VIOLET the musical
music by Jeanine Tesori
book & lyrics by Brian Crowley
directed by Sarah Norris
music directed by Andy Evan Cohen
choreographed by Arthur L. Ross
This multi-award-winning musical follows a scarred woman who embarks on a cross-country bus trip to be healed by a minister... discovering the true meaning of beauty along the way.
Winner of the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical when it premiered Off-Broadway in 1997, and then on to a Tony-nominated Broadway debut in 2014 with a revised version, Violet is a moving musical featuring show-stopping anthems, ranging from American-roots to folk to gospel.
Performances:
August 5th thru 14th
Violet Joy Hadden will play Young Vi at the following performances: 8/6, 8/8 (7pm), 8/11, 8/12 (2pm), 8/14
Juliet Wright will play Young Vi at the following performances: 8/5, 8/8 (2pm), 8/9, 8/12 (7pm), 8/13
The Team
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Book and Lyrics by Brian Crowley
Directed by Sarah Norris
Music Directed and Sound Designed by Andy Evan Cohen
Choreographed by Arthur L. Ross
Assistant Director Hannah-Kathryn Wall
Scenic Design by Connor Callerani
Costume Design by Julia Squier
Lighting Design by Paul Hudson
Props Master Peggy Orman
Technical Director Cat Copeland
Assistant Technical Director/Paint Charge Artist Molly Delaney
Production Stage Manager Courtney Knysch
Assistant Stage Manager/Admin C. Castle
Wardrobe Supervisor Eli Bettmann
Associate Producer/ASM Caroline Pritchard
Company Manager/AGM Bethany Fitch
The Cast
Violet: Kelly McCarty
Flick: RJ Christian
Monty: Alessandro Viviano*
Young Violet: Juliet Wright
Young Violet: Violet Joy Hadden
Father: John Alejandro Jeffords*
Ensemble: Sam Balzac*
Ensemble: Claudia Schneider*
Ensemble: Hannah-Kathryn Wall
Ensemble: Ella McMillion
Ensemble: Cooper Holmes
Ensemble: Arthur L. Ross*
Ensemble: Peggy Orman
The Band
Keys: Andy Evan Cohen
Guitar: Bill Stokes
Bass: Wayne Davidson
Drums: Nick Gulli
* Denotes Member of Actors Equity Association
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KELLY McCARTY
Violet
Kelly McCarty is a multi-hyphenate
queer artist. Pendragon: Our Town (Emily), Twelfth Night (Viola), The Marvelous Wonderettes (BJ), and 25th…Spelling Bee (Schwartzy). They are currently getting their masters in Mental Health Counseling, specializing in Child/Adolescence at Northwestern University. They are a resident artist with New Light Theater Project and Spirit Freak Theatre in NYC. Much love to the SL community, her family, and dear friends. Our community is our strength. Please talk to someone; you don’t have to endure anything alone. www.kelly-mccarty.com @kellylaurenmccarty
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RJ CHRISTIAN
Flick
RJ Christian was last seen in the
Original Off Broadway and First National Companies of The Twenty Sided Tavern. RJ’s voice can be heard as MacGyver on the MacGyver the Musical cast album and his music can be heard in Ratatouille the TikTok Musical. RJ is Resident composer and co artistic director of The Hearty Meal Theatre Co with whom he created and starred in Morbin’ Time, the Morbius Parody Musical. @RJtheComposer @TheHeartyMeal
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ALESSANDRO
VIVIANO
Monty
Alessandro Viviano is extremely
excited to be making his Pendragon Debut! Past regional credits include: Million Dollar Quartet (Twelve Productions); The Age of Innocence (McCarter Theater/Hartford Stage); A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage); Five Points (Goodspeed FoNM). In addition to theater, Alessandro has been working on camera in various shorts as well as a new Amazon streamer Sami. Alessandro is continuously inspired by and in debt to his Mom, Dad, Brother Joe, Pup Ash, and Steve.
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JOHN ALEJANDRO
JEFFORDS
Father
John Jeffords Tejano born and raised,
I now split my time between Brooklyn, New York; Nayarit, Mexico; and wherever the theatrical winds might take me. I've had a passion for musical theatre ever since seeing Phantom of the Opera live on stage for the first time. I then proceeded to walk home from elementary school singing along to the double cassette cast recording, only to arrive at home and demand that my piano teacher mother accompany my best boy soprano Christine Daaé. Thanks, mom! I have since gone on to perform all across the country, feeling equally as comfortable playing the gentle open heart of the show, as I am playing a demonic villain. Or perhaps in an ensemble getting to switch rapidly between a wide range of fully fleshed out characters. Years in a college improv troupe gave me the background to make quick, bold choices, and to collaborate in the moment with my fellow actors.
VIOLET JOY HADDEN
Young Violet
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JULIET WRIGHT
Young Violet
Juliet Wright is an 11-year-old from
Lake Placid with a passion for the performing arts. As a student of Lake Placid Elementary’s Chorus, Lake Placid School of Dance, and Mountain Music Studios for voice and piano, Juliet loves every opportunity to grow her skills. Juliet’s passion was sparked at the age of three, in the first of countless school musicals at Saint Agnes Elementary. Juliet’s most recent performances include The Nutcracker, Seagle’s Festival’s Carmen, Star Spangled Banner (soloist) at Saatva Skate America, and Meet Me In St. Louis with the Book and Blanket Players.
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HANNAH-KATHRYN 'HK' WALL
Ensemble
HK (she/her) is a NC based actress.
After leading Camp Pendragon the last four summers, she is blessed to be returning to direct the upcoming production of Beetlejuice Jr. Previous credits include The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 (Off Bway), Come From Away and the Buddy Holly Story (National Tours), and Heathers: The Musical (WCU). HK is thrilled to be back in Saranac Lake and wants to thank God, her family & friends, her mom, and her agency for all their love and support! hannahkwall.com @hannahkwall
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ELLA McMILLION
Ensemble
Ella McMillion (Ensemble) is
thrilled to be joining the Pendragon team this season! After attending AMDA NYC, She has most recently performed on the Disney Wish: Merida and U/S Flounder. Thank you for the warm welcome to Saranac Lake!
SAM BALZAC
Ensemble
Sam Balzac is so excited to return to
Pendragon! Pendragon: Twelfth Night (Malvolio), Bunnicula (Toby), A Streetcar Named Desire (Collector), Man of La Mancha (Sancho), Harvey (Dr Sanderson), Tintypes (Chaplin), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lysander), The Rocky Horror Show (Brad), Guys & Does (JJRB & Staghart). He most recently appeared in a cameo role in The Guild the Musical, for which he also serves as lyricist, at Dynasty Typewriter in LA opposite Felicia Day, Kirsten Vangsness, and Phil LaMarr. SamBalzac.com Bluesky/Mastodon: @sambalzac
PEGGY ORMAN
Ensemble
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Peggy Orman joined the ranks of
Pendragon actors in 2003, adding stage managing to her resume with 2011's production of The Mousetrap, and has continued in either or both capacities to the present day. She began combining her BA in Studio Art with her passion for theatre while stage managing The Seagull in 2015, a show which needed a taxidermied seagull among other specialty props. She has since designed and fabricated unusual props for several Pendragon productions as well as Adirondack Stage Rats and Community Theatre Players (CTP). She has been incredibly excited to design/produce props for Pendragon’s whole '24 and '25 Summer Seasons and is thrilled to be asked back for 2026 as well as to appear onstage in Violet the musical!
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CLAUDIA SCHNEIDER
Ensemble
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COOPER HOLMES
Ensemble
ARTHUR L. ROSS
Ensemble
JEANINE TESORI
Music
Jeanine won the Tony Award for Best
Original Score with Lisa Kron for the musical Fun Home. She has also written Tony-nominated scores for Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center; Thoroughly Modern Millie (lyrics, Dick Scanlan); Caroline, or Change (lyrics, Tony Kushner); and Shrek The Musical (lyrics, David Lindsay-Abaire). The production of Caroline, or Change at the National Theatre in London received the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Her 1997 Off-Broadway musical Violet (lyrics, Brian Crawley) opened on Broadway in 2014 and garnered four Tony nominations, including Best Musical Revival. Opera: A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (libretto, Tony Kushner; Glimmerglass) and The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me (libretto, J. D. McClatchy, Kennedy Center). Music for plays: Mother Courage (dir. George C. Wolfe, with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline), John Guare's A Free Man of Color (Lincoln Center Theater, dir. George C. Wolfe), and Romeo and Juliet (Delacorte Gala). Film scores: Nights in Rodanthe, Every Day, and You're Not You. Ms. Tesori is a member of the Dramatists Guild and was cited by the ASCAP as the first female composer to have two new musicals running concurrently on Broadway. She was the founding artistic director of Encores! Off-Center at New York City Center, and a lecturer in music at Yale University. Most of all, she is the proud parent of Siena Rafter.
SARAH NORRIS
Director
Sarah Norris (she/her) is an
award-winning director and the Artistic Producer of Pendragon. She is beyond honored to direct the inaugural production of our new downtown home. For Pendragon: This is Government, The Mousetrap, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, H*tler’s Tasters, Circle Mirror Transformation, The Rocky Horror Show, Friends With Amenities, and Tracks. SarahNorris.org
BRIAN CRAWLEY
Book & Lyrics
Brian is a playwright and screenwriter.
He wrote the book and lyrics for A LITTLE PRINCESS (composer Andrew Lippa) which debuted at Theatreworks of Palo Alto in the summer of 2004. He also wrote the book and lyrics for VIOLET (composer Jeanine Tesori) which was mounted Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons in 1997, then remounted in a concert version in 2003 to help inaugurate their new theater. Other musicals he has written include EVANGELINE with Ted Dykstra, and DOWN THERE with composer Lewis Flinn. He appears in the documentary ONE NIGHT STAND, in which he writes a short musical in 24 hours with composer Gabriel Kahane. For the libretto of VIOLET, Brian won the Kleban Award. Prior to the Playwrights Horizons production, and on its behalf, VIOLET was given the Richard Rodgers Musical Production Award and an AT&T OnStage Award. Afterwards, besides a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, VIOLET received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical over all the year's Broadway offerings (as did Paula Vogel's play HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE; the first time two off-Broadway pieces took these top awards in the Drama Critic Circle's history). Brian's plays have been developed or staged at Lincoln Center, New York Theater Workshop, the National Alliance of Musical Theatre, and the Eugene O'Neill summer theater conference. He majored in Theater Studies at Yale and has an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Brian is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
HANNAH-KATHRYN 'HK' WALL
Assistant Director
HK (she/her) is a NC based actress.
After leading Camp Pendragon the last four summers, she is blessed to be returning to direct the upcoming production of Beetlejuice Jr. Previous credits include The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 (Off Bway), Come From Away and the Buddy Holly Story (National Tours), and Heathers: The Musical (WCU). HK is thrilled to be back in Saranac Lake and wants to thank God, her family & friends, her mom, and her agency for all their love and support! hannahkwall.com @hannahkwall
ARTHUR L. ROSS
Choreographer
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ANDY EVAN COHEN
Music Director
Sound Designer
Andy Evan Cohen is an
award-winning composer and sound/video designer. Pendragon: Noises Off, The Rocky Horror Show, Our Town, Treasure Island, and Twelfth Night. Other credits: The Zionists (Miami New Drama, Barrington Stage); The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 (New Light Theatre Project; Drama Desk Nomination for Orchestrations); Forbidden Broadway: Merrily Stole A Song; and The Lights are On (NLTP; Henry Hewes Nomination for Sound Design). Education: Oberlin and The Manhattan School of Music @AndyEvanCohen
CONNOR GALLERANI
Scenic Designer
Connor Gallerani (Scenic Designer) is a
scenic designer, carpenter, and technical director based in queens. An alum of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Connor currently works as a full time Technical Director at Trevor Day School. Pendragon: Twelfth Night, Treasure Island, The Marvelous Wonderettes, The Little Mermaid Jr. This is their third summer with Pendragon and they are thrilled to be back designing shows with these lovely people! In their free time Connor enjoys hiking, photography, and long walks on the beach.
JULIA SQUIER
Costume Designer
Julia Squier is ecstatic to be back
at Pendragon for their 2026 summer season! Pendragon: Twelfth Night, Treasure Island, The Marvelous Wonderettes (2024 BroadwayWorld Winner), Our Town, The Muppet Cabaret, The Little Mermaid Jr., Sleeping Beauty…Sort of. Julia is NYC based with credits at Ars Nova, New Light Theater Project, and New York Film Academy and more. Resident Artist of NLTP. BFA: MMC. JuliaSquier.com
PAUL HUDSON
Lighting Designer
Paul Hudson a NYC-based lighting designer for live performance and television, is happy to return to Pendragon after lighting The Marvelous Wonderettes and The Lion. Recent / Upcoming: An Evening of Cabaret and Future Stages (Juilliard), Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (The Depot), Ain't Too Proud and Radio Recall (Transcendence). MFA NYU, member USA829.
PEGGY ORMAN
Props Master
Peggy Orman joined the ranks of Pendragon actors in 2003, adding stage managing to her resume with 2011's production of The Mousetrap, and has continued in either or both capacities to the present day. She began combining her BA in Studio Art with her passion for theatre while stage managing The Seagull in 2015, a show which needed a taxidermied seagull among other specialty props. She has since designed and fabricated unusual props for several Pendragon productions as well as Adirondack Stage Rats and Community Theatre Players (CTP). She has been incredibly excited to design/produce props for Pendragon’s whole '24 and '25 Summer Seasons and is thrilled to be asked back for 2026 as well as to appear onstage in Violet the musical!
CAT COPELAND
Technical Director
Cat Copeland is a multi-faceted,
Brooklyn based theater maker. She graduated from the University of Montevallo with a BFA in Theatre. They have worked at Pendragon Theatre for four years as the Technical Director. Some of their favorite shows at Pendragon are Twelfth Night ; Spelling Bee and Tracks.
COURTNEY KNYSCH
Production Stage Manager
Courtney Knysch is thrilled to
be back at Pendragon Theatre working alongside this remarkable company of artists for another season of storytelling magic. Her work has spanned regional theatres, Off-Broadway, and international stages, but Pendragon remains one of her favorite artistic homes. She can’t wait to welcome you to the space for what promises to be an unforgettable summer.
BEN WATSON
Master Carpenter
Ben Watson began building sets for Pendragon in 2022. He is happy to be back in the scene shop this season and to contribute to the vibrant arts scene in Saranac Lake
MOLLY DELANEY
Assistant Technical Director and Paint Charge Artist
Molly Delaney is excited to return to Pendragon. Pendragon: Twelfth Night, This Is Government, The Mousetrap. Molly studied theatre design and technology at Keene State College, focusing on stage management with productions such as The Last 5 Years, A Year with Frog and Toad, Happy Days, and As You Like It. After graduating they worked as Venue Stage Manager in Knoxville, TN at the Knoxville Civic Audition, then later started their touring technician journey with projects including Sesame Street and Cocomelon Sing-a-Long Live as Head Carpenter/Assistant Production Manager and Cirque Dreams Holidaze as Head Props. They thank Pendragon for welcoming them back.
ELI BETTMANN
Wardrobe Supervisor
Eli Bettmann is an actor, costume and makeup artist. They are a recent graduate of SUNY Purchase, earning a BA in Theatre and Performance. Recent production credits include: Twelfth Night, The Little Mermaid Jr. (Wardrobe Supervisor), The Haunting of Campbell House (Costume Designer), Angels in America Part I (Makeup Designer).
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C. CASTLE
Assistant Stage Manager/Admin
C. Castle (she/her) is a lover of
all things theatre and cosmetics! From small town Flowery Branch, Georgia, she started doing wig and makeup design from a young age and has been pursuing it ever since. She is currently earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in Entertainment Design & Technology at Western Carolina University. Some of her favorite technical credits at WCU have been the Hair & Makeup Supervisor for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and Assistant Hair & Makeup Design for Sweeney Todd. Castle is so excited to be a part of the wonderful team at Pendragon this summer!
CAROLINE PRITCHARD
Producing Associate/ASM
Caroline Pritchard is a graduate
of Bucknell University with a BA in Mathematics and Film and Media Studies. This is her first summer working at Pendragon Theatre and she is absolutely thrilled to be here. She adores acting, directing and is exhilarated by her current stint in producing.
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BETHANY FITCH
Company Manager/AGM