Leonard Bopp (conductor)

Leonard Bopp is a conductor, composer, and trumpet player who works on solo, collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. As the conductor and artistic director of the BlackBox Ensemble, Leonard has collaborated with and championed the works of numerous emerging composers. After graduating from The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he studied trumpet with Raymond Mase, Leonard attended Williams College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and English, where he was Assistant Conductor of the Berkshire Symphony and Student Director of the I/O Contemporary Music Festival. Leonard is currently pursuing his masters degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where he studies with Kenneth Kiesler.

Kyle Brenn (A Boy, words & music)

is a New York City based composer-performer, actor, music director and copyist whose work spans the worlds of contemporary concert music, theatre, jazz, and pop, often existing between them. He explores rigorous authenticity, theatricality, formal process, and nuanced emotional investigation in his practice. Last year he finished his B.M. in Music Composition at NYU Steinhardt, where he studied with Michael Gordon. Favorite projects include jane eyre: an autobiography (orchestrations, music director), The Wizard of Oz (1939) (arranger, assoc. music director), and The Sun Club (Dixon Place HOT! Fest, Russel). He has participated in the Sō Percussion Summer Institute at Princeton University, New Amsterdam Records’ Genre-Fluid Composers Lab, Unheard-of//Ensemble CCI Online, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. He’d like to thank this incredible group of artists for helping bring this project to life. the shape of a child is dedicated to his mom.

Dorothy Carlos (cello)

Dorothy Carlos is a cellist and sound artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work largely draws from her background in anthropology. As a cellist, Dorothy has premiered works at Lincoln Center, NYU’s Skirball Center, and Scholes Street studio. Recently, her research on imagined cultural processes was published in Student Anthropologist, the student journal of the American Anthropology Association. She is an incoming Sound MFA student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Andrew Drannon (piano)

Andrew Drannon specializes in dramatic storytelling through opera and musical theater. Based in Brooklyn, he hails from Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as Professor of Music Technology and Composition at Rhodes College. Andrew holds an MFA from NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and was a composer fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Program.

Lizzie Kehoe (Mother)

Lizzie Kehoe is an actor, teacher, and professional creature. Some selected film and theater credits include Goodbye Petrushka (Eclair Productions), The Inferior Sex (Hangar Theater), Henry V (Jobsite Theater), and Macbeth (NYC Department of Correction). Lizzie's work explores the light in the darkness and vice versa.

Lara Lewison (violin)

Lara Lewison currently lives in Brooklyn and is from Mukilteo, WA. She plays violin, paints, makes digital art and codes to combine them all. As a violinist, she has performed as a concerto soloist across Washington State, and was a two-time violin fellow at Tanglewood Music Center, among other festivals. Lara holds a Bachelors of Arts from Columbia University and was the 2020 recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts.

Issac Lopez (Son)

Issac Roberto Lopez (he/they) is an NYC-based theater artist and Drag Queen In Training whose work investigates movement, heritage, trauma, and the queer experience. Favorite works include Hyacinth and Apollo, The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Swan Lake. Education: BFA from NYU Tisch, Experimental Theatre Wing, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. Insta: @issacrlopez and @tellanovela

David Mayers (electric & acoustic guitars, lap steel)

David Mayers is a guitarist, producer, and music director who has performed alongside Broadway icons such as Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet/Chicago), George Abud (The Band’s Visit), Jelani Alladin (Frozen),  Margo Siebert (Octet), Kyle Brenn (Leap of Faith), and Lindsey Mendez (Carousel). He doubles on banjo, mandolin, baritone/soprano ukulele, lap steel, and bouzouki. He is also very proud of his best friend Kyle Brenn for creating this amazing work.

@davidmayers_music    DavidMayers.com

Dani Strigi (acoustic guitar, bass)

Daniele Strigi is a composer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with roots in Biella Italy and New York City. He graduated from NYU in 2020 where he studied music composition under Herschel Garfein and Molly Joyce. He has made supplemental visual material and light projections for previous incarnations of the shape of a child and is happy to be working with Kyle again on this project.

Natalie Young (director, dramaturg)

Natalie Young (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist whose praxis includes new work development & dramaturgy, directing, teaching, and performing. With roots in rural theatre, Natalie is deeply invested in accessibility and believes theatre-making belongs to the communities it serves. She has contributed as dramaturg for the shape of a child since its original conception and is thrilled to collaborate with this team of artists. Directing credits include: Something Rotten! (David Mayers Productions); I DIDN’T THINK YOU’D BE SO UNHAPPY (West 4th Stage Co.); Joan of Arc (Under St. Marks, Ass. Dir.); Macbeth (West 4th Stage Co., Ass. Dir.); Gypsy (NYU, Ass. Dir.). Music Theatre Vocal Performance B.M., NYU Steinhardt.

Declan Zhang (percussion)

Declan Zhang is a percussionist, playwright, and chef based in Brooklyn. They will win Survivor, eventually. @dclnzhang