playbill vip

David F. Turk

Producer and Director

is the Provost and VP of Academic Affairs at Nyack College. A graduate of Nyack College (B.A. English) and New York University (M.A., Ph.D. English and American Literature), he has directed numerous musicals; among them are Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma!, The Fantasticks, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, The Wiz and West Side Story, which he directed in 1990 and 2016. He has also directed a number of Shakespeare plays including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labors Lost, As You Like It, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. His favorite productions were Amadeus and An Inspector Calls. David thanks the wonderful directors and musicians who have worked with him to make this show possible: Prof. Mary Gatchell, Prof. Glauco Lima, Prof. Darryl Jordan, and especially Drs. Sue and Dana Talley for their vision and tireless dedication not just to this production, but also for building a phenomenal music program at Nyack in New York City.

Ashley Richmond

Stage Manager

Dana Talley

Vocal Preparation and Musical Direction

is grant recipient of the National Opera Institute and Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for music and winner of the 1978 Metropolitan Opera Auditions, San Francisco Opera Auditions, Sullivan Award, Beethove prize and Puccini Voices International Competition and Voci di Verdi in Bussetto, Italy. He began his career on Broadway in the 1970's with the musical The Student Prince, continuing as an Equity and AFTRA actor for 20 years. In 1979, Dana made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Verdi’s Don Carlo, and continued as principal tenor with the company in 23 roles and over 350 performances. Concurrently, he debuted in Carnegie Hall in the title role of Judas Maccabaeus, appeared in the Carmel Bach Festival, and with the Paris Radio Orchestra in the title role of Hindemith’s Mathis der Mahler. Dana has performed throughout Europe and Russia, has been director of vocal studies at Siena Summer Music in Italy and has been a member of the Nyack College faculty since 2000.