Cyrano Cast and Creative Team

CAST

PETER DINKLAGE* (Cyrano) Theatre credits include A Month in the Country (Classic Stage Company); Uncle Vanya, Richard lll (Public); and Things We Want (New Group). Film and television: 8 seasons as Tyrion Lannister in the award-winning Game of Thrones (Emmy Awards, Golden Globe); X Men: Days of Future Past; The Station Agent; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Avengers: Infinity War. Upcoming films include HBO's My Dinner With Herve and Reed Morano's I Think We're Alone Now.

HALEY BENNETT* (Roxanne) A natural talent, with a striking presence, Haley Bennett is quickly establishing herself as one of Hollywood's most dynamic actresses. Her upcoming credits include The Red Sea Diving Resort for STX and the independent film Swallow. Bennett’s past credits include Thank You For Your Service; The Girl on the Train opposite Emily Blunt; Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven opposite Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt; Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply; The Equalizer opposite Denzel Washington and Chloe Grace Moretz; Gregg Araki's Cannes darling Kaboom; Sleepwalking in the Rift, a series of vignettes directed by Cary Fukunaga; Marley and Me, directed by David Frankel; Arcadia Lost opposite Carter Jenkins and Academy-Award-Nominee Nick Nolte; and in Shekhar Kapur's short film Passages opposite Lily Cole and Julia Stiles, which premiered to critical acclaim at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. Bennett made her on screen debut opposite Draw Barrymore and Hugh Grant in the Marc Lawrence-directed film Music and Lyrics.

BLAKE JENNER* (Christian) Audiences can next see Jenner in American Animals, starring alongside Evan Peters, Ann Dowd, and Barry Keoghan. Jenner’s writing debut, the independent feature Billy Boy in which he also stars, is directed by Bradley Buecker (American Horror Story) and premiered at Austin’s Fantastic Fest. Jenner starred in the critically-acclaimed feature The Edge of Seventeen opposite Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson for legendary producer Jim Brooks. He also appeared alongside Logan Lerman in Sidney Hall for Academy Award-winning director Shawn Christensen. Jenner was the lead in Richard Linklater’s (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused) feature Everybody Wants Some!!.

TOM RIIS FARRELL* (Ragueneau, Cadet, Ensemble) Broadway: Chicago, Coram Boy, Dirty Blonde (Hayes Award), Wrong Mountain, 1776. Off-Broadway: Disaster!, Caucasian Chalk Circle with Christopher Lloyd, A.R. Gurney's The Old Boy, Arturo Ui with Al Pacino, Li'l Abner (Encores!). Regional: Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Rag and Bone (Long Wharf); Betty's Summer Vacation (Bay Street), Circle Mirror Transformation with Sandy Duncan (George Street), Once in a Lifetime (Williamstown). TV: Rise, Mr. Robot, Nurse Jackie, Crossbones, Elementary, The Americans, Good Wife, Fringe, Brotherhood, seven Law & Orders. Film: Ask for Jane, Future '38, Lullaby, That Awkward Moment, Bourne Legacy, Stepford Wives, Almost Famous, Out-of-Towners, Devil's Advocate, Sleepless in Seattle, Scent of a Woman.

DAMON J. GILLESPIE* (Le Bret, Ensemble) is thrilled to finally get to perform at the legendary Goodspeed! Broadway: Newsies, Aladdin. Other: In The Heights (PCLO), Dear Evan Hansen, West Side Story (Carnegie Hall), The Prom, The Good Swimmer. TV: Rise, the Emmy-winning “Girl You Don’t Need Makeup” skit on Inside Amy Schumer. For: CCPA, CCA, Gray, Mom, Grace, Robin, Family, the Bros. “Please Enjoy.” Leviticus 19:18 Damonjgillespie.com

PATRICK KERR* (Jodelet, Priest, Ensemble) just finished doing the Broadway revival of Travesties for the Roundabout. Other Broadway credits include You Can’t Take It With You and The Ritz. Off-Broadway credits include work at Playwright’s Horizons, New York Theater Workshop, B.A.M., and others. He has done a lot of TV and had recurring roles on Frasier and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

LAITH NAKLI* (DeGuiche, Ensemble) is a Syrian actor/writer and graduate of the William Esper Studio Professional Actor Training Program, where he studied with Joel Rooks and William Esper. Stage debut: War, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Other credits: Cry of the Reed (Huntington); Inana (Denver Center); Aftermath, Food & Fadwa (NYTW); Lidless (Page 73). His first play, Shesh Yak, premiered at the Off-Broadway Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Laith's full length feature film, The Syrian, goes into production this Fall. Film credits: Swallow, 12 Strong, The Wall, The Visitor, Arranged, Sam & Amira.... TV: The Long Road Home, 24-Legacy, Inside Amy Schumer, Blindspot, The Blacklist, Third Watch, The Sopranos.

GAYLE SAMUELS* (Chaperone, Mother Marthe, Ensemble) Broadway: Children of a Lesser God, Sunset Boulevard, Grind, Dancin’. Off -Broadway: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
(Metropolitan Opera), Sistas (Gloria), Little Shop of Horrors (Ronnette), The Dark Star From Harlem (Josephine Baker). Regional: Fences (Rose), Seven Guitars (Louise), The Sunshine Boys (Nurse O’Neill), Crowns (Wanda), Beehive (Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin), Chess. National/ International Tours: Little House On the Prairie, Sophisticated Ladies, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Harry Belafonte. TV/Film: Bull, Madam Secretary, The Americans, The Class, Twenty Good Years, Cupid, Black Nativity, Equity, Honeybee, The Tides That Bind. Best Actress Nominee - Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Connecticut Critics Circle).

CLAIRE SAUNDERS* (Orange Girl, Sister Claire, Ensemble) Goodspeed debut! Claire is thrilled to be part of this stunning piece. Off-Broadway: Marry Harry (York Theatre), Errol and Fidel (NYMF, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (NY Classical Theatre). Regional: The Wolves (#8), Pirates of Penzance (Daughter), In the Heights (Vanessa), The Wild Party (Queenie). Film: The Intern (Warner Bros), That Night The Night (Goocher Prod). Proud Carnegie Mellon alum. Love to her amazing team at Nani/Saperstein. Love to the entire Cyrano team. And special shout out to batch, mom, and my people (you know who you are) for their unending love and support. Matthew 5:15

CHARLIE THURSTON* (Montgomery, Carbon, Ensemble) is an actor and playwright who splits his time between NYC and Providence, RI, where he’s been a member of the resident acting company at Trinity Rep since 2013. There, he most recently starred as Tateh in the musical Ragtime. He has also performed in theatres across the country, including The Williams Project, Fault Line Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Baltimore Centerstage, Chautauqua Theater Company, Riverside Theatre, and Redmoon Theatre. You can see him on screen shortly in the film Life, Itself. He holds an MFA from Brown/Trinity Rep.

CREATIVE TEAM

ERICA SCHMIDT (Director, Adaptation) Directing credits include Richard II with Robert Sean Leonard (The Old Globe); All the Fine Boys (The New Group, wrote the play and directed); Turgenev’s A Month in the Country with Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling (Classic Stage Company); Dennis Kelly’s Taking Care of Baby (Manhattan Theatre Club); Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s I Call My Brothers and the Obie Award winning Invasion! (both for The Play Company); Humor Abuse (Manhattan Theatre Club; also co-creator/writer; Lucille Lortel Award); Rent (Tokyo); Moliere’s Imaginary Invalid, Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Sorcerer, and Copland’s The Tender Land (all at Bard Summer Scape); Carnival (The Paper Mill Playhouse); Gary Mitchell’s Trust (The Play Company, Callaway Award nominee); As You Like It (The Public Theater/NYSF; New York International Fringe Festival Winner for Best Direction); Debbie Does Dallas (wrote the adaptation and directed Off-Broadway for The Araca Group). Princess Grace Award recipient 2001.

AARON DESSNER (Music) is a New York based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer, best known as a member of the Grammy Award-winning rock band The National and Big Red Machine with Justin Vernon. Dessner has also made a name for himself as an influential producer, working with some of the most talented and respected musicians in the rock world. He co-founded and curates the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Wisconsin, Haven in Copenhagen, and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, which took place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2012 and 2013. He is also a co-curator of the bi-annual Boston Calling Music Festival.

BRYCE DESSNER (Music) Bryce Dessner is an American composerand guitarist based in Paris. He has won Grammy Awards both as a classical composer and as guitarist and arranger in The National, whose latest album won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. As a classical composer, he is in demand from the finest international ensembles and institutions of today, from Ensemble Intercontemporain to the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, and Carnegie Hall. Dessner collaborates across multiple art forms and musical genres and has worked with some of the world's most creative and respected artists, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Paul Simon, Kelley O'Connor, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Justin Peck, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Dessner co-founded and curates four international festivals: MusicNOW in Cincinnati; HAVEN in Copenhagen; Sounds from a Safe Harbour in Cork, and P-E-O-P-L-E.com

MATT BERNINGER (Lyrics) is the frontman and lyricist for indie rock bands The National and EL VY.

CARIN BESSER (Lyrics) has been co-writing lyrics for indie rock band The National since their 2007 album Boxer. She also edited and co-produced the documentary Mistaken for Strangers.

JEFF & RICK KUPERMAN (Choreography) Choreography credits include A$AP Rocky’s Lab Rat, Phish at Madison Square Garden, The Count of Monte Cristo (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Broadway Asia’s immersive Peter Pan (Beijing), Orpheus in the Berkshires (Williamstown), Beardo (Pipeline), and The Light Princess (A.R.T./New Victory, NY Times Critics' Pick). As directors: Smile (New York International Fringe Festival), Roll! (Ars Nova), The 39 Steps (PST), and Dispossessed (HERE). Their film work has screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, HollyShorts, and online on Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and The Huffington Post. Upcoming: writing and directing a new TV series for Adaptive Studios. The brothers are third degree black belts in Kenpo Karate. Undergrad: Princeton and Harvard. kupermanbrothers.com

OLIVIER MANCHON (Music Supervisor) French born multi-instrumentalist Olivier Manchon was in the original Broadway production of Spring Awakening and concertmaster on the 2017 Broadway show Groundhog Day. Olivier's other life is in film scoring, including ABC's, and many docs including the beloved one about Ricky Jay. He has arranged for Sufjan Stevens, Joan Osborne, Van Dyke Parks, Clare and the Reasons, Stephane Wrembel, and many more. Played or recorded with The National, She and Him, Belle and Sebastian, Shawn Mendes, Lenny Kravitz, Pete Townshend, My Brightest Diamond, Lionel Loueke, and others. Olivier lives in Kingston, NY with his wife Clare and their two kids, Gustave and Ernestine.

CHRISTINE JONES (Scenic Design) Broadway credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Tony Award), Old Times, Hands on a Hardbody, On a Clear Day, American Idiot (Tony Award), Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), The Green Bird (Drama Desk Nomination), Everyday Rapture. Other highlights: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End, Olivier Award), Coraline (MCC), The Book of Longing (Lincoln Center Festival), Close To You: Bacharach Reimagined (New York Theatre Workshop, London). Opera: Rigoletto (Metropolitan Opera), The Elephant Man (Minnesota), Lucia de Lammermoor (New York City Opera), and Giulio Cesare (Houston Grand). Christine is the Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed Theatre for One.

AMY RUBIN (Scenic Design) is a designer of environments for theatre, opera, dance, and live events. Upcoming: Thom Pain (Signature), Gloria (Daryl Roth Theatre). Recent credits: Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons); All The Fine Boys (The New Group); Acquanetta (Prototype); Mönster Outside (Sidra Bell Dance); Aging Magician (BMP); Quiet, Comfort (Hoi Polloi); Ike at Night (UnderTheRadar); The Wholehearted (Stein/Holum Projects); Mahagonny/Medium (Philadelphia Opera/Curtis). She creates interactive events for Nickelodeon and MTV. Her design work has been at Playwrights Horizons, The Public, New Victory Theater, Baryshnikov Arts Center, La Jolla, Walker Arts Center, MASSMoCA, Z Space, Bushwick Starr, HERE, The Flea, Cherry Lane, 3LD. www.amycrubin.com

ANDREA LAUER (Costume Design) Selected design credits include Broadway’s American Idiot and Bring It On, The Musical. Other recent Off-Broadway work: Eve Ensler’s Fruit Trilogy, The Boy Danced on Air, and the upcoming World Premiere of Todd Solondz’s Emma and Max. Andrea has worked internationally as a production designer, most recently with The London Philharmonic, Shakespeare’s Globe, and the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s 50th Birthday Extravaganza for the city of Liverpool. She also works in the field of wearable electronics, owns a jumpsuit company, and is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow as an artist, designer, and inventor.

JEFF CROITER (Lighting Design) Goodspeed: More than a dozen shows over the last twenty years. Broadway: Bandstand, Falsettos, Holiday Inn, Something Rotten, Disaster, Penn & Teller, Newsies, Peter and the Starcatcher, Mothers and Sons, A Time to Kill, Soul Doctor, Jekyll and Hyde, The Anarchist, The Performers, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Next Fall, Kiki & Herb. Off-Broadway includes Smokey Joe’s Café, Jerry Springer Opera, Tiny Beautiful Things, Cost of Living, Sweet Charity, Head of Passes, Ordinary Days, Last Five Years. Other: Big Apple Circus, Penn & Teller in Las Vegas, Muller Works. Jeff received Tony, Hewes, and Bass awards and Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, Ovation, Irne, and Audelco nominations.

JAY HILTON (Sound Design) is pleased to continue his long association with Goodspeed Musicals. Jay has designed countless productions at both The Terris Theatre and The Goodspeed in East Haddam. His work has also been heard on Broadway, National Tours, and at Regional Theatres from coast to coast. In addition to being Goodspeed’s Resident Sound Designer, Jay serves as their Audio Supervisor. He and his wife, Goodspeed Producer Donna Lynn Hilton, make their home (and garden) in Hadlyme, Connecticut with Cookie and Macy.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.