Something Blue
Online Program & Artist Profiles
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Gordon Leary (Book and Lyrics) (they/them) is an Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based bookwriter and lyricist who writes aggressively empathetic and audaciously human musicals about American pop history, identity, celebrity, growing up, mothers, legacies, and people making ostensibly terrible choices. With composer Julia Meinwald, their musicals include The Magnificent Seven (2023 Flint Repertory Theatre world premiere, 2022 Theatre Row/NYC), The Loneliest Girl in the World (2018 Diversionary Theatre world premiere, 2016 NAMT Festival, 2015 Polyphone Festival), Pregnancy Pact (2012 Weston Playhouse world premiere, 2011 NAMT Festival), and Reb+VoDKa+Me (2019 Civilians/OPERA America, 2017 NYU Tisch New Musical Theatre Workshop.) Other musicals include Across the River (2013 Seoul Musical Festival, 2009 Daegu International Musical Festival) and Cheer Wars (2009 Richard Rodgers Award.) Gordon has developed work with Page 73, The Civilians R&D Group, Ars Nova, SPACE at Ryder Farm, the 92nd Street Y, Fresh Ground Pepper, Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, Yale Institute for Music Theatre, the Johnny Mercer Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, Prospect Theater Company, New York City Children’s Theatre, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. Outside of theatre, they have worked as a Korean children’s book author and a pop culture portrait artist. MFA, NYU/Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
Julia Meinwald (Music) is a composer for musical theatre and opera (and the occasional film and computer game score). Musicals with her collaborator Gordon Leary include Pregnancy Pact, Reb+VoDKa+Me, The Magnificent Seven, and The Loneliest Girl in the World. Julia and Gordon write aggressively empathetic shows that help them understand completely foreign points of view, like Anita Bryant's anti-gay-rights crusade or teenage girls who decide to get pregnant together. She also collaborated with Sara Cooper and Amy Burgess on Elevator Heart, a modular music theatre piece that explores the diverse experiences of women+ in the 21st century. Julia's shows have been produced at the Weston Playhouse, Flint Repertory, Diversionary Theatre, and NYC's Theatre Row, and licensed to colleges and small theatre groups around the US and in Canada. She's developed work with the Dramatists Guild, Page 73, Ars Nova, Fresh Ground Pepper, the Civilians, 92Y, New Dramatists, American Lyric Theatre, and exciting acronyms like MTF, NAMT, NYMF, and YIMT. Julia is a Thom Thomas award winner, a Larson, Rodgers, and Billie Burke finalist, and her work has received support from the Anna Sosenko trust, Opera America’s Discovery Grant, the DGF’s Writers Alliance Grant, NAMT’s Frank Young Grant, and the NEA. Julia is an Ithaca native, who is thrilled to be developing new work in her hometown. Some of her fondest memories growing up include time spent at The Hangar, The Kitchen, The Firehouse, and with Orange Tree Theatre Company. www.juliameinwald.com.
Sarah Plotkin (Director) is a freelance director, educator and cultural worker. She has worked in Boston and NYC and is excited to return to her hometown of Ithaca after more than a decade away. Sarah is the Founding Artistic Director of Electric Eye Ensemble, a collaborative theater company exploring American myths and stories through a revisionist, feminist lens. With Electric Eye she has directed and co-written: Welcome to the Doll Den (The Tank), Earthrise (Dixon Place), and Home in Motion: A Road Trip Play (WOW Cafe Theatre). Freelance credits include: Every Feeling I’ve Ever Felt (Ars Nova), The Digger (La MaMa ETC), Discrepancies (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Molting (Object Movement Residency), and Juniper Tree (Dixon Place). As a community engaged artist she collaborates with folks of all ages to make theater that bridges divides and inspires joyful community-building. Her most recent project, Through Our Eyes, was an intergenerational collaboration with teenagers and older adults to amplify climate justice activism in Boston through interview theater. She also founded and co-facilitates Artist Gym, a monthly creation and creativity workshop. Sarah holds an MA in Theater Education and Applied Theatre from Emerson College, and a BA in Directing from Sarah Lawrence College. http://www.sarahplotkin.com/
Jeremy Pletter (Music Director / Pianist) is a local music director, director, vocal coach, and choir teacher. He recently moved back to the Ithaca area after two years teaching in Boston. He’s so excited to be working on his first WoW show. He would like to thank the incredible cast and crew for their hard work and talent as well as his remarkable fiancé for being the love of his life!
Paul Aylett Morgan (Casey) is incredibly excited to be a part of their 2nd production with WoW! Virginia born and raised, they're a past Ithaca College music student pursuing ethnomusicology and performance. Paul is so thrilled to be here working with such incredible people. They were last seen in the WoW production of A Year with Frog and Toad in the Summer of 2021.
Hannah Avery (Joelle) is an actor, director, playwright, educator, and marketing specialist for theatre currently based in Ithaca, NY. Something Blue is her first production with Walking on Water. Recent credits include Do You Feel Anger? (Assistant Director, Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, NY) The Closed Door Disorder (Playwright, Wildwood Theatre in Minneapolis, MN) and The Mad Ones Lab (Director/ Sam, Section 3 in Bell Buckle, TN). She currently works as the Marketing/ Creative Content Associate at Kitchen Theatre Company. @hdogaves
- Seamus Buxton (Geoff) is excited to be returning to WoW Productions after performing as Toad in A Year with Frog and Toad. Seamus has performed locally with Opera Ithaca in shows such as Le Nozze di Figaro, Cendrillon, and A Little Night Music. While studying Vocal Performance at Ithaca College, he performed in their mainstage productions of Titanic: the musical and Cendrillon.
Quin Frederich (Stage Manager) (They/Them/Theirs) is a freelance Stage Manager and Audio Engineer currently based in Ithaca, NY. Something Blue is Quin’s first production with Walking on Water. Their recent work includes Into The Woods (Sub Props Production Assistant, Ithaca College) Fun Home (Props Associate Stage Manager, Ithaca College) Mob Moll (Stage Manager, Ithaca College New Play Incubator) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant Stage Manager, La Cañada Playhouse). Quin is currently pursuing their BFA in Stage Management at Ithaca College.