Lorin Latarro

LORIN LATARRO is currently the Associate Choreographer of Greenday’s American Idiot on Broadway. Lorin also choreographed NYC’s prestigious Encore’s Fanny at City Center, How To Succeed In Business, Cy Coleman’s The Best Is Yet To Come with director David Zippel, Live From Lincoln Center’s Hansel and Gretel for PBS, and Erotic Broadway at The Triad. Lorin  performed in over 12 Broadway shows including Guys And Dolls, Movin’ Out, Chorus Line, Fosse, Curtains, Apple Tree, Spamalot, Man of La Mancha, Kiss Me Kate, Wonderful Town, and Swing!  She has also choreographed for TV, film and national commercials. Lorin danced internationally with the world renowned Martha Graham Company and MOMIX, and worked with Twyla Tharp, Savion Glover, Mike Nichols, Hugh Jackman, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria and Eric Idle.  She has been featured in Dance Magazine, awarded New York’s Dancebreak Award, and graduated from the prestigious Juilliard School. 

Dona D. Vaughn

Ms. Vaugn is the Artistic Director of Opera Programs at Manhattan School of Music also serves as Artistic Director of PORTopera, a summer festival in Portland, Maine. From 1998 – 2008 she was Stage Director/Acting Coach for The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. A graduate of Brevard College (voice) where she currently serves on the board of trustees, she received her BA in music (vocal performance) from Wesleyan (Outstanding Alumni Award) and the MA in theater (directing) from Hunter College. She studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen, and dance with Martha Graham.

She began her career as a performer in the original Broadway productions of Company, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Seesaw. She was Assistant to Producer Kermit Bloomgarden for the Broadway productions of Equus and Hot L Baltimore, Associate Producer for Pavel Kohout’s Poor Murderer and ABC Television’s All My Children, Dramaturge for the O’Neill Conference on Opera and Musical Theater, HB Playwright’s Unit, and the University of Kansas New Play Season, and Assistant Director for Tennessee Williams’s Red Devil Battery Sign. Directing credits include New York City Opera, Michigan Opera Theater Wolf Trap, Ensemble Studio Theater, Lincoln Center Playwrights’ Festival, New York Repertory Company, Kennedy Center, Minerva Productions, Peterloon Festival, Heritage Theater (Calgary, Canada), DiVivreVoix (Vivonne, France), Florida Arts Festival, and many colleges and universities across the country.

She directed the premieres of Roberto Hazon’s L’Agenzia Matrimoniale, Francis Thorne’s Mario and the Magician, Ray Luc’s Droane’s Wooden Image and The Bullfrog, New York premieres of Milton Granger’s Talk Opera and The Proposal, Off-Broadway production of Murphy Guyer’s World of Mirth, and the European premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s The Flower and the Hawk. Formerly a member of the voice faculties for SUNY-Plattsburgh and Marymount Manhattan College, she often serves as an adjudicator for vocal competitions including: The Metropolitan Opera National Council, The Richard Tucker Foundation, Denver Lyric Opera, Palm Beach Opera, The Jenson Foundation, The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Artist-in-Training Program, and Premio Spiros Argiris International Competition (Italy)

Judith Fredricks

Judith Fredricks is founder of The Academy for the Performing Artist and The Writer’s Stage, as well as Opera New York. Ms. Fredricks performed extensively as a mezzo-soprano in opera, from Cairo to NYC.  She has starred in both musical and dramatic theatre, television, (Warner Brothers TV), film, and dance (San Francisco Ballet, American Dance Machine). 

More recently, she has been directing both in NYC and regionally.  Her off-Broadway directing credits include;  “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, based on the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne; “Vincent”, a new musical based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh, “Tales of the Manhattan Woods” (a present-day New York City version of “Die Fledermaus”), followed by another new  musical, “They all Knew”. She recently directed Opera Las Vegas (‘Carmen” and “La Boheme”,) and 2 summers ago, “The Merry Widow” for Emerald City Opera in Steamboat Springs, CO. Ms. Fredricks has received glowing reviews in the New York Times, UPI, Backstage, New Yorker Magazine, and in regional papers both here and in Europe. She has produced and directed large European tours, which, fully costumed and choreographed and with Romanian orchestra, toured Italy, Germany, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark for five years.  For Opera New York, she has directed present day versions of “La Boheme”. “Tocsa”, “Carmen”, “Cavallaria Rusticana”, “Die Fledermaus”, “Pagliacci, “La Traviata”, and “Rigoletto”.

In May of 2005 ONY & APA held the first annual Chester Ludgin American Verdi Baritone competition, judged and co-supported by Placido Domingo.  This event is scheduled for its 3rd repeat, again with Mr. Domingo, fall of   2010.  

In 2006, Ms. Fredricks co-founded a Summer Intensive in New York, “Making It On Broadway” with Jodie Langel,. Ms Fredricks continues to teach for  MIOB.  Judith also teaches voice privately for both Broadway and Opera singers in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Her students have been seen in leading roles on Broadway in Les Miserables, Pajama Game, Chorus Line, Falsettos, Scarlet Pimpernell, Wonderful Town, Kiss Me Kate,  Some Enchanted Evening, Billy Elliott, Grease, Mamma Mia, Phantom of the Opera (Often as many as 4 at a time in one show), etc., as well as in National Tours and off-broadway productions. In opera her students are world-wide. Judith is a member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA, and AGMA.

Lynn Fitzpatrick

A veteran of over 80 productions spanning dramatic acting, musical theatre, and operetta.   Ms. Fitzpatrick performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in National Tours, in Regional Theatres, at Radio City, in films for the large and small screen, in numerous commercials (on camera and voice-over), and in command performance at the White House.

As General Manager of the Walnut Street Theatre, Managing Director of The State Theatre of North Carolina (for which she expanded and developed the Children’s Theater Program) and of the Hangar Theatre and Executive Director of Theatrical Outfit, Lynn also produced over 50 shows.

A former Business Representative for Actors’ Equity Association, and Board Member for AFTRA and SAG, she is also a founding member of The American Stage Company, Teaneck, NJ (for which she created and developed their educational curriculum.) For APA, June 2010, she will be teaching Acting, & Monologues,.

Stephanie Fredricks

Stephanie Fredricks performed on Broadway in Wonderful Town with Donna Murphy and Brooke Shields for it’s’ year and a half run. A true triple threat, her background and professional credits include strong dance roles, opera and music theatre roles, and TV/film. 

Her Off-Broadway theatre credits include leading roles in; The Occupation, (Theatre Row Theatre), and A Night Sea Journey at the Harold Clurman Theatre. Regional theatre credits include the leading ladies in Phantom!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Dracula, Student Prince, Master Class, Children of Eden, Chorus Line, and in LA Theatre; Months on End, and I Capture the Castle.

Television credits include the daytime series, The Bold and the Beautiful, recurring in ABC’s All My Children, and HBO’s – Life Stories: Families in Crisis. Film credits:  Slow Day, and Oedipus (Lead voice), an Animated Short –Sundance Film Festival 2004.

She has appeared in numerous commercials and in Opera she has sung the leading coloratura roles in Verdi’s Ballo In Maschera and Strauss’ Die Fledermaus.  “Pop” Concerts include Natchez Opera Festival and Paper Mill Playhouse (Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber).   Stephanie is a member of AEA, SAG, and AFTRA. Stephanie has her own TV/Film/Music Theatre school, called Creative Development. For APA, June, 2010, she will be teaching TV/Film, and Acting Your Song.

Jamibeth Margolis

Jamibeth Margolis is an accomplished stage director based in NYC. She has fifteen years of professional experience working in theater and opera. During that time, she has worked consistently at some of the most prestigious theaters and opera companies around the US. Last year, she was the recipient of the competitive SDCF Directing Observership on Mark Lamos' production of Tosca at New York City Opera and served as Assistant Stage Director for La Traviata at Opera NJ. Prior to that she assisted with the casting for The Merry Widow at the Metropolitan Opera starring Placido Domingo. At Ithaca College, she served as stage director for Dance of Death (Distler) as guest director in the school of music and also worked on a production of The Tender Land.

As casting director for Johnson-Liff Associates, Jamibeth was in charge of the casting for all of the US companies of The Phantom of the Opera (Lloyd Webber) for five years. She toured the US scouting the best up and coming and established classical singers. Other casting credits include the Broadway and touring productions of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Cats, and over a dozen others. Jamibeth is currently a freelance casting director with many projects going on simultaneously including casting new works, regional theater, and many readings and workshops.

Currently Jamibeth serves as Artistic Director For Musicals at the Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) where she fosters new writing talent and looks to bring a dozen new musicals and operas to life each summer. This summer she directed 1812: The Musical and Family Dinner (a new play) at MITF. Jamibeth also teaches musical theater and opera performance and audition technique in NYC.

Recent theatrical directing credits include Do I Hear a Waltz? and Jekyll and Hyde at the Arvada Center Theater in Denver. Jamibeth served as assistant director to Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks on the recent Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial and also on Jules Feiffer's A Bad Friend at Lincoln Center Theatre. She has also helmed developmental productions of the following new musical works: Owl Creek, Far From the Madding Crowd, Plane Crazy, Great Googley Moo, and Warsaw (which is currently on track for a Broadway production in the next two years).
Jamibeth is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the Casting Society of America, and the Stage Directors And Choreographers Society. She served as Tony Awards Voter for the past three Broadway seasons. She holds a B.A. from Ithaca College in Drama and Directing with a minor in music.

Upcoming Projects: Pirates of Penzance at Boheme Opera in NJ and Family Dinner at The Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row in NYC

LESLEY BANDY , R.A D.A.

Lesley danced with Edinburgh Ballet Theatre, Scottish Opera, the Royal Opera Ballet at Covent Garden, and the Royal Ballet. In addition to performing many principal roles in the classical ballets, Lesley performed as Principal and Adagio Dancer in cabaret, musicals, television, and film.She has also held Entertainment Management positions with MGM Grand, Harrah’s, and Universal Studios.

Based in Las Vegas, Lesley teaches master classes for dancers and singers; works with MGM Grand Productions and R&R Live and others, on large corporate events; freelances as Producer, Staging Director, and Choreographer for productions both in the US and internationally; and is also involved in the creative and developmental process for several new theatrical projects in the US, China and Australia.  For APA, June 2010, she will be teaching Ballet and Theatre Dance.

Additional Faculty TBA: Check back in the coming weeks for masterclass and faculty announcements.