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THE FORGE
Hudson Theatre Works development lab, The Forge, provides an opportunity for emerging and established artists to find a safe place where they can develop new work and/or explore new avenues of creativity. Comprised of invited playwrights and our company of actors, the lab provides an incubator for developing new plays. The Forge also gives our actors an opportunity to practice and hone their craft. Developing solid bonds between our artists enriches all involved.
Michael Bias
Geoff Burt
Geoff is an actor, narrator and video producer. Recent stage credits include Closing Times with Hudson Theatre Works, and Raided Premises at the Secret Theatre in NYC. Recent film credits include a supporting role in the feature film Tried by Fire (to be released in early 2023), and appearances in several independent and student films. He will also be seen as a recurring character in the dramatic series Lark and Spur (set to premiere in 2022 on Prime Video). Recent appearances include his role in an ABC News Nightline crime reenactment segment, and as a voice actor for The Onion’s podcast The Topical. He has studied in workshops at the Theater for the New City and the Shakespeare Forum in NYC.
Geoff is an actor, narrator and video producer. Recent stage credits include Closing Times with Hudson Theatre Works, and Raided Premises at the Secret Theatre in NYC. Recent film credits include a supporting role in the feature film Tried by Fire (to be released in early 2023), and appearances in several independent and student films. He will also be seen as a recurring character in the dramatic series Lark and Spur (set to premiere in 2022 on Prime Video). Recent appearances include his role in an ABC News Nightline crime reenactment segment, and as a voice actor for The Onion’s podcast The Topical. He has studied in workshops at the Theater for the New City and the Shakespeare Forum in NYC.
Quinn Cassavale
Valerie Stack Dodge
Valerie has performed extensively throughout the tri-state area. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miser and Romeo and Juliet. Regional: Always A Bridesmaid (Seven Angels Theatre); Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (Ivoryton Playhouse / BWW Best Actress Nominee); Driving Miss Daisy (Garage Theatre Group); And My True Love Gave To Me (Hudson Theatre Works); and My Name Is Asher Lev (Palisades Players). Her television credits include: Billions, Dead Of Winter, and Breaking Vegas. Valerie earned her BFA in Theater at The Boston Conservatory. AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild
Valerie has performed extensively throughout the tri-state area. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miser and Romeo and Juliet. Regional: Always A Bridesmaid (Seven Angels Theatre); Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (Ivoryton Playhouse / BWW Best Actress Nominee); Driving Miss Daisy (Garage Theatre Group); And My True Love Gave To Me (Hudson Theatre Works); and My Name Is Asher Lev (Palisades Players). Her television credits include: Billions, Dead Of Winter, and Breaking Vegas. Valerie earned her BFA in Theater at The Boston Conservatory. AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild
Beatriz Esteban-Messina
Beatriz was an arts educator and high school principal for 40 years. Since retiring in 2011, she has worked on over 50 shows both on and off stage. In 2018, she received an NJACT Perry Award for direction of an original play, Pets & Their Humans. Additionally, she has been nominated for “best featured actress” in Moon Over Buffalo & To Kill a Mockingbird, and for directing 'Night Mother. Beatriz is president of Teaneck New Theatre, a board member with Nutley Little Theatre and Hudson Theatre Works where she also runs the Children's Stage Project.
Beatriz was an arts educator and high school principal for 40 years. Since retiring in 2011, she has worked on over 50 shows both on and off stage. In 2018, she received an NJACT Perry Award for direction of an original play, Pets & Their Humans. Additionally, she has been nominated for “best featured actress” in Moon Over Buffalo & To Kill a Mockingbird, and for directing 'Night Mother. Beatriz is president of Teaneck New Theatre, a board member with Nutley Little Theatre and Hudson Theatre Works where she also runs the Children's Stage Project.
Ivan Goris
Ivan is a well seasoned talent shining as bright as he can in this fast paced industry. Ivan is Dominican- American Actor and Writer / Producer born and raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side with a strong connection to his Latino community. Ivan has graced the stages all over NYC. His film and television credits include, HBO’s VINYL, Tim Blake Nelson’s ANESTHESIA, NETFLIX’s SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT and CBS MADAM SECRETARY. Ivan is also a Co-founder of B.I.P (Barrio Independent productions) you can follow him on his only social media page on Instagram @Ivan_Goris537_
Ivan is a well seasoned talent shining as bright as he can in this fast paced industry. Ivan is Dominican- American Actor and Writer / Producer born and raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side with a strong connection to his Latino community. Ivan has graced the stages all over NYC. His film and television credits include, HBO’s VINYL, Tim Blake Nelson’s ANESTHESIA, NETFLIX’s SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT and CBS MADAM SECRETARY. Ivan is also a Co-founder of B.I.P (Barrio Independent productions) you can follow him on his only social media page on Instagram @Ivan_Goris537_
Cynthia Granville
Cynthia’s favorite NY and regional stage credits include The Clean House, The Quality of Life (NY premiere), Love Letters, Talley’s Folly, and countless world premieres. Onscreen credits include Onion News Network, High Maintenance, the title role in The Fisherman’s Wife (Best Actress, Comicpalooza). Cynthia is also a director and filmmaker, most recently directing and editing the webseries Mis(s)Communication. When not in front of an audience or on set, she is proud to be training healthcare professionals by teaching physical exam techniques, helping medical students build communication skills as a standardized patient, and providing instruction in forensic evidence collection and physical exam assessment as well as trauma-informed communication techniques, through role play, for sexual assault nurse examiner trainees. She studies with Austin Pendleton. AEA SAG-AFTRA
Cynthia’s favorite NY and regional stage credits include The Clean House, The Quality of Life (NY premiere), Love Letters, Talley’s Folly, and countless world premieres. Onscreen credits include Onion News Network, High Maintenance, the title role in The Fisherman’s Wife (Best Actress, Comicpalooza). Cynthia is also a director and filmmaker, most recently directing and editing the webseries Mis(s)Communication. When not in front of an audience or on set, she is proud to be training healthcare professionals by teaching physical exam techniques, helping medical students build communication skills as a standardized patient, and providing instruction in forensic evidence collection and physical exam assessment as well as trauma-informed communication techniques, through role play, for sexual assault nurse examiner trainees. She studies with Austin Pendleton. AEA SAG-AFTRA
Nick Hardin
Lenny Hort
Lenny is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a veteran of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, where his musical Pirates in the Gazebo! won a BMI Foundation Award for outstanding creative achievement. His plays, including Chemistry Date, Grave Offense, and Julius C-SPAN, have been featured at festivals on Zoom and in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State. A Little Something About My Powers, which had its first reading at the Forge, was voted Best Play at the Equity Library Theater of New York Summer 2022 Virtual Play Festival. Lenny has written 12 published children’s books with combined sales over half a million copies.
Lenny is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a veteran of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, where his musical Pirates in the Gazebo! won a BMI Foundation Award for outstanding creative achievement. His plays, including Chemistry Date, Grave Offense, and Julius C-SPAN, have been featured at festivals on Zoom and in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State. A Little Something About My Powers, which had its first reading at the Forge, was voted Best Play at the Equity Library Theater of New York Summer 2022 Virtual Play Festival. Lenny has written 12 published children’s books with combined sales over half a million copies.
Luigi Jannuzzi
Jeffrey Scott Leshansky
Favorite Regional Theatre Credits: The Full Monty (The Wick Theatre), Promises, Promises (Stage Door Theatre), The Twilight of the Golds (Stage Door Theatre), Angry Fags (Island City Stage), And My True Love Gave to Me! (Hudson Theatre Works), The Immigrant (Stage Door Theatre), and more. Television/Film Credits: A Crime to Remember, In New York, My Dirty Little Secret, Scorned, Treasures of New York. Additionally, Jeff has sung at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers. MFA in Acting - The New School for Drama. BA from the Honors Program, Cum Laude - Miami University (Ohio) – go RedHawks!
Favorite Regional Theatre Credits: The Full Monty (The Wick Theatre), Promises, Promises (Stage Door Theatre), The Twilight of the Golds (Stage Door Theatre), Angry Fags (Island City Stage), And My True Love Gave to Me! (Hudson Theatre Works), The Immigrant (Stage Door Theatre), and more. Television/Film Credits: A Crime to Remember, In New York, My Dirty Little Secret, Scorned, Treasures of New York. Additionally, Jeff has sung at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers. MFA in Acting - The New School for Drama. BA from the Honors Program, Cum Laude - Miami University (Ohio) – go RedHawks!
Sue-Ellen Mandell
Sue-Ellen has appeared in many regional, Off-off Broadway and Off Broadway productions. She is currently acting in her tenth production at the Off Broadway venue, The Players Theatre, in Agatha Christie’s, And Then There Were None. She feels lucky to have played several iconic roles over the years, ite.ncluding: Blanche: Streetcar Named Desire, Martha: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Ouisa: Six Degrees of Separation, Escalus: Measure for Measure. Other roles…. Exciting….but too numerous to mention. Television work has included Celebrity Ghost Stories, Investigation Discovery and commercials, such as one for Golden Corral on TBS and others. She enjoyed working for Comedy Central and collaborating to produce several Mini Mocks on their website. Last, but certainly not least, she is proud to have appeared at Hudson Theatre Works in: Macbeth (Witch), Rapunzel, Virtual Festival of New Plays, And My True Love Gave to Me and in the United States of Anxiety play festival in A Bad Thing by Neil Labute.
Sue-Ellen has appeared in many regional, Off-off Broadway and Off Broadway productions. She is currently acting in her tenth production at the Off Broadway venue, The Players Theatre, in Agatha Christie’s, And Then There Were None. She feels lucky to have played several iconic roles over the years, ite.ncluding: Blanche: Streetcar Named Desire, Martha: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Ouisa: Six Degrees of Separation, Escalus: Measure for Measure. Other roles…. Exciting….but too numerous to mention. Television work has included Celebrity Ghost Stories, Investigation Discovery and commercials, such as one for Golden Corral on TBS and others. She enjoyed working for Comedy Central and collaborating to produce several Mini Mocks on their website. Last, but certainly not least, she is proud to have appeared at Hudson Theatre Works in: Macbeth (Witch), Rapunzel, Virtual Festival of New Plays, And My True Love Gave to Me and in the United States of Anxiety play festival in A Bad Thing by Neil Labute.
Rachel Matusewicz
Rachel Matusewicz is a director, performer, and teaching artist. Her recent works include reading Mary Shelly in the staged reading Shelly by Joanne Hoersch, directing a web series of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline filmed entirely over Zoom entitled Cymbeline in Quarantine (available on YouTube), and directing/co-producing an all-female production of Richard III. Her teaching work spans New York and New Jersey, and focuses on using theatre to build confidence, hone curricular skills, and encourage civic engagement. You can see more of her recent and upcoming works on her website RacheMatuse.com. Cheers!
Rachel Matusewicz is a director, performer, and teaching artist. Her recent works include reading Mary Shelly in the staged reading Shelly by Joanne Hoersch, directing a web series of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline filmed entirely over Zoom entitled Cymbeline in Quarantine (available on YouTube), and directing/co-producing an all-female production of Richard III. Her teaching work spans New York and New Jersey, and focuses on using theatre to build confidence, hone curricular skills, and encourage civic engagement. You can see more of her recent and upcoming works on her website RacheMatuse.com. Cheers!
Augusta McMahon
Bess Miller
Bess Miller is thrilled to be working with this wonderful group of artists. Recent credits include Brett and Ashley (Ashley) at New Perspectives Theatre Company, Richard III (Buckingham) at Dramatists United as well as productions of Bunnies (Kekkie) and Hamlet (Hamlet) at Hudson Theatre Works - both of which were also directed by Frank Licato! (Other projects with members of this team have included a virtual production of the play Closing Times with Nick Hardin, Directed by Adrian Wattenmaker, and a pre-covid Richard III directed by/performed in and co-produced with Rachel Matusewiczc.)
Bess Miller is thrilled to be working with this wonderful group of artists. Recent credits include Brett and Ashley (Ashley) at New Perspectives Theatre Company, Richard III (Buckingham) at Dramatists United as well as productions of Bunnies (Kekkie) and Hamlet (Hamlet) at Hudson Theatre Works - both of which were also directed by Frank Licato! (Other projects with members of this team have included a virtual production of the play Closing Times with Nick Hardin, Directed by Adrian Wattenmaker, and a pre-covid Richard III directed by/performed in and co-produced with Rachel Matusewiczc.)
Donald Stark
Over the past three decades, Donald has been composing for film, stage, radio, TV, digital media, and concert hall. His music has underscored many of the day's great actors, like Jeffrey Wright, Eli Wallach, Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, David Strathairn, Betty Buckley, Will Patton, Michael O'Keefe, and many others. Donald also has worked as a musical arranger and orchestrator and, in theater, as a music director and sound designer.
Over the past three decades, Donald has been composing for film, stage, radio, TV, digital media, and concert hall. His music has underscored many of the day's great actors, like Jeffrey Wright, Eli Wallach, Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, David Strathairn, Betty Buckley, Will Patton, Michael O'Keefe, and many others. Donald also has worked as a musical arranger and orchestrator and, in theater, as a music director and sound designer.
Charles F. Wagner IV
Adrian Wattenmaker
Adrian is an actor, director, and producer. Currently, he is Associate Director for the Broadway production of Between Riverside and Crazy at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Recent theatre credits: Hughie (Night Clerk) and Elliot & Me (Producer) at Hudson Theatre Works, Through The Fire (Producer) at LAByrinth Theatre Company / 59E59 Theaters. Other theatre credits include: Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage, HB Playwrights Foundation, Baltimore’s Center Stage, and the Broadway Cast Recording of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Film & TV credits include: Law & Order, SNL, and Piñero.
He has taught at Brooklyn College, Lafayette College, University of Nevada-Reno, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA). Adrian received a BA in Theatre Arts from Towson University and a MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College. He served on the Drama Desk Nominating Committee and is a member of The Actors Studio –Playwright/Directors Unit.
Adrian is an actor, director, and producer. Currently, he is Associate Director for the Broadway production of Between Riverside and Crazy at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Recent theatre credits: Hughie (Night Clerk) and Elliot & Me (Producer) at Hudson Theatre Works, Through The Fire (Producer) at LAByrinth Theatre Company / 59E59 Theaters. Other theatre credits include: Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage, HB Playwrights Foundation, Baltimore’s Center Stage, and the Broadway Cast Recording of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Film & TV credits include: Law & Order, SNL, and Piñero.
He has taught at Brooklyn College, Lafayette College, University of Nevada-Reno, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA). Adrian received a BA in Theatre Arts from Towson University and a MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College. He served on the Drama Desk Nominating Committee and is a member of The Actors Studio –Playwright/Directors Unit.
THE COMPANY
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