadway events.

Her work with children began when as a director, she found that most young actors were not adequately prepared for the professional theatre. In 1985 she founded the Theatre Arts Center in Bucks County. TAC now boasts a full range of performance classes, an intensive summer program, two performance companies which have entertained audiences throughout Pennsylvania and in New York City and is recognized as the resident Children’s Theatre company for the Bristol Riverside Theatre. TAC students have also appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on television, and in major motion pictures.

Kristine is currently a producer on the up-coming Broadway bound, Sherman Brothers musical, Busker Alley, starring Tony winner Jim Dale as well as Vigil, coming to Off-Broadway after its successful run in Westport Country Playhouse.  Kristine served as managing producer for the Off-Broadway play, Burleigh Grime$, at the New World Stages starring Wendie Malick and Desperate Housewives' Mark Moses.

As a partner in Lewis & Fox casting, Kristine’s casting credits include Off Broadway productions: MindGame starring Keith Carradine, directed by legendary film director, Ken Russell, Burleigh Grime$ with Wendie Malick, and Desperate Housewives’, Mark Moses, Medea in Jerusalem, It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Murder, The Most Happy Fella; and  Fiorella. Regional productions: Vigil, with Timothy Busfield, Flights of Angels and The Kid From Brooklyn to name a few. She has cast numerous readings for the Nuyorican’s 5th Night series and The Player’s Club including Timor Mortis with John Heard, Modern Man with Maxwell Caulfield and The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T., with Eric McCormack. Live events work includes celebrity casting for the Olympic Torch Services.

Kristine cast the feature film Love Ludlow with Sex and the City’s David Eigenberg and Alicia Goranson, which became a Sundance Selection as well as cult favorite. Other credits include: Open Air a short with Lynne Cohen, currently on the festival circuit, E-Day with Chevy Chase (film short for NY Comedy Film Festival); Pet the Goat (film short); Chaining the Hudson (Docudrama); Biker Billy (TV pilot); Feel It in the Air, Gotta Have It (music videos for Roc-A-Fella Records), numerous commercials and industrials.

She has also written plays which toured schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and she has taught theatre arts in schools in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio.  She has been a Guest Artist in London at the Studio Theatre and was Director of the Musical Theatre Program at New Dance Group in Manhattan

Kristine studied acting with Uta Hagen at H.B. Studios and at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts for Drama.  As a dancer and choreographer, she studied with Phil Black, Matt Mattox, Gus Giordano and for many years worked with the American Ballet Theatre.

 

ROBERT LACONI

Robert has worked in theater, film, radio, television, and children's theater, as actor, director, manager, and producer.  

As an actor, New York Off-Broadway appearances include Amy Vanderbilt's Book of Etiquette, Gulliver's Travels, Penny Arcade's Based on a True Story, Karna (a shadow puppet opera world premier; on original cast recording), and Ionessco's Frenzy for Two or More (New York premiere).  For the Odyssey Theatre he starred in original adaptations of The Gambler and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and produced The Island of Dr. Moreau.  Other New York acting credits include That Him at Playwrights Horizons, Shakespeare's Macbeth and Julius Caesar, the first revival of Cole Porter's Let's Face It, and cummings & goings (première of a musical based on E.E. Cummings poems).  In Regional Theatre, he has appeared in roles ranging from the Japanese Houseboy in The Bat, Zebulum in Joseph & the Technicolor Dreamcoat, to Etienne in Can-Can (principal dancer), to a Puerto Rican Superintendent in 6 Rms Riv Vu.    Summer stock appearances include a season at Long Island's Gateway Playhouse in Bellport where he was seen in Zorba, Mame, Applause, and Children's Theatre. While living in Italy, Robert worked with the American Theatre Company of Rome

At LaMama ETC, he was awarded a national CETA Grant for Artists and worked with internationally known theater artists such as Wilfred Leach, Andrei Serbàn, Elizabeth Swados, John Vaccaro, Harvey Fierstien, Bill Hoffman, Tadeus Kantor, and Ellen Stewart.  He was invited in the National Theatre of Great Britain Workshops in New York where they focused on Shakespeare and classical styles.  He was Assistant Director to Rina Yerulshami on the Off-Braodway production of Glass House at St. Peters Citicorp.

Screen roles range from Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ (filmed in Morocco) and Goodfella's, Night of the Zombies, to the musical Annie.  Other film appearances include Zelig, Wrong is Right, Delirious, God Father III.  Television appearances include The Ananda Lewis Show & $50,00 Pyramid.

On Broadway, he was Director of Development at Circle in the Square, home to some of the countries most renowned actors.  He produced their 45th anniversary gala that was chaired by Annette Bening.  In 2000, he was the founding Director of Development for Yo-Yo Ma on the creation of the Silk Road Project, an international endeavor celebrating the music and arts of Asia in partnership with Sony Music.

Robert has twice been a guest actor at Ensemble Studio Theatre's summer conference to develop new work, working with playwright, Peter Morris.  While living in Italy, Robert was a member of the American Theatre Company of Rome, and on radio, he was a news broadcaster for the In Touch Network for the Blind.

As a producer, he and Kristine Lewis were Associates to the Producers on the Broadway production of Enchanted April, which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actress of 2003.  Other producing credits include Circle in the Square on Broadway. Broadway Hits the Heights in Queens NY, and The Island of Dr. Moreau Off-Broadway.

Robert has been teaching and directing  at Theatre Arts Center since 1999.  His acting students have been cast in professional productions in Pennsylvania and New York and have been accepted into the prestigious New York City's High School of Performing Arts.  He has taught acting workshops to high school students from around the country through the Junior Tour Program at the New Dance Group on Broadway.

Robert holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater and Acting from Kent State University and did post graduate work in Education at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus, and at Blossom Music Center.  He has studied at HB Studios, Playwrights Horizons (directing), the National Theatre of Great Britain, and privately with Julie Bovasso, Rina Yerulshalmi, and Jane Hoffman.  He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity.

  


 

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