This sexy, explosive rock musical explores the complications of love, the compromises we make, and the betrayals that can ultimately undo us. Murder Ballad centers on Sara, an uptown girl who seems to have it all, but whose downtown past lingers enticingly and dangerously in front of her. Murder Ballad, an Off-Broadway sensation at Manhattan Theatre Club, is a dark thriller with a razor’s edge.
Murder Ballad
Murder Ballad, an Off-Broadway sensation at Manhattan Theatre Club, is a dark thriller with a razor’s edge.
Murder Ballad, an Off-Broadway sensation at Manhattan Theatre Club, is a dark thriller with a razor’s edge.
Meet The Cast
Eric Gutman
Michael
Eric is thrilled to be returning to Detroit Public Theatre after the nearly sold-out runs of both his one-man show, “From Broadway to Obscurity” (2016 Wilde Award, Best One Person Show) and “Murder Ballad”. Eric has previously performed in “Hedwig…” on guitars and bass with Breathe Art Theatre Project and The Ringwald Theatre (also as MD). When not in Detroit, Eric tours with Under the Streetlamp, a retro rock and roll experience celebrating music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond. Broadway/National Tours: Jersey Boys; Off-Broadway: Forbidden Broadway, Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Thank you to Courtney, Sarah and Sarah Clare for continuing to collaborate with me in so many ways and for bringing relevant and important art to the city. My involvement in this show is dedicated to my wife, who would never allow me turn down an opportunity to play this amazing show. IG: @theguter or @underthestreetlamp
Arianna Bergamaschi
Sara
Arianna is thrilled to make her USA theatre debut with DPT. Arianna is an Italian singer, stage actress, TV personality and musical theatre performer. She began her career at the age of 14 as the official Italian Disney singer and TV endorser. Since then she hasn’t stopped releasing pop albums and being featured in theatre and TV shows in her native Italy. Her favorites theatre credits are Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Romeo and Juliet, Pinocchio, Three’s Company, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2013 Arianna reached #5 on the USA dance chart and had over 30 million views on Youtube with the song Sexy People, featuring world famous rapper Pitbull. She is the only Italian artist who has collaborated with such an eclectic array of international artists as Pitbull, Michael Bolton, Il Volo, Shaggy, Will I Am and FloRida.
Arielle Crosby
Narrator
Arielle Crosby, a native Detroiter, has graced stages across the globe from Palau de Música in Barcelona to Carnegie Hall in New York. Last seen at Detroit Public Theatre as The Narrator in Murder Ballad, she is thrilled to FINALLY return to and spend the holiday with DPT. Other theatre credits include: Motown the Musical national tour (featured ensemble/Diana Ross u/s), Memphis (Mason Street Warehouse), Ain’t Misbehavin (The Encore Theatre), Twelfth Night and Romeo & Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Keep up with her at ariellecrosby.com!Previous DPT Work
Rusty Mewha
Tom
Rusty Mewha is thrilled to be working with Detroit Public Theatre for the first time. He has been working on stage and screen in Southeast Michigan for the last ten years. He most recently was seen in Morning’s at Seven at the Purple Rose Theatre, where he is a Resident Artist. He also performs regularly at Meadow Brook Theatre, and has worked with Water Works Theatre Company, The Encore Musical Theatre, JET, Detroit Repertory Theatre, and Two Muses Theatre. He also works in feature film and TV, commercial and industrial film, as well as voice over.
Meet The Creative Team
Courtney Burkett
Director
Courtney’s DPT directing credits include Cry It Out, Marie and Rosetta, Murder Ballad (Wilde Award Nomination: Best Musical; It’s All Theatre: Best of Season), American Hero, and the touring production of Detroit ‘67. Courtney played Laurie in DPT’s production of Pipeline. Prior to co-founding DPT, Courtney spent five years as Director of Theatre Programs at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, where she trained and mentored hundreds of young actors. Directing credits at Mosaic include The Tempest, Candide, Hastings Street, Lil Ham, and The Crucible. Before Mosaic, Courtney was a founding artistic partner with Breathe Art Theatre Project, where she directed and produced many productions and appeared in boom (Winner: The Rogue Critic Best Supporting Actress). Courtney spent two years working at the University of Michigan as the managing director of the CRLT Players. In that position, she oversaw 50 applied theatre performances annually on campuses throughout the country. Courtney also served as the business manager for the University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company. While at UDM, Courtney taught in the Department of Theatre and directed and performed in Theatre Company productions. Courtney is a fourth generation native Detroiter. She received her BFA from Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts and her MFA from Wayne State’s Hilberry Theatre program.
Jamie Reed
Music Director
Jamie is an accomplished music director, pianist, arranger, and vocal coach. Jamie holds a music degree in piano performance from Western Michigan University. Music director credits include: Cabaret, Evita, Altar Boyz, Next To Normal, Shrek, Rent, West Side Story, The Last Five Years, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Lippa’s The Wild Party. National Tour credits: Wicked, Book of Mormon, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, and Fiddler on the Roof. After a brief stint in New York, Jamie switched gears to international music directing for Holland America Cruise Line. Jamie is currently music directing in the Detroit Metro area, where she is resident music director for Mason Street Warehouse in Saugatuck, director of music for Orchard UMC, and a vocal coach at Oakland University.
Cecilia Durbin
Lighting Designer
At DPT: Marie and Rosetta, Murder Ballad, Sex with Strangers; Other Designs: Sense & Sensibility, Love Alone (Playmakers Rep); South Pacific (Triad Stage); Disgraced (Portland Stage Co & Hangar Theatre); The Taming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theatre); Sex & Other Disturbances (Portland Stage Co), The Little Red Fish (NYC Children’s Theatre), All Shook Up, On Golden Pond (New London Barn Playhouse); Hyena (La MaMa, Edinburgh Fringe, United Solo [Best Lighting]); In the Blood (Theatre Horizon [Barrymore nomination]); Martyrs, Don’t Feed the Indians, Amy Surratt’s First & Last (Show) (La Mama); Stranger from Paradise (Opera Omaha); The Life Model (On the Boards); Numb (Goat in the Road Productions, JACK); Lust (HERE Arts Center); Measure for Measure (Epic Theatre Ensemble); We Are Proud to Present a Presentation…(InterAct Theatre), A Soldier’s Tale (The Bushwick Starr/The Puppet Kitchen). MFA from NYU; member USA 829. www.durbinlighting.com
Monika Essen
Scenic Designer
Moníka Essen is an award-winning, nationally recognized artist and designer. The recipient of the prestigious Lawrence DeVine Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre, she studied interior architecture and Environmental Design at Parsons School of Design NYC and received her MFA in scenography from the renowned Hilberry Repertory Co. Ms. Essen has designed countless productions in theatre, opera and film, and is currently the Resident Designer at the Michigan Opera Theatre, where she has just recently designed their highly acclaimed productions of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and “Frida”, which also just made its debut at the Florida Grand Opera, and will be traveling to The Atlanta Opera in October. Other local favorites include “The Foursome,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, and “The Impossibilty of Now” at Tipping Point Theatre, and “Murder Ballad” and “American Hero” here at Detroit Public Theatre. Additionally, she creates furniture, museum exhibits, interiors and full sensory, multimedia environments for residential and commercial clients, including the Detroit Zoo. All her design work can be viewed at www.studioepoque.com
Katherine Nelson
Costume Designer
Katherine has been stage managing with Detroit Public Theatre since its inaugural season, with highlights including the coproduction of Detroit ’67 with Baltimore Center Stage and the world premiere of Birthday Candles. They have also stage managed with the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts and Chautauqua Theater Company. Additionally, Katherine is a costume designer. Recent Off-Broadway design at The New Victory Theatre (Riddle of the Trilobites). In addition to design credits with Detroit Public Theatre, regional designs include shows with Purple Rose Theatre Company, Flint Youth Theatre, Flint Repertory Theatre (Wilde Award nomination: Best Costume Design, Riddle of the Trilobites), Tipping Point Theatre, Williamston Theatre, and the Wharton Center. They are a graduate of the Purple Rose Theatre Company apprenticeship program. Katherine is a proud member and National Councilor of Actors’ Equity Association. www.knelsondesigns.com.
Jill Dion
Choreographer
Jill Dion is a Wayne State alumna and a graduate of the Moscow Art Theatre School (MXT). Jill was a member of the only English-speaking class to participate in a four year program at MXT. While in Moscow she studied movement under Andrei Droznin and his protege Natalia Fedorova and is currently teaching their method in the Theatre and Dance Department at Wayne State. She is a founding member of Studio Six Theatre Company and has performed all over the world. Jill also works as the Artistic Director for Wayne State’s musical theatre outreach program, Motor City Cabaret, and is the Program Director of the “Month in Moscow” study abroad program. You can see her in commercials, and on film and TV.
Chris Corporandy
Dialect Coach
Chris was most recently seen in DPT’s productions of Birthday Candles as well as Dot. A graduate of the Hilberry Repertory Theater at Wayne State Univeristy (Translations, Side Man, The Master Builder), Chris has worked regionally in Buffalo; Atlanta, at Actors’ Express (recipient of the Suzi Bass Award for Supporting Actor, The Judas Kiss); Minneapolis; San Francisco; in New York (Cherry Lane, The Public, ARS Nova); and Chautauqua Theater Company . Chris also works extensively as a voice, speech, and dialect coach (DPT, Tipping Point Theatre, Hilberry Theatre, Alliance Theater, Chautauqua Theater Co) and is on faculty at Wayne State University and College for Creative Studies. BFA Acting -NYU/Tisch, MFA Acting – WSU/Hilberry, Moscow Art Theatre School, Trinity College Dublin. Certified Teacher/Coach of Knight-Thompson Speech Work. Member of Actors’ Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and VASTA.
Julia Jordan
Book & Lyrics
Musicals: Murder Ballad (book and lyrics); Sarah, Plain and Tall (book); The Mice (book, 1 act of Hal Prince’s 3hree). Plays: Boy, Tatjana in Color, St. Scarlet, Smoking Lesson, Dark Yellow, Astrological Quit Claim Deeds, Jones. The Kleban Award for librettist, Francesca Primus Prize, Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship, Manhattan Theatre Club Fellowship, Jonathan Larson Award, Heideman Award and two time LeComte Nouy Award, AT&T OnStage Award, The American Spirit Award, three times shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Her work has been produced at Primary Stages, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, SoHo Rep, McCarter Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Prince Music Theater, Ahmanson, Studio Dante, Wellfleet, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Salt Lake Acting Company and The American Theater, among others. Her plays have been developed at Sundance, The O’Neill, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playlabs at the Minneapolis Playwrights Center, Cleveland Playhouse, among others. Jordan is one of the founders of The Lilly Awards and is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.
Juliana Nash
Music & Lyrics
Juliana Nash was the rhythm guitarist and singer-songwriter for the band Talking to Animals, which was signed to Columbia and Velvel Records. Her work has been featured in films such as Rob Morrow’s Maze and Eric Schaeffer’s Fall. She is the proud recipient of an MTC/Sloan commission. She is the co-lyricist and composer for Murder Ballad, which was produced at the Manhattan Theater Club in their 2012-13 season and then transferred to the Union Square Theater in the spring of 2013. Murder Ballad was nominated for five Lortel Awards including outstanding musical, Drama League for outstanding musical and the Outer Critics Circle for best musical. Juliana is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and BMI and would like to thank both organizations for their support.
Meet The Band
Jeff Sugamosto
Guitar
Jeff has performed at local theaters for the last several years and is thrilled to be playing again in From Broadway To Obscurity. Previous shows include The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Evil Dead The Musical, Legally Blonde, Rent, and tick, tick… BOOM!
Mike Shriver
Bass
Mike is excited to perform with the band for the Detroit Public Theatre’s Murder Ballad. Mike has performed at community theatres across Metro Detroit in musicals such as Shrek, Mary Poppins, Legally Blond, 9 to 5, and many others. More recently, Mike performed in the supporting band for the one-man musical From Broadway to Obscurity. He began his musical career as a trumpet player, but was drawn to the bass guitar at an early age and has been playing bass for over 20 years. When not performing in musicals, you can find Mike playing in local bands such as the Stardust Big Band, Swingshift jazz band and the Classics rock band.
Shawn Neal
Drums
Shawn began his interest in drumming at the age of five, when he slipped away from his parents at a music festival and was eventually found camped out behind Juice Newton’s drum kit. After being grounded, he later went on to study and play drums professionally on multiple tours, recordings, and musical productions, including From Broadway to Obscurity and Murder Ballad at Detroit Public Theatre. He is currently the co-founder and creative director of Woodshed Agency, where his work as a cinematographer has been featured in the documentary films Boy Howdy! The Story of CREEM Magazine, Being Satori Circus, and Under The Radar Michigan. He is thrilled to have once again wandered off from his daily life to find himself behind the drum kit, performing his favorite musical of all time at Detroit Public Theatre.
