Cast Party: High School Theater Revisited

Joe Gulla

Playwright/Actor/Reality Star Joe Gulla’s plays have been performed Off-Broadway, nationally and internationally. He is best known for his award-winning shows, “The Bronx Queen”, “Garbo”, “Gay.Porn.Mafia”, “Sleeping With The Fish” and his sold-out engagements at New York City’s Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater and Feinstein’s/54 Below. As an actor, Joe performed in San Francisco's “Tony & Tina's Wedding” for many years and Off-Broadway's “My Big Gay Italian Wedding”. He also starred on NBC's “LOST”, one of television's first adventure reality series. This summer, Joe Gulla returns to 54 Below with the World Premiere of his newest autobiographical monologue, “Swimming To Mongolia”. Later this year, “Reel Wood” written by and starring Joe has its World Premiere Off Broadway in NYC. Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/castpartypod/]! Questions? Comments? Send us an email at castpartyshow@gmail.com!

Julian Shapiro-Barnum

Julian Shapiro-Barnum is a comedian and actor known for his viral online show, “Recess Therapy, where he conducts on-the-street interviews with children about their hopes, confusions, and dreams, eliciting thoughts on topics including climate change, love, stress, and most recently, corn. The show has over 3.6 million followers across platforms and his “Corn Kid” interview (with 6 billion views) was the most shared video of the summer. Guests on the show have included Michelle Obama, Drew Barrymore, Jenny Slate, and Daniella Pineda. Outside of Recess Therapy he’s interviewed all ages on red carpets and for his other on-the-street comedy shows. He was recently awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 as well as Variety’s Family and Entertainment award. He’s been profiled by the New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, The Today Show, and ABC’s Nightline. Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/castpartypod/]! Questions? Comments? Send us an email at castpartyshow@gmail.com!

JJ Niemann

JJ Niemann is an NYC-based Broadway actor and content creator. After growing up in NC, JJ graduated in 2017 with a BFA in Music Theatre from Elon University. Shortly after, he joined the Broadway cast of “The Book of Mormon” as a Swing, where he performed for three years as a swing (and recently has returned to the production for several months as a vacation swing). In the content creation world, JJ has been lovingly dubbed as the “King of Theatre TikTok” by publications such as BroadwayWorld and has reached over 1 million followers and 350 million video views across his platforms. Some select acting credits are the World Premiere of BLISS at The 5th Avenue Theatre; Doody in Grease at Cape Playhouse; Footloose at The Rev Theatre Co.; Hairspray at The Muny; Shrek, Damn Yankees, South Pacific at Pittsburgh CLO; and the iconic TikTok musicals for you, Paige and Ratatouille. Connect with him on Instagram or TikTok @jjniemann Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/castpartypod/]! Questions? Comments? Send us an email at castpartyshow@gmail.com! Help support the show by donating at https://anchor.fm/michael-busani/support

Sean McManus

Sean McManus is a New Jersey-based dancer, singer and actor who is currently a vacation swing in the Broadway company of Beetlejuice. He attended Summit High School, where he was seen in shows such as Mary Poppins, How to Succeed and Sweeney Todd. For the latter, he won the Paper Mill Rising Star Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor. He was also featured in the PBS documentary, "I Can't...I Have Rehearsal". When not performing, he is passionate about arts advocacy and teaching. Check out "I Can't...I Have Rehearsal" on PBS: https://www.pbs.org/video/i-cant-i-have-rehearsal-3lfjyq/ [https://www.pbs.org/video/i-cant-i-have-rehearsal-3lfjyq/]  Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/castpartypod/]! Questions? Comments? Send us an email at castpartyshow@gmail.com! Help support the show by donating at https://anchor.fm/michael-busani/support Editing and mixing by Ben Seaman

Marji Eldreth

Marji Eldreth has been the vocal and musical theater teacher at Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington, Delaware for over 20 years. She is also an artistic/music director, actor, singer, and steel pannist, working in venues around the tri-state area and internationally. Marji recently went viral on TikTok when she created a series of videos to determine next year’s high school musical, gaining 35k followers, over 650k likes, and inspired several other teachers to do the same in their classrooms. She has been featured in Rolling Stone, several podcasts, and ABC News. Along with teaching, Marji is a community theater performer and director, soloist for professional choral ensembles, and former rehearsal pianist for the Broadway Dreams Foundation. When she’s not at the theater, you can usually find her playing the steel drum, training her German Shepherds, or hanging out on an aerial hoop. Check out Marji on TikTok here to see what show Cab Calloway is doing! Follow us on Instagram! Questions? Comments? Send us an email at castpartyshow@gmail.com! Help support the show by donating at https://anchor.fm/michael-busani/support Editing and mixing by Ben Seaman