Meet the Team Behind
Café BErLIN!
PETER PILESKI (Executive Producer) has over 20 years of experience as a producer/director in television, working with networks including SyFy, USA Network, PBS and Trio. Among his favorite credits are the award-winning children’s show CALLIOPE, the long-running cult classic COMMANDER USA and the weekly documentary series INSIDE SPACE. Returning to the theater, he worked as associate to director/choreographer Bob Avian on numerous productions of A CHORUS LINE including the hit Broadway revival, the West End production at the Palladium, the Hollywood Bowl and New York City Center. He also worked with Avian on the London premieres of FOLLIES, MISS SAIGON and SUNSET BOULEVARD. He is thrilled to now be working on CAFÉ BERLIN with this group of wildly talented and adventurous collaborators.
JOSEPH J. SIMEONE (Book, Music, Lyrics) is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist working across performance, writing, visual art, and directing. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he studied Dance and Music Composition, and received mentorship from Tony Award–winning orchestrator William David Brohn. In addition to Café Berlin, works include Love Affair (book, music, lyrics) which premiered at the Legacy Theatre, and a chamber opera adaptation of Dial M for Murder (composer) developed in association with LA Opera and the Frederick Knott estate. Career highlights as a performer include the Broadway productions of Phantom of the Opera and A Bronx Tale; the national tour of West Side Story; work with Merce Cunningham Company, Twyla Tharp, ABT, and more; among others. His puppetry has been featured in multiple productions, and his fine art has been exhibited at the Corcoran Museum and Art Basel, with works held by the Getty. www.JosephJSimeone.com
ETHAN KANFER (Lyrics) writes song lyrics, theater reviews, short stories, screenplay analyses, and graphic novel scripts. His work has appeared in The Forward,The New Leader,Show Business Weekly, and on stages in New York and throughout the world. He has worked as a story analyst, copyeditor, screenwriter, animator, and workshop moderator. Ethan is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and the BMI Musical Theater Workshop. He lives in New York City’s fashion district with his wife, the writer Daniela Kanfer. Website: www.clippings.me/users/ethankanfer
ANNALIESE JAKIMIDES (Book). Shaped by her first-generation-American family in inner-city Boston, followed by decades raising her own in a small northern Maine town, Annaliese Jakimides is a writer and visual artist. Cited in state and national competitions and nominated for Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net, more than 1,000 short works—prose and poetry—have appeared in magazines, journals, anthologies, and audiobooks, on radio and stage. Recent or upcoming publications include essays and short stories addressing liminal space, transformation, obsession, and more. Her interviews have featured creatives such as Alex Katz, Tess Gerritsen, Noel Paul Stookey, and Ashley Bryan. She’s the co-book writer of the musicals Love Affair and Café Berlin. A freelance editor and facilitator, she works with the Maine Humanities Council, Maine Arts Commission, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, among others. She lives in Bangor, Maine. annaliesejakimides.com.
DAVE KLODOWSKI (Music Director) is a music director, pianist and vocal coach based in New York. Off-Broadway highlights include Little Shop of Horrors (Sub Conductor/Pianist) and Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. Regional/Educational: Phantom (Gateway Playhouse), Hood (Asolo Rep), School of Rock (Northern Stage) and Putting It Together (Pace University). Dave has toured with Kinky Boots, Elf the Musical and A Charlie Brown Christmas. A proud Ithaca College grad and member of The Recording Academy, he enjoys writing music with his husband and arranging covers in his free time. @daveklodowski
JAMES OLMSTEAD (Music Supervisor). Broadway conductor: The Wiz, Hell’s Kitchen, A Beautiful Noise, Once Upon a One More Time, On Your Feet. Orchestral conductor: Batman in Concert, Coraline in Concert, 4U: The Music of Prince. Add’l Broadway pianist: Gatsby, Paradise Square, Harmony, The Music Man, Mean Girls, Waitress, Beautiful: The Carole King Story,Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Music Producer: Cirque Musica, Forever K-Pop Live, Voyagers: A Space Rock Musical. Orchestrations: Once Upon a One More Time, The Devil Wears Prada (Chicago), Hugh Jackman’s From New York with Love, PBS Great Performances. Love to Ash & Iris. @olmsteady
MATTHEW COUVILLON (Director) spent over a decade as Associate Choreographer to Bob Avian and Baayork Lee on A Chorus Line, contributing to productions in Málaga, Spain with Antonio Banderas, at New York City Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and numerous other venues. He also co-directed, alongside Joseph J. Simeone, the world premiere of Simeone’s musical Love Affair, as well as a reimagined production of The Wizard of Oz. His independent choreography credits include, among others, Das Land des Lächelns and Gypsy at Stadttheater Klagenfurt in Austria. www.matthewcouvillon.com