Join us
March 12th
6PM ET
at Open Jar Studios
10 YEARS
OF DANCE
Funded by a generous gift from the Amber Foundation, the Choreography Lab was created to elevate and expand the use of dance in musical theatre. It is also the only curated choreography platform where choreographers and writers collaborate to develop movement for new musicals during incubation. The lab’s unique programming supports choreographer development, fosters collaboration between writers and choreographers earlier in the creative process, and serves as an educational forum where all parties can strengthen and specify how dance can be used to convey story and character.
conceived + curated by
Avital Asuleen
Associate Producer:
Tori Crow
MODERATOR
Laurence O'Keefe received 2007 Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his work on Legally Blonde. Larry thanks all Blonde producers and creative team. He won the Ed Kleban Award, the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and a Jonathan Larson award for his music and lyrics. Off-Broadway credits: Heathers: The Musical, Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel, Richard Rodgers, Outer Critics' Circle awards), which has received 100+ productions worldwide; music for Sarah, Plain and Tall, lyrics by Nell Benjamin (touring with TheatreWorksUSA). Co-author with Nell Benjamin of Cam Jansen (Drama Desk nomination) and The Mice. Larry is a product of his education with the Harvard Krokodiloes, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Lampoon and the Actors' Gang, but especially the incomparable Nell Benjamin.
MODERATOR
LAURENCE O'KEEFE
CHOREOGRAPHERS
Jonathan Lee
(A PINT OF UNDERSTANDING)
Jonathan Lee was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Jonathan has worked with various recording artists including Grammy Award winners Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Pitbull, and Justin Timberlake as a backup singer, dancer, and choreographer. Jonathan was a participant in the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He has directed and choreographed a capsule of short dance films that have made rounds in the film festival circuit and has won three 2022 Telly Awards for his series of Social Impact short films.
JASMINE ROTH
(TANYA'S LIT CLIT)
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Princess LockeroO (PARADISE BALLROOM)
Princess Lockerooo is a respected artist, producer, songwriter, director, and choreographer, known for her dedication to preserving and promoting the legacy of Waacking. She has been recognized for her work on leading television platforms, including So You Think You Can Dance? and America's Got Talent. Princess has produced productions at prestigious venues, including Lincoln Center and the United Nations. She is an Artist in Residence with Guggenheim Works and Process and is co-directing an untitled feature film with an Academy Award-winning team. She is also a philanthropist and activist for LGBTQ rights. FRSA,
TATIANA BACCARI
(TANYA'S LIT CLIT)
Jasmine Roth is a director and choreographer using performance to investigate and witness power, agency, healing, and change. Their work with both professional and student ensembles centers the body as a holder of history and a maker of incantations. Jasmine is currently a John Wells Directing Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University and a CSA Artist at the New Hazlett Theater. Selected director-choreographer projects include Dance Nation by Clare Barron, Men on Boats by Jacklyn Backhaus, What Every Girl Should Know by Monica Byrne, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Henry V. Selected choreography work includes Pippin, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Seussical. Jasmine is also a former dancer with Zuzi! Dance Company, and has taught both theatre and dance at schools throughout the US. www.jasminenicoleroth.com
Tatiana Baccari (she/they) is a director/choreographer who makes genre-defying new theater and radical adaptations of classics that explore disability, female agency and queerness. As Artistic Director of Experimental Bitch, Tatiana develops new modes of performance with Nia O. Witherspoon, x senn-yuen, Anya Pearson, HERE Arts Center, Bushwick Starr and JACK, among others. They were a 2020-21 Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist and in the 2019-21 SDCF Observership class, where they assisted Pirronne Yousefzadeh (Vietgone, Geva Theatre). Recent directing: Animals Out of Paper by Rajiv Joseph (Jobsite Theater/Straz Center) and Tanya’s Lit Clit by Emma Goldman-Sherman (Park Ave Armory). BFA: NYU Tisch. John Wells MFA Directing Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University (‘25). SDC Associate. TatianaBaccari.com; ExperimentalBitch.Net
THE CULTURE-SHIFTING
MUSICALS
A PINT OF UNDERSTANDING
Music/Lyrics by Joel LaRue Smith & Joseph Smith
Book/Lyrics by Lee Phenner
Choreography by Jonthan Lee
PARADISE BALLROOM
Book by Samara Cohen & Harold O'Neal
Music/Lyrics by Samara Cohen & Harold O'Neal
Music Direction by Harold O'Neal
Choreography by Samara Cohen (Princess Lockeroo)
TANYA'S LIT CLIT
Conceived by Emma Goldman-Sherman & Tatiana Baccari
Written by Emma Goldman-Sherman
Music by Serena Ebony Miller & Mariah Lotz
Directed by Tatiana Baccari
An Experimental Bitch Collaboration
Choreography by Jasmine Roth and Tatiana Baccari