Resident Artistic Director
CHRISTIAN DE GRE
BIOGRAPHY
Mexican Artist Christian De Gré Cárdenas has emerged as one of the most influential contemporary voices in the development of new works in New York City. He has spearheaded numerous international projects in film, theater, television, music, publishing, web-media, fine-art and radio such as “Fatty Fatty No Friends” (FringeNYC Excellence Award Winner, Innovative Theater Award Nominations for Best Music and Best Musical, New York Musical Festival Best of Fest Concert, National Alliance of Musical Theater Semi-finalist, Time Out New York Critic's Pick), “Beware The Chupacabra” (FringeFAVE, FRINGE ENCORES), “Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg” (Audience Favorite at FRIGID New York, Showscore Critic's Pick, off-broadway premiere at HERE) and “Acedia” (Excellence Award winner at FRIGID, developed at Yaddo Colony and SPACE on Ryder, premiered at The Brick.)
A self-taught composer/playwright, De Gré Cárdenas has written and produced 30 original award winning plays, musicals, operettas, operas and song-cycles in New York City at world renowned organizations like Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, Feinstein's/54 Below, HERE Arts, and La Mama E.T.C. He has been commissioned to write music for The Discovery Channel, The Drama Desk Awards, The United Nations, The Alchemists, and The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.
De Gré Cárdenas has trained activists in Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and the Americas as the Global Outreach Theater for Social Change Partner of the United Nations International Y-Peer Network. Other projects include fine art exhibitor at the 69th Regiment Armory (Time-Out New York: Photo of the Week) and published poet in “Story Time with Mr. Buttermen: Fables for Adults Living in a Modern World” (available on Amazon).
He is an alumnus of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and The Broadway League’s Commercial Theater Institute and is a member of the Advanced BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. He is a Yaddo Colony and a SPACE on Ryder fellow.
Having served as the General Manager and Director of Operations at The New York International Fringe Festival for five years and as Artistic Director of Mind The Art Entertainment for over a decade, De Gré Cárdenas has overseen the opening of over 1,000 new theatrical productions. In 2018 he was appointed Director of The National Opera Center in New York City and is currently serving as Chief Operating Officer for OPERA America, and Resident Artistic Director for Mind The Art Entertainment’s “The Alchemists” program, where he is developing 25 original works.
Producing Director/Creative Producer
R. Patrick Alberty
BIOGRAPHY
Patrick is a writer, producer, and director. Originally from Missouri, Patrick is a 17-year veteran of the independent theater community in New York City, and he has performed in a number highly-acclaimed and award-winning shows, including Mind The Art Entertainment’s AMPATHY and FISH FOOD FOR FEELINGS, Radiotheatre NYC’s EDGAR ALLAN POE Festival, and the Nobel Prize-nominated FORCE trilogy from Aisling Arts. As a director, he has directed HELLCAB, THE DREAM VAULT CYCLE, Radiotheatre NYC’s GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST and FRANKENSTEIN, and was the director/book writer for Mind The Art Entertainment’s BEWARE THE CHUPACABRA.
Patrick has also helped to bring Mind The Art Entertainment’s unique visions to the stage, helping to producer and co-direct FATTY FATTY NO FRIENDS, WHISKEY PANTS, and JACK OF HEARTS, in addition to providing book and lyrics for THE GIMMIES, lyrics for A DRINK WITH DEATH, and TWISTED OPERETTAS. Other projects in development include THE MUSIC OF SHADOW, THE SONDER TRIPTYCH, and THE LEXINGTON INCIDENT.
Managing Director/Production Manager
Brian Freeland
BIOGRAPHY
Brian Freeland is a director, producer, writer, sound + media artist, community builder, and at times… theatre provocateur. His works for the theatre are rooted in a collaborative performance and development process that creates theatrical works with words, visuals, sounds, text, story, frame, and non-linear structures.
As a multi-hyphenate artist working with a live performance vocabulary, Freeland’s work builds highly stylized community-considered events and stories. Using overlapping disciplines, his work creates layered, aesthetically focused works, often centering around social and normative challenging subject matter.
In addition to his creation work, he has been an advocate for artist-led place-making and has shepherded the creation and management of multiple independent arts venues.
Mr. Freeland is currently in development for the new works, hung + burned (a mythology of power and politics) and well as half/life (a multi-media exploration around the life and work of Marie Currie).
Direction and design credits include works for The LIDA Project, Curious Theatre Company, The Brick, Mind The Art Entertainment, Ping Chong & Co., Universes, The Public Theatre, The 52nd Street Project, Countdown to Zero, THEATREWORKS, About Face, Catamounts, Littleton Town Hall, Lone Tree Arts Center, The Avenue Theatre, The Aurora Fox, Paragon Theatre, Su Teatro, and Shadow Theatre Company.
In 1995, he founded The LIDA Project the regionally acclaimed performance art ensemble, where he served as artistic director until 2015. In 2007, he co-founded with Julie Rada, Countdown To Zero, a political theatre collective.
Executive Assistant/Associate Producer
T. Michael Culhane
T. Michael Culhane got his start in theatrical production at the FringeNYC International Theater Festival as a highschooler in 2012. While studying theater and philosophy at USC in California from 2013 through 2016, he continued his relationship with the Fringe, finally serving as Associate Operations Manager from 2015 to 2018. After USC, he worked with Mind the Art Entertainment in a variety of roles including Master Carpenter, Producer, Asst. Stage Manager and Production Manager. Throughout this time he also worked as a freelance Theatrical Carpenter, Electrician and Technical Director with various companies including Playwrights Horizons, The Metropolitan Opera, The Strindberg Repertory Theater and NYLON Fusion. Finally he also works as a Non-teaching Adjunct at the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Speech, Communication and Theater Department, sharing his skills and experience with the next generation of theater professionals.