Yannis Simonides, Actor

Born in Constantinople and raised in Athens, Yannis Simonides is a Yale Drama School trained actor/writer and Emmy-winning documentary producer. He has served as professor and chair of the NYU Tisch SOA Drama Department, as executive producer of Greek Orthodox Telecommunications (GOTelecom) and as the executive director of Hellenic Public Radio – COSMOS FM in New York. He is the founder and director of the Greek Theater (Elliniko Theatro) in New York and of Mythic Media, a performing arts lab.

His performance work includes plays by Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Brecht, Korres, Kambanellis and others, along with solo and ensemble pieces culled from the writings of C.P. Cavafy, General Makriyannis, Nikolai Gogol and others. He has received the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Greek Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, The S. Onassis, I. Kostopoulos, S. Niarchos, M. Tsakos and C. Levendis Foundations, Time Warner and the Mobil Foundation. He co-produced Mikis Theodorakis’ 75th Birthday Celebration at Lincoln Center with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and has been associated with the Annual Festival of Greek Music and Dance at Symphony Space in New York City, presented by the World Music Institute and ADAM Productions. He narrated the PBS specials Axion Esti, Visions of Greece and Return to the Homeland. He recently wrote and directed the docudrama SMYRNE for the Maliotes Center in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Loukas N. Skipitaris, Director

Loukas N. Skipitaris came to the United States after brief studies in medicine and political science at Thessaloniki's Aristotelian University. He studied acting with some of New York's leading teachers and earned a Masters in stage directing at Queens College (CUNY). He made his Broadway acting debut in Ilya Darling with Melina Merkouri, and subsequently appeared in the original Broadway production of Zorba, directed by Harold Prince.

He has acted Off-Broadway, in national tours, and in addition to his featured role in the prime-time TV series The Andros Targets he has had running roles in As the World Turns, The Guiding Light, and One Life to Live. He recently appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. His directing credits in the United States and Greece include productions of Greek classics and plays by Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, George Bernard Shaw, Neil Simon, Ira Levin, and others. At Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall he directed the world premiere of the oratorio Erotocritos, and as the producer-director of the LA-MA Summer Musical Theater he staged the musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, Of Thee I Sing, and West Side Story, among others. Mr. Skipitaris’s latest directorial assignments, the comedies Smile Please, O Mamakias, Gambros gia tin Vasoula and The Miser and Friday the 13th were recently presented by Theatron in Long Island City, NY. He is the founder and director of The Acting Place, a professional training workshop, as well as the founding and artistic director of Theatron, Inc., a non-profit Greek American performing arts center in NYC (see link).

Theoni Vahliotes Aldredge, Costume Design

With over 150 stage productions, numerous ballets and several films to her credit, Theoni v. Aldredge ranks as one of the most prolific and successful costume designers of the late 20th Century. Born and raised in Greece, Aldredge was inspired to become a costumer after seeing the film version of "Caesar and Cleopatra" in 1946. Moving to the USA, she trained at the Goodman Theatre School where she made her debut with 1950's The Distaff Side. In 1953, she married actor Tom Aldredge and the couple settled in NYC. After debuting in films with Girl of the Night, Aldredge began her long association as one of the resident designers at Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival with the 1961 production of Much Ado About Nothing. Over the next three decades at the NYSF she crafted appropriate clothing for many Shakespearean productions, as well as the landmark musicals Hair and A Chorus Line. With over 100 Broadway shows to her credit, Ms. Aldredge was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1986. Her credits include Sweet Bird of Youth, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Anyone Can Whistle, A Chorus Line, Three Penny Opera, Annie (Tony Award), Barnum (Tony Award), 42nd Street, Dream Girls, La Cage Aux Folles (Tony Award), and Gypsy. Ms. Aldredge’s film credits include The First Wives Club, Addams Family Values, Moonstruck, Network, The Rose and The Great Gatsby, for which she received The Academy Award and the British Society of Film and Television Arts Award. She is the recipient of the New York City Liberty Medal and was honored with the Costume Guild Career Achievement Award. In addition, the Theatre Development Fund has presented her with the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in Theatre, Film and Television.

Caryn Heilman, Percussionist

Caryn Heilman is a percussionist, vocalist and dancer with the World Music of Nana ensemble which blends musical elements from around the world. Specializing in frame drums, she plays the daf, a Sufi drum from Kurdistan, and the tar. Her rhythmic roots began with tap dancing at age 5. She had a ten year career as a modern dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Meredith Monk invited her to join her vocal ensemble the same year that she joined Taylor. She can be heard on Nana Simopoulos’ CD Daughter of the Sun which was number one on NAV world and new age radio charts. She has also recorded for Navras Records’ tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Film and television credits include work for Toby Twining and Score Productions.