The Creative Team
Jessica Carollo (Creator/Katie): Raised on Long Island, Jessica has trained in musical theater studies at the Long Island Performing Arts High School and NYU’s Cap21 Summer Musical Theater Workshop (where she studied with Bill Daugherty and Kathryn Rossetter), and is a graduate of the Circle in the Square Theatre School. Jessica has performed in countless regional and professional theater productions including Romeo and Juliet, Fat Horse and Slim (directed by the late Theodore Mann), and starred as Belle in the Long Island regional premiere of Beauty and the Beast. Onscreen she has appeared in Home Again and ABC’s One Life to Live, and starred in the web series What Exit?. Jessica recently produced and performed in the cabaret benefit Voices from the Aisles at Stage 72. www.jessica-carollo.com
Jessica Charles (Writer): Jessica graduated from Fordham College at Lincoln Center in 2012, where she earned a degree in English/Creative Writing. Since then, she has created an original web series hosted by FunnyorDie.com entitled Killer Friends, and worked more front of house jobs than she cares to mention.
Laura Valenti Luckenbaugh (Executive Producer): Laura studied producing and theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Stern School of Business, where she graduated in 2010. She’s currently an Associate Producer/Director of Operations at b. swibel presents/Playing Pretend Productions, an independent production company based in Tribeca, where she manages the day-to-day development of projects for TV, theater and children’s media. Laura is a proud member of NY Women in Film and Television and the Children’s Media Association. She had a part-time job as an usher at a local LI theater in high school; it mostly involved defrosting waffles for the concession stand.
Fritz Brekeller (Director): Fritz recently received a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on ABC’s One Life to Live. He is a director, producer and writer who has worked extensively in the New York soap opera world and received multiple Emmy and DGA award nominations. His first feature film, What Would Bear Do?, which he co-directed with Josh Folan, was released last year, as well as the short film, Through the Morning, which had a successful run in the festival circuit receiving several nominations. His television directing credits include numerous location sequences for ABC’s All My Children, as well as the fourth season of the Indie Series Award-winning, internet serial Empire, and is presently in pre-production for its fifth season. For the stage, Fritz directed and conceived the musical revue Foxy Ladies Love/Boogie 70’s Explosion, which played to sold-out crowds for over a year at New York’s legendary Duplex. He has staged many plays and readings in New York, most recently at the Workshop Theater and the New School for Drama.
John Carollo (Executive Producer): Raised on Long Island, John has been working in broadcast and cable television for more than 30 years, spanning news, sports, entertainment and independent productions and working with clients including FOX, ABC, NBC, TBS, Dick Clark Productions, MSG, LISN, CNN, Minolta USA, Ailes Productions, and CNN. Johnbegan his career as a commercial photographer in NYC in 1980. By the early 1990’s, he had established himself as a successful DP/Cameraman for several Emmy Award-winning and nominated independent documentaries, including Shining Time: Games for the Physically Challenged and The Henry Viscardi Story. A freelance Technical Director in the NY area, John is currently a Technical Manager in primetime cable news. Along with his wife Joyce, John continues to produce and consult on independent projects through JMCFour Productions, his family owned production company.
Joyce Carollo (Executive Producer): Joyce is the recipient of three Daytime Emmy Awards and eight nominations, and worked for over 20 years as the charge hairstylist for the ABC soap opera line-up, including Loving, The City, All My Children and One Life To Live. Joyce is the personal hairstylist for Susan Lucci, working with her on all of her product lines and NY press tours, Investigation Discovery's Deadly Affairs, and Lifetime’s Devious Maids. With her husband John, Joyce is the co-founder of the independent production company JMCFour Productions.
Jessica Charles (Writer): Jessica graduated from Fordham College at Lincoln Center in 2012, where she earned a degree in English/Creative Writing. Since then, she has created an original web series hosted by FunnyorDie.com entitled Killer Friends, and worked more front of house jobs than she cares to mention.
Laura Valenti Luckenbaugh (Executive Producer): Laura studied producing and theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Stern School of Business, where she graduated in 2010. She’s currently an Associate Producer/Director of Operations at b. swibel presents/Playing Pretend Productions, an independent production company based in Tribeca, where she manages the day-to-day development of projects for TV, theater and children’s media. Laura is a proud member of NY Women in Film and Television and the Children’s Media Association. She had a part-time job as an usher at a local LI theater in high school; it mostly involved defrosting waffles for the concession stand.
Fritz Brekeller (Director): Fritz recently received a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on ABC’s One Life to Live. He is a director, producer and writer who has worked extensively in the New York soap opera world and received multiple Emmy and DGA award nominations. His first feature film, What Would Bear Do?, which he co-directed with Josh Folan, was released last year, as well as the short film, Through the Morning, which had a successful run in the festival circuit receiving several nominations. His television directing credits include numerous location sequences for ABC’s All My Children, as well as the fourth season of the Indie Series Award-winning, internet serial Empire, and is presently in pre-production for its fifth season. For the stage, Fritz directed and conceived the musical revue Foxy Ladies Love/Boogie 70’s Explosion, which played to sold-out crowds for over a year at New York’s legendary Duplex. He has staged many plays and readings in New York, most recently at the Workshop Theater and the New School for Drama.
John Carollo (Executive Producer): Raised on Long Island, John has been working in broadcast and cable television for more than 30 years, spanning news, sports, entertainment and independent productions and working with clients including FOX, ABC, NBC, TBS, Dick Clark Productions, MSG, LISN, CNN, Minolta USA, Ailes Productions, and CNN. Johnbegan his career as a commercial photographer in NYC in 1980. By the early 1990’s, he had established himself as a successful DP/Cameraman for several Emmy Award-winning and nominated independent documentaries, including Shining Time: Games for the Physically Challenged and The Henry Viscardi Story. A freelance Technical Director in the NY area, John is currently a Technical Manager in primetime cable news. Along with his wife Joyce, John continues to produce and consult on independent projects through JMCFour Productions, his family owned production company.
Joyce Carollo (Executive Producer): Joyce is the recipient of three Daytime Emmy Awards and eight nominations, and worked for over 20 years as the charge hairstylist for the ABC soap opera line-up, including Loving, The City, All My Children and One Life To Live. Joyce is the personal hairstylist for Susan Lucci, working with her on all of her product lines and NY press tours, Investigation Discovery's Deadly Affairs, and Lifetime’s Devious Maids. With her husband John, Joyce is the co-founder of the independent production company JMCFour Productions.
The Cast
C.K. Allen (Jay): National and regional TV commercials (Directors include Ed Burns, Maurice Marable); Soaps (Guiding Light, All My Children, One Life to Live and others); Theater: Natalia Naman's Lawn People at the Cherry Lane Mentor Project 2013 (Dir.: Elena Araoz); as a member of The WorkShop Theater Company: Rich Orloff’s Couples (Dir.: David Gautschy,“Notable performance” -NY Times); Loren Dunn’s Layover (Dir.: Ryan Lee); Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (Dir.: Jerry Less); Levy Lee Simon’s The Bow Wow Club (Dir.: Keith Greer); some other NYC theater: Retro Productions The Tender Trap (Dir.: David Storck, “C.K. Allen…has quite possibly the funniest five minutes on any stage in New York” –TheFabMarquee.com)
Dalia Davi (Elaine): is an award winning Hispanic-American actress and former child preacher from the south Bronx. Dalia has been working in theater most of her career and currently performs in several shows at The Spanish Repertory Theater. She is developing her first off-Broadway solo show Queen of Technicolor. A multi-media show about 1940s Dominican born actress Maria Montez star of films such as Arabian Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Dalia has appeared in several television shows in the Dominican Republic and played the lead role in the award-winning Puerto Rican short film GABI, and official Selection TriBeca Film Festival, and is preparing to reprise the role for the feature film version. www.gabifilm.com
Cord Grabarz (Matt): Cord has been acting all of his life! Even when he learned to talk with his active and vivid imagination, he acted out and mimicked people, animals and situations. Throughout his youth, his passion grew and he became involved in all aspects of local theater. Formally, he studied musical theatre at Dean College’s School of Performing Arts where he practiced the craft of movement, voice, acting, and improv! His favorite roles include Touchstone in As You like it, Erroneous in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and the Beast in Beauty and The Beast. Cord has also worked in Manchester, Vermont for Burr and Burton Academy’s One-Act Symposium where he, along with industry professionals, mentored students in acting and movement. Cord has recently cashed in his snow tires and bought his MetroCard, and now is adapting to life in New York City! He plans to continue his efforts to create, and tell stories through many projects.
Lani Harms (Amanda): Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lani is a recent graduate of Fordham College at Lincoln Center where she majored in theatre performance. Recent credits include: Turn of the Screw at the Lincoln Center Rubenstein Auditorium (written/directed by Michael Kimmel, music by Drew Gasparini, wksp), the Columbia University MFA thesis Goodbye Casey Trade premiering at the Film Society Lincoln Center (written/directed by Amanda Brennan, produced by Hugo Kenzo), and as a series regular in the web series Killer Friends hosted by FunnyOrDie.com (written by Jessica Charles, produced by Gray Hour Media). Most recently, she was seen on the silver screen as a Mormon housewife on the Discovery ID series My Dirty Little Secret (Red Marble Media) and formerly as a concerned waitress on Celebrity Ghost Stories.
Austin Seay (Tim): Austin is excited to be joining this wonderful cast! In the past two years he graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and was awarded for Theatre Excellence in Undergraduate Performance. Now a resident of New York, He has worked with the Hampton Shakespeare Festival and was recently in Playhouse on Park’s production of Othello. He has worked with Richmond Shakespeare during their summer production of Two Gentlemen of Verona (Speed). His favorite credits include The Elephant Man (John Merrick) and Shakespeare’s R&J (Juliet). Other previous credits include Henry V (Fluellen), Apartment 3A(Elliot), Sailor’s Song (Rich), Finer Noble Gases (Chase), Fat Pig (Tom), and Picnic (Bomber).
Dalia Davi (Elaine): is an award winning Hispanic-American actress and former child preacher from the south Bronx. Dalia has been working in theater most of her career and currently performs in several shows at The Spanish Repertory Theater. She is developing her first off-Broadway solo show Queen of Technicolor. A multi-media show about 1940s Dominican born actress Maria Montez star of films such as Arabian Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Dalia has appeared in several television shows in the Dominican Republic and played the lead role in the award-winning Puerto Rican short film GABI, and official Selection TriBeca Film Festival, and is preparing to reprise the role for the feature film version. www.gabifilm.com
Cord Grabarz (Matt): Cord has been acting all of his life! Even when he learned to talk with his active and vivid imagination, he acted out and mimicked people, animals and situations. Throughout his youth, his passion grew and he became involved in all aspects of local theater. Formally, he studied musical theatre at Dean College’s School of Performing Arts where he practiced the craft of movement, voice, acting, and improv! His favorite roles include Touchstone in As You like it, Erroneous in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and the Beast in Beauty and The Beast. Cord has also worked in Manchester, Vermont for Burr and Burton Academy’s One-Act Symposium where he, along with industry professionals, mentored students in acting and movement. Cord has recently cashed in his snow tires and bought his MetroCard, and now is adapting to life in New York City! He plans to continue his efforts to create, and tell stories through many projects.
Lani Harms (Amanda): Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lani is a recent graduate of Fordham College at Lincoln Center where she majored in theatre performance. Recent credits include: Turn of the Screw at the Lincoln Center Rubenstein Auditorium (written/directed by Michael Kimmel, music by Drew Gasparini, wksp), the Columbia University MFA thesis Goodbye Casey Trade premiering at the Film Society Lincoln Center (written/directed by Amanda Brennan, produced by Hugo Kenzo), and as a series regular in the web series Killer Friends hosted by FunnyOrDie.com (written by Jessica Charles, produced by Gray Hour Media). Most recently, she was seen on the silver screen as a Mormon housewife on the Discovery ID series My Dirty Little Secret (Red Marble Media) and formerly as a concerned waitress on Celebrity Ghost Stories.
Austin Seay (Tim): Austin is excited to be joining this wonderful cast! In the past two years he graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and was awarded for Theatre Excellence in Undergraduate Performance. Now a resident of New York, He has worked with the Hampton Shakespeare Festival and was recently in Playhouse on Park’s production of Othello. He has worked with Richmond Shakespeare during their summer production of Two Gentlemen of Verona (Speed). His favorite credits include The Elephant Man (John Merrick) and Shakespeare’s R&J (Juliet). Other previous credits include Henry V (Fluellen), Apartment 3A(Elliot), Sailor’s Song (Rich), Finer Noble Gases (Chase), Fat Pig (Tom), and Picnic (Bomber).