Cast
Eevin Hartsough (Gemma) is an award-winning writer and performer who debuted on Broadway as Helen Keller at Age 10. Since graduating from Vassar, she has worked on a number of acting, writing, and directing projects in NYC, including Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind and What The Time Traveller Will Tell Us, written and performed by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink, co-creators of Welcome to Night Vale. Eevinhartsough.com
Kevin R. Free (The Bear) is an award-winning writer/performer/storyteller who has appeared on The Moth, Welcome to Night Vale, and Off-Broadway in several shows including The Fantasticks. He has appeared on small screens on Law & Order: SVU, numerous commercials, and also on Michael Cyril Creighton’s webseries Jack In A Box. He is also the Producing Artistic Director of the Obie Award-winning Fire This Time Festival. Kevinrfree.com Twitter: @kevinrfree
Natalie Kim (Karen) is thrilled to be part of the cast of Gemma and the Bear. Natalie is a dynamic and prolific comedic actress. She is known for her comedy webisodic, SuperTwins! And her interview show, It’s A Draw With Natalie Kim (in partnership with Frederator [Adventure Time, Power Puff Girls, Blue’s Clues]). She also wrote and voice acted in her animated series, Kimchi Power. TV credits include The Blacklist, Law & Order. Most recently she shot the black comedy La Gradua by independent film writer/director Adrian Manzano. She recently penned a new comedy solo show called Pirate Mom which she toured in 2015. Nataliekim.com
Debargo Sanyal (Tom) NYC – When January Feels Like Summer (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Page 73 Productions), Invasion! (The Play Company), Bunty Berman Presents (The New Group), Queens Boulevard (Signature Theatre Company), Bird in the Hand (Fulcrum Theater), Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary (The Management), After (Partial Comfort Productions), Telethon (Clubbed Thumb). Feature Film: The Magic of Belle Isle (opposite Morgan Freeman, director: Rob Reiner), Everybody’s Fine (opposite Robert De Niro), The Normals, Today’s Special, Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship, Made for Each Other, Drawing with Chalk, Red Hook, Fort Tilden, Sita Sings the Blues, and West 32nd. Television: Law & Order, Blue Bloods, Damages, NYC 22, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, Running Wilde, All My Children, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Unusuals, and national commercials.
Ray DeMattis (Hank) has enjoyed a long and varied career as both an actor and stage director. He appeared on Broadway in Fiorello, City of Angels, Little shop of Horrors, Zoya’s Apartment, and the original Grease. His Off-Broadway appearances include Enter Laughing, Talk Radio, Flora the Red Menace, and The Streets of New York. He guest starred on each of Bill Cosby’s three series, The Sopranos, Royal Pains, and appeared in nine episodes of the Law & Order series. His film appearances include Brewster’s Millions with Richard Pryor, Fatherhood with Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry, Ashley’s Wednesday, and It Runs In The Family with Kirk and Michael Douglas. He toured in Fiddler on the Roof with Zero Mostel and Theodore Bikel, South Pacific with Robert Goulet, Beauty and the Beast, and in Neil Simons Laughter on the 23rd Floor. He has directed six productions of Grease with such stars as Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Sandra Dee, and Charo. His record breaking national tour was on the road for eleven years! He has worked as an actor and director at stock and regional theaters throughout the US, at The Edinburgh Theatre Festival, and on a good will tour of Central America and Mexico for the United States State Department. He is most proud of his work as Founding Artistic Director of The National Theater Workshop of the Handicapped. Acknowledging Ray’s long and successful career, producer Chip Deffaa just instituted the Ray DeMattis award to be given annually to young gifted performers.
Creative
Matt Scott (Director) is an award-winning filmmaker whose most recent short film Once A Loser took him to Cannes in 2014. Other short films include The Bible Thumpers, The Last Laugh, Citizen Kane 3000, and Zaroff the Hunter. He is also the director of the webseries With Friends Like These and The Spirit Seeker starring Mary Birdsong.
Jason Whitaker (Director of Photography), a graduate of Vancouver Film School’s Film Production program, is a freelance Director of Photography, Videographer, and Editor. His varied film and video production work has taken him to Nickelodeon and SyFy Channel movie shoots in British Columbia, the sets of All My Children, and One Life to Live in Stamford, CT, and Corporate video shoots for many well known brands. He also has spent many summers teaching video production to kids at Creative Summer at the Mead School in Stamford, CT. He was also the Director of Photography on the first season of the comedy webseries With Friends Like These. Jasonrw.com
Stacee Mandeville (Assistant Director) is a self-proclaimed ‘Jack of All Trades; Master of Some’. She has been an actor, director, teaching artist, AD/SM, jazz vocalist, print model, and entrepreneur. One of her favorite acting roles was Agent Smith in the multiple-award winning, 24-hour Film Festival piece Once a Loser (which screened at Cannes Film Festival in 2013). As AD her most ambitious job was to wrangle Hollywood talent and an entire farmhouse for a week for the TV pilot The Spirit Seeker (she had a supporting role in the pilot as the philandering sister of actress Romy Rosemont). As a teaching artist, most recently, Stacee founded an afterschool Drama Club at AMS in The Bronx. In addition, Stacee has been a corporate coach for over 14 years, teaching public speaking, executive presences, and emotional intelligence globally, and has started her own company in this endeavor called Red Leaf Coaching.