Who’s Who

MICHELLE ARAVENA (Terry McKay) has been seen on Broadway in Beetlejuice, A Bronx Tale, Rocky, Jersey Boys and A Chorus Line (revival). She has been seen touring the country in 1st National tours with A Bronx Tale (Rosina), West Side Story (Anita) directed by the late Arthur Laurents, Les Misérables (Fantine us) and Mamma Mia! (Sophie). Some of her favorite regional roles include Evita (Eva Peron) St Louis Rep, Billy Elliot (Mrs. Wilkinson) Goodspeed Opera House, West Side Story (Anita Jeff Award), Bye Bye Birdie (Rose Jeff nom) Drury Lane, Guys and Dolls (Adelaide) TUTS, Damn Yankees (Lola) Marriott Theater, A Chorus Line (Cassie) Olney Theater. Other regional favorites are Old Globe, Bucks County, Asolo, Muny, Cleveland Playhouse and Paramount Theater. She is the proud owner of bookedbymichelle.com. Proudly repped by 44 West Entertainment. All of J.J.J.

MATTHEW COUVILLON (Co-Director, Choreographer, and Production Designer) has directed and choreographed across Europe and North America, reimagining classics like Das Land des Lächelns and Gypsy at The Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Austria, and a new production of The Wizard of Oz in New York. His choreographic portfolio also includes productions such as Newsies, Legally Blonde, La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story, and Cinderella. Working as the Associate Choreographer to Tony Award-winning director/choreographers Bob Avian and Baayork Lee, Couvillon contributed to productions including A Chorus Line in venues from Malaga, Spain, with Antonio Banderas, to the New York City Center and the Hollywood Bowl. His work also includes ShowStoppers at Wynn Las Vegas, One Singular Sensation at The Public Theatre, and A Broadway Musical Celebration at PCLO. www.matthewcouvillon.com

JOSEPH J. SIMEONE (Co-Director, Choreographer, and Production Designer & Book, Music, and Lyrics) is honored to debut his latest musical at The Legacy Theatre. A Juilliard graduate in Dance, he studied Music Composition under Thomas Cabaniss and Milton Babbitt, and dramatic writing with Arthur Laurents. Joseph has performed with Merce Cunningham and Twyla Tharp, and starred on Broadway in A Bronx Tale. Recently, he played ‘Al’ in A Chorus Line at New York City Center’s 75th Anniversary Gala, directed by Bob Avian. An accomplished visual artist, his work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery and Art Basel. The team behind Love Affair is developing Café Berlin, a story about a young Parisian who travels to East Berlin to study philosophy after the fall of the Wall, and finds in this chaotic city the strength to tear down the walls within herself. JosephJSimeone.com / LoveAffairTheMusical.com

ANNALIESE JAKIMIDES (Additional Book) has lived in cities and in the woods of northern Maine. Exploring the worlds of the real and the imaginary, her prose and poetry appear in many journals, magazines, and anthologies, including Beloit Poetry Journal, GQ, Utne Reader, Consequence, and the 2022 award-winning Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family. Cited in national competitions by Maine poets laureate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a winner of the American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award, her work has also been included in audiobooks and broadcast on NPR. “Annaliese Jakimides is a singular talent. Her writing is rich, spare, always thoughtful, sometimes wrenching, and deeply honest. I am a huge fan!” - New York Times bestselling novelist Christina Baker Kline annaliesejakimides.com

ETHAN KANFER (Additional Lyrics) Ethan Kanfer’s plays have been produced at numerous venues in London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Portland and New York, including the New York International Fringe Festival. His monologues have been published by The Good Ear Review and Smith & Kraus Publications. Ethan has also worked as a theater and book critic for The New Leader, The Forward, Show Business Weekly and The California Literary Review, and as a scriptwriter for the web series Luvumentary and the short independent film Red Light. Beginning at the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, Ethan has collaborated with composer Dina Pruzhansky on several projects, including the all ages show Central Park: The Musical and the upcoming Human Resources. ethankanfer.wordpress.com

BILL SPEED (Music Director) spends most of his musical life as the Director of Music Ministries at the First Congregational Church of Guilford, helping singers, handbell ringers and instrumentalists to make a joyful noise. Trained as a geneticist at Princeton and Yale, Bill’s alter ego as a conductor/organist/pianist has kept him performing locally with cabaret singers, and in recent years directing Guilford productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Godspell, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. You can hear Bill online Thursdays at noon for “30 Minutes of Joy,” a weekly sharing of music begun during the pandemic. Bill lives in Guilford with his Dalmatians, Winston and Harley, and his partner, Mike.

JAMIE BURNETT (Scenic & Lighting Designer) is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, recipient of the 2005 New Haven Arts award, and Founding member of The Elm Shakespeare Company. Lighting Designer at Elm Shakespeare for 26 years and Set Designer until 2009. Lighting Design credits include International Festival of Arts and Ideas 2018, Requiem for an Electric Chair; Iseman Theater 2017, Never Stand Still. CCT: Skeleton Crew, Rasheeda Speaking, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Sunset Baby, Topdog/Underdog. SCSU: Stop Kiss, Much Ado About Nothing, The Boyfriend, and Our Country’s Good. SHU: In The Heights, Jesus Christ Superstar. Citywide Open Studios: New Haven Armory; Projects2k: Stamford Train Station Façade Lighting; Producer/Lighting Designer/Production Manager for Terra Tractus (The Earth Moves) (2005), Terra Mirabila (2001), Terra Lumina and Terra Continuum (1999): performed in the Stony Creek Granite Quarry; PNM’s Branford (2010) lighting Branford Green Town Hall. His company, Luminous Environments, specializes in theater and TV studio renovations and public art installations involving specialized lighting. Recent projects: Branford HS Theater, Fairfield Community Theater, and Legacy Theatre.

ELIZABETH BOLSTER (Costume Designer) has been the Wardrobe Supervisor at the Yale Repertory Theatre since 2002 where she enjoys working backstage and training student work study crews. Outside of her job at Yale she is a Costume and Scenic designer whose work has been seen at Elm Shakespeare Company, Yale Baroque Opera Project, and Trinity College Hartford. Previous Legacy credits include costume designs for The Play That Goes Wrong, Deathtrap, Just Desserts, The Last Five Years, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Professional training: MFA in Costume Design from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at SUNY Purchase, and a BFA in Performance Production from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA.

ADAM JACKSON (Sound Designer) has worked continuously with Legacy since its inaugural season. He has also done technical design and consultancy work for the Branford High School Fall Play and Spring Musical (Resident TD/LD), Walsh Intermediate School Musical (Resident TD/LD), Shoreline Theatre Company (Resident TD/LD), Ivoryton Playhouse, WCSU Opera, Elm Shakespeare Company, Seven Angels Theatre, and churches in Danbury, Wallingford, and Hyde Park, NY. Adam received his BS in Music Education from Western Connecticut State University and started his career long-term substituting in Colchester and Bristol. Adam spent the past five months as Interim Band Director at Stamford High School where he also made his pit conducting debut for the Strawberry Hill Players’ production of Mamma Mia!.

NATE BLOOM (Props Designer) is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful production. Prior Legacy credits include The Great American Mousical (Scenic Artist), Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Scenic Artist), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Swing), and The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) (Deck Crew). During the school year, Nate works as Assistant Director for the Middle and Upper School musicals at Hamden Hall Country Day School.

ROD BROGAN (Production Stage Manager) Theatre: Broadway: Mauritius; National Tour: Doubt; Off-Broadway: Beyond The Horizon, The Burial At Thebes (Irish Rep); Mary Broome (Mint Theater); Treasure Island (Irondale Center); Select Regional: The Lehman Trilogy, Network, American Son (Florida Studio Theatre); The Cocktail Hour (Guthrie); The Night Alive, Ironbound (City Theatre); Engaging Shaw, Pentecost, Antony and Cleopatra, The Two Noble Kinsmen (Old Globe); Other Desert Cities, Outside Mullingar (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley); Scott and Hem (Contemporary American Theater Festival); Doubt (Syracuse Stage); Judgment Day (Bard Summerscape); King Lear (Baltimore Center Stage); Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Legacy Theatre). Film: The Winning Season; Television: Major Dad (series regular), Unforgettable, American Odyssey, Oz, Third Watch, One Life To Live, Law & Order, GirlTalk; Video Game: Grand Theft Auto V; Training: MFA, The Old Globe/University of San Diego.

ALAINA DWYER (Assistant Stage Manager) [she/her] is making her assistant stage manager debut and is thrilled to be part of this exciting new work. Specializing in Wigs and Wardrobe, she has been working all around Connecticut with recent credits working on shows at Legacy Theatre, The Bushnell, Hartford Stage, and Long Wharf. Special thanks to Sarah Pero and my Legacy Family. Find me on Instagram @ Alainadwyer.

LENORA LONGWAY (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be involved in this incredible new work. Her company credits include: Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors, Anything Goes, Seussical Jr., Frozen Jr., High School Musical Jr., High School Musical 2 Jr., Elf Jr., Chicago, Wizard of Oz Jr., Puffs, Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches, Postcards for Pierrott, Spring Awakening, Camp Rock The Musical, Elegy for a Fallen Angel, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream as Stage Manager and The Addams Family and The Producers as Assistant Stage Manager.

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION (AEA) was founded in 1913, and AEA represents more than 50,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org

SPECIAL THANKS FOR LOVE AFFAIR
The Bloom Family, Colleen Callahan, Elliot Newman, Sarah Pero, Theresa Stark, Southern Connecticut State University, Long Wharf Theatre, Water Street Jewelers (Guilford)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe everything to my mom, Joan, forever thirty-five: “Our thread is tight and forever bound.” Matthew, my partner, stands with me, our life a shared adventure--and what a ride! I’ve been blessed with an incredible circle of friends and colleagues. Among these remarkable individuals, Annaliese Jakimides, Greg Edwards, and Ethan Kanfer have been pillars of support for this project, through every challenge and triumph. A very special thank you to Stephen Schwartz, Peter Pileski, and the late Arthur Laurents, Bob Avian, and Bill Brohn for their exceptional kindness, encouragement, and support—they truly are mensches! My heartfelt appreciation also goes to Jeff Provost, Keely Baisden Knudsen, Stephanie Stiefel Williams, and everyone at The Legacy Theatre in Branford, CT, for believing in our vision.)

- Joseph J. Simeone