[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Village Green Productions is thrilled to present a world premiere musical comedy, KID GLOVES, book and lyrics by Matthew Leavitt, music by Nathan Wang, choreography by Christine Lakin, music direction by Anthony Lucca and direction by Richard Israel.
About Kid Gloves
This world premiere musical comedy dives into the candy-colored chaos of a reality-TV competition where children’s entertainers compete for the chance to win their own show. Fast-paced, hilarious, and sneakily poignant, KID GLOVES skewers the utter depravity of reality TV and how it can corrupt even the most wholesome element of humanity.
The KID GLOVES Cast
The cast will feature Will Collyer as “Caleb,” Heather Marsden as “Meredith,” Adam J. Smith as “Eddie,” Natalie Lander as “Darla,” Joey Richter as “Jackson,” Lauren Lorati as “ Vicki,” Harry S. Murphy as “Professor Penguinpants,” Jonathan Slavin as “Edmund the Elephant,” Suzy Nakamura as “Penelope” (and “Bonita the Bunny”), and Christopher Kerrigan as “Juaquin.”
The Team
RICHARD ISRAEL (Director) is a New York-based theatre director specializing in the development of new musicals and is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Career Achievement. Current development projects include King of Pangea (Off-West End World Premiere Summer 2025), Re: Connecting (with Zina Goldrich and David Javerbaum), Snipped – A Non-Cutting Edge Musical, and The Civility of Albert Cashier. Richard was the Theatrical Coordinator for the Emmy award-winning series, Big Little Lies and was the director of the multiple award-winning musical short film Into Light. He has directed in London at the King’s Head Theatre, off-Broadway at Theatre Row, AMT and the NY Theatre Festival, and regionally at The O’Neill Theatre Center, The Ogunquit Playhouse, The Laguna Playhouse, Z-Space San Francisco and McCoy/Rigby Entertainment. Notable West Coast productions include Violet (LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Direction of a Musical), Floyd Collins (Ovation Award for Direction and Outstanding Musical), 110 in the Shade (Ovation Award for Outstanding Musical), and the world premiere of Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins. Other directing credits include American Whore Story (Broadway World Award for Outstanding Direction of an Off-Broadway Play), The Sound of Music, Something Rotten and Mamma Mia for 5-Star Theatricals, West Side Story and Rent for McCoy-Rigby Entertainment, and Calvin Berger for The Colony Theatre. He is the Program Director of the BFA Acting for Theatre, Film & Television at Long Island University Brooklyn.
MATTHEW LEAVITT (Book & Lyrics) is an award-winning playwright, director and librettist. His award-winning play The Boomerang Effect is published by Concord Theatricals and has enjoyed productions throughout the US and the UK. His most recent play, Sukkot, just had its World Premiere at The Skylight Theatre in Los Angeles directed by Joel Zwick. His previous play, The $5 Shakespeare Company, was recognized as an LA Times Critics’ Choice. He has also been commissioned by LA Opera twice to write the librettos for two new operas, Orpheus and The Wreck of the Miranda (both collaborations with award-winning classical and film composer Nathan Wang).
Directing credits include Hamlet (The 6th Act, winner of ‘Best Director of a Play’ Stage Scene LA Award), Outside Mullingar (The 6th Act, The Matrix Theatre and Skylight Theatre), The Brothers Abelson Since 1946 (World Premiere – Electric Lodge), Legally Brunette (World Premiere – The Garry Marshall Theatre in LA, 54 Below in NYC), Sonnets From Suburbia (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 59E59 in NYC), The Scorpion and the Frog: a time killer (World Premiere – Hollywood Fringe Festival), Showstopper (World Premiere – Whitefire Theatre), Barfly Shakespeare (The 6th Act), Twelfth Night (Village Green Productions), The Taming of the Shrew (Village Green Productions), Arrival (Sci-Fest LA), and Goes The Weasel (Ammunition Theatre Company). He is also the co-artistic director of The 6th Act Theatre Company.
NATHAN WANG (Music) is a highly successful composer in Hollywood and Asian cinema, known for his versatility. His filmography includes scores for Jackie Chan movies, Steven Spielberg documentaries, animated cartoons, operas, and symphonies. After graduating from Pomona College, Nathan received a Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at Oxford University. He collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the Academy Award-winning documentary The Last Days and was commissioned to write an opera for the Los Angeles Opera, On Gold Mountain. Nathan won an Emmy for “Best Arrangement of a Song” for the Showtime show Reefer Madness and another Emmy for the documentary The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club. As a musical director, he has worked with notable artists like B.D. Wong, Lea Salonga, Tia Carrere, Kristin Chenoweth, Kristen Bell, and David Hyde Pierce. Nathan is honored to collaborate with Matthew Leavitt on Kid Gloves and has previously partnered with him on two operas for the Los Angeles Opera and Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
CHRISTINE LAKIN (Choreography) is a choreographer/director. She got her start choreographing by skeleton crewing for Emmy-nominated Mary Ann Kellogg in Showtime’s Reefer Madness. She choreographed all ten seasons of ABC’s “The Goldbergs” and directed half a dozen as well. Other television credits include the Netflix hit The Merry Gentlemen, The Rookie, Schooled, Unstable, Westworld, We Are Men, 90210, True Blood, Love Bites, Breaking In, Liv and Maddie and The Hard Times of RJ Berger.
Commercials: KFC and Best Buy. Film: Easter Sunday, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, You Again, Parental Guidance. Theater: The Breakup Notebook (Garland Award), As U2 Like It (Ovation/LADCC Nom), Alice 2: Through the Looking Glass (Ovation, LADCC nom) Zanna Don’t (Ovation/LADCC Nom), Big: The Musical, 2 Gentleman of Chicago, A Charlie James Brown Christmas, A Stevie Wonderful Life, and Sneaux.
ANTHONY LUCCA (Musical Director/Conductor) is an award-winning music supervisor, orchestrator, and arranger. World premieres include: King of Pangea (King’s Head Theatre), Bronco Billy (Skylight Theatre Company, LA Drama Critic’s Circle Award), Mutt House (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Cult of Love (IAMA Theatre Company), Millennials Are Killing Musicals (upcoming, Colony Theatre Company). Select regional works: The Civility of Albert Cashier, Calvin Berger (Colony Theatre Company), Hairspray, Frozen, The Sound of Music, Oliver!, Cinderella, Something Rotten, Mamma Mia! (5-Star Theatricals),
Sideways: In Concert (Via Reggia Productions), Evita: In Concert (Palos Verdes Performing Arts Center), Miracle on 34th Street, She Loves Me (Actor’s Co-Op), Honeymoon in Vegas (Musical Theatre Guild), Assassins (Red Blanket Productions). Select orchestration & arranging credits: Māyā, King of Pangea, The Belles Are Swinging’, The Shadow by Mixed eMotion Theatrix, Cult of Love. Select film composition credits: Apricot, UnCredited. As a guest artist, he has worked with middle and high school students and is an adjunct faculty member at the USC School of Dramatic Arts, where he is also the director of the school’s Musical Theatre Summer Conservatory.
The Design Team for KID GLOVES features Scenic Design by Mark Mendelson; Lighting Design by Andrew Schmedake; Costume Design by Rebecca Carr; Sound Design by Christopher Moscatiello.
Properties Design by Megan Trepani; Fight Choreography by Ned Mochel. Casting by Michael Donovan, Casting; Michael Donovan, CSA & Richie Ferris, CSA. The Production Stage Manager is Amelia Tacy. KID GLOVES is produced by Village Green Productions and Sami Kolko.
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