JDT Lab: The Violin Maker

Brittany Baratz is a New York City based actor and singer. Originally from Gaithersburg, MD, her career has taken her to 46 out of 50 of the U.S. States and also abroad to the Spring of Culture Festival in Bahrain. Theatre includes: Rose in The Secret Garden (Theatre Under the Stars, The 5^th Avenue Theatre, and Shakespeare Theatre Company), Alice in Alice Adams (Atlas Performing Arts Center), Mrs. Anderssen in A Little Night Music (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Man of La Mancha (Inspire Theatre), 1776 (Olney Theatre Center), Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti (Inscape Orchestra), Hope Cladwell in Urinetown! (Kay Theatre), Balthazar in Romeo & Juliet (Kentucky Shakespeare), Mom in Knuffle Bunny (John F. Kennedy Center/US Tour/International Tour), Squirrelle in Elephant & Piggie, Andromache in Trojan Women, Broadway Today! With Stephen Schwartz (John F. Kennedy Center) and Some Enchanted Evening concert (Carnegie Hall). Television includes: Mr. Robot (USA Network), Who the [Bleep] Did I Marry? (TLC), and Capturing Grace (PBS). Semi-finalist of the 2019 Lotte Lenya Competition. She is an alumna of The University of Maryland, College Park, the T. Schreiber Acting Conservatory in NYC, and studied abroad as a Young Artist with the Opera Music and Theater Festival of Lucca, Italy. Instagram: @brittanybaratz

Hannah is overjoyed to be working on The Violin Maker. Regional: Bye Bye Birdie (Goodspeed). BFA in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University. Many thanks and all my love to Amanda. Hannah is actively seeking representation in New York City.

Matt Deitchman is an actor, music director, composer/orchestrator, and multi-instrumentalist who most recently was seen in the world premiere of August Rush directed by John Doyle (Paramount Theatre, IL). Other regional credits include work with: Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Writers Theatre, Marriott Theatre-Lincolnshire, Chicago Children's Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Co. (D.C.), Asolo Repertory Theatre (Sarasota, FL). Graduate: Northwestern University. @mattydeitch

Recently honored with the Connecticut Critics Circle award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, for his portrayal of Jud Fry; in the Goodspeed Musicals production of Oklahoma! Mr. Faucher will be taking on the role again at The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera this summer. A graduate of the Hartt School with a BFA in Acting and vocal student of Scott Flaherty, Matt has also traveled the world singing the music of Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons with his singing group The Garden State Guys. 

Broadway: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. National Tour: Beautiful. Off–Broadway: The Threepenny Opera (Macheath, Drama Desk nomination), I Am Harvey Milk at Avery Fisher Hall, Chekhov Dreams (Eddie). Regional: The Muny, Goodspeed Musicals, Paper Mill Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Asolo Rep, Olney Theatre Center, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Flat Rock Playhouse and Monomoy Theatre. Love to Brit. Follow: @the_fauch, @MatthewFaucher. 

Jeffrey Eugene Johnson -  Dreamgirls South Korea (Wayne/Curtis cover). National Tour: Ragtime (Booker T. Washington) Regional: Producers (Papermill Playhouse/John Engeman Theatre/ Theatre by the Sea), Ragtime (Westchester Broadway Theatre), Pal Joey (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), Hairspray (Florida Studio Theatre), Joseph... Dreamcoat (Broadway Palm), To Kill a Mockingbird (Bristol Valley Theatre), The Color Purple (White Plains PAC), Beauty and the Beast ( Theatre by the Sea/Forestburgh Playhouse). Endless love and gratitude to the creative team, SW Artists, and his family and friends!

Joy Hermalyn has made her career as a crossover artist with successes in opera, operetta and musical theatre.  Her operatic soprano debut as Minnie in Fanciulla del West with Utah Festival Opera alternated with performing Abigail Adams in 1776 during the same season. Joy has performed throughout the country in many opera productions including Madame Butterfly, Faust, Tannhauser, Il Trittico, Fledermaus, Hansel and Gretel, Postman Always Rings Twice, Trouble in Tahiti, The Crucible and G&S’s Pirates, Mikado and Pinafore.  Joy’s diverse credits range from NBC’s Sound of Music Live! with Carrie Underwood to Live from Lincoln Center with the NY Philharmonic to performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in NY. Appearances on Broadway and off include: Fiddler on the Roof, Cyrano, Candide, A Christmas Carol, Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme, Death Takes a Holiday, numerous Encores! Productions at City Center, and she has won or been nominated for the Broadway World Best Actress in a Musical award numerous times. Joy’s favorite regional roles include Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Rose in Gypsy, Witch in Into the Woods, Arlene in Baby, Widow Corney in Oliver, and the Wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast. Joy teaches and coaches voice and audition technique at Yale University and Kean University, as well as maintaining a private studio in NY/NJ/Skype. In demand around the country for her solo concert/master classes entitled “Recipe for Crossover."

Off Broadway: Attack of the Elvis Impersonators(The Lion Theatre)Regional credits: Ursula in Sweet Charity, Lina Lamont in Singin in the Rain, Erma in Anything Goes, Doralee Rhodes in 9 to 5, Demeter in Cats, Cabaret, Serena in Legally Blonde(The Marriott Theatre), Tommy(Paramount Theatre),Ensemble/Jovie cover in Elf the Musical(Arvada Center), Delee in Smokey Joe's Cafe(The New Theatre Company), Sally in Cabaret, Charity in Sweet Charity(Timber Lake Playhouse). Commercial work: KFC Couchgating, Extreme Energy, Denver Zoo.

Will Porter is thrilled to be performing again!!!  What a gift!  Many thanks to Guild Hall and Amanda Joshi for this opportunity.  He was last seen at Guild Hall in the staged reading of "The Violin Maker.”  Previous credits include:  Bells Are Ringing (Off-Bway), CATS, A Chorus Line (Nat’l Tour), Berkshire Theatre Group, McCarter Theatre Center, The MUNY, North Shore Music Theatre, Theatre Under The Stars, The Fulton Theatre, and more.  Will is currently the Choreographer/Associate Director of “Never Sleep Alone” aboard the brand spankin’ new cruise ship The Scarlet Lady for Virgin Voyages… a voyage that, last February, sailed from Genoa Italy, across the Atlantic Ocean, and into a global pandemic!  He is cautiously looking forward to returning to the ship and resuming rehearsals in July.  This fall, Will is headed to Kansas City to pursue his MFA in Acting at the University of Missouri Kansas City/KC Rep.

Alex is thrilled to take a break from serving tables to be a part of “The Violin Maker”! After spending four years as a company member with the Sacramento Ballet, Alex hung up his ballet shoes to pursue a career in theatre. Theatrical credits include Oklahoma!, Oliver!, A Connecticut Christmas Carol (Goodspeed Musicals), Elf: The Musical! (National Tour), Pirates of Penzance, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady (PCPA), Nice Work… Get It, Boeing Boeing(Summer Rep. Theatre). Alex is also very excited to begin rehearsals in July for Annie as Bert Healy with North Carolina Theatre! Training includes the Pacific Conservatory Theatre, School of the Sacramento Ballet, Boston Ballet School. He is also a co-host of the “Nobodies in New York Podcast” with his brother and partner in crime, Timothy (available on iTunes, Google Play or Spotify). Love to the whole Stewart Clan and KMR Talent.

Jake Swain: Broadway: Mean Girls (Tyler Kimble, u/s Aaron Samuels). Regional: Oklahoma! (Will Parker) & Bye Bye Birdie (Harvey Johnson) at Goodspeed Opera House. National Tour: Elf the Musical. BFA in Acting, BYU. TV: Hysterical Women. Film: Cosmos Sisters, Zombied, Now Again, Nosebleeds.www.jake-
swain.com. IG: @jacobmonte

Michael Yeshion is a New York City based actor and singer and photographer, by way of Tampa, FL. Recent performing credits include Peron in Evita and Saunders in Lend me a Tenor (Resident Theatre Company), Bill Sykes in Oliver! (Forestburgh Playhouse), Major Holmes in The Secret Garden (Cincinnati Playhouse/Baltimore Centerstage & Lucille Lortel), Mother in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Sanford Meisner Theatre), Evita (North Shore Music Theatre), Duke/Carrasco in Man of La Mancha (Triad Stages), 110 in the Shade (Ford's Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Lucille Lortel), Trojan Women: Voices from Afghanistan (John F. Kennedy Center), and singing with the Muppets at Carnegie Hall. TV: Celebrity Ghost Stories, True Crimes with Aphrodite Jones, Mysteries at the Museum. He can also be seen on a variety of successful webisodes for Collegehumor.com, which have a collective six million views on YouTube. As a photographer, Michael frequently captures Broadway, Opera and Movie Stars, business executives, million dollar real estate listings, weddings, and more. Michael holds a BFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University. Instagram: @michaelyeshionphotography 

Steve’s many awards in composition include the Bearns Prize, Fulbright and Tanglewood Fellowships and National Endowment for the Arts Award. Among his extensive list of performances are 3 operas produced in NYC. The New York Times’ writes of Tibetan Dreams “it’s score…is lovely and rich… …the work charts its own path in musical language. Dickman has found a way to make East meet West.”  Steve’s music has been recorded on Opus One, CRI and New World Records labels. Steve’s worldwide travels, and musical studies in India powerfully impact his compositions. Steve was Managing Director of the Music Festival of the Hamptons and Pianofest. Steve founded “Composers of the East End”, a music series featuring composers living on the East End of Long Island.

As composer/orchestrator: Broadway: Sylvia, War Horse (Best Play) (MD). Off-B'way: Shakespeare in the Park: As You Like It w/Steve Martin (Drama Desk nom.), Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night; other: The Government Inspector, School for Scandal, Pericles. Regional: The Secret Garden (libr. David Ives), In a Lake of Fire (Moss Hart Award). Film (orch.): Manhattan Nocturne, The Wildest Dream, Flying Monsters 3D (BAFTA winner). TV (co-comp.): Life, Blood in the Water (Discovery, Shark Week), Hunting the Edge of Space (Nova). Podcast themes for Audible; orch. themes for IMAX, CBS News, Golf Channel.