Shira Helena Gitlin, they/them (Gender Consultant/Intimacy Director) is a trans nonbinary director, gender consultant, intimacy director, and musical theatre enthusiast. As a gender consultant, Shira has held Transgender Inclusion workshops for theatres, universities, and organizations across the US and Canada. They have worked in various artistic capacities for New Repertory Theatre, Moonbox Productions, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Flat Earth Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, and more. Shira is a member of the Gender Explosion Initiative, a graduate of the Arden Professional Apprentice Class 26, an alumni of Directors Lab North in Toronto, Canada and previously served as an Artistic Fellow at SpeakEasy Stage Company. They have a BA from Hampshire College in directing with an emphasis on musical theatre studies. For more information, please visit shirahelenagitlin.com.

Sandy Sahar Gooen, he/him (Voice and Music Director – Rehearsal) (MD/Perc.) is a current BoCo MFA student, hailing from NJ/NYC. He runs @theetempo, an organization dedicated to getting trans people involved in music teams. He is grateful to Jo/Lee/CST for the opportunity to put that work into practice for Rocky Horror while he calls greater Boston home base, and to his mentors and teachers for getting him into fighting shape for the floor show.

Richard O’Brien (Writer, Composer)

A Short History

Richard, who was born in 1942, began his life in the world of entertainment in 1965, when, at the age of 23, he rode horses in British-made movies. He had no desire to become a full-time stuntman and, wisely, took himself off to an evening drama school which claimed to adhere to the teaching principles of Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and anyone else that had decided to embrace the more ‘naturalistic’ approach to acting, commonly known as The Method. In 1967, Richard became an ASM and understudy in a musical touring version of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, retitled as Robert and Elizabeth. He worked backstage in many West End theatres, most notably the Cambridge Theatre at Seven Dials, where, among other duties, he shone a Lime Light upon John Hanson, who at the age of forty-six, may well have been the oldest Student Prince that the world had ever laid eyes upon.

In 1969, Richard joined an ensemble group in a joyous production of Gulliver’s Travels at the Mermaid Theatre. This show was designed and directed by Sean Kenny. The choreographer was a young Japanese Canadian called David Toguri and the following year, Richard auditioned for him once again and joined the cast of the British touring production of the American ‘hippie’ musical Hair. After Hair came Jesus Christ Superstar, which was directed by Jim Sharman. The following year, 1973, Jim cast Richard in a Sam Shepard play at the Royal Court Theatre’s Theatre Upstairs. It was here that he met Richard Hartley, his music partner of more than 40 years. The Rocky Horror Show opened in July of the same year and, slowly but surely, became the biggest cult musical of all time.

Other highlights of Richard’s career are, of course, The Crystal Maze, a game show that warmed the autumn nights for Channel 4. The Child Catcher in the first stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Performing for the Queen in the gardens of Buckingham Palace upon Her Majesty’s 80th birthday and playing Fagin in a New Zealand production of Oliver!. In a career that has spanned 50 years, Richard has acted with some of the biggest and best known names in the industry and, lately, he has won over a new and younger crowd of fans as the voice of Lawrence Fletcher, the father of Phineas and Ferb, in the Disney cartoon series of the same name. Although now in his late seventies, Richard still refuses to make eye contact with the grim reaper.

JO MICHAEL REZES,  they/them (Director) is a nonbinary theatremaker and transmedia artist based in Greater Boston dedicated to the development of new, queer works which feature transgender collaborators and fabulously grotesque aesthetics. Acting credits: The Rocky Horror Show (Entropy Theatre); Nosferatu, The Vampyr (Sparkhaven Theatre); The Inheritance (SpeakEasy Stage Co. — Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Ensemble); Things I Know to Be True (Great Barrington Public Theater — Berkshire Theater Critics Award Nominee, Outstanding Supporting Actor; BroadwayWorld Award, Honorable Mention). Directing: Trans [Plays] of Remembrance (HowlRound.TV); Cloud 9 (AD, The Nora – Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Direction); Melancholy Play (Vassar College); The Interrobangers (Tufts University). Jo instructs gender and performance courses across the country (Yale Dramatic Association, Somerville Arts for Youth, UMass Law, The Theater Offensive)! Their TEDTalk, A Playful Exploration of Gender Performance, is available online. Jo is developing a monograph called Fractals: Nonbinary Acting Methods and facilitates workshops on the subject. Rezes dedicates themself to inclusive performance pedagogy beyond binary constructions and embraces queer aesthetics, sensation, and experience over final product. A proud Vassar College alum (BA, English & Drama) and Ph.D. Candidate in Theatre & Performance at Tufts University. Current academic appointments: Lecturer in Theatre at Boston College, Affiliate Faculty at Emerson College, and Teaching Assistant/Co-facilitator at Harvard University. Learn more: JMRezes.com

Zoë Ravenwood, she/her (Usherette, Narrator & Band) grew up on and around the stages of the Washington, DC area; performing in shows with The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ford’s Theater, Consenting Adults Theater Company, Olney Theater Center, and Washington Shakespeare Company, among others. She is happy to be returning to live theater after many years of focusing on performing as a musician and singer; and is excited to be working on a show with her brother Max Jackson for the first time. Her new album Welcome To The World will be released in the Spring of 2024. Visit ZoeRavenwood.com for show / tour date announcements and new releases.