My Window on Broadway: Meet the Creative Team

melissa etheridge

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge stormed onto the American rock scene with the release of her critically acclaimed, self-titled debut album, which led to an appearance on the 1989 Grammys. For several years, her popularity grew around such memorable originals as “Bring Me Some Water,” “No Souvenirs” and “Ain’t It Heavy,” for which she won a Grammy® in 1992. Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am (1993), featuring “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window,” which brought Etheridge her second Grammy® Award. In 1995, Etheridge issued her highest charting album, Your Little Secret, with the hit single, “I Want to Come Over.” This led to Etheridge receiving the ASCAP Pop Awards Songwriter of the Year honor.

In 2007, Etheridge celebrated a career milestone with a “Best Song” Academy® Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. She has since gone on to release several more albums including: This Is M.E., Memphis Rock & Soul, and The Medicine Show.

In 2020, Etheridge launched The Etheridge Foundation to support groundbreaking scientific research into effective new treatments for opioid use disorder. In 2021, Melissa released a new album called One Way Out. Last October, Melissa’s return to the theatre with her one woman show, My Window – A Journey Through Life. The critically acclaimed, sold-out run premiered at New World Stages on October 13, and this September, Melissa fulfills a life-long dream as she debuts My Window on Broadway at Circle in the Square Theatre.

kate owens hsr bnw

Kate Owens

(The Roadie)

Broadway debut! Off-Broadway: Melissa Etheridge: My Window. Television: Sophie in The Other Black Girl (Hulu). Kate is known for her fearless commitment to characters and audacious physical comedy. She was a “New Face of Comedy” at the Just For Laughs Festival (2021). Thanks to Melissa, Matt, and OPE! @kate__owens

cherie b. tay

Cherie B. Tay

(Assistant Stage Manager / u/s The Roadie)

Voice Actor. Cherie has worked in Seoul, Tokyo, Arezzo, and Paris. Their photography has been in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Forbes. Broadway: A Strange Loop, Slave Play, Hadestown, Ruben & Clay, Gettin’ The Band Back, Amélie. Tours: In The Heights, War Horse.

AMY TINKHAM (Director) has been directing, designing, conceiving, and writing works for stage, arena, film, and television throughout the world for the last 25 years. Blending her experience directing live music tours and videos for rock, pop, R&B, and country artists, with her in-depth history as a director of the circus in the US and worldwide, and as a choreographer and professional dancer, Amy is known for her innovative approach to mixing mediums and performance elements to tell stories in all fields of entertainment. From stadium spectacles to intimate theater, she does not limit herself to the constraints or rules of any one form.  Amy is currently creative & show director for the upcoming Aerosmith ‘Peace Out’ Farewell Tour, as well as their 2019-22 Vegas ‘Deuces Are Wild’ residency. She was in Artistic residence this summer at New York Stage and Film for a new musical with Kristen Dunphy inspired by the Television series ‘Wakefield’. She will be writing and directing an original upcoming Cirque du Soliel project for 2024, as well as directing a new original music project for Las Vegas, 2024. She has worked extensively with Creator Franco Dragone (creator of “O” and “Mystere” in Las Vegas) on projects including Splendor, in Wuxi, China. She is director of James Taylor’s 2018 -23 tours as well as his Hollywood Bowl performances and his residency in Las Vegas. Her other live shows include work with: Paul McCartney; Harry Belafonte; Matt Morrison; Earth, Wind, & Fire; Britney Spears; A.R. Rahman; The Dixie Chicks; Ringling Brothers; A Royal Wedding In Dubai; Backstreet Boys; Mariah Carey; Martina McBride; PBS; The Grammy Awards; and the Country Music Awards. She wrote and directed a short film for the band INXS, and also directed a short film, The Acting Thing that was featured at Sundance Film Festival. She is also a Creative Director for Disney, conceiving live shows and concerts for various brands, from Star Wards to Marvel, and the current Disney Jr. Live tours, and Sound of Magic philharmonic tours, which she created with composer Giles Martin of the Beatles’ Love show. She directed numerous tours for “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Got Talent.” Dedicated to her Mom, Dad, husband Eric Stromer, children Wyatt, Dusty, and Willow Stromer, for their continuous patience and support. Love and gratitude to Melissa & Linda for the journey and to Beckett Cypherage for the love.

LINDA WALLEM ETHERIDGE (Additional Material) is a writer, producer, director, and actress. Wallem is best known as the co-creator and showrunner for the Emmy Award-winning Showtime television series “Nurse Jackie”, starring Edie Falco. Additional credits include writing for “That ‘70s Show” from 1998 to 2000, serving as executive producer from 2000 to 2001 and then executive producing “That ‘80s Show” in 2002; and writing for the Cybill Shepherd-led sitcom “Cybill” during its entire run, where she also produced several episodes and occasionally acted on the series as well. As an actress, her notable credits include Sleepless in Seattle, “Seinfeld”, several characters in animated series “Rocko’s Modern Life” and in the 2019 Netflix special Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling. Wallem has served as a consulting producer and executive producer on several TV shows including “Whitney” starring Whitney Cummings, “Help Me Help You”, “The Comeback” starring Lisa Kudrow and more.

BRUCE RODGERS (Set Design) World Tours include Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Alicia Keys, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, Rihanna, JayZ and Eminem, Madonna, Sting, Dierks Bentley, Elle King and Garth Brooks, and 5 shows for Cirque Du Soleil. Televised Live Shows include the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 18 consecutive Super Bowl Halftime shows featuring Prince, Tom Petty, The Who, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, and Dr. Dre which garnered an Emmy Award for Production Design.

OLIVIA SEBESKY (Projection Design) is an award-winning multimedia art director and projection designer for live entertainment. Selected clients include Lainey Wilson, James Taylor, Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Nike, Bloomberg, Peloton, NBCU, Soho House, TEDTalks, and Universal Studios. Recent theatrical credits include Jerry Springer The Opera, The Spoils (The New Group), Because of Winn Dixie (Goodspeed Opera House), Me…Jane (The Kennedy Center). She was featured in “Like a Woman,” a documentary about women who are breaking barriers in male-dominated industries.

ABIGAIL ROSEN HOLMES (Lighting Design) an award-winning lighting designer, has created extensively for shows, concert, television, and installations. Credits include Cher, Phish, Peter Gabriel, Shakira, Talking Heads, Roger Waters The Wall/Berlin, The Cure, Idina Menzel, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Vogue, Ringling Brothers, the High Roller Observation Wheel, and David Byrne’s Contemporary Color. Art BA from Brown University; worked at Walt Disney Imagineering, and taught lighting and video as Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon.
More at https://www.nyxdesign.com/abigail-rosen-holmes

ANDREA LAUER (Costume Design) work Internationally as a costume/set designer, fashion designer and stylist. Selected Design credits include Broadway’s American Idiot, and Bring It On, the Musical. Off Broadway: The Fruit Trilogy, The Boy Danced on Air (Abington), School for Scandal (Red Bull), Murder for Two (2nd Stage and tour) and Midsummer Night’s Dream (Classic Stage). International highlights include working at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Malthouse in Australia and production design for the Beatles Sergeants Pepper’s 50th Birthday Extravaganza for the city of Liverpool. Recent Music styling credits include Melissa Etheridge, Amanda Palmer, and My brightest Diamond. Working as a fashion designer she is the creative director of RISEN DIVISION, a clothing brand specializing in the jumpsuit. Honors include MIT Media Lab Director’s fellow, Pioneer Works Artist in Residence, Randi Zuckerberg’s 52 Women in 52 Weeks and most recently a recipient of the NYU Future Imagination Cohort 23-24.

SHANNON SLATON (Sound Design) on Broadway has designed The Illusionists as well as being the Associate Designer for The Humans, Blackbird and several other shows. He has also designed more than fifty national tours including: Shrek, The Producers, Kiss Me Kate, Noise/Funk, The Full Monty, Contact, A Chorus Line, Tap Dogs, Elf, Sweeney Todd, The Wizard of Oz, The Drowsy Chaperone, and The Wedding Singer. Shows he mixed on Broadway include: Springsteen on Broadway, Cabaret, Annie, and Anything Goes.

McBEE (Production Stage Manager) Broadway debut! Select Off-Broadway: Melissa Etheridge My Window, Jersey Boys, Harry Townsend’s Last Stand, Fiddler of the Roof in Yiddish, The Other Josh Cohen, A Letter To Harvey Milk, Murder For Two, Working: A Musical. Tour: Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret. Other NY: 24 Hr Plays and Musicals on Broadway. Regional includes: Ogunquit Playhouse, Cape Playhouse, Bucks County Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, Arvada Center, Theatre Aspen. Proud AEA member