Once Upon A Mattress at Cider Mill Stage

Nick Sandys

Nick Sandys is an award-winning director, actor, and fight choreographer, as well as an educator. Nick recently served as Artistic Director of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company (2012-21), where he helmed critically-acclaimed productions of: Howards End (a world premiere adaptation by Douglas Post); Puff: Believe It Or Not (a world premiere translation by Ranjit Bolt); Great Expectations (a US premiere adaptation by Tanika Gupta), Pirandello’s Henry IV, Travesties, Our Class, and Seascape. Other recent directing projects include: Strauss’ Elektra (Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera); The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth (First Folio Theatre); Bedroom Farce (Eclipse); Twelfth Night (Noble Fool Theatricals); Persuasion, The Consul (Chamber Opera Chicago), and Hamlet (Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park).Nick is an ensemble member at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and an Artistic Associate at First Folio Theatre and has acted in over 150 theatrical productions nationwide including performing at Northlight, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Writers’ Theatre, Next Theatre, Lookingglass, Marriott Lincolnshire, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Light Opera Works, and Chamber Opera Chicago, as well as regionally and Off Broadway. Nick is also a certified Fight Director with The Society of American Fight Directors, has been adjunct faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul University since 1995, as well as a Resident Fight Director at Lyric Opera of Chicago, designing violence there for over 50 productions. His Jeff-Award-winning fight direction has been seen all over Chicagoland, on Broadway, and at The Metropolitan Opera. Nick has a received some 16 Joseph Jefferson Nominations for acting, directing, and fight direction, was nominated for a 2018 APA Audie Award for his audiobook narration of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and he is the recipient of a 2011 Achievement Award from The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for The Arts. Nick holds MAs in English Literature from both Cambridge University and Loyola University Chicago, and is graduate of Guildford School of Acting and Dance. www.nicksandys.com

Christine Steyer

As a performer, the soprano has distinguished herself as an artist of great versatility. In addition to being the recipient of national awards such as the 2020 Honored Artist of the American Prize for outstanding contributions to the arts and the Johnny Mercer Award, Steyer has received acclaim for her portrayals of the title role in Madama Butterfly and Violetta in La Traviata. Since 2000, she has sung in over 40 productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Also a frequent recitalist, Steyer sang several concerts of Russian and American music with pianist Philip Morehead and concerts of Spanish music with guitarist Brandon Acker. In 2019, Steyer sang in France with the Chicago Paris Cabaret Connexion at the Montpellier Opera House, Paris’ Salle Olympe de Gouges and the Lapin Agile. Just prior to the pandemic, she sang at the Schubert Festival at Unity Temple in Oak Park, where Steyer shared the stage with Lawrence Brownlee and members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestras, and a recital at the 19th Century Club Music of Hope and Healing. Steyer was recently featured on WFMT’s program Music Notes: Music of Healing and Peace, singing the song “Red is a Trick”. In April 2021, Steyer premiered the role of the Rio de Janeiro Health Care Worker in the new opera On Call: COVID-19. As a music advocate, Steyer has brought classical music to 23,000 youth in underserved areas with her organization, Bellissima Opera Outreach. She collaborates with other professional musicians to create new works on relevant, contemporary themes. Her songbook, Six Songs for Soprano, was co-written with several area musicians. She and French composer, Jean-Claude Orfali, are writing a book of original cabaret songs to release in 2023. In 2014 Steyer, as librettist, and Shenton, as composer, began writing Bellissima Opera’s Tales of Transcendence, an award-winning series of new operas exploring our shared humanity. The first, On Call: COVID-19 honoring healthcare workers, premiered in April. Future Perfect is the second, co-created with 1,300 local students. Additionally, Steyer is the President of the new vocal arts alliance, Working in Concert, as well as the Artistic Director of its Bellissima Opera initiative. Steyer teaches voice privately in Oak Park and is on the music faculty at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois.

David Shenton

David Shenton is an English pianist, violinist, composer, and arranger, based in New York City. Shenton has collaborated with musicians in diverse genres, including Vanessa Williams, Tony Bennett, Sierra Boggess, Denyce Graves, Renée Fleming, Sherrill Milnes, Sir André Previn, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. Composing since the age of nine, Shenton has written hundreds of works including sonatas, concerti, a symphony, an oratorio, string quartets, numerous songs, instrumental works, and operas. Shenton’s career includes conducting his orchestra/big band at Carnegie Hall in 2014; Jazz@Lincoln Center Rose Theater as a jazz pianist in 2008; classical piano at Lincoln Center’s Rubenstein Atrium for the 200th anniversary Schumann and Chopin celebration; and as music director/arranger/pianist for the Center’s 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. David enjoys touring with his groups, Empire Trio and Uptown Girls, as well as teaching and educating children both in the USA and in Africa where he and his wife, soprano Erin Shields, frequently volunteer. A prolific arranger, Shenton has worked at Abbey Road and CTS Studios (London), on Hollywood movies, and Broadway shows. Shenton has co-created more than a dozen shows with lyricist Martin Charnin (Annie). He arranged and orchestrated for the long-running West End production of Howard Blake’s The Snowman, for Charnin’s last musical, Robin Hood: The Untold Story, and for Opus X, with trumpeter Chris Botti. Shenton has composed numerous art songs and collaborated with Steyer on Six Songs for Soprano. David teaches extensively and, as a coach, accompanist, and teaching professor, has been on the faculties of NYU, The New School, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Mannes College of Music, St. Thomas Choir School and Grace Church School. His catalog of some 45 recordings can be found on various record labels including Steinway & Sons, Vocalion and many others. In 2014 Christine Steyer, as librettist, and Shenton, as composer, began writing Bellissima Opera’s Tales of Transcendence, an award-winning series of new operas exploring our shared humanity. The first, On Call: COVID-19 honoring healthcare workers, premiered in April. Future Perfect is the second, co-created with 1,300 local students.

Tim Pahel

Tim Pahel is Professor of Music, Director of Choral and Vocal Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at Monmouth College. His duties include directing the Monmouth College Chorale and Chamber Choir, teaching conducting, music history, Senior Research Methods, and courses in the Music Education curriculum. Prior to coming to Monmouth, Dr. Pahel served as Assistant Professor and Music Coordinator at Carl Sandburg College and also taught courses and directed ensembles at Knox College. Dr. Pahel has toured with the Monmouth Chorale both nationally and internationally, including trips to Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, and to New York City to perform in Carnegie Hall. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 2018, conducting the Monmouth Chorale and other high school and college choirs and the New England Symphonic Ensemble in a performance of Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem. Dr. Pahel has been the director of the Galesburg Community Chorus since 2001, and with that group has conducted numerous major works for chorus and orchestra including, most recently, Verdi’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Dr. Pahel holds a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, a master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate in Choral Conducting from the University of Iowa, where he studied conducting with Dr. Timothy Stalter. An active member of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, the Illinois Music Educators Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Dr. Pahel is a frequent adjudicator for high school solo and ensemble contests as well as a clinician for large group contests and festivals.

Carl Ratner

Carl Ratner began his career assisting directors at the world’s major opera houses, including Covent Garden in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Munich Opera, the Spoleto Festival in Italy, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. He served as Artistic Director of Chicago Opera Theater from 1994-1999, and of Chamber Opera Chicago from 1985-1993. An accomplished baritone, he has performed the title roles in Verdi’s Falstaff and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, as well as Papageno in The Magic Flute and John Proctor in The Crucible. A frequent soloist for oratorio, he has sung Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and many other concert works. He directed and created the role of the Lebanon Health Care Worker in the world premiere of On Call: COVID-10 at Bellissima Opera. He most recently directed Verdi’s La Traviata and performed the role of the Doctor for South Bend Lyric Opera. He has sung in 14 languages and has performed in 7 countries, 10 states, and the District of Columbia. He studied at Oberlin, NEIU, Northwestern, Juilliard, and the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia through a Fulbright grant. He currently serves as Co-chair of Voice and Director of Opera at Western Michigan University.

Wydetta Carter

Wydetta Carter is thrilled to be a part of the premier of the opera Future Perfect. As a part of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals, so many doors have opened to meeting fellow musicians, sharing music and learning something new from each artist encounter. Wydetta is the host of CCP’s CABARET BEAT and is also a seasoned Equity actress. Chicagoland credits include Porgy and Bess (Court Theatre), Menopause the Musical (Apollo Theatre), Unspeakable (Broadway Playhouse), Hats! The Musical (Royal George Theatre), and Footloose and The Bridges of Madison County (Marriott Theatre). Other favorites include The Bikinis (The Hippodrome Theatre), Hairspray (Alhambra Theatre), All Shook Up (LTOS), Festival of The Lion King (Hong Kong-Disney), The Trojan Women (Shakespeare Theatre of D.C.), and Sr. Hubert in Nunsense, Nunsensations, and Nuncrackers.

Susan Lewis Friedman

Susan Lewis Friedman is a Cantor, the clergy person who oversees music and sings the prayers in the Progressive Movement of Judaism, and has served at Temple Jeremiah in Northfield, IL since 2018. Prior to the cantorate, she has been seen on the stages of musical theater, regional opera, and in symphonic concerts throughout the U.S. She played leading roles in the Broadway National Tour of Cats, regional productions of The Producers, Barnum, Swingtime Canteen, and Sweeney Todd, to name a few. She has sung roles with Des Moines Metro Opera, Nevada Opera, Phoenix Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra with Leon Botstein, and Brooklyn Philharmonic. She has performed with artists such as Betty Buckley, Alberto Mizrahi, George S. Irving, and composer/musician Anthony Newman. She can be heard on the recording of his world premiere opera, Nicole and the Trial of the Century. She is a composer/arranger of Jewish music and recently released an album of her original songs entitled Sing, Pray, Repeat! Susie collaborates with pianist Paul Dykstra in a concert of music by composers of the Theresienstadt ghetto in the Holocaust, which they recently performed in a benefit for the Virginia Holocaust Museum. Her music has been heard on Jewish Rock Radio. She met her husband, Ross Friedman, on a Mississippi riverboat cruise where she was an entertainer and he was the Chief Purser. Their greatest achievements are their beloved children, Abigail (9) and Zev (7).

Rose Guccione

Rose Guccione is an opera singer, actress, educator, and entrepreneur. Rose has sung extensively in the Chicagoland area (including 20 years at Lyric Opera of Chicago and ten productions with Chicago Folks Operetta), Europe, and South Africa. Her acting credits include Late Nite Catechism (ongoing at Greenhouse Theater Center), The Dinner Detective (ongoing at Chicago and Schaumburg locations), Alegrías y Lâígrimas (Instituto Cervantes de Chicago), Üfo (iO)!, The View Upstairs (Pride Films & Plays), Los Cálices Vacíos (Instituto Cervantes de Chicago), Lydia (The National Pastime Theater), Living Large in a Mini Kind of Way (16th Street Theatre), and several sketch comedy and improv shows with Salsation Theatre Company. Rose is a faculty member in the Theatre Arts & Music Department of Dominican University in River Forest, IL, where she teaches music and arts entrepreneurship courses. Her singing telegram company, OperaGram.com®, has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, on NBC5 Chicago, with radio legend John Landecker, and several other media outlets. Read more at RoseGuccione.com.

Tekla Schreiner-Witte

Tekla Schreiner-Witte is an 8th grader at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School. She studies Broadway Voice, Dance, and Improvisation at Ovation Academy of the Performing Arts as well as Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Broadway Dance, and Improvisation at Park District of Oak Park. She also sang in the choir at Whittier Elementary School. She has performed in numerous productions including Footloose, Matilda Jr, Bravo’s Best, Wish Upon A Star, The Mystery of Custodia, Dear Edwina Jr, and A Year With Frog and Toad Kids with Bravo Performing Arts; Junie B. Jones Jr, Broadway Kids, Fame Jr, Miley Chase The Science Ace, Shrek Jr, Annie Kids, Seussical Kids (twice), The Land of Forgotten Toys, The Little Mermaid Jr (twice), Fun House, Into The Woods Jr, Alice in Wonderland Jr, and The Aristocats Kids with Ovation Academy, and The Pirates of Penzance with Opera for the Young. She was also seen in a short documentary film, Open Doors: 606 Records. In her spare time, she likes to make crafts. She is very happy to play this wonderful role in such a beautiful opera!

Jeffrey Goldberg

With a voice praised as “rousing, full-throated,” and “ringing,” (San Diego Story), Southern California baritone Jeffrey Goldberg has performed the roles of Gugliemo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Dr. Falke and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Claudio in Berlioz’s Beatrice et Benedict, Bartolo and Antonio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Peter in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Simone in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Howard in the Chicago premiere of Dog Days by David T. Little, as well as several partial roles. He has also performed with Pacific Symphony in their Opera for Kids! productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. On the concert stage, he has performed as soloist in several beloved masterworks including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Voice and Opera, and Chapman University, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance.