Performers Theatre Workshop

He graduated with honors from Yale University in 1987 where he received a BA in Composition.  At Yale, Dean composed, orchestrated and musical directed the full length musical, "Experiments", which was performed at Yale commencement. Also at Yale, Dean studied orchestration with Jacob Druckman (from Julliard faculty) and composition with Maury Yeston (composer of "Nine"). Dean has also studied jazz improvisation with the legendary jazz alto saxophonist Phil Woods. He has studied vocal pedagogy and voice therapy at Westminster Choir College and choral conducting at University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  Dean is a New Jersey Certified Teacher, received his Masters in Teaching in 2008, and is currently a Choral Director and Music Technology teacher at Chatham Middle School.

With his production companies, Dean Kravitz Music (DKM) and Elasticmusic, Dean has composed, orchestrated and sung/played for over 150 National and Regional TV/Radio commercials for major advertising agencies in NY, Boston, Dallas, and California for products such as Pepsi, Toys R Us, McDonalds, Reebock, Motorola, Lady Footlocker, Hefty, Blue Cross/Blue Shield & Clairol. Dean has composed, orchestrated and arranged music for several cartoons on Nickelodeon's "Nick Jr.", as well as the music that premiered the TV Land network.  He currently still has music played frequently on the air.

As a keyboardist, Dean has played for Donna Summer, Cyndi Lauper, Debby Gibson and Marc Anthony.  On piano, he has performed for Chevy Chase, Donald Trump, Regis Philbin and the New York Yankees.

Dean has been an active teacher, arranger, pianist and musical director with PTW since 1983, and is so happy to be able to share his love and knowledge of music with young students.  Dean has a wonderful wife, Liz, and adorable twin 5-year-old boys, Sammy and Max.

Ms. Hodge began her career behind the camera as Assistant Director to award-winning director/writer/playwright, Dave Cockley; founder of Captain Dave Productions (Cleveland, OH). Ms. Hodge went on to write--produced and directed two short films for the inaugural NYC Midnight Movie Madness Filmmaking Competition (2002), and was awarded the First Runner-up prize for Once Upon A Once Upon…; a film that was chronicled by filmmaker, Stuart Entner (Maysles Films) as part of his documentary, Midnight Madness (2003 premier). Ms. Hodge also directed and produced the pilot episode of UnCorked: A Slightly Irreverent Look at Wine for Wine Ventures, LLC, in association with Fulton Street Films. The project debuted at New Filmmakers Docs, Mocks & More in 2006, and was an Official Selection at MemFest (2006). UnCorked also garnered Ms. Hodge a Directors Citation from the Black Maria Film Festival in the spring of 2007. In 2003, Ms. Hodge associate produced “Crutch”; marking filmmaker Rob Moretti’s directorial debut in association with Illuminare Entertainment and Ardustry Entertainment.

Ms. Hodge has written several screenplays, shorts, plays, monologues and essays. Her full-length plays, “Love… Like Lemonade” and “A Spider in Wine” both received workshops by New Jersey Dramatists & Waterfront Ensemble (Hoboken, NJ), as well as her play, Puddin. Puddin was accepted into the New Perspectives Theatre Company Voices From the Edge 6.0 & 7.0 Festivals (NY, NY), and was an alternate for the NYC Fringe Festival in 2003. Monologues from Ms. Hodge’s one-woman show, “Babygirl Blues & Other Colored Boys” have also been produced at different venues. Tigger—a monologue about Ms. Hodge’s childhood and her experience of being the only African-American girl in her class—has been produced by Theatre for the Future’s Women For Women Project (NY, NY), the Puffin Cultural Forum (Teaneck, NJ), and the Dobama Theatre (1995). Her other monologues, Invested, Procrastination and The Miracle, were all produced by the Monmouth County Arts Festival (2002). Ms. Hodge’s monologues, poems and essays have been published in Monologues for Women, by Women, Black Comedy; 9 Plays, and the Case Reserve Review, and Ms. Hodge was the director of the 2009 America Scores National Poetry Slam. She is the first recipient of the Adrienne Kennedy Society’s Louis Kent-Hope Award for Excellence in Creative Writing & Poetry (1995), is a former Findley Foster/Emily M. Hills Poetry Prize Winner (CWRU, 1992), and the first two-time winner of the Nemet Scholarship for Excellence in Creative Writing (CWRU, 1993 and 1994). She is a former National Poetry Slam Champion (1993), and a guest lecturer at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts/Continued Education Program. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, SAG, AFTRA and AEA. Ms. Hodge earned her M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University in 1996.

and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Holcombe has sung for two Presidential Administrations at the White House. Ms. Holcombe is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia where she received the Esther Boyer Award for Excellence in Opera.

the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Anything Goes, Damn Yankees, The Wizard of Oz, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Wit and Wisdon of Will’s Women: A Shakespeare Celebration (which he conceived and co-created) and Big River at theaters which include the Mercury Theater in Chicago, Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Carousel Dinner Theatre in Ohio, Seaside Shakespeare Festival in Nantucket and Milford Theatre in Pennsylvania. Brian has more than 15 years teaching experience. Former students include Michael Pitt (Henry Parker in Dawson’s Creek, also Murder by Numbers and Funny Games) and Patrick Wilson (Little Children, The Phantom of the Opera, Angels in America). He is a member of both The Actors’ Equity Association and The Screen Actors Guild and most recently in The Taming of the Shrew at the New York Fringe Festival. Brian is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame resides in New York City.

and dancer of Brenda Bufalino's New Tap Orchestra. With partner Mari Fujibayashi, she is artistic director, choreographer/dancer of the duo Tapage (www.tapage.org), performing internationally with classical orchestras, jazz trios and world music ensembles. Tapage currently collaborates with the Mexican string quartet “Cuarteto Latinoamericano” creating work to Latin American compositions.

Olivia has performed in North and South America, Europe and Japan, appeared at the Joyce Theater, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and ballet Arts in NY) as well as internationally.

She was chosen two years in a row to perform with The Moscow Ballet during their international tour stop in New Jersey. Alyson attended summer dance intensives with the American Academy of Ballet as well as the South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory, where she was lucky enough to take master classes with her choreographic inspiration, Mia Michaels. She received a choreography award for her original piece “Any Last Words?” in 2004 and went on to become a dance performance major at The Boston Conservatory. As a freshman she was chosen to perform a solo in the re-staging of José Limón’s work Missa Brevis. Alyson has extensive training in classical flute/piccolo and is also a freelance model.

by such notables as Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Quincy Jones, and Phil Woods. He also wrote arrangements for WABC-TV and the Arlene Francis Show.