Richard Kalinoski
PLAYWRIGHT
Recent plays/productions/awards:
Beast on the Moon produced at Le Guichet Montparnasse, Paris, France June, 2024
Front Room, produced at Teatri Dodana in 2023 in Prishtina, Kosovo.
Front Room, chosen for podcast production at the Ashland New Plays Festival (2019 Oregon); The Boy Inside, second place, Mark David Cohen Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (2016) : Writer in residence, Wagner College (2014) for My Soldiers; A Crooked Man, The Armenian Dramatic Alliance Paul Award (Los Angeles), The Stanley Drama Award (Wagner College, NYC) for Skin of a Lawyer
Awards (Beast on the Moon)
Mr. Kalinoski’s most well known play, Beast on the Moon, was chosen for the Humana Festival in March of 1995, and since has won the following: The Osborn Award (American Critics Assoc.) the Agnouni Award, (Armenian Relief Society of North America ) the Garland Award (Los Angeles)Best Play from the Repertory, Moliere Award (Prix Moliere) , Paris, France, May, 2001(in addition to four other Moliere Awards) ; the ACE Award, Argentina, for Best Play in the year 200) October. Beast on the Moon has been translated into 20 languages as of September of 2020. In November, 2004 the play became part of the repertory of the Moscow Art Theatre and ran in repertory there for 13 years
In 2005 Richard Kalinoski was awarded the Khorenatsi Medal for contribution to the Arts and Culture to the Country of Armenia. The award is given by the President of Armenia (Robert Kachadarian).
ARA DINKJIAN
COMPOSER/MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST
ARA DINKJIAN was born in New Jersey, USA in 1958. He has been the organist for the Armenian Apostolic Church for over fifty years. Ara graduated Hartt College of Music, earning the country’s first and only special degree in the oud. He is considered one of the finest oud players in the world, with a very personal style, emphasizing a uniquely beautiful tone. His groundbreaking and highly influential group NIGHT ARK recorded four CDs for RCA/BMG and PolyGram/Universal. He has performed in 25 countries throughout the world. His compositions have appeared in movie and television soundtracks, and have been recorded by renowned musicians and singers in 16 different languages. Dinkjian’s composition “Homecoming” (“Dinata, Dinata”) was performed at the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2013 at the Nevruz Festival in Dikranagerd (Diyarbekir), over 1 million people sang his song “Picture” (“Ağladıkça”) to welcome peace after years of conflict in the region. He has recorded six solo CDs, as well as three CDs with his current group, THE SECRET TRIO. Dinkjian’s collection of over 6,000 Armenian and Turkish 78rpm records is one of the largest archives of this material in the world. Ara and his father Onnik, the iconic Armenian folk and liturgical singer, are the subject of a documentary film titled Garod. The Ara Dinkjian Songbook was just published by Aras Publishing, which was founded by Hrant Dink.
ROBERT HALLAK
ActoR and Producer
Robert Hallak began his acting career in New York City studying with two industry legends, Stella Adler at The Stella Adler Conservatory, and then extensively with Lee Strasberg at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Shortly after they met, Mr. Strasberg invited Robert into his life and his home. The two became dear friends, and Robert became his next and what would turn out to be (his last) protégé.
They worked together for almost two years, and ironically on the day of Mr. Strasberg's funeral, Robert auditioned for and landed his first play, the highly acclaimed off-Broadway production of “A Barber Shop in Pittsburgh” directed by Frank Corsaro at The Actors Studio, NY.
He immediately went on to do Edwardo Muchado’s “The Modern Ladies of Guanabacoa” at The Ensemble Studio Theatre, NY. Shortly thereafter he spent the next year working with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Sidney Kingsley on his final play “Falling Man” also at The Actors Studio. Upon moving to Los Angeles Robert co-founded the award-winning Friends and Artists Theatre Ensemble (FATE). He performed in numerous productions, including the role of Willie Eisenring in “The Firebugs”, Job/Bob in Moonchildren and Jean-Paul Marat in Marat-Sade. Robert was soon cast in a starring role in the television miniseries “The Billionaire Boys Club” He has guest-starred and co-starred in many television Shows including Arrested Development, Just Shoot Me, 10-8, Home Improvement, Mysteries of Laura and Shades of Blue. Robert co-starred with Micheal Imperioli in Henry Jaglom's feature film “The M Word” this is his fifth film with Henry Jaglom, including “Someone To Love” in what turned out to be Orson Welles last film. He can also be seen in “The Bike” written and directed by Enrico Colantoni, “Desert Wedding” by Emmy award winning writer/director Alexandra Fisher and worked with Al Pacino on his documentary feature film “Wilde Salome”. Robert also co-starred in the feature films “A-GuruPhobia” with Pepe Serna, “1915 The Movie” dealing with the Armenian Genocide and“ The Debt Collector” directed by Jesse Johnson. His most recent work are too short films “Words” with Dan Luria and Enrico Colantoni and “The Sitdown” Robert is set to star in the Off-Broadway revival of “Beast On The Moon” at the
AMT Theater, NY in September of 2026.
Robert was made a lifetime member of the Actors Studio in New York by Lee Strasberg Personally. He is also a member of Bobby Morasco’s - The Actors gymo
Steven Ditmyer
DIRECTOR
Steven is a Director and Acting Teacher who studied with Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen and Zoe Caldwell. He is a scholarship graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City where he later was invited to train as a teacher of the Meisner technique.
Steven is the founder and director of MEISNER INTERNATIONAL, currently teaching workshops in New York, Atlanta, Ft. Myers, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, Lisbon, Helsinki, Warsaw, Vilnius, Tallinn, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Quito, Guayaquil and Bogota with Stockholm starting later this year.
In New York, Steven is a member of the Playwrights and Directors Unit at The Actors Studio, a member of The Actors Gym with Bobby Moresco and a guest teacher and director at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
As an actor, Steven worked with many great artists such as Al Pacino, Arthur Miller, Tony Randall, Ron Rifkin, Sam Waterston, Diane Wiest, Blythe Danner and more.
Steven recently directed the Vienna Premier of Cock by Mike Bartlett which had a sold-out run in January & February 2024 at the Off Theatre Vienna (www.cockfightvienna.at) and will have another run in September, 2025. He directed Al Tapper’s new play Bettinger's Luggage which had a 6 week run Off-Broadway at the AMT Theater in NYC. He directed a reading of Brian Richard Mori's new play Coming Attractions produced by Dan Lauria at Theatre 555 starring Richard Masur and the Florida premiere of How to Transcend A Happy Marriage by Sarah Ruhl. In New York, Steven will be directing Barklee, a new play by Tom Cavanaugh starring Vincent Piazza and the revival of Richard Kalinoski’s award winning play Beast On The Moon in 2026. Steven is the Executive Producer of the short film Hard Work directed by Julie Pacino.
He directed the OFF THE PAGE Reading Series for Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre in NYC (2005-2008) with such notable productions as: The Night Of The Iguana with Alec Baldwin, Golf with Alan Shepard with Jack Klugman, Charles Durning, Len Cariou and John Cullum and Ladies In Retirement with Rosemarry Harris and Marian Seldes.
Steven has directed many productions in New York working with such notable playwrights as Robert Askins, James McClure, Bruce Jay Friedman, Albert Bermel, Jack Gilhooley, Gail Sheehy and with notable actors as Marian Seldes, Brian Murray, Dana Ivey, Dan Lauria, John Pankow, Richard Bey, Brian Geraghty and many more.
He was the Co-Director of the Workshop at the Neighborhood Playhouse (1999-2003) where he directed several new plays and was the Artistic Director of the Neighborhood Theatre Company in Naples, Florida (2003-2005) where he directed The Syringa Tree which ran for two seasons. He was a Founding director of the A-Train Plays in NYC (written and performed in 24 hours) where he directed The Casseroles of Far Rockaway by Seth Bauer – winner of the 2004 Samuel French Festival.
He is married to actress Tamara Flannagan and resides in Manhattan with their two boys Callan and Jace.