Beyond the Ingenue: Trailblazers Artists
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Composers
Erin McConnell ("Here to Stay") is a music director, actor, composer, puppeteer, and arts educator working in the greater Madison area. With MTM she has played Bridget in Lizzie, the Red Queen in Alice, and Emma Parker in Bonnie and Clyde, as well as music directing 35MM and Nine. Favorite stage credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Yitzak/MPC), and Cabaret (Emcee/Out!Cast:StageQ). Favorite MD credits include Evil Dead (UT), Little Shop of Horrors (UT), The Rocky Horror Show (MTG/Out!Cast), and Spring Awakening (Renegade). She also enjoys teaching the next generation of artists through Girls Rock Camp Madison, Whoopensocker, and Memorial High School’s Drama Dept.
Evan Lange ("Here to Stay") is a music director, keyboard programmer, composer, and pianist in the Madison Area. Recent MD credits include Ten Days In A Madhouse (Asst. MD, MTM) The Little Mermaid (SPHS), Carrie (CCT), The Last Five Years (SPTG), Hedwig And The Angry Inch (MPC), On the Town (Asst. MD, CCT), Parade (Asst. MD, MPT), All Shook Up (MPT), and Cabaret (Out!Cast/StageQ).
Mark Wurzelbacher (“Homework,”) is a Madison-based music director, educator, and composer. With MTM he has music directed Indecent (also playing Moritz Godowsky and onstage accordion and ukulele), Hephaestus (also orchestrated), Little Miss Sunshine, The Puppet, A New Brain, Arlington, and Nightmare Alley. He has worked with numerous Madison-area organizations as a pianist and music director, including Children's Theater of Madison (Artistic Associate), Forward Theater, Theatre LILA, University Theater, Madison Opera, Fresco Opera, and Bower City Theatre. Before moving to Madison, Mark was the Resident Music Director for Windy City Music Theatre, a Chicago performing and educational company producing shows for youth and all-ages casts. Mark holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Organ Performance and Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Music Theory from UW-Madison. In addition to musical theatre projects, Mark maintains a large piano teaching studio. He is the composer and lyricist for The Puppet, a satirical operetta loosely in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan and based on a hypothetical future presidential election, which had a reading at Music Theatre of Madison in the fall of 2017.
Erica Berman (“Homework,”) is a playwright, director, & theater educator. Her plays have been produced at Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Four Seasons Theater, and Winnipesaukee Playhouse. She was commissioned to write the book for an original musical for Kohl’s Wild Theater at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Erica’s writing has been developed at Forward Theater, The Growing Stage: Children’s Theater of NJ, and Children's Theater of Madison. She has been a finalist for the Br!NK Residency Award (Renaissance Theaterworks), 21st Century Voices (American Stage), PLAYground Festival of Fresh Works (Purple Crayon Players), and New Plays for Young Audiences (NYU). She was awarded residency to the 2018 & 2019 National Winter Playwrights Retreat in Colorado. She was honored to co-author a song on the album “Women at War: Warrior Songs Volume 2,” which won the 2019 WAMI for Album of the Year.
Catherine Capellaro (“Tomorrow Will Be Different”) is a Madison-based writer and performer. She serves as the arts and culture editor for Isthmus, Madison’s alternative weekly newspaper (currently online). Together with composer Andrew Rohn she created Temps! The Musical, In the Beginning, and Walmartopia, which was a bestseller at the New York International Fringe Festival and went on to have a commercial Off Broadway run at the Minetta Lane Theater. The couple has also created more than 10 short musical comedies and numerous ensemble works with the Are We Delicious? troupe. Catherine is a vocalist and trumpeter with VO5, the award-winning disco/funk band and co-Jagger with Andrew in Loving Cup, a Rolling Stones tribute.
Andrew Rohn (“Tomorrow Will Be Different”) Andrew Rohn is a composer and performer. He wrote music and lyrics for several musicals with Catherine Capellaro, including Temps! The Musical, In the Beginning, and Walmartopia, which ran four months Off-Broadway. He plays keyboard, sings, and wears tight polyester pants with disco/funk band V05, and Stones tribute band Loving Cup, and performs original songs with duo The Passersby. He also accompanies improv troupe Monkey Business Institute, and has created music for Apple, The Onion, and countless dance and theater projects.
Jennifer Hedstrom ("The Young Are At The Gates" and "When There Are Nine") is an MTM Artistic Associate and currently working as composer and co-lyricist and MTM’s new musical Ten Days in A Madhouse, with playwright Karen Saari. She has also music directed Lizzie, A New Brain, La Cage Aux Folles, and Murder Ballad for MTM. A versatile musician with two degrees worth of formal studies, Jennifer has made a career in Madison as a singer-songwriter, composer, pianist, piano teacher, and music director. As a songwriter, Jennifer has self-released two full-length albums. In addition to her work with MTM, Jennifer has served as a teaching and performing artist for Girl’s Rock Camp, the Overture Center’s Lullaby Project, and Whoopensocker, and appeared as Nedra in Forward Theater’s Mr. Burns.
Lili Pierce (“Fly High") is a student at UW-Platteville pursuing her B.S. in Elementary Education with a minor in Musical Theatre. She’s excited to be working with MTM for the first time alongside her longtime friend, Allison Keller. Through A Broadway Kids Company, Lili has taken songwriting classes from Broadway actress Desi Oakley. Lili is grateful to Desi and all of her fellow students for always encouraging her to “fly dove, fly!” Outside of songwriting, Lili has performed with Platteville Pioneer Players and has received awards for her work on stage. She has loved portraying roles such as the Courier (1776), Johanna (Sweeney Todd), and Gremio (The Taming of the Shrew). Lili would like to extend love and thanks to the director of the listed productions Dr. Ann Dillon Farrelly, choreographer Connie SaLoutos Furlan, as well as all theatre and music instructors she’s had along the way. Besides theatre, Lili enjoys writing, drinking hot chocolate, and any time spent with young learners!
Allison Keller (“Fly High,” Music and Lyrics) is a fourth-year student at UW-Whitewater where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in instrumental and general music education. This is Allison’s first time working with MTM, and she has really enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with her longtime friend Lili Pierce on this project. Allison first found her passion for composing, performing, and teaching music while in middle school. Though music education has since become her main focus, she has continued to dabble in composition and songwriting. Outside of music, Allison enjoys reading, drinking coffee and tea, and doing jigsaw puzzles.
Autumn Maria Reed ("Something More") is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. She has performed double/electric bass with the Madison Community Orchestra, UW-BME, and UW-Waukesha String Orchestra. She released two EP albums and two singles including 2020's "You're *not #Woke." Autumn has composed library music with Milwaukee's The License Lab and incidental music Madison's KRASS Theatre. When she’s not composing, she keeps busy playing in community orchestras and ensembles in Wisconsin. Above all, she loves to spend time with her family and friends and tries to honor Her Grand Creator.
Meghan Rose ("Hold on Hawai'i) is a performer and composer living in New York City. Meghan relocated to NYC in 2016 and prior to that was active in Madison’s theater and music scenes as a music director, recording engineer and performer. She has composed music for five full-length musicals including MTM’s productions of Alice and Held, which was also performed at the New York Musicals Festival in 2018, and most recently Xena: Warrior Musical, a full-length musical based on the ‘90s television show. She has music on Spotify and other streaming sites under her own name and her two current bands: The Loud Soft Loud and Damsel Trash. Hobbies include staring blankly into space and asking her cats existential questions.
Abbey Monreal ("Masquerade") is a fourth-year student at UW-Eau Claire where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Music Education and a certificate in Fine Arts Administration. Abbey is thrilled and grateful to be working with MTM for her first time. Her piece “Water Music” for SSA choir, cello, and piano was performed at the 2017 Women’s Composers Festival of Hartford, Connecticut. This past summer, her piece “One Nation” for SATB divisi choir and piano was chosen as the winner for the emerging composers category in the MC3 Composition Contest and will be performed by choirs throughout Michigan. Abbey plans to continue composing throughout her career as a choral director.
Kathleen Leone (“Sights Set" ) is a composer, pianist, and actor recently moving back to Madison after finishing a BA in piano performance in Kansas. Kathleen grew up on the stage, performing with MTM for Sound of Music (Gretl) at age 9 as well as performing with CTM and various community theaters around Madison. While still dabbling in acting, she has made a transition from primarily actor to music director, conductor, and composer. She has previously composed individual pieces or full scores for Benedictine College’s productions of “Fuenteovejuna,” “Yaezakura,” and “The Ash Girl,” the third of which was recognized for Kathleen’s original score at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in January 2020. Kathleen is delighted at the opportunity to try composing in a different style and to work with MTM again.
Patrick Beckman ("Just Like Jayne") Patrick Beckman received his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music in Piano from the University of Illinois: Urbana. He has taught at Highland Community College, Rockford College, University of Illinois, and Aquin High School. His CDs of original piano music include Street Dance (MCI Recordings, Boston), American Scenes, Volume 1, American Scenes, Volume 2, (Con Brio Recordings, San Francisco) and Big Muddy with Grammy Award Winner Richard Stotzman (Navona Recording, Boston). In addition, his choral works have been performed in the United States and Europe. Mr. Beckman was also a soloist with the University of Wisconsin Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467.