JOE COSENTINO has acted in featured roles on film, television and theatre opposite Bruce Willis, Nathan Lane, Rosie O’Donnell and Jason Robards. His plays for young audiences have performed at hundreds of theatres and schools across the northeastern United States by Encore Performing Arts and Interborough Repertory Theatre, including Candlewood Playhouse, Westbury Music Fair, the Harold Clurman Theatre, and Lincoln Center Library. His plays for adult audiences have been performed Off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Mr. Cosentino holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting and a Masters Degree in Education. He is a recipient of the American College Theatre Festival Award. Currently he is Head of the Department of Performing, Visual Arts, and Communications at SUNY Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
SUSAN MONDZAK is comfortable with both musical theatre and popular song styles. As director of the Floating Hospital Theatre her works have reached an audience of over 250,000 people. Her works have been endorsed by numerous arts organizations, including the NYS Council on the Arts as well as the ASCAP Young Composer's Competition. Susan has composed music for six original musicals and music for the film "The Adventures of Mr. Enzyme."
Christmas Classic Holiday Musical by Cosentino And Mondzak
56 pages
7 m, 7 w + ensemble. (Some doubling possible)
This much loved tale is mostly known as a ballet. However, it began as a classic story of literature by a German author, E.T.A. Hoffmann. The story involves an eccentric inventor whose nephew has been turned into a nutcracker doll by a curse. In order to break the enchantment, the Nutcracker must destroy the Mouse King and find the love of a maiden even in his wooden state. Clara, the inventor's godchild, receives the Nutcracker as a Christmas gift and falls instantly in love with the wooden doll. In a fantasy world, where all the toys come to life, Clara hel...