The highly-anticipated Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening announced casting for its young stars (who will join Oscar winner Marlee Matlin), and we're over-the-moon excited. Below, we introduce you to each one with photos, videos and their bios.
Austin McKenzie (Melchior)
Austin is making his Broadway debut in Deaf West's Spring Awakening. He recently finished starring in his first feature film directed by Dan Harris, Speech & Debate. Born in Arizona, Austin attended Columbia College Chicago, studying to become a special needs teacher and ASL interpreter.
Sandra Mae Frank (Wendla)
Sandra is thrilled to be making her Broadway debut! BA from Gallaudet University in Theatre Arts. Her recent theatre credits include Richard III, A Commedia Christmas Carol and Apples & . Recent short films include Harmony, Redline, and appeared in ABC Family's Switched at Birth. www.sandramaefrank.com @sandy21mae.
Katie Boeck (Voice of Wendla / Guitars, Piano)
Katie is proud to be making her Broadway debut with Deaf West Theatre as the Voice of Wendla/Guitar. Her acoustic rendition of Ave Maria was recently featured in the HBO series The Newsroom, a performance which was internationally recognized for its unique musical arrangement and vocal delivery. She is a graduate of UCLA’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater program and is also an accomplished singer/songwriter and musician. Listen at www.katieboeck.com.
Daniel Durant (Moritz)
Daniel’s professional theatre performances include: an ensemble role in Deaf West’s production of Cyrano and the lead role of “Stinger” in Terp Theatre’s Police:Deaf:Near:Far (2012); the lead role of Charley in Deaf West’s Flowers for Algernon (2013) and Moritz in all productions of Deaf West’s Spring Awakening (2014-15). Daniel also plays “Matthew” on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth. Daniel is honored and excited to bring Moritz to Broadway. #DeafTalent
Alex Boniello (Voice of Moritz / Guitar)
Broadway Debut. Selected Credits: Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, Brooklynite, Here's Hoover!, I Am Harvey Milk, Lin-Manuel Miranda and This American Life's 21 Chump Street and the National Tour of Green Day’s American Idiot. TV: Marvel’s Violet, Happyish, Welcome to Greenpoint, Alien Dawn. Film: Contest, Detachment. @alexboniello
Krysta Rodriguez (Ilse)
Krysta most recently starred opposite Zachary Levi in the Broadway production of First Date. Other Broadway credits include: The Addams Family, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, A Chorus Line, and Good Vibrations. Television credits include the role of Ana Vargas on the NBC series Smash; Chasing Life, Inside Amy Schumer, Married, Gossip Girl. Film: Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Virginity Hit. Krysta will be seen starring in the upcoming film My Bakery in Brooklyn.
Andy Mientus (Hanschen)
Previous theater: Bent, Les Miserables (Broadway, Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Breakthrough Performance), Spring Awakening, Carrie Parade, February House. Television: Smash, The Flash, Chasing Life, Anger Management. Education: University of Michigan. Follow @andymientus
Treshelle Edmond (Martha)
Treshelle is from Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from Fairfax High School and attended California State University, Northridge. In February, she signed the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLIX. Television credits include House, M.D. and Glee. Treshelle played the role of Martha in Deaf West’s Spring Awakening in Los Angeles last fall and was pleased to reprise the role as Martha in Spring Awakening at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, CA this spring.
Kathryn Gallagher (Voice of Martha / Guitar)
Broadway debut. Singer-songwriter with music featured in the feature film Thanks for Sharing, USA’s Covert Affairs and more. Performance highlights include opening for Ray & Robby of The Doors, Little Feat, The Bacon Brothers and Deaf West’s Spring Awakening. Her debut EP produced by Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat, OneRepublic) was released in 2014 & an upcoming EP will be released this fall. @kathryng
Alex Wyse (Georg)
Alex is honored to be part of this production. Broadway: Lysistrata Jones. Tour: Wicked. Off-Broadway: Bare, Triassic Parq, Lysistrata Jones. Regional: Williamstown, Deaf West, Paper Mill, Cleveland Playhouse, Maltz Jupiter, Huntington, Lyric Stage Company of Boston. TV: Agent X, Modern Family, Switched at Birth, A to Z, Bad Judge, Masters of Sex, Bored to Death. Film: X/Y. BFA: Boston University. Twitter: @alexwyse. Instagram: @alexjwyse.
Ali Stroker (Anna)
Ali was a finalist on season two of The Glee Project and then played Artie's love interest on the fifth season of Glee. She is a graduate of New York University and the first person in a wheelchair to graduate from Tisch’s drama program. Ali has been performing on stage and screen since she was seven years old. She is an advocate for people with different abilities and believes any limitation can be an opportunity.
Joshua Castille (Ernst)
Born and raised in Louisiana, Josh attended Lafayette High School, where he was involved in the performing arts, and later the 'Talented Theatre Arts Department.' He has also worked with "Acting Up in Acadiana,” a Shakespeare/viewpoints theatre program. Seeking to hone his craft, Josh left home to pursue a theatre degree in Washington, DC. As an artist, Josh strives to form meaningful collaborations between the hearing and Deaf communities through art. More information can be found at joshuacastille.weebly.com.
Daniel David Stewart (Voice of Ernest)
Daniel Is excited to make his Broadway debut. Regional Credits Include: Master Harold...and the Boys, (Indy Award) Our Town, Little Miss Scrooge, The Burnt Part Boys, Intelligence-Slave, Metamorphosis, Belfry, Sixty Miles To Silverlake, The Lion in Winter. Film/TV: Kids Vs. Monsters, The Sound Of Magic, K.C. Undercover, Miss Mustard Glade, Goodwin Games, and The Middle. In addition to performing, Daniel is an avid writer and professional oddball. Second City Graduate. SAG/AFTRA, AEA.
Miles Barbee (Otto)
Miles has had amazing role opportunities, like getting punched on ABC Family's Switched at Birth and more recently, being flung around as Ildefonso in the In/Visible Theatre (NC) premiere Without Words. He is excited to be making his Broadway debut and continuing the journey with this production!
Sean Grandillo (Voice of Otto / Bass)
Broadway debut! National Tour: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Tom Sawyer). Regional: Spring Awakening, The Lyons. Film/Television: Madtown, Secrets and Lies. Training: Ithaca College, Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Academy. Sean’s original music is available on soundcloud. Aurora, Ohio native.‘To define is to limit’. Twitter/Instagram: @seangrandillo
Amelia Hensley (Thea)
Although she’s enjoyed theater her whole life and her acting career really began when she was a senior at Arkansas School for the Deaf. Her expressiveness and tenacity landed her the lead role in her first professional production, Children of a Lesser God, and she had been actively involved in theater ever since. www.ameliahensley.com
Lauren Luiz (Heidi/ Voice of Thea)
Originally from Portland, Oregon, this will be Lauren's debut Broadway performance. Most recently she can be seen in the upcoming film Birds of Neptune and opposite Stephanie Noguras in the NBC show Grimm. Other theatre credits include: Anna Karenina, Hamlet, Ablaze: an a capella musical thriller, Into the Woods, Ion, and King Lear. She is an award-winning alto vocalist and has also studied alto saxophone.
Alexandra Winter (Harp/Gretl)
Alexandra is happy to be making her Broadway debut with Deaf West Theatre. Education: BA in Theatre, the University of Southern California. Proud alum of two International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella wins with USC’s SoCal VoCals. Previous roles include Roxie Hart (Chicago, Cardinal Theatre Productions) and Mallory Kingsley (City of Angels, USC). Also a singer songwriter, her original harp music is at www.alexandrawinter.com.
Van Hughes (Swing)
Broadway: American Idiot, 9 to 5, and Hairspray. Off-Broadway: Son of a Gun, Saved. Film: Delivery Man, Sex And The City: The Movie and SATC 2, Tenure, Rachel Getting Married. TV: Royal Pains, Law & Order: SVU & Criminal Intent, Six Degrees, One Life To Live. B.A. in Theatre at Fordham University.
Lizzy Cuesta (Swing)
Lizzy is a singer songwriter, born in Manhattan and raised between Spain and Irvington, NY. She is signed to Universal Music Publishing France and has toured extensively in Europe as a solo artist. Lizzy resides in LA and has been busy writing with the city's top songwriters and producers, and playing at venues such as the Hotel Cafe. She's also played extensively at Rockwood Music Hall, the Living Room, etc. in NYC. She has recently been touring opening for Duncan Sheik, along with playing guitar and singing Spring Awakening songs in his band.
Robert Ariza (Swing)
Broadway debut! NYC: I Am Harvey Milk (Lincoln Center). Regional: Music Theatre Wichita, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, Hangar Theatre. 2014 Lotte Lenya Finalist, 2013 AEA Roger Sturtevant Award. Proud alum of the University of Michigan, BFA Musical Theatre. robertariza.com
Ren (Swing)
Ren has always loved expressing songs in sign, creating ASL music videos on YouTube and getting involved in a tiny theatre in Chicago where she performed in musicals such as West Side Story, Nunsense, and Into the Woods. She previously attended Rochester Institute of Technology, where she studied film for one year before leaving to pursue a career in acting. Spring Awakening will be her professional debut.
Marlee Matlin (Adult Woman)
Marlee received worldwide critical acclaim, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for her film debut in Children of a Lesser God. Since then, Marlee starred in Walker, The Player, What the Bleep Do We Know, Hear No Evil, and the AIDS drama It's My Party. Marlee made her TV debut opposite Lee Remick in Bridge to Silence before starring in her own NBC series Reasonable Doubts, The West Wing, The L Word, Switched at Birth, and Dancing with the Stars. She’s a four-time Emmy nominee for her appearances on Seinfeld, Picket Fences, The Practice and Law and Order: SVU.” In 2009, Marlee published her New York Times Best Selling autobiography I’ll Scream Later and has authored three novels for children including Deaf Child Crossing and Nobody’s Perfect. In 2015 she developed her first app for teaching American Sign Language, “Marlee Signs.”
See the whole gang make magic in 'Spring Awakening' at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre beginning September 8.
