Creative - Cast

 

PETER FOGEL (Steve)

 

Peter J. Fogel is one of America's funniest comedians that you've never heard of… but have seen countless times on television. From comedy clubs, to cruise ships and Las Vegas theaters, he's opened for such stars as Rita Rudner, Jimmy "J.J" Walker and Robert Wuhl (HBO's Arliss).

 

He's shared the stage or has worked with Jason Bateman, Ed Asner, Shirley Jones, Robin Williams, Harry Anderson, Ray Romano, and Jon Stewart. Peter's also written for such stars as Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale, Bullets Over Broadway).

 

As a studio audience warm-up, he's worked on many programs including Whoopi, Hope and Faith, Married With Children, Men Behaving Badly (with Rob Schneider), Unhappily Ever After and The Howie Mandel Show. He's also hawked products on TV and radio for such sponsors as Mazda, American Express, and Wisk Detergent. (Peter was the Ring Around the Collar Man). His comedy material has been quoted in the ComedyQuote Dictionary (Double Day 1992).

 

Peter proudly belongs to the Writer's Guild of America and was a member of the famed Warner Bros. Television Writers Comedy Workshop (class of 1999) He's also written for the writing team of Blake and Jackson (Sliders,The Adventures of Lois & Clark) and for Germany's #1 sitcom — their only one — "Rita's World."

 

 

 

Creative - Creators

 

STEVE SOLOMON (Author/Creator)

 

A native of Brooklyn, Steve grew up in the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay. This was the perfect training ground for a dialectician and comedian. Steve learned at an early age how to use his gift for imitating accents to his advantage.

 

He also realized that he was a prolific writer of jokes and stories; real jokes. He submitted dozens of his stories to periodicals, friends and stand up comics he knew in the business. With the coming of the internet and e-mail, Steve now had an outlet for much of his comedy writings. One e-mail full of his jokes became ten, ten became hundreds, soon thousands of fellow e-mailers were enjoying Steve's humor; and so it went for over twenty years. To this day, Steve receives e-mail versions of his own jokes from all over the world. So, if some of the hilarious stories you hear "ring" familiar; trust me, they're probably Steve's.

 

Using humor, dialects and sound effects in teaching, Steve was real life version of Gabe Kaplan's "Welcome Back Kotter." Eventually, Steve became a Physics teacher and a school administrator on Long Island, New York.

 

He left his academic career behind and turned his attention to his latent love of making people laugh. As Steve puts it, "I decided follow my heart and become an impoverished comedy writer and performer." Steve's show, the two-time award winning: My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm In Therapy has met with rave reviews to sold out crowds throughout the country and became one of the longest run¬ning one-man comedy shows in history. This hilarious show highlights the very best of his writing talents.

 

Steve has written two additional sequels to his original hit: My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm STILL in Therapy and his hilarious holiday show; My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm Home for the Holidays!

 

All three of Steve's shows are currently touring the United States and have received critical acclaim includ¬ing The Connecticut Critics Circle and The San Francisco Drama Desk nomination.

 

 

ANDREW ROGOW (Director)

 

Most recently directed Steve Solomon's award winning hit comedies My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy, …Still in Therapy and …Home for the Holidays & the musical revue Food Fight, which had a national tour in 2010. He graduated with a BFA from New York University & an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He was the founder & Artistic Director of the Different Drummer Music Theatre in Chicago. He produced and/or directed such musicals as Working, an avant-garde production of The Fantasticks, & the Chicago premiere of The 1940's Radio Hour. Mr. Rogow is an award-winning actor who has worked all over the country. Favorite roles include Che in Evita, Hysterium in A Funny Thing…Forum, Ned in The Normal Heart, & Pooch in Good News. As the Artistic Director of Cue Productions, based in New York City, he also directed the musical Meet Me at the Pitkin. During his tenure as Artistic Director of the Hollywood Playhouse he directed Sally Struthers & Dawn Wells in Always, Patsy Cline, the world premieres of The Comet's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, Harry and Thelma in the Woods, Beau Jest - The Musical (with book & lyrics by the original playwright James Sherman) & critically acclaimed productions of The Fantasticks, Man of La Mancha, A Grand Night for Singing, and Fiddler on the Roof, for which he received a Carbonell Award nomination for Best Director. Mr. Rogow is a member of Actors' Equity Association, The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers & is the past President of the Theatre League of South Florida.

 

 

PHILIP ROGER ROY (Producer)

 

Philip has produced more than 45 shows since 1972 including the successful 2010-13 national tour of RESPECT: A Musical Journey of Women. Recent productions include My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm in Therapy! (with Bud Martin & Dana Matthow, 2010-2013) in Baltimore, Phoenix, Toronto, Philadelphia, Florida, San Diego, Boston & Wilmington he produced A Jew Grows in Brooklyn and in NYC at The Lamb's Theater in the heart of Broadway! He was Associate Producer & General Manager in Philadelphia of Menopause The Musical, which played 3.5 years to more than 212,000 (mostly) menopausal women.His production of Let My People Come (lMPC) played over 2300 performances in Philadelphia from 1977 to 1987, & he produced LMPC in 20 cities in the USA & Canada, including 8 years in Toronto. His other productions include: Family Secrets, Grandma Sylvia's Funeral (co-produced in Phila. with Dana), Greater Tuna (Walnut St. theatre & the Delaware theatre Company), The World of Lenny Bruce, Confessions of an Irish Rebel, Judy! The New Judy Garland Musical, El Grande de Coca Cola, Pretzels (by Jane Curtin), Sholom Aleichem, Cloud 9, Groucho: A 1-Man Show With 2-Women, Bullshot Crummond & The Fantasticks (in which he also performed). As owner/founder of Philadelphia's legendary Grendel's lair Cabaret theater (for 15 years), Mr. Roy produced hundreds of concerts including the Police, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, & Charles Mingus. he co-produced The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? and Say Goodnight Gracie (2009) both in Philly.

 

 

DANA MATTHOW (Producer)

 

Dana is a long island native New Yorker whose theatrical career spans more than 35 years of producing, general management, theatre management, advertising and promotions. His latest credits include productions all over the US and Canada: Steve Solomon's trilogy of shows, My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm in Therapy!; Respect, A Musical Journey of Women and A Jew Grows In Brooklyn. Dana's Off- Broadway credits include, Todd Robin's Carnival Knowledge, a behind the scenes look at the astounding and disappearing world of the American sideshow; Magic Hands Freddy starring Michael Rispoli and Ralph Macchio; Underneath the Lintel; Maybe Baby It's You; Grandma Sylva's Funeral (a/k/a the longest running funeral in history; Hysterical Blindness starring Leslie Jordon and Sea Marks by Adventures in Paradise star Gardner McKay. He also produced the feature film Silent Prey and owned and operated the Soho Playhouse in New York City. He is the founder and was the original Publisher of City Guide Magazine, New York City's #1 Weekly Visitor and Entertainment Magazine.