Nunsense II: The Second Coming

Ted Wioncek III, an award-winning professional stage director, has spent the past sixteen years as an Artistic Director, leading creative teams in experiential playgrounds across the invigorating world of live theatre. As a strong conceptual thinker, vibrant visual artist, and strategically focused designer, his hands-on leadership has garnered him a reputation as “a master in storytelling.”

In 2006, Wioncek founded The Collaborative Act Studio, a process driven theatre, dedicated to producing professional touring productions of rarely presented work. As Founder/Producing Artistic Director, Wioncek was featured in numerous publications regarding arts and business, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and SJ Magazine’s “Someone to Watch,” where he was deemed a leader in the Greater Philadelphia theatre movement for his success as one of the Tri-state’s up-and-coming business builders.

In 2010, he was appointed Associate Producing Artistic Director of The Ritz Theatre Company, Inc., serving the historic 95 year old theatre in several initiatives from marketing to educational outreach.

In 2011, Wioncek co-founded The Eagle Theatre with a mission dedicated to redefining regional theatre. Under his tutelage, Eagle Theatre
became South Jersey’s only year-round Equity theatre and transformed into a nationally recognized regional theatre and tourist destination, producing more than 180 live performances each year, including full-scale Broadway caliber World Premieres and re-conceptualized revivals. In addition, the theatre became home to The New Jersey Fringe Festival, New Works Development Series, a touring Theatre for Youth Audiences program specializing in providing arts education to schools in underserved communities, as well as the Eagle Theatre Conservatory, a year-round tuition based theatrical institute for all ages and levels of professionalism.

Throughout his tenure, Eagle Theatre amassed numerous grants and private donations from the most esteemed arts donors and philanthropists in the Delaware Valley, including the largest first year gift ($250,000) in The Wyncote Foundation’s history, as well an unprecedented $500,000 Grant and Loan package from USDA.

Wioncek’s work has garnered a plethora of awards and nominations, including twelve nominations from Theatre Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards, a nationally recognized symbol of excellence for professional theatre in The Greater Philadelphia Arts Community. In addition, Wioncek was hailed as an “illusioneer of stagecraft” by IEN Engineering Europe, which featured his experiential storytelling through medium advancing technology, including; special effects, custom designed stage mechanics, motorized moving walls and winches, scent-sensory experiences, and immersive walk-through exhibits.

Wioncek’s passion for the stage can be matched only by his dedication to patron outreach. He has created and hosted numerous initiatives, including private Donor Events, over 250 Talk-Backs, and 30 Please Touch Performances, a special tactile post-performance event that encourages patrons to step on stage and explore.

In 2016, Wioncek co-founded The New Jersey Fringe Festival, a three-day street fair and theatrical marathon, featuring multiple eclectic productions, a beer and wine garden, pop-up art, food, live music, and street performers.

In 2018, he recieved critical acclaim for his groundbreaking original work, NOIR: The 3D/4D Semi-Cinematic Satirical Thriller, a one-man show that seamlessly blends live-action with three-dimensional cinematography, using hip-to-the-minute technology and theatrical techniques to immerse the audience.

In 2021, Wioncek founded SWFL Showstoppers, an entertainment company dedicated to touring Broadway-style musical revues to clubs, communities, and resorts throughout Florida.

Wioncek has worked with multiple Regional Theatres including; Walnut Street Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Act II Playhouse, Montgomery Theatre, Mum Puppet Theatre, Storybook Musical Theatre, BCKSEET Productions, and Flashpoint Theatre Company.

Select Directorial Credits; Little Women: The Musical (Philadelphia Inquirer – Best Musical, 2018 Broadway World Award, Barrymore Recommended), Godspell (Barrymore Nomination – Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical), John & Jen (Barrymore Nomination – Outstanding Direction of a Musical), Peter and the Starcatcher (Barrymore Nomination), Catch Me If You Can (Barrymore Nomination), The Civil War: The Musical (Barrymore Recommended), Our Town, Glengarry Glen Ross and HAIR.

Playwright; NOIR: The 3D/4D Semi-Cinematic Satirical Thriller, Season’s Greetings: A Musical Celebration of Holiday Traditions from Around the World, Jane & The Humongous Pear (A Choose Your Own Adventure Play), and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Wioncek has served as an arts educator and orator for several arts institutions and was inducted into the Southern New Jersey Academy of Performing Arts’ Hall of Fame. He is former member of Actors’ Equity Association, current member of Stage Director & Choreographers Society, and was recently honored with the New Jersey Theatre Alliance Award of Excellence.

He lives in Southwest Florida with his beautiful wife, Kimberly, their adorable retired medical research beagle (Professor Indiana Bones), and their little sunbonnet from the Sunshine State, Lilly Evelyn Wioncek!

Julie Bearden Carver is a professional musical director, voice and acting coach, orchestrator and arranger. Julie made her Broadway debut playing Piano 1 for Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City and has accompanied Actors Equity Association principal and ensemble auditions and classes at New York University and Barnard-Columbia.  At the Juilliard School and Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center) and the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra (Florida) Julie has played with notable conductors, composers and vocalists that include Andrea Bocelli, Bernadette Peters, Eric Whitacre, and others.

As Founding Artistic Director of The Callback Company, Julie prepares vocalists for a variety of performances, competitions, and college auditions. This consulting service also hosts Broadway talent who provide masterclasses in musical theatre and acting to her students. Her roster of piano and voice students have been accepted to the most prestigious college voice, piano, and musical theatre programs across the country. Julie’s wide experience includes vocal coaching in Chicago, Naples, Florida and New York City with singung actors from the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Broadway, national tours and regional productions.

As a collaborative pianist, Julie has performed concerts with Richard Tucker 2015 Award-winner and 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World, Jamie Barton, world-renown soprano Indra Thomas, and soprano Dr. Jeanie Darnell, the head of vocal studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. Julie regularly accompanies the Atlanta SETC/USITT Auditions and judges regional Literary events including solo and ensemble categories as well as dramatic interpretation. As a ballet accompanist, Julie has played for classes at University of Illinois and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. In Rome, Georgia, she served as the choral master for the February 2017 presentation of Rosini’s La Cenerentola, co-produced by the Rome Symphony Orchestra and Peach State Opera and the future presentation of Bryan Wilbur Grundstrom’s Children of Zeus.

Musical direction credits include her own revue “It’s the Talk of the Town: The Music of Jerry Livingston” at the Laurie Beachman and Triad Theatres in New York City as well as multiple local and regional productions including Berry College Theatre Company’s production of Dogfight, The Fantasticks for the Rome Shakespeare Festival, Matilda and The Spongebob Musical for The Grand Theatre. Former college positions range from Adjunct Instructor of piano and voice to Assistant Professor and Musical Theatre Specialist. Most recently, she was staff accompanist and musical director for Berry College and vocal coach/accompanist for Kennesaw State University’s Department of Theatre and Performance Studies in Spring 2021.
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Julie’s new orchestrations and music for Rome Shakespeare Festival’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona were premiered in 2018. A Shakespeare Cabaret, starring Indra Thomas, Sherri Sutton, and Jill Hames with music compiled and arranged by Julie Carver, was premiered in May 2021.

Julie has recently relocated to Southwest Florida with her husband Bryan, three children, and a furchild named Mochi.

Tricia Hennessy is a local performer, choreographer, stage manager, and costume designer. She is the former owner of Empower Dance & Athletic Wear in Cape Coral as well as the custom dance costume designer at Twisted Stitches. She is thrilled to join the production team for Snowbird Follies with Gulf Cast Symphony. Tricia would like to thank Andrew, Julie, and DJ for the opportunity and fantastic experience.

Gulf Coast Symphony founder Dr. Andrew M. Kurtz enters his twenty-ninth season as the Symphony’s President & CEO/ Music Director and conductor. His deep rooted commitment to new work, community and education, combined with a vibrant artistic vision has led to creating and nurturing one of the most dynamic arts organizations in the region.

For the Southwest Florida Theatre Company, the newest professional theatre company operating out of the MACC, Kurtz serves as the Producing Artistic Director.

As stage director Kurtz has staged multiple production, including productions of the musical comedy I Do, I Do, which opened the Music & Arts Community Center and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall.

He was named the 2007 Performing Artist of the Year at Lee County’s Angel of the Arts Awards. Kurtz’s repertoire encompasses a wide range of music styles from baroque to contemporary, and multiple genres including symphonic, opera, ballet, musical theater, jazz, cantorial, and symphonic pops.

Kurtz was the international tour conductor for CANTORS: A Faith In Song, featuring three of the world’s leading cantors, and is currently the tour conductor for the NEW YORK CANTORS and TRINITY: CLASSICALLY IRISH, which debuted on PBS in Feburary 2022. He served as the Music Director of the Florida Jewish Philharmonic Orchestra and as Producing Artistic Director of Synergy Productions, a professional musical theater company in Southwest Florida.

Kurtz is a past-president of the board of the Lee County Alliance for the Arts. An avid arts educator, Maestro Kurtz was Resident Music Director at the Luzerne Music Center. In 2001, he won First Prize in the Dell’Arte di Firenze International Conducting Competition, and made his European conducting debut in Florence. In 1995, Kurtz made his international operatic debut in Tel Aviv while working as a staff conductor at the Israel Vocal Arts Institute. In 1997, he conducted the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s educational tour production of The Best of Puccini. He was a scholarship conducting student at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival, and boasts numerous other conducting credits, including the Pennsylvania Opera Theater, the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Charlotte Symphony, Gonzaga Symphony, and the Ocean City Pops.

Kurtz completed his doctoral studies in conducting at the Peabody Conservatory and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia where he received his master’s degree in music history and a bachelor of arts in music and drama.  His theater concentration was in stage directing and play-writing. A native of Philadelphia, Kurtz has called Southwest Florida home for more than 30 years, where he currently resides with his wife, Julie, and their son, Benjamin.