BOOK, MUSIC, LYRICS /
DEVIN “DEV” RUSSELL/GARY THE NURSE

Dan Costello is an actor, writer, and musician. Having grown up in Albany NY and lived 20 years in Brooklyn, Dan and his family now live in Washington County, restoring a house from the 1700’s and running a family business. He is the recipient of a 2024 LARAC Community Arts Grant, funded by the NYSCA, and is an 2024 Artist-In-Residence at the Sable Arts Colony. Dan has performed all over the region including at The Rep, NYSTI, Park Playhouse and Fort Salem Theater. His immersive play “The Forest of Feelings,” was commissioned by New York City Children’s Theater and was featured in the New York Times.

Most recently, Dan won critical acclaim as Charles Guiteau in “Assassins” at Playhouse Stage Company. As a musician Dan has traveled to more than twenty countries bringing his unique mix of folk, rock, jazz and comedy to people who speak many languages. BFA Acting, Syracuse University. ICU is Dan’s first full-length musical.

DIRECTOR

SHE/HER | Brittany is an NYC based director, actor and intimacy director. Originally from the Capital Region, Brittany is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz and alumna of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's 2016 Apprentice Program. Director Credits: the world premiere of The Great Lesbian Love of Eve Adams (The Tank), Into the Woods (River Valley Waldorf Theater), Associate Director Credits: Noises Off (Cape Playhouse), An American in Paris (MTWichita), and Resilience: The Donner Party (710 Main) all under Jeffry Denman. Intimacy Director Credits: As You Like It, The Cherry Orchard, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Penelopiad (SISTC), Resilience: The Donner Party (DTDC). Brittany is a co-founder of Shakespeareholics Anonymous.

FORT SALEM THEATER EXECUTIVE & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

HE/HIM | Kyle has three decades of creating award-winning theatre under his belt, working as a producer, director, choreographer, designer, and performer. His work has been seen all across the US, from Cape Cod, to Boston, Arizona and Dallas, to New York and has been recognized by the AriZoni Awards of Excellence, BroadwayWorld Awards, Column Awards, Annie Award, MET Awards, and MHSDG Awards, among others. in June 2023, was named one of the Top 10 New York State LGBTQ+ Leaders by I ❤️ NY.

Best known for creating larger-than-life musicals, some of Kyle’s credits include Hairspray, Next to Normal, Evita, White Christmas, I Love You Because, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Man of No Importance, West Side Story, Footloose, Into the Woods, RENT, The Rink, The Boyfriend, Schoolhouse Rock Live, Little Shop of Horrors, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Grease, La Cage aux Folles, The World Goes ‘Round, Cabaret, Pirates of Penzance, My Favorite Year, Annie, and Fame.

At Fort Salem Theater, he has directed and choreographed Salem Under The Stars, The Marvelous Wonderettes, Next to Normal, There’s No Business Like Snow Business, Grease, The Pirates of Penzance, Agnes of God, and Mary Poppins and has designed costumes for FST’s Pride & Prejudice , Grease, and Bright Star. He recently made his FST onstage debut in The Rocky Horror Show, and played Gangster #2 in The Drowsy Chaperone.

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

Mel is a playwright, songwriter, and published poet excited who recently made her Fort Salem Theater debut as Assistant Stage Manage of Into the Woods.

She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and Music Business from Five Towns College where she graduated valedictorian of her class, and has worked in many facets of the arts both on and off stage.

JACOB “JAKEY” RUSSELL/THE NEPHROLOGIST

Noah Casner is an actor and arts educator from Saratoga Springs, NY and he is so excited to once again be performing at Fort Salem Theater. Previous FST Credits include the world premiere of Beethoven: Live in Concert (Handel), Spring Awakening (Moritz), Bright Star (Billy Cane), Grease (Doody) and Next to Normal (Gabe), as well as directing their production of I Love You Because. Other recent credits include The Addams Family (Ancestor) at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island, IL; Beauty and the Beast (Cogsworth), A Chorus Line (Greg), Hello, Dolly (with Tony Nominee Jennifer Simard), Rent (Mark Cohen), and [title of show] (Hunter) at The Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield, OH; Xanadu (Calliope) and The 25th Annual… Spelling Bee (Barfée) at Spa City Theatre. He holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch where he studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and the Experimental Theatre Wing. He’d like to thank his family for their endless support and constant encouragement.

HENRY RUSSELL

Tony is a voice actor, singer, juggler, writer and storyteller. His favorite roles include Skye Masterson (Guys and Dolls), Joseph (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) and Jake Laurents/George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play). Most recently he performed on this stage in the traveling ghost story show Whispering Bones. Since retiring as a high school STEM teacher, he has enjoyed performing for audiences that are not required to attend under threat of in-school detention. He lives in Williamstown, MA with his future improv partner and wife, Rachel.

JOANIE RUSSELL

Carol has been involved in NY Capital District theater for almost 50 years. NYC credits: Backbeard, the Musical (Acorn Theatre, NYMF), A Murder Is Announced (Queens Theater in the Park). Regional credits: James Joyce’s The Dead, The Crucible, and A Christmas Carol, all at Capital Repertory Theatre, plus nine productions with the Theatre Institute (NYSTI). Carol has performed for many years at MacHaydn Theatre, Cohoes Music Hall, Theater Barn, Curtain Call Theatre, etc. Her 2024 credits: Violet in August: Osage County (SCP) and the one-woman show, Becoming Dr. Ruth, at CCT. A retired lab manager for the Neural Stem Cell Institute, Carol lives in Troy, NY. Like Joanie Russell, Carol is the mother of 3 adult children (but regrettably has only 6 grandchildren). Major thanks to our talented director and cast, but especially the wonderful Dan Costello for gifting this role to me.

NIKKI/NIGHT NURSE

SHE/HER| Raya is an actor and musician based in the Capital Region. This is her Fort Salem debut! She’s worked with various regional companies including Shakespeare & Company, Capital Repertory Theatre, Great Barrington Public, Stages On the Sound, Berkshire Playwright’s Lab, Central Square Theater, Saratoga Shakespeare Company and Boston Playwright’s Theatre. She is a member of Troy Foundry Theatre and recently co-created an original work for their latest Half Baked Play Festival. Raya makes up 1/3rd of local, indie-folk trio, Hold On Honeys, who won an Eddy Award for Best Folk Artist of the Year in 2023. She teaches Spanish part time at a school in Schenectady and is aiming to release her own EP in the new year. Cheers to new work!

DEVIN “DEV” RUSSELL/GARY THE NURSE

HE/HIM/HIS | Kevin is from Glens Falls, and recently made his Fort Salem Theater debut in Into the Woods as Cinderella Prince and The Wolf. He attended Queensbury where he participated in High School productions of Titanic: The Musical and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He went to SUNY College at Brockport where he performed in Hair: The Tribal Rock Musical (Berger), The Katrina Monologues (Police Officer) KCACTF nominated, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius) KCACTF nominated, and was the rehearsal leader for the resident comedy improv troupe, Barrel of Monkeys. More locally, Kevin has performed in The Boys in the Band (Allen), Rocky Horror Picture Show (Rocky), The Man in the Brown Suit (Harry), An Evening with Poirot (Hastings), and most recently as Gomez in GFCT’s production of The Addams Family Musical. Outside of theater Kevin has been credited as a story writer for multiple short films, including the award winning Devour, and a music director for the short horror film, The Cabinet.

ARROW/ALI/IRISH NURSE

SHE/HER | Jenna returns to Fort Salem Theater, where she most recently serves as ASsistant Director for Mary Poppins and created the role of Giulietta Guicciardi in Beethoven: Live in Concert, along with The Rocky Horror Show (Janet), Grease (Frenchy) and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Missy). Additional stage credits include Heathers (Veronica Sawyer), The Drowsy Chaperone (Janet van de Graff), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Millie), and The 25th Annual... Spelling Bee (Olive Ostrovsky) among others. Jenna is a graduate of Russell Sage College majoring in Law & Society as part of the honors program with minors in Psychology and Women's Studies. Through Sage, Jenna has also become a certified Sexual Assault Counselor and is proud to work as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence. She would like to thank her bunny, Benito, and her 25+ plant children for being such an attentive audience while she practiced in her room, and her parents for being her biggest supporters!

CHANI/TAMMY/SURGEON

Michelle lives in New York City, where you can sometimes catch her singing at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in between shows or filming. You may have seen her (alongside Dan and Brittany!) as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme in Playhouse Stage Company’s production of Assassins. Some other notable stage credits are: Susan in [title of show] (Playhouse Stage Company), Miss Simple in Tennessee Williams’s The Case of the Crushed Petunias (Theatre Row, NYC, Off-B’way), Jackie in New York Nights (original cast), Jo March in Little Women, Ma Strong in Urinetown, plus countless others all over the country. Independent films, commercials, modeling, Homicide Hunter (ID Network), and The Conny Show (pilot episode). She is also a yoga instructor in her spare time. Huge thanks to Dan and Brittany for trusting her to help bring this beautiful story to life and to her parents and husband because they just get it. IG: @itsmichellediamond.