Don't Look Away.
Everyone knows her name—most know her face—few know her story. But no one’s seen it through her eyes. When Medusa becomes the first priestess of Athens to accuse a god of rape, it sparks a battle for the soul of the first democracy.  This emotional epic asks who the real "monster" is, with a darkly catchy score fueled by rock, hip-hop, and jazz that breathes a fierce urgency into an ancient story.

The team

MARCH 2023 cast

Kristolyn Lloyd (Medusa )

Nick Fradiani (Perseus )

Olivia Phillip (Athena )

Jeremy Kushnier (Poseidon )

Alison Cimmet (Steno)

Hannah Cruz (Eury )

Barrie Lobo McLain (LIA )

Victoria Frings (Eritha )

Alyssa Wray (Karpathia )

Tristan Hernandez (Archon )

Austin Ku (THALLO)

Kathel Griffin (Belo)

creative Team

Wes Braver (Book, Music, Lyrics)
Wes is a D.C. native living in Brooklyn writing words and music for stage and film. Musicals: Medusa (w/ Rachel Dean), Vinegar Tom (dir. Carlos Armesto), Galapago (w/ Andrea More), Hear No Evil in the Year 2090. Concept albums: METADATA, about Edward Snowden, Love and Hate and Season 8, (w/ Sophie Capp) about Game of Thrones. A song cycle, Space Cases. Songs for the musical film Chatsworth, (HBO’s New York Latino Film Festival), film scores: Youth, (SXSW, dir. Farida Zahran), The Block Plan (best film, Helsinki Film Fest). Songs featured at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, all the great Centers. Music featured in downtown dance projects and with the Broken Box Mime Company. B.A. in Music, Colorado College; M.F.A., NYU Tisch GMTWP.

Rachel Dean (Book, Music, Lyrics)
Rachel Dean is a New York City-based composer, pianist, and music director. She is a pianist for Hamilton and Moulin Rouge on Broadway, and has collaborated alongside the likes of Luis Salgado, Brandon Uranowitz, Alysha Umphress, and Jennifer Jancuska. An ASCAP award recipient, Rachel has had her work performed in New York, Tokyo, Miami, Ohio, Arizona, and New Jersey. Other musicals in development include The Anxiety Project (with David Brush), Unmasked (with Amy Burgess), and The Ballad of Janis Matthews and the Dodo Scouts (with Giancarlo Rodaz). Rachel is a member of ASCAP and Local 802.

Mayte Natalio (Choreographer)
Mayte is from Queens, New York. She trained atbthe LaGuardia H.S. for the Performing Arts as well SUNY Purchase (BFA) and has had an extensive performing career. As a choreographer she has been a part of  Camille A. Brown’s choreography team on several productions including NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live,  Atlantic Theater Company’s This Ain’t No Disco and most recently as associate choreographer on The Metropolitan Opera’s Porgy and Bess. Choreography credits include Public Works/Dallas Theater Center’s The Tempest (associate choreographer) and The Winter’s Tale (choreographer), Juilliard’s Red Speedo, NYU/NewStudio Runaways, Barrington Stage Into the Woods, The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit Measure for Measure and premiering in Spring 2020, Virgin Voyage’s Another Rose. Mayte is a Co-Founder of the immersive events production company MinuteZero.

Walter Bobby McCoy (MUSIC DIRECTOR)
Walter “Bobby” McCoy is a proud Nicaraguan-American and Washington D.C. based pianist, contractor and music director. Music Direction Credits include- NEW YORK: Xanadu, The World Goes ‘Round (The Mac-Haydn Theatre). ST. LOUIS: In The Heights (STAGES St. Louis). WASHINGTON DC: A Strange Loop (AFM contractor) Woolly Mammoth , A.D. 16 (Asst MD), Beauty and the Beast, Miss You Like Hell, Annie (Olney Theatre Center);  On Your Feet! En Español, Fame: in Spanish (2021 HH Nom), In The Heights in Spanish (2018 HH WINNER, Outstanding Musical Direction) (Gala Hispanic Theatre); Legally Blonde (2020 HH WINNER, Outstanding Musical Direction) (Keegan Theatre); A New Brain, A Civil War Christmas, Fly By Night (2019 HH Nom), Old Wicked Songs (2016 HH Nom), Bat Boy, Altar Boyz (1st Stage Tyson’s); Little Shop of Horrors (2020 HH Nom), Aida (2019 HH Nom), The Wild Party (2018 HH Nom) (Constellation Theatre). UPCOMING: Kinky Boots-Keys 2 (Olney Theatre) In The Heights-Music Director (PA Shakespeare Festival). IG: @wmccoymusic94

Kai Harada (Sound Designer)
Broadway: Head Over Heels; The Band’s Visit (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award); Amélie; Sunday in the Park With George; Allegiance; Gigi; Fun Home; On the Town; First Date; Follies (Tony, Drama Desk Nominations); and Million Dollar Quartet. Other: A Chorus Line; Grand Hotel (City Center); Candide (LA Opera); Marie (5th Avenue); The Black Clown (ART); Tommy, Little Shop of Horrors, and First You Dream (Kennedy Center); Silent Night (WNO); Zorro (Moscow; Atlanta); Hinterm Horizont (Berlin); Sweeney Todd and Man of La Mancha (Portland Opera); Benny and Joon (Paper Mill). Consultant for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Education: Yale.

Vita E. Cleveland (Percussion)
Originally from Cleveland, OH., Vita E. has been surrounded by the power of art since childhood. From then on, they made a pledge that they would use the art that inspired them to influence thought, change, and freedom to exist without apology. This pledge would lead to her life as a percussionist, educator, poet, vocalist, and activist.  Vita’s passion as a Black Trans Femme artist has led to many milestones. As a musician, she’s finished a summer-long role as percussionist, mentor, and vocalist for the Creede Repertory Theatre, the full-stage debut of the hip-hop musical, Once Upon a Rhyme, and the most recent workshop performance of Medusa. Their response track to Janelle Monae, Hell Y'all Ain't Talmbout, was included in Source Magazines, "10 Songs Soundtracking the Black Lives Matter Movement." She recently made her Off-Broadway debut as Violet in The Secret Life of Bees, and is currently creating new content on her YouTube channel, Vita E.

Nora Alami (Dramaturg)
Nora is a first-generation Moroccan-American dance artist, dramaturg, and independent arts manager originally from Colorado, based in Brooklyn. Her choreography has been presented at the International Center of Photography, New York Live Arts, Center for Performance Research, Movement Research at Judson Church, as well as in music videos and a short film. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, River to River Festival, and the 2018 Focus on Mediterranean Choreography series in Italy. She was awarded the Alliance for Artist Communities’ Diversity + Leadership Fellowship and the New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Choreographic Residency. She joyously serves on the FAILSPACE Steering Committee and currently works independently with Jaamil Olawale Kosoko Projects and PeoplMovr. She is a proud member of the “Medusa” creative team.

Shayla Gordon (Dramaturg)
Shayla is a performer, writer, dramaturg, tarot reader, and amateur horticulturist based in Cleveland, OH. She is focused on creating and developing stories with a spiritual, intersectional, and trauma informed perspective that uplift BIPOC voices. Her goal is to create work that facilitates radical community based healing. She is currently working on a project using the divine feminine as a framework to talk about radical pleasure and the ways in which joy and reception are integral to liberation. She has served as a reader for several theaters and festivals and works freelance as an editor for stageplays, screenplays, and manuscripts.

Matt Castle and Frank Galgano (ORCHESTRATION)
Matt and Frank are multi-faceted theater artists. Together they have orchestrated more than 30 shows, including Scotland, PA (Roundabout), Into the Woods (Roundabout/Fiasco), Found (Atlantic, Philadelphia), Chick Flick, the Musical (off-Broadway), Once Upon a Mattress (Transport Group), A Dog Story (Off-Broadway), Disney Beauty and the Beast (Disney Cruise Line), The Elf on the Shelf and American Girl Live! (Mills Entertainment), Up and Away (Pittsburgh CLO), String (Village Theatre), Kris Kringle (Town Hall, Proctors), The Donner Party and A Little Princess (Sacramento); many new works for Theatreworks/USA, Kennedy Center, George Street Playhouse. They have written concert orchestrations for BC/EFA and a diverse range of performers: from Carole King, Randy Newman, Aloe Blacc and Randy Rainbow to Broadway stars Beth Leavel, Cynthia Erivo, and Kristin Chenoweth.

Evan Bernardin Productions (General Management)
EBP is a general management firm specializing in consulting and management for theatrical productions. Touring: Million Dollar Quartet, Charlie Brown Christmas, Counting Sheep (International Tour) Select Off-Broadway: We Are The Tigers,  Eco-Village, Afterglow, Diaspora, Must. Other: The Bikinis, The Dodgers (LA), The Navigator (NYT Critics Pick). EBP has worked with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA), New York Musical Festival (NYMF), Fringe (NY & LA); collaborative projects include performances at Lincoln Center, The United Nations, The Havard Club, Cornell University, Georgetown’s Gaston Hall, The Culture Project, The Ohio Theater and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.evanbernardinproductions.com

Sylvie Scowcroft (Producer)
Sylvie Scowcroft is a New York native producer and performer. A graduate of The Spence School and Colorado College with a degree in Mathematical Economics and Dance, she has always straddled the performing arts and business worlds. She has worked in Risk Management at Bank of America, held various financial and operational roles in tech companies and is now working as a financial planner in Brooklyn. On the creative side she has produced a number of original musicals including Hear No Evil in the Year 2090 (Braver), Galapago (Braver & Moore), Freda (Taproot) and a revival of Company (Sondheim). She has worked as the Creative Director for Roy Productions and currently serves as the Board Treasurer for Flight Path Dance Project.

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