Creative Team
ROZ ESPOSITO (SHE/HER) - BOOK WRITER, LYRICIST, COMPOSER
Native New Yorker – California transplant, Jewish/Italian, cisgender lesbian and social activist. I studied musical theater at Hofstra University and then transferred to Mannes College of Music, where I majored in voice. After graduating, I sang on national TV and radio commercials and my original songs were featured on national TV, in daytime drama and in Off-Broadway productions. My passion for finding the humor in all things led me to study and perform with the Groundlings East, where I honed my skills as a sketch writer, developing characters and performing weekly for two years on Theater Row. After moving to Los Angeles, my original one-woman show, Goodbye Coney Island, was produced at The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center’s Ed Gould Theater and named BEST BET in the LA Times. I studied script development and TV writing with various Los Angeles based writers, including musical theatre writing with Elise Dewsberry at New Musicals, Inc. I wrote and performed stand-up comedy at major venues including the main room at The Comedy Store and the Ice Palace in Los Angeles. As a precursor to this show I produced Teach Your Children Well, a documentary short about LGBTQ+ bullying and the murder of Latisha King, narrated by Lily Tomlin. Member of DG, BMI and SAG-AFTRA www.rozesposito.com
VICTOR LIRIO (HE/HIM) - DIRECTOR
Victor is a theatre director whose award-winning and critically acclaimed work spans New York, London, and Manila. He has helmed international productions of Olivier and Tony Award winning plays Art by Yasmina Reza (translated by Christopher Hampton) and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (2024 Outstanding Stage Production of the Year, Gawad Buhay Awards) for Repertory Philippines in Manila. He was Resident Director on Dr Semmelweis starring Oscar winner Mark Rylance at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End (Sonia Friedman Productions, National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic). Victor directed the London premiere of Adam Rapp’s Red Light Winter at The Turbine Theatre. Other UK theatre: Edward Allan Baker’s North of Providence and Dolores (live production broadcast; Bristol Arts Channel); Her Naked Skin (Circomedia; Bristol, UK); The Snow Queen (Redgrave Theatre; Bristol, UK). New York theatre (selected): Cassandra Medley's Coming Up for Air starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (First Light Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre); Warren Bodow’s Race Music (New York Times Critic's Choice); Cassandra Medley’s Noon Day Sun starring Emmy Award winner Ron Cephas Jones (Time Out New York Critic's Choice; Audelco Award nomination, Best Dramatic Production of the Year). Regional: Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy (MTC Miami); Neil Labute’s The Mercy Seat (SandBox Theatre, Miami); Long Season – The Musical (associate director; The Public Theater, NY/Huntington Theatre, Boston). Concerts: Tony Award winner Lea Salonga (Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center); Suites by Sondheim (Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center). Radio drama: Cassandra Medley's Cell starring Condola Rashad (Playing on Air, NYC). He was founding artistic director of Diverse City Theater in New York. He was recipient of the Classical Directing Fellowship at The Old Globe. As an actor, Victor trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He holds a Master of Arts in Drama Directing from Bristol Old Vic (Doris Dibden Prize). www.victorlirio.com
GREG KENNA - MUSIC DIRECTOR
Greg is currently the music director for the upcoming Broadway show, Room, His credits include music director of the world premiere of A Walk On The Moon at A.C.T. in San Francisco and music director of the world premiere of Monsoon Wedding at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. His credits also include Frozen (Workshop), An American In Paris (Broadway and Paris), The Wiz LIVE! (NBC), Dogfight (Second Stage, NYC), The Sound of Music and Guys and Dolls (Carnegie Hall), Hair (International Tour), Lempicka (Yale Rep/ New Dramatists), You Never Know and Lysistrata Jones (Meadow Brook Theatre).
ANNA LOUIZOS - SCENIC DESIGNER
A three-time Tony Award nominee, Anna has designed sets for Broadway musicals including School of Rock (sets/costumes US, London and National Tour), Avenue Q, In The Heights, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, High Fidelity, Dames at Sea, Honeymoon in Vegas, It Shoulda Been You, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Performers, White Christmas, Curtains, Baby It’s You, All About Me, To Be Or Not To Be, Steel Magnolias, Golda’s Balcony. She is a winner of USITT 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award; NAACP 2011 Theatre Award for In the Heights, as well as Art Director for Sex and the City (HBO).
TERRY D. LOFTIS (HE/HIM) - PRODUCER
Is a 2015 Tony Award nominated Broadway co-producer for The Visit that was anchored by two Broadway legends.The book by Terrence McNally and starring the Diva of Broadway Chita Rivera. He is one of the co-producers of Bandstand, the 2017 new musical on Broadway which received two Tony nominations for best choreography, and best orchestration. Bandstand was awarded the 2017 Tony for best choreography. Terry was also lead producer of the play Stiff by playwright Jeff Swearingen and co-produced by Bren Rapp which mounted its AEA Showcase run at The Barrow Group Theater in New York, February of 2018 and is targeting its Off Broadway run for spring 2019. He is also lead producer on another new original musical Creep by playwright Donald Fowler.
UPTOWN PLAYERS - PRODUCER
Is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, presenting plays and musicals that challenge audiences artistically and strive to create greater positive public awareness and acceptance of the LGBTQ community through the performing arts. Now entering its fifteenth season and seventh at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, Uptown Players has gathered a dedicated following and is providing an opportunity for a wide diversity of gender styles to come together and explore life choices through great theatre themes such as relationships, family, prejudice, and values. The response from the community and critics has been remarkable, including over 25 Leon Rabin Awards from the Dallas Theatre League, and over 25 Theater Critics Forum Awards in its first thirteen seasons. Uptown Players has also been named the best theatre company by the Dallas Voice Readers and by the Dallas Observer and was also featured in D Magazine and on WFAA’s Daybreak and Good Morning Texas programs.
Uptown Players has presented world premieres, including Redesigning Women (2013), Crazy Just Like Me (2011) and the stage adaptation of The Valley of the Dolls (2007), along with the United States premieres of the West End hit musical Soho Cinders (2014), and the Pet Shop Boys Musical Closer to Heaven (2010). Uptown Players was the first regional theater in the United States to present the Tony Award winner The Boy from Oz and the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next To Normal, following the closing of the Broadway productions. Each season, Uptown Players presents several regional premieres, including recent productions of The Nance, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013 Tony Award for Best Play), Hello Again (featured in a Broadway World article about the upcoming movie) and The Producers.