KAREEM FAHMY (Director)

Curse of the Starving Class marks Kareem's fifteenth production as director. Past credits include the first Canadian productions of such acclaimed plays as Patrick Marber's Closer, Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus, and Naomi Iizuka's Language of Angels. While studying as an MFA directing student at Columbia University, Kareem has directed a variety of work from the world's theatrical canon, including Euripides Iphigeneia at Aulis, Marivaux's The Dispute, Peter Shaffer's Equus, and most recently a production of Bertolt Brecht's Drums in the Night. Kareem is the founder and artistic director of The Alternate Theatre which made its New York debut last August with a new collaborative project entitled The Way to Begin.

JEFFERY EISENMANN (Scenic Designer)

Jeffery has studied with Danila Korogodsky at California State University Long Beach. Originally from Detroit, he has lived and studied in Chicago, London, and Los Angeles, only to settle in New York to begin his career in design. His New York credits include Leap (Abingdon Theater) and Diary of a Chambermaid (Dramahaus New York). Other projects have been exhibited worldwide, including venues in London, St. Petersburg, Prague (Prague Quadrennial: 2003) and New York.

JENNETTE KOLLMANN (Lighting Designer)

Jennette is currently working as a Lighting Designer for The Lighting Design Group a firm specializing in Broadcast Lighting. Her recent projects include: Jeanette Stoner Dance Company (NYC), Ulysses (Pittsburgh Opera), One Red Flower (Carnegie Mellon), Orpheus (Carnegie Mellon). She has also assisted designers including: Dennis Size (The Lighting Design Group), Dennis Parichy (The Member of the Wedding & The Mikado). This past May she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Masters in Lighting Design. She is currently an instructor at her amateur, teaching Lighting Visualization.

CATHERINE RILEY (Costume Designer)

MFA Carnegie Mellon University, BFA Webster University. Recent design projects include: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Black Hills Playhouse), and One Red Flower (Carnegie Mellon). Other recent work includes:   The War That Made America (PBS), Impossible is Nothing (Adidas commercial). Thanks to Husband, Seth Knaebel.

COURTNEY TODD (Dramaturg)

Courtney is in her first year as an MFA dramaturgy student at Columbia University. She received her Bachelors of Arts degrees in English and Comparative Religion from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas this past May. Curse of the Starving Class is her second production at Columbia. She worked as a stage manager and dramaturg on Brecht's Mother Courage in December. In Dallas, her dramaturgy credits include A Doll's House, All in the Timing, and A Winter's Tale at SMU, and Henry IV Parts I and II with the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas.

FRED HEMMINGER (Stage Manager)

SARAH BERKOWITZ (Stage Manager)

Sarah is a sophomore English major at Barnard College. Unable to commit to any particular aspect of theater, Sarah's credits include directing Aria Da Capo for the First Year Theater Festival, performing in the NOMADS original musical Wake Her Up (Megara) and singing in the chorus of Bach Society's production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Tommy was last seen in Richard Foreman's King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe (Ontological Theatre). National credits include Spinning Into Butter (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Shiner in the Round (ACT Theatre), The Royal Family (Intiman Theatre), The Habit (Bathhouse Theatre), Re-Animator (Open Circle), among others. Primarily a playwright, Tommy has previously penned Welcome to Flavor Country, April's Subject, Sunrise, Extropia (co-written) and The President of the United States of America Blows His Brains Out.  His work has been seen locally at The Ontological Theatre and 78th Street Theatre and nationally at The Huntington Theatre (Boston), ACT Theatre, On the Boards, Re-Bar, Annex Theatre, R.E.D. Space (Seattle). His stage adaptation and performance of Joe Wenderoth's satire Letters to Wendy's won the 2002 Artistic Pick at the Seattle Fringe Festival. His short plays Streak and Lysa were finalists for the Heideman Award at the ATL National Ten Minute Play Contest in 2001 and 2002, respectively.  Currently, he is a playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School under Marsha Norman and Chris Durang.

LAURA HEIDINGER (Ella)

Laura Heidinger is in her 2nd year at Columbia University's MFA program.  She was most recently seen in La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler and Drums in the Night by Bertolt Brecht. While at Columbia, she has had the great good fortune to play the roles of Electra, Mother Courage and the Duchess of Malfi.  Regional credits include Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Henry IV, part 2.

Theatre-New York: Curate, Curate Shakespeare As You Like It; Noah, Noah; The Priest, The Power and the Glory; Editor Webb, Our Town; Jake, More Fun Than Bowling; The Stranger, To Whom It May Concern; The Duke, Big River; Mazzini Dunn, Heartbreak House. Regional: Devlin, Ashes to Ashes; Dysart, Equus; Eddie, Fool for Love; Charles, Blithe Spirit; Greg, Sylvia; Austin, Later Life; Colm, Sea Marks; Fagan, Oliver!; Treves, The Elephant Man; Frederick, A Little Night Music; Oberon, A Midsummer's Night Dream. TV- Law & Orde, Law & Order SVU, The City/Loving (Dr. Brent Black). Film- Blind Spots (Winter 05), Fater (Best Actor, First Run International Film Festival (Toronto), From Here to Where You Are Going (Winter 05), Under the Table (Fall 05). Training: London Academy of Performing Arts and University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX. Currently student of L. K. Thompson

SARA BUFFAMANTI (Emma)

The end is near for Sara Buffamanti.the end of graduate school that is. She will leave Columbia University in May with a M.F.A. in acting. Roles at Columbia include: Adela in The House of Bernarda Alba, Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard, and Feste in Twelfth Night (performed in Recklinghausen, Germany and Seoul, Korea). This spring she will work with her professors Andrei Serban and Niky Wolcz on Faust, at the Metropolitan Opera. In New York, Sara has performed with The LITE Group for the Chekhov Now Festival and the Lift Group on St. Fatso's Lament, at the Cherry Lane Alternative and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She also toured the US in 2000 with Woven; a Santa Barbara based company that generated and produced original pieces of physical theater set to live music and performed in a festival atmosphere. Sara graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2002 with a B.F.A in Acting.

TERENCE SWINEY (Taylor)

Terry is a first year graduate acting student from Tulsa.  Other roles include Demetrius (Midsummer Night's Dream), Friar (Much Ado about Nothing), Hamlet, Marc (Art). Thanks to Kareem and the whole Curse crew. Thanks to Kristin, Andrei, Niky and Ulla. I love my wife.

DUANE FERGUSON (Ellis)

Duane has been performing in New York for just over a decade. His theatrical roots began at Lehman College where he performed in a myriad of plays including the Taming of the Shrew, The Bakkhai and The Miser. He is also an alumnus of the Citykids Foundation and the Positive Youth Troupe, two organizations that performed and held workshops for young people. Duane has also performed with the Epic Repertory Theater and the Italian Tour of Hair. Duane has also appeared on television on networks such as ABC, Nickelodeon, PBS and HBO. He has also appeared in short films such as "The Date", "Gully" and "Shootout" which made it's Urbanworld Festival film debut last august.  Duane last appeared at the Urban Pop Theater festival in the stage production of A Matter of 2nds.  Duane currently works at CUNY TV, where he can also be seen as one of the three hosts of Study With The Best.

BILLY FENDERSON (Malcolm/Emerson)

Billy is a first year actor in Columbia University's Theater Arts Program. He has studied as a playwright at Boston University, and as an acting apprentice at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater, studying Twelfth Night, as well as several new plays.

KATE LoCONTI (Slater)

New York credits: Training Wisteria (Rachel; Goode Prod.) for the New York Fringe Festival this past summer. Buffalo credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena), All's Well That Ends Well (Diana), Private Lives (Sybil), Blood Wedding (Bride), The Maids (Solange), Arms and the Man (Louka), The Hot L Baltimore (Girl) and Crave (A). London credits include: Hamlet (Rosencrantz) and A Clockwork Orange (Alex). Kate has taught for Shakespeare in Delaware Park and Studio Arena Theatre School. She earned a BFA in Theatre from University at Buffalo, studied at Middlesex University in London and is currently working on her MFA in Acting at Columbia University.