THE TEAM
Quentin Madia, Lauren Pelaia, and Alex Knezevic all met pursuing theatre and performance in New York City. Madia and Knezevic both attended Pace University, where they began to collaborate. The three of them ended up working together on several different projects, including “Two Star Motel”, the World Premiere of a new pop-punk musical, directed by Madia and starring Pelaia and Knezevic. As Knezevic took composing classes, he and Madia were commissioned by Pace University, where they had studied, to write a performance piece to welcome their new President. Madia then went on to direct two music videos of Pelaia’s original songs, and the two co-wrote a song for a show titled “Employee of the Month.”
In December 2017, Madia stumbled upon images of Picher and quickly reached out to collaborators Lauren Pelaia and Alex Knezevic. They began doing dramaturgy and eventually became obsessed with the pictures, the town, and the story. The three banded together and set forth to tell the story of Picher, Oklahoma, determined to share this forgotten piece of American history.
Meet The Team
Quentin Madia is a NY/NJ based director, creator, and interdisciplinary theatre artist. Quentin specializes in musical theatre, dance, and new works. Favorite projects include: Bridesmaids Dance Narrative, Two Star Motel, Bonnie & Clyde, 9 to 5, and more. When not in the rehearsal room, Quentin is a producer, art administrator, and educator. Quentin is the CEO and Artistic Director of commercial producing entity, Exequtive Entertainment, LLC. Quentin's work has been seen at Feinstein's/54 Below, Symphony Space, Walker Space, Dixon Place, Wild Project, WOW Café, Shapeshifter Lab, Theatre Row, HERE Arts Center, The Duo, The Bay View Music Festival, Pace University, McCarter Theatre, New Jersey Repertory Theatre, Villagers Theatre, and South Brunswick School District. Quentin is currently a professor at The College of New Jersey, and an Associate Member of SDC. Previously, Quentin worked as a Production Manager/Business and Finance Associate at Dixon Place, Development Associate at The Drama League, and as the Co-Founder/Executive Director of The Dare Tactic where he produced 12 Mainstage productions, countless workshops, and many readings.
Quentin Madia
Conceiver, Director, Book, Music, Lyrics
Lauren Pelaia is New York/New Jersey based singer, songwriter, composer and actor. As a singer/songwriter, Lauren released several tracks, including Bridesmaids: A Concept Album and Find Her, on all music platforms. She has performed her original music at venues such as Prohibition NYC, Haswell Green’s, The Bitter End and more. Branching into writing for musical theatre, Lauren orchestrated an entirely original score for the classic play, Our Town, at Villagers Theatre which has since been nominated for a Perry Award for best sound design. Most recently, Lauren wrote original music and arrangements for Steven’s Blandino’s dance narrative entitled Bridesmaids that premiered at Symphony Space
Lauren Pelaia
Book, Music, Lyrics
Alex Knezevic is a NY/NJ based actor, musician, composer, audio engineer, and music producer. Aside from The Picher Project, he is also working on Murder Pass (Music and Lyrics), a second full length musical, with songs previously performed at Feinstein’s/54 Below. His engineering work can be heard on the new YouTube series ‘Somewhere in Jersey’, as well as recent singles by folk artist Jameson May. He recently produced a single for Picher co-composer Lauren Pelaia, as well as music for his punk band, Smugly Ugly. As an actor, he most recently appeared onstage in Dark of the Moon at The Schimmel Center (Music Director, Orchestrations). Some of Alex’s favorite performance opportunities include Two Star Motel (NYC Premiere, Ryan); Blood Wedding (NYC, Leonardo). Pace BFA Acting 2019. alexknezevic.com
Alex Knezevic
Additional Contributions
