Literary Cafe: In the Realm of Women | Reserve your seat | Venue Info
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Anna Lathrop is a recent graduate of Catholic University's Drama program. Her most recent dance work was seen at Artists' Bloc in the self-choreographed Noise. Also an actor, her most recent acting work has been seen at WSC Avant Bard's Six Characters in Search of an Author, as well as The Crow with Artists' Bloc and Lovebirds at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival.

Singer-actress Barbara Papendorp (who spent much of her childhood in Paris) has been seen with many of Washington’s theater companies, including Forum Theater, Washington Shakespeare Company, Le Neon, and American Century.. As a cabaret artist she has appeared with the In Series and at venues including La Maison Française, Alliance Française, I Love Paris! A Bastille Day Celebration Flashpoint--Papendorp Sings Porter and the Phillips Collection Renoir’s Return. Barbara received glowing reviews as Violette the Dancehall Singer in La Vagabonde with Le Neon Theatre. She was universally praised for her Chanteuse and Louise in the WSC’s production of Private Lives and the companion piece Coward Cabaret. She is often seen onstage at the Arts Club of Washington and at the Happenings at the Harman Center of the Arts (Postcards from Paris). She also performs at local DC jazz club, Black Fox Lounge. Barbara has just released her first solo CD with Amy Conley as Musical Director, Taking Requests: From Paris to Porter (available on CD Baby www.cdbaby.com/cd/barbarapapendorp). For more info on Barbara and to join her mailing list for future events, visit www.BarbaraPapendorp.com.

Carlos Cesar Rodriguez
Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Carlos Cesar Rodriguez displayed his musical talents at a very early age. He amazed his parents when, as a toddler barely able to walk, he propelled himself to his neighbor's home to pick out tunes on their piano which he had just heard the neighbor play. There was no piano in his parents' home, and there were no musicians in his family. He was given piano lessons and made his debut with the Maracaibo Symphony at the age of eleven.
That same year, he was accepted at the North Carolina School for the Arts on a full scholarship, subsequently earning his Bachelor of Arts degree. Mr. Rodriguez earned his Master of Musical Arts from the Juliard School, and more recently his D.M.A. at the Universtiy of Maryland. His principal teachers were Joseph Kalichstein, Cliston Matthews, Thomas Schumacher, and Peter Feutchwanger at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
“Reviewing discs like this (BR118) make a critic's task a pleasant and simple one. First of all, the playing is splendid throughout. The Venezuelan pianist Carlos César Rodriguez is a brilliant colorist and obviously knows this music well, whether in the early Classicism of Soler or in the 20th-century folk-inspired music of de Falla.â€
Robert D. Cummings, Editor, Classics@Cosmik
“Mr. Rodriguez plays these lovely and evocative pieces with panache and the kind of latin flair that I have not heard since I wore out my old Alicia de Larrocha LPs...This is engaging and memorable music.â€
Lindsay Koob (“Lindsay Koob's Pick of the Monthâ€), Millennium Music Stores
http://www.brioso.com/artists/rodriquez.htm

Elisabeth Myers, early music soprano, is a cantor in the parish choir of the Church of Ascension and St. Agnes in Washington, D.C., and has sung with many Washington area early music ensembles including the Countertop Ensemble, Carmina, Ēchos, Illuminare, and Musica Oriana. Elisabeth has also sung with major choruses, such as the London Symphony Chorus, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the Alexandria Chorale, and Choralis, and performed for more than a decade with the Washington Revels in its annual Christmas Revels production. In 2006, she was a guest chorister and soloist for a benefit concert of Messiah in St. Lawrence Church in Ludlow in Shropshire, England, under the direction of Richard Tunnicliffe. In 2011, she was featured in the Christmas Revels’ production of Andalusian Treasures at Lisner auditorium.
Elisabeth has studied voice with Barbara Hollinshead and worked with her coaches, Michael Parker, and Professor Patricia Miller, Director of Vocal Studies and Artist in Residence at George Mason University. While at Hunter College of the City University of New York, Elisabeth sang in the Collegium Musicum under the Direction of Russell Oberlin and with The Canby Singers under the direction of Edward Canby. She also studied voice with Ann Myonsook Lee during her freshman year at George Washington University.
Elisabeth is also prominent Washington lawyer, specializing in the area of energy. Over the years, she has incorporated her love of music into her legal practice by assisting non-profit arts organizations on a pro bono basis. Elisabeth is currently the President of the Board of early music vocal ensemble, Chantry, and was the Chair of the Alexandria Performing Arts Association for many years. In 2000, Elisabeth was a founding Co-Chair of the Board of Choralis and sang with Ä’chos, its chamber group, and with National Chamber Singers, the predecessor of Ä’chos. In 2003, Elisabeth assisted in the founding of the Washington Early Music Festival. Elisabeth presently serves on the Board of the D.C. American Guild of Organists Foundation.
Elisabeth was born in Nice, France, and grew up in London, England, where she first sang with the London Symphony Chorus at the age of 17 during her last year of high school at the American School in London. An early music enthusiast, Elisabeth also loves to sing jazz and bossanova.

Founder, CEO, and Artistic Director
Hanna Bondarewska is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Ambassador Theater and was recently seen in Lady, a one woman show based on Shakespeare's Macbeth and in They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay! by Dario Fo as Antonia, Smartphones as Maria, Protest as Stankova, Death of Tintagiles as Ygraine and in Summer at Nohant as George Sand. “For Hanna Bondarewska, the path to world peace not only exists, she is walking it — one artistic endeavor at a time.†– The Washington Diplomat.
Hanna Bondarewska is a native of Warsaw, Poland and was trained in the Polish and American schools of drama. She founded the Ambassador Theater because she believes in the power of theater to change the world for the better through collaboration and artistry. By bringing together theater and diplomacy she hopes to give us all a new perspective as global citizens, which will lead to deeper cultural understanding.
In June 2008, Hanna organized a life-changing trip to Poland for students from D.C. Public Schools as part of an educational program about Poland. The program was done in collaboration with Mrs. Hanna Reiter, wife of the former Ambassador of Poland to USA, the Embassy of Poland, Embassy Adoption Program, D.C. Public Schools and WPAS. She worked with over 60 students, teaching them about Poland, its history, culture, and traditions through theater designed to help them better retain learnt material, improve their reading comprehension, posture, and speaking skills, increase their imagination, and energize their drive for life.
The program developed into a performance, "Poland the Beautiful, an Imaginary ." Students performed the piece at their schools and at the Embassy of Poland, and then took it on the road for the First Lady of Poland, Mrs. Maria Kaczynska, at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw and in many other places around Poland last June.
Hanna’s acting credits are extensive and include the role of Antonia in They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay! by Dario Fo, George Sand in Summer at Nohant, Young Helena Modjeska in Farewell to Arden, Helena—the Emigrant Queen; Mother in Sunflowers, Wife in Square Minus One; A Genie Named Khatab; Snow Queen; Anouilh’s Antigone; Gogol’s The Marriage; and Goldoni’s Mirandolina and many others.
Ms. Bondarewska has recently directed Lady, The Trap, Happily Ever After, The Visitor, The Third Breast, The Madman and the Nun, Death of Tintagiles, Miracle of Saint Anthony, Summer at Nohant, Farewell to Arden, Forefathers, and Out at Sea.
Her one-woman show, Lenya Cum Weill, won recognition at the Kennedy Center Performing Arts Festival. Hanna performed at the Washington Shakespeare Theatre, Spectrum Theatre, Classika-Synetic Theatre, The New York Polish Theater, Hippodrome State Theatre, and Acrosstown Theater in Florida, where she also directed The Tao of Pooh, based on the book by B. Hoffman, and S. Mrożek’s Tango. Her Polish theater credits are extensive and include work in Warsaw, Bialystok, Olsztyn, Torun, Katowice, and Wroclaw with many luminaries of the Polish stage.
Hanna received her Master of Fine Arts in Classical Acting at the Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University and Shakespeare Theatre. She graduated magna cum laude from the Mount Vernon College of The George Washington University and also earned her Acting Diploma in Poland. For over 15 years she served as Executive Director of the Institute for Education and Membership Chairman of the ABC XXI Child Awareness Program for Poland, which supports the emotional health and rights of children and adolescents through reading programs, awareness, education, and action.
Recently, her one-woman show of Lady was invited to perform at several international theater festivals around the world.
Ms. Bondarewska has received various honors, including 2015 and 2014 DC Metro Theater  Arts Best Director, Best Play Award, 2013 Helen Hayes Canadian Partnership Award, the St. Cyril and Methodius Award of excellence in promoting the Bulgarian Culture, Julia Heflin Performing Arts Award, recognition by Who's Who Among Students in American Universities, identification as a National Dean's List Scholar, and others.

Ivan Zizek (Stanek) was classically trained in England. During his studies his main focus was on staging Shakespeare and stage combat. He is the Ambassador Theater’s Company Member and was last seen in The Visitor as Mahmud Suliman and as Hasan in The Peephole and as Dr. Bidello in The Madman and the Nun. He has performed in theatres in London, Frankfurt/Germany, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Capitol Fringe, and the Kennedy Center. His most recent performances were at the DC Source Festival, and in Maryland Shakespeare Festival’s Julius Caesar.

Karin Rosnizeck- Previous roles: French Journalist in force/ collision’s SHAPE, (performing again at LaMaMa ETC, NYC in Nov.), Magdalena Sanger in Marathon ’33, Nanni in The Ice Child (Factory 449) and the Woman in The Nautical Yards (force/ collision). Previous roles include Mrs Winsley/ Nurse in No Rules Theater Company’s Stop Kiss, title role in The Gnädiges Fräulein, Countess Geschwitz in Lulu (both WSC Avant Bard) and Camille Claudel in The Sculptress (Baltimore Playwrights Festival). Karin has also worked with Rorschach Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Scena Theater and enjoys taking on projects as dramaturg/ dialect coach (Theater J) and translation assistant (Studio Theater). She recently translated the play Cold Country by Swiss playwright Reto Finger for the Zeitgeist Series. Karin holds an M.A. in English literature and French literature (University of Stuttgart, Germany) and is a graduate of the Theater Lab’s Honors Conservatory.

Sara Barker has appeared in WSC Avant Bard’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (Stepdaughter), Mary Stuart (Elizabeth), The House of Yes (Jackie-O), The Cherry Orchard (Varya), The Mistorical Hystery of Henry (I)V (Hotspur), Lulu (Lulu), The Miser (La Fleche), and Peace (Hermes/Gralea). Other DC credits include Rorschach Theatre's A Maze (Oksana), The Gallerist (Vanessa/Charlotte), and This Storm is What We Call Progress (Lily); Factory 449’s award-winning production of 4.48 Psychosis; SCENA Theatre’s The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon) and Mother Courage (Kattrin); Tattooed Potato's Nightmare Dreamer (Susan). NYC credits include The Brick Theater’s King Lear (King Lear), Hipgnosis Theatre Company’s The Winter's Tale (Paulina), and International WOW Company’s Limitless Joy. Sara is a graduate of St. John’s College and a company member with WSC Avant Bard and Factory 449. www.sarabarker.com/acting

Scott Sedar performs in many of Washington’s professional theatres, as well as appearing in two national tours. His dramatic credits include Oberon, in Maryland Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights’ Dream; Karenin in Anna Karenin at Washington Stage Guild; Dr. Sanderson in Harvey at Woolly Mammoth Theatre; Little John in Robin Hood at Round House Theatre; Beethoven in The Lives of the Great Composers at New Playwright’s Theatre. As a performer in musicals, he has taken on the dual roles of Don Quixote/Miguel Cervantes in the Washington Savoyard production of Man of La Mancha; Michael in the musical I Do, I Do, at Fredericksburg Summer Theatre; Baldamar, in Dreams of a Summer House at Rep Stage; Bishop in Floyd Collins, at Signature Theatre; and Bartolo, in Marriage of Figaro, Vegas Version for the InSeries, among others. As a children’s theatre performer he originated the title role in the The Emperor’s New Clothes, an opera commissioned by the Kennedy Center theatre for young audience for a 32-city tour. Scott was a part of the Center’s first theatre for young audience tour -- The Red Badge of Courage. As a guest artist and collaborator, he appeared as Joseph Cornell in the Round House Theatre/ University of Maryland production of Hotel Cassiopeia; he helped create Low Tide Hotel and Far Far Oasis for Happenstance Theatre Company; and he continues to work with the Smithsonian Associates on a series of literary performances featuring the works of famous authors: Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Wm. Butler Yeats and Ernest Hemingway. For the past two summers, he has worked with Roberta Gaspare and the Washington Revels in the development and presentation of a commemorative concert performance featuring choral music of the Civil War and a surprise appearance by Abraham Lincoln and his secretary John Nickolay. Scott Sedar is a member of Actors’ Equity. When not on the boards, he’s in the studio painting, his other artistic outlet: http://sedartstudio.com/
Literary Cafe: In the Realm of Women | Reserve your seat | Venue Info