Movement Workshop Group

The Group
Rachel Garis                                                      

is a multidisciplinary artist with a BA in Acting and Visual Arts from Emerson College. There she created an installation solo performance, Kartiya, comprised of improvisational dance and movement, painting, and original music.  She traveled to Paros, Greece to further study painting and drawing disciplines with Hellenic International Studies in the Arts. Classically trained in voice, piano, and violin, Rachel’s first love remains to be dancing. She began her dance training with the Notara Dance Theatre’s ballet company in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and furthered her disciplines at the Ballet Theatre of Scranton before attending Emerson College.  She has worked as an actor, creator, choreographer, and art teacher.  Currently she is working on Movement Workshop Group’s production of Wanderlust and is proud to be a member a company with such open and creatively charged individuals.


Andy Chugg                                                                   
Sound Designer

Andrew has been a music consultant and sound operator for all MWG productions since Dust to Dust! Based out of Brooklyn, he is currently freelancing in the New York area as a Sound Designer/Engineer (and does other stuff too). He plays guitar and sings (some of the time) in Crinkles (myspace.com/crinkleswrinkles), and is the co-founder of HeavyPet, an independent music publishing company and record label.


Megan Curtis                                                                
Director of Development

graduated from Emerson College with degrees in Marketing Communication & Theatre Management & currently works for EdVestors, a non-profit educational investment organization in Boston. Previously she worked as a Marketing Assistant at The Lyric Stage Company of Boston for three years. Megan is very happy to be working with Leslie & Liza!

Ricardo Foster Jr.                                     .

Born & raised in Boston, Ricardo has worked with artists ranging from Jay-Z to NSYNC, En-vogue to Uncle Cracker, & Destiny's Child to old school classics like Naughty by Nature, & RUN DMC.  He tries to help people understand, enjoy, & enhance the experience of dance through all performances, classes, & demonstrations that he does.  He hopes to help people find a new appreciation for dance & themselves.


Carolyn Schmidt                     

grew up in Courtenay, BC and spent most of her childhood training and performing around Vancouver Island. She was a frequent competitor in many dance festivals and won titles such as the Victoria DanceWorks “Achievement Award”. Carolyn received her initial dance training at Gemini Dance Studio and Parksville Ballet School. She spent summers at Arts Umbrella and Harbour Dance Center in Vancouver. Carolyn also attended the University of Calgary and received ballet training at the School of Alberta Ballet. In 2006 Carolyn was accepted into the Ailey School’s prestigious Certificate Program and moved to New York. She spent three years at Ailey training intensively, with a focus on the techniques of Martha Graham and Lester Horton. In 2008 Carolyn traveled to Spain with Dance International New York where she performed works by European choreographers. In her final year at Ailey, Carolyn became a member of the Alvin Ailey Student Performance Group where she performed a repertory of pieces at theaters and public schools in the New York City area. Carolyn has had the pleasure of working with incredible artists such as Sabrina Matthews, Milton Myers, Camille A. Brown, Kevin Wynn, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Amaury Lebrun, Earl Mosley, Helen Pickett and David Parker.


Colin Summers                                            

is excited as heck about MWG and thinks it's super-cool.  When not acting, he can be found playing music with his band My Friend Other, or writing songs for strangers on www.poetrytomusic.com.


Cydney McQuillan-Grace        

is a New York based film and stage actress, singer, and dancer.  She has performed in both Dust to Dust and Moontides in 23, 149 Parts.  She has had such a wonderful time with this creative company.


Lighting Designer

has done lighting design on MWG's Dust to Dust and Moontides in 23, 149 Parts. He is excited to once again be working with such a talented group of artists.  Erik is a freelance lighting designer in the Boston and New York areas and is thrilled to be a part of Movement Workshop Group.  Previous designs include Starting Here Starting Now, Once Upon A Mattress, The Children's Hour, The Gondoliers, & a variety of others.


Mary Theresa Archbold     

is thrilled to be a part of Movement Workshop Group. She has been dancing since she was 4 when her mother put her in an acrobatic and tap class. Her previous theater credits are varied, including featured dance roles in West Side Story (Anybodys), Grease! (Cha Cha), The Music Man and Annie Get Your Gun. Favorite plays that she has done are Blithe Spirit, The Real Inspector Hound, Lend Me a Tenor, as well as many original works. She spends a lot of her time in the comedy world having performed improv and sketch for The Second City, IO in Chicago and here in NYC with her award winning sketch comedy group Drop Six at The Peoples Improv Theater. Her semi-autobiographical two person show, "Jazz Hand" garnered her an Excellence Award for Outstanding Actor at the NY International Fringe Festival. She also keeps busy by appearing in commercials and is a super proud graduate of The University of Michigan.

www.dropsixcomedy.com www.jazz-hand.net

Quincy Ellis                             

has been working with the Movement Workshop Group since its first production in 2005.  A trained gymnast and figure skater, he hails from Augusta, Maine and holds a BFA degree in Acting from Emerson College.  Outside of performing, Quincy has produced, directed, and choreographed for both the stage and the ice.  His experience with MWG has inspired much of his work, including his own movement piece SALIGIA in 2007.

Briana Carlson-Goodman        

performed in the 20-minute version of Moontides in 23,149 Parts at Dixon Place in New York as well as the touring version.  Based in New York, Briana has performed Off-Broadway & regionally primarily doing Musical Theatre.  She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Emerson College.  She can currently be found performing in the Broadway revival of Hair.  Much love & appreciation to Leslie & Liza.


Ben Sloane                                 

is a New York based actor and dancer.  He graduated with a BFA in Acting from Emerson College.  He has performed in both Dust to Dust and Moontides in 23, 149 Parts with the Movement Workshop Group.  As a dancer in Moontides, he was thrilled to finally be a part of a girls dream.


Olivia Micou Cerf                     

is a San Fransisco based dancer.  She graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in Dance.  She enjoys swimming in the ocean, pretending to be a grown-up & performing with MWG.  She collaborated with Leslie Guyton to create the earliest version of Moontides and subsequently performed in the touring version of the piece in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.


Jesse Garrison                          

is an actor and multi-media artist. He moved to New York after graduating from Oberlin College, where he performed in numerous productions including The Pillowman (Tupolski), Major Barbara (Cusins), Line(Dolan) and Rhinoceros (Dudard), New York credits include Powerhouse (Carl, Ensemble),There Will Come Soft Rains (Man, Machine), King Lear (Burgundy, various roles), One Fat Day In Babylon(Parritt), FourPlay (Maurice), Ivanov (Lvov), Wanderlust (B), Tales of the Wind and the Sun (Advisor, Puppeteer), Dorm Stories (David), Tetherfop (Stephen), Lost Highway (Video Assistant, various roles). As a filmmaker and video artist, he has shot and edited music videos, performance art, video designed several FringeNYC shows and directed a post-apocalyptic feature.



Isabelita Mendoza                      

is a Boston based hip-hop dancer & currently works as a nutritionist.  She performed in Moontides in 23, 149 Parts and loves working with MWG.


Erin Newhall                                                      

is a student at Salem State College where she is currently studying dance & business.  She performed in Moontides in 23, 149 Parts and is thrilled to be a part of MWG.


Rowan Salem                          

is pursuing her BFA in Dance from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  She stage managed Moontides in 23, 149 Parts and performed in MWG II's Lusterwand in Boston.  She completed a production internship at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, & has stage-managed numerous productions within the Five College Dance Program in Western MA.


Benjamin Fisher                        

has collaborated and performed with The Movement Workshop Group on two pieces: Black Feathers and Dust to Dust.  He is a graduate of Emerson College where he appeared in Cannibal, The Musical, Black Fish (premier), Newsies, Rosie In The Shadow of the Melrose, and his Solo Performance, Yellow.  New York: In The Room (world premiere).  Regional: Grease, West Side Story, Les Miserables, The Laramie Project, and Into The Woods.  Film: A-Bo The Humonkey, A Lovely Lady, and Dueling Harmony.  He is grateful for the continued support of his family.  He lives in New York City with his great roommates and someday, a doggy who he hopes to name Cybill.