Samantha is tickled pink to be a founding member of Brass Tacks.  Credits with this supremely talented group of artists include Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Wounds To The Face, and various renditions of ScriptTease.   Other recent credits: the award-winning Goliath (Culture Project, Wild Project, Planet Connections); Foreign Bodies (Women Center Stage/Culture Project), Naked Holidays (EndTimes), Hotel Suite (Rising Sun); The Vagina Monologues (Snapple Theater); The Killing of Jacob Marr (221 Films).  Samantha received her B.A. from UC San Diego, and has trained at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, A.C.T., Circle In The Square, and the Lorenzo deʼMedici school in Florence, Italy.  She can't think of a more imaginative, playful gang with which to create.  Oh, and she just joined Twitter so...uh...follow her or something @SamanthaFCooper.

Holly Hepp-Galvan has just completed her MFA in Playwriting at Hunter College with Tina Howe and Mark Bly. Her short play, “Departure” won the Rita and Burton Goldberg Prize and was a finalist for the Thomas Barbour Memorial Playwriting Prize. While at Hunter, she won the Irv Zarkower Award twice, for “Oddities” in 2010, and “Andreaʼs Esophagus” in 2011. Recently, Holly was chosen as a finalist for the National Short Play Award at City Theatre and was the 2012 Playwright-in-Residence for Voices Inside/Out, a playwriting program for inmates at the Northpoint Training Center in Kentucky. Also in Kentucky, she was recently commissioned by Pioneer Playhouse in Danville to write a new adaptation of “The Taming of the Shrew”. Her play “Tamed” premieres in June of 2013. Holly is also very active with Theatre for Young Audiences. Recent work includes “Sprites” which was commissioned by Pollyanna Childrenʼs Theatre and Ballet Austin, and will premiere at the Long Center in Austin, Texas in January 2014. Her play “Peter and the Piper” will premiere with Pollyanna

in September of 2013. As well as playwriting, Holly is a performer and a teaching theatre artist. She has studied Kathakali in Kerala, India and has developed a physical breathwork technique called Animare that she teaches in workshops to writers and actors. Additionally, for the past twelve years, Holly has been Adjunct Professor of Communication and Theatre Arts at both the College of Mount Saint Vincent and Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. She teaches courses in Acting, Directing, Feature Writing, and New Media Journalism.

Barrie Gelles has been directing theatre, in professional and educational settings, since the minute she realized that she was always meant to do so. She is partial to new works, and she is blessed to work with talented and inspiring actors and playwrights. She has worked, in various capacities, with Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Gallery Players, Communicable Arts, Wingspan Arts, French Woods Festival for the Performing Arts, among others. Aside from her penchant for new works, she has directed more than her fair share of musicals and Shakespeare comedies. Barrie currently curates a post-show discussion series, GalleryTalks, for The Gallery Players and is a frequent collaborator with Sticky (Blue Box Productions). In addition to Barrie's theatrical practice pursuits, she is a fellowship student in the PhD Program in Theatre at The Graduate Center at CUNY. She completed her Masters, in Theatre, at Hunter College and has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was fortunate enough to have a truly unique educational experience. Barrie has previously taught at Hunter College and currently teaches at Brooklyn College. She has given lectures on Shakespeare in performance, directing Shakespeare, and musical theatre at various academic and cultural institutions. Barrie has also taught a theatre-going class at the 92ndSt Y Tribeca. Barrie's scholarly areas of interests include American Musical Theatre, Theories of Acting and Directing in Training and Practice, and the interrelation of Jewish Studies with Theatre Studies. When she isn't studying theatre, writing about theatre, making theatre, or attending theatre, she is learning Yiddish.

Brandon Jones (actor/singer/songwriter/voiceover artist), is excited about the opportunity to work with such wonderful artists and friends in this extraordinary collective. Recent theater credits include: You Can't Take It With You (TACT), Inside The Rain (Dixon Place),Vanguard, Fallujah, Show Me Yours and I'll Show You... (IMPACT 2012 Festival at Culture Project), Spoon River Anthology (Riverside Theater), ReEntry (International Tour/Actors Theater of Louisville/Round House Theater), The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile (Billie Holiday Theater), Mush (FringeNYC/LaMama), Lobby Hero (Whalers' Warf Theater) and Tales From The Tunnel (Bleecker St Theater). Film credits include: Brothers Incorporated, Trust22, TAGGED!, Francis of Williamsburg, Mildred Richards and NTA. Brandon is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association. Check out his website brandonjonesonline.com for news and updates.

Nancy Kelly has been a member of this lovely group since 2005. She has worked as a modern dancer, choreographer, director, dramaturg and actor in both San Francisco and New York and holds a degree in dance from UC Berkeley and theater from Sarah Lawrence College. She has also trained at Bay Area Theatre Sports, ACT and the PIT. She has been on the faculty of St. Francis College in Brooklyn and CUNY City Tech teaching public speaking, acting and communications.

New York Credits include Leo in Parade  (Gallery Players), Pineheart/Laneth in The Hidden Sky (Prospect Theater Co.), Stavros in  Opa! (QTIP), and Simon in Maccabeat!  (NYMF). Member AEA and graduate of Northwestern University. So excited to be a founding member of Brass Tacks that I might explode!

Mimian Morales received her B.A. in Theatre from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a Masterʼs in Strategic Communications from Columbia University. She co-founded two theatre companies, the first which debuted an original play she co-wrote and co-starred in at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She then worked for 3 years with the Free Shakespeare Project, bringing Shakespeare to underserved neighborhoods in urban Massachusetts. Since moving to New York, she has had the good fortune to work with Communicable Arts and Barrie Gelles, performing in new works, and even more Shakespeare (which she loves). She was recently seen in Brass Tacks Theatre Collectiveʼs productions of Wounds to the Face and Oddities, or Frog Boy Live! A Musical Freak Show, as well as its Script Tease series, and is thrilled to be a resident artist with the Collective. In addition to acting and writing, Miss Morales is also a singer-songwriter, and you can hear her music at soundcloud.com/missmim.

Aly is a New York-based actor/singer/avocado enthusiast. She is ecstatic to be a founding member of the Brass Tacks Theatre Collective! Aly can currently be heard as the voice of Nurse Joy on Pokémon on Cartoon Network.  Recent theatrical credits: All The Rats and Rags (Joeʼs Pub, 3LD, dir. Andrew Scoville), #BFAproblems: The Musical, Opa! The Musical (dir. Sam Viverito), Taming of the Shrew (Hamptons Shakespeare Festival), Les Troyens (The Metropolitan Opera, dir. Francesca Zambello), Chosen (The Gallery Players), Twelfth Night (BoCoCa Festival), Rivers Current (New York Theatre Workshop), Oddities (The Cell Theatre), Boy (dir. Jessica Hecht), The Living Goddess (dir. Jo Bonney), The House of Bernarda Alba (Peter Jay Sharp Theater). BFA: NYU Tisch. alysonleighrosenfeld.com

London West End credits: Narrator in JOSEPH...DREAMCOAT, Essie/Dance Captain in original London cast of PARADE, and Ensemble in CANDIDE with the English National Opera.

Touring credits: Stephanie Mangano in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, Anita Alternate/Dance Captain in WEST SIDE STORY, and The Havana Girl in GUYS AND DOLLS.

Celia is making her Broadway debut as Swing/Assistant and Children's Dance Captain in MATILDA THE MUSICAL. Having also worked as a tea consultant, Celia can be found scoping out tea houses and eating soba noodles when not in the rehearsal studio.

Jason Daniel Siegel is an actor, writer, and teacher. He has performed on stage in four boroughs, and he has been featured in animated and live-action short and feature length films, and on various outposts of the world wide web.. Jason is also a world-traveler. He has spent time in Oceania, the Middle East, South America, Europe, and the Caribbean. But his most exotic trip was to northern California, where he spent a week living in a giant redwood tree. Jason is thrilled to be a founding member of Brass Tacks!

Kristin teaches high school theatre in the south Bronx. Recently performed with Communicable Arts in Much Ado About Nothing (Conrade) and Twelfth Night (Maria). Favorite roles include Dignity (Maureen O'Hara), Bugs (Mrs. Fox), Tongue of a Bird (Dessa), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania), Hamlet (Gertrude), Picnic (Rosemary), The Wake of Jamey Foster (Marshael), Crazy for You (Tess), and 42nd Street (Peggy Sawyer). MA in Educational Theatre from NYU.

Brett Warwick is a NYC based actor, writer, and musician.  He has a BFA in Acting from Emerson College, and an MA in Theatre Studies from Hunter College.  His most recent stage roles include Mr. Peachum in The Three Penny Opera at Hunter College's Danny Kaye Playhouse and Saint Peter in fellow Collective member Holly Hepp-Galvan's Saint Peter's Question.  Brett is also in the perennial rock band, The Trembling Turncoats.  If you have any questions or concerns, he can be reached at brettwarwick@gmail.com.    

Guest Artists:Stuart BridgettMadeline FredrickDavid GellesAlexandra GellnerJohn HumeKate JulianoJonathan SilverJenson SmithBenjamin Weaver

the collectiveBare bones staging of new plays

Samantha CooperSamantha is tickled pink to be a founding member of Brass Tacks.

holly hepp-galvan

barrie gelles, resident director

brandon jones

nancy kellyNancy Kelly has been a member of this lovely group since 2005. She has worked as a modern dancer,

jesse manocherianNew York Credits include Leo in Parade  (Gallery Players), Pineheart/Laneth in

mimian moralesMimian Morales received her B.A. in Theatre from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a

alyson leigh rosenfeld

celia mei rubinCelia Mei RubinLondon West End credits: Narrator in JOSEPH...DREAMCOAT, Essie/Dance Captain in

brett warwick

jason daniel siegel

kristin wahrheit