ARTISTS

Sean Roschman

Director

Sean Roschman is a dancemaker from Chicago, IL. Prior to Niko8, he worked in New York City for over a decade as a choreographer for concert dance, theater, commercial projects, circus and corporate events. With his company Roschman Dance, he choreographed five original evening length productions that have been presented at The Manhattan Movement And Arts Center, The Ailey Citigroup Center, The Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy Theater, Theater80 and The Battery Dance Festival. His work has appeared in venues such as PS122, Joe’s Pub, Roulette, HereArts Center, Brooklyn Music School, Triskelion Arts, GreenSpace NYC, New York University.

Roschman has also worked designing, choreographing and directing unique large scale spectacle performances for commercial clients such as Cirque Du Soleil, Lady Gaga, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2010, The House Of Yes, The Maritime Aquarium of Connecticut, Terminal5, The Stuyvesant Real Estate Group and others. Recently, he spent 5 years working as a Flying Director for ZFX Flying Effects Inc, choreographing theatrical performer flying for hundreds of performances nationally and internationally.

Eileen Connolly

Costume Designer

Eileen Connolly is a Playwright, Director and Designer. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Theater & Dance from DeSales University. As a member of Actors Equity, Eileen performed regionally in everything from Shakespeare to Agatha Christie to understudying Charles Busch in a musical. In NYC she founded Wallis Knot Theater in 2003 and directed and designed all of their productions which premiered at New York Musical Theater Festival, Theater for the New City, Dream Up Festival, HERE Art Center, The New York International Fringe Festival, The Connelly Theatre, Hudson Guild Theatre, New Actors Workshop and the American Theatre of Actors.

COSTUMES: Wallis Knot Theater, Fallen Angel Theater, NYCDA, The Wilma Theater, Theater Caravan, Painted Bride Art Center, Roschman Dance, and others.

TEACHING: Voice and Shakespeare at Mike Nichols/George Morrison’s New Actors Workshop, the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and stage movement at AMDA.

ART EXHIBITS at: Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition, Rockefeller Plaza/New York Cow Parade, Currican.

BOOK COVER ART for: Samuel French, Perfect Crime Books, and Greenpoint Press.

Brian Owens

Production Designer

Brian Owens has had the pleasure of working with the world-renowned ZFX Flying Effects since 2005 (before the “internet” really took off). In that time, he has been lucky enough to thrive as an artist and technician all across the globe, ranging from Australia to the middle east, South America, and quite a few productions in Europe and South Korea. With an emphasis on automated flying, Brian discovered a passion for the marriage of art and technology that has informed his work for nearly 2 decades. Creating visual storytelling sequences that immerse audiences in the world of the production is never tiresome; in fact it’s the fabric that holds our world together.

Throughout his travels, he has choregraphed flying sequences for ballet companies, dance groups, theaters, corporate gatherings, high schools, rock and country concerts, and on two occasions, an actual king. What this has taught him is that dance and theater are innate in every culture, and storytelling is universal; across all language barriers, political persuasions, and cultural tensions, a well-told story performed by passionate artists has the unique ability to narrow our collective focus and recognize our commonness. We want to laugh and love and cry with abandon. Sometimes sitting in a dark room with strangers gives us that freedom.