Eric Bornstein (Founder, Artistic Director) is an award winning mask maker, who has studied with masters Agung Suardana in Bali, and Donato Sartori in Italy. His masks have appeared at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, the Fuller Craft Museum, the Boston Lyric Opera, the Boston Ballet, the Society of Arts & Crafts (Newbury Street), Cambridge River Fest, King Richard's Faire, Revels, and First Night Boston. He teaches classes in making and performing masks at various schools and adult education programs. He received his MLA in Art History along with the Thomas Small prize (Summa Cum Laude) from Harvard University.
Veronica Barron recently completed her BFA in Theater Arts at Boston University. Her favorite BU credits include The King Stag, for which she designed and created the mask she wore as Pantalone, and Petite Plaisance, a collaborative theater project that she co-wrote, co-directed, and performed in as her thesis project. Since graduating, she has appeared as Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (New England Youth Theater) and Cass in Nero's Favorites (Bentley College Productions). Last year, she spent five months studying and travelling in India, during which time she made her arangettam ("auspicious first performance") in both bharatnatyam and kathakali, two classical Indian dance-theater forms.
Penny Benson (Assistant Artistic Director) is a teaching artist with the Huntington Theater Co. and a cast member of KidStage at the Boston Childrens' Museum. She has appeared with the Dragonfly Festival, the last two Boston Theater Marathons and The Playwrights' Platform Summer Festivals, where she was awarded Best Actress in 2006. She is an actor and artist with experience in costumes, scenery, and shadow puppetry. Past credits include Adelaide in Guys & Dolls, Val in A Chorus Line, and Meredith in Jack Neary's First Night.
Erik Burke has been a Lighting and Sound designer for Boston area theatre for over 30 years, including Boston Lyric Opera, Dave Matthews Band.
Jei Callahan is an actress, writer, teacher, and director. She holds a BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University, where she concentrated in collaborative play-making. She has studied Kathakali and Mohiniyattam dance-theater, and classical Carnatic singing in India, and each summer she joins an outreach program in Vermont to teach Shakespeare to children and teenagers. Her theatre credits include Petite Plaisance, The Odd Couple, Playing for Time, Taming of the Shrew, and The Importance of Being Ernest.
Deborah Coconis Deborah Coconis is a mask maker, performer, and teacher. She holds a degree in Theatre from Roger Williams College and has worked with Eric Bornstein and Behind the Mask Theater since 1998. She has made masks for and performed in Monkey King Tales (Kuan Yin and the Heavenly Peach Maiden), The Woman Who Outshone The Sun (Lucia Zenteno), and Cat Mountain (Mistress Hatemori, Secret, and Sho). Her masked characters have appeared in the Boston Herald, Worcester Telegram, Improper Bostonian, and on WGBH'S Greater Boston Arts. She currently lives and works in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
Katja Esser has studied maskmaking since 1992, and has worked and performed with Eric Bornstein and Behind The Mask since 1995. Her masks often explore or represent elements (fire, water, earth, ...) or creatures of the natural world (you should see her full-body tree mask).
David Kessler (Tech Advisor, Webmaster) is a Stage Manager, Props Master, & general backstage techie, who occasionally finds himself on the "wrong side of the lights". He is intrigued by positions like Kuroko & Shadow puppeteer - positions that allow him to be invisible, or even backstage, while performing. He is BTMT's web designer and writer. He holds a degree in Philosophy and Medieval Studies from Boston University, and studies Chinese Martial Arts with local treasure Bow Sim Mark. Professionally, he is a writer, an editor, and a conference & event planner/manager. (www.ouphrontis.com)
Lucrecia Novoa has studied Fine Arts at the University of Chile and the Massachusetts College of Arts. She began working with Behind The Mask in 1996 after taking BTM's Art of the Mask workshop, and has since hosted her own workshops and exhibitions.
Vincent Ernest Siders teaches theatre for The Huntington Theater Company, the Underground Railway Theater, and other companies in the Boston area. He is Artistic Director for TYG Productions, the creator of The Family Beef Feast Festival (Boston), and has received the Elliot Norton award and two IRNE awards for his acting.
Andrea Taylor-Blenis has trained extensively in modern, jazz, ballet, and international folk dance techniques at the University of Massachusetts, the Royal Scottish Dance Society, and the Jacob's Pillow Jazz Project. She is a member of Prometheus Dance in Boston. She is on the faculty at the Boston Conservatory, and has taught at Harvard/Radcliffe, the Concert Dance Company, the Jeanette Neill Dance Studio, and the Folk Arts Center of New England.
Lisa Tucker is a founding member of Beau Jest Moving Theatre (www.beaujest.com), a New England movement-based theatre company. She has co-created and performed in all of their shows, including the title role in their Elliot Norton award-winning production of Krazy Kat. Lisa’s stage credits include Plays on Tap (Centastage), A Christmas Story and The Scarlet Letter (Worcester Foothills Theatre); 4:48 Psychosis (Fort Point Theatre Channel); The Cocktail Hour (New Century Theatre); A Christmas Story and A Prayer for Owen Meany (Stoneham Theatre); Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse); Living Out (Lyric Stage); Body and Sold (Tempest Productions); The Jungle Book and The Good Times Are Killing Me (Wheelock Family Theatre); A Comedy of Errors (Durham Center Stage); and Circles (Threshold Theatre). Lisa has also done children’s theatre with City Stage, the Children’s Museum, and Beau Jest Junior, and has numerous voice over, commercial, and industrial credits.
Janine Wanée is a classically trained musician with a Masters Degree from Boston University in Vocal Performance. She received full scholarship to participate and graduate from Boston University's Opera Performance, two-year certificate program, and also possesses a certificate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's Professional Acting Shakespeare summer course in London. She has taught voice privately, and is currently exploring multiple venues, including acting, directing, songwriting, poetry, writing and folk music.
Jim Banta is a member of Snappy Dance Theater and Moving Experience, Inc. ("Peanut Butter and Jelly Dance Company") In addition, Jim has worked with many local and visiting groups, including Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre of Boston, Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble, Ballet Arts of Winchester, Moving Laboratory, Cambridge Chamber Ballet, as well as Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Meredith Monk, and White Oak Dance Project.
Heather Caruso is a junior at Salem High School where she is a National Honor and Tri-M Music Honor student. She studies and performs flute/piccolo, as well as voice (Hannah Schramm Studios), and dance (Gene Murray School of Dance). Not surprisingly, she intends to be a theatre major in college. Heather trains at the Walnut Hill Summer Theatre School, and recently performed the role of Maria in The Sound of Music at SHS.
Kelly Cutler brings her experience in the arts and non-profit community to Behind The Mask Theatre. She is a dancer, maskmaker, and puppeteer. She was a shadow puppeteer and designer for Monkey King Tales. She is BTMT's grant writer and has also been involved in mask making, design, and scripting shows. Her professional background includes non-profit development, magazine editing, and human resource management.
Leda Elliott studied dance as a child for 13 years at the Ballet Arts of Carnegie Hall in Tokyo. She has since added extensive martial arts training, predominantly with Bow Sim Mark. She has been a choreographer with the Bennett Dance Company, and has also created the dance shows, "Butterfly", & "Dreamcatcher". She teaches Taichi and Physical Restoration. (www.wushu-leda.com)
Rachel Fouts has danced and performed with the Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble, at King Richard's Renaissance Faire, and at the New England Folk Festival. She holds a BFA in Dance and Theatre from Emerson College, where she trained with Sean Curran, Doug Verrone and received special attention from Marlena Yanetti and Tommy Neblett.
Frank Gerace & Cheryl Wanner are well known composers and musicians in the Boston area, having written and performed for various groups and theatrical presentations. In addition to their extensive work with BTMT, they have written and performed for the Yeats Society of Boston (A Full Moon in March and The Death of Cuchulainn), and also appear as the critically acclaimed band Dreamchild. Both are veteran session musicians (Frank on guitar, Cheryl on wire-strung harp, bass, and voice). Frank is also a producer and engineer working out of his own studio, Moonpool.
Jonathan Gilbert is a singer, arranger, dancer, and player of several instruments. His background includes professional Early Music studies at the Longy School, and years of playing and dancing an international folk repertoire. He has performed in the Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble, in the Christmas Revels, and at folk festivals and renaissance faires. In 2003 he arranged and directed music for the Milford Performing Arts Center's annual Boar's Head Festival.
Jean Monroe has performed Renaissance music at King Richard's Faire, the Open Door Theater of Acton, various Shakespearean events, and for the commedia del'arte productions of Boston troupe I Sebastiani. An experienced choral singer, she has sung with Boston's Trinity Choir (on three major-label recordings), and in many locally composed premieres. She regularly sings with the Figgy Puddin' Carolers and with the Cambridge Renaissance choir Vox Lucens. She also studies middle-eastern percussion.
Mari Novotny-Jones is an award-winning performance artist, teacher, and activist. She has performed everywhere, from the Fringe Festival (Vancouver), to the Cleveland Performance Open, to the Skopsko Leto Festival (Macedonia). She is on the Faculty of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, has been a member of Mobius Artists Group in Boston since 1980, served as a board member of The Artists' Trust, and is lead artist educator with City Stage Co. Mari was awarded a Boston Cultural Council fellowship in, and a Tanne Fellowship award for excellence in the arts in 2000.
Paul Rehm filled whatever backstage roles were lacking during BTM's production of Monkey King Tales. Since then he has moved from the "special thanks" section of the program to more central roles, and BTMT is the better for it.
Moriah Tumbleson is a scenic artist and designer with a BA from Lawrence University, and also works as a set designer, mask intern, and studio potter. She has recently worked for Coyote Theatre, Speakeasy (Batboy and The Shape of Things), and the Huntington Theater Co.
Patricia Vlieg began studying music in her native Panama. She is a singer, arranger, composer, keyboardist, guitarist, and plays several Latin American instruments. She holds a BA in Professional Music from the Berklee College of Music, where she recieved the Quincy Jones Award, the Solo & Ensemble Award, and the Profesional Music Achievement Award. and performs throughout North and Central America. She has performed throughout North and Central America, making numerous recordings. She is a vocal proponent for the integration of the disabled, especially in the area of education. Currently, She appears with her sister Ana, as a vocalist with the quintet of Peru Mestizo, and as Director for the Spanish Musical Ministry at Saint Francis Chapel, Boston. Among other languages, she is fluent in Japanese. (www.patriciaelena.com)
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