Betina Hershey
Artistic Director/Producer/Director/Choreographer
Betina Hershey’s long and varied resume includes performing her songs on WFUV radio and at the legendary Bottom Line, touring as Meg in the National tour of Phantom of the Opera, playing Anybody’s in the world tour (Italy-Lebanon-Japan) of West Side Story, teaching and performing swing dancing in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, appearing at City Center as Fleta in Iolanthe & Isabel in The Pirates of Penzance, writing musicals including Lemontales, Finding Home, The Big Leap, Finding The Wonder, Musicville, Space Pirates and teaching songwriting, poetry, acting, ballroom, voice, and guitar to all ages. She met Denver Casado while studying as part of the Lehman Engle BMI Musical Theater Writing Workshop as a lyricist. She is thrilled to be working with her inspiring collaborator, Denver Casado, for another year! (www.betinahershey.com)
Denver Casado
Musical Director / Composer
Originally from Clovis, CA, Denver Casado moved to New York City to study music at NYU. After graduating with a degree in Music Technology and Composition, he was accepted into the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop where he met Betina Hershey and began writing musicals. Since then he's written two one-act musicals (Finding the Wonder, The One That Got Away) and four children's musicals for the Garden Players (The Big Leap, Musicville, Space Pirates, Behind the Scenes). His musical Life on the Mississippi, based on the Mark Twain novel, recently had a staged reading at the York Theatre in Manhattan. Denver also writes music for TV, Film and the Web out of his home studio in the East Village. He loves working with the Garden Players who make him smile during every rehearsal. He'd like to thank Betina Hershey, the entire class and their parents, and the Church-In-The-Gardens community for their generosity and support. (www.denvercasado.com)
