CAST:
Andy Teirstein (Aviator) is a composer, teacher, performer, writer and producer. His work has been described by The New York Times as “magical,” “ingenious,” and “superbly crafted.” A student of Leonard Bernstein and Henry Brant, Teirstein composes for concert hall, film (BBC, PBS), theater, and dance. An early review stated that his music “seems to speak in celestial accents of some utopia whose chief industry is dancing,” and he has composed often for choreographers, including Donald Byrd, Stephen Petronio, and Liz Lerman. His recent CDs include Restless Nation and Open Crossings. As an actor, he performed on Broadway in Barnum and in the film Sophie’s Choice, and was an original cast member of the show Woody Sez, which toured Europe, Palestine, Israel, and China before an Off-Broadway run. Teirstein has written award-winning music theater works, including A Blessing on the Moon and Winter Man. As an Arts Professor at Tisch School of the Arts, he teaches music and writing in the Dance Department, and Songwriting in the NYU Prison Education Program. He was recently Director of Translucent Borders, an NYU research group exploring dance and music at borders of cultural difference around the world.
Finn DeWitt (The Little Prince) is 12 and couldn’t be more excited to be playing The Little Prince here at the Rosendale Theatre where he has spent a lot of time in productions with The Youth Ensemble Theatre. An avid filmmaker, Finn just completed a short film on sustainability. He was mentored by Michael Ben-Eli, founder of The Sustainability Lab and the film can be viewed at their website: sustainabilitylabs.org The movie Escape!, which he edited and helped to create along with other members of the Youth Ensemble Theatre was recently screened at The Rosedale Theatre and won first place in the Tales from the Catskills Amateur Film Competition in Woodstock and was accepted into the Asbury Film Festival. Finn plays the trumpet and was accepted into Kinhaven Music Camp this summer which he is looking forward to attending. In 2022 Finn was the boy soloist with The Northern Duchess Symphony in the Holiday concert of The Snowman. Finn has studied and performed in 39 of Shakespeare’s plays with New Genesis Productions and just received The Certificate of Completion for Shakespeare’s Complete Works. Finn loves studying piano and composition with the most fabulous, mulit-talented Andy Teirstein. Thank you Ann for this opportunity!
Cleo Gebert (Rose) Cleo has been enjoying acting for four years. She started out performing in Shakespeare’s plays and then happily moved into improvisational work. Her other hobbies include reading, writing, and playing soccer and video games.
Lydia Pidlusky (Snake /King/ Conceited Man/Businessman/Lamplighter/Various Voices) is thrilled to work under the direction of Ann Citron again. Previously she played the role of Daisy in The Great Gatsby, and participated in a play about the Bill of Rights, We Hold These Truths. Perhaps most known as a former DJ for 98.1 KZE, and as the voice of “the Maiden” for the Stronghold video game series soundtracks. Lydia is a long-time local, having graduated from Ellenville High School and SUNY New Paltz with a degree in Jazz Vocal Performance. Her other theater credits include her original play, Voices from the Past, a collaboration with the Historical Society of Woodstock; performing extensively with Theatre on the Road and Murder Cafe, including
directing and acting for Mohonk Mountain House’s Murder Mystery
Weekend, and winner of the 2017 Arts at the Chocolate Factory
Director’s Challenge for her original short play. Currently she is writing a series of plays and short-stories about Medusa.
Gina Kraut (Geographer / Fox) has performed with theater companies throughout the Hudson Valley and Southern California. Most recently she was seen as Hester Solomon in Troup Enigma’s acclaimed production of Equus (Michael Juzwak, Director). Her other roles include leading Yoga classes and advocating for environmental responsibility. Thank you for coming to see our telling of this iconic story.
Ann Citron (Director and Producer), is currently the Theatre Arts Director of the Rosendale Theatre and was the former Director for many years. She is one of its founding members. She is now pursuing her passion to bring a live theatre season to the Rosendale Theatre. Ann is an actor, director, and producer, and has worked in theatres all over the Hudson Valley including County Players in Wappingers Fall, The Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck, SUNY at New Paltz Summer Repertory, Denizen Theatre in New Paltz and Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge. Ann directed and taught theatre arts for Stages in the Arts Youth Theatre in Kingston, directing their musical productions. Ann has taught Improvisation for over 25 years in various Hudson Valley locations as well as NYU’s Clive Davis School of Performing Arts. Ann wants to thank this enormously talented cast for their playfulness and commitment to this beautiful story. Ann thanks her family for their ever-loving support and for giving her the most important roles of all!
Livia Drapkin Vanaver (Movement Consultant) received a BFA from NYU school of the arts (now Tisch). It was there that she met Andrea Gregory and the Manhattan project and worked with them as choreographer and actor until 1977 in a production of 1000 Nights and a Night. It was during that time that Andre invited her to go with him and Wally Shawn to Tunisia to “find The Little Prince”. Livia taught dance in the graduate theater program at Columbia University for 12 years and continues to work with actors and dancers in the US and India. Livia is the Co-Artistic Director, and Co-Founder of The Vanaver Caravan Dance & Music Company based in the Hudson Valley. With her husband, Bill, and the Caravan, they have traveled and performed all over the world for the past 52 years and also create world dance festivals in schools. vanavercaravan.org
Livia loved working with Ann and this magical cast of characters!
Director….Ann Citron
Movement Consultant…Livia Vanaver
Tech Director……Justin Peone
Graphic Designer….Jan Melchior
Special Thanks: Patrick McDonough, JoEllen Trilling, Andy Willner, Maria Farr, Cassandra Joseph, Ujjala Schwartz, Jerry Wintrob, Mourka Meyendorff, Mark Weglinski and County Players in Wappingers Falls, Sydney Grosberg Ronga, Joseph McIntyre at Stepped Stone, Sydney Grosberg Ronga and Rob Leitner