What if you were on a train bound for the Auschwitz death
camp and you were the only one in a boxcar crammed with desperate sous who knew
your fate? You know you must survive the arduous journey just to have a chance
at surviving the rigors of the work camp. But is it enough just to ensure your
body survives?
About the Cast and Creative Team of GOD’S TRAIN
TO AUSCHWITZ
PHILIP BARTOLF (Rabbi Keleti)
This is my third production for Riant Theatre. I’m elated to be working with
such an excellent cast and crew. I started acting in 2002, working in LA and
New York. Training: SMC, LAMDA, Michael Howard, Terry Schreiber, HB Studio, and
Barron Brown. Teachers: Patsy Rodenburg, Austin Pendleton, Olympia Dukakis,
Lisa Volpe, Michael Frederick. Favorite plays Anne Frank (Otto Frank), The Tempest (Prospero), Orson’s Shadow (Orson Welles), Chapter Two (George), Rumors (Lenny), 12 Angry Men (Juror 8), Moonlight and Magnolias (David O. Selznick), The Price (Walter Franz), Farragut
North (Paul Zara), Twelfth Night (Malvolio). Recent Zoom work
includes: Forger and An
Institution (Riant); Remember Me/Watch Yourself (Karen Byrnes
Plays). Acting Awards include: Theatre Palisades (LA) for Featured Actor (Rumors; Clybourne Park). And Lead
Actor (12 Angry Men; Anne Frank; Twelfth
Night). And Kentwood Players (LA) Supporting Actor Award for Inspector
Hubbard, Dial for Murder. Love to my wife of 27 years, Patsy! We are
proud grandparents of four: Harper, 9 and her brother, Graham, 5; and Dusty
Rose, 4, and her sister, Gio, 3.
SAMI
BRAY
(Leah) is a thirteen year old actress originally from Memphis,
Tennessee. She has performed on Broadway in Joy Parnes Production of 1984
(Little Girl), on tour in Troika’s production of The School of Rock
(Summer Hathaway; First National Tour) and Big League Production of How the
Grinch Stole Christmas (Cindy Lou Who), and off- Broadway in Zurich
(Fryda). She was scheduled to play Sarah in The Bedwetter
(Atlantic Theatre Company) prior to the pandemic. TV/Film credits include:
Law and Order: SVU (Rachel Labott), Gotham, Belladonna
Productions Son (young Laura), Lightframer Entertainment’s Love is On
The Air (Maddie) and Plainview Pictures’ The Last Nazi (Marin).
She is thrilled to give life to Leah in God’s Train To Auschwitz
and is so appreciative of the opportunity. Visit her at samibray.net and
@samibray on Instagram.
MAGGIE McCOLLESTER (Eric’s Mother’s Voice) has thoroughly enjoyed performing in four
other inspiring and profound Jocunda Festival play readings with the Riant
Theatre; she’s played Fiama in Fiama’s Finale written and directed by Carrie Gibson,
Lynn in Veils of Justice written by Tita
Anntares, Alice Paul in With Banners Flying written by Kay Weaver and Martha
Wheelock, and Cassie in An Institution – directed by Van Dirk
Fisher. A few of Maggie’s television credits include: Dexter, The Unit, The Young and the
Restless, and
the Lifetime movie Playdate. In the Emmy Award winning
short film Cold Winter’s Night, Maggie played Mom. And among
Maggie’s many stage roles, the role of Kate in The Taming of the Shrew has been a favorite.
Maggie and her husband Hamish produce independent films through their LA-based
production company Harbinger Moon Media. Look for a short film they worked on
during the pandemic called Killing Time in film festivals very soon.
NIKOLAY 'NICK' MOSS (Eric) is an
Emmy Award-Winning actor, known for his leading roles in The Cobblestone
Corridor, Influence, Double Belgian, & more. Nick won the Emmy for
Outstanding Performer for his portrayal of Brock Larson in PBS TV Series, The
Cobblestone Corridor in 2017. He can be seen most recently on Influence
opposite X-Men's Bruce Davison airing on BET & BET+, and starring in buddy
comedy, Double Belgian, released on VOD. Nick has also just
returned from filming teen romancer Time Is Up, shot on location in
Rome, Italy last winter. Website: TheNickMoss.com Socials: @NikolayMoss
MCKENZIE RASMUS (Leo the Lout) Born and raised in the
Twin Cities, Mackenzie grew up learning from some of the best actors in the
Minneapolis theater scene. From 2007- 2014, Mackenzie worked in such theaters
as the Old Log Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Childrens Theater Company, and
Torch Theater. Favorite Credits include Jane Eyre, A Christmas
Carol, and Peer Gynt with Mark Rylance as the title
character. Some of Mackenzie’s favorite film credits: Shadowlands (2018), Neighbors (2018), and Our Iiiad (2017). In 2018 Mackenzie was selected as Americorps' Scholar for On-Camera Performance. Throughout the following year, Mackenzie instructed
hundreds of students throughout Title I schools in “Acting for the
Camera”. As a collaborator, Mackenzie has worked with such groups as Walt
Disney Imagineering, Community Arts Partnership (CAP), and Center for New
Performance. Mackenzie lives in Los Angeles, but can be found frequenting the
lakes, shoreline, and fairs of the Midwest.
ALICE ROSE (Mrs. Mendelson) was recently in
Veils of Justice and An Institution with the Riant Theatre and
performed voiceover work for ChrissyCantHearYou. Alice graduated from Bard
College and the Stella Adler Summer Conservatory. You can find her on YouTube
under AliceRoseActor. Alice would like to thank family, friends, the Riant, and
you, the audience, for believing in and encouraging her.
CHRIS SCARBOROUGH (Nazi SS Officer
and Kapo) was born in Brooklyn, NY and has lived in Arizona for 44 years.
He currently lives in Phoenix. He worked for local tv news as a reporter and
producer for 40 years until his retirement in 2017. He has had small parts in a
handful of movies and tv shows and has done dozens of web commercials. He is a
veteran of pandemic-era zoom productions, having appeared in The Duck Variations,
Forger, Global Inferno, Felt, Away from Her, and Law in Motion.
STEFANIE SCHMAHL (Jana) Born and raised in
Germany, Stefanie gained her first stage experiences in local theatre
productions before moving to New York City to study acting at the William Esper
Studio. She will appear in A Self-Tape Story by Dorobantu Film &
Television and The Raw Edge of Moonlight by the Já International Theatre
in Portugal. After having joined the cast of An Institution, this is her
second production for the Riant Theatre.
MARC LITTMAN (Playwright) is an emerging playwright who is garnering international
attention. He was a finalist in both the 2020 and 2021 Tennessee Williams
One-Act Playwriting Contest and a runner-up this year's Rise Against Fanaticism
Through the Arts playwriting contest among other awards. He is a member of
Theatre West in Los Angeles. Marc pays homage to his late father, a Holocaust
survivor, in his play, God's Train to Auschwitz.
Van Dirk Fisher (Director) is the
Founder & Artistic Director of the Riant Theatre/Black Experimental
Theatre, a non-profit 501(3)(c) organization, of which he is the CEO. He is the
producer of the JOCUNDA MUSIC, FILM & THEATRE FESTIVAL and the acclaimed
Strawberry One-Act Festival, which the NY Daily News said, “It’s like the
American Idol for Playwrights.” Since
1995, Mr. Fisher has produced over 1,500 one-act plays in The Strawberry
One-Act Festival. This biannual theatre competition celebrated its 33rd
season in February 2020. Under Fisher’s direction, he has published
eight anthologies of The
Best Plays from the Strawberry One-Act Festival. As an actor, Fisher has appeared in several plays, commercials and
voiceovers. He has directed and written several musicals including: Rock-A
My Soul, No Name In The Street – The Biblical Story of Job, Somebody’s Calling
My Name; Sweet Blessings; Tracks; Loving That Man Of Mine, Revelations and
Dream Babies, The Musical about Teens Living in Foster Care. His
dramas, which are inspired by real life news stories, include: A Sin
Between Friends; The Banjo Lesson; Mixed Blessings; Hotel Paradise and The
Atlanta Affair. His play Code of Silence been compared to
works by John Grisham and was pitched as a television series. His novel, Loving
You, is sold on Amazon.com. For his accomplishments with the Riant Theatre,
he earned the prestigious 2009 AUDELCO Special Achievement Award.
BRUCE NOZICK (Ulysses) appeared on the second
season of the Showtime series Big Little Lies. On television he appeared throughout the
second season of The Last Ship as Dr. Milowsky and on the two final
seasons of the Showtime series Weeds playing Whit Tillerman. Bruce portrayed the historical figure Stanley
Levison in the HBO film All The Way. He’s had over a hundred roles on film and
television. Bruce also has extensive
experience onstage. He was in the
Off-Broadway hit A Shayna Maidel and
toured the United States and Canada with the First National Company of Neil
Simon’s Lost in Yonkers as Uncle
Louis. He has appeared at Regional
Theatres around the country – Louisville, Houston, Albany, Atlanta, San Diego –
in shows as varied as The Immigrant, Balm in Gilead, Broadway Bound and Speed the
Plow. He lives in Los Angeles and is
currently a member of several theatre companies including Rogue Machine (Honky & Finks), Pacific Resident Theatre (Baby Doll) and The New
American Theatre (Boxing Lessons). www.BruceNozick.com.
SHIRLEY JORDAN (Penelope) Among
Shirley’s TV appearances are S.W.A.T., N.C.I.S., This
Is Us, Bunk’d and, the oldie but goodie, Friends (as
Phoebe’s OBGYN). Shirley has been seen in the first two seasons of Tyler Perry’s SISTAS as Irene
Johnson and currently appears in the recurring role of Willa on the new ABC
series Rebel, starring Katey Sagal and Andy Garcia. Among her favorite roles (aside from mom and wife)
are Valera, an ex-Republic Captain in Aaron Kunkel’s fan film Days
Past, A Star Wars Story (YouTube) and as Meredith in the well received
festival short A Craftsman by Joel Santner. Onstage faves are Wendy
Morrow in In Another Room (Immersion Theater) by Aaron and Austin
Keeling, Janice in War Babies by Madeline Puccini and Felicia in Uncommon
Threads by Felix Raecelis. Zombie
fans the world over recognize her voice as that of Tanya, the “never say die”
doctor on the multi-award winning audio podcast We’re Alive by Kc
Wayland, now with over 200 million downloads. Shirley is very excited to be zooming
again with Van and The Riant Theatre!
CHALMERS (Playwright) After episodes in astronomy, law, and
journalism, Chalmers (his last name is too long to print) became a playwright.
His one-act JD Salinger in East Berlin was produced during the 2019-2020
season of Players Ring in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His short play Schnitzels and Noodles was
produced as part of the Funny Shorts Live festival at Bonita Springs, Florida
in December 2019. His short play Penelope is
scheduled for production in New York when theaters reopen. A full-length
play REPARATIONS was
a finalist in early 2019 in the Campfire Theatre Festival and accepted to
Governors Island NY residency summer 2019. A second full-length play, Zora and Zelda was developed
with the Concordia Drama Group. Chalmers grew up in Minnesota. He drank the
milk of left-wing activism at Cal (BSc in astronomy 1967), switched to law (JD
Northeastern University 1974), then to journalism in an effort to reduce
nuclear arms (founded and edited The Arms Control Reporter
1980-1992) until the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union disappeared.
Thereafter, to support environmentally-friendly railroads, he founded and
edited Atlantic Northeast Rails & Ports, selling it in January 2018.
He lives in Maine.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM:
ABOUT THE CAST and CREATIVE TEAM for PENELOPE
Ms. Jordan is happily repped by Avalon Artists Group (Thr), Entertainment Lab (Mgr) and TGMD Talent Agency (Cml). www.IMDB.me/shirleyjordan
About the Creative Team:
VAN DIRK FISHER (Director) See above in God’s Train To Auschwitz bios.
To Register for this Webinar to see GOD'S TRAIN TO AUSCHWITZ and PENELOPE go to:
Tickets are $25.00 to benefit the Riant Theatre. After
registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the webinar. The reading will be followed by a
TALK BACK with the artists moderated by Van Dirk Fisher, Founder and Artistic Director of the Riant Theatre and producer of the JOCUNDA FESTIVAL.
To learn more about the JOCUNDA FESTIVAL Click Here.
To submit a play for the JOCUNDA FESTIVAL Click Here.
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