COMPOSING LIFE
Polly McKie (JANIS): is a character actress living and working in New York. Film and T.V. credits include: Milking It, Frenemies, Born Again, Bystander and LOLO's music video, Hate U 2. NY theatre credits include: Richard the Third (The Secret Theatre) After the Circuit (Connelly Theatre); Dollface (Theatre for The New City); The Aunts (Abingdon Theatre). Regional: Lost in Yonkers (New Harmony Theatre). International favourites include: The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Maureen), Cabaret and Sweeney Todd. Polly trained full time at HB Studio in New York for 2 years and has an M.A. honors in Theatre and Philosophy from The University of Glasgow. Although often cast now as an American, she was thrilled to be the voice for the audiobook of "Brave" (Disney/Pixar) and excited to be using her native Scottish in "Composing Life".
Jean Ann Garrish (MARIN/Director/Screenwriter/Songwriter): is an actress, singer, writer and now, director. A film school graduate, who works several jobs to make ends meet while pursuing her passions, this story is all too real for Jean Ann. While she earned her degree in production and creative writing, after graduation she focused on her first love, performing. She was quickly cast in Richard Maxwell's "Showy Lady Slipper", where the New York Times called the performances "comically inspired”. While it seemed success would continue just as easily, that was not the case. The struggle to sustain a career as a performer became almost paralyzing. After a few more years of scuffling, she decided to stop waiting for someone to give her permission to live her dreams. She took matters in her own hands, and began writing again; first plays, then music, a television pilot and finally "Composing Life" was born.
Vanessa Spica (SIOBHAN): an actor/singer living and working in NY. Her favorite credits include: Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank, and Mommy in The American Dream (directed by John Hickok). She has performed in cabaret alongside Liz Callaway, Tommy Tune, Karen Ziemba, and Karen Akers. She also played Chloe in the premiere of Oedipus the Musical in Athens, Greece. She has trained extensively in classical voice and holds a B.A. in theatre from Queens College.
Frankie Delessio (SAM): Bio coming soon!
Rosie Cosch (GWEN): Film/TV: The Jim Norton Show (VICE.COM); Bad Pizza (Short); Drifters (Short); New York Theatre: I’m Ready for My Close-Up (Abingdon Theatre Company); Battle of the Bulge (Abingdon Theatre Company); 100 Saints You Should Know (Urban Stages); Paper Pusher (Abingdon Theatre Company); Bubby’s Shadow (Bleecker Street Theatre/Planet Connections Theatre Festival Lead Actress Nom.); Love Stinks (The Jewel Box/Midtown International Theatre Festival Award Best Production 2010, Best Actress Nom. 2013); Never Always (45th Street Theatre); This Side Up and Blue Tentacles (Love Creek Productions). She loves her support team, Zaccari, Rocco and Carlo. “Enjoy Life - It’s Not A Dress rehearsal”.
Ines Chouciño (GLORIANA): is an actress and singer born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She came to New York almost two years ago to learn more about acting. In Argentina she has been in a featured film, two short films and in a TV show shot in Uruguay. She is sassy, attractive, talented and smart.
James Moore (CHARLIE/musician/composer): a versatile guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he has been active in New York since 2006, earning the titles of "local electric guitar hero" by Time Out NY and "model new music citizen" by the NY Times. Performing on a wide variety of guitars, banjos, mandolins and home-made instruments, James incorporates his classical training and a healthy dose of improvisation, theatrics, and experimentation.
Andie Tanning Springer (BECCA/musician): a native of Fairbanks, Alaska and currently based in Brooklyn, Andie Springer is a violinist specializing in contemporary music. A founder and co-director of new music ensembles TRANSIT, Redshift, and Wild Shore New Music Andie is also a member of Hotel Elefant and has performed and recorded with such bands as Redhooker, Arturo en el Barco, Phthia, Pearl and the Beard and TheThreefifty Duo. Andie has also had the pleasure of performing with David Byrne, Victoire, Ensemble de Sade, Anti-Social Music, theWordless Music Orchestra, the Argento Ensemble, and American Opera Projects. She is a member the New York City Players, has toured with their production of Richard Maxwell’s theater piece, “Neutral Hero,” and is in the cast of his most recent work, "The Evening."
Janet Coleman (THE DIRECTOR): is an actor, author and (with her husband and comedy partner David Dozer) radio host of Cat RadioCafé and Writing A Play on the Radio on WBAI/NY. Her film work includes Thirteen Days, Hackers, Young Doctors in Love, Bloodbrothers, Dog Day Afternoon, The Janet and Dave Show, and the avant-garde cult favorite Echoes of Silence. In New York, she was last on stage in Brian Mendes’s production of Saxophone, based on the aural memoirs of jazz musician Bob Feldman. She appeared with New York City Players at The Kitchen in playwright/director Richard Maxwell’s Neutral Hero, after debuting in Brussels’ Kunstenfest Des Arts in 2011, and touring in Paris, Vienna, Berlin. Geneva, Rotterdam, Montreal, and, later in Sao Paulo and Dublin. She was also in ADS, Maxwell’s 2010 experiment with three-dimensional videography first performed at New York’s Under the Radar Festival. She is the author of The Compass: The Improvisational Theater that Revolutionized American Comedy and (with Al Young) Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs and is working on a biography of Viola Spolin (creator of Theater Games) for Northwestern University Press.
Beth Adubato (CASTING DIRECTOR): for Beth, this is her third take on a show business career (it’s “Take Four!” if you count the early ballet days). In between, she has been a news anchor and college professor. Most recently, Beth played a reporter on The Following. She has appeared on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (twice!) and the short-lived comedy, Cupid. She has worked on low-budget movies, hosted industrials, and acted in many regional plays and commercials. She is delighted to play the casting director in Composing Life.
Written and Directed by Jean Ann Garrish
Jamal Solomon (Cinematographer): Bio coming soon!
David Louis Zuckerman (Editor): is a composer, film-editor, writer/director and performer. He is a company member of New York City Players and an alumnus of the Skowhegan Residency, the Labyrinth Theater Ensemble and the S.E.M. Ensemble Workshop. His multi- media opera projects and films have shown at Untitled Miami, David Lewis Gallery, JOAN Los Angeles, Disjecta, Anthology Film Archives, Thomas Duncan Gallery, Kunstverein Cologne, Moma-New Director/New Films. He studied composition at Berklee College of Music and holds a BFA from The School of Visual Arts and an MFA from Bard College. Zuckerman has contributed articles to Film Comment and Bomb magazines and is a 2015 Rema Hort Mann Grant Nominee. His work has been covered in Art in America, LA Weekly, Artforum, Contemporary Art Daily, Cahiers du Cinema, Purple Magazine, Hyperallergic, The New York Times and Filthy Dreams.
Robert Albrecht (Sound): It all started at Hofstra...fast forward to Composing Life.
Nick Ferreiro (1st AD) is a director, writer and producer, and is thrilled to be working as the Assistant Director on "Composing Life". He is a recent graduate from Syracuse University’s Newhouse school, where he studied Television, Radio & Film. A native Long Islander, Nick currently lives in Los Angeles and works out of both New York and LA. Currently, Nick is working in post-production on “Mack,” a dark comedic web series he wrote, produced and directed, and “Bop-It! A Love Story,” a comedic short film he co-produced an DOP’d. Nick’s television credits include graphics assistant on TVGN’s “Rock This Boat,” and “The Sorrentinos,” and production assistant on “White Collar” (USA), “Manhattan Love Story” (ABC) and “The Haunting Of” (Lifetime), among others.
Juan Alvarez (2nd AD): is a recent Syracuse University graduate with a double major in Television, Radio, Film and Art History. He was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he developed a lifelong interest for the arts in general. This same urge led him to move to New York in order to pursue an education within the media industry. He has past professional experience within a wide array of media fields including Television, Radio and Film. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he plans to continue legal studies in order to become a media law attorney.