Who’s Who

DAVID BELL (Musical Director) has been active for many years as a musician and actor. He previously served as music director for productions at the Ivoryton Playhouse, Whitney Players, and for several area schools. This is his first outing as a composer/arranger, and he has thoroughly enjoyed working with Keely and enhancing her beautiful melodies and lyrics. Dave’s other identities include Minister of Music at Seymour Congregational Church, Accompanist for the Guilford Public School choruses, avid long-distance hiker and trails volunteer for various land conservation entities, and overall decent fellow.

RICH BURKAM (Technical Director) came to Connecticut to study music and music recording at UNH. And played in bands such as 4:20, Space Cushion, and Over The Line. His studies continued learning to be a luthier under Barry Lipman and Chris Tatalias, giving him a taste for fine woodworking. Richard now owns a woodshop that makes fine furniture, in a space which is shared with lighting designer Jamie Burnett. Together they have built sets for many production companies, including Elm Shakespeare, Yale Baroque Opera Project, and many small black box theater productions.

JAMIE BURNETT (Set & Lighting Designer) is a Graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. As a Founding member of The Elm Shakespeare Company. The 2019 production of Comedy of Errors was his 24th Season with the illustrious company. As resident Set and Lighting Designer for the Elm Shakespeare Company he designed lighting for every production for the past 26 years. He has designed sets for almost every production till 2009. Hopefully you saw this years Halloween show of Scary Shakespeare scenes in Edgerton park. Taste of Terror 2. International Festival of Arts and ideas 2018, Lighting design: Requiem for and Electric Chair, 2017 Never Stand Still, Iseman Theater. Collective Consciousness Theater company: Lighting Design. Skeleton Crew, Rasheeda Speaking, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Sunset Baby, Top Dog Underdog. Also designed the past 4 seasons. SCSU shows include lighting design for Stop Kiss, Much Ado About Nothing, The Boyfriend and Our Country’s Good. Sacred Heart University: In The Heights, Jesus Christ Superstar. The past few years he has lit the main hall in the New Haven Armory with artistic lighting for the Citywide Open Studios events serving the unique art installations there. With Projects for a New Millennium, he was Designer for the Stamford Train Station Façade Lighting. Producer/Lighting Designer/Production Manager for 2014 hit Terra Tractus (The Earth Moves), also (2005) Terra Mirabila, (2001) Terra Lumina and Terra Continuum (1999) the grand multimedia extravaganzas all performed in the Stony Creek Granite Quarry. He also designed PNM’s Branford Luminata (2010) lighting the town hall on the Branford Green. He is a consultant, Lighting and Set designer, special events planner, and film/video Gaffer as well as a licensed electrical contractor. His company, Luminous Environments, specializes in Theater and TV Studio Renovations and site-specific public art installations involving specialized lighting. His latest Projects include Branford High school Theater, Fairfield community theater, Southington High School Theater and This very Theater as consultant and Lighting and rigging Systems design and installation. He also designed the all of the shows for this inaugural season of The Legacy Theatre. He is a 2005 recipient of the New Haven Arts Award.

MAEVE CUNNINGHAM (Assistant Stage Manager) is a theatre artist based in Branford, Connecticut. Her stage managing credits include The Addams Family (Southern Connecticut State University, KCACTF Nomination), Milk like Sugar (Collective Consciousness Theatre), and numerous productions at Stagedoor Manor. Maeve would like to thank her family for their support and the entire cast and crew of A Christmas Carol for making this an enjoyable experience. Enjoy the show!

JUNE GOLD (Costume Designer) earned her BA in design from Drexel University in Philadelphia as the United States celebrated its bicentennial. In keeping with the festivities, June designed for a harpsichord player, drummer, soldier, several Ben Franklin impersonations, and one of her costumes was worn to a celebration at the White House. After transitioning to a brief, but exciting career designing wedding gowns, June eventually pursued other interests, including lower and mathematics education. June is incredibly excited about Legacy Theatre and is honored to participate in its inaugural performance of A Christmas Carol!

ADAM JACKSON (Sound Designer) is honored to be a part of Legacy Theatre’s Inaugural Season. Adam has been involved in nearly 30 productions doing everything from rigging lights to acting onstage to calling cues. Of the many shows he has been on stage for, Adam has most enjoyed portraying the likenesses of J. Bruce Ismay in Titanic (2017), Henry David Thoreau in The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (2017), Farquaad in Shrek (2018), Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (2018), and both Lucas Beineke and Gomez Addams (understudy, performed) in The Addams Family (2019). Adam was head stage manager for Shoreline Theatre Company’s Inaugural Season and has continued to work with them in the areas of lighting and sound effect design, and most recently as the technical director for their summer camp shows. Adam has also worked as a sound engineer for various productions and concerts, and more recently, has helped produce several live-streamed events during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Adam is currently studying music education at Western Connecticut State University with a concentration in classical trombone. Adam works within the music department at WCSU on the student crew helping to plan and run events, as well as a vocalist and keyboardist at The River Church in Danbury. He also works on many of his own projects, which have previously included recording an album of barbershop songs, conducting several big band recording sessions, and planning a live concert in Branford which included the performances of over 30 musicians from all over Connecticut.

SAVIAH KNUDSEN (Backstage Runner) has played the title role in Alice in Wonderland, Katie Nana, Chimney Sweep, and Ensemble in Mary Poppins, Stepsister in Into the Woods, the Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Daughter in Rumpelstiltskin. At Legacy Theatre, she has been a part of backstage crew for both Polkadots and Oedipus Rex. She is a sophomore at Guilford High School and is thrilled to be a part of A Christmas Carol!

CALLIE LIBERATORE (Prop Designer) has been a props manager and makeup technician for the past three years. For three years and counting she has worked at the Ivoryton Playhouse starting as an intern and working her way up to props manager. The past year she got the great experience of joining the Legacy Theater as a makeup/wig technician and props manager.

SARAH PERO (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be at Legacy. Born and raised in New Haven, CT, Sarah has been involved with local community and professional theatre for 20+ years. As Production Stage Manager for various Community Theatre Productions in Rhode Island and Connecticut, some of her favorites include: Tick, Tick Boom; Little Women: The Musical; You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown; Christmas Eve: A New Beginning (original work). As a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Sarah taught drama in New Haven Public Schools and taught theatre classes with Performing Arts Programs (South Windsor, CT). Sarah then worked at the Music Theatre of CT (Norwalk, CT) School of Performing Arts, as Administrative Manager, Teaching Artist, Director, Music Director, and Choreographer for the school. Sarah also managed the Box Office and was the Resident Sound Designer for MTC’s Professional Main Stage. Following MTC, Sarah worked as Administrative Manager at the Downtown Cabaret Theatre (Bridgeport, CT). Most recently, Sarah co-directed Shrek Jr. with Alliance Children’s Theatre (New Haven, CT) and was the Production Stage Manager for Legacy’s World Premiere of Just Desserts, Oedipus Rex, and The Last 5 Years.

MARIAH SAGE* (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be part of Legacy Theatre’s inaugural season! Mariah played Jocasta in Legacy’s Oedipus Rex earlier this season. She has also performed around the country and in Europe at such theaters as: Yale Rep, The Public Theater, Ivoryton Playhouse, Cleveland Public Theatre, Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Trinity Rep, The Cleveland Play House, and The Apollo in Dusseldorf, Germany. Mariah earned her BFA in drama at NYU/Tisch and her MFA in acting at Brown University/Trinity Rep where she was a Stephen Sondheim Fellow. She is on the theatre faculty at Quinnipiac University. Her book Start Standing: Audition Technique for Actors and Presenters will be published by Kendall Hunt Publishing in January 2022. Mariah is the founder of Present & Perform, an audition preparation and private coaching company in New Haven www.presentandperform.com

DAVID SEPULVEDA (Scenic Artist) David’s theatrical set designs and scenic painting skills were honed during theatrical productions at a Stamford, Connecticut public school where he taught art education for 36 years. He holds a Master’s Degree from NYU in Studio Art. After retiring from teaching, he continued producing theatrical sets and scenic painting at various local and regional theaters, including Regional Center for the Arts, Bregamos Community Theater, and Collective Consciousness Theatre in New Haven. David’s setwork has appeared at Long Wharf Theater’s Stage Two, Iseman Theater at Yale, Hartbeat Ensemble’s Carriage House Theater, Norwich Arts Center, and most recently at Legacy Theater, where worked on several productions for Legacy Theater’s first season.

AMIE ZINER (Scenic Artist) has been making fine art, commissions, and commercial illustration for more than 50 years. She grew up in a family of artists, writers and craftsmen. Ziner sold her first commercial illustration when she was 13. Amie attended Pratt Institute in NYC, SUNY Purchase, and later graduated from Goddard College. She is the children’s book illustrator of “There Once Was A Sky Full of Stars”, and wrote and illustrated “Jennifer Ellen Watermelon”. She has shown her work at libraries, galleries and schools in NY State and in CT. Ziner is a frequent participant at CityWide Open Studios. Amie Ziner has worked with David Sepulveda doing murals, banners, and theatrical sets for several years; for Junta New Haven, Bregamos Community Theater, Collective Consciousness Theater, and others. She recently retired from being a Park Ranger to spend more time making art. She worked most recently at Legacy Theater, where she worked on several productions for Legacy Theater’s first season.