Irresistible

Jason Slavick is the Artistic Director of Liars & Believers. He is a director, writer and educator. For the LAB, he conceived and directed Who Would Be King, Yellow Bird Chase, and ICARUS, which premiered in Cambridge, played Outside The Box in Boston and made an acclaimed New York debut at the 2013 New York Musical Theatre Festival (honorable mention for book and design). Jason directed 28 Seeds, he co-wrote and directed, Song of Songs: a LoveRomp, and wrote and directed Le Cabaret Grimm: a punk cabaret fairy tale {sans fairies}, which premiered in Boston and played at the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival (best featured performer and best design, honorable mention for choreography). Jason also directed the LAB’s experimental project, Talk to Strangers. Jason wrote and directed Heaven & Hell: The Fantastical Temptation of the 7 Deadly Sins, a musical excursion commissioned by The Boston Conservatory. As a company member of Boston Theatre Works, Jason directed Othello (Elliot Norton Award nominated for Best Production and Best Actor), The Tempest, Antony & Cleopatra, and Macbeth. He developed and directed Emily Mann’s critically acclaimed Meshugah, Olga Humphrey’s Veronika Vavoom Volcanologist, and his own play J: a one-act improvised tragi-comedy. He also directed numerous developmental workshops and readings including Joyce Carol Oates’ The Tattooed Girl. Jason has directed throughout New England, in Tel Aviv, and in Philadelphia. Besides the shows above, Jason has written and directed The Golem, Icaphish, and Alice: a Grotesque Turn in Twelve Scenes. Jason has taught at colleges and schools throughout New England. He earned his MFA in directing from The Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Providence, where he was awarded the inaugural Pell Scholar Award. There he had the great fortune to work with Oskar Eustis, Brian Kulick, and Kevin Moriarity. Jason also studied at the Dell Arte International School of Physical Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute, and the Warsaw Theatre Academy in Warsaw, Poland.

Tess Degen is a native of Berlin Germany, where she grew up surrounded by the Berlin Wall. Its’ political and personal history has always held a tremendous fascination for her. On a visit home she found the story of Helga Knittel during a walk around the wall memorial and became inspired to tell her story. Tess came from professional modern dance to acting in both theater and film. www.tessdegen.com

Michael King aka M.I.C. King (Master of Introspective Ceremonies and Must Inspire Change, sometimes “man I’m cool!”) was born in and raised in Westchester, New York and has been a Boston Transplant since the end of 2011. King is a rapper and poet of passion, and works with behavioral teens in the greater Boston area as a counselor. Though he’s no stranger to theater, this will be King’s first time working with visual artist on a collaborative piece and is looking forward to being around people who wish to use their talents to encourage others of bettering themselves and the world. King would like to thank all the people involved in the efforts with special thanks to Rebecca Leifer, Rachel Hock, and Jason Slavick for reaching out and sharing this opportunity with him. “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate, you have not wasted your time but have done your best.”  – Robert Baden-Powell

Evan “v.Kash” Lukash is a 34-year-old internationally known, Boston-based visual artist. After studying photography and sculpture at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Tufts University, Evan made a name for himself from coast to coast and abroad with his colorful visuals projections at festivals, clubs, stadiums, and anywhere a projector or screen could be found at musical and art events. After several years of travel and performance, the artist took a break from the visual projection realm to further his development in the physical arts with the “Project Anonymask” series, featuring one of a kind painted masks. Starting with Guy Fawkes masks during the Anonymous movement, Evan’s work reverberated quickly and was soon seen at art galleries, shows, and protests all over the globe. During this time, he also created mobile galleries throughout the US, painting on self-described “Neo-Canvases”; most notably, the human body. Utilizing loud, bright colors on a regular basis, the exceptional presence of his works is dramatic and unmistakable. Evan has been interviewed by NPR, and his body art featured in the Boston Herald, Boston Globe, and Barstool Sports. Locally, you can catch v.Kash playing electronic music shows, in and around Boston and Cambridge. During the months of December and January, Evan’s artwork can be seen on display at Zuzu, in Cambridge, MA.

Jay Mobley is a Boston-based composer, performer, and music director. Previous LAB credits include Who Would Be King (as composer & performer) and ICARUS (as music director and guitarist). Other regional music direction: Jack & the Giant (Greater Boston Stage Company), Midnight Society (dir. Amanda Faye Martin & Kai Chieh-Tu), Beowulf (The Poets’ Theatre, IRNE nomination for Best Music Director, Small Stage), and NYSTI’s Summer Theatre Institute. Jay works collaboratively with a wide range of artists. He has created podcasts for a theater
 company in Austin (Exchange Artists), served as a musical consultant for a Boston opera
 company (OperaHub), and led the arts program at an Adirondack summer camp (Fowler Camp
 & Retreat Center). On banjo, Jay has played with bands based in Brooklyn, NY, Northampton, MA, and Rochester, NY, and has toured in the freak-folk/puppet-rock-opera group 23 Psaegz. New England’s acclaimed male vocal chamber ensemble, Renaissance Men, recently commissioned and premiered a new song cycle for 8 men’s voices by Mobley based on interviews of people with lived experience of mental illness. Mobley holds an MusB in Composition from Fredonia State University of New York and studied conducting at the Conductors Institute of Bard College Conservatory and composition at New England Conservatory.

Hailing from the Suburbs of Boston Jeff’s First leading role was as Abraham Lincoln in 1st grade. His muse then turned to drawing dragons and cartoons then as his teen years dawned his mental energy went to hitting things ( i.e. drums). So basically, Jeff specializes in “Things your parents told you not to if you wanted solid career choices”. He spent a good chunk of his life thus far playing music and acting the fool (both in professional and private life) in various bands and touring the country with renaissance faires. He also shows up five times in the first 60 seconds of the pilot for the TV show “Arrested Development” with nary a line and played Best Man “Barry Wheeler” in the Blue Ocean Music Hall’s run of Tony & Tina’s Wedding. “Irresistible” is his first show with Liars and Believers.

Zenobia is a composer, performer, and explorer of sounds and emotions who has shared a stage with Foo Fighters, Rachel Sage, Edie Carey, Mila Drumke, and the Dresden Dolls. She has collaborated with contemporary popular electronic and ambient music pioneer Roedelius, worked in studio with Counting Crows founding member Matt Mally, and studied tabla and Hindustani classical voice in Kolkata, India. Zenobia is also an active theater musician who served as percussionist for Wheelock Theatre’s (AEA) original stage adaptation of Pinocchio. She was commissioned to compose a musical setting from The Raven for Dream Within a Dream, an Edgar Allan Poe-inspired production that premiered at the Somerville Theatre. She’s a collector of sounds & colors, creator of soundscapes, an engineer and designer, with three studio albums under her belt. You can see what she’s up to on her youtube channel @mollyzenobia, or her instagram @zenobia.zen.