TADA! to Present THE GUMBALL GANG in 2016

TADA! will kick off its 2016 season with THE GUMBALL GANG: Crime-Solving Kids, from January 22 - February 15 at TADA! 15 West 28th Street. The original musical, with Book, Music & Lyrics by JIM COLLERAN, will be Directed & Choreographed by TADA!'s Associate Artistic Director & Resident Choreographer, JOANNA GREER, with Musical Direction by MATTHEW GREGORY. Set Design is by Carl Tallent, Lighting Design by Steve O'Shea & Costume Design by Cheryl McCarron. Julia Nichols Stage Manages & Assistant Director/Assistant Stage Manager is Christina Franklin (TADA! alum).

Featured in THE GUMBALL GANG: Crime-Solving Kids are Lily Bowman, Omarion Burke, Brooklyn Fuentes, Jaden Gonzalez, Emma Sobel, Riya Nagpal, Talia Ifrah, Sophia Abehaln, Andrew Johnson, Ashley Figueroa, AJ Walker, Daniel Fooksman, London Jones, William Reisacher, Nisha Borrelli, Vann Strasen, Kayla Claudio, Cassidy Mullin, Ciara Duff, Pauline Dayen & Bluend Mulbah, all members of the TADA! RESIDENT YOUTH ENSEMBLE.

JIM COLLERAN (Book, Music & Lyrics) has served as Resident Musical Director for TADA! where he created dozens of original musicals & oversaw music for nearly 30 main stage shows. For TADA! Jim wrote book, music & lyrics to The Gumball Gang: Crime-Solving Kids (Winner, 2007 National Youth Theater Award) & songs for every show in the Everything About... series; songs for numerous productions in schools throughout NYC; Still Life at the Golden Age, Go Girls Go! & Hoarder Patrol (York Theatre); My Little Martian for (NJ's Allegro Theater); It's A Wonderful Life, Medea, You Don't Know Jac! & over 200 children's shows (Kidstock Creative Theater, MA). Recent Music Director credits include The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (Theatreworks USA; director, Jeremy Dobrish), Falsettos (Fire Island Pines Arts Project; director, Joe Barros) & the reading/workshop of a new musical titled Single Girl Sitcom (book/music/lyrics by Doug Friedman). Jim has worked with The Paper Bag Players, The Charles Busch Revue, The Irish Arts Center, The Slim Goodbody Show & in his original one-man musical assembly, Gentleman Jim. At the piano, he has performed at every major cabaret venue in NYC, from Town Hall to Sardi's with Charles Busch, Alison Fraser, Julie Halston, Malachy McCourt, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Michael Rupert & Peter Scolari. Jim is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where in 2006 he was awarded the prestigious Jerry Harrington Musical Theatre Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement.

JOANNA GREER (Director/Choreographer) holds a BA in Musical Theater Performance & Dance from Columbia College Chicago. As a Director-Choreographer & Teaching Artist, she has had the pleasure of working with numerous award-winning organizations, such as The American Ballroom Theater (featured in the 2005 Documentary Mad Hot Ballroom), YANY, City Lights Youth Theatre & the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Current TADA! Director &/or Choreographer credits include The Banned Broadway Project, 25+ main-stage musicals as well as 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan Lori-Parks at TADA! & The Public Theater. Most recently, she choreographed 50 SHADES! The Musical (First National Tour), Alienne: The Musical Adventures of My Little Martian at the 2014 New York Fringe Jr. & the #SaveKidsLives traffic safety event with UNICEF. Joanna is also the Co-founder of NYC-based Kinetic Dance Theater, an artistic collective driven toward innovating dance theater, cabaret & musical theater performance.