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Like many of you, Keri Taylor arrived to New York from a small town. The Big Apple brought exciting new changes to her life and has inspired new heights and depths of creativity! After graduating from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and experiencing some very unprofessional theatre etiquette, she was elated to join others seeking a way to make it better with a "do it yourself" attitude when others were too lazy to get things done. Thus, our theatre company was born. After the first two years of finding out who our company is and what we want to accomplish, as well as helping to produce our first two shows, Remember Me (assistant director) and Asexual Revolution (Layla), the learning process was a tremendous achievement that still resonates today. It was also very exciting to be apart of something producing new and original works. Throughout those years she still had to have a job, and after an aggressive decision not to be employed there, she decided to channel her feelings through writing and wrote her first short one-act show titled Manager of the Month which was accepted into the 2007 Strawberry One Act Festival and performed at The American Theatre of Actors. Even at this point it was a very exciting opportunity for our young company to be apart of something on a much larger scale and experience such a large theatre together. Next was finding a new job and venturing into other areas of our company, which led to set designer for Tom's Dilemma. This also proved a worthy experience as new-found respect garnered for behind the scenes work. The following show, Dr. Faustus, brought the new challenge of comic relief as Keri has never considered herself the "funny" one of the group. She was also very pleased to be working with her good friend Tyler D. Hall as director. The following year brought Alice in Wonderland and role of The White Rabbit as well as taking on properties manager (which she kind of did anyway for Dr. Faustus). This show had a wonderfully hilarious cast to work with and a wonderful theatre to work in as well! After this, she was allowed to work on set again, this time for The Cyclops, where she was able to use her child-like painting skills to create a children's pop-up like set out of cardboard. Unbelievably, it work out pretty well! The 2009 season brought two new experiences. The first was that the company was contacted with new work from an outside source whose father wrote original teleplays in the 1950's that Haberdasher was asked to perform! Haderdasher worked with a new director who cast her as the leading lady in the role of Arlene for Arnold Shulman's Lost, which is still relevant today. This was a humbling role to take as well as meeting the playwright himself, Mr. Shulman. Following this production, Keri was put into position as production manager on the next show, The Maderati, by Richard Greenberg. This proved to be a difficult task as being in charge of an entire production was nothing like she'd ever done before. It was another elevating experience that brought even more awe and wonder for those not on stage. She is very proud of the fact that we officially a non-profit organization. Keri believes the possibilities are endless and with dedicated focus and energy we can only thrive from here! She has also received her fireguard license which should prove to be a very helpful aspect to her company as well. Currently, Keri is serving as stage manager in Haberdasher's upcoming performance of Dracula, by Mac Wellman. This is yet again a new experience, but she is working with an amazing dedicated cast who is making her job very easy, and it's even more exciting to watch their focus and drive and characters develop throughout this rehearsal process! She would like to thank her Heavenly Father, her family, friends, and NYC for help making it all happen! |
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Keri Taylor
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| Development Associate |