Dream Big World Theatre, Inc. (Producer) is a not-for-profit production company dedicated to developing and premiering professional theatrical works that explore serious social issues. Through powerful storytelling and community collaboration, we seek to break down social, economic, and racial barriers, uniting people and fostering dialogue and engagement that reflect the indomitable human spirit. Our works have been produced at such places as Signature Theatre (Sweetee – Audelco Award); Brooklyn Academy of Music; Town Hall; Le Petit Theatre de Vieux in New Orleans; Greenport Summer Playhouse; Tribeca Performing Arts Center; 92 nd Street Y; Lower East Side; and beyond. We proudly welcome Cracked Open to our continuing tradition of important and inspiring theatrical presentations. https://dreambigworldtheatre.com/
Gail Kriegel (Writer and Director) is a celebrated playwright whose accolades include a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, the One World Arts Award for Theater that Bridges Worlds, and the Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award for distinguished playwriting. Her work has been chosen for inclusion in the Archives at Lincoln Center. Gail wrote the book, music, and lyrics for SWEETEE, produced to critical acclaim at the Signature Theater in NY and directed by the legendary Patricia Birch. ON THE HOME FRONT has been showcased globally, including the National Black Theater in Washington, DC. SEVEN, a docudrama written with six award-winning playwrights, has been performed worldwide in over 35 languages. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Maestra, ASCAP, BMI, and the League of Professional Theatre Women and serves as Artistic Director of the East Broadway Theatre Project. Twice awarded Volunteer of the Year from the National Alliance for Mental Illness, Gail is a proud native New Yorker. http://www.gailkriegel.com/bio.html
Judi Lewis Ockler (Fight Director) has collaborated with Classic Stage Company (Snow in Midsummer, A Man of No Importance), Signature Theater (Hot Wing King, One in Two, Jasper), WP Theater/Second Stage (Hatef**k, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Bite Me), Cherry Lane Theater (This Beautiful Future), New World Stages (Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors!, MsTrial), Westside Theater (Little Shop of Horrors!), The Mint Theater (The Rat Trap, U.S. premiere), Bedlam Theater Company (Persuasion), TOSOS (Bar Dykes, Rock the Line), and Williamstown Theater Festival (A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Robert O’Hara). Her intimacy coordinator TV/film credits include Out of the Blue (directed by Neil La Bute), Plan B (with Jamie Lee and John Heder), and Up Here (Hulu). She teaches and directs intimacy and violence in performance at NYU Tisch, National Theater Institute, Atlantic Theater School, AMDA, and Sarah Lawrence College. judilewisockler.com.
Mikaila Baca-Dorion (Scenic and Props Designer) is a NYC-based props designer, artisan, performer, and writer. She made props for Punchdrunk’s long-running immersive show Sleep No More before the pandemic and recently had to say a difficult goodbye to Blue Man Group NYC, where she worked full-time as a prop maker and deck carpenter for almost three years until it closed on February 2nd. Previous props design credits include immersive puzzle-based production The Verge and interactive LGBTQ musical Little House On The Ferry. Mikaila is thrilled to be working on Cracked Open and believes deeply in its themes and messages. She is here in the theater world to contribute her talent and heart to projects that celebrate joy, empathy, and humanity. She would like to thank her cat, Charlie, for always keeping her company while making props and only sometimes putting his tail in the paint. To see more from Mikaila and Charlie, @these__violent__delights.
James Nguyen + AC Gottlieb (Costume Design) are a Brooklyn-based design duo. Select credits include productions of The Bodyguard, The Secret Garden, The Wild Party, Broadway Bares 2017–2024, Bonnie & Clyde, and Next to Normal. As Associate/Assistant Designers, their collective Broadway credits include Othello (starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal), Just In Time, Death Becomes Her, Some Like It Hot!, Moulin Rouge!, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, My Fair Lady, Mean Girls, Oslo, and Tuck Everlasting.
Yang Yu (Lighting Design) is a New York-based lighting designer for performing arts. She is interested in using light, space, and timing to create an emotionally charged environment, as well as visualizing music. Recent credits include Souvenir (Pioneer Theater Company), Good Luck in Space (Manhattan School of Music), The Lydian Gale Parr (The Tank), Unresolved Rage Game (Soho Rep Writer Director Lab), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Crossroads Theatre Company), and Lewberger and the Wizard of Friendship (Theater Row). Publication: Collected Light Volume Three: Women in Entertainment Lighting. Yangyudesign.com
Bill Toles (Production Manager and Sound Design) has designed for Off-Broadway and dance, including Classic Stage’s Wine in The Wilderness, Urban Bush Women’s SCAT!, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Dutchman, Knock Me A Kiss (Audelco Award), Lewberger, Kowalski, and Ayodele Casel’s Chasing Magic. Regional theater credits include TheatreSquared’s A Raisin In The Sun, The Mountaintop, and Detroit ’67, as well as Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s premiere of The Coffin Maker. His installation and performance art credits include Shimon Attie’s Light Under Night, Carrie Mae Weems and Nona Hendryx’s Refrigerated Dreams, Sekou Sundiata’s blessing the boats, Precious Lovell’s Ex-Domestication, and Craig Harris’ Brown Butterfly. Film credits include Like Twenty Impossibles (Cannes Cinefoundation Selection), Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (American Masters), and The Deadliest Disease In America. Music credits include Caron Wheeler, Ani DiFranco’s Rhythm & News Tour with Sekou Sundiata, and Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy-nominated debut Plantation Lullabies. www.billtoles.com.
Mari Tompkins (Assistant Director) has worked as assistant director on many NYC productions, including premieres of Twisted and A Shift of Opinion. After collaborating on a successful staged-reading of Cracked Open, she is excited to be working with Gail Kriegel again on bringing this play to the stage. Next, Mari will serve as assistant director on the upcoming NY premiere of The Moby Dick Blues (La MaMa). Mari is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and will begin her MFA at Columbia University’s School of the Arts this fall.
Jamibeth Margolis, CSA (Casting Director) has cast Broadway and National Tours of hits such as Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Cats, and Jane Eyre. She is proud to have cast Harmony (written by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman) last season on Broadway. Jamibeth won an Artios Award for casting Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (directed by Joel Grey). Currently, she is casting for Maine State Music Theatre, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, and numerous developmental readings of new plays and musicals. www.jamibetharts.com
Form Theatricals (Reed Ridgley & Anthony Francavilla, General Management) has provided general, venue, and finance management to arts organizations throughout the five boroughs since 2012. Recent general management clients include Little House on the Ferry (Ferry’s Landing/The Duplex), Gas (Theatre Row), Grief: A One Man ShitShow (Theatre Row), Happy Birthday Doug (Soho Playhouse), and I Love My Family, but… (Soho Playhouse). Form also operates venues such as 64 East 4th St and manages the finances of arts nonprofits such as Rooftop Films and The Little Opera Theatre of NY. www.formtheatricals.com
Anthony Francavilla (Co-General Manager) is the founder of Form Theatricals, where he has produced and general-managed seven Off-Broadway productions that earned New York Times Critics’ Picks over the past decade. His work has been praised as both “nasty, weird, and uncomfortably funny” (Oliver Parker, Time Out NY) and “thoughtful and sensitive” (When Last We Flew, Time Out NY). He also manages 64 East 4th Street, a dynamic East Village arts complex, and oversees finances for Rooftop Films and The Little Opera Theatre of NY. His career highlights include a decade managing The Gym at Judson, one of NYC’s premier Off-Broadway theaters, and winning a GLAAD Award for When Last We Flew. A graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program in Theater Producing & Management, he was awarded both the Shubert and Dean’s Fellowships. Anthony lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Rachael, their daughter, Snorfs, and their Malti-poo, Columbo.
Reed Ridgley (Co-General Manager) Favorite General Managment credits include The Scottsboro Boys by John Kander (world premiere); [title of show] (world premiere); Avenue Q (Vineyard Theatre); The Book of Mormon (first workshops); Carrie (Off-Broadway premiere); Wig Out! by Tarell Alvin McCraney (world premiere); The Long Christmas Ride Home by Paula Vogel (world premiere); The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (world premiere); God’s Ear by Jenny Schwartz (world premiere); and All the World’s a Stage by Adam Gwon (world premiere). He is the General Manager at Keen Company, the Producing Director of Mason Holdings Theatre, and teaches hot yoga at Modo Yoga NYC, Sui Yoga, and Equinox. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.reedridgley.com
Suzanne Apicella (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be part of this production! Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof, Burn the Floor. National Tours: The Producers, Sweeney Todd, Rock of Ages, The Addams Family, Spamalot, Jersey Boys, The Play That Goes Wrong. NYC: Dr. Seuss’…Grinch Stole Christmas, Her Portmanteau, Sojourners. Regional: Elf: The Musical, Rock of Ages, Jersey Boys, Plaza Suite, Good People, Million Dollar Quartet.
Elaina Z. Kaehler (Assistant Stage Manager) is a NYC-based stage manager and surtitle operator. Recent stage management projects include Babbitt (Shakespeare Theatre Company); The Welkin (Atlantic Theater Company); and Dead Outlaw (Minetta Lane Theatre). Recent surtitle projects include In A Grove (La MaMa); and Le prophète (Fisher Center at Bard).
Red Rising (Advertising/Marketing) develops campaigns for live entertainment and special events. Select current and past clients include Cracked Open, Kowalski, Pen Pals, A Guide for the Homesick, Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo, Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now, Jersey Boys, A Bronx Tale, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, Tennessee Williams’s The Night of the Iguana, Anthony Rapp’s Without You, Okuni, and Little Girl Blue. With 25 years in the industry, Michael Redman has worked on over 450 theatrical projects and events. www.redrisingnyc.com
JT Public Relations (Press Representative) is a full-service public relations firm specializing in Broadway, Off-Broadway, festival productions, films, nonprofit organizations, and special events. Recent productions include Kowalski, Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now, The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, Anthony Rapp’s Without You, and Tennessee Williams’s Night of the Iguana (starring Tim Daly, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Lea DeLaria). Film: Godless (starring Harry Lennix). Founded by Joe Trentacosta, JT Public Relations also manages Pen Pals (starring Nancy McKeon, Johanna Day, Kate Burton, Pauletta Washington, and Sharon Lawrence) and serves as Executive Producer of Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo at New World Stages. He is currently developing the musical Six Triple Eight.