Kevin Newbury
(Director) is a theatre, opera, film, and event director based in New York City. Kevin has directed over sixty original productions and his work has been presented by many opera companies, festivals and symphonies including the Park Avenue Armory, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, Barcelona Liceu, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, The San Francisco Symphony, L'Opera de Montreal, The Prototype Festival, Urban Arias (DC), Bard Summerscape, Portland Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Cincinnati Opera, The Virginia Arts Festival and The Wexford Festival in Ireland, among many others.
Kevin is especially committed to developing and directing new work. He has directed over two dozen world premiere operas and plays, many of which were subsequently published or recorded. Recent world premiere highlights include Spears/Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS (Cincinnati Opera, 2017, upcoming: Prototype Festival/NYC and Lyric Opera of Chicago), Bates/Campbell's THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS (Santa Fe Opera, 2017, upcoming: Seattle Opera and San Francisco Opera), Todd Almond's KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY (starring Almond and Courtney Love, seen at Prototype/NYC, American Repertory Theatre/Boston, CTG/LA, Arscht/Maimi), Spears/Vavrek's O COLUMBIA (Houston Grand Opera), Puts/Campbell's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and Cuomo/Shanley's DOUBT (Minnesota Opera), and Lopez/Cruz's BEL CANTO (Lyric Opera of Chicago, broadcast on PBS' Great Performances and recently nominated for the 2016 International Opera Awards: Best World Premiere). Kevin has also directed the Park Avenue Armory Gala for three years running, featuring Patti LuPone, The Young Professionals, Sky Pony and Kimbra, and hundreds of musicians, performers and artists.
Kevin’s production of FELLOW TRAVELERS was named "One of the Best Classical Music Events of 2016" by The New York Times. His production of VIRGINIA for the Wexford Opera Festival won the 2010 Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Opera Production and his production of OSCAR for Opera Philadelphia and Santa Fe Opera was nominated for Best World Premiere at the International Opera Awards in 2014. His production of NORMA at Canadian Opera Company won three Dora Awards (Best Costume Design, Best Set Design, Best Female Performance). His work has also been nominated for a Grammy Award (BERNSTEIN'S MASS with Marin Alsop, also named “one of the best events of the year” by The New York Times and The Washington Post), a Drama Desk Award (Best Actor: Vince Gatton, CANDY & DOROTHY) and the GLAAD Media Award (Winner: CANDY & DOROTHY, Nominated KISS AND CRY). Kevin's first two short films, MONSURA IS WAITING and STAG, have screened at a total of forty film festivals and have each won several festival awards. MONSURA IS WAITING is available on iTunes and STAG will be released in late 2016. His third, EPIPHANY V, a music-video collaboration with Jimmy Lopez and David Johnson, will be released in 2017.
Upcoming projects include the world premieres of Fairouz/Hanif's BHUTTO (Pittsburgh Opera and Beth Morrison Projects), the international tour and NYC sit down of the immersive Ukrainian guerilla folk opera COUNTING SHEEP (also NYC). Upcoming film projects include the screen adaptation of CANDY & DOROTHY.
Brandon Kazen-Maddox
(Choreographer) is a BIPOC, LGBTQAI+, gender non-conforming third-generation native user of American Sign Language (ASL) and Grandchild of Deaf Adults (GODA). In 2010, Brandon received their undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, where they studied Spanish and French language and literature. After receiving their Bachelor of Arts, they moved to San Francisco, CA where they crafted a seven-year career as a professional circus acrobat.
It was in San Francisco that Brandon began working with the Deaf community to blend the worlds of American Sign Language with dance and acrobatics, creating their professional multimedia ASL video production company, Body Language Productions, Inc
In May 2019, Brandon graduated with their Master’s degree in Dance and New Technology from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Brandon currently lives, works and creates art in New York City, collaborating with and providing opportunities for Deaf artists who share a passion for bringing artistic works of American Sign Language dance theater to the stage, screen and beyond.
Brandon recently co-founded a new artist collective called UP UNTIL NOW with his partner Kevin Newbury, Marcus Shields, Consulting Producer Jecca Barry and an exciting group of intersectional artists. UP UNTIL NOW COLLECTIVE’s work has recently been commissioned by Broadstream media and profiled in the New York Times and their video for Georgia, part of SOUL(SIGNS): AN ASL PLAYLIST will be presented on 80+ screens in Times Square as part of the Midnight Moment series every night in July.
In the summer of 2021, Brandon is also curating accessibility initiatives for The Shed and Little Island. Brandon’s social justice work as an interpreter was recently featured on CNN and they will appear in a co-starring role in CBS’ The Good Fight this summer. For more: www.brandonkazen-maddox.com
Photo by Stephanie Crousillat
Troy Ogilvie
(Original Choreography; Consulting Choreographer) has danced for and collaborated with choreographers - Andrea Miller, Sidra Bell, Zoe Scofield, Gabriel Forestieri, Idan Sharabi, Itzik Galili, Roy Assaf, Shannon Gillen, Margie Gillis (as a participant in the The Legacy Project/Le Projet Heritage), Austin McCormick, Harumi Terayama, Patricia Noworol, and Belinda McGuire; violinist - Liv Heym; theater company - Punchdrunk (in the role of Lady Macbeth in the immersive production of Sleep No More); and director - Peter Sellars (in the role of Mary Magdalene in The Gospel According to the Other Mary). Her solo project, PRISM, incorporates solos given to her by Ms. Gillis, Mr. Galili, and Mr. Assaf with movement landscapes performed by dancers and non-dancers whom have taken her workshops. She teaches an improvisation class at Gina Gibney Dance and Peridance and has recently given workshops at Walnut Hill (Boston), Prometheus Dance (Boston), The Performing Arts Project (North Carolina), the Movement Invention Project (NYC), Peridance (NYC) Velocity Dance (Seattle), Breaking Ground (New Orleans), New Studio on Broadway (NYU), and The Playground NYC (Gibney Dance). Troy is one of the creative directors for The McKittrick Hotel’s (home of Sleep No More) SUPERCINEMA and McKittrick Masquerade parties. Additionally, Troy is on the board of Springboard Danse Montreal as well as a Founding Collaborator & Associate Director of NYC’s Movement Invention Project. She was one of Dance Magazine’s 2011 Top 25 to Watch and graduated with a B.F.A. from the Juilliard School in 2007. www.troyogilvie.squarespace.com