Cast and Crew Bios

Amanda Montoni (Customer) is honored to be in this presentation of Voices at the Gate. Her last appearance in a City Gate show was Rabbit Hole (Izzy). Then she worked behind the scenes as Director of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. Amanda has performed, written, directed, and choreographed numerous shows throughout Queens/Long Island, but there’s no place like here. She thanks the playwrights for bravely sharing their stories and the City Gate Team for their endless support, professionalism, and kindness. www.amandamontoni.com 

Andrew Caira (Mac) is a NYC actor/musician who is THRILLED to run the store and sell some Snowballs. Past credits include: Saw the Musical (Gordon), Earnestly LGBTQ+ (Algy U/S), Princess and the Pauper (Wolfie), and The Journey Home (Freddie). @andrewcaira

Ben Kaminski (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making his City Gate production debut! Recent roles: Leo Bloom, The Producers; Jesus, Godspell; Harold Hill, The Music Man; Emmett, Legally Blonde; Dennis, All Shook Up; Macbeth, Sound and Fury and Shakespeare. Member of New York City Gay Men's Chorus. Former Board Secretary at Wethersfield Teen Theater Company. Director of WTTC's Once Upon a Mattress. Director and co-writer of Going Solo. Love to my people and my fiancé, Dany.

Emily Simes (Voice of God, Snowball) Lee is thrilled to be making her Queens theatre debut with this latest reading of Snowball! Lee has been involved with the development of Snowball since early 2021, and is honored to now be the voice of God! Her most recent credits include Given Circumstances (Brooklyn), The Journey Home (NYC), The Big Con (Mighty Yell/Skybound), Project Library (Off-Broadway), Princess and the Pauper (Teatro Latea), and more!

Emma Reifschneider (Director) Emma is thrilled to be directing this season’s production of Voices at the Gate. She holds a BA in Theatre Performance from SUNY New Paltz. Her most recent City Gate credit includes assistant director of Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Other credits include Director of Stop Kiss,  Assistant Director of She Kills Monsters, and Assistant Fight Choreographer for Unnatural Acts. Love to the fam who each had an integral role in allowing this production to come to life.

Jim Haines (Artistic Design) Audience members and City Gate followers may know Jim Best from his one-man show The Crackpot Shakespeare Theories, Volume 1. “The Theories” began as a “Voices” reading in 2022 and ran as a full and successful production this past summer. Jim is an artist and Graphic Designer by training and trade but would like to shamelessly plug his next project, The Bard’s HAMLET, coming next fall at Stone Circle Theatre, Ridgewood, Queens.

Maeve Kelley Baker (Author, Snowball) is a Manhattan-based playwright/director - you can find her at her local bodega getting a bagel and avoiding Snowballs at all costs. SELECTED WORKS:  “Fall on Line” (Player’s Theater), “Project: Library” (28th St. Theater), and “Princess & the Pauper” (Teatro Latea).  “Birds and Bats: A Parody Musical” (OSP; on youtube).

Penelope Rose Deen (Marie Taylor) is a special recognition graduate of Hunter College with a Women & Gender Studies/Theatre double major and a dance minor. She made her Off-Broadway debut in 2019 as the lead in the internet-famous feminist musical Oceanborn. An award-winning producer and actor, Penny is a founding member of the Torch Ensemble, which has performed at EdFringe, NYC Fringe run, and is currently in residence at Under St. Marks. She has performed in multiple Off-Off Broadway productions, including New Perspective's Women’s Work Projects, where she works as an Associate Program Manager. During the week she works as a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and is a published model. Penny is known for her activism, mostly in regard to Sexual Assault with her organization “Save Title IX." Last season she produced The League of Professional Theatre Women’s: Women Stage The World March for gender equality in Theatre. 

Rachel V. Baransky (Dramaturg) is a NY and NJ based theatre artist and arts educator, and is thrilled to be the dramaturg for Snowball and Mr. Griffin, Ms. Taylor! Recent credits include Fall On Line (The Player’s Theatre), The Princess and the Pauper (Teatro Latea), and I Lost the Cat (The Secret Theatre). Rachel is a proud member of Official Sidekick Productions and is passionate about new and emerging works.

Timothy Reifschneider (Producer) has bummed around the Queens Community Theatre circuit for the last 40 years or so, and is also a founding member of City Gate. He is most proud of working with his director-daughter and plans to live vicariously through her many successes in the years to come.

Toni Waterson (Author, Mr. Griffin, Ms. Taylor) is a NYC-based actor, playwright, and improviser. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Toni moved to Manhattan in 2022 after studying at the British American Drama Academy and receiving a BA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College. Having performed in PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE with City Gate in 2023, she is exceptionally happy to be back and working with them again to produce her own original work, MR. GRIFFIN, MS. TAYLOR.