Meet the Less Than 50% Team
Gianmarco Soresi
Playwright & Lead Actor
Gianmarco is a young Jewish/Italian comic, actor, writer, and impresario. As a stand-up comic, he's headlined Caroline’s on Broadway for their Breakout Artist Comedy Series, along with headlining at EastVille Comedy Club, Bier Baron, The PIT, featured at Hu Ke Lau and the del Lago casino, hosted Bananas Comedy Club, West Side Comedy Club, Rockwells, and performs regularly at Stand Up NY, The Grisly Pear, The Creek and The Cave, Comix Mohegan Sun, and more. He was recently featured on George Takei Presents, SeeSo's New York's Funniest, The Cinder Block Comedy Festival, Laughing Devil Comedy Festival, New York Comedy Festival and his hour special Infinite Bris is due for release this year. As a storyteller, he's performed on RISK!, UCB's Nights of our Lives, Word of Mouth and will be performing on a Moth GrandSLAM later this year. His sketches/series, including the award winning Matza Pizza, have been featured on the cover of Metro New York, Fast Company, CityLab, Huffington Post, Paste, LAUGHSPIN, SplitSider, Comedy Cake, Funny or Die, BroadwayWorld, and Funny or Die recently produced one of his sketches for their Valentine's Day Feature. His sketch team, Uncle Function (3xUCB Backyard Brawl winners), can be seen regularly at The Peoples Improv Theater.
Jen Wineman
Director
Jen is a Brooklyn-based director/choreographer. New York: Surfer Girl (Animus); My Heart is in the East (La Mama); Fable (NYMF), The King’s Whore (Walkerspace); F#%king Up Everything (Elektra Theater); Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen] (Ars Nova). Regional: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Asolo Rep & Miami New Drama); Shakespeare in Love (Virginia Rep); Into the West (Tantrum Theater); Baskerville (Dorset Theatre Festival); Sweeney Todd (Playmakers Rep); The 39 Steps, Shipwrecked (Triad Stage). Touring productions: Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Asolo Rep). Education: BA, Vassar College. MFA, Yale School of Drama. www.jenwineman.com.
Hannah Hale
Laura Catalano
Hannah is a recent BFA graduate of Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. Previous credits include: Much Ado About Nothing, Blood Wedding, (hera)kles, A Dream Play, Five Times in One Night, and The 39 Steps. International credits include: As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe, London UK), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare’s Globe, London UK), Midsummer/Jersey (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland). This is her NYC theatrical debut.
Daniella Seidl
Assistant Director
Daniella has worked on stage and in film as both an actor and director. She is currently studying at the William Esper Studio in New York City. Her short, A Fine Affair, premiered at the Coolidge Film Festival in Boston. She has previously assisted Jen Wineman on the Miami production of Chad Deity (MiND) and Gregory Mosher on the American Premiere of Terror (MiND). B.A. Boston University.
Emily Auciello
Sound Designer
Emily is a New York based sound designer. She has designed at Signature Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, Women's Project, The Kitchen, HERE Arts Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, JACK, Two River Theater Company, Delaware Theater Center, Premiere Stages, TheaterWorks Hartford, Penguin Rep, and others. She has assisted/associate designed at The Music Box, Curran Theatre, MTC, The Public, LCT3, Signature Theatre, Little Shubert Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theatre, Soho Rep, Primary Stages, Roundabout Underground, Women’s Project, Rattlestick, Dallas Theatre Center, Barrington Stage, and others. Love to Alex.
Leila Ben-Abdallah
Prop Designer
Leila is a props designer, puppeteer, and performer. Leila has designed and constructed props for New Light (the hollower), The Flea Theater, The Box Show (youtube.com/theboxshow), and her original comedic solo shows. As a performer, Leila contributed writing and hosted the upcoming series Preggo Nancy for scarymommy.com.
Daricel Calcano
Production Stage Manager
Daricel is a freelance production stage manager and actor in New York City. She has been admitted into the MFA Technical Theater program at Brooklyn College this fall. This May, she earned a BA in Theater at The City College of New York (CCNY). Her past CCNY credits include The Crucible, Macbethand Fires in the Mirror. Less Than 50% is her first professional credit to date. She feels extremely blessed for this opportunity.
Samantha Rose Lind
Costume Designer
Samantha graduated from Rutgers University with a BFA in Theatre Design. She has worked as an assistant costume designer for the Young Vic Theatre in London, Premiere Stages at Kean University, and the Papermill Theatre in New Hampshire. As head designer she has worked with FAPC’s Theatre Fellowship production of Broadway Bound and A Murder is Announced; The New School’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Judith of Shimoda and Snapped Productions’ Much ado About Nothing. For NLTP: TV Time!, Picture Ourselves in Latvia, No One Loves Us Here, Arthur and Esther, REX, and Strange Country. Samantha has also worked as a Co-Producer for NLTP’s “Darkroom Series”.
John Erickson
Projection Designer
John is a Brooklyn based projection designer and programmer. Projection design credits include: Who Knows? (Independent film), The Reality Plays (The Flamboyan), The Bridgette Hobbes Connection (Tisch School of the Arts), and Winners (Ensemble Theatre). Associate Design credits include: 50 Song Memoir (International Tour), Josephine (Asolo Rep), Soul: The Stax Musical (CenterStage Theatre) and Aida (The Muny Theatre). jericksondesign.com
Ashleigh Poteat
Scenic Designer
Ashleigh has designed scenery, costumes, and properties around the country, working in Florida, Washington, New York, Nevada, North Carolina & New Jersey. BA from University of North Carolina at Asheville; MFA University of Nevada-Las Vegas. She is a resident artist of New Light and has designed for the company: Time Stands Still (Costume), Still Dance the Stars (Scenic & Costume), Sight Unseen (Costume), and A Burial Place (Scenic).
Driscoll Otto
Lighting Designer
Recently, Driscoll designed lighting and projections for Virginia Opera’s production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. His design work is seen frequently in regional opera and theatre. His credits include Utah Opera, Opera Omaha, Dallas Theater Center, The Dallas Opera, The Huntington Theatre Company, Opera Philadelphia, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, Hangar Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Lyric Opera Kansas City, and productions of Legally Blonde and Rock of Ages for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Highlights to his resume include projection design for Santa Fe Opera’s production of The Golden Cockerel and The Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Donna Del Lago. He received his MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His work can be seen at www.DriscollOtto.com.
Samantha Walsh
Assistant Stage Manager
Samantha is a student at the City College of New York pursuing a BA in Theatre. She has interned for several art institutions throughout NYC, including the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Most recently, she ASM’d CCNY’s ensemble production of Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.