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Return to Jewtopia
Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson (Playwrights) Four years ago, Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson we were two struggling actor/writers in Hollywood. Bryan was a prop comic doing 1:00 AM sets at the Improv pulling foot long plastic alligators out of his pants. Sam was a gopher for the Jeff Foxworthy Show getting daily phone calls from his mother saying, "We spent eighty grand for you to go to Northwestern and you're doing WHAT?!" 
Desperate to get a break, they came up with an idea to produce an industry one-act festival, where actors and writers could perform material to an audience of Hollywood agents, managers, casting directors and producers. For the festival, Sam and Bryan decided to write and perform an original scene. The scene - about a gentile guy who wanted to marry a Jewish girl so that he would never have to make another decision ¨C was the favorite of the night, and they felt that they were on to something special.
Jay Berkow (Director) Jay is the co-author and directed the Off-Broadway hit Jolson & CO. which ran for two seasons in NY and has received regional productions in Chicago, New Jersey, Cleveland, Buffalo, and at Miami’s Coconut Grove Playhouse. Jay has worked with Terrence McNally, John Kander and Fred Ebb as the director of the Off-Broadway revival of The Rink, as well as directing the Off-Broadway productions of Red Hot Mama and The Lady in Penthouse B with Tovah Feldshuh and Liz Callaway. Jay’s regional credits include Indiana Repertory, Theatre South Carolina, the Gateway Playhouse, Candlewood, Virginia Repertory, Connecticut Repertory, and many many others. South Florida audiences have enjoyed Jay’s productions for years at such theatres as the Coconut Grove Playhouse, American Stage, Florida Rep, Theatre Works, The Burt Reynolds Theatre, Riverside Theatre, and the Florida Jewish Theatre. As a playwright Jay is involved in the creation of numerous original works including The Cure for Love that will premiere at the Barter Theatre in Virginia this season, The Right to Privacy at Ensemble Studio Theatre and Sherwood Forest, a musical based on Robin Hood. His work What a Glorious Feeling opened at the Mason Street Warehouse Theatre and was selected for presentation by the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Jay serves as Director of Music Theatre Performance for Western Michigan University. For nine years Jay served as Producing Artistic Director for the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre in Iowa. He holds an MFA from Purdue University and a BA from Dartmouth College.
CAST:
 Brandon Beilis (Adam) Brandon has had extensive improvisational experience performing in NYC with several improv groups including Gotham City Improv’s Luigi Brothers, Meet Market, and Off The Top Of Our Heads. He has studied and performed with the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. He has been involved in voiceovers, commercials, and film in NYC. This marks Brandon’s professional theatrical debut . (Too late… you already paid for the ticket.)
 Bonnie Black (Arlene/Marcy) FST Debut! Theatre: Off and off-off Broadway (recently HB’s Holiday Plays Our First Christmas); residency with Adrian Hall’s Trinity Square Repertory Company; company membership with the Alley Theatre and Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival (notably The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby); guest artist roles with regional and stock theatres throughout the country (recently the one-woman show When Something Wonderful Ends) Television includes: Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order, several soaps, and films for PBS.
 Leanne Cabrera (Rachel) is thrilled to make her FST debut with Jewtopia. Her favorite regional roles include Luisa in The Fantasticks at Bristol Riverside Theatre, Liat in South Pacific at Sacramento Music Circus, and Eliza in The King and I at Millbrook Playhouse. New York theatre credits include The Fan Tan King, Ninja: The Musical, Gauguin, Dear Maudie, Itadakimasu, The Livin’ Dead, Cinderella, and Feng Shui Assassin. She also enjoys doing film/commercial/voice-over/print work.
 Jon Kohler (Dennis/Party Guy) Some of Jon’s more memorable roles include the shotgun wielding Coleman in the SE premiere of The Lonesome West, Boris in the Yiddish theater paean The Fishkin Touch and the vicious prison matron in Women Behind Bars. Jon is happy to be doing his first show at FST and considers himself a genius for figuring out that it’s better to winter in Florida than NY.
 Peter Levine (Rabbi/Irving) is happy to make his first appearance at Florida Studio Theatre. Off-Broadway, he has appeared in The Madwoman of Chaillot (with Anne Jackson, Alvin Epstein, Kim Hunter) and Tolstoy’s The Power of Darkness. Other New York credits include The Front Page (Walter Burns), and Brecht’s The Private Life of the Master Race. Regional credits include The Sunshine Boys (Willie Clark), Art (Mark), Angels in America (Roy Cohn), Indians (Buffalo Bill), Inherit the Wind (Brady), Barefoot in the Park (Velasco), and Death and the Maiden (Gerardo).
 Patrick Noonan (Chris) is excited to be making his FST debut with Jewtopia. He was last seen at The GEVA Theatre Center playing Howie Newsome in Our Town. A proud veteran of the longest running play in America, Patrick starred in over 1500 performances of Shear Madness. TV/ film credits include: Law and Order, Law and Order: CI, The Black Donnellys, Hope and Faith, Guiding Light, The Princess Diaries, and the soon to be released feature film Frame of Mind.
 Jessica Smolins (Crazy Jewish Girls) This is Jessica’s first show with Florida Studio Theatre. New York credits include Happy Hour at the Big Little Theatre and Summer’s Time as part of the Strawberry One Act Festival. She starred in the world premiere of Lacuna at the University of Texas, where Jessica holds a BA in Theatre. TV and radio credits include host of the Action Room on Illusion TV and a national Don’t Mess with Texas campaign.
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