ROBERT MONTANO (Performer/Author) Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee; winner of the ACOR for Outstanding Solo Performance. Raised in Hempstead, LI, he has worked with great directors and choreographers such as Hal Prince, Rob Marshall and Jerome Robbins. He has also had the pleasure of working with the legendary Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman, as well as her act Chita Plus Two. Starred as Ozzie in On The Town, directed by George C. Wolfe, worked with Peter Allen in Legs Diamond and played a huge kitten in Cats. Though he couldn’t contain his creative scope to only musical theatre, he ventured into plays, film, and television. He has created roles for the Academy Award-nominated writer José Rivera in Cloud Tectonics and References To Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, Lynn Nottage’s play Fabulation, Bess Wohl’s Barcelona, Tira Palmquist’s Two Degrees, Ken Lin’s Fallow, Richard Vetere’s One Shot One Kill, and Edwin Sanchez’s Diosa. At Actors Theatre of Louisville, Robert was given the honor of portraying Cal in the epic East of Eden, directed by Jon Jory, and later was invited back to exercise his Shakespeare in The Comedy of Errors. He has also played Ralph opposite John C. Reilly in Marty. Television: Guest starred in “City on a Hill,” “FBI,” “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” “Evil,” “Bull,” “Prodigal Son,” “Blue Bloods,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Elementary,” “Search Party,” “Sex and the City,” “CSI: Miami,” “Law & Order” and HBO’s film Undefeated, directed by John Leguizamo. Film: Shame with Michael Fassbender, played opposite Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix in The Yards, partnered Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago, It Runs in The Family, and Center Stage.

www.robertmontano.com

Robert would like to thank the following for their undying support and contributions to his play, SMALL:
Chita Rivera, Ted Snowdon, Joe Brancato, Andrew Horn & Penguin Rep Theatre, Anthony Melfi, Rodney Kumasaki, The Flying Carpet Theatre, Jackson Gay, Michael Aronov, JoAnn Hunter, Patty Wolfe, Richie Migliore, John Velazquez, Rosie Bentinck, and Jeremy Katz.

Robert dedicates all performances to his parents, Salvatore and Gloria.

JESSI D. HILL (Director) is a NYC-based director, theatre-maker, teacher and runner (9 Marathons and counting!) whose play development projects have included work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, Playwrights Horizons, The Playwrights’ Center, Primary Stages, Labyrinth, Keen Company, Women’s Project, 59E59, La MaMa, The New Group, Rattlestick, HERE Arts Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Culture Project, The Acting Company, The Barrow Group, New Dramatists, P73, Clubbed Thumb, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, PS122, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New Georges, Premiere Stages, Luna Stage and others. Recent and Upcoming Regional credits: People’s Light, A.R.T., The Old Globe, Denver Center, George Street Playhouse, TheaterWorks Hartford, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Diversionary, Orlando Shakes, TheatreSquared and more. Her work has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, Budapest, New Zealand, Bucharest, Berlin, Hamburg, Rome, Brussels and Ukraine. Her latest directing projects include 2025 Drama Desk nominee The Ask by Matthew Freeman (wild project), 2024 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee SMALL by Robert Montano (The Pershing Square Signature Center, Penguin Rep, 59E59, National Tour), Ushuaia Blue by Caridad Svich (Contemporary American Theatre Festival), Dedication by Roger Peltzman (Premiere @ Edinburgh Fringe, International Tour), Surely Goodness & Mercy by Chisa Hutchinson (Keen Company, NYC), Open by Crystal Skillman (NY Times Critic’s Pick, Women’s Project/Midnight Theatricals/All for One/The Tank, Touring), Random Acts by Renata Hinrichs (The Barrow Group/ 4th Wall Theatre, Houston). Other credits include Larissa FastHorse’s Vanishing Point (Eagle Project @ HERE Arts Center, NYC), Cusi Cram’s The Helpers (59E59, NYC), Scott T. Barsotti’s Brewed (2016 NY International Fringe Festival, Outstanding Director), Into the Woods (Lyric Opera Theatre at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts, IL), Adam Koplan and Topher Payne’s Medicine Showdown (@ NYTW), Alicia Jo Rabins’ A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff (@ Joe’s Pub, NYC), Andrea Kuchlewska’s Human Fruit Bowl featuring Harmony Stempel (Baruch Performing Arts Center, NY International Fringe, Touring), and others. Jessi has lived and worked as a theatre director, directing and acting teacher for 19 years in NYC. Before moving to NYC, Jessi worked in Chicago for eight years where she served as Artistic Director of Stage Left Theatre Company, an ensemble-based company dedicated to collaboratively developing and producing new plays that raise debate and challenge perspectives on political and social issues. With Stage Left she co-created LeapFest, an annual New Play Series from the company’s Downstage Left new work development program to showcase new socio-political theatre to potential producers. Notable Chicago directing credits include the acclaimed premieres of Mia McCullough’s Lucinda’s Bed (Chicago Dramatists), Brett Neveu’s Empty (Stage Left), the Chicago premiere of Mrs. Mackenzie’s Beginner’s Guide to the Blues by Patty Lynch and Kent Stephens (Joseph Jefferson Award nominee, Stage Left), The Violent Sex by David Scott Hay (Visions & Voices), and The Sensitive Swashbuckler by Christian Murphy and Gail Stern (Stage Left; currently touring the U.S. as Sex Signals). While living in Chicago she worked in many capacities with some of the city’s finest theatres including About Face, A Red Orchid, Chicago Dramatists, Court, Factory, The Goodman, Lookingglass, Mary-Arrchie, Organic, Pegasus, Porchlight, Remy Bumppo, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, and many others. Jessi is a recipient of the Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, an Alum of the Women’s Project Lab, an Affiliated Artist at New Georges, and a TheFrontOffice Mid-Career Director Grant Finalist. She has developed new work through a residency at Mercury Store, Brooklyn and with project grants from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and NY Foundation for the Arts. She served as Associate Artistic Director of terraNOVA Collective NYC from 2009–2015 where she co-created the Groundbreakers Playwrights Group, Groundworks new works program and co-curated the soloNOVA Arts Festival. Jessi worked as Literary Director for Rattlestick NYC 2016–2022 and has been an Artistic Associate and Producer with The Flying Carpet Theatre Company NYC since 2014. Jessi currently teaches Directing at the National Theatre Institute/O’Neill, Fordham University, Barnard College/Columbia University and Playwrights Horizons Theater School. MFA Directing: Yale. Proud Member SDC.