God / Ms. Melody - Julia Witt

Dr. Ian Voe Meyer - Ryan Butler

Christine Meyer/Nurse/Queen /Venus - Allinee NeGron

Sefira Meyer/Princess/Diana - Abby Tyler

Will Meyer/Terry/Neptune - Jeremy Ephraim Meyers

Dr. Richard Engelbert/American Soldier/Sol/Noah - Alex Louis

The Band - Jack Chadwick, Owen Shotwell, Sal Constantin, Dylan Alexander Lumb

Band Leader - John DellaContrada

Waiters : Theresa Banks, Adam Berry, Ethan Caskie, Sage Hellman, Bolaji Idowu, Cal Louie, Evan Pietraszewski, Ashtyn Rozenberg

GOD, creator of all things, is not doing well.

HER ENSEMBLE, THE BAND, and WAITERS are extensions of God. They use music and spectacle to translate humanity’s inner emotions.

DR. IAN VOE MEYER, heart surgeon, is dead. In life, he was a local celebrity, saving the life of 50s TV star Grace Melody, before embarking on a surprise pilgrimage to aid humanitarian efforts in the country of Chad. After a two-year long absence, he returned home to try to save her life once again

CHRISTINE MEYER, aspiring music teacher, has maintained the home in Ian’s absence. She hums to calm herself.

SEFIRA MEYER, college-bound poet, is cursed with a wisdom beyond her years. She’s under a lot of pressure at the moment.

WILL MEYER, teenage creator of “Neptune,” the tabletop RPG, finds it difficult to control his emotions. He’s getting better.

DR. RICHARD ENGELBERT, Will’s therapist, lives alone.

HUMANITY, aka TERRY, and the natural world, exists within an EGG. Although humanity was once a single being, God split it into many parts, called HUMANS. When a human dies, its SOUL creates a single crack in the egg. A TRAIN then brings the soul to its next life, and so the cycle of reincarnation CHUGS ON. Despite being virtually identical, humans are known to disagree occasionally.

THE WINDOW is the unbreakable barrier God has placed between her and Humanity, so that she may observe. THE DOOR is where she shuts away each human’s worst mistakes and darkest moments (“THE STORM”), so that they may blissfully ignore them upon reincarnation.

TIME is not real, but it’s important. All humans have PAST LIVES that they have once lived. These past lives may take place in the chronological PAST, PRESENT, or FUTURE. Nonetheless, once you live a life, you cannot go back.

THE UNIVERSE includes HUMANITY, GOD, TIME, and anything else you could possibly imagine. It will end someday.

 ACT ONE

“Chug On” - God and Her Ensemble

“What is Home?” - Ian and Will

“Casualty (Fade Away)” - American Soldier and Nurse

“The Great Cosmological Cabaret” - God and Her Ensemble

● “Prologue: A Shameful Enlightenment”

● “Phase 1: The Attempted Murder of Humanity”

● “Terry”

● “Phase 3: The Unfortunate Return of Hatred”

● “Epilogue: A Necessary Farwell”

“Shattered and Cracked” - Will

“Alive Tonight” - Dr. Engelbert, God and Christine

“Power/less” - Princess and Queen

“Act One Finale”

● “Time is…” - Ian

● “Run Away” - Sefira and Will

● “Power/less (Reprise)" - Ian, Sefira, American Soldier and Queen

ACT TWO

“Neptune, King of the Sea” - Venus, Diana, Sol, and Neptune

“Love Theme” - Christine

“A Cosmological Reprise” - Ian and God

“What is Home? (Reprise)” - Will

“Time is Ticking” - Ian and Company

“The End.” - God, Ian, and The Storm

“Beyond Words”

“Photographs”

“Who We Are”

JEREMY EPHRAIM MEYERS (he/him) (Will Meyer/Terry /Neptune/Director/Writer/Producer) is a senior BFA Musical Theatre major at the University at Buffalo and a local actor, writer, and director. His recent credits include Dwayne/Bob Enright/Cop in 9 to 5 The Musical at the Myers Dinner Theater, Fred in Oklahoma at O’Connell and Company, and Stephen in Outrage at The Drama Theatre at the University at Buffalo. He also looks forward to playing Ogie in Waitress at MusicalFare Theatre this upcoming March-May. He wants to thank the University for allowing him this opportunity, the amazing cast and team that has worked so hard to try to throw this together, his family for being there to support him throughout this process, and the best writing partner/friend anyone could ask for: John DellaContrada. Enjoy A Crack in the Egg: A New Rock Musical! Thank you! Personal Instagram: @meyers.jeremy5; A Crack in the Egg Instagram: @acrackintheeggmusical

JOHN DELLACONTRADA (Writer, Music Director), a lifelong songwriter and storyteller, is honored to be making his music-theatre compositional debut at his alma mater. Since directing Gruesome Playground Injuries on the KCT stage his senior year, John has served as both Assistant Director and Assistant Music Director with theatres such as Irish Classical, Road Less Traveled, and Belissima Productions. As an actor, he recently appeared in Junie B. Jones at Theatre of Youth, and has contributed to the development of new works at First Look Buffalo, and American Repertory Theatre, where he will be appearing as Tommy Connor in The Informer this March. He’d like to thank his co-writer Jeremy for his willpower, inspiration, and friendship, UBTHD and this amazing cast and crew for helping our projects come to life, and his family, for a love and support that goes beyond words.

JACK CATENA (Choreographer) (He/They) is incredibly excited to be making his choreographic debut for A Crack in the Egg. He has been on the UB stage as Noel Gruber in Ride The Cyclone and Editor in Renascence, as well as a Newsie at Shea’s 710, and a member of the Resident Company at Timber Lake Playhouse. Jack will soon be appearing in the Historic Palace Theatre’s production of Tarzan and UB’s production of Pajama Game, as Prez. He would like to thank Jeremy Meyers for bringing him onto this amazing project, and his friends and family for supporting him throughout his collegiate work, as well the start of his professional career.

JULIA WITT (she/her) (God, Ms. Melody) is a senior Accounting Major who is also involved in theater. Her past favorite roles have included Brooke in Noises Off and Peter in Jesus Christ Superstar. She can be seen as part of the Ensemble of On the Town and Holiday Inn at Niagara Regional Theatre Guild.

RYAN BUTLER (he/him) (Ian Voe Meyer) is thrilled to be back in another UB show, and extremely grateful to be a part of this original production. Past UB credits include Puffs, 9 to 5 (Hart), The 39 Steps (Clown 1), and Ride the Cyclone (Mischa). Other favorite shows include Newsies, (having played both Jack and Davey), Something Rotten (Shakespeare), Pete the Cat (Jimmy), and many more. Ryan is a proud Jimmy Awards nominee and Kenny Award winner. He would like to thank his friends, family, cast mates, and production team for making this ambitious show possible.

ALLINEE NEGRON (she/her) (Christine Meyer, Nurse, Queen, Venus) is a Junior BFA Music Theatre student from Clarence, NY and is absolutely thrilled to be a part of A Crack in the Egg. Favorite credits of hers include Ella (Cinderella, Historic Lockport Palace Theatre), Mother (Renascence, UBTHD), Katrina Van Tassel (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, UBTHD & WBFO), Mother (Coraline The Musical: WNY Regional Debut, Teals Niagara) and Lorraine/Ensemble (Jersey Boys - WNY premiere, Historic Lockport Palace Theatre). Next up, you can see her as Babe Williams in UBTHD’s production of The Pajama Game. She would like to extend a huge thank you to the incredible cast and crew for making this show possible. For Barbara. @allineenegron

ABBY TYLER (she/her) (Sefira Meyer, Princess, Diana) is a junior Music Theatre BFA. She is thrilled to be originating Sefira, a role that has grown to be very special to her. Abby has been dancing and performing since she was 3 years old, and her favorite credits include Little Red Riding Hood (Into the Woods), Lucy Van Pelt (You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown), Violet Newstead (9 to 5) and Roz Keith (9 to 5). You can catch her in April as Poopsie (and Dance Captain) in UBTHD’s production of The Pajama Game! She wants to congratulate Jeremy and John, and thank them, as well as her cast mates, for this incredible experience. She hopes you love A Crack in the Egg!

ALEX LOUIS (he/him) (Dr.Engelbert, American Soldier, Sol, Noah) is a sophomore BFA Music Theatre student from Westchester NY, and he is excited to be originating the role of Dr. Engelbert in A Crack in the Egg! Favorite credits include Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors), Oscar (The Odd Couple), Oliver (Puffs), and Iguanodon #4 (Magic Treehouse). Next, you can catch Alex singing, dancing, and understudying in UBTHD’s upcoming production of The Pajama Game. Many thanks and much love to his family, friends, Abby, and the cast and team that made this show possible! @alexlouisofficial

A Crack in the Egg asks one key question, maybe life’s biggest mystery: Why do we keep on going? In a world that is getting scarier by the second; when pain, hate, violence, and fear are used to divide us, why do we keep on going? I don’t think there really is one answer to this question, maybe there are no answers at all, but it’s this question that started the whole crazy journey of this musical.

The summer of my freshman year, I sat in Penn Station waiting for my train to arrive. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people passed by. I grew up in New York City, so I’ve always been surrounded by a lot of people. It wasn’t a new thought, but it rang loudly in my head that day sitting in the station, “Who are all these people?” Each one harboring their own story, their own wishes, their own desires, that I’d never get to hear. I knew I needed to do something with that feeling, explain it in some way, so I started writing.

I wrote in my house in Buffalo, in my house in Queens, in the backstage of Broadway theatres (one of my jobs is ushering Broadway shows), in an Amazon to go store, in coffee shops, in the car, in the airport, on airplanes, in Europe (a really bad version of Act One was written during long train rides while backpacking), in Indiana (long story), in hotel rooms, and if I’m being honest a lot of the show was written in bed. No matter where I went I kept writing and finding something new every time. A new place, a new thought, a new part of the story. A story all sparked from that day in Penn station trying to navigate our world– humanities isolation (especially in the modern age) vs. humanities connection.

Eventually, after a lot of drafts, I somehow managed to get John DellaContrada invested in this project. At first he thought he was just giving me advice, helping a buddy out here and there, until eventually he was in too deep. He had gotten hooked and we started writing together. Months and months of grueling work, extremely stressful hours, lots and lots of preparation, brought us to what we have today. A musical to decipher the Cosmos.

John and I have always believed that music is the key to the soul. That a melody can express a deeper part of ourselves than anything else can. Music is universal, it connects us all, it transcends language, it transcends time, it transcends space, and it makes you tap your foot if it’s a number you like. Working with John on the music and this story has been one of the greatest gifts of my life.

Writing this show really has been a journey and it did not stop once we finished this version of it. After writing I got to work with an incredibly talented group of actors, highly motivated and skilled designers, and a production team committed to this project like I have never seen before. Together, in a very short amount of time, we were able to bring this crazy story to life.

I designed the show in a way to make the stage feel vast, infinite, like a canvas that each story in the show was adding another stroke to. In every story the characters are in some way disconnected, feeling pain that is hard for them to share. This pain actually makes them more connected than they realize, it is part of who they are. I knew that the arena/thrust style of the stage was perfect to portray this. Depending on where you sit in the audience you can get a different part of the story, a different perspective, a glimpse into a character's soul. Having one character sing to one half of the audience while the other sings to the other half really gets at the disconnect of the characters, while still maintaining their universal connection to the music.

I feel a growing separation in our world today. What is happening truly does pain me. Every person deserves a voice, every person deserves the right to exist, every person deserves to be treated like a human being. It feels like we are losing sight of that recently and it scares me. And it makes me ask “why do we keep on going?” I like to think it’s because of my cast, designers, and production team, because of John, because of the people I met along my writing journey, because of all of the faces I saw in Penn station that day, because of all of us. Each story is important. If anything I hope this musical can show us why we need to keep fighting for our stories, to be heard, to be seen, to be loved, no matter who you are. It would be so easy to give up on asking “why do we keep on going?”

I have never been a very religious person, but there’s something about music that speaks to me in a way I cannot explain. Thoughts and feelings and people are messy, but melody and harmony cuts through like it’s nothing. It can confuse and disarm the logical part of the brain and nurture the other parts that consciousness rarely explores. It provides a valid answer to any question. I could go on. I hope that everybody finds something like music in this world — a passion that connects them to something greater. To Ian, heart surgery is music. To Will, it’s Dungeons and Dragons. It’s not always easy to talk about these passions of ours. Some call music some sort of universal language, but a song that you find spiritually fulfilling, I might think is just noise. For many of us, rejection of our songs, our passions, in whatever form they take, feels like a rejection of us, personally. It becomes hard to connect. But is this really evidence of a fundamental difference between us, or is it just a simple language barrier?

In November 2023, Jeremy and I sat down and wrote a primitive version of “Photographs,” the first song created for this show. In no time at all, one song became twenty, not to mention the constant script revisions, but these songs that were once shared only between me and him, were soon shared with all the other talented, lovely people whose names appear in this program. And now they’re being shared with all of you. There’s a saying that goes “Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” I guess this show lives somewhere in between. To the person reading this, we might not ever speak to each other, but I’d like to think that, by sharing this music, there is a connection there. I mean, there’s got to be. Otherwise, what are any of us even doing here in the first place?

~ John

Set & Prop Designer: Max Teicher
Sound Designer: Lisa Gallagher
Lighting Designer: Ethan Borrok
Costume Designer: Jeremy Meyers
Stage Manager: Alex Fawkes
Assistant Stage Manager: Ashtyn Rozenberg

Fight Choreographer: Adriano Gatto
Intimacy Director: Lana Sugarman
Stagehands:  Adam Berry, Sage Hellman, Bolaji Idowu, Cal Louie, Evan Pietraszewski, Ashtyn Rozenberg
Ushers:  Theresa Banks, Ethan Caskie

Theatre and Dance Department Chair:  Eero Laine
Associate Department Chair, Producing Director:  Lynne Koscielniak
Production Manager:  Rick Haug
Assistant Production Manager:  Ally Hasselback
Department Props & Paints Supervisor:  Marc Quattlebaum
Costume Shop Manager:  Max Levitt
Asst. Costume Shop Manager:  Cindy Darling
Department Administrator:  Veronica Sedota
Senior Staff Assistant:  Rob Falgiano
Administrative Assistant:  Kristin Mann
Production Photographer:  Ken Smith

The UB Department of Theatre and Dance is a proud member of the UB College of Arts and Sciences. With a firm commitment to the advancement of creative research, experiential learning, and community engagement, the UBTHD 2024-2025 Production Season is administered by the Department of Theatre and Dance. We acknowledge our full faculty and staff for their part in preparing students for work on stage and behind the scenes. We thank UB Center for the Arts for their support in making these productions possible.

UB Theatre and Dance wishes to acknowledge the generous continued philanthropic support of Fox Run at Orchard Park, an official contributing sponsor of the UBTHD 2024-2025 season.  

Our season of programming is also made possible by ticket purchases and donations from patrons like you. We thank you for your continued support of our works. If you would like to further support THD, please visit: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/theatre-dance/about/support.html