Her Magnum Opus, a feature film by Marta Renzi
Amos Wolff has performed on Broadway in Chicago, Follies and Gigi and was a member of the touring companies of A Chorus Line and South Pacific. His most recent role in theater was as Riff in West Side Story at Asolo Theater. He appears in the 2016 season of Madame Secretary, the web series Alphabet Boys, and previously in several short films directed by Marta Renzi, who raised him. He is currently a student in the masters program of Marriage & Family Therapy at Mercy College.
James Desmond began his screen career on Candid Camera as “Jimmy of our staff”, later enjoying a long career doing commercial work as a voice-over actor . He has worked as a cameraman with D.A. Pennebaker on Monterey Pop among other films. Jim was invited to participate in Opus to take advantage of his on-screen presence as well as his knack for filming candid footage.
Max Kumangai made his Broadway debut in Waitress. He was last seen in Jagged Little Pill directed by Diane Paulus at American Repertory Theater. Off-Broadway: Jessica Stone's all-male cast of Funny Thing Happened...Forum; in addition to What’s that Smell?, The Civil War, and Lysistrata Jones. West Coast Premiere: The Scottsboro Boys. Max has appeared on TV in Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl. This is his first project with Renzi.
Kate Steinberg is a singer and composer. After graduating from Berklee school of Music, she spent a few years writing jingles in Chicago before moving to NYC. She is currently at work on a CD of her own music under the name Emily Prime. Kate has also appeared as a backup singer with pop star Elle on Good Morning America.
Lorenzo Wolff is the founder of Restoration Sound, where he has recorded and/or produced the music of Michael Cerveris, David Monks, Nels Cline, Peter Stampfel, and much of the music in Opus. He has appeared at City Center in PumpBoys and Dinettes, and in The Good Person of Szechuan at LaMama. Lorenzo and Amos Wolff have the same mother.
Maya Tacon previously appeared with Renzi in a live site-specific work Come Round Right. She is a recent graduate of Purchase Conservatory where she performed in works by Jose Limon, Martha Graham and Jesse Zeritt.
Paul Galando is the founder and director of NYU Tisch Dance and New Media, the President of Dance Films Association, and launched the pioneering community of the Digital Technology Initiative at Gibney Dance Center. This is the second project and first feature he has produced with Renzi. He has produced works for film, tv, theater, museums, and new media campaigns. He is passionate about creating fellowship opportunities for dance / media artists through his Dance and New Media Foundation (DANM). He's a classically trained dancer and is the father of Gianna Galando who appears with him.
Deborah Tacon shares with Rob the distinction of dancing in work by Marta Renzi for longer than anyone else appearing in Opus. Trained in the Alexander Technique, she previously danced in the companies of Guthrie & Rotante and Pauline Koner. She taught for many years in the dance departments of both Vassar College and Manhattanville College, and holds an MFA from Wesleyan University. For the past ten years she has taught English to Columbia graduate students.
Photo credit: Robert Vergara
Robert Sorrentino has danced in Renzi projects, live and on screen, even longer than Deborah. In his youth he danced with Risa Jaroslaw, Peter Pucci and Kristin Eliasberg. Nowadays Rob has to be dragged out of retirement to share his gifts as a partner : in Cottonwood, Bricktown, and The Incident at Chekhov Creek. Otherwise he is a port agent for cruises that come into NY Harbor, and wears several important badges around his neck.
Tina Louise Vasquez pretty much only gets to dance these days if Renzi invites her to work on a new film project, which she often does: Aqua-booty, Nobody’s Darling and Honeymoon. Otherwise she is kept busy raising her now one-year-old daughter Aya and working as a developer and manager of programs at Pathways to Leadership. Tina has a Masters in Organizational Behavior Systems and Analytics and is a santerîa priestess.