Winter 2024: Don’t Stop Me
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Directed by Jennifer Boesing
Music Direction by David Möschler
Choreography by Janet Collard
Music and lyrics by Dave Malloy, book and lyrics by Krista Knight
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, February 9 – 18, 2024
Written for YMTC by the creator of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Don’t Stop Me is a sci-fi electro-pop musical inspired by – and at times, directly quoting – the words, thoughts, and lived experiences of 21st century teens. A group of high schoolers compete in an all-night dance-a-thon hosted by a cool and mysterious DJ, each harboring their own reason for attending and winning “the prize” – a college scholarship, Internet fame, a better SAT score, the perfect relationship. We get to know the pairs of contestants as they compete in “heats” that take them back in time to famous dances in different historical eras. As the dancers begin to drop like flies, it becomes clear that the demonic DJ has very special plans for these teenagers – it’s a dance-a-thon to the death. Fresh off a revision workshop in the spring of 2023, Don’t Stop Me is an fresh, relevant look at achievement-culture and what it means to be a young person today.
PERFORMANCES
Friday February 9 @ 7:30pm
Saturday February 10 @ 7:30pm
Sunday February 11 @ 2pm – masks required for audiences
Friday February 16 @ 7:30pm
Saturday February 17 @ 7:30pm – ASL-interpreted show
Sunday February 18 @ 2pm
MEET THE CAST
MEET THE TEAM
JENNIFER BOESING – Director
Jennifer (she/her) worked professionally as a singer and actor in Minneapolis from the age of nine. Before graduation from high school, she had performed with At the Foot of the Mountain Theater Company, Mabou Mines Theater, Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Minnesota Opera. Jennifer studied acting at the Northwestern Summer Theater Institute, with Wesley Balk at the New Music Theater Institute in Minneapolis, and with Sanford Meisner and Richard Pinter at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City. In 2002, she earned a master’s in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Operatic Performance. Locally, Jennifer has performed opera, oratorio, and musical theater. Professional credits include work with San Francisco Opera Center, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Pocket Opera, Berkeley Opera, Oakland Opera Theater, Festival Opera, North Bay Opera, 42nd St. Moon, and Mountain Play. Jennifer began working as a director and educator with YMTC in 2000, when it was called Youth Musical Theater Commons. She has served as founding artistic director for YMTC since the company became a nonprofit organization in 2004.
DAVID MÖSCHLER – Music Director
David (he/him) is a freelance conductor and musical director based in the Bay Area. He was named the first resident music director for YMTC in 2011 and received The American Prize in Conducting for the first YMTC production of Ragtime. He has music-directed 33 productions at YMTC and over 100 at other places such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Mountain Play, West Edge Opera, Lamplighters, Shotgun Players, and Ray of Light Theatre among many others. When not involved in theater, he’s been guest music director for the wildly popular tribute series UnderCover Presents: Sly and the Family Stone’s Stand! and toured North America with Pop Up Magazine and the rock band The Dear Hunter after recording several of their albums, and recently made his Off-Broadway debut playing accordion for Stephen Schwartz’s The Baker’s Wife. David also works during the summers in Cape Cod at College Light Opera Company where he has been on music staff since 2005. In 2013, he founded the Awesöme Orchestra Collective in the Bay Area, which he conducts every month. Visit davidmoschler.com for more info.
JANET COLLARD – Choreographer
Janet Collard (she/her) is a dance performing artist and choreographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has made a career out of the movement arts, continuously fascinated with the body and how it can communicate and emote in a theatrical space. Through the methods of Pilates and Gyrotonic Janet delves deeply into the body and how it functions and can support itself for people in daily life. These systems inform Janet’s artistic practice of teaching movement for the stage. As a professional contemporary dancer, Janet has performed for many companies and choreographers including AXIS Dance Company, Nancy Karp and Dancers, Gerald Casel Dance and Katie Faulkner’s little seismic dance company. As a choreographer, Janet has had the pleasure of working with YMTC since 2015, Shotgun Players, Berkeley Playhouse, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, and Throckmorton Theater. Janet recently completed an MA in Dance Philosophy and History at Roehampton University and currently resides in London. www.janetcollard.com
MOLLY STEWART-COHN – Lighting Designer
Molly (she/her) has been working in the Bay Area lighting world for twenty years, at theaters including Berkeley Rep, San Francisco Playhouse, CalShakes, ZSpace, The Magic, Berkeley Playhouse, and Shotgun. She has been a lighting designer, master electrician, programmer, and technician. She previously worked with YMTC on The Music Man and Sweeney Todd.
RICHARD FONG – Projection Artist
Richard (he/him) is excited to be working with YMTC again after previously designing projections for YMTC’s production of Sunday in the Park with George and lights for Little Shop of Horrors. His work as a lighting and projection designer spans traditional theater, live concert venues, and beyond. To check out more of his projects please visit rfongdesign.com or @fuzzypandas on Instagram.
RACHAEL HEIMAN – Costume Designer
Rachael Heiman (they/she/he) graduated from the California College of the Arts in 2018 and has spent the last decade working as a Bay Area Production Designer and Fabricator specializing in historical recreation costume for opera and musicals. Their individualized BFA melded textiles, sculpture, and fashion. Their fine art background serves them well in productions like this one. This is their 11th time as a costume designer for YMTC, following Les Misérables, The Music Man, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd, Shrek The Musical, Ragtime, Matilda, Sunday in the Park with George, Hunchback of Notre dame, and Little Shop of Horrors. Aside from design and fabrication, Rachael has worked as an actor, model, and props artist. Previous companies they’ve worked with include: The Great Dickens Christmas Fair, African-American Shakespeare Company, The Speakeasy, the San Francisco Playhouse, etc. @Rachaelheimanproductions
BERTRAND BLANK – Sound Engineer
Bert (he/him) is a sound engineer, DJ, and event producer in the Bay Area. He is the founder of By the Bay Productions, an innovative entertainment production company that specializes in sound design, lighting, and audio-visual effects. Bert has designed the sound for productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Be More Chill, Heathers: The Musical, Into the Woods, Matilda, Sunday in the Park With George and Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is thrilled to be working with YMTC again, and very excited to be part of the team bringing Don’t Stop Me to bay area audiences. Visit bythebayproductions.com for more info.
THOMAS SOTO – Sound Designer/Mixer
Thomas is excited to join YMTC again the 23/24 season. He has mixed for YMTC for their performances of Shrek the Musical, Matilda, and Sunday in the Park with George, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Little Shop of Horrors. He also works with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on various musical projects such as The Apple Tree and Little Women. He currently works at the Fairmont Hotel as an A/V specialist, A1, and Assistant Project Manager. During his down time you can find him gathering magic, running nets, or dungeoning dragons.
DAWN NAKASHIMA – Properties Designer/Scenic Artist
Dawn is so pleased to have found a niche in theater stagecraft (props, set dressing, paint & build). One of her favorite pastimes is to “make things” and as the property master she gets to flex her creative, problem solving and resourceful-ness muscles. Turns out Dawn is well suited for this type of work with a BS in Industrial Design (SJSU) and an MFA in Studio Arts (Mills College). Some of Dawn’s favorite YMTC shows to work on for their unique challenges – Light in the Piazza, Shrek the Musical & Matilda. Check out Dawn’s website for her latest creations: www.nakfinearts.com
CHAD OWENS – Master Builder
Chad Owens is a scenic designer, as well as a multidisciplinary artist and maker, with a broad background in custom wood and metal fabrication, painting, figurative drawing, and site-specific installation. He has designed scenery for more than 100 professionally staged productions, for companies including Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, West Edge Opera, Cal Performances, RAWdance, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Aurora Theater, Central Works, and many others. Set Design and Art Direction for major motion pictures include Milk (Oscar and Art Directors Guild nominations for best production design), Blue Jasmine, Chasing Mavericks, Haywire, Contagion, The Pursuit of Happyness (sic) and others, and for television The OA, 13 Reasons Why, Trauma, and others. He has worked extensively as an Associate Designer on Broadway, including, among others, Wonderful Town, Dinner at Eight, 42nd Street, and Into the Woods, all of which received Tony nominations for best sets.
GABE WILKIE-ROGERS – Stage Manager
Gabe (he/him) concludes his apotheosis with this production of Don’t Stop Me. His previous credits as a stage manager include Matilda, Sunday in the Park with George, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Little Shop of Horrors (YMTC), The Saint Plays (Reed College), War of the Worlds (JP Radio Plays), and The Night The Aliens Came To A Musical Theatre Revue (RIPP). In his other work, Gabe is a tutor with Classroom Matters, and runs weekly M:TG events at It’s Your Move Games in Oakland. He can be found for professional and unprofessional inquiries at wertiop@fastmail.fm.