Steven Cheslik-deMeyer
Fresh out of art school in the early 80s, Steven bought a used guitar in a junk shop on St. Marks Place, learned three chords, and taught himself to write songs by listening to Dolly Parton records. He insinuated himself into the post-punk neo-folk scene in the East Village, but soon discovered the world of downtown theater. Through the late 80s and early 90s, he wrote and performed music in several experimental productions with Tiny Mythic Theatre Company and directors Kristin Marting and Tim Maner. In 1992, he and Jay Byrd created an act called Y’all, singing original songs and telling stories in the style of old-time country vaudeville. The act sprang from the downtown theater scene but went on to play in coffeehouses, churches, retirement homes, and rock clubs across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In ten years, Y’all recorded four CDs, published two books, appeared on MTV and Comedy Central, and went broke. Their last two years together, they lived in a camper on the road with a third partner. Steven made a documentary about that relationship and the final years of Y’all, Life in a Box, which premiered in the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2005. After the demise of Y’all, Steven returned to New York where he continues to make music and theater and musical theater. He is a 2019 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist, a MacDowell Fellow, and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in American Studies. For more information, go to stevencheslikdemeyer.com.
Tim Maner
Right out of college, Tim co-founded the tiny mythic theatre company with a focus on developing the work of creator/directors and a mission to “disrupt the american living room / rearrange the furniture in the american mind”. tiny mythic’s work became a staple of the downtown alt-theatre scene of the early 90s, and just a few years later, the previously transient company transformed into the award-winning NYC arts center, HERE, called “One of the most unusual arts spaces in New York – and possibly the model for the cutting edge arts space of tomorrow” by The New York Times. His producing/presenting history at HERE included hundreds of productions brought to life by thousands of artists. He remains an active founding board member working to expand opportunities for mid-career artists. Tim has created over twenty original works as a creator/director including: The Hawthorne Project, a six-year collaboration with writer/adaptor Elizabeth Banks building a trilogy of multi-layered multi-media events adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s three American novels and The Opera Project, a five-year collaboration with writer Ruth Margraff and composers Matthew Pierce and Fred Ho creating a series of original new wave operas. Outside of the work he created with his own companies he has directed at The New York Shakespeare Festival and New Dramatists Guild, was a guest artist/teaching fellow at Harvard University, and has taught at New York University/Playwrights Horizons. He’s also sung in some bands, arranged and conducted a Cowgirl Chorus, and originated roles in two Robert Wilson shows: Hamletmachine (NY/European Tour) and Salomé (La Scala, Milan). He is a graduate of NYU/ Tisch School of the Arts.
Alan Stevens Hewitt
ASH grew up in a musical family, the son of a Philadelphia Orchestra oboist. He cut his teeth as a teenager recording for Ruffhouse/Columbia Records at Studio 4 in Philly, and during the 90’s as member of alt-folk band The Low Road (Caroline Records), touring with Los Lobos, Barenaked Ladies, and label-mates Ben Folds Five. He moved full-time to NYC in the late 90’s to pursue his conservatory degree in composition at Mannes College of Music/The New School, where he studied with Robert Cuckson and Carl Schachter. In the mid-aughts, with partners, he opened The Coral Room, a nightclub in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, which featured a 10,000 gallon saltwater aquarium with live “mermaid” performances and hosted cutting edge bands, performance artists, events, and djs nightly. As an actively performing musician, his credits include Broadway’s Frozen, Come From Away, The Band’s Visit, Fun Home (also 1st Natl. Tour), Finding Neverland, Matilda, Sting’s Last Ship, Rocky, Jekyll & Hyde, Lysistrata Jones, Green Day’s American Idiot, Spring Awakening (also 1st Natl. Tour), Off-Bway’s Closer Than Ever, RENT, tours in the U.S. and abroad, and numerous recordings as player, composer, arranger, and producer. His first score for theatre was for a production of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal that the NYTimes thought was awful. He lives in the Lower Hudson Valley and enjoys motorcycles and longboarding.
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LIZZIE
Music by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt
Lyrics by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner
Book by Tim Maner
Additional Music by Tim Maner
Additional Lyrics by Alan Stevens Hewitt
Based on an Original Concept by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner
Orchestrations by Alan Stevens Hewitt
LIZZIE was developed with the assistance of tiny mythic theatre company, HERE arts center, Took An Axe Productions (Hillary Richard & Peter McCabe), Brisa Trinchero/Corey Brunish (Make Musicals) and Van Dean/Kenny Howard (Broadway Consortium). LIZZIE was presented at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals in 2010 and further developed by Village Theatre, Issaquah, Washington (Robb Hunt, Executive Producer • Steve Tomkins, Artistic Director). LIZZIE was produced by Theatre Under The Stars, October 2013. The West Coast Premiere of LIZZIE was produced by Portland Center Stage, Chris Coleman, Artistic Director.