RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD
The Creative Team
Hersh Ellis
CRYSTAL SKILLMAN - Writer is a four time NYT Critics’ Pick honoree, as well as a bookwriter for the award winning musical MARY AND MAX (with composer Bobby Cronin). Plays include NYTimes Critics’ Picks OPEN (The Tank Theatre/AFO), GEEK (Vampire Cowboys), CUT (Theatre Under St. Marks), and KING KIRBY (The Brick, Co-writer Fred Van Lente), now launched as a four part audio drama on Broadway Podcast Network. Awards include the Earth Matters On Stage Prize (RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD), two Alfred P. Sloan commissions, a Clifford Odets Ensemble Play commission, and she is the winner of an NY Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Play (THE VIGIL OR THE GUIDED CRADLE). This past year Crystal was selected as one of eight playwrights for the Playwrights’ Center’s 2020-23 Core Membership, a winner for SDSU’s New Musicals Initiative with musical POSTCARD AMERICAN TOWN (Composer Lynne Shankel), presented in The Civilians R & D Group “Findings” series with THIS SHOW IS MONEY (music by Gaby Alter), and announced as bookwriter for A NEW CITY (Composer Sam Ratelle). Crystal was just selected for the Orchard Project Audio Lab this summer with THE MAGICIAN’S MAGICIAN in production with BOOM Integrated/John Marshall Media for release in Fall 2021. Her play OPEN, which inspired the series, was filmed and live streamed to a world-wide audience this summer. She is currently developing the half hour musical comedy OVERNIGHT SUCCESS with co-conceiver songwriter and actress Lauren Elder (Kampfire Films) as well as her YA animated series COSMIC CRITTERS (with songs by Bobby Cronin). Crystal’s credits also include the graphic novel EAT FIGHTER (Webtoon), “ADVENTURE TIME” comics (BOOM! Studios), and work with Marvel Studios. Crystal Skillman IG: @crystalskillman
BOBBY CRONIN - Composer multi award-winning composer/writer of Mary & Max  with book writer Crystal Skillman (World Premiere Theatre Calgary 2018, European Premiere at Austria's Theatre Linz 2019 [streamed on YouTube during Covid]; Winner of 2018 MUT Critics Award, Pace New Musicals 2018, SigWorks Finalist 2018); ‘Til Death Do Us Part (World Premiere 2020 - Covid Canceled, 2018-2020 SDSU New Works Award; 2017 SigWorks Finalist; 2016 Overtures Series) with book writer Caroline Prugh; Concrete Jungle, set to play London's Leicester Square Theatre summer 2020 (Covid Canceled); Till Soon, Anne  with Christine Toy Johnson (O'Neill Writing Residency); Daybreak (winner of the 2011 New Jersey Playwrights Contest) premiered in Wayne, NJ & London’s Tristan Bates Theatre spring 2012. PSYKIDZ was commissioned in 2018 and will be made into a film during Covid quarantine by The Prep NJ. 2014 York NEO. Other: Numerous award winning short musical films, 54 Below, Lincoln Center Songbook Series, Birdland, Symphony Space, London’s The Players Theatre & St. James Theatre, etc. "Reach The Sky: Live" & “The Concrete Jungle International Studio Cast Recording” on all digital platforms.  Bobby Cronin IG: @croninbobby 
Hersh Ellis - Director is a NYC based theatre director and filmmaker. He was artistic director of Home Grown Theatre Co. in Kansas City for six seasons where he directed over 20 productions. For several years, he directed the Century Clubs annual benefit of A Christmas Carol (Starring Alec Baldwin, Sam Waterston, Marsha Mason and Chuck Cooper). Recent developmental projects: Mary and Max: The Musical by Crystal Skillman and Bobby Cronin (Dramatists Guild), Pulp Verite by Crystal Skillman (Urban Stages), Disruption by Andrew Stein (Sheen Center), Wanderer, or the Literal Extraterrestrial I Met on Grindr and the two part epic Turn Back Now both by Kaleb Tank (Chicago’s Otherworld Theatre). He’s assistant directed at The Public, Rattlestick, Hypocrite, and Theatre Row. He was directoral observer to Pacific Overtures (Classic Stage Company, starring George Takei) and worked on the world premiere of Heathers the Musical (New World Stages). He is currently in post production on short films Question and Block, and is developing several other screen projects as both a writer and a director. He’s a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, an alum of the Pace Performing Arts, an SDC Associate Member, and is repped by A3 Artists. Hersh Ellis
IG: @hersh.ellis
David Adkin Ltd – General Manager
David is a producer and general manager. Credits include: Clybourne Park, Rothschild & Sons (Park Theatre); Blindness (Donmar/UK Tour/International); Rocky Road (Livestream); The Realistic Joneses, Wild Goose Dreams (Theatre Royal Bath); The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios); The Life; Dessert; Stalking the Bogeyman; Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse); Agnes Colander (Jermyn Street); Our Friends the Enemy (UK Tour/New York); Sweeney Todd (Twickenham Theatre, Winner of Best Off West End Production Whatsonstage Award); and Our House The Musical – 10th Anniversary Concert (Savoy Theatre).
David worked for legendary Producer Robert Fox on the UK premiere of David Bowie and Enda Walsh’s musical Lazarus (Kings Cross Theatre). David was the Festival Producer for the Old Vic New Voices Festival in 2015 and the Producer of the award-winning Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath in 2019/20. David is a member of SOLT and Chairman of Cherwell Theatre Company – an arts charity for young people in his hometown.
Jasmine Ricketts – Movement Director
Jasmine holds both an MA in Choreography from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (kindly supported by the Trinity Laban Dance Scholarship) and a BA in Drama from the University of Exeter. Jasmine was also part of the Overture 2017/18 cohort of Community Dance Artists with New Adventures Dance Company. Credits include: Venus and Adonis (Blackheath Halls Opera); The Middle by Mandi Chivasa (Park Theatre); The Elixir of Love (Into Opera); Eugene Onegin (Buxton International Festival); Slow Motions (music video by Molly Mango); Morph by Mandi Chivasa (Tristan Bates and Tramshed Theatre); Paul Bunyan (ENO); The Day After (ENO); Phoenix (dance film by Aislinn King); No Quarter by Polly Stenham (Duelling Productions); A Single Act by Jane Bodie (Duelling Productions); Blink (RAW Festival, Exeter Northcott). As a facilitator, Jasmine works with English National Opera, Disney Theatrical Group, Eastside Educational Trust and Best Theatre Arts.
Evan Bernardin Productions – Executive Producer
Evan Bernardin Productions is a full-service theatrical management company that provides general and production management for productions, tours, and immersive experiences in North America. Select: Seven Deadly Sins by Moisés Kaufman's, Afterglow, We Are The Tigers, Douglas Carter Beane's Fairycakes. Touring: CocoMelon, Million Dollar Quartet, Charlie Brown Christmas, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, Counting Sheep. Additional collaborative projects have included performances at Lincoln Center, The United Nations, The Harvard Club, The White House, Cornell University, Georgetown's Gaston Hall, The Culture Project, The Ohio Theatre and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Will Burton – Casting Director
West End Theatre includes:
Be More Chill (Shaftesbury), Heathers (Haymarket), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo), Matilda (Cambridge), Ghost (Piccadilly).
London Theatre includes:Origin (Almeida), Evita (Regent’s Park), Jesus Christ Superstar (Barbican & Regent’s Park), Local Hero, Jekyll & Hyde, High Society (Old Vic), Othello, I Think We Are Alone, Fatherland (Frantic Assembly), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith), The View Upstairs (Soho), But I’m a Cheerleader, My Night With Reg, Torch Song (Turbine), In the Heights (Kings Cross) Five Guys Named Moe (Marble Arch), Xanadu, Carrie, Side Show (Southwark Playhouse),
Regional Theatre & Tours include: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible), Piaf, (Nottingham Playhouse), Bugsy Malone (UK Tour), The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (UK Tour), RENT 20th Anniversary (UK Tour) TV & Film includes: Matilda (Netflix), Mary Poppins Returns, Beauty & the Beast (Disney), The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, Over The Rainbow (BBC) and Superstar (ITV).
Twitter : @WillBurtonGBC IG :@WillBurtonGBC www.grindrodandburton.co.uk
Zoë Hurwitz – Set & Costume Designer
Recent UK credits include: Malindadzimu (Hampstead Theatre); Deciphering (New Diorama); The Language of Kindness (Shoreditch Town Hall); Fen (LAMDA); We Anchor in Hope (Bunker); The Five Plays Project (Directors Programme, Young Vic) and Living Newspaper collective (Royal Court).
Zoë has designed for US venues including: Here Arts Center, Ars Nova (AntFest), The Wild Project, and Brown/Trinity Rep. Associate credits include: Caroline or Change (Fly Davis) at Studio 54, Broadway & Social! (Christine Jones) at the Park Avenue Armory NYC. Awards and nominations include: Linbury Prize (2019 winner), JMK Award (2020 finalist with Emerald Crankson), Best Set Design - Off West End Awards (twice finalist). 2 designs have been selected to represent the UK at World Stage Design 2022.
Zoë is a graduate of the MFA Design Programme at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and holds a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art, UAL. www.zoehurwitz.com
Pablo Fernandez Baz – Lighting Designer
Pablo’s recent lighting design credits include Oliver Award-nominated show” Warheads”, directed by Toby Clarke at the Park Theatre. Contemporary Circus production “Staged”, Winner Total Theatre awards for Circus 2019. “United queendom” site-specific, immersive production at the Kensington Palace, produced by Les Enfants Terribles. “Nearly Human” by Perhaps contraption, offie nominated (IDEA 2020). “Valhalla” Site-specific directed by Rich rusk, nominated Offfest short run 2019. Other companies Pablo has collaborated include Talawa Theatre, The sleeping trees, Little soldier production, Nofit Circus state. Recent credits as LD assistant : “El Medico, El Musical” , “El tiempo entre costuras” ( Spain Tour)
Instagram: fernandez.baz
Ellie Roser – Associate Designer
Ellie (She/Her) is a Bristolian artist and performance designer now working in London. With a background in devised performance and fine art, Ellie takes a multidisciplinary approach to her practice and she is interested in work grounded in community, sustainability and collaboration. She has made work at The Bristol Old Vic, for shows in Brighton and Camden fringe and as part of Iris Theatre's 2021 design cohort. Recent credits include working as Design Assistant on both National Youth Theatre's 5* production of Animal Farm at Northampton's Royal & Derngate and renowned community company The Big House's Redemption. Ellie is thrilled to be part of bringing Rain and Zoe Save the World to life and to be sharing the necessary message of this show with Jermyn Street's audience.
Victoria Rose
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
James Anderton
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Elizabeth Mak – Video Projection Designer
Elizabeth is a theatre artist and designer based in New York and Singapore. New York: The Tricky Part, A Walk in the Woods (The Barrow Group); They, Themself and Schmerm (The Public’s UTR Festival INCOMING!); Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana… (HERE Arts). Regional USA: Miss You Like Hell (Baltimore Center Stage); already there (Kennedy Center); Tiny Houses (Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse); Bridges of Madison County (Philadelphia Theatre Company); Square Root of Three Sisters (International Festival of Arts and Ideas); The Phantom Tollbooth (Weston Playhouse). Resident designer with Albany Park Theater Project. MFA Yale School of Drama. Represented by A3 Artists Agency. Member of IATSE Local USA 829 and Wingspace Theatrical Design Inc. Founder of Rainshadow Studios, a non-profit dedicated to making art addressing climate change and environmental destruction.
Amanda Stephens-Lee - Voice and Accent Coach
Amanda is a graduate of the MFA (Voice) program at Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). Recent Voice/dialect coaching credits include: The Sugar House (Finborough Theatre). In Sydney she has coached dozens of productions including The Rolling Stone, Gloria;You Got Older, The Cripple of Inishmaan; If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You; The Caretaker; Nell Gwynne and Next Lesson. She has a busy private coaching studio, and has taught Voice, Accents and Acting at East 15, ArtsEd, LAMDA, Mountview, NIDA and in all the major drama schools in Sydney.
Annette Waldie
COMPANY STAGE MANAGER
Yarit Dor
FIGHT DIRECTOR