Robert Clater
Producer/ Co-Director
Robert Clater is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and is the co-owner Clater Kaye Theatreworks. He has spent many successful years as an accomplished performer on Broadway, in films and on national television. Television audiences will have seen him in recurring roles on General Hospital, Port Charles and The Young And The Restless. He voiced the character of Moja in the independent feature film The White Lion, and has appeared on numerous variety programs including the prime-time special At Night with Bob Braun. International TV audiences saw him as the host of The Baccarat Game. On stage, has produced and/or directed Footloose, Legally Blonde, Into The Woods, Curtains, Les Miserables, Crazy For You, A Chorus Line, High School Musical among many others. On the National level, he is known as a celebrated director of the hit musical show, Dreamgirls. His various companies range from small regional theaters to national tours. He also holds the distinction of being the only actor in history to have played all five of the Principal roles. Broadway legend, and Dreamgirls creator Michael Bennett, selected Mr. Clater for the original cast of the Dreamgirls International Company, which received a Tony Nomination for Best Revival in 1987. Mr. Clater has twice directed Dreamgirls for the National Black Arts Festival starring Tony Winner Jennifer Holliday, and at the MUNY, breaking a 95 year box office record. His Los Angeles production earned a total of 19 nominations and took home 11 awards including 2 for Best Production. His direction of Ragtime also earned multiple award nominations including Best Director and Best Production. He is associated with multiple theatrical honors including Emmys, Tonys, Ovations, and Garland Awards, and has worked or collaborated with Tommy Tune, Maurice Hines, Gloria Estefan, Diana Ross, Jeff Calhoun, Placido Domingo, Donna McKechnie, among others. His high profile career has enabled him to work internationally in four countries on three continents. Mr. Clater received his B.A. degree from Temple University and holds a graduate education studies certification from California State University at Northridge.
Lesia Kaye
Lesia Kaye is a proud member of SDC, AEA and SAG/AFTRA. Beginning as a dancer in 42nd Street, her vocal prowess took her to Houston Grand Opera and dramatic skills to sold out performances at Arizona Theatre Co. Often chosen as the dance captain in her productions, Ms. Kaye easily moved into the role of choreographer. In 1992, she started collaborating with Robert Clater as a Director/Choreographer team and began producing theatre in 2005. Over the years, they have worked with a virtual Who’s Who of celebrated performers including Tony nominees and winners: Renee Elise Goldsberry, Billy Porter, Adriane Lenox, Jennifer Holliday, Paul Kreppel, Murphy Cross, Montego Glover, Norm Lewis and Christopher Jackson, among many others. Their work has been seen at The MUNY, the Kennedy Center, Pittsburgh CLO, Dallas Summer Musicals, and the Theatre of the Stars Festival productions, which were the centerpieces for the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. Always multitasking, Ms. Kaye applied her natural skills for organization, budgeting, marketing and story development as associate and executive directorships in Los Angeles and North Carolina driving both financial and artistic success. Diving into new theater development Clater-Kaye became a development house for aspiring creatives cherry picking The Time of Nick as a story worthy of a Christmas Classic.
Producer/ Co-Director/
Choreographer
Frank Basile
Producer
Frank Basile’s multifaceted and extraordinary career has taken him from the most notable opera stages in the world to behind the scenes production of movies, music, and theater, and from the military to corporate marketing and sales.
The Virginia native began his journey no less diversely than he continues it to this day.
Included in Who’s Who in Music, Mr. Basile began performing on violin, percussion and singing, while simultaneously playing intramural sports and becoming an Eagle Scout. His talents earned him a full scholarship to Indiana University, where he majored in opera and minored in economics.
Upon graduating from Indiana University, he made his operatic debut with the Augsburg Opera Company in Germany, before returning to the states, establishing a successful career in real estate, and accepting a management position with Marriott International.
Longing to return to music, Mr. Basile enlisted in the military, joining the famed U.S. Airforce Band as part of the Singing Sergeants, where his duties included performing at the White House, entertaining foreign dignitaries, keeping up troop morale, and public relations. During his four year tenure, his role expanded from singing to include stage managing and producing.
He made his American opera debut in Washington, D.C. with the Washington Opera, under the direction of Gian Carlo Menotti. And his distinguished operatic career would continue in opera houses in Utah, Baltimore, Nevada, Florida, and finally at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where he made his Met debut in Moses und Aron.
Opera News called him “a cross between Georgio Tozzi and Ezio Pinza...a voice to follow.” And in addition to singing in opera houses, Mr. Basile also soloed with the National Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Istanbul Symphony, and the Boston Pops.
The Time Of Nick Creatives
Wanting to give back, Mr. Basile began teaching master classes alongside Jerome Hines and sat on the boards of both Opera Music Theater International as well as Encompass Opera, which focuses on new American works.
Married to actress Celeste Holm, the two produced, wrote, and performed their own show together called “At Home and Abroad,” which delighted audiences from London and Paris to China and Los Angeles.
Mr. Basile’s solo cabaret show, “Memories are Made of This” earned him a New York MAC Award nomination for Best New Male Debut Artist. And the New York Times recently declared his performance in The Astronaut’s Tale “charismatic.”
Presently, Mr. Basile is producing the movie Prepper’s Grove, finishing production on his own CD of standards, and co-producing the show The Time of Nick.
Renegade Animation is partnering with The time of Nick LLC to transform the stage production into an animated feature film. NEstled in Glendale, Ca, Renegade is the industry leader in cross platform digital animation and produces smart, funny, animated content for film, television, advertising, streaming products, and other media.The studio's strengths lie in personality-based character animation combined with a strong use of design, achieving a traditional look with non-traditional tools. Renegade was founded in 1992 by Darrel Van Citters and Ashley Postelwaite.
http://www.renegadeanimation.com/
Theatrical Creatives
Hanne Brinker & Ketil Kostad
Book
Hanne Brincker is a Norwegian actress, director and producer. Hanne was artistic director of the touring company The Tramp Theatre 1998-2011. She produced large scale performances as well as smaller ones. 2011-2015 she was employed as actress and director at the regional theatre in Nord-Trøndelag. Today she is working freelance. As director, she has among many other productions staged “West Side Story”, “The 39 steps” and “The Mystery of Irma Vep”. Last year she directed “The blue time”, a coproduction between two Danish theatres. The production toured Denmark, Germany and Norway, and was by the press pointed out as one of Denmark`s ten best performances in 2016. This year, Hanne is directing “Heart-room”, which is on the official program of Århus, the Cultural Capitol of Europe 2017. She`s asked to direct the opening show of Europe`s largest theatre festival in 2018. As actress, Hanne has starred in the German-Norwegian movie “Prize Immortality?” about the composer Edvard Grieg. She has done several short movies, commercials and voiceovers, alongside a long list of theatre productions. Since 2013, she has been touring with world-famous rock guitarist Ronni le Tekrø from the band TNT. Together they`ve made a concert/storytelling production that has received an overwhelming response from audience and critics. Hanne was given a year`s long working artist scholarship from the government in 2009, and she has won the Oppland County artist scholarship, among several other acknowledgments. “The Time of Nick” is her first piece as playwright.
Ketil Kolstad is a Norwegian writer and actor. He has studied creative writing at the Norwegian Institute for Children`s Books, and he`s an educated actor from the Stanislavski-based theatre-school in Bergen. As the artistic director of the regional theatre in Nord-Trøndelag 2011-2015, he made the theatre a success both artistically and financially, setting new ticket-sales records. Ketil has written original plays, dramatized novels and translated plays into Norwegian. Several of them have been staged by regional theaters and other professional companies. Among his translations is the Broadway-success “The 39 steps”. Ketil has codirected and choreographed several musicals, among them “West Side Story”, “Annie” and “Hair”, and he has worked as a performing dancer in musicals such as "Cabaret". He is in the process of getting his first novel published. Ketil is known as one of the country`s foremost promotors of reading and books, and he sat on the Department of Culture`s jury for the government`s children-books` prizes for four years. He has won the Oppland County artist scholarship. In 2016, he worked as dramaturg on a production that was pointed out by the press as one of the Denmark`s ten best stage performances that year. Now he is back in Denmark working on a production premiering under the official program of Århus, the European Capitol of Culture 2017. Ketil has twenty years` experience as freelance actor, working on stage, doing short-movies, commercials and voice-overs. Many of those years have been spent on tour with The Tramp Theatre.
Tor Ingar Jakobsen
Composer
Tor Ingar Jakobsen is a Norwegian composer, arranger and piano player. He was educated from the University of Oslo as cand.philol in composing, jazz piano and arranging in 2004. He is mainly known for his work in the musical theatre, but he also works as a concert musician, and has toured in Europe with many different bands and artists. Everything from the duo format to the full orchestra. Besides musical theatre and concert playing, he has also composed music for film and TV.
Some selected credits as a composer are; The musical 'Under Her Hat' (2014- New York), The Play 'Jakob og Neikob' (2013, Nord-Trøndelag Teater) The musical 'Jakten på Bene Skinnkniv' (2013 Fetsund), The movie 'Kirkerottene og Lea Mus' (2012), The musical 'Den Magiske Julekrystallen' (2011), TV production music for 'Prolific Arts' (2011 USA), TV 'Brennpunkt' NRK , TV production music for 'Extreme Music' (2010 USA), The movie 'Kirkerottene på Cirkus' (2010), TV 'En Global Kaffepause' NRK (2008), The movie 'Kirkerottene Kommer' (2008).
Some selected musical theatre shows he has worked on as musical director and/or musician and/or arranger are: 'Fiddler on the Roof' (arranger, musician), 'No Regrets, the story about Piaf' (musical director, arranger, musician). 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (arranger, musician), 'Kjæm du ikveld' (Musical director, Arranger, musician), 'Frendelaus' (Arranger, Musician) 'Cabaret' (Musician), 'Robin Hood' (Musical Director, Musician) 'Bør Børson' (Arranger, Musician), 'Phantom of the Opera' (Musician) 'Cats' (Arranger, Musician), 'Whitch Witch' (Musician), Alice in Wonderland (Musical director, musician).
Abraham Tetenbaum
Lyricist
Abraham Tetenbaum: An American playwright, lyricist and nonprofit theater executive, has written for Broadway (Crazy He Calls Me) and network television (NBC’s Sisters). His play, Heat of Re-Entry, which premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York, was rated “Best of ‘87” by the Los Angeles Times. Surgical Theater, a play about 19th century surgeon J. Marion Sims, received staged readings at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater and Circle-in-the-Square/Broadway. Tetenbaum wrote the book and lyrics for the musicalFirst Kids composed by Norman L. Berman, which received workshops in North Carolina and New York, and has toured LA schools and libraries in a two-actor junior edition. He has written four other educational touring musicals taking on such topics as childhood obesity, financial literacy and the humane treatment of animals.Berman and Tetenbaum also created We Can Get There From Here, a 15-minute musical for the 2008 International Sustainability Summit at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Tetenbaum founded the nonprofit Enrichment Works, which has brought “theater to inspire learning” to more than half a million students in Southern California since 1999. He has served as Editor of Publications for the American Film Institute (AFI); taught at Hofstra University, Brooklyn College and New York University; and directed theater workshops for the World Union of Jewish Students in the former Yugoslavia, Italy and the United Kingdom. A member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild of America, West, Inc. and the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP), Tetenbaum holds an MFA in Playwriting and Dramatic Theory from the University of Minnesota and a BS from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Bette Sussman
Music Director
Bette Susssman - IS A MULTI-EMMY AWARD WINNING… PIANO/KEYBOARD/B3 PLAYER MUSICAL DIRECTOR COMPOSER ARRANGER VOCALIST
A gifted, versatile, “first-call” musician, Bette studied at Oberlin College, composing and performing her own songs, before returning to New York to study with the great Sanford Gold. It was during this time that Sussman took the New York studio and club scene by storm, recording and performing with countless artists and songwriters. Bette has served as Musical Director for legendary artists including Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, Carly Simon, Darlene Love, Christine Ebersole, Patti LuPone, James Naughton, Billy Porter, Martin Short, and more.
On Broadway, she has conducted and/or played in “Leader of the Pack,” “Godspell,” “Waitress,” and the original “The Color Purple.” She has written songs for Patti Austin, Bob and Hillary James, David Broza, Darlene Love, Patti Lupone, Bette Midler and Eric Mercury.
Bette’s honors include two Emmy Awards and two BMI Awards for her compositions on “One Life to Live” and “As the World Turns.”