SHOW UP, KIDS!

Denisse Estefany Mendoza

Denisse Estefany Mendoza (PERFORMER) studied at the University of Texas el Paso, Playhouse West: Brooklyn, and the Magnet Training Center. Selected theater credits include Sor Juana in "Primer Sueno" with Repertorio Español, Irene in "Chiquita" at Playwrights Horizon, Elida in "Aztec Pirates: a Latinx Fantasia on National Themes" with Playground Experiment, and Cat in “A Barn Play” with UP Theatre Company. Film credits include “Beyond & Above" by Dir. Chris Harcum, "Seams" by Dir. Sierra Nutkevtic, and "Daddy Hotline" by Michelle D'Angelo. Instagram: @denisse.es.mendoza

Kento Morita

Kento Morita (PERFORMER) is a comedian, actor, and producer based in New York. He performs improv with The Armory and Story Pirates, sketch comedy with Upright Citizens Brigade, and is currently training at Second City's conservatory program and The Barrow Group. He also produces "Duty Free Live" at Caveat. NYC. His performances have been featured on Amazon Prime, Toronto Sketch Fest, and SketchFest Seattle. His writing can be found on The Onion, Clickhole, and Business Insider. Most recently his voice was featured on the video game Rise of the Ronin, and his AI storytelling project "Moment in Manzanar" won The Anthem Award for Best Use of AI.

Peter Michael Marino

Peter Michael Marino is a New York City native who’s worked extensively as a performer, producer, director, writer, and teacher. He’s a member of The Dramatists Guild, AEA, and SAG-AFTRA. His production company PM2 Entertainment has presented festivals and original comedy productions from NYC to Australia, Canada, and the UK. Pete is a frequent collaborator with The Kennedy Center and The Washington National Opera - creating videos that teach kids how to put on their own show; writing, directing, and hosting a series of edutainment videos about the “Weird and Wonderful World of Opera”; and writing the 2023/24 scripts for their live-on-stage, educational Opera Look-Ins for “la Boheme,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and "Macbeth." Since 2018, Pete has performed his acclaimed, interactive, semi-improvised, family-friendly comedy, “Show Up, Kids!” at NYC’s Kraine Theater, at the Lower East Side’s LUNGS Fest, the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum, at CAST in Northfolk, LI, Playscape with The Battery Conservancy, and Summer on the Hudson. It played for a month in Spring 2024 at New Jersey's Mile Square Theatre. Pete was the writer/clown host of the hit, immersive cirque experience MoonRise - which played in Bushwick & Manhattan for the last 3 years. He’s the resident director for NYC Kids Project which uses puppets to teach kids about inclusion and acceptance. He originated the villainous and idiotic Joules Volter character in the 2019 award-winning, Off-Broadway, immersive family show “Pip’s Island” on 42nd Street. For five years, Pete provided the comic relief in the global smash STOMP both Off-Broadway and internationally. He’s appeared in dozens of Off-Broadway and regional productions, and had been heard on hundreds of voice-overs for important banks, bands & beverages.

Peter Michael Marino

Peter Michael Marino is a New York City native who’s worked extensively as a performer, producer, director, writer, and teacher. He’s a member of The Dramatists Guild, AEA, and SAG-AFTRA. His production company PM2 Entertainment has presented festivals and original comedy productions from NYC to Australia, Canada, and the UK. Pete is a frequent collaborator with The Kennedy Center and The Washington National Opera - creating videos that teach kids how to put on their own show; writing, directing, and hosting a series of edutainment videos about the “Weird and Wonderful World of Opera”; and writing the 2023/24 scripts for their live-on-stage, educational Opera Look-Ins for “la Boheme,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and "Macbeth." Since 2018, Pete has performed his acclaimed, interactive, semi-improvised, family-friendly comedy, “Show Up, Kids!” at NYC’s Kraine Theater, at the Lower East Side’s LUNGS Fest, the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum, at CAST in Northfolk, LI, Playscape with The Battery Conservancy, and Summer on the Hudson. It played for a month in Spring 2024 at New Jersey's Mile Square Theatre. Pete was the writer/clown host of the hit, immersive cirque experience MoonRise - which played in Bushwick & Manhattan for the last 3 years. He’s the resident director for NYC Kids Project which uses puppets to teach kids about inclusion and acceptance. He originated the villainous and idiotic Joules Volter character in the 2019 award-winning, Off-Broadway, immersive family show “Pip’s Island” on 42nd Street. For five years, Pete provided the comic relief in the global smash STOMP both Off-Broadway and internationally. He’s appeared in dozens of Off-Broadway and regional productions, and had been heard on hundreds of voice-overs for important banks, bands & beverages. Peter is a former adjunct professor in sketch comedy at Pace University And William Paterson University.

Michole Biancosino

Michole Biancosino is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of the award-winning Project Y Theatre Company, where she has developed and directed new work in Washington, D.C. and New York City over the past 17 years. She is also the Founder and producer of NY’s Women in Theatre Festival at the brand new ART/NY Theatres. Directing work includes: Planet of the Grapes Live, Trump Lear (online and live), David Carl’s Celebrity One-Man Hamlet, Connected (NYIT Award winner), LoveSick or THINGS THAT DON’T HAPPEN (NYIT Award winner), The Revival (NYIT Award winner), A User’s Guide to Hell featuring Bernard Madoff, Derby Day (Papermag #2 Show of the Year), Goodness, and Gidion’s Knot in NYC, and many others in NYC, Edinburgh, New Orleans, and Washington, DC. Producing: The Religion Thing (TimeOutNY Critics Pick), FUBAR, 3 years of New York New Playwright Festivals and NY’s Women in Theatre Festival (#WITFestival). Michole has developed new work with playwrights at United Solo Festival (Award-winner, Best Variety Show), Underbelly, Urban Stages, Abingdon Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, Luna Stage, CrossRoads Theatre, 59E59 Theaters, Theatre Row, Atlantic Stage 2, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Charter Theatre, Brooklyn Generator, SOLOCOM, New Orleans Theatre Experiment, Rorhshach Theatre, Milesquare Theatre, Kennedy Center New Play Festival, Potomac Theatre Project, and Ars Nova. www.micholebiancosino.com