July 23^rd- 25^th at the Geva Theatre Center Nextstage

The group of performers who you will see in the show is a mixture of Rochester high school students, and Rochester-based college students attending some of the most prestigious theatre training programs in the Northeast and in the country.

High schools represented in “Fight With Love" include School of the Arts, Aquinas Institute, McQuaid Jesuit, Our Lady of Mercy High School, Allendale Columbia, Pittsford-Mendon High School, Pittsford-Sutherland High School, East Irondequoit High School, Webster Schroeder High School, Brighton High School and more.

Students from such prestigious schools as New York University, Syracuse University, Boston Conservatory, SUNY Purchase, SUNY Fredonia, Eastman School of Music, Nazareth College and more are performers in the production.

We are the most talented young singers and actors in the Rochester area, and are already performing in the professional theatre spaces in Rochester, such as Geva Theatre, Blackfriars Theatre, Downstairs Cabaret Theatre and with the Mercury Opera. You will not be disappointed with the talent in our production.

Trevor Bachman, Executive Director/Music Collaborator

Trevor is a third year BFA drama student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Having been a part of Fight With Love at its original conception, Trevor is excited to be back, working with Geva on the project. Past Geva work includes three seasons of A Christmas Carol and Inherit the Wind. He is currently a teaching apprentice at Geva’s Summer Academy. Trevor recently finished composing, music directing, and performing in an original piece with the Shelby Company in New York City, and has been seen in NYU productions of Spring Awakening, All That He Was, and The Ohio Impromptu. Trevor would like to thank Fight With Love for allowing him the opportunity to use his abilities as an arranger, music director, and actor, directly for social change.

Teri Madonna,
Artistic Director

Teri is a sophomore theatre major studying directing, acting, and design at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, part of New York Univerity's Tisch School of the Arts. As a high school senior, Teri directed The House of Bernarda Alba at Mercy High School to benefit the Adolescent Eating Disorder program at the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Teri is also an actor, and her recent Rochester productions include Geva Theatre's Sweeney Todd and Frost/Nixon, JCC Summerstage's Hair, and Mercy High School's Godspell.

Anna Lenti,
Musical Director

Anna is an upcoming senior vocal performance major at the Eastman School of Music, and is thrilled to be a part of Fight With Love for the fourth summer in a row. A graduate of Aquinas Institute, Anna participated in many of her high school’s productions. Favorite roles include the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cinderella in Into the Woods, Miss Dorothy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Sister Hubert in Nunsense. Her senior year, she was awarded the opportunity to sing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the RPO Search for a Star Competition. At Eastman, Anna has been active in the opera department, recently appearing as Alice in The Secret Garden and Zerlina in the Don Giovanni scene in Eastman's Spring Opera Gala. Although she is primarily a singer, Anna is also a pianist, organist, and conductor, and hopes to pursue a degree in choral conducting at the graduate level.

Crescenzo Scipione, Stage Manager

Crescenzo is a local actor, theatre artist and activist. He has worked on various theatre pieces at School of the Arts, Shipping Dock Theatre, throughout the Rochester Theatre Community and a performance at Geva Theatre Center. For the last year, he has been focusing on his activism within organizations like Rochester Students for a Democratic Society, the Community Education Task Force, Activists Against Racism Movement, the Rochester Police Accountabiliy Coalition, and various antiwar groups.

Gentaro Ramadhan, Stage Manager

Gentaro is an upcoming freshman at Pace University. He recently graduated from the Aquinas Institute of Rochester, where he performed in many theatrical productions, such as West Side Story. This is his second year performing in Fight With Love.

Jayson Keeton,
Band Director/
Music Collaborator

Jayson has been active as a musical director, composer, conductor, and keyboardist for many years. Among his dozens of performances, recent theatre credits include Cabaret, Songs for a New World, Into the Woods, and Godspell. He is a former Musical Director of the Gatesinger Co., Ltd., in Pultneyville, N.Y. Credits with the company include Smokey Joe’s Café, Over Here!, and Once on this Island. Jayson is also the current Artistic Director of Starlight, Starbright Productions, a small community theatre company in Wayne County. Credits with that company include Children of Eden, Songs for a New World, and Godspell, as well as numerous concerts and cabarets. Aside from his work in theatre, Jayson is also an active organist. Most recently, he performed Camille Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with the Fredonia State Wind Symphony, on the magnificent Schlicker organ in King Concert Hall. He also is an active recitalist in the Upstate N.Y. area. He is currently the Director of Music at Faith Lutheran Church in Cicero, N.Y. In his spare time, Jayson enjoys bowling and playing golf, traveling, and writing and arranging music.

Jessica Bakeman,
Founder

Jessica is a senior double major in journalism and English at SUNY Plattsburgh with a 3.99 GPA, where she was recently the editor in chief of Cardinal Points, an award-winning student newspaper. She will be spending the first semester of her senior year in Sweden as an exchange student. She is currently working as a paid reporting intern for the Reading Eagle newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania, and so, has handed the reins of the production to her capable successors. Jessica created Fight With Love in summer 2007 and almost singlehandedly directed, publicized and managed the production during its first three years of existence. She has been involved in theatrical and musical performances for her entire life, including professional experience in Geva Theatre Center’s A Christmas Carol in 2006. She is delighted to be partnered with the organizations that have made the production possible: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Geva Theatre Center.

585-943-0159, benefitaids@gmail.com