Artists' Bios
Mike Carroll (Video Editor - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) is a graduate of the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and holds a MA in Communications from the College of Saint Rose. Mike is currently the Communications Manager at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), a non-profit affiliate of Cornell University. In this role, he focuses on both internal and external communications: producing multiple newsletters, creating videos, editing web pages, managing social media, and much more. Prior to BTI, Mike worked for the Marketing and Communications team at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Mike's videos and photos have been featured on Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, CNN, BBC, CBS Evening News, and The Dodo, among other networks.
PRISCILLA HUMMEL (Producing Artistic Director / Director - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) is delighted to see WoW succeed in its fifth season! Priscilla directed and choreographed WoW’s inaugural production of Godspell in 2017, followed by The Fantasticks in 2018, the world premiere of Katrina, A New Musical in 2019, and A Virtual Cabaret - Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future in 2020. After obtaining her MFA in Acting (directing concentration) from Regent University and her BA in Theatre (dance minor) from Brenau University, Priscilla spent nine years in Chicago working as a director, choreographer, education director, teaching artist, on-camera actor, and dancer. Directing credits for original works include The Ticking Clock (Artemisia, A Chicago Theatre), On Air (Regent University), The Magic Paintbrush (Theatre Building Chicago), Heidi and Matthew Three Horn (Provision Theater, Chicago). Other directing credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Wells College); The Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, Camp Super Friend, and New Girl (Provision Theater, Chicago); Snoopy! The Musical and Rumplestiltskin (Northbrook Theatre, IL); and A Musical Theatre Revue (Trinity Christian College). Local choreography credits include Alice In Wonderland, Seussical Jr., and Marry Poppins Jr. (Hangar Theatre); Once Upon A Mattress and Mamma Mia! (Lansing High School); Annie Jr., Shrek Jr., The Addams Family Jr., and Frozen Jr. (DeWitt Middle School). Priscilla is an adjunct professor of theatre and dance at Wells College and Western Carolina University. She conducts workshops for the Theatre Association of New York State and CNY Arts’ Michael Harmes Theatre Festival and teaches group fitness and physical education classes at Island Health & Fitness and Cornell University. Priscilla is abundantly grateful to be collaborating with Rachel and Larry this season, along with the rest of this incredibly talented creative team and cast!
EMILY JACKSON (Harriet - “Harriet's Kitchen”) is a NYC-based director and actor. She is excited to be venturing into the world of virtual plays with Walking on Water Productions - and is especially happy to be collaborating again with Rachel, Larry, and Tyler! She was last seen on the Ithaca stage as Mack/Mabel in Precious Nonsense and Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher (SALT Award) both at Kitchen Theatre Company. Other credits include Shedevil in Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Ursula in Bye Bye Birdie, Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart, and Amelia Earhart in They Promised Her the Moon. Emily’s directing credits include, for Holmdel Theatre Company: Little Women the Musical; TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, They Promised Her the Moon (assistant director); KTC: I and You, The Soup Comes Last, Physics Fair and Count Me In; for Cider Mill Playhouse: Urinetown and Stage Kiss. Emily has held several artistic leadership positions, including serving as Artistic Associate at Kitchen Theatre Company, Artistic Director of Sanguine Theatre Company, and Lark Theatre Literary Wing Member. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Emily received her BFA from The University of Oklahoma’s Peggy Dow Helmerich School of Drama.
RACHEL LAMPERT (Book Writer and Lyricist of Comfort Food / Director - “Harriet’s Kitchen”) began her theatrical career as a choreographer. She formed her dance company, Rachel Lampert & Dancers, in 1975 and she toured the U.S. extensively for the next 15 years. Although her career shifted to directing and writing plays in the mid-1990s, she has continued to create new movement works and dances for special projects from time to time. Rachel has directed and choreographed numerous musicals including West Side Story in China, HAIR, Damn Yankees, Sweeney Todd, Falsettos at Hangar Theatre, Vagabond Stars at Berkshire Theatre Festival and more. She served as Artistic Director of Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, NY from 1997 - 2017 where she directed Peter and the Starcatcher, Venus in Fur, Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Opus, Broke-ology, Red Light Winter, Mary’s Wedding, Gutenberg! The Musical!, The Glass Menagerie, The Price, Master Class, A Delicate Balance, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Swimming in the Shallows among many others. Her original musicals include Bed No Breakfast, Comfort Food, Tony & the Soprano, The Angle of the Sun and Precious Nonsense. Non-musical plays: Count Me In; And, lately…; Losing Myself; The Trial; The Book Club; Frankenstein and The Soup Comes Last. Plays for family audiences: I Have a Song to Sing O!, Scoot, Sizzle & Slide, The Mystery of the Magic Flute, Winter Tales (music by Lesley Greene), Emmett & Ella Trilogy (music by Lesley Greene), A December Suite, and A Christmas Carol. Other Ithaca collaborations include: Rounds for Orchestra with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, A Soldier’s Tale with Ensemble X, and dance pieces with Music’s Recreation. Her play Bet You Can’t Catch It? was commissioned by AIDSWORK of Tompkins County as part of an educational program for teens and toured Central NY for three years. Since her retirement from KTC, she is writing and producing original musicals for family audiences with Fitz&Startz Productions (DBA), a small, local company of theater artists and guests.
ANNA MARCUS-HECHT (Sound Mixer - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) is a current Masters student at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and a graduate of Ithaca College with a B.M. in Composition. Anna has worked with Walking on Water in the past, as the sound mixer and production assistant for their recent Virtual Cabaret and as orchestrator and saxophonist for Katrina in the Summer of 2019. Anna is happy to be able to help bring theatrical performance back to the Ithaca community during this pandemic.
JAHMAR ORTIZ (Gabriel - “Gabriel’s Kitchen”) (they/them/he/him) is a senior at Ithaca College originally from Willingboro, NJ. His previous Ithaca College credits include Shifting Spaces: the Fall 2020 Dance Concert (Assistant Choreographer), Hedda Gabler (Tesman), and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Belize). His other credits include A Day (Alfonso) at The Cherry Artspace, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon) at Ithaca Shakespeare Company, as well as Saturday Night Fever (Double J) and Newsies (Bunsen) at Cortland Repertory Theatre in Cortland, NY.
TYLER M. PERRY (Designer, Videographer, and Editor - “Harriet's Kitchen”) is an award-winning designer for theatre, television, and live events. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatrical Production Arts - Design from Ithaca College, where he was recently an Instructor of Lighting Design. As a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, he was the Assistant Lighting Designer for the 2017 Broadway revival of Miss Saigon, and national tours of Cinderella, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. His work has been seen onstage at regional theaters across the country, and on television and the web at Bravo TV, NBC Sports, Fox Sports 1, AOPA Live, ABC, and Monumental Sports Network. Tyler is the Technical Director and Technical Theatre Instructor at Riverdale Country School in Bronx, NY.
LARRY PRESSGROVE (Composer, Arranger, and Track Pianist / Music Director - “Harriet’s Kitchen”) has served as music director, conductor, and orchestrator on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and national tours, and has composed, arranged, and worked as vocal coach and educator in numerous award-winning productions and programs. He served as Music Director and Orchestrator, and originated the role of ‘Larry’, in the Tony-nominated Broadway musical [title of show]. He then collaborated with that same team to create the original Off-Broadway musical Now. Here. This. at the Vineyard Theatre. Larry was Associate Music Director for Disaster! on Broadway. He can be heard on the original cast albums of these musicals and Children’s Letters to God. He has conducted the Broadway production of Cats and the National tours of Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables and music directed galas featuring such performers as Ben Vereen, Norm Lewis and Tyne Daly. As a composer, Larry’s original musicals include Waiting for Spring, Bed No Breakfast, Tony and the Soprano, and The Angle of the Sun, which was featured as the premier production of NMYF’s 2007 season. In 2013, he received the NYMF Award for Best Orchestration. Larry also serves as Music Supervisor for various projects at the prestigious ‘Fame’ school--La Guardia Arts High School. Amongst the hundreds of students he has mentored are Oscar-nominated Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars, Baby Driver), Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) and Jharell Jerome (When They See Us, Moonlight). He has conducted residencies at various universities including Baldwin Wallace University and The University of Illinois at Champagne/Urbana.
KRISTIN SAD (Estelle - “Estelle’s Kitchen”) has been a member of the amazing Ithaca theater community since she became an Ithacan in 2007. Since graduating from the Actors' Workshop of Ithaca, it has been her great good fortune to work with many of the theater companies in town. Some favorite roles: Lady M ('Scottish Play', Ithaca Shakespeare Company), Martha (Virginia Woolf, Homecoming Players), Gingy (Love, Loss & What She Wore, AWITC), Hillary Clinton (Mrs. Satan & The Nasty Woman, Kitchen Theater) and Lydia (I Carry Your Heart, Hangar Theatre). She is so pleased to have the opportunity to be working with Walking On Water Productions and in a Rachel Lampert creation!
BENJAMIN STEVENS (Music Director - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) has been a part of Walking on Water Productions since its inception, having been the music director for all four previous shows, as well as performing in their inaugural production of Godspell as Judas and in various pieces in their recent Virtual Cabaret. It has been a delight to create something with this wonderful group of people, even at a distance.
PRISCILLA HUMMEL (Producing Artistic Director / Director - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) is delighted to see WoW succeed in its fifth season! Priscilla directed and choreographed WoW’s inaugural production of Godspell in 2017, followed by The Fantasticks in 2018, the world premiere of Katrina, A New Musical in 2019, and A Virtual Cabaret - Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future in 2020. After obtaining her MFA in Acting (directing concentration) from Regent University and her BA in Theatre (dance minor) from Brenau University, Priscilla spent nine years in Chicago working as a director, choreographer, education director, teaching artist, on-camera actor, and dancer. Directing credits for original works include The Ticking Clock (Artemisia, A Chicago Theatre), On Air (Regent University), The Magic Paintbrush (Theatre Building Chicago), Heidi and Matthew Three Horn (Provision Theater, Chicago). Other directing credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Wells College); The Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, Camp Super Friend, and New Girl (Provision Theater, Chicago); Snoopy! The Musical and Rumplestiltskin (Northbrook Theatre, IL); and A Musical Theatre Revue (Trinity Christian College). Local choreography credits include Alice In Wonderland, Seussical Jr., and Marry Poppins Jr. (Hangar Theatre); Once Upon A Mattress and Mamma Mia! (Lansing High School); Annie Jr., Shrek Jr., The Addams Family Jr., and Frozen Jr. (DeWitt Middle School). Priscilla is an adjunct professor of theatre and dance at Wells College and Western Carolina University. She conducts workshops for the Theatre Association of New York State and CNY Arts’ Michael Harmes Theatre Festival and teaches group fitness and physical education classes at Island Health & Fitness and Cornell University. Priscilla is abundantly grateful to be collaborating with Rachel and Larry this season, along with the rest of this incredibly talented creative team and cast!
EMILY JACKSON (Harriet - “Harriet's Kitchen”) is a NYC-based director and actor. She is excited to be venturing into the world of virtual plays with Walking on Water Productions - and is especially happy to be collaborating again with Rachel, Larry, and Tyler! She was last seen on the Ithaca stage as Mack/Mabel in Precious Nonsense and Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher (SALT Award) both at Kitchen Theatre Company. Other credits include Shedevil in Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Ursula in Bye Bye Birdie, Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart, and Amelia Earhart in They Promised Her the Moon. Emily’s directing credits include, for Holmdel Theatre Company: Little Women the Musical; TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, They Promised Her the Moon (assistant director); KTC: I and You, The Soup Comes Last, Physics Fair and Count Me In; for Cider Mill Playhouse: Urinetown and Stage Kiss. Emily has held several artistic leadership positions, including serving as Artistic Associate at Kitchen Theatre Company, Artistic Director of Sanguine Theatre Company, and Lark Theatre Literary Wing Member. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Emily received her BFA from The University of Oklahoma’s Peggy Dow Helmerich School of Drama.
RACHEL LAMPERT (Book Writer and Lyricist of Comfort Food / Director - “Harriet’s Kitchen”) began her theatrical career as a choreographer. She formed her dance company, Rachel Lampert & Dancers, in 1975 and she toured the U.S. extensively for the next 15 years. Although her career shifted to directing and writing plays in the mid-1990s, she has continued to create new movement works and dances for special projects from time to time. Rachel has directed and choreographed numerous musicals including West Side Story in China, HAIR, Damn Yankees, Sweeney Todd, Falsettos at Hangar Theatre, Vagabond Stars at Berkshire Theatre Festival and more. She served as Artistic Director of Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, NY from 1997 - 2017 where she directed Peter and the Starcatcher, Venus in Fur, Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Opus, Broke-ology, Red Light Winter, Mary’s Wedding, Gutenberg! The Musical!, The Glass Menagerie, The Price, Master Class, A Delicate Balance, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Swimming in the Shallows among many others. Her original musicals include Bed No Breakfast, Comfort Food, Tony & the Soprano, The Angle of the Sun and Precious Nonsense. Non-musical plays: Count Me In; And, lately…; Losing Myself; The Trial; The Book Club; Frankenstein and The Soup Comes Last. Plays for family audiences: I Have a Song to Sing O!, Scoot, Sizzle & Slide, The Mystery of the Magic Flute, Winter Tales (music by Lesley Greene), Emmett & Ella Trilogy (music by Lesley Greene), A December Suite, and A Christmas Carol. Other Ithaca collaborations include: Rounds for Orchestra with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, A Soldier’s Tale with Ensemble X, and dance pieces with Music’s Recreation. Her play Bet You Can’t Catch It? was commissioned by AIDSWORK of Tompkins County as part of an educational program for teens and toured Central NY for three years. Since her retirement from KTC, she is writing and producing original musicals for family audiences with Fitz&Startz Productions (DBA), a small, local company of theater artists and guests.
ANNA MARCUS-HECHT (Sound Mixer - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) is a current Masters student at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and a graduate of Ithaca College with a B.M. in Composition. Anna has worked with Walking on Water in the past, as the sound mixer and production assistant for their recent Virtual Cabaret and as orchestrator and saxophonist for Katrina in the Summer of 2019. Anna is happy to be able to help bring theatrical performance back to the Ithaca community during this pandemic.
JAHMAR ORTIZ (Gabriel - “Gabriel’s Kitchen”) (they/them/he/him) is a senior at Ithaca College originally from Willingboro, NJ. His previous Ithaca College credits include Shifting Spaces: the Fall 2020 Dance Concert (Assistant Choreographer), Hedda Gabler (Tesman), and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Belize). His other credits include A Day (Alfonso) at The Cherry Artspace, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon) at Ithaca Shakespeare Company, as well as Saturday Night Fever (Double J) and Newsies (Bunsen) at Cortland Repertory Theatre in Cortland, NY.
TYLER M. PERRY (Designer, Videographer, and Editor - “Harriet's Kitchen”) is an award-winning designer for theatre, television, and live events. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatrical Production Arts - Design from Ithaca College, where he was recently an Instructor of Lighting Design. As a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, he was the Assistant Lighting Designer for the 2017 Broadway revival of Miss Saigon, and national tours of Cinderella, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. His work has been seen onstage at regional theaters across the country, and on television and the web at Bravo TV, NBC Sports, Fox Sports 1, AOPA Live, ABC, and Monumental Sports Network. Tyler is the Technical Director and Technical Theatre Instructor at Riverdale Country School in Bronx, NY.
LARRY PRESSGROVE (Composer, Arranger, and Track Pianist / Music Director - “Harriet’s Kitchen”) has served as music director, conductor, and orchestrator on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and national tours, and has composed, arranged, and worked as vocal coach and educator in numerous award-winning productions and programs. He served as Music Director and Orchestrator, and originated the role of ‘Larry’, in the Tony-nominated Broadway musical [title of show]. He then collaborated with that same team to create the original Off-Broadway musical Now. Here. This. at the Vineyard Theatre. Larry was Associate Music Director for Disaster! on Broadway. He can be heard on the original cast albums of these musicals and Children’s Letters to God. He has conducted the Broadway production of Cats and the National tours of Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables and music directed galas featuring such performers as Ben Vereen, Norm Lewis and Tyne Daly. As a composer, Larry’s original musicals include Waiting for Spring, Bed No Breakfast, Tony and the Soprano, and The Angle of the Sun, which was featured as the premier production of NMYF’s 2007 season. In 2013, he received the NYMF Award for Best Orchestration. Larry also serves as Music Supervisor for various projects at the prestigious ‘Fame’ school--La Guardia Arts High School. Amongst the hundreds of students he has mentored are Oscar-nominated Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars, Baby Driver), Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) and Jharell Jerome (When They See Us, Moonlight). He has conducted residencies at various universities including Baldwin Wallace University and The University of Illinois at Champagne/Urbana.
KRISTIN SAD (Estelle - “Estelle’s Kitchen”) has been a member of the amazing Ithaca theater community since she became an Ithacan in 2007. Since graduating from the Actors' Workshop of Ithaca, it has been her great good fortune to work with many of the theater companies in town. Some favorite roles: Lady M ('Scottish Play', Ithaca Shakespeare Company), Martha (Virginia Woolf, Homecoming Players), Gingy (Love, Loss & What She Wore, AWITC), Hillary Clinton (Mrs. Satan & The Nasty Woman, Kitchen Theater) and Lydia (I Carry Your Heart, Hangar Theatre). She is so pleased to have the opportunity to be working with Walking On Water Productions and in a Rachel Lampert creation!
BENJAMIN STEVENS (Music Director - “Gabriel’s Kitchen” & “Estelle’s Kitchen”) has been a part of Walking on Water Productions since its inception, having been the music director for all four previous shows, as well as performing in their inaugural production of Godspell as Judas and in various pieces in their recent Virtual Cabaret. It has been a delight to create something with this wonderful group of people, even at a distance.