INSTRUCTORS FOR THE SUMMER INTENSIVE, 2019
JANET METZ (Director)
Janet is delighted to be working for her fifth summer as the director of the York Theatre’s MTTP. She was also the director of last year’s college winter intensive at the York. Janet’s Broadway credits include: Fiddler on the Roof, Marie Christine (original cast CD), On the Town, Once Upon a Mattress (original cast CD). Off-Broadway: Stars of David (original cast CD), Bingo (Drama League nomination – Featured Actress, original cast CD), I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Falsettoland (original cast CD), Lucky Stiff (original cast CD) and Big – the Musical (both at the York Theatre/Mufti Series), Hurrah at Last, I Love NY (Bistro Award, original cast CD). International/NationalTours: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator opposite Donny Osmond – platinum original cast CD), The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (opposite Michael Crawford), Stop the World – I Want to Get Off (opposite Anthony Newley), Music of the Night (opposite Colm Wilkinson), Fame-the Musical (pre-Broadway tour). World Premieres/Regional credits include: Barry Manilow’s Harmony (Drama-Logue Award – Featured Actress), Casino Paradise (original cast CD), The Rink (opposite Leslie Uggams), Mack and Mabel (revival), Sunday in the Park with George, Funny Girl, A Christmas Carol, Spitfire Grill (original cast), etc. TV: Mercy, Live with Regis…, Trinity, Out of the Box. Other original cast CD’s include From Broadway with Love, What the World Needs Now is Love (also the music video) and A Christmas Survival Guide. She was honored to perform at the 2016 DNC and sing twice for a former President of the United States. Janet is the winner of the George London Musical Theatre Grant from the Kennedy Center, and a graduate of Washington University, in St. Louis Mo. She is the proud mom of twins Phoebe and Nathaniel, and wife of director Michael Unger.
ERIC SVEJCAR (Music Director)
is a composer and musical director living in Brooklyn, New York. With David Zellnik, he adapted Disney’s Peter Pan Jr. which has been produced by hundreds of schools across the US. Composing credits include Caligula, an Ancient Glam Epic which won the Audience Award at the inaugural New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Murder of Isaac for Centerstage Baltimore, songs for White Noise (NYMF) and a rock adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which premiered in 2014 in Newtown, CT and was recently presented in Parklad, FL. On Broadway he conducted the Roundabout/Deaf West revival of Big River, and music directed the 2006 off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris (recorded by Sh-K-Boom Records.) Originally from Chicago, Eric was the front room pianist at Davenport’s Piano Bar and played for many, many singers at the late lamented Gentry on Halsted.
ANTHONY JOHNSON (Choreographer)
Anthony is a multi-disciplinary artist based out of New York City. Anthony (and his collaborative partner Mary Ann Lamb) most recently returned from staging Disaster! at CT Rep under the Artistic Direction of Terrence Mann, starring Broadway’s Seth Rudetsky (from the Original Broadway Cast), Ann L. Nathan and Angie Schworer. Earlier this year, the duo was awarded Distinguished Choreography by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for their work on Evita at Western Connecticut State University last fall. Other choreography credits include the 2017 Pace University Commercial Dance Showcase; Parade at DaSota; and assisting Tony nominee Charlotte d’Amboise restage “Charleston” from Billion Dollar Baby/Jerome Robbins Broadway for the National Dance Institute. Select Performance Credits include: Romeo & Juliet with The Joffrey Ballet at Lincoln Center (David H. Koch Theatre); the world premiere workshop presentation of Susan Misner & Jonathan Bernstein’s new dance play Here in the Bright Colorado Sun at the O’Neill Theatre Center (H); the title role in Pippin at Phoenix Theatre; various productions of West Side Story (Tony, Action, A-Rab); Gypsy (Tulsa) starring Tony nominee Sally Mayes; Hairspray (National Tour and Paper Mill Playhouse). Anthony is originally from North Carolina and has a BFA in Musical Theatre/Dance from Catawba College.
MICHAEL UNGER (Associate Artistic Director, Director of Education)
Michael is the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education for The York Theatre Company. He is also the Producing Artistic Director of NewArts – a performing arts and character development initiative started by a local father in response to the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, for which he had directed a dozen productions. Credits for The York include You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Big: The Musical, Milk and Honey, and Knickerbocker Holiday. Other directing credits include: A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre – 18 years); Two Point Oh (Off Bway, NYT Critics’ Pick); Time Stands Still (Cape Cod Chronicle Best 2015), My Sister in this House (Deaf West – Ovation Recommended); Grease (Paramount Theatre); Crimes of the Heart (Theatre Aspen); new versions of The Happy Time and The Rink. World premieres include Caligula (NYMF - Best of the Fest), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and A ROCKIN’ Midsummer Night’s Dream (featured in the documentary film, “Midsummer in Newtown”). Michael has directed 15 operas around the world, two of which are available on DVD. He is married to actress, Janet Metz; their favorite collaboration: twins, Phoebe and Nathaniel.
JENNY HARRIS (Supervising Stage Manager/Housing Supervisor)
Jenny Harris is a graduate of Fordham University where she stage managed several shows for the Mimes and Mummers and Fordham Experimental Theater, including Noises Off, Rhinoceros, and Getting Out. Most recently she stage managed the off off Broadway show The Trial of Mrs. Surratt with The Wandering Theatre Company and she is currently interning in the properties department at RWS Entertainment. She is super excited to be a part of the team behind this year's Musical Theatre Training Program at The York and cannot wait to work with this group of incredibly talented students!