Matt Okin (Artistic Director) is the founder and Artistic Director of Black Box Studios. Recent directing credits include Into The Woods  (BBS Ensemble) The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs (kids and teens), 1776 (kids and teens), and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (adults), among many others.  As a playwright, director, and co-composer, Matt’s musicals include Out Of Whack: The All-Kids Rock Musical (Theater For The New City), Soul Searching (45th Street Theater, DR2 Theater, D-Lounge, and the NY Musical Theater Festival), Generations (various NYC venues and the NY Musical Theater Festival), and A Match Made In Manhattan: The Interactive Jewish Wedding Experience (NYC and national tours).  Other original plays, produced both in New York and on national tours, include Second Chances, Twist Of Faith, Walter Liked To Sit In His Big Backyard, Cherry Hill, The Ugly Wife, and Pigs.  Matt received a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School Of The Arts and has two teenage daughters, Rachel and Arielle.

Giselle D’Souza (Resident Choreographer, Director, Actress, Teaching Artist) is an NYC-based professional actress, director, choreographer, and teaching artist. Her credits include national tours, children’s theater, original off-Broadway runs and premieres, and regional theater. She received her musical theater training from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and her BFA from The New School. Acting credits include: Click Clack Moo (Manhattan Children’s Theatre), James and the Giant Peach (National Tour – TheaterworksUSA), and Soul Searching (2008 New York Musical Theater Festival). Giselle also spent many years as a resident actor/educator with Wildlife Theater at The Central Park Zoo, which tours local schools and libraries to present interactive theater programs to help educate children about wildlife and conservation. Her directing credits include Generations (2008 New York Musical Theater Festival), and Out of Whack: The All-Kids Rock Musical Workshop (Theater for the New City), and numerous productions with Black Box Studios. Giselle recently appeared on stage in both It’s A Bird It’s A Plane It’s Superman! (Sydney), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tobias), and Into The Woods (Cinderella).

Jesse Freedman (Director, Teaching Artist) is a performance artist, Co-Artistic Director of 24/6 Jewish Theater Company and is a Storahtelling company member. New York credits include original ensemble creations The Tehillim Project (Jewish Initiative Grant),Vanity of Vanities, with the Eschatological Theater, 4.48 Psychosis at The NewSchool. As artistic director of Baltimore’s Jewish Theatre Workshop from 2006-2008 he directed Isn’t It Romantic, Ajax, The Cherry Orchard, Small Acts of Kindness, Bella’s Dream, Wit and Fires in the Mirror. As a teaching artist, he has performed, taught and designed curriculum for JCCs, Siegel College, Limmud UK, Jews For Judaism, Black Box Studios, Jewish Education Center of Cleveland and Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. He has trained with the SITI, Company, The Living Theater and is a graduate of Eugene Lang College at The New School.

Danny Hoffman (Actor, Teaching Artist) is a Graduate of Yeshiva University with a Bachelors degree in Drama. He has acted in both musicals and straight plays in the Yeshiva College Dramatic Society, where he also won three acting awards. He has also been in a number of short films and one feature-length film.

Simon “Shalom” Krischer (Master Set Builder) has been building sets for Black Box since 2007. No stranger to theatre, Simon has performed in productions of Fiddler On The Roof, I Ought To Be In Pictures, That Championship Season, Life In The Theatre, and more. He has also appeared in Rememberance Of Love, and America’s Got Talent.

Simon’s hobbies include competitive eating. He has held local titles and has even been in the Guiness Book Of World Records! He currently lives in Teaneck with his wife, children, a guinea pig named “Rex” and a turtle named “Fluffy.”

Rebecca Lopkin (Designer, Teaching Artist) is also an actress and director working in both New York and New Jersey. She is a teaching artist with Lincoln Center Theater, LeAp and American Globe Theater, and designs lighting and scenery for many local theatre companies and schools. Rebecca is a graduate of New York University’s program in Educational Theatre where she received her BS and MA. Some recent acting credits include: ‘Mary, Mary’ as Tiffany and ‘Love Letters’ as Melissa (Teaneck New Theatre), ‘Miss Reardon Drinks a Little’ as Catherine (Black Box) and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ as Yente (Harlequin Players). She is also a stage mom to her three kids and wife to husband, Benjy, of eleven years.

Mea Juliette Moon (Musician, Musical Director) is a professional musician and vocal coach living in the New York area. Having studied music from the age of 3, she has worked regionally throughout the United States and Hawaii as both actress and music director. Some of her onstage credits include The Imagination Show, Lady Thiang in The King and I, and Tess in Six Degrees of Separation. Musical directing credits include Seussical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Falsettos, and Grease!, to name a few.

Mea has also worked extensively with young people as a music director and vocal coach regionally. She is most proud of her role as music director for The Hawaii Showkidz, of which several members have gone on to pursue successful Broadway careers. She has studied music, voice, and theatrical performance at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the University of Hawaii. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her daughter, being and accompanist, and privately coaching budding ‘stars’ in their pursuit of their acting dreams.

Nicole Rhatigan (Actress, Teaching Artist) is based in New York City. She has worked for Little Stars Theatre, a company that teaches both drama classes and yoga in schools throughout New Jersey. She can also be found teaching yoga and confidence building classes for children at Yoga Sutra NYC, located in midtown Manhattan.

She graduated from the Studio program at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in 2006. Some favorite roles include Adriana in ‘The Comedy Of Errors’ (BoAR Theatre Company), Princess Catherine in ‘Henry V’ (New York Renaissance Faire), Harry in ‘Harry the Dirty Dog’ (Manhattan Children’s Theatre) and Gert in ‘Big Maggie’ (PJM Productions). This winter she will be playing Lulabelle in ‘Lulabelle in Search of Santa’ at the Manhattan Children’s Theatre.

Amy Fogelman (Marketing Director) started her career in marketing at The Public Theater under former Artistic Director George C. Wolfe (ANGELS IN AMERICA, BRING IN ‘DA NOISE, BRING IN ‘DA FUNK). Amy has also worked for PACE Entertainment (THE WHO’S TOMMY, JEKYLL AND HYDE), as well as for Walt Disney Theatrical Production’s Tony Award-winning smash, THE LION KING on Broadway and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. In July 2010, Ms. Fogelman produced a staged reading of Ross Berger’s play, FOR THE DURATION, which was selected as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Amy attended the Theatre Development Fund’s Intensive Commercial Theater Institute program and has an M.F.A. in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University.

In addition to her theater experience, Amy is also a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication (B.S., Film Studies) and has been a Script Analyst for Zev Guber Productions since April, 2010. She is currently at work on a screenplay commissioned by Mr. Guber. Amy and her husband, Dr. Joshua Fogelman, have four daughters and reside in Fair Lawn.

Randolph B. Houston, Esq. (Legal Representation).

Jen Rudin, CSA is Black Box Studios’ prime casting contact in New York City. She has guided our students to auditions for feature films, voice overs, Broadway, and more. www.jenrudin.com